First, I want to wish you all a Happy 4th of July. I've been thinking about the meaning of Independence Day, a day on which we as a people publicly declared our desire to be masters of our own destiny, to chart our own course as a free and independent society no longer under the control of others. For 232 years we Americans have done just that. We have governed ourselves, and I'd say that our record is one in which we can justly take a great deal of pride.
On this 4th of July, I've also been thinking about another kind of independence, namely energy independence. We are a strong country with our best days yet ahead of us. Right now, however, we face tremendous problems because we are deeply dependent on foreign oil. And we're not just importing oil from friendly democracies like Canada, but from places like Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela, countries who have very different values and interests from our own.
That's right - the President came all the way to the Garden State (what? what?) to tell nervous home-owners that help is on the way! From the Star-Ledger:
"And I want my fellow citizens, if you're worried about your home, to call this number: 1-888-995-HOPE," Bush said. "Hope Now can help homeowners find the right solution."
What a cute little photo-op!
New t-shirt idea: "Someone I know bailed out Bear Sterns, and all I got was this lousy hotline."
That's what the rumors say. And these photos from APP's website suggest it's true:
[Caption: "Asbury Park Press trucks lined up to block off access to to President Bush's arrival by helicopter. Mike Chadwick, fleet supervisor blocks off entrance to press facility. Dave May/photo"]
Bush's first visit to Monmouth county since he's been president started and ended at the Asbury Park Press -- the only major daily paper in the state to endorse his reelection campaign in 2004.
So the APP provided logistical staffing for the president's visit to New Jersey. I'm sure this won't affect their stellar record of objective journalism.
The House will vote today to try to override Bush's pro-torture veto, though it's unlikely they'll have the 2/3 votes needed (Update: the override failed 225-188, short of 2/3. Reps LoBiondo, Ferguson, Frelinghuysen, Garrett and Saxton voted for torture while Chris Smith joined NJ's Democrats in voting to override the veto). Congressman Rush Holt spoke on the issue:
"Let's be clear: American personnel - civilian or military - should never engage in interrogation practices that amount to torture. The provision the President objects to would simply put the entire U.S. government under one standard for interrogating detainees: the Army Field Manual. The heads of the Defense Intelligence Agency and the FBI have testified that the non-torture guidelines in this bill are adequate for their people to follow in interrogation of dangerous people.
"If the President were serious about restoring our reputation in the world and about providing moral and legal clarity for all government employees involved in the handling or interrogating detainees, he would never have vetoed this bill. Providing that moral and legal clarity is our Constitutional obligation, and to that end I urge my colleagues to join me in voting to override the President's veto.
Update 2: 5th district Congressional candidate Dennis Shulman:
"We need members of Congress who take issues of morality seriously. Instead of a reliable vote for torture like Scott Garrett, we need representatives who recognize that torture inherently generates unreliable information while reducing our standing in the world. Our great strength as a nation is that, to paraphrase Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., while the arc of our history is long, it bends toward justice.
In the end, we will renounce the turn away from justice that torture represents."
Today President Bush vetoed the Fiscal Year 2008 Intelligence Authorization Act, which banned the use of torture by all American government personnel. Congressman Rush Holt responded:
"By proudly and openly vetoing this legislation, President Bush is signaling to the world that he wants the US to be able to use torture--even though the use of torture can never make America safe. Torture never produces reliable information, and its use only gives aid and comfort to our enemies by bringing us down to their barbaric level in the eyes of the world. For the sake of our standing and our national security, I hope Congress will vote to override this veto next week."
Rush Holt (Chair of the House Select Intelligence Oversight Panel) is teh awesome:
"The President, at this morning's press conference, said that the American people expect we will provide the intelligence community with the tools it needs to protect the country. It has those tools now through the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), and would have all the authority necessary to protect Americans into the future under the RESTORE Act, passed by the House in November. The RESTORE Act embodies the principle that officials must establish before a court that they have reason to intercept communications involving American citizens. What the President really wants is a permanent blank check to conduct indiscriminate collection and fishing expeditions without any judicial oversight. This does not lead to better intelligence.
"The President has had multiple opportunities to work with Congress to modernize FISA. Instead, he has chosen to demagogue this issue through a propaganda campaign, one dependent on fear-mongering and false accusations. If the President is serious about protecting the American people, he'll drop the campaign-style rhetoric and work with us to pass a realistic and workable intelligence surveillance bill."
