"Fixes" bill passes the House

The House of Representatives has passed the bill that

was "fixed" by the Senate. This moves completes the top priority on President Obama's domestic policy. The bill, which passed with a 220-207 vote, will now go to the President to get signed into law. Among the fixed parts were provisions to shift government funding of student loans away from commercial banks and towards new educational initiatives, because previously, commercial banks have gotten federal subsidies for student loans. The bill also added over $60 million to the original plan, partly to expand insurance subsidies for lower and middle class families.
President Obama must feel that a great weight has been lifted from his shoulders with the passing of this bill by the House of Representatives. His top priority for here at home has finally come to pass, even though it was later than he wanted it. Last year, the healthcare reform had recieved no Republican support in any major votes, so the legislation must have been altered enough to appeal to enough Republicans that the bill could be passed. As stated in a previous blog, the executive order involving federal funding of abortions also helped to gain key Republican votes that ensured the passage of the legislation.

http://www.cnn.com/POLITICS/2010/03/25/health.care.main/index.html

Battle over Benefits

The Senate is again battling over a short-term extension of unemployment benefits, right before the two-week spring recess. The real issue at hand is whether Congress should explicitly state where the almost $10 billion per month funds are going to come from, or just go ahead without designating how to pay for the program. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) wants to eliminate additional government spending to pay for the bill. On the other hand, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) believes that the bill needs to be passed immediately, because the recession qualifies this bill as emergency. Currently, federal unemployment benefits start after the state-funded 26 weeks are over. Congress has approved up to 73 additional weeks, which it funds.
I can't decide where I stand on this issue; on one hand, we already have enough federal debt, and we don't need any more. But my problem with Coburn's stand is what programs are going to be cut to provide the funding. And on the other hand, I agree with Durbin that the recession does make this issue an emergency, because the jobless rate is staying rather steady at a high level, and to really end the recession, that rate needs to decrease, and this program would help encourage that. So, both sides have valid points.


http://www.cnn.com/POLITICS/2010/03/25/senate.jobless.benefits/index.html

The Court and "Under God"

The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, California, upheld the constitutionality of the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance. The court rejected two legal challenges brought by Michael Newdow, a Sacramento athiest. "The Pledge is constitutional," Judge Carlos Bea wrote for the majority in the 2-1 ruling. "The Pledge of Allegiance serves to unite our vast nation through the proud recitation of some of the ideals upon which our Republic was founded." In 2002, Newdow sued his daughter's school for having students recite the Pledge. The case reached the Supreme Court, but was dismissed because Newdow didn't have custody of his daughter, on who's behalf he was suing.
I completely agree with this decision, because the Pledge of Allegiance has been recited for years and years, and it shows, as Judge Carlos Bea said, a unity for our country, and that we are proud to be Americans, and no matter what religion someone is, the Pledge should incite patriotic feelings in that individual, if he or she is proud to be an American.


http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/03/11/federal-appeals-court-california-upholds-god-pledge-allegiance/

Federal Funding of Abortions

President Obama has signed an executive order that ensures that no federal money can be used for elective abortions. The President agreed to the order to appease the anti-abortion Republicans and to make sure that his healthcare reform bill was passed. There was a bloc of House members that wanted to make sure that the current policy did not change. The order prohibits federal funding of abortions, except for instances of rape, incest, or danger to the woman's life.
This executive order is a very good move, mostly because President Obama was desperate to get his healthcare reform bill passed, and this gained him many important votes in the House, including anti-abortion Rep. Bart Stupak (Mich.).

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/03/24/obama-signs-executive-order-reaffirming-laws-federal-funding-abortion/

Foreclosure Relief Effort

Three people briefed on the matter said that on Friday, the Obama administration will announce a plan that will reduce the amount that some people owe on their home loans. The plan is expected to include at least 3 months of temporary assistance for borrowers who have lost their jobs and an expanded effort to allow borrowers to refinance into Federal Housing Administration loans. The previous and current foreclosure prevention programs have been a failure to date, including the $75 billion foreclosure relief effort program. According to Moody's Economy.com, nearly 1 in 3 homeowners with a mortgage owe more than their property is worth.
This plan, I think, will help those that are very much in debt from their mortgage bounce back from this recession, stimulating the lowest bracket of homeowners back into the economy. From this, each economic class will then get stimulated as well. This is what the administration is hoping for, I believe.


http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/03/25/watchdog-blasts-obamas-mortgage-relief-plan/

"Don't ask, don't tell"

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has announced that the Pentagon will ease the enforcement of it's "don't ask, don't tell" policy of allowing gays to serve openly in the military, effective in 30 days. The "don't ask, don't tell" policy was first enacted in 1993. Among others, President Obama and Adm. Mike Mullen are supporting the change in policy, which will apply to all current cases. 69% of Americans feel that openly gay people should be allowed to serve in the military, whereas 27% were opposed to it, according to a Feb. 12-15 CNN poll.
The gay movement has been such a hot topic lately, and I feel that this is an important step in forwarding the movement as well. There is no reason that openly gay people should be prevented from serving in the military any more than from preventing minorities from serving, especially because they signed up for it and it's what they want to do.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/03/25/military.gays/index.html

"Fixed" bill clears the Senate

The United States Senate has passed a slightly altered version of the heathcare bill, and it will go on to the House for final approval. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said that the Democrats have the votes to pass the measure, which will then go to President Obama to be signed into law. The bill, which passed with a 56-43 vote, makes small changes to the bill President Obama signed into law on Tuesday, including removing two small student loan funding stipulations.
I have to say, the passing of the healthcare reform bills has happened rather suddenly, I think. I remember blogging about how President Obama wishes for the reforms to be passed by Christmas, and then how that didn't happen. I, personally, haven't heard much about the bills in the months since then, and then all of a sudden, we have new healthcare laws!

