June 27, 2008

Beth Cypser, the U.S. Agency for International Development's (USAID) deputy mission director in Haiti is now the mission director. The promotion took place this morning after Jose Cardenas, Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean's acting assistant administrator, provided the oath of office during a brief ceremony this morning. Full release

Today, John McCain's campaign released its latest misleading ad aimed at drawing attention away from his history of opposing efforts to reduce America's dependence on foreign oil. After years of voting against incentives for renewable energy and green jobs, McCain has now offered a series of gimmicks and giveaways that even his own campaign admits won't reduce the price of gas.
Full release

Obama: "She knows better. Shame on her. Shame on her. She knows better. She is running around talking about how this is an insult to sportsmen, how she values the Second Amendment. She's talking like she's Annie Oakley. Hillary Clinton is out there like she's on the duck blind every Sunday. She's packing a six-shooter. Come on, she knows better. That's some politics being played by Hillary Clinton." (Sen. Barack Obama, Remarks To United Steelworkers Union, Steelton, PA, 4/13/08) Full release

AIDS Action criticizes Congress on National HIV Testing Day for substantially under-funding domestic HIV/AIDS prevention programs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). House and Senate Appropriators have both proposed HIV/AIDS spending bills that allocate no increase to CDC's HIV prevention budget. CDC is expected to soon release a new estimate revising from 40,000 to more than 50,000 the estimated number of people who are infected with HIV each year in the United States. Congress's decision to flat fund HIV prevention in the face of increased HIV incidence is unacceptable. Full release

TODAY at 1:30 PM Eastern Time, Latino elected officials from around the country will gather to highlight John McCain's problems with Latino voters, and to challenge the Senator to use his address before a national Latino organization this weekend to make it clear where he truly stands on immigration reform. Full release

John McCain believes he will get support from Hispanic voters because he has a "long record working with Hispanic leadership" and that "[e]verything about our Hispanic voters is tailor made to the Republican message." [CNN.com, 5/5/08] But the reality is Hispanic voters have made it clear that they don't trust Senator McCain on the issues that Hispanic voters think are important-health care, the economy, and jobs-issues on which Senator McCain has proven he lacks the leadership and vision America needs. As Congressman Silvestre Reyes of Texas pointed out in an op-ed in the Washington Times this morning, it's hard to know where John McCain stands on the issue of immigration reform. [Pew Hispanic Center, 12/6/07; Washington Times, 6/27/08] Full release

Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS), Chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security, Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Emergency Communications, Preparedness, and Response, and Rep. Al Green (D-TX), Member of the Committee on Homeland Security, announced the introduction of three bills to enhance the nation's preparedness and response capabilities. Full release

Congressional Quarterly Inc., the nation's premier provider of news, analysis and information on Congress, politics and public policy, today announced the launch of SpyTalk (http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/spytalk/), a new blog written by CQ's National Security Editor Jeff Stein. SpyTalk, which focuses on U.S. intelligence, defense and foreign policy issues, joins CQ Politics' growing roster of popular blogs from noteworthy bloggers, including Craig Crawford, David Corn and Taegan Goddard. Full release

Sen. Clinton Attacked Obama's Candidacy As Dangerously Oversimplifying America's Challenges: Sen. Clinton Said The "Phenomenon Associated With His Candidacy ... Dangerously Oversimplifies The Complexity Of The Problems We Face, The Challenge Of Navigating Our Country Through Some Difficult, Uncharted Waters." Full release

The following Op-Ed by Arlen Specter from The Morning Call was issued today by the Republican National Committee: "McCain knows America needs to reform its energy portfolio to include both new and proven sources of energy. He supports harnessing solar, wind and clean coal as well as expanding the use of nuclear power." ... [A]merica currently imports approximately two thirds of the oil it needs. This dependence on foreign sources of oil contributes to the wealth of undemocratic governments, some of which are supportive of terrorist attacks. ... Full release

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