February 19, 2010

Speaker Nancy Pelosi released the following statement today on President Obama's announcement for funding from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) to help support homeowners in California, Nevada, Arizona, Florida, Michigan: "President Obama's announcement is an encouraging step in the effort to stabilize our nation's housing markets, help unemployed homeowners, and bring relief