January 20, 2010

The Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) will launch its Debt Reduction Task Force, led by former Senator Pete Domenici and Dr. Alice Rivlin, with top budget experts, business and labor leaders, stakeholders, and former elected officials, on Monday, January 25, 2010. BPC Founders and Advisory Board Members Howard Baker, Tom Daschle and Bob Dole will introduce the Domenici-Rivlin Task Force and comment on the economic, political and international implications of America's growing debt burden. After providing an overview of the Task Force, former Senate Budget Chairman Domenici (R- NM), and Dr. Rivlin, the first director of the Congressional Budget Office, former Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve Board, and Office of Management and Budget Director during the Clinton Administration, will answer questions from attendees at the Bipartisan Policy Center's brand new media facility in Washington, D.C. beginning at 10:30AM. Under the leadership of former Senator Domenici and Dr. Rivlin, the BPC's Task Force, composed of the nation's leading budget authorities from both sides of the aisle, will develop a comprehensive and politically-viable plan for consideration by Congress and the Administration. Federal budget expert Charles Konigsberg recently joined the BPC and will direct the Domenici-Rivlin Task Force. Full release.

Following a major 7.0 earthquake on January 12, 2010, near the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince, international relief and development agency Oxfam America swung into action to raise emergency funds to assist relief and rehabilitation efforts on the ground. Oxfam has raised over $8 million so far, leveraging a multitude of channels, focusing on online efforts. These nimble, new technologies have been very successful tools for Oxfam, with $5.4 million of the Haiti emergency response funds coming in online. The agency is tapping into the power of online communications to not only raise funds but to share information about the delivery of aid on the ground with their supporters. "We've raised over $110,000 through our Facebook Haiti Cause, Help Earthquake Survivors in Haiti, and are hoping the momentum will continue to build," said Megan Weintraub, new media manager at Oxfam America. "People want to know what's going on and they want to help." Oxfam is also one of the leading charities that Facebook is promoting. Full release.

A 6.1-magnitude aftershock hit Haiti at 6:03 am Eastern Time. All International Medical Corps staff and medical teams are unharmed and are now working to assess the damage left by the strongest aftershock since the 7.0 earthquake that hit Haiti eight days ago. "We are concerned about areas closer to the epicenter," says Margaret Aguirre, Director of Communications for International Medical Corps. "The extent of the damages and injuries from this aftershock are not yet clear." International Medical Corps has set up a mobile medical unit in Leogane, the epicenter of last week's earthquake, providing emergency medical care to survivors. They are part of a larger mission that includes nurses, physicians, and International Medical Corps staff working throughout Port-au-Prince, including the Hopital de l'Universite d'Etat d'Haiti, a 700-bed hospital that is barely functioning where International Medical Corps is working to establish an emergency surgery facility with other NGOs. International Medical Corps is also supporting medical posts throughout Port-au-Prince and operating out of a makeshift clinic at the Villa Creole Hotel. "We have partnered with other humanitarian leaders, including Hope for Haiti, Heart to Heart, AmeriCares, Bridge Foundation, Project Hope, International Relief Teams, and International Health Partners UK, to get critical medicines and supplies into Port-au-Prince," says Aguirre. "Our team has secured and delivered, millions in medications and medical supplies, including tetanus hyper immune globulin." Full release.

Former 9/11 Commission Chairman and Vice Chairman Tom Kean and Lee Hamilton today testified before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. In their testimony, Governor Kean and Congressman Hamilton, now co-chairs of the Bipartisan Policy Center's (BPC) National Security Preparedness Group, discussed the attempted terrorist attack on Christmas Day and the state of intelligence reform. "Today, we are appearing in our capacity as co-chairmen of the Bipartisan Policy Center's National Security Preparedness Group (NSPG), a successor to the 9/11 Commission. Drawing on a strong roster of national security professionals, the NSPG works as an independent, bipartisan group to monitor the implementation of the 9/11 Commission's recommendations and address other emerging national security issues," said Congressman Hamilton in his testimony. "In the five years since the passage of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act, the U.S. government has made significant strides to correct the shortfalls and mistakes evident on September 11, 2001. But as we've seen from the recent terrorist incidents at Fort Hood and in the skies above Detroit, there is still work to be done," said Congressman Hamilton in his testimony. "The DNI has achieved a meaningful measure of success in its first years," Governor Kean continued. "But is a work in progress closer to the beginning of reform than the end." Full release.

School psychologists, counselors and social workers are often the first line of support for children with behavioral, emotional or family problems. Problems can range from attention deficit disorder and homelessness to depression and bullying all of which can make academic success a challenge. The C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health asked nearly 1,100 parents across the United States to grade their children's public schools on how well they support children with behavioral, emotional or family problems. Thirty-seven percent of parents gave primary schools an A for support for children with ADHD and other behavioral problems, and 34 percent gave an A for support for children with emotional or family problems. Twenty-two percent of parents gave secondary schools an A for support for children with behavioral, emotional or family problems. In contrast, for overall education 52 percent of parents gave primary schools an A and 38 percent of parents gave secondary schools an A. Full release.

