http://www.inthesetimes.com/archives/tags/congress/ In These Times features award-winning investigative reporting about corporate malfeasance and government wrongdoing, insightful analysis of national and international affairs, and sharp cultural criticism about events and ideas that matter. en-us Expression Engine jessica@inthesetimes.com seamus@inthesetimes.com Mon, 29 Oct 2001 11:26:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/1596/where_have_all_the_liberals_gone/ When the history books are written, let the record show there was one politician with a backbone when it mattered. Rep. Barbara Lee of Oakland, California was the only member of the House or Senate on September 14 to vote against handing President George W. Bush vast authority to commence war or wars against unknown terrorists and the countries that aid them. When the vote on Resolution 64—Authorization for Use of Military Force—was called in the House that Friday night, Lee stood tall even if she stood alone among the 421 members present. "I know this use-of-force resolution will pass," Lee said. "There must be some of us who say, let's step back for a moment and think through the… government: congress David Sirota Thu, 22 Nov 2001 10:41:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/1586/loyal_opposition/ Five days before the bombing of Afghanistan began—in announcing the reopening of Washington to air traffic—George W. Bush declared, “This Thursday, ticket counters and airplanes will fly out of Ronald Reagan airport.” It was of this president with the addled tongue whom Al Gore spoke when, deploying the drawl he turns on when trying to seem folksy, he hollered to Iowa’s Jefferson-Jackson Day dinner that “George Bush is mah commander-in-chief!” (If Gore’s beard gets any longer, Bush can infiltrate him into Afghanistan.) Gore’s frothy nationalism symbolized the degree to which the Democratic leadership has abdicated its responsibility as watchdog on a president who is, to much of the world, out of control. As far as the miltarization of the campaign… government: congress David Sirota Tue, 15 Jul 2003 11:30:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/460/affirmative_denial/ One of the primary reasons I support the congressional bill to study the feasibility of reparations for the descendants of enslaved Africans is the need to acquaint Americans with the devastating effects racial slavery has had on African-Americans. That need was never more apparent than during national discussions of the Supreme Court’s recent affirmative action rulings. In a 5-4 vote, the high court ruled that the University of Michigan law school (and thus all colleges and universities) could constitutionally consider race as a factor in admissions. The court also ruled that the school’s undergraduate admissions point system, which awards points for certain racial identities, is unconstitutional. Progressives applauded the top court’s law school ruling as a victory for the forces… civil liberties government: congress government: judiciary race social justice David Sirota Mon, 21 Jul 2003 09:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/459/prescription_for_privatization/ Democrats who supported the dreadful Republican legislation for prescription drug coverage under Medicare, which passed the House and Senate in late June, rationalized their support as a case of the camel getting his nose into the tent. In years to come, they suggested, there will be opportunities to improve prescription drug coverage once the principle is established. But the camel that is likely to make the most progress into the tent is not the carrier of prescription drugs. It’s the one bearing the dangerous baggage of Medicare privatization. With this legislation—details of which will now be worked out in a House-Senate committee—Bush may undercut one of the most potent issues for Democrats in the next election (since the plan conveniently… government: administration government: congress medical and health David Sirota Mon, 04 Aug 2003 04:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/462/intelligence_report/ One of the most under-reported findings of the joint congressional inquiry into the suicide hijackings of 9/11, published July 24, is that U.S. intelligence had no evidence that Iraq was involved in the attacks or that it supported the al-Qaeda terrorist network that planned and carried them out. This disclosure contradicts the Bush administration, which cited links between Saddam Hussein’s regime and al-Qaeda terrorists as one of the reasons for attacking Iraq. The report bolsters the argument that the Bush administration cynically manipulated intelligence to justify invading Iraq. What’s more, it’s clear that the White House deliberately delayed the report’s release until the pre-emptive invasion was a fait accompli. The inquiry, conducted by a joint House and Senate committee, was… government: administration government: congress war in iraq David Sirota Tue, 09 Dec 2003 15:37:01 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/489/corporate_medicare/ The Medicare “reform” bill recently passed by Congress manipulates the cost and quality of health care provided to older Americans in order to maximize the profit margins of HMOs, insurance corporations and drug companies—the very same entities that poured money into congressional election campaigns. Such political contributions are of course legal—a legislatively sanctioned form of bribery that corrupts the democratic process. In the case of the Medicare bill and its much hyped prescription drug benefit, this institutional corruption will prove lethal, literally, to seniors forced to choose between buying life-saving drugs and other of life’s necessities—food, shelter, heat. The role that the current campaign finance system played in the Medicare bill battle was the story behind the headlines. Consider the… corporations economy government: congress medical and health politics David Sirota Thu, 11 Dec 2003 16:00:01 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/490/how_to_fix_the_medicare_mess/ The Medicare overhaul legislation that Congress passed just before Thanksgiving does too much to help special interests and too little for the seniors and people with disabilities who rely on Medicare for their