Today At TRNS

White House Correspondent Victoria Jones will be covering today's briefing at the White House with Robert Gibbs.

The Washington, D.C. Bureau will be covering the following events:

-A summit on green jobs with Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.)

-An announcement from Republican leaders of a new health care bill.

-A press conference with Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and the heads of various military and veterans organizations.

-A hearing by the Senate Judiciary Committee on "Oversight of the Justice Department" with Attorney General Eric Holder.

-A House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on "North Korea's Nuclear and Missile Tests and the Six-Party Talks: Where Do We Go from Here?"

-A briefing on "Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Suicide Prevention" with Sen. Max Baucu (D-Mont.), Sen Jon Tester (D-Mont.), and Sen. Mike Johanns (D-Neb.).

-An event to deliver a letter from over 600 state legislators voicing support for health care reform.

Pelosi Supports President's Pay-As-You-Go Method

By Courtney Ann Jackson-Talk Radio News Service

The acceleration of President Obama's pay-as-you-go initiative, a method that would require Congress to use current revenues for capital items instead of borrowing funds by issuing bonds, and health care reform are important steps in turning the economy around, according to U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). Pelosi and other legislators met with the President earlier this week as he announced the details of the PAYGO initiative.

The U.S. operated under the PAYGO method throughout the 1990’s. Pelosi credited it for leading to the balanced budgets and eventual surplus of the Clinton administration. 

“Democrats are coming together around this concept. For many years it has been the central organizing purpose of the blue dogs: fiscal discipline, fiscal responsibility...But I want you to know that there are initiatives from all sectors of our caucus which support pay as you go,” said Pelosi today during a press conference.

Pelosi said she was enthusiastic about “accelerating the (PAYGO) discussion” as a tool to improve the economy and initiate healthcare reform in the U.S.

The Speaker touched upon what kind of healthcare model Congress will pursue.

“It should be administratively self-sufficient. It should be a real competitor with the private sector and not have an unfair advantage. When you say the words public option and that is the term of art we will be using, you have to say right next to it: level playing field.”

She said Congress will soon consider legislation on the supplemental appropriations bill for Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and pandemic flu. The House will also consider legislation to give the Food and Drug Administration legal authority to regulate how cigarettes and other tobacco products are produced and distributed.  Committee work will be focused on the pillars of the President’s agenda which were in the budget. They include: health care, education, energy, reducing the deficit, lowering taxes, creating jobs, and turning the economy around.

Pelosi: It's Been A Good Week

By Courtney Ann Jackson

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) didn’t fly solo at her weekly press conference held Friday. She was joined by House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), U.S. Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.) and U.S. Rep, Christopher Van Hollen (D-Md.). Pelosi said they decided to combine her weekly press conference with “wrap-up” for the first five months. She said many times that this has been a “good week.”

“It was a good week on the energy policy. It’s also been a good week as week protect the environment; a good week as we protect the consumer, the tax payer and the American people, in general, in terms of their national security, ” said Pelosi.

Pelosi also said that legislation on issues such as housing, credit cards and saving the tax payers money were passed during the week that all “protect the consumer.”

Hoyer said the 111th Congress has made “tremendous strides to create jobs and get the economy back on track.” He closed by saying that he and Pelosi considered themselves to be a “close team” that is carrying out the promise of change that the “American people voted for.”

Although Pelosi and the other Democratic leaders wanted to discuss the new direction that the administration is taking with the main topics being energy and the economy, she was still asked a question involving the CIA issue. Hoyer attempted to pull Pelosi away from the podium as the question was being asked but she instead insisted on hearing the question.

Pelosi’s response was, “I have made the statement I’m going to make on this. I don’t have anything more to say about it. I stand by my comment.”

She said she would not let the issue distract her and would rather continue on the course of bipartisanship and bettering issues like jobs and health care instead.

Cheney: Waterboarding Saved Thousands Of American Lives

By Jonathan Bronstein, Talk Radio News Service

Former VP Dick Cheney

Rushed to a secret White House bunker on September 11, 2001, former Vice President Dick Cheney watched coordinated terrorist attacks unfold before his eyes.

