Transportation Dept. Kicks Off New Drunk Driving Crackdown

By Tim Young

Just in time for the Holidays, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood kicked off a national crackdown on drunk driving known as “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” today.

The program, which is supported by Mothers Against Drunk Driving, aims to continue to lower the numbers of drunk driving related accidents throughout the U.S. during not only the holiday season, but the rest of the year.

“Safety is our focus year round at DOT. But this holiday season, we’re stepping up our efforts to get drunk drivers off our roads and reminding Americans ‘drive sober, or get pulled over,’” said Secretary LaHood. “We’re making gains in our fight against drunk driving, but we cannot and will not let up.”

According to the Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), there has been a drop in drunk driving deaths in 32 states, DC and Puerto Rico throughout 2010. 

The winter crackdown on drunk driving will include a $7 million advertisement campaign that will run December 16 through January 2.  These advertisements are similar to those from the summer months which featured an invisible police officer arresting drunken would-be motorists.

All 50 states and the District of Columbia currently prohibit driving with a blood alcohol concentration over .08.

No Budget, No Paycheck Say Lawmakers

A bipartisan duo of Hill lawmakers believe they have finally found a way to motivate Congress into passing a budget.

The No Budget, No Pay Act, sponsored in the House by Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.), would halt congressional pay if Congress fails to pass appropriations bills on deadline. The legislation would also negate retroactive pay.

Cooper’s plan is featured in a new proposal by the centrist group “No Labels” called, “Making Congress Work.”

“This would not necessarily cut congressional pay, it would make every Congressman or Senator a forceful advocate for getting our work done on time,” Cooper told me during a phone interview today.

“I bet you we would get our work done on time,” he added.

(Click here to listen to clips from our conversation)

Sen. Dean Heller (D-Nev.), who introduced the bill in the upper chamber, said “if Congress does not do its job, then Congress should not get paid.”

The federal government has been operating under a series of temporary spending bills since 2009, the last year Congress passed a budget. Lawmakers are reportedly close, however, on sending a nearly $1 trillion “omnibus” spending package to President Obama’s desk by the end of the year.

The current fiscal year began on October 1.

Report: U.S. Drone Crashes At Seychelles Airport

The U.S. embassy in the island nation of Seychells says that an American drone has crashed at the country’s international airporport, according to Reuters.

A Defense Department spokesperson could not confirm the report.

News of the possible crash comes shortly after the Iranian state media reported that the military had shot down an American drone that was in the country’s airspace earlier this month. The aircraft is allegedly still in Iran’s possession.

Cheney Says U.S. Should Have Destroyed Downed Drone

Former Vice President Dick Cheney believes the President Barack Obama should have destroyed the American drone currently in the Iranian government’s possession.

“They’ll send it back in pieces after they’ve gotten all the intelligence they can out of it,” Cheney warned during an interview on CNN Monday.

The former Vice President explained that the U.S. could have staged a quick air strike to destroy the drone or, more difficultly, send in special operations forces.

According to ISAF forces, the drone is likely one that disappeared while flying over Western Afghanistan in late November. State television in Iran reported that the drone was shot down when detected in the country’s airspace.

Obama told reporters Monday that the U.S. has asked Iran to return the drone, but acknowledged that the request will not likely be heeded.

Kagan Recuses Herself From Arizona Immigration Case

Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan announced Monday that she will recuse herself from the high court’s challenge of Arizona’s controversial immigration law.

With her recusal, Kagan, who served as Obama’s solicitor general when the federal government initially filed suit against the bill, opens the window for a potential 4-4 split. 

Should the high court split the eight votes, the result would function as a win for the Obama administration because a lower court has already blocked provisions of the law, but the question of constitutionality would remain undecided. 

Similarly, conservatives have pushed for Kagan to recuse herself from hearing the challenge to President Obama’s healthcare law. Kagan, though, has repeatedly said that she did not serve as legal counsel during the development of the law’s provisions. 

Liberals, however, have also pushed for the recusal of Just Clarence Thomas due to the efforts of his wife, Virginia, to raise money in protest against the bill.