Members Of Congress Urge Full Implementation Of Sudan's Comprehensive Peace Agreement

Travis Martinez, University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News

Members of Congress today urged the Obama administration to fully implement the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), a 2005 peace treaty between the Sudanese government and a rebel movement aimed at easing tensions in the troubled region.

Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) suggested that the CPA is on the verge of unraveling. He noted that the Sudanese government is falling apart with corrupt elections and an ongoing genocide.

“It seems to me that the CPA is on life support. It’s in grave danger of unraveling,” said Smith. “This administration has to get much more serious than it has been or the killing field will continue. The Nobel Peace prize winner needs to use the gravitas that he has gained from that great award and say 'Sudan is my priority. I’m not going to let the CPA unravel.'”

Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) called on President Barack Obama to make good with his campaign promises to ensure tougher sanctions on Sudan “if the government didn’t shape up."

“The time is now for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Obama to personally and actively engage Sudan,” said Wolf. “During the campaign, then candidate Obama said, ‘the Bush administration should be holding Sudan accountable for failing to implement significant aspects of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement, imperiling the prospects for the scheduled multiparty election in 2009.'”

Wolf pointed to recent testimony by a former top U.N. investigator Enrico Carisch at a House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee hearing on Africa, wherein Carisch testified that the U.S., along with other nations, have relaxed efforts in Sudan.

”In contrast to that leadership of 2004 and 2005, the United States appears to have now joined the group of influential states who sit by quietly and do nothing to ensure that sanctions work to protect Darfurians,” said Carisch.

House GOP'ers Want Justice For Chinese Human Rights Attorney

By Laura Smith - University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

Reps. Christopher Smith (R-N.J.), Frank Wolf (R-Va.) and others spoke out Monday against the arrest of Jiang Tianyong, a Chinese human rights lawyer who was arrested after requesting to meet with President Obama at the American Embassy in Beijing during his trip to China.

Multiple requests by Tianyong and other human rights lawyers to meet with the U.S. President were turned down. After Obama left China, Tianyong’s wife was allegedly beaten and he was taken away by Chinese officials.

Upon his release, Tianyong testified before the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission (TLHRC) about various human rights abuses associated with China’s one-child policy. The policy limits married Chinese couples to one child, with a birth permit. If they choose to have a second child, couples must have both a pregnancy permit and a birth permit.

Smith explained that Monday's news conference was held as a means of raising awareness about Tianyong's arrest and to help him avoid potential future incarceration.

“That’s why we’re asking the President to pick up the phone, and call Hu Jintao and to raise the issue of the lawyers, especially Jiang, and others, but certainly his case, because he specifically asked to meet with the President and was turned down,” said Smith.

Bipartisan Group Pitches Commission To Examine Federal Overspending

John DuBois - University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

Speaking before the Senate Budget Committee on Tuesday, Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) called for the creation of a bipartisan, 16-member panel to examine federal spending. The "Securing America's Future Economy" (SAFE) Commission would make recommendations to Congress regarding ways to limit overspending and would force lawmakers to vote on them.

According to Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) the nation's deficit exceeded $1.4 trillion during the last fiscal year. Lieberman and other Democrats including Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) are in support of Wolf's proposal, making it a truly bipartisan bill.

Said Conrad, “We must also address the demographic challenge we face in Social Security and the revenue challenge we face from an outdated and inefficient revenue system."

The SAFE Commission mirrors legislation proposed by Wolf and Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.) in 2006. That bill, called the "Securing America’s Future Economy Commission Act," aimed to reform U.S. tax policy and entitlement benefit programs.

Lieberman argued that implementing Wolf's proposal will effectively help the country get back on the right fiscal track.

“The only way we will be able to make the difficult decisions needed to reduce our national debt is to create a special commission whose sole focus is to develop solutions to the long-term fiscal problems that our country faces,” said Lieberman.

Added Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio), “The federal government is the worst credit card abuser in the world and we’re putting everything on the tab of our children and grandchildren.”

“We can continue down the same path, which means that in just 15 years every penny of the federal budget will go toward entitlement spending and retiring our debt, or we can start making the hard choices now," said Wolf.