The economy: Shrinking along with the middle class

Democrats voiced their concern for the U.S. economic slump and its main victim: The middle class. At a press conference, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and Rep Rahm Emmanuelle (D-Ill.) blamed the declining economic situation on the Bush Administration.

The Clinton Administration saw a 1.47 million job increase from January to July of 2000, said Hoyer, but during the same six-month period of 2008 under President Bush, Americans lost 463,000 jobs. In the p ast year, Americans lost 400,000 jobs, said Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.). From 2000 to 2006, the percentage of people in the upper and lower classes grew 1 percent respectively, but the middle class shrunk 2 percent, Israel said.

Hoyer said although presidential candidate John McCain wants to follow the Bush "economic formula", the troubling economy goes beyond mere politics. He said the main concern is "thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of people who don't have a job to support themselves and their family."

People talk about the beginning of a recession nowadays, but the recession began hitting families across America four years ago, said Emmanuelle. Hoyer said the Republicans continue to deceive the public by accusing Democrats of not wanting to drill for oil and "giving the American public the impression that somehow we don't want to explore and use America's resource."

Americans should be “outraged” with Bush Administration

At the House Judiciary Committee hearing on "Executive Power and Its Constitutional Limitations," Bruce Fein, Deputy Attorney General under President Reagan, said that many high crimes and misdemeanors were committed under the Bush Administration. He said that the executive branch “destroyed the Constitution” and the order of checks and balances that it supported. Fein explained that a claim of fighting terrorism can be used to arrest anyone without question and flout any restriction on gathering foreign intelligence. This means that the president can kidnap or detain anyone he thinks necessary, and open mail and burglarize homes if he thinks it necessary — a very “frightening power” according to Fein. Fein also said that “short of impeachment,” there is nothing Congress can do to punish the Bush Administration.

Vincent Bugliosi, the author of “Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder,” said he had evidence “beyond a reasonable doubt” that President Bush entered into war without good reason and is therefore guilty of murder. Bugliosi said that in 2002, the CIA told its officials that Saddam Hussein did not present imminent threats to the U.S. and published these findings in a white paper. However, Bugliosi explained that when the white paper was given to Congress, the part saying Hussein was not a threat was deleted. Because of this deletion, Bugliosi said that the Bush Administration got away with thousands upon thousands of murders in Iraq, exclaiming that Americans should be “outraged,” a statement which was greeted with applause from the public in attendance.

Jeremy Rabkin from the U.S. Institute of Peace tried to “add perspective” to the situation. He said that the “conspiracy charges” against the Bush Administration are “wildly improbable,” and tried to remind Congress that this situation is not unique to the Bush Administration. Rabkin said that the actions of the Bush Administration are much more understandable under the context of wartime and was “astonished” by the “tone in the room.” He also said that America’s enemies are not Democrats or Republicans but rather the “terrorists who want to kill us.”

Frederick Schwartz, Senior Counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, said that the Bush Administration abandoned the rule of law and has gotten away from the checks-and-balances structure of government. Schwartz said that because of the Bush Administration’s actions, America is “less free and less safe.” He said that the “full story” needs to be told, and an independent, bipartisan committee needs to look at what’s been done wrong and what’s been done right. Schwartz did not recommend impeachment because he said that it would make a mature, responsible, and detailed investigation impossible. He said that the U.S. must not adopt “the tactics of their enemies,” but rather strive for a “future that will be worthy of the best of our past.”

White House Gaggle

Briefer Dana Perino

The focus of the morning gaggle was Scott McClellen's book. White House press secretary Dana Perino said that she has heard about the calls for McClellan to testify before Congress, but that she has not had a chance to address it specifically with White House counsel. When asked if Perino had plans to read McClellan's book she replied "I certainly have no plans to buy it." She said that the White House counsel had reviewed the book and that the White House had been aware of the effect it would have for some time. She said that McClellan has the right to write what he wants, but it is White House wish "that is would be based on some semblance of fact."

There was a discussion about Perino's own perspective on the job as press secretary. She said that one can be as involved as a press secretary as one desires to be. She defined it as a matter of will , not a matter of access. She said that she was very satisfied with her access as press secretary.

