Senators Urge House To Pass China Currency Bill

By Andrea Salazar

A day after the China currency bill passed the Senate, a bipartisan coalition of senators urged House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and the White House to join them against China’s currency manipulation. 

“China has a callous disregard for the rule of law,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said. “They cheat at every turn. They steal intellectual property, they counterfeit goods affecting our defense industries and they manipulate their currency. We don’t have this kind of discussion with normal nations. We don’t have this kind of discussion with democracies. You’re having this kind of discussion with a communist dictatorship with a command and control economy that’s acting like the mob.”

Graham echoed those sentiments and dismissed worries about China’s reaction to the currency bill.

“I’m not worried about the Chinese response because at the end of the day they need us as much as we need them, if not more so,” Graham said. “I’m worried about the idea that American politicians are going to let threats coming from China stop what, I think, is a rational approach to dealing with this.”

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said he expects the bill to pass, despite opposition from leadership.

“We have tried to keep this as non-political, frankly, as possible,” Schumer said. “That’s because we believe in this. I just believe in my bones that this is one of the five ways… to keep America number one over the next several decades.”

Reid, Schumer Tout GOP-Friendly Debt Ceiling Plan

By Philip Bunnell

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Monday touted a new plan to raise the debt ceiling that they claim meets the standards laid out by both parties.

The proposal will cut $2.7 trillion in spending, $1 trillion of which is drawn from winding down the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, while sparing entitlement programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. The plan also features no increase in revenue, which had been the center of heated debate between Democrats and Republicans.

“It’s a tough choice,” Schumer said of not including revenue increases, “but for Democrats we get an increase in the debt ceiling through 2012 and we succeed in preventing any benefit cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.”

Both Schumer and Reid stressed that revenue increases are necessary and that they will pursue them.  However, in the interest of avoiding default, no tax increases were included. 

“All the Republicans have to do is say ‘yes’,” Reid told reporters.

The plan will include another key GOP interest, Reid noted.

“The amount of the cuts meets the amount of debt ceiling increases,” said Reid. “They wanted a one for one, that’s what we give them.”

Both Senators were highly critical of the “extremists” in the Republican party who they accused of hijacking the debate.  The Republicans, Reid said, are being “driven by the radical, right-wing that is so in tune with the Tea Party.”

The two Democrats also rejected the notion that Speaker of the House John Boehner’s (R-OH) short term plan was a viable option. 

“A short term extension would not provide the certainty the markets are looking for, and risks the same dire economic consequences that would be triggered by default itself,” warned Reid.

Schumer accused the GOP of waffling on the issue. 

“Even Republicans rejected a short term increase in the debt ceiling as recently as last month,” observed Schumer, “… now Republicans have apparently flip-flopped on this point, but a short term deal is still an non-starter in the Senate.”

Allegations Surface, BP May Have Arranged Release Of Terrorist For Oil Deal

By Linn Grubbstrom - Talk Radio News Service

Sens. Frank R. Lautenberg (D-N.J.), Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) sent a letter Tuesday to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asking her to investigate reports accusing BP of arranging the release of convicted terrorist Abdelbaset al-Megrahi in order to finalize a $900 million drilling deal with Libya.

“If BP is found to have helped free this mass murderer… [then] any money it makes off that oil is blood money,” said Menendez during a press conference Wednesday.

The Scottish government freed the Megrahi on compassionate grounds in August 2009, 2 years after BP started exploring the possibilities of drilling in Libya. The quartet of Senators is pushing the State Department to investigate the situation and to reveal exactly what role BP played in Megrahi’s release. 

“We have a clear message for BP. Until this deal is properly investigated this project off the coast of Libya should not break ground. If BP is truly dealing in good faith and has nothing to hide, it should cooperate with such an investigation,” said Lautenberg.

BP is set to begin drilling off the Gulf of Sidra next month.

Reid: Financial Reform Could Hit Senate Floor By Next Week

By Laurel Brishel Prichard University of New Mexico/ Talk Radio News Service

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told reporters Thursday that he is pushing to get a full financial reform bill onto the Senate floor as early as next week.

Reid, along with Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) and Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) stressed that reform of the nation's financial system would not only protect the taxpayers, but make sure that institutions would not become “too big too fail”.

“[Republicans] seem clearly focused on protecting these big banks,” said Reid “It’s as simple as this: if you want a financial system that allows banks to become too big to fail, puts your retirement security in jeopardy and leaves consumers vulnerable to excessive risk, then you should support the Republican plan.”

The legislation would put in place a better regulatory oversight program to prevent the financial system from triggering another recession.

“Everyone agrees that our regulatory [system] is broken down,” said Schumer.

Schumer added that Republican warnings that the reform plan fails to act as a safeguard against future bailouts is unfounded. According to the New York Senator, the money that would go for any future bailout of a large institution would have to come from the institution itself, and not the taxpayers.

Diagnosis Pending On Undercover Patients

One the few bipartisan moments from Thursday’s health care summit came from a proposal by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) to deploy undercover patients to detect waste and fraud in the medical system. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) voiced his enthusiastic support and called it a “great idea ... that we can come together on.”

Despite apparent bipartisan support, the proposal has yet to receive the backing from a key group: the American Medical Association. In 2008, the organization tabled an endorsement for undercover patients.

Critics within the medical community have cited concerns that asking doctors to spend time with patient’s feigning ailments was essentially a misuse of resources that could be better spent on individuals with pressing medical issues.

Brooke Billingsley, the co-founder of Perception Strategies, an Indiana-based company that deploys secret patients, downplayed these fears.

“A lot of the studies that we do involve the patient and shopper aligning together as family members to go through the whole interaction so they’re not taking up an actual patient bed,” Billingsley told Talk Radio News Service.

Billingsley added that the use of undercover patients is an important tool in providing effective medical care.

“It’s the only true way to get an unbiased assessment of what the process is and what’s really occurring,” said Billingsley. “When you’re sending somebody in, they have no vested interest in the outcome.”