Senator Menendez responded to reports that the Bush administration wants to provide less than half of the $3.2 billion in funding requested by the Homeland Security department for first responders (press release):
"For an administration that constantly uses 9/11 and the continuing terrorist threats to justify a whole range of policies, this would seem to be a decision rooted in a pre-9/11 mentality. We've seen a lot of questionable homeland security decisions by the Bush Administration over the past six years, and this would be one of the more misguided moves."
"At the same time the president is asking for $200 billion for the Iraq War this year, he reportedly wants to shortchange local first responders along with port and transit security here at home -- even in the areas most at risk. With al Qaeda having regrouped in a safe zone along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, it's clear that our number one enemy is back in business and that our first responders need all the preparation they can get.
"These reported cuts would seem to have a disproportionate effect on New Jersey, with our heavy concentration of people, ports and transit systems. I will stand up for security in our state and work to make sure this plan doesn't see the light of day."
A Rutgers-Eaglton poll (Oct 18-23, MoE +/- 3.1%) has good news for Hillary Clinton. Among New Jersey Democrats, Clinton's leads over Barack Obama grew to 52% - 21% from 45% - 21% in August. John Edwards support dropped from 16% in August to just 8% in October. Among Republicans, Rudy 9/11 leads John McCain by 54% - 12%, a slight drop from his 61% - 10% lead in October.
In a matchup against the two frontrunners, Clinton leads Giuliani by 49% - 39%, an improvement from a narrower 44% - 41% lead in August.
Clinton's support has also solidified. While in August, 51% of Clinton supporters said they were very sure of their vote, that number grew to 68% in October.
President Bush's approval among registered voters fell from 24% in August to a staggering 19% in October - an all-time low for Bush in the Rutgers-Eaglton poll. Among independent voters, Bush's approval rating is 12% with 81% disapproving, while Republicans are split 47% - 47%.
Really good analysis. Promoted from the diaries -- Juan
NJ3's Jim Saxton figured prominently in a September 21 "CQ Today" piece on House GOP moderates. Reading it now, it seems ? quaint.
For much of his career, Rep. H. James Saxton has been sidetracked - a moderate Republican brushed aside by ambitious conservatives who ruled the caucus.
These days, the New Jersey lawmaker has quietly become a leader in a drive by moderates to increase their clout just when the party needs them most.
Just a few days later, Saxton threw off his moderation and voted against a modest increase in the popular SCHIP insurance program for needy kids. And he threw in with the red-scaring crowd of scared Red Staters raising the (false) alarm that expanding SCHIP starts the slide to "socialized medicine."
"Once again, President Bush has missed an opportunity to display compassionate leadership. Instead, he has resorted to political and ideological gamesmanship rather than seek a bipartisan solution that would protect this nation's most vulnerable children.
"The stakes in New Jersey are high, our successful Family Care program has 124,000 children and 80,000 parents whose coverage is in jeopardy. If the program is not reauthorized, these children and their families might lose their coverage or alternatively New Jersey taxpayers will be forced to pick up the tab.
"While the President continues to advocate an ideological and harsh policy of reducing coverage of children, we will do everything we can to preserve the bipartisan Family Care program.
"President Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, "The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little." The impact of this veto action sorely impedes progress made by individual states in addressing the burgeoning problems faced by the thousands of uninsured families struggling to make ends meet.
"I commend the bipartisan effort of our New Jersey delegation who voted to renew SCHIP. And I urge Congress to overturn this devastating veto and fully reauthorize the State Children's Health Insurance Program. The future of our nation is in these very children we seek to safeguard."
Since Hillary Clinton's scandal over fugitive fund-raiser Norman Hsu, presidential campaigns have upped the vetting of their "bundlers" -- individuals who gather up lots of donations to direct them to the candidate of their choice. Undoubtedly, presidential candidates are reluctant to flush out any donor -- especially big bundlers, and with the exception of someone like Hsu, members of this elite group are likely to remain the most influential people you've never heard of in American politics.
