Washington, Will You Be Mine?
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"The mining industry is confronted with a very challenging environment," said Kraig Naasz, the new head of the U.S. industry lobby group National Mining Association (NMA).
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
"The mining industry is confronted with a very challenging environment," said Kraig Naasz, the new head of the U.S. industry lobby group National Mining Association (NMA).
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
The U.S.
In the coming week the Senate will continue to debate the Fiscal Year 2008 defense budget after last week's testimony by Gen. David Petraeus and Amb. Ryan Crocker, which will provide a platform for general debate on the Iraq War and measures to begin withdrawing troops. It will also look at a bill to provide a congressional seat for Washington, D.C. The House will take on the Federal Aviation Administration section of the federal budget and, through the Financial Services Committee, will take up legislation to increase federal backing of low and middle income mortgages.
Know anything about these issues? Click the links to the articles above and add what you find. A complete list of the week's congressional hearings are below, courtesy of Govtrack.
Hearings Schedules:
The main event this week on Capitol Hill was General Petraeus's testimony on the situation in Iraq. Between the testimony and the shortened week due to Rosh Hashanah, the Senate still had time to get through one major appropriations bill and preempt a vote on a resolution defending Gen. Petraeus that Senate Republicans were trying to tack onto it. Also, President Bush was expected to sign the Senate ethics and transparency bill, S.1, on Friday. More details can be found below and the links go to the full Congresspedia articles. Remember, Congresspedia is a wiki, so if you would like to add to these articles or record your representatives' votes, head on over and click "edit":
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Democracy Now! reports: "President Bush's prime time address before the nation tonight culminates a carefully orchestrated public relations campaign to win support for the continuation of the war in Iraq.
The marquee events in Congress this week will be the hearings in both chambers of Congress with testimony from General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker on the Iraq War. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will also hear testimony from Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and FBI Director Robert Mueller on the July National Intelligence Estimate, which claimed that Al-Quaeda had largely rebuilt itself to pre-Afghanistan War levels. Most of these hearings, whose schedules are listed below, are available for live viewing via C-SPAN.
Also on the Senate's agenda is the $104.7 billion Transportation-Housing and Urban Development Fiscal Year 2008 funding bill, which currently exceeds President Bush's budget request by $3.1 billion and may receive a veto threat from him. With the beginning of Rosh Hashana on Wednesday evening, business in the Capitol will largely cease for the week.
Hearings Schedules:
It was an eventful week on Capitol Hill, as Congress returned from its August recess and dug into a series of spending bills that must be completed by the end of the fiscal year on September 30th. The nutshell versions of the major bills that received action are below and the links go to their full Congresspedia articles. Remember, Congresspedia is a wiki, so if you would like to add to these articles or record your representatives' votes, head on over and click "edit":
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Babies that are not breast fed suffer higher rates of health problems including sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), diabetes, lymphoma, leukemia, Hodgkin's disease, obesity, high cholesterol and asthma. Unfortunately, many parents are still unaware of these risks, thanks to the infant formula industry.
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"DLA Piper, which has repped Afghanistan on a pro bono basis for the past five years, wants some cash from its client to cover the 'critical work that lies ahead,'" reports O'Dwyers. The Afghan government will pay the law and lobby firm $10,000 per month; expenses over that amount will be waived by the firm. The document (PDF file) that Piper filed with the U.S.
Congress is back in session after their August break and are diving headfirst into a passel of spending bills, many of which are due by September 30th, the end of the 2007 fiscal year. Iraq will also be a huge issue this month as the "Petraeus report" (which we have learned is actually being written by the White House) is to be delivered to Congress on September 10th - 11th and a Government Accountability Office report on Iraq is published in the next few days. While plenty of debate on Iraq is expected this week, it is unclear if anyone will try to move any bills ahead of Petraeus' testimony next week.
The issue of Iraq is also, of course, intertwined with the debate over the budget for the next fiscal year year, which starts October 1st. This week the Senate will take up spending bills for military construction and veterans affairs and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) also reportedly wants to start work on funding bills for the Defense Department, transportation and foreign operations. Authorization bills for the Federal Aviation Administration, Food and Drug Administration, State Children's Health Insurance Program and the massive 2007 Farm Bill also due by the end of the month. Congressional Democrats are additionally looking to pass legislation passed by the House earlier this year on student loans and financial aid.
As the September 30th deadline approaches it is unclear if all the funding bills, possibly including funding for the Iraq War, will be passed individually or passed as an omnibus bill. President Bush, meanwhile, is threatening to veto any bill that exceeds the budget he sent to Congress.
On the personnel front, Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) announced his resignation on Saturday, effective September 30th. The Republican governor of Idaho is expected to appoint current Lieutenant Governor Jim Risch to serve until the end of Craig's term next year. Sen. Tim P. Johnson (D-S.D.) is back after recovering from his stroke and says he'll be serving through the end of his term next year when he expects to run for reelection.
Each of the links in this post go to articles on the Congresspedia/SourceWatch wiki and are fully editable, so if you've seen some relevant information around, help spread truth and facts by going to the wiki article, clicking "edit this page" and adding it.
The House has not yet posted their hearing schedule for the week, but the Congresspedia staff put together the Senate schedule for the week:
Hearings Schedules:
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