Senate Majority Leader Accuses Republicans Of Trying To Tank The Economy

Robert Hune-Kalter - Talk Radio News Service

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) accused Republicans of trying to tank the economy to undermine the Democrats in the midterm elections.

“They’re betting on failure,” said Reid during a press conference to discuss the small business agenda.  “They think that the worse the economy is come November, the better they’ll do election wise.  We’re not dealing with just numbers here, we talk about the almost two million people who are long-term unemployed.  These are not numbers, they’re people.”

Reid says that the new small business bill currently under Congressional consideration will help small businesses grow and hire.  He pledged that the government will continue cutting taxes, make it easier to get loans and write off investments.

“It does not happen automatically, government must be involved.  More than any other part of our economy, small business fuels our growth,” said Reid.

Democrats In House, Senate Claim Competition Essential To Driving Down Health Costs

By Ravi Bhatia, Talk Radio News Service

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Or.) and Reps. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) and Jim Cooper (D-Tn.) said Tuesday that infusing the health insurance market with competition would be the best way to bring down health care costs for most Americans.

“We’ve got to open up the exchanges to a broader array of people, both employers and employees,” Wyden said at a panel discussion hosted by The New Republic magazine. “That’s how we’re going to respond to people making $66,000 a year who are going to look at the [Senate] Finance Committee Bill and say that it’s not going work for [their families].”

The discussion occurred the day after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said that the current draft of the health care bill will include a public option with an opt-out provision for individual states. In theory, giving Americans the option to choose a government-run health care plan would drive down the costs of private insurers by creating competition. The Health Care Exchange would allow those who already have insurance to upgrade to better plans then the ones they already have using the program, further encouraging insurance companies to lower prices and raise their coverage quality standards.

“As these bills are being drafted, only ten percent of the people in America will ever be allowed to shop for any option, whether it's public or private,” Cooper said. “In other words 90 percent will be stuck with what they’ve got. So why don’t we allow people to upgrade to get a better deal?”

Cooper added, “As far as the public option is concerned, I’m for one, we can have a good one, we can have one that’s affordable for the individual family and for the system as a whole, but all this effort is for naught if we can’t get 60 votes in the Senate.”

On Tuesday, Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), who is often considered the one Republican who might vote in favor of health care reform legislation, responded to Reid’s announcement, saying that she would not support a bill that includes a public option. Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) also announced Tuesday that he would block Reid’s plan as long as it includes a publicly funded insurance plan.

According to House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), the House may introduce their health care bill by the end of this week.

No Terrorists In My Backyard...Except Maybe In Michigan

By Jonathan Bronstein, Talk Radio News Service

Senators Mitch McConnell (center) and James Inohofe (left)

Zacarias Moussaoui, a convicted conspirator in the September 11 attacks, was jailed in the suburban Alexandria, Virginia, during his trial beginning in 2002. The effect that he had on the city was immense, as busy thoroughfares were shut down when he traveled back and forth from the jail to the court, and the entire jail was placed on lock down anytime he left his cell.

The fear of many members of Congress is that this dilemma will be replicated in cities throughout America because of the imminent closure of Guantanamo Bay.

On January 22, 2009 Barack Obama signed an executive order that would close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay in one year. This means that all detainees need to be relocated, and this process must occur quickly.

Senate Republicans are firmly opposed to the closure, and are gaining support from Democrats.

“We (the Republicans) feel united in wanting to do something to make sure we keep that (Guantanamo Bay) resource down there since there is no alternative,” said Senator James Inohofe (R-Okla.) today at the Senate Republicans weekly press conference.

The alternatives, according to Inohofe, would be to place detainees in two prisons Afghanistan, Bagram and Kandahar. But those prisons only accept Afghan citizens and refuse to take in terrorists from other nations, such as Yemen and Pakistan.

“Guantanamo Bay is the perfect place for terrorists,” said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who continued to say, “It has worked very, very well. No one has escaped from Guantanamo Bay since September 11, 2001.”

McConnell was pleased with the recent Democratic support for keeping Guantanamo Bay open, “They (the Democrats) are coming in the right direction.”

However, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) did not believe that the closure of Guantanamo Bay was necessary because he, along with Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) and both Presidents Bush and Obama, believe that “Guantanamo makes us less safe.”

“The Senate overwhelmingly, does not want terrorists to be released in the United States,” said Reid vehemently.