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/03/25/health.care.main/index.html

Sanctions on Iran

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has announced that the United States will not accept a nuclear-armed Iran, and will introduced sanctions against the country that will encourage Iran to "come clean" about it's suspected atomic program. In turn, Iran claims that it is not trying to produce a weapon of mass distruction, and that their forays into nuclear territory are merely to provide electricity. Clinton has stated that there will be real consequences for not proving that their nuclear activities will not lead to a nuclear weapon.
What I'm curious about is what kind of sanctions are going to be put into place to try to convince Iran to admit, if it's even true, that they are trying to build a nuclear weapon. The country is dead set against the United States and its allies, and so it's not feasible to expect them to tell us if they are making a bomb. Even if they are not trying to build the weapon, they are most likely relishing in the threat and fear that it is imposing in the Western world.


http://www.fownews.com/politics/2010/03/22/clinton-wants-iran-sanctions-bite/

Anti-Abortion Language

There was no way that the new healthcare reform bill would have passed last night if it hadn't been for many anti-abortion Democrats switching their "no" votes to "yes" votes. The bill ended up passing with a narrow 219 to 212 vote. The main controversy about the language in the bill about abortion was whether or not taxpayers would be forced into paying for abortions. What made the anti-abortion Democrats change their votes was that President Obama said that he would issue an executive order that would make sure that the current limits on federal funding of abortion would remain the same.
Since the heathcare bill had already passed in the Senate, and the House merely changed a few parts in the bill, I feel that the Senate will, probably, accept these changes if they are appropriately explained. If not, the bill that the Senate had passed would indeed become the law.


http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/03/22/abortion.heath.care.vote/index.html

Civil Rights in Greeley, CO

A civil complaint filed by the Colorado Civil Rights Commission has caused four people to pay a total of$10,000 worth of damages each. Each of the defendents has been accused of violation Colorado's Fair Housing laws by targeting Hispanic homebuyers, resulting in illegal discriminatory housing practices.
"Over the past three years, Colorado Civil Rights Division and Commission have really cracked down on predatory lending cases that discriminate against our most vulnerable homeowners," said Colorado Civil Rights Director Steven Chavez.

The discrimination against minorities, like the Wick Wo case that we learned about in the video earlier in class, can be taken to court by the minorites in question, even if they aren't citizens of the United States.

http://www.ncbr.com/article.asp?id=27902

Bad news for the Democrats?

With 37 seats in the Senate up for election this year, the Democratic majority may be in jeopardy, if certain possibilities were to occur.

There are two seats where the Democrats don't, almost for sure, have the seats secured due to retirements: North Dakota and Delaware. In Delaware, Attorney General Beau Biden has chosen to not run for his father's former seat, which means that the popular Republican Mike Castle has a very good chance at election. In North Dakota, Democrat Byron Dorgan's retirement has taken away the Dem's best chance at reelection, because the state has been tending towards the red in the past few years.

The second possibilty is that certain incumbents' chances at reelection are diminishing. These seats include Harry Reid, the Senate Majority Leader, D-Nev., Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., Ken Salazar, D-Co., and President Obama's seat in Illinois. Reid's approval ratings are approximately 30%, and his opponents, a Miss-America runner-up and a son of a basketball coach notorious for scandals, are faring much better in the polls. Three surveys in two weeks have shown Lincoln losing to four other candidates in her run for a third term. In Illinois, the Democratic candidate, Alexis Giannoulias, has been portrayed in a corrupt way, and with the public's outrage with the impeachment of their governor, being portrayed as such could really hurt Giannoulias' chances. In Colorado, Michael Bennet, who took Salazar's seat, is having trouble gaining recognition among his voters.

I really doubt that the Democrats will lose their majority, because for that to happen, the perfect scenarios will have to favor the Republicans, and while it is possible that they will gain some seats, it is not very probable that every single event will happen to favor the Republicans.

www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1958995,00.html?cnn=yes

Ability to filibuster

Senate-elect Scott Brown, R-Mass., was expected to be sworn in today in Washington, D.C., after Massachusets governor Deval Patrick signed the certificate of election at 9:30, ET. Brown was expected to take his office the 11th of February, but was eager to push the date up due to a couple very important votes that are going to take place before next Thursday. These votes include approval of two people nominated by President Obama, one to the National Labor Relations Board and one to the General Services Administration.

The addition of Scott Brown to the Senate was, in the first place, an interesting vote by Massachusets, and secondly, a bad omen for Obama and his fellow Democrats. Massachusets, typically being a blue state, went red for the first time in decades (according to Mr. Coit, and I'll just trust him on this). This should warn the Democrats that public opinion towards the healthcare bill (Brown's campaign was built almost solely on his promise to block the bill) may be leaning towards the negative, enough for extremely liberal Massachusets to vote in a Republican senator. Brown being in the Senate will also give the Republicans the power to filibuster to block the efforts of Obama and the Democrats to pass legislature.

Patching up national security

President Obama has released his most in-depth and detailed report of the attempted terror attempt on Christmas Day. There were many avoidable mistakes that led to Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab being allowed onto a Northwest Airlines flight with a bomb attached to his underwear: 1. The suspect's name was misspelled, which prevented the State Department from revoking his passport after his father informed them of his son's radicalism and disappearance. 2. Personnel at the National Counterterrorism Center and the CIA did not search all of the avaliable databases for Abdulmutallab.
As for the changes, Obama has required visas to be checked against extremist databases, both after they are issued and at the time that they were requested. Also, the Department of Homeland Security will acquire $1 billion dollars of new airport screening technology.