She reiterated the White House's primary objection to the book, which is, as Perino phrased it, McClellan's allegation that the White House purposefully misled the American people in the run up to the Iraq war. "Our central objection is to the message of the book , not just the messenger," Perino said. She said that she doesn't remember McClellan complaining about access when she worked under him as deputy press secretary. She said that this book is written with hindsight and that at the time of McClellen's tenure there was nothing to object to as the White House was going off the intelligence it had at the time, which Perino pointed out was accepted by other nations as well.


The President had his normal briefings and later on will record his radio address. The topic of this weeks address is the priorities that Congress should focus on when it returns from Memorial Day recess. The President spoke to Pakistani President Pervez Musharaff on the phone as a follow up to their meeting in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt. Perino announced that Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer will lead a delegation to Rome for the conference on world food security in the first week of June.

When asked whether the president agreed with Vice President Cheney's characterization of the war in Iraq as "succeeding brilliantly," Perino said that while Iraq's progress remains reversible, the strategy of the surge was the right one and that Gen. David Petraeus, who she said was "brilliant in his own right" was implementing the strategy that is gaining progress. She said that Maliki is uniting his government through the offensives in Basra, Mosul, and Sadr City. And she said that the donor's conference to get other Arab nations to invest in Iraq, is something that will take time to gain the trust of donors.

Bush Administration's energy policy discussed

Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman spoke today at a full committee hearing with the House Energy Independence and Global Warming Committee on oversight of the Bush Administration’s energy policy. Bodman discussed the actions that the Bush Administration has taken or hasn’t taken in energy independence issues in the past and what their plans are for the future.

The United States produces only about 3 percent of oil, yet uses 25 percent of the worlds oil. Members of the committee expressed concerns over the greater dependence on foreign oil and the national security threat that opens up for the United States. Bodman said that the Bush Administration recognizes that is a concern and is investing in alternative energy for solutions. The Administration is spending $45 billion towards alternative energy. However, according to one Congressman that $45 billion is what the United States spends in a few weeks in Iraq.

Members of the Committee stated that the Bush Administration was not looking for alternative energy solutions, by not using the strategic petroleum reserve, getting ethanol fuel at the pumps or helping to pass legislation to promote venture capitalist investment in the alternative energy market. Congressmen said the Administration should be urging scientific research and pushing the entrepreneurial industry to invest in creating alternative energy solutions.

Bodman suggested that President Bush not use the strategic petroleum reserve, which could lower the price of gas temporarily, but instead continue to work with Saudi Arabia to get them to produce more oil, which would in turn lower the price at the pump. Bodman also said that he would support the removal of the tariff on foreign ethanol, but declined to support or comment on various other forms of alternative energy like increasing wind farm productions, because he said they would not create immediate results.

McCain and Bush are “joined at the hip”

Senator Joe Biden (D-Del.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, spoke at the Center for American Progress Action Fund today and discussed presidential nominee John McCain’s remarks last week about Senator Obama and his statement to commence talks with Iran. Biden said that McCain’s foreign policy aims are undefined and will be following in President Bush’s footsteps.

Biden declared that Bush was “completely out of touch” with the government. The Bush Administrations foreign policy objectives have failed, Iran’s influence has expanded not diminished, Hamas runs amok in Iraq, over 4,000 American soldiers have lost their lives in the Iraq war and the Middle East is more dangerous now then it was seven years ago, Biden said.

McCain said last week that Obama is naive for seeking out peace talks with Iran, but Biden thinks that Obama understands the United State’s sophisticated relationship with Iran. The allies and partners of the United States need to know that the new administration in January will go the extra diplomatic mile to talk with Iran and use diplomatic means to work things out instead of using military force.

Biden said that McCain has no plan to remove the United States from Iraq other then the Bush plan, which is to stay. Biden maintains that there is no difference between McCain and Bush, and that they are “joined at the hip.” Obama offers new plans and ideas for United States foreign policy, which shouldn’t be slighted by Bush and McCain, but looked forward to as a way to improve America’s standing in the world in the future, and bring American troops home.