Reid: Jobs Bill Will Reach Senate Floor Monday

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

Legislation aimed at boosting job creation will reach the Senate floor Monday, according to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.)

“For Senate Democrats, creating jobs is job number one,” said Reid during a press conference Thursday

Reid, along with Senators Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Max Baucus (D-Mont.), Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Bryon Dorgan (D-N.D.) presented the ‘Democratic Jobs Agenda.' The three page agenda lacks detail, but outlines tax incentives for businesses that hire new employees and provide greater access to credit through lending programs.

“We support programs to help small businesses more easily access the credit they need to expand and hire more workers, to export their products to foreign markets and to create a Small Business Lending Pool to help community banks more quickly lend to small businesses,” according to the text of the agenda.

In reference to losing a Democratic seat to Massachusetts Republican Scott Brown, Schumer said that Democrats have "heard the message of Massachusetts."

“The message wasn't 'don’t do health care.' More than half the people polled said they liked health care and we should do it,” said Schumer. Instead, Schumer said, the message was to "focus immediately on jobs, the economy, helping the middle class.”

“This is a good faith offering on the Democratic side. We are inviting our friends on the Republican side to join us. Bring your best ideas forward,” said Durbin. “Let’s put these on the floor and move on them with a sense of urgency. It is of highest priority of the people of this country. It should be the highest priority in the Senate.”

Get your bags packed for Cuba

by Christina Lovato, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service

“We ought not punish the American people. We ought to have the freedom to travel to Cuba and that is what the Freedom to Travel Act provides,” said Senator Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.)

Today in a press conference Senators Michael Enzi (R-Wyo.), Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) and Dorgan introduced The Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act, S. 428, which would end the current ban on travel by Americans to Cuba. The U.S. government allows Americans to travel almost anywhere in the world except for Cuba, the only exceptions are in time of war between the U.S. and Cuba or imminent danger to the public health or physical safety of U.S. travelers.

“Every time that we have brought up one of these bills there’s a downside to it. The downside to it is that Castro has always done something that really violated human rights and raised the ire of the American people who said ‘how can you possibly eliminate any of the restrictions on Cuba?’ Well that’s exactly why they do those things. They don’t want us to reduce any of those restrictions. They don’t want the inter- operation or inter-communication with American citizens.... That’s what we’re doing with this bill, we’re trying something just a little different and I think it will make a huge impact. It will change Cuba and it will change other of our policies,” said Senator Enzi.

Myron Brilliant, the Senior Vice President of International Affairs at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said that this act would help elevate our relationships in Latin America and change perceptions of foreign policy around the world. “We have been a long standing opponent of the embargo with Cuba. We see the end of the travel ban as an important first step but ultimately what we want to see is also an end of the trade embargo.... You can continue to count on the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to oppose unilateral economic sanctions, they do not wok,” he stated.

Senator Dorgan said that this issue is a failed policy that has failed for 50 years and he is confident that this Act will pass through Congress. “We hope for greater human rights in Cuba. We have no interest in the Castro government except to find a way to replace it at some point in the future so that the Cuban people have the freedoms they deserve,” concluded Dorgan.

“Cuba has consistently stood out as the one country in the western hemisphere that represses nearly all forms of political dissent..... The dismal state of human rights in Cuba has not improved since the hand over of power from Fidel to Raul Castro.... We urge the U.S. government to use this bill’s introduction to begin a broader re-evaluation and reform of its polices toward Cuba,” said Jose Miguel Vivanco, the Executive Director of the Americas Divison of Human Rights Watch.

DOD Inspector General's Report Confirms Allegations of Contaminated Water for the Troops in Iraq

U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) called for a conference at the U.S. Senate Radio-TV Gallery to discuss the results of a new Department of Defense Inspector General’s report on its investigation of the contaminated water provided by Halliburton-subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR).

The report was requested by Senator Dorgan after the whistleblowers made the allegations at a Senate Democratic Policy Committee hearing in January 2006.

Despite the illness of the dozens of soldiers at camp Vermont in Iraq and other parts of the country, the contractor and the Pentagon denied the allegations saying no facts were presented. Alongside Senator Dorgan, Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) stressed the importance of the solution of this issue, urging the Department of Defense to carry out investigations in depth. However, the report provided by the Inspector General confirms that the water provided by the contractor was contaminated.

Senator Dorgan stressed the importance of this issue, by stating that this is abusive to the American tax payers and especially to the American troops. He then added his concerns on “why the Pentagon and the Department denied these allegations although they had facts in their hands.” He is set to send a letter to the Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, for some answers.