For example, take the subject of this post: Ocean County Republican Chairman and Rudy Giuliani '08 bundler, George Gilmore. Maybe you're familiar with Gilmore, who is without question the most powerful Republican boss in the state. He's a partner in a lucrative law firm, Gilmore & Monahan, which handles millions of taxpayer dollars every year. He's a fund-raising dynamo, becoming a "Pioneer" (bundling more than $100,000) for George W. Bush in both 2000 and 2004. But there's one thing a lot of people didn't know about Gilmore until recently.
He's had trouble paying his taxes.
At least that's what the Ocean County Observer says. Last week, they reported that "county tax records still show that Gilmore has a tax lien for $158,716.74 in outstanding [individual federal income] tax payments from 2005." According to the Observer, Gilmore paid his liens just a few weeks ago -- the exact same time citizens and reporters began researching the story.
What Giuliani should do is a no-brainer: if Gilmore had the means to raise $100,000 for Bush in 2004, he had the means to pay his income taxes in 2005. To absolve him because he paid them off when people started asking questions is absurd. Giuliani needs to boot him from his campaign, and do it fast.
Now the question should be, 'How much money did Gilmore bundle for Giuliani while he left more than $158,000 of his taxes unpaid?' In other words, how much is Giuliani going to return, or give to charity? Hillary returned upwards of $800,000 in the Hsu case.
Astonishingly, tax liens are like a rite of passage in Gilmore's Ocean County Republican machine these days. Several high profile Republicans have now had their tax liens exposed -- including the GOP candidates for the top offices in two large towns. They are: Toms River Council President and Mayoral Candidate Gregory P. McGuckin ($121,913), Brick Council President and Mayoral Candidate Stephen Acropolis ($27,516), Beachwood Mayor Harold Morris ($16,437.29) and Toms River Municipal Utility Authority Commissioner Joseph Bilotta ($127,498.32).
There's even more to this story -- and a reason Giuliani may be unable to distance himself from Gilmore. Because the Ocean County Republican boss has done a lot more for Giuliani than fund-raising. Read below for the rest.
Blue Jersey's Jay Lassiter interviews Senator Bob Menendez on challenges facing the State Children's Health Insurance Program under the Bush Administration. Menendez talks about his fight for working families in New Jersey and around the country.
With participating states facing huge funding shortfalls, the Senator secured $650 million in supplemental appropriations for SCHIP (with $100 million coming to NJ) and he is fighting the Bush Administration's attempts to pull the rug out from under currently insured people -- 110,000 in New Jersey alone.
The federal law authorizing SCHIP will expire on September 30, and needs a re-authorization. The Bush Administration wants to eliminate all parent coverage, meaning that New Jersey's 80,000 working parents who earn enough to above the poverty line to not qualify for Medicaid will no longer be insured. Bush also wants to make it harder for children to qualify for health care -- and would stop covering 30,000 New Jersey children.
Today, the Senate Finance Committee is moving forward a bipartisan, 5 year authorization to provide insurance for those 110,000 New Jerseyans and others like them around the country.
But of course, Bush has said if he doesn't get his way, he'll veto. In response, Senator Menendez says he'd like to ask the President, "Where are your values?"
It is immoral, in my mind, to say that we can give over $100 billion dollars to people making over $200,000 per year, but we can't give $10 billion dollars over five years -- over five years -- to insure millions.
A Quinnipiac University poll released today finds that New Jersey voters disapprove of the job President Bush is doing by a 74%-21% margin. Even 43% of the state's Republicans disapprove. The poll's margin of error is only 2.5%. The previous Quinnipiac poll in April had a 70%-25% disapproval so at this rate I'll be able to turn over the title of Mr. 17 in just a few months.
Clay Richards, assistant director of the poll, noted "President Bush's approval rating has hit an all time low of just 21 percent - lower than we've ever measured for a President in any state or national poll."
Quinnipiac also polled the Presidential preferences of Democrats and Republicans. Clinton and Giuliani still lead their respective parties. Sadly, they included imaginary candidate Al Gore, so the results are meaningless and not worth reporting. I hope in the future they provide a poll of candidates who are actually running.
In matchups, Giuliani beats Clinton and Obama, while Clinton and Obama would defeat both McCain and Fred Thompson.