health care. If Congress had been designing this legislation with people in mind, it would have added a drug benefit to the original Medicare program and insisted that Medicare negotiate directly with the drug companies for low prices on their drugs. Unfortunately Congress only considered human need after it addressed the demands of the drug industry, the insurance industry and those ideologically zealous Congressional leaders who would like Medicare, as older Americans have come to know and rely on it, to wither on the vine. First, Congressional… government: congress medical and health politics David Sirota Thu, 19 Feb 2004 15:17:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/706/the_bush_budget/ There are few surprises in President Bush’s 2005 budget. The main contours follow the same pattern as his past budgets, with more tax cuts oriented toward the wealthy and increased spending on the military and homeland security. The result of this pattern of taxation and spending is large deficits that will prove unsustainable in the not-very-distant future. At first glance, increases in military spending in the Bush budget do not appear very large. The budget proposes that military spending increase to $467 billion in 2009 from $433 billion in the 2004 budget, with spending actually declining slightly to $429 billion in 2005. However, the proposed spending does not include any appropriations for the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. Bush intends… economy government: administration government: congress David Sirota Thu, 19 Feb 2004 15:44:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/708/faulty_intelligence/ The commission appointed by President George W. Bush to look into WMD-related “intelligence failures” can be considered “independent” only if the word now means “subordinated and allied.” The members lack the expertise required to uncover what really went wrong, and their limited mandate sidesteps the central question: Did the administration hype intelligence reports to march the United States into war? Rather than allowing Congress to name the members and determine the scope of their investigation, the intelligence commission was established by executive fiat and is a mixture of centrists and right-wing ideologues—suggesting that Bush is less concerned with unraveling the Iraq fiasco than deflecting criticism until after the November elections. Co-chairmen are Laurence Silberman, a retired appeals court judge appointed… government: administration government: agencies government: congress politics war in iraq David Sirota Tue, 09 Mar 2004 09:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/520/how_a_bad_bill_becomes_law/ Remember the elementary school lesson “How a Bill Becomes a Law”? Well, George W. Bush and Republican Leadership in Congress redefined lawmaking when they forced their Medicare law through Congress. And a brief look at the gnarled twists and turns taken as this bill became law should make any student of American democracy shudder. Step One Use your bill to raise massive amounts of political cash from friendly corporate interests. On June 19, 2002, two days after Republicans unveiled their new Medicare bill, the pharmaceutical industry staged a fundraiser for President Bush and the Republican Party in which a record-breaking $30 million was raised in one night. British drug giant GlaxoSmithKline, the chief corporate fundraiser of the event, coughed up… government: congress medical and health politics David Sirota Sat, 13 Mar 2004 01:55:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/403/watergate_redux/ The Senate Judiciary seems poised to recommend further, possibly criminal, investigation of pilfered Democratic computer files to the Department of Justice (DOJ), after a report by the Senate sergeant-at-arms revealed that at least two Republican staffers inappropriately accessed more than 4,000 records during an 18-month period. As In These Times went to press, committee members were still wrestling over which course to pursue. Some Republicans indicated a desire to take the unusual step of asking the Secret Service to decide whether the matter warranted a criminal investigation, while Democrats pushed for a special prosecutor to be appointed. A likely compromise would be a recommendation that the DOJ open a criminal investigation. It seems unlikely that the matter will be dropped.… government: congress politics technology David Sirota Fri, 26 Mar 2004 16:43:01 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/525/transparency_now/ After months of refusing to admit that his administration may be guilty of misleading the American people on the rationale for going to war in Iraq, President Bush finally acknowledged in February the need for an “independent” commission to consider the possible misuse of American intelligence. The use of this “intelligence” led us into a conflict in which more than 560 Americans have been killed and more than 3,000 have been wounded, along with untold numbers of Iraqis and noncombatants. The decision to name the Commission on the Investigation of U.S. Intelligence on Weapons of Mass Destruction was long overdue. Congress, the American people and especially our troops expect credible and thorough answers into how and why our nation went… government: administration government: congress war in iraq David Sirota Thu, 15 Apr 2004 08:09:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/721/incredible_credibility/ Men like Richard Clarke do not, as a rule, write books. Mandarins of the national security establishment who long ago embedded themselves in the bureaucracy, the closest they ever come to anything like public authorship is via the pens of others. They frequently speak to journalists, sometimes on the record as adjuncts of the political master du jour; other times, only on background, perhaps in the service of what they see as sounder policy than the White House does. They consider their import to be their possession of more focused experience and better institutional memory than the strictly politicals they work for; yet by and large they are committed to working within the system, and even in anger rarely consider… government: administration government: agencies government: congress politics David Sirota Tue, 08 Jun 