“I’ll freely admit that watching a coordinated, devastating attack on our country from an underground bunker at the White House can affect how you view your responsibilities,” said Cheney today at the conservative American Enterprise Institute.

In the days following 9-11, Congress passed a Joint Resolution that gave the President and other high ranking officials the power to act with “all necessary and appropriate force” to protect America, according to Cheney.

This meant the Bush Administration would use all tactics at their disposal to ensure the country’s safety, including the allowance of waterboarding against suspected terrorists and an offensive war to disrupt terrorist activities.

Cheney bluntly stated that the use of waterboarding and other enhanced interrogation techniques were “legal, essential, justified, successful, and the right thing to do.”

Cheney defended the 183 instances of waterboarding employed by the CIA on Kaled Sheik Mohammed, the mastermind of the attacks.

“American personnel were not there to commence an elaborate legal proceeding, but to extract information from him before al-Qaeda could strike again and kill more of our people,” said Cheney.

Waterboarding was not used against every enemy combatant, but “only those terrorists of the highest intelligence value,” said Cheney.

However, Cheney asserted that high-ranking members of Congress were briefed on the CIA’s use of these techniques, including the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D Calif.). He criticized those members of Congress who demanded to be briefed saying that “they support them in private, and then head for the hills at the first sign of controversy.”

In response to Pelosi’s assertion that the CIA lied to her, Cheney stated that “people who consistently distort the truth in this way are in no position to lecture anyone about ‘values.’”

Pelosi has been one of the harshest critics of the Bush Administration and a leading advocate for a ‘Truth Commission.’

“It’s hard to imagine a worse precedent, filled with more possibilities for trouble and abuse, than to have an incoming administration criminalize the policy decisions of its predecessors,” said Cheney in regards to such a commission.

Cheney wants the government to release all torture documents, and he mocked the Obama Administration’s choice to only partially release these documents when he said that “the public has a right to know the method of the questions, but not the content of the answers.”

“Every senior official who has been briefed on these classified matters knows of the specific attacks that were in the planning stages and were stopped by the programs we put in place,” said Cheney.

Additionally, Cheney asserted that no matter what actions the Obama Administration takes, like the closing Guantanamo Bay or disallowing the use of enhanced interrogation, the terrorists will continue to hate America.

“The terrorists hate this country precisely because of the values we profess and seek to live by,” said Cheney.

Pelosi Paints the Capital Green

By Michael Ruhl, University of New Mexico – Talk Radio News Service

To mark Earth Day, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi introduced a plan to paint green the marble columns of the Capitol with energy efficiency and environmental initiatives. She calls it the “Green the Capitol Initiative.”

Pelosi’s plan involves 15 distinct steps to conserve energy and reduce waste, and is aimed specifically at congressional offices. Among Pelosi’s 15 measures are the use of compact florescent light bulbs, recycling used office items, and conserving electricity by powering off lights and computers while not in use. Additionally, Speaker Pelosi is encouraging the use of public transportation and the conservation of basic office supplies.

“The Capitol, which has always served as a beacon of freedom, is now a shining example of sustainability.” Pelosi said. She continued that the House has reduced its carbon emissions by 72 percent recently. She continued that if all Congressional offices adopt this plan, it will result in a savings of $1 million in energy costs and will cut energy consumption in the Capitol by nearly 10 percent.

Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-Oreg.), who Pelosi called “the main instigator” of the green plan, believes that Congress is setting a good example for the rest of the country. He said, “If we model the behavior we want the rest of America to follow, it has a profound effect.”

Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM) said that one of the first things he did when coming into Congress was institute a recycling program in his offices. He grinned at the savings

“Just during the transition from the 110th to 111th Congress, Congress saved over 60,000 pounds of paper. Lujan joked with the Speaker, “I was going to bring an example of that, but I couldn’t forklift it in, just to give an example of what we’ve truly saved.”

Pelosi called it the moral responsibility of Congress. Her office is encouraging all members to adopt these “green” plans. “I think most members of the Congress are doing some of this,” but she could not give exact numbers on who has implemented all of these recommendations. “The Speakers office is doing all of this,” Pelosi said proudly of the recommendations.