If politics were golf, President Bush would dominate. Sporting an already impressive 28% approval rating, Bush sunk a triple-eagle during his recent field trip to the Garden State two weeks ago. New Jersey rewarded him with an all-time best 24% approval (and 68% disapproval) score.
For those of you thinking he may have hit rock bottom, keep in mind that just a year ago, Bush had a 36% approval/58% disapproval rating in New Jersey. Only the spectacularly deluded could still be "very excited" about this sinking ship.
Fourteen governors are very worried. Their states are exhausting their allotment of federal money for the State Children's Health Insurance Program, which typically covers poor children whose parents earn too much to qualify for Medicaid -- "the working poor." With current eligibility rules and benefits, states need more money to cover the uninsured children who qualify. The program covers 535,000 children in New Jersey alone, along with 76,000 of their parents.
So what's the White House doing to ease the governors' fears? Rescinding coverage from children across the country.
In his budget this month, [President] Bush said he wanted to return the program to its "original objective" of covering children with family incomes less than twice the poverty level. Budget documents note that 16 states cover children above that level and that "one state, New Jersey, covers children up to 350 percent of the federal poverty level."
.....
Bush administration officials emphasized that states received a fixed amount of federal money each year, and they said individual children did not have a legal entitlement to benefits. Michael O. Leavitt, secretary of health and human services, said he would work with Congress to find "a short-term solution" for states exhausting their allotments this year. He said states could avoid shortfalls by managing their programs better.
How can they manager their programs better? The Bush administration has a few ideas: change your rules and benefits and drop healthcare for millions of children in families above 200% of the poverty level. Mission accomplished. Heckuva job.
The governors don't much like the sound of that, but they're powerless over the federal funds they need to keep up the programs. They need an ally in Congress.
Enter New Jersey's own, Rep. Frank Pallone: Chairman of the Health Subcommittee of the Energy and Commerce Committee, with authority over the children's program. The subcommittee will draft S-CHIP's five year extension this spring.
Pallone says he will fight to fully fund CHIP and ensure there are no shortfalls -- even after extending it to another eligible 9 million uninsured children nationwide. The President's plan means to continue S-CHIP along on its current path (read: continuing budget shortfalls and constant decreases in coverage). To that, Pallone said, "I have absolutely no intention of moving the president's proposals through our subcommittee."
Pallone will be talking about funding S-CHIP tomorrow morning on the Brian Lehrer Show, WNYC. Make us proud, Frank.
This afternoon on the Senate floor, I commented on President Bush's Iraq policy. I'd like to share some of the remarks with you.
Madam President, we just heard a debate about debates. And it strikes me that this world war that we're conducting here doesn't get to the fact that we are losing people every day in Iraq. 27 Americans died in a weekend, and our friends on the other side want to discuss the rules and the process.
Instead of being able to agree that there was a nonbinding resolution being proposed about whether or not you want to see this surge a la escalation of the war in Iraq, our friends were so conscience-stricken that they wanted to resort to more words and amendments. Why couldn't we just we have just passed or discussed that amendment, nonbinding resolution, and let it go and let the debate then continue, bring on the debate?
But no, this is the press relations battle that was just discussed by our colleague. That's not what we're looking for. We are looking to save lives -- American lives -- but we can't get to the subject because there is a question about what the rules ought to be. The rules ought to be the decency of our consciences here and let us make decision that will save lives and ease the pain on American families.
Madam President, this was an unfortunate dynamic that we saw this week: Republican colleagues determined to block the opportunity for the Senate to vote on the President's war escalation policy for Iraq. Just when the American people want this Congress to stop the President's misguided plan, our colleagues on the other side are hard at work to shut down that opportunity.
What they're afraid of is that we will confirm our support for the troops that are there now and any assertion, any insinuation that that isn't the truth is a foul lie. We are just as anxious to support the troops. We are more anxious in many ways because we call for equipment to be available to protect our troops, we call for the vehicles to be properly armored, we called for the body armor to be developed, but we didn't hear any complaints about the misdeeds of the contractors who weren't doing what they were supposed to. They weren't even monitored. We're going to talk about that.
Our friends in the minority can delay this debate and I hope the American public understands what is going on. Delay the debate. Don't let us come to the conclusion. Don't let the president see that a majority of this Senate does not want this escalation to take place. They'll delay this debate and vote for now, but it's going to happen eventually. It will happen because he American people are understandably frustrated with the President's conduct and mishandling of this war.