While emergency efforts bring immediate relief to Haiti, Craig Juntunen, founder of Chances for Children, launched the "Haiti Renewal Fund" January 19. The fund, designed to assist in a fresh renewal of the devastated nation of Haiti, opens with an initial matching grant of $2 million from Jackson Hole residents Lynn and Foster Friess augmented by a subsequent $1 million from Childhelp, drawn from donations specifically designated to the fund. "In a few weeks or months the enormous worldwide relief effort in Haiti will meet food, water and shelter needs, but what then?" said Juntunen, who will be raising additional monies for the fund. Juntunen's Chances for Children foundation operates an orphanage near Port-au-Prince and last year placed 36 Haitian orphans in adoptive families. It will expand to meet the soaring number of newly-orphaned children and also encourage Cure International, an organization that operates hospitals in nearby Dominican Republic and Honduras, in its goal to open a new children's hospital in Haiti. Full release.

Lack of access to supplies and services continues to force some Haitian earthquake survivors out of Port-au-Prince and into the surrounding areas, including across the border into the Dominican Republic, about 30 miles from the Haitian capital. World Vision's Dominican staff have joined the relief effort in the border town of Jimani. Below is an update on the response: Situation Overview: * According to the United Nations, search and rescue operations continue to find survivors. By recent count, ninety people have been saved by 43 international teams made up of 1,700 people. * Working conditions remain very difficult, but humanitarian workers are now increasingly reaching out to affected areas outside of Port-au-Prince. * Immediate priorities for the wider humanitarian response continued to be medical assistance, corpse management, shelter, water and food and sanitation. * Engineers are needed to reconstruct the roads and bridges in Port-au-Prince, and heavy equipment is needed to remove the huge piles of rubble. Full release.

The National Center for Policy Analysis is in direct contact with more grassroots opponents of Obama health reform than any other organization. NCPA President John C. Goodman says, "What we saw yesterday in Massachusetts is reflective of what we see all across the country." * The NCPA reaches nearly three million email subscribers every week with health policy information. (President Obama is sending out 19 million emails a week on health care reform.) * There are more than 1.35 million petition signatures on the Free Our Health Care Now petition. * The NCPA, working with partner Salem Radio Networks, has generated nearly 500,000 emails and 10,000 phone calls to members of Congress, opposing a government takeover of health care. This includes more than 25,000 emails from California voters to Senators Barbara Boxer and Diane Feinstein, more than 8,000 messages to each of Colorado's senators and almost 11,000 email messages to each of Florida's senators. "Unlike so much of the rhetoric in the health policy debate, we do not lie, distort and exaggerate," said Goodman. "Our core messages are first vetted at the John Goodman Health Policy Blog, which draws the top health economists from across the political spectrum. Only after this vetting do we send out information to several million policy activists." Full release.

The level of economic freedom in the world dipped slightly in 2009 according to the 16th annual Index of Economic Freedom, released by The Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal. One reason: To help ward off recession, many governments launched unsuccessful attempts to spend their way to prosperity. The average economic freedom score for the 2010 Index is 59.4 (on a scale in which 100 represents the ideal), down 0.1 point from 2009. This is only the second time in the history of the Index that average scores for countries measured in successive years have declined. "Our confidence in economic freedom is being tested," notes Heritage President Edwin Feulner in the book's preface. Indeed, led by the United States, governments in many developed countries stepped up spending aimed at promoting growth and employment. Yet, "the early evidence is that such spending did not work," the Index editors write. Hong Kong and Singapore finished 1st and 2nd in the rankings for the 16th straight year. With Australia in 3rd place and New Zealand moving up to number 4, the Asia-Pacific region boasts a clean sweep at the top. Full release.

The National Council on Crime and Delinquency (NCCD) has just released a new report, The Extravagance of Imprisonment Revisited, on the cost savings to be realized from using alternatives to incarceration for low-level offenses. According to the report, the nation could save $9.7 billion by utilizing these alternatives. The report also calculated potential cost savings for four of the most populous states: California could save at least $1.4 billion, Texas $2.4 billion, New York $1.1 billion, and Florida $271 million. Beyond these initial savings, the report shows there would be ongoing and significant annual cost savings to be realized by using alternatives to incarceration. As of 2008, approximately 414,000 men and women in the US were incarcerated for nonviolent, nonsexual crimes not involving significant property loss. The vast majority of these prisoners could be eligible for effective and cost-saving sanctions such as drug courts, drug treatment, electronic monitoring, or work release programs. These alternatives to prison and jail are currently in use in the four selected states and elsewhere, have been proven effective (see report for extensive references), and could be promptly expanded. The costs and operations of the alternatives are well documented – and served as a basis for the report's cost comparison. These costs were compared to the current costs of incarceration for 80% of the likely eligible incarcerated population. Full release.

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