Obama Senses Victory After Senate Passes Key Vote On Financial Reform

President Barack Obama thanked the Senate on Thursday for voting to end debate on a key financial regulatory reform bill. The 60-40 vote means that the bill can now proceed to the floor for a final vote.

Though two Democrats, Sens. Russ Feingold (Wisc.) and Maria Cantwell (Wash.), broke with their party and voted no to ending debate for a second straight day, three Republicans, Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine, and Sen. Scott Brown (Mass.) voted yes, giving 57 Democrats the minimum number of votes they needed to block a filibuster.

Addressing reporters in the White House Rose Garden following the vote, the President praised the Senate for moving the bill forward, but cautioned against celebrating prematurely.

“We’ve still got some work to do,” he said, reminding supporters that the Senate still must pass its bill before it moves to conference. “There’s no doubt that during that time, the financial industry and their lobbyists will keep on fighting.”

But so will the administration. Four weeks ago, Mr. Obama memorably went to Wall Street to make the case for reform. Since then, the President and his financial reform team have hit the road in an attempt to sell the public on the plan. And earlier this week, the President was successfully able to convince Senator Brown to break with Republicans and change his vote, from no to yes.

As a result, the White House feels confident that they’ve won Round One of the battle.

“Over the last year, the financial industry has repeatedly tried to end this reform with hordes of lobbyists and millions of dollars of ads,” said the President. “Today, I think it’s fair to say that these efforts have failed.”

Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano Defends Department's Budget Cuts

By Monique Cala University of New Mexico/ Talk Radio News Service

Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano defended the Department's FY2011 Budget Request Wednesday, after members of the Senate Homeland Security Committee expressed concern for decreases in what they called ‘key’ areas.

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), who chairs the committee, questioned the decision to decrease funds allocated for cyber security.

“This budget cuts the spending on cyber security by 5 percent. Key information systems in the private and public sectors are penetrated everyday in our defenses against computer attacks and data theft,” said Lieberman.

“Cyber space is of key concern. The reduction noted is attributable to many things,” Napolitano responded. “One, is that there were one time expanses that we had last year that we do not need to duplicate in 2011.”

Cuts made to the U.S. Coast Guard also came under close scrutiny. Sen. Susan Collins in particular asked U.S. ports would remain safe in light of Guard's $75 million budget reduction.

“Our nation's top intelligence officials recently testified before Congress that it is “certain” that al Qaeda is planning to attempt another attack against the United States within the next six months,” explained Collins.

Collins went on to voice concern with the request for $200 million to provide security in large metropolitan areas in the United States that host trials for suspected terrorists now held at Guatanamo Bay.

“These terrorists could be tried on military bases before military tribunals, without incurring this unnecessary expense and security risk,” said Collins.

Napolitano responded that regardless of where the suspected terrorists are tried, in military or civilian courts, the expense for security will still be close to $200 million.

A full break down of the budget can be found at the DHS web site.

Homeland Security Committee Confronts Cyber Crime

According to Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), who chairs the Senate Homeland Security Committee, the true extent of cyber crime may be impossible to judge.

“A lot of these cyber attacks go undetected and unreported because the victims are frightened to report them,” said Lieberman Monday during a Homeland Security Committee hearing.

Lieberman explained that cyber crooks had sophisticated methods, such as commandeering an unknowing individual's computer to traffic money.

Lieberman said that in 2007, the TJX Corporation, a leading retailing organization, experienced a breach of its wireless networks in which up to 94 million credit and debit card numbers were put the at risk of being used illegally.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who is the Committee's ranking member, pointed to computer hacker Albert Gonzalez, who was indicted in August for his alleged involvement in the largest credit and debit breach ever in the United States, as a symbol for how dangerous cyber crime has become. Gonzalez pleaded guilty recently to charges stemming from the theft of tens of millions of credit and debit card numbers from the computers of several major retailers. Authorities believe this was not Gonzalez’s only major cyber crime.

“Protecting our cyberspace has become critically important. In the past 18 months, this Committee has held three hearings on the topic of cyber security,” said Collins.

The witnesses at Monday's hearing included Philip Reitinger, deputy undersecretary for the National Protection and Programs Directorate for Homeland Security Department; Michael Merritt, assistant director of the U.S. Secret Service’s Office of Investigations; William Nelson, president and CEO of Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center; and Robert Carr, chairman and CEO of Heartland Payment Systems, Inc.

Stimulus package: America’s right to follow up

The Committee on homeland Security and Governmental Affairs held a hearing today regarding The Recovery Investment Act and how to follow the trail of money that will be spent. Among the participants were Chairman Joseph I. Lieberman (ID-Conn) and Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine). Testimony was given by Robert Nabors, Deputy Director Office of Management and Budget.

Lieberman discussed the responsibility of the Committee under the Senate rules which is to study “the efficiency, economy, and effectiveness, of all agencies and departments of the Government.” He stated that it is important to work closely with the Obama Administration on this issue, because the last thing America needs is money, waste, or fraud.

Collins emphasized the importance of spending the stimulus funds effectively and with transparency plus accountability. To achieve this, Congress included strong safeguards in the stimulus bill. She described an example of this which is the funding for agency Inspectors General and the Government Accountability Office, which will act as watchdogs over the government.
Collins also referred to a new website, recovery.com, that has been created to allow every citizen to watch how their tax money is being spent.

Nabors in his testimony further discussed this website and has estimated that it has received over 150 million hits since February the 17th. “ We anticipate that the website will be a valuable resource for tracking their use,” said Nabors.

Harry Truman is turning in his grave because of the mistakes made in Iraq

The report being made public today, "Hard Lessons", addresses an almost staggering number of issues and problems; poor contracting practices, inadequate staffing at all levels, inexperienced staffing, goals that are beyond our capabilities, and a shocking lack of planning," said Linda J. Gustitus, of the Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan. The first hearing was on: Lessons from the Inspectors General: Improving Wartime Contracting. This was the first of what will be many hearings discussing the failed contracting efforts in Iraq.

Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) wants Iraq to assume more responsibility for their own reconstruction. She also wants to ensure that goods and services purchased by the American government are truly the best value for the tax payer. She said that this is important because "last year the federal government spent 532 billion dollars, last year alone, in contracts, and that is a 140% increase from 2001-2008".

"Every interested American knows that there was rampant fraud waste and abuse following the invasion of Iraq. They all know it and they want us to demonstrate that we are willing to do something about it, not simply in terms of process, but in terms of accountability," said Senator Jim Webb (D-Va). He expressed the view that the obligations that the Commission will face is that of the most important oversight obligations, and that while there is a role for contractors, he believes that "the pendulum has swung way to far."

Senator Claire McCaskill (D-Mo) says that Harry Truman has been rolling in his grave for the past five years and that he would be astounded at the fact that "we allowed this problem to get this far out of control. This has been a massive failure. We have failed our military, and we have failed the American people." She emphasized that accountability is missing with this situation.

Stuart W. Bowen, Jr. Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction was put in the hot seat during the hearing as he discussed what went wrong in Iraq. When asked which mistakes to avoid repeating in Afghanistan he replied, "don't replicate the weak quality assurance that has characterized the effort in Iraq" which essentially means that government experts go out to sites to make sure that the work meets contract expectations. Since there is no system of checks and balances to ensure that money cannot just vanish into thin air, much of the the money spent in Iraq has just disappeared.

by Suzia van Swol, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service and Staff