Kerry: US played into bin Laden’s hands

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) says it is clear that invading Iraq was a grave mistake, diverting resources in the fight against al-Qaeda and, by failing to differentiate between a secular dictator and religious extremists, causing the United States to play into Osama bin Laden’s hands. (0:29)

Wal-Mart and major union join hands on tax credit

House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) and Senate Democratic Conference Vice-Chairman Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) today introduced legislation that will expand the use of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). Emmanuel and Schumer were joined by Alison Reardon, SEIU Director of Legislation and Susan Chambers, Wal-Mart Executive Vice President of the Global People Division, representatives of two of the groups that have endorsed the legislation.

Speaking to reporters at an afternoon press conference Emanuel said that his office every Saturday helps its constituents with the EITC process because it is so difficult for people to do on their own. The average person according to Emmanuel is eligible for $2,000 but that there are millions left on the table that no one claims. “Of all the credits that are out there the Earned Income Tax Credit has the lowest participatory rate,” said Emmanuel.

According to both Emanuel and Schumer the Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson has the ability to enact these procedures by executive order but has refused.
The program itself was first started under the Ford Administration and has gone on ever since.

Schumer though when asked if he was worried about a presidential veto said “I would hope not. This is just making sure that legislation that has a good purpose is applied and enforced.” But Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) said he did not think it would be likely that Republicans would support such a measure. “I know they’ve introduced a lot of legislation and I don’t think we’re gonna pass one,” said Cornyn.

Black gold not flowing so quickly

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) held a hearing this morning focusing on the effects of high oil prices and the nations economy before the Joint Economic Committee. Schumer and the other democrats on the committee lambasted the Bush Administration for what they said was an inability to “lesson our dependence on foreign oil,” said Schumer.

Republicans on the committee though charged that it has been democrats who deserve much of the blame for high oil prices. Specifically, Sen. Bob Bennett (R-Utah.) placed blame on democrats for their resistance to supporting drilling in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge [ANWR]. Directing his remarks towards Sen. Schumer, Bennett said “you made reference to ANWR and said it will take ten years and to quote that great economist Jay Leno “that’s what democrats said ten years ago” when they refused to agree to open ANWR.”

But much of the time was spent listening to the committees witnesses which included Dr. Daniel Yergin from Cambridge Energy Research Associates. According to Yergin, approximately 60 percent of our energy comes from oil and gasoline and one reason why the price of oil has risen 70 percent has been a shortage of the overall supply of oil itself. “There’s been a slow response of supply; why? One is the issue of access around the world, secondly is uncertainty about investment fiscal and regulatory regimes and thirdly a shortage of equipment and people,” said Yergin.

Yergin also attributed the shaky economic oil markets to the psychology of its consumers. “I’m really struck by this kind of pessimism about future supply,” said Yergin, “you have to have trust in the market.”

If anyone needed any affirmation though that oil would play an important issue in this falls election Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) told the committee “it’s what my constituents are all talking about.”

Montana Governor to committee: Help us out

Today at a Joint Economic Committee hearing on the future of the war in Iraq costs House and Senate Democrat's reiterated their continuing criticism of the Bush Administrations economic handling of the ongoing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Before the testimony even began members of the joint committee were in disagreement over whether or not the hearing should even be taking place. Congressman Kevin Brady (R-Tex.) voiced his frustration with the Democrat controlled committee when he stated “I question whether it is important to hold this hearing at all.”

Brady was the lone Republican at the hearing which featured testimony from Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer (D-Mon.) who was on hand to focus attention on the states continuing struggle to manage a dwindling National Guard due to the Iraqi War. With a state of just 950,000 people and a geography of 559 miles east to west and one in six adults being veterans, the state is plagued with issues involving everything from veterans healthcare to dealing with finding veterans jobs after leaving the armed services. Scheitzer believes that as a result of the strain the Iraq War has placed on its national guard that it could take as much as $28 million to fix it.

Adding to the testimony was Tom Tarantino who himself was a veteran from the war in Iraq who stated that for veterans finding jobs is not as easy as it sounds. “I found that there was fear attached to hiring a former combat soldier with the stigma of stress making employers view me as a potential liability to their company.” According to Tarantino approximately 18 percent of all recent Iraqi War veterans find themselves unemployed and that most employers just don’t want to take the risk in hiring a combat veteran.

Senate urges pressure on Saudi Arabia to increase oil production

Five senators held a press conference today immediately following a vote on a Democratic proposal to “suspend filling the nearly full Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) in order to increase supply and lower energy prices,” the official release said. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) said that Saudi Arabia currently produces nearly two million barrels of oil per day below capacity, and said that prices would likely lower by 50 cents per gallon in the next month or two if they increased production by just one million barrels per day. Schumer said that himself and the other senators wanted to present President Bush with a “motion of disapproval” of the Saudi arms deal, and urge him to put pressure on the Saudis to increase productivity and lower prices as he leaves for his trip to the Middle East today. “We are saying to the Saudis that ‘if you don’t help us, why should we be helping you?’” Schumer said. “You need our arms, but we need you to cooperate and not strangle American consumers.”

Sen. Bernard Sanders (D-VT) said that OPEC functions as a cartel, and that it is time for Pres. Bush to say to OPEC that “we are going to challenge their very existence,” so they can no longer “limit production and artificially raise prices.” Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) said that Bush “needs to demonstrate leadership,” and while he is “talking to the Saudis about oil production as he should, he should have done it long ago.”

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) said that she is “pleased” that the Senate was able to pass the amendment today, but she “would rather see a comprehensive package.” She added, “but if we’re going to have to do it one scrap at a time, that’s how we’ll do it.”