Our Awful Situation

Archive for the ‘Congress’ Category

Congressional approval falls to single digits!

Posted by patriot on July 8th, 2008

How much lower can it get?

The percentage of voters who give Congress good or excellent ratings has fallen to single digits for the first time in Rasmussen Reports tracking history. This month, just 9% say Congress is doing a good or excellent job. Most voters (52%) say Congress is doing a poor job, which ties the record high in that dubious category.

Last month, 11% of voters gave the legislature good or excellent ratings. Congress has not received higher than a 15% approval rating since the beginning of 2008.

Some lawmakers propose what’s already in the Constitution

Posted by patriot on July 8th, 2008

Why the need for redundant laws?

Former secretaries of state James Baker III and Warren Christopher say the next time the president goes to war, Congress should be required to say whether it agrees.

The co-chairmen of a bipartisan study group have proposed legislation that would require the president to consult lawmakers before initiating combat lasting longer than a week, except in cases of emergencies.

In turn, Congress would have to act within 30 days, either approving or disapproving of the action.

The plan, outlined by Baker and Christopher in an essay published Tuesday in The New York Times, would not necessarily prevent future debate on the so-called “war powers” issue.

Telecom Donations Tied to FISA Vote

Posted by Charlie Kilo on June 25th, 2008

Vote Democratic Party for “change”:

When scores of House Democrats joined Republicans last week to reauthorize a controversial White House spying program, many critics attributed that support to election-year jitters. But as liberal voters continue to bash Democrats on the issue, some campaign finance reformers charge that political contributions from the telecom industry, which benefited handsomely under the bill, probably also swayed votes.

Senators’ mortgages under microscope

Posted by Charlie Kilo on June 24th, 2008

What comes around goes around:

Amid a brewing scandal over special mortgage deals given to two U.S. senators, Politico last week asked the offices of all 100 senators to describe the circumstances under which they obtained their own home loans. Seventy-seven senators have complied so far. Twenty-three have not.

Senators are not required to report in their disclosure forms any financial information about their homes unless they draw rental income from the home. But in the wake of questions regarding mortgages obtained by Sens. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) — loans they received through a VIP program run by Countrywide Financial Corp. — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has said that the disclosure rules should be changed so that senators’ mortgage details are made public.

House leaders fund another year of Iraqi disaster

Posted by patriot on June 18th, 2008

Lovely.. no restrictions on your tax dollars:

House Democratic and Republican leaders have reached a deal on a war funding bill that will fund military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan into early 2009, several congressional sources said Tuesday.

The bill includes $165 billion to fund the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq through the rest of this year and into early 2009, without any restrictions on the money.

House Chairman Open To Republican Compromise On FISA

Posted by Charlie Kilo on June 5th, 2008

Where do I even start with this:

The House Intelligence Committee’s top Democrat disclosed late Tuesday that he is ready to accept a Republican-brokered deal to rewrite the nation’s electronic surveillance laws, signaling that a long-running congressional impasse could soon be coming to an end.

Notably, the GOP language, which was offered a day before the recent congressional recess, would leave it up to the secret FISA court to grant retroactive legal immunity to telecommunications companies that have helped the Bush administration conduct electronic surveillance on the communications of U.S. citizens without warrants.

House of Reps passes bill to sue OPEC over high gas prices

Posted by patriot on May 20th, 2008

Cold, hard proof that Congress is largely a pack of imbecils:

The House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved legislation on Tuesday allowing the Justice Department to sue OPEC members for limiting oil supplies and working together to set crude prices, but the White House threatened to veto the measure.

The bill would subject OPEC oil producers, including Saudi Arabia, Iran and Venezuela, to the same antitrust laws that U.S. companies must follow.

Counting people is hard (for the government) to do

Posted by Charlie Kilo on April 4th, 2008

Census Bureau scales back handheld plans, while project costs keep rising:

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Census Bureau’s plan to rely on automation, instead of paper, to conduct much of the 2010 national census is now officially a boondoggle. The agency is facing a cost overrun of up to $3 billion on the census, as well as angry members of Congress who are looking for someone to blame.

And Census Bureau officials are scaling back their automation plans, reducing the 500,000 custom-built handheld devices that the agency is buying from Harris Corp. to little more than bit players in the next census. At the same time, the size of the five-year contract that the Census Bureau signed with Harris in 2006 is more than doubling, from just under $600 million to about $1.3 billion.

The mood was caustic at a hearing on the census held here today by a subcommittee of the House Committee on Appropriations. Subcommittee members received the bad news that the 2010 census may now cost as much as $14.5 billion. And they seemed incredulous about the increase in some cost estimates, such as the ballooning of a $37 million expenditure for an IT help desk to nearly $220 million. Or the addition of $30 million to build a new data center.

So they burned through $600M on technology they won’t use. The result is an additional $3 billion in added expense?

This truly is a government operation!

Congress hearts defense contractors

Posted by patriot on April 3rd, 2008

Conflict of interest? Nah….

Members of Congress have as much as $196 million collectively invested in companies doing business with the Defense Department, earning millions since the onset of the Iraq war, according to a study by a non-partisan research group.

The review of lawmakers’ 2006 financial disclosure statements, by the Washington-based Center for Responsive Politics, suggests that members’ holdings could pose a conflict of interest as they decide the fate of Iraq war spending. Several members earning money from these contractors have plum committee or leadership assignments, including Democratic Sen. John Kerry, independent Sen. Joseph Lieberman and House Republican Whip Roy Blunt.

The study found that more Republicans than Democrats hold stock in defense companies, but that the Democrats who are invested had significantly more money at stake. In 2006, for example, Democrats held at least $3.7 million in military-related investments, compared to Republican investments of $577,500.

Good ol’ war profiteering…

Pork, pork, pork

Posted by patriot on April 2nd, 2008

Oink, oink:

A watchdog group critical of pork barrel spending released its latest findings Wednesday targeting the top Congressional “porkers.”

A government watchdog group released its annual report Wednesday on Congressional pork barrel spending.

Some of the biggest pork projects, according to the group, include a Lobster Institute; the Rocky Flats, Colorado, Cold War Museum; and the First Tee, a program to build young people’s character through golf.

Members of Congress requested funds for all these pet projects and thousands of others last year, according to the latest copy of the annual “Pig Book” released by Citizens Against Government Waste.

“Congress stuffed 11,610 projects” worth $17.2 billion into a dozen spending bills, the group said in the report released Wednesday.

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