Reid refused to divulge anymore information about the possibility of detainees being relocated to United States’s prisons, only saying “We (the Senate) do not want them around.”

However, Senator Carl Levin (D-Mich.) refused to state that Michigan would not accept Guantanamo Bay detainees, “If the governor and local government accept them then that ought to be considered.”

The acceptance of detainees would require the construction of a large, maximum-security prison that would help create jobs and stimulate the economy, which is the main reason why Levin believed that states would agree to accept detainees. But he reiterated that the local governments must make the decision.

Reid: Democrat’s Support of Specter is Not Conditional

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

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.)
Photo by Michael Ruhl

According to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), the Democratic Leadership will stick by Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter through thick and thin. The remarks came at a power breakfast on Capitol Hill, where Reid addressed, among other things, Specter’s recent defection to the Democratic Party.

President Obama, Vice President Biden and Reid have all pledged to support Specter when he comes up for reelection in 2010. When asked today whether or not that support was dependent on Specter voting a certain way, Reid said that it wasn’t.

“I’m not going to be in a forever, never position, but the facts are that he’s going to vote with us most of the time,” Reid Said. “I can’t foresee him doing anything that would be so mean spirited that Obama, Biden, and Reid would turn against him.”

If Al Franken wins the Senate Seat in Minnesota, which is still being contested in court, Specter would be the 60th Democrat in Congress, the number needed to stop a Republican filibuster.

“I don’t think [Specter is] going to be an automatic vote, but I don’t have any automatic votes,” Reid said. He was referring to fears from the right that Specter will be the key vote in stifling Republican policy.

Critics believe that Specter is going to help the Democrats steamroll through radical legislation.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has called the filibuster-proof Senate a “threat to the country.” He it would allow the Democrats to “have whatever it wants, without restraint, without a check or a balance.”


Specter's defection became a reality when he was assured by Reid that his seniority in the Senate would not be compromised. Reid has publicly stated that no members of Congress will be “bumped” from a committee position to make room for Specter.

The deal struck regarding Specter’s seniority was that upon defecting, he would be treated as though he had been elected a Democrat in 1980.

Not this Congress, at least.

Reid left open the door to moving Specter up in the ranks next Congress, and said, “We’ll work something out,” adding that in every new session of Congress, committee positions are worked out at the beginning of the term and restructured as necessary, and that the next Congress will not be an exception.

Power lines: What the Senate is doing to ensure Americans have electricity

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

The Senate Committee on Energy & Natural Resources met today to discuss the means by which Americans have access to electricity across the nation through a modernized transmission system, sometimes called the Smart Grid. Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) said that the nation’s transmission system has not kept up technologically with both the energy potentials before us and the sheer volume of electricity flowing through it. Also concerning was the fact that regionally based renewable energies, such as solar power in the Southwest or wind energy in the Midwest, cannot efficiently be transmitted across the nation to areas that might need that energy. Ranking Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said, “We can generate all the electricity from wind and other renewable sources we want, but it doesn’t do us any good if we don’t have the capacity to get it to consumers.” Murkowski said that, “by 2013, the EIA projects a 30% increase in U.S. electricity demand, but the transmission has only grown 6.5% since 1996.” Given this, she said, “It’s understandable that our transmission isn’t adequate to meet our future energy needs.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) testified before the committee, but said that in the past 10 years, the U.S. has developed over 6,000 miles of natural gas pipelines, and less than 600 miles of new electrical lines. “We’ve got a problem” Reid said. He likened the national transmission system to the railroad network across the country or the national highway system, because it would provide a uniform means of connecting the nation.

While testifying, Senator Reid said that he is introducing a bill, S. 539, which would have the president designate national areas of renewable energy and establish a structure for linking that with the nation. The proposed legislation would create a federal back-stop transmission citing authority, which would give the federal government the power to place power lines where necessary. It would also give the FERC the ability to move along siting projects which have stalled in one way or another. Reid said the bill gives states authority to move forward on their own in developing the infrastructure, but gives the federal government the power to step in if progress is not made. This bill is similar to the 2005 Energy Policy Act, which gave the Department of Energy the power to designate National Transmission Corridors across the nation in especially congested areas of electricity flow. Senator Murkowski’s office said that to date, not one transmission line has been sited pursuant to the 2005 Act, prompting the additional legislation.