2004 15:21:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/767/when_ignorance_isn_bliss/ Between Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, Chris Matthews, John Ashcroft’s terror warnings, “The Bachelor,” the final episode of “The Sopranos” and those incessant injury lawyer commercials, voters in November are somehow expected to cast informed votes for Congress. We are supposed to base our decision on talking points parroted to us by inane TV reporters or, worse, paid political ads. Many people, of course, simply tune out and do not vote. Those who do head to the polls often vote with little knowledge of what their elected representatives are doing. So, in an effort to cut through the din this year, here are five congressional votes that everyone in America should know about. They come straight from the you-can’t-make-this-stuff-up file, and… government: congress election 2004 David Sirota Thu, 18 Nov 2004 07:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/1699/what_issues_should_democrats_focus_on/ Throughout our nation’s history, hope and optimism have defined the American spirit. As a nation, we have always emerged from difficult times of war and economic uncertainty stronger and more unified. And every generation has struggled to leave our children a world that is stronger and more secure than the one left to us. That is our legacy, and it must also be our commitment. Our nation faces great challenges in the days and months ahead. There is danger abroad and unfulfilled promise here at home. And as it has been for the past four years, the country is divided. But our partisan split, rather than being an excuse for inaction, must be a call to compromise and common sense.… government: congress politics election 2004 David Sirota Mon, 29 Nov 2004 07:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/1708/the_gloves_are_off/ While the 2004 election was a disaster for most Democrats, Rep. Jan Schakowsky, a member of the Progressive Caucus, was easily reelected to her fourth term representing the 9th Congressional District in Illinois. In These Times spoke with her about the state of progressive politics. Recently House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) has come under fire for ethical lapses involving his PAC. Why are Democrats so reluctant to hold Republicans accountable, when Republicans vehemently go after the smallest impropriety committed by a Democrat? There’s an explicit criticism of Democrats here: That Republicans are better at this kind of smearing and negative campaigning. There’s a whole infrastructure to go after Democrats. There’s no question about it. But you’re seeing a change… government: congress politics David Sirota Fri, 03 Dec 2004 14:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/1737/souls_for_sale/ House Majority Leader Tom “The Hammer” DeLay (R-Texas) is the most loathsome politician to be retched onto the national stage in recent memory. To call him a shit would be to slander feces, which, to its credit, is the natural by-product of a nutritive process. DeLay can claim no such distinction. The normally dormant House Ethics Committee recently hit DeLay with a barrage of rebukes for actions ranging from his shady fundraisers with energy execs to his misuse of Federal Aviation Administration resources for partisan purposes to his attempted bribery of a fellow House member’s vote. Meanwhile, the Senate Indian Affairs Committee has been investigating the ludicrous $45 million that two of DeLay’s close associates charged four Indian tribes in… government: congress politics David Sirota Fri, 27 May 2005 07:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2130/before_sunset/ Last October, agents from the FBI and Treasury Department, accompanied by a gaggle of TV news crews, raided the Columbia, Mo., offices of a small charity called the Islamic-American Relief Agency (IARA). Computers and records were seized, and several hundred thousand dollars in donated funds destined for relief work in Kenya were frozen. There were no arrests or charges, though federal agents visited the homes of many of the charity's local donors. IARA, according to its attorney, Shereef Akeel, was effectively shut down under a little-known provision of the USA PATRIOT Act, which expanded the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to allow the government to freeze the assets of organizations while it investigates for links to terrorism. "The government has… civil liberties government: congress David Sirota Tue, 12 Jul 2005 06:59:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2241/the_progressive_promise/ We are in the midst of a progressive awakening in this country. In my 12 years in Washington, I have never been more confident and optimistic about the future of progressive politics. Nothing has united and mobilized the left like George Bush and this Republican Congress. Time after time, on issue after issue, the President and his allies have shown nothing but contempt for the values of justice and equal opportunity. Their guiding political philosophy is that the "haves" should have more … and everyone else be damned. They have said "No" to health care reform, to funding education, to a higher minimum wage, to a clean environment, to stem cell research, reproductive freedom, to civil rights and voting rights.… government: congress politics David Sirota Fri, 05 Aug 2005 12:13:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2273/keep_the_voting_rights_act_alive/ A major march is on tap for August 6 in Atlanta to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act and to mobilize support for extension of some of the Act's provisions. Although conceived and convened by the Rev. Jesse Jackson's Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, the march has been enthusiastically endorsed and applauded by a wide array of civil rights, voting rights and civil liberties groups. "We see schemes to undermine voting growing and the silence from the Department of Justice is deafening," Jackson said at a news conference last month announcing the march. "The Voting Rights Act is a sacred act and it should not be tampered with." The Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965 during the administration of… government: congress race David Sirota