Madam President, our children are taught a lesson in school: if you do things wrong and you don't pass your courses, don't change your ways, don't listen to advice, you get an "F" on your report card. In the view of many of the American people -- most of the American people -- President Bush has gotten an "F" on his report card on the handling of the situation in Iraq. But he and the Vice President refuse to be held accountable and his allied in the Senate are blocking us from holding him accountable here. It's not a good lesson for our nation's young people. They see that if they don't do their work, they fail the course, and the President has not done his work, and he ought not to get a positive grade for his job thus far.
Voters in New Jersey's 11th congressional district need to read up on the person representing them in Washington. Rodney Frelinghuysen, someone who touts his moderate credentials, has gone off the deep end.
"Colleges and universities must do more to contain their costs, including those related to health care, insurance, and administrative and academic salaries," Frelinghuysen said. "Clearly, more must be done to address the cost crisis for those students entering college now and in the years to come."
What does Frelinghuysen mean when he says "contain the costs?"
Maybe he means cutting $12 billion in federal student-loan programs, which Rod and House Republicans did last February -- the day after they gave President Bush a standing ovation when he demanded permanent tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. That day, they also cut from other public services like Medicare, Medicaid, Supplemental Security Income, and more -- all in the name of containing costs.
Frelinghuysen ended up voting for the massively popular bill, as he saw that every NJ member besides Garrett voted for it (Retire Garrett will cover his votes later this week).
But his words and his prior votes beg the question, 'What does Rod Frelinghuysen know about containing costs?' He's been in Congress for 7 terms -- years that have seen a surplus deflate into a deficit. He's cut aid for the aging and widowed. He's made it harder for working families to send their kids to college. All to give the wealthy some taxes cuts and allow the President to spend hundreds of billions (likely trillions) on a war with no oversight.
Frelinghuysen has no right to lecture anyone on containing costs.
Less than a week after President Bush extended the deployment of the New Jersey Army National Guard, Governor Corzine has comforted worried families and, today, awarded $150,000 to help them through the hard times ahead.
This morning, Corzine awarded $150,000 to the Deployed Military Spouses Program to benefit families of New Jersey's deployed military.
About the program:
The Department of Community Affairs awarded $100,000 to the Women's Opportunity Center in early 2006. As of September 30, 2006, the program awarded 69 grants to 64 families from bases and armories throughout the state. The awards ranged from $76 to $2500. Of the 69 grants, 37 covered emergency household bills; 19 covered child care expenses; eight covered transportation; and five covered training. There was also a private donation ($1000) to the program that awarded two grants to families that did not make the income eligibly guidelines.
Adjutant General Glenn K. Rieth reminded,
Few citizens of New Jersey will fully understand the sacrifices that the families of our deployed service members make every day. This program helps to ensure that those National Guard and Reserve service families have the financial resources to keep the home front going while their Soldier, Airman, Sailor, Marine or Coast Guard members are away.
While the fight over escalation is not over in Washington, at least these troops can be sure that no matter what happens, New Jersey will look after their families.
This morning in North Brunswick, Senator Menendez and Representative Holt urged the President to sign a bill supporting life-saving stem cell research. Menendez and Holt spoke at Chromocell Corporation Technology Centre of New Jersey, where such research is conducted.
Embryonic stem cell research is supported by more than 500 organizations, including the American Medical Association, AARP, Association of American Medical Colleges, Parkinson's Action Network, American Diabetes Association, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, and Paralyzed Veterans of America.
The House passed legislation promoting research last week, and the Senate is expected to do so soon. As Rep. Holt said, "The only one standing in the way of progress on this issue is President Bush, and we're all here today to say plainly: put down your veto pen."
Senator Bob Menendez, reacting to the Bush/McCain extension of the NJ Army National Guard's Iraq tour.
In his address to the American people last evening, President Bush said 'where mistakes have been made, the responsibility rests with' him. However, the immeasurable hardships caused by this war don't rest with him - they rest with the thousands of American troops currently deployed to Iraq and those preparing for their next rotation to the region.
Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-11) on Bush's new plan:
I commend the President for working to change the dynamic in Iraq and for putting a new team of military leaders in place to lead that effort.
