Lawmakers Want Money For First Responders Included In Deficit Plan

By Andrea Salazar

A bipartisan group of Hill lawmakers joined first responders from across the nation Tuesday to urge the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction to include in its recommendation a bill to better emergency responder communication.

With the so-called “super committee” nearing its Thanksgiving deadline to come up with at least $1.2 trillion in savings, the group pressed support for a measure that would privatize some lines of communication.

Their plan would allow the Federal Communications Commission to auction spectrum, or public airwaves it has domain over, to raise an estimated $24.5 billion — $6.5 billion of which would go toward deficit reduction.

“Any teenager with a smart phone has better technology than our first responders,” Sen. Kristen Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) said during a news conference today. “They can share more information more quickly than the men and women who put their lives on the line to keep us safe. That must change.”

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) noted that improving nationwide communication is “one of the few recommendations of the 9/11 commission that has not yet been adopted.”

The D-block, a piece of 700 MHz spectrum, would allow first responders nationwide to share information during emergencies.

“We’re using, at best, mid-20th century telecommunications for the 21st century,” Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) said. “That’s what the D-block changes — a dedicated source of funding to buy the best and highest technology to use it for its highest purpose, and that is for the safety of the American people.

Also present at the news conference were Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) and emergency personnel from San Jose, Calif. and New York City.

Senators Move To Designate Pakistani Taliban As A Terrorist Organization

By Alexa Gitler-Talk Radio News Service

A collection of Senate Democrats announced a new piece of legislation Tuesday that would require the State Department to recognize the Pakistani Taliban, or Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.

“The designation of TTP would allow the trigger of serious counterterrorism measures including: freezing of assets, barring foreign nationals with ties to the group from entering the U.S., and criminalizing the act of providing any material assistance to the group,” Sen. Charles Scuhmer (D-N.Y.) said during a press briefing with Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), and Robert Menendez (D-NJ).

The announcement comes the day after Faisal Shahzad, the man behind the attempted Times Square bombing, plead guilty to a 10 count indictment and conceded receiving training and financial assistance from the TTP.

Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) noted that Shahzad’s confession highlights the need to confront the TTP.

“Keep in mind, we escaped luckily this time [in capturing Shahzad],” said Lautenberg. “Waiting will not help.”

Currently 45 organizations are named on the State Department’s list. The designations last for two years and must meet three conditions: that the organization must be foreign, that the organization must engage in proven and documented terrorist activity, and that the terrorist activity must threaten the security of U.S. citizens or the national security of U.S.

Congressmen Ask Geithner To Resign

By Julianne LaJeunesse - University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

Hopefully, no one told U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner that pitching the Obama administration’s financial reform plan to Congress was going to be painless. During a heated Joint Economic Committee hearing on Thursday, U.S. Republican Reps. Michael Burgess (Texas) and Kevin Brady (Texas) called on Geithner to step down, telling him that his work is not adequately serving Americans.

“Conservatives agree that as point person, you failed,” Brady argued. “Liberals are growing in that consensus as well. Poll after poll shows the public has lost confidence in this President’s ability to handle this economy... for the sake of our jobs, will you step down from your post?”

Geithner responded to Brady by saying he’s privileged to serve in his position, but did not give the Congressman an answer. Responding to Brady’s concerns over unemployment and the types of jobs lost, Geithner remarked, “Almost nothing in what you said represents a fair and accurate perception of where this economy is today.”

The purpose of Geithner's visit to the Hill, his second in as many days, was to encourage lawmakers to include four elements that he argued, “are critical to a strong package of [regulatory reform] legislation.”

Among them: Forcing non-banks who act as banks to be subjected to the same safeguards as recognized monetary institutions; accountability that includes a proposed council that will ensure that banks, regardless of size, work on a level playing field; a more capable financial system that will better absorb shocks and failures and adoption of a “no institution should be considered too big to fail” motto, which Geithner explained would be enforced by the government under “resolution authority.”

“This emergency authority, what we call resolution authority, has to be designed to facilitate the orderly demise of a failing firm...not ensure its survival,” he said. "Any risk of loss, must be recouped from the largest institutions, in proportion to their size. The financial industry, not the taxpayers, need to be on the hook.”

Sen. Schumer Discusses CBO Scoring For Health Care Bill

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) discusses the Congressional Budget Office's review of the Senate's health care reform bill.

Democrats Schumer, Brown Trumpet Merits Of Public Option

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

During a news conference on Wednesday, Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) expressed their belief that a public option insurance plan would create competition in the marketplace and would lower healthcare costs for Americans.

Liberal Democrats, like Brown and Schumer, who support the public option have argued that the plan would help small businesses stay in business and provide health insurance for their employees.

Said Schumer, “Small businesses want to provide the coverage. They know it’s good for their workers, good for morale and good for keeping. They just can’t afford [health insurance] any longer and that’s why we need a public option.”

Brown argued that,“the public option will not use pre-existing conditions, [it] won't discriminate against women who have had c-sections or women who have been victims of domestic violence and call that a pre-existing condition.”

“We are changing the rules, we are also going to have the public option there to help those small businesses to compete to keep prices down,” he added.