Wednesday, March 05, 2008

ThinkFast: May 5, 2008

THINK PROGRESS

“Voters in two southern Vermont towns passed articles Tuesday calling for the indictment of President Bush and Vice President Cheney for violating the Constitution. More symbolic than substantive, the items sought to have police arrest Bush and Cheney if they ever visit Brattleboro or nearby Marlboro or to extradite them for prosecution elsewhere — if they’re not impeached first.”

Yesterday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said he does not “agree with [the] sentiment that there has been widespread corruption” in the Bush administration, suggesting he wouldn’t support independent investigations into the administration’s activities if elected.

Despite recent speculation of a compromise, Congress is still deadlocked over controversial electronic surveillance legislation. Democratic aides met yesterday in an effort to resolve differences between House and Senate bills, but “Republicans boycotted the meetings — as they have previous meetings on the issue.”

Twenty-six Senate Democrats will send a letter to the Bush administration today urging it to impose sanctions on Iran, contending its central bank “is heavily involved in the funding of terrorism and the financing of Iran’s proliferation activities.”

Senate Democrats unveiled a budget “that would inject billions of additional dollars into such domestic priorities as education, energy and transportation, while providing $35 billion for a second round of government spending aimed at stimulating a weak economy.” The budget “omits…tens of billions of dollars to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

A top CDC official told a congressional panel yesterday that the agency “should have reacted sooner to concerns about hazardous fumes in government-issued trailers housing thousands of Gulf Coast hurricane victims.” Howard Frumkin said “Formaldehyde in trailers didn’t rise to the top of our priority list at that time.”

Adopting a message that could “help Democrats to portray themselves as protecting the military and national security,” Congressional Democrats will argue that getting troops out of Iraq “is the only way to rebuild a spent military.”

Anti-coal groups filed a lawsuit this week “to stop federal investment in new power plants that would enshrine coal for another generation.”

Today, Senate conservatives plan to announce a package of harsh immigration bills that would “require jail time for illegal immigrants caught crossing the border, make it harder for them to open bank accounts and compel them to communicate in English when dealing with federal agencies.”

And finally: Get ready for the House GOP’s “live-blogging” from a Budget Committee debate on the fiscal 2009 spending plan! House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) said that Americans will get a “front-row seat for this important debate” and a “chance to follow the action as it happens.” The excitement starts today at 10:30 EST here.

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