Bipartisan Bill Would Hasten Troop Withdrawal From Afghanistan

Considering President Obama’s call to bring all troops from Iraq home for the holidays, a bipartisan group of senators is now calling for an expedited troop drawdown in Afghanistan as well.

Earlier in the year, Preside Obama announced that all troops currently deployed in Iraq would return home before the new year. The president also set a similar withdrawal plan for Afghanistan by the end of 2014. Now, Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Tom Udall (D-N.M.), Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) are amending the Defense Authorization bill with a measure requiring Obama to expedite the transition in Afghanistan.

“It is time to have a clear missive from the President on how he plans to end our presence in Afghanistan,” Paul said. “We cannot continue endless nation-building efforts overseas while here at home we face expounding national debt, crumbling infrastructure and out-of-control spending in Washington.”

The effort to amend the major defense authorization bill will likely face an uphill battle considering the intensified debate over a controversial detainee provision.

The debate over the Defense Authorization bill has escalated within the Senate Armed Services Committee over language that would place future terror suspects into the custody of the United States military, something both the Pentagon and some Democrats have opposed. Despite the support the detainee provision has from Senate Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.), the White House has since released a statement threatening to veto the bill as it stands.

The Administration’s threat to veto the bill puts a damper on the efforts put forth by this bipartisan group of senators. According to a statement released by the senators, American military presence in Afghanistan costs nearly $10 billion per month, an amount of money they argue is unacceptable at a time domestic economic turmoil.

“With the death of Osama Bin Laden, we have now accomplished [our] goals. It is time to end our presence in Afghanistan and refocus our attention on fighting terrorists wherever they may be,” said Merkley.  “At a time of high unemployment, a wave of foreclosures and growing debt, we need to  concentrate on nation-building here at home.”

The resolution put forth would call on Obama to expedite the transition of military responsibility to Afghanistan and would provide the Commander-in-Chief with 90 days to present a new timeframe and expected completion date for an accelerated troop withdrawal. Considering the hot water the Defense Authorization bill is simmering in with the White House’s veto threat, it’s unclear whether such a measure has much life.

Senate To Vote On Disclose Act Tomorrow

Despite losing key battles yesterday on repealing ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell,’ and the DREAM Act, the Senate will attempt one more major vote on Thursday.

That’s the day Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has decided to bring the DISCLOSE Act to the floor. The bill, which the House passed in June, would require organizations involved in political campaigning to disclose the identity of their large donors and to reveal their identities in political ads they fund. It would also prohibit foreign corporations, government contractors and TARP recipients from making political donations.

The legislation was crafted in response to a Supreme Court decision in January that allowed corporations and unions to pay for political ads made independently of candidate campaigns.

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), a staunch proponent of the bill, told reporters on Wednesday that unless the Disclose Act is passed, “the winner of every upcoming election this November won’t be Democrats or Republicans; It will be special interests.”

“Passing [the bill] would be a huge win for restoring transparency to our elections,” he added.

Addressing concerns that Democrats are attempting to rush the bill through to help preserve their majority in Congress, Schumer said the legislation would not go into effect until January, two months after the midterms take place. Earlier today, a story that appeared on Politico noted that Democrats are being outspent badly by groups supporting Republican candidates.

Interestingly, Reid decided to schedule the vote on Thursday instead of today partly because a number of Senate Democrats were expected to attend a big-ticket fundraiser this evening in Manhattan, at which the president would be speaking.

Disclose will probably be the last big vote taken in the Senate before members return home in two weeks to campaign for reelection. When asked whether the upper chamber would hold a vote on whether to extend the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, Schumer replied, “It’s being discussed within our caucus now.” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) told reporters yesterday that his chamber would wait for the Senate to act on the tax cuts.

Wall Street Bill Will Receive Bipartisan Backing, Predict Democrats

By Laurel Brishel Prichard
University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Ted Kaufman (D-Del.) predicted on Wednesday that Republicans that are retiring or up for re-election later this year will soon be changing their stances on Wall Street reform.

"We would love to see some bipartisanship on this bill," said Brown. "I think we will see it."

Brown added that certain Republicans are already beginning to change their minds about the legislation. As evidence, he cited the decision by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who faces re-election this fall, to vote with Democrats in the Senate Agriculture Committee on a derivatives regulation bill.

"If you look at a list of what Republicans are up for re-election in 2010 you might correspond to bet who ends up voting procedurally to get this bill moving," said Brown.

New Bill Would Require CEOs To Identify Themselves In Corporate Funded Campaign Ads

The same provision requiring candidates to state their approval of campaign ads may soon be applied to CEOs as well.

The requirement would be part of legislation introduced by Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) aimed at countering the Supreme Court's landmark decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which granted corporations permission to openly fund campaign ads.

"Corporate CEOs should face the camera and tell the public they sponsored the commercial," said Brown during a conference call with reporters Thursday. "If a corporation uses a front group ... then the funder of that association has to be on."

If passed, the bill will also require the consent of shareholders prior to an ad's production and prevent foreign companies or government from channeling money for campaign spots.

Although the Court's 5-4 decision also allows unions to fund ads, Brown contends that this is not as pressing of a concern.

"I don't think its the same problem," Brown said. "Corporations in this country combined have sales of $10 trillion. Total union dues amount to $6 billion."

Added Brown, "that's a difference between the span of my hand and the height of the Empire State Building."

New policy for old drugs

Coffee Brown, University of New Mexico, Talk Radio News

Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), and Mel Martinez (R-Fla.) announced the Promoting Innovation and Access to Life-Saving Medicine Act, to make generic alternatives available as “biologics” go out of parent.

Schumer joked that he couldn't make an acronym out of the initials, then explained biologics are drugs produced from living cells, (such as Premarin from horses, vaccines from killed or weakened microbes, Insulin from bacteria, or the anticipated results of stem cell research).

Collins said the act is needed because currently the FDA has no pathway to evaluate and approve this class of drugs. Many lifesaving biologics are long out of patent, but are still expensive because generics can’t get approved. “The price tag (for insulin) might well drop by as much as 25 percent,” she said.

Brown and Martinez agreed that there was strong bipartisan support for the act.

“We probably have four different opinions here about here on the best way to proceed on healthcare reform, but everyone agrees a prerequisite is to bring costs down," Schumer said.

The summary of the bill contained a clause limiting “exclusivity” (like a patent) to five years for the original molecule and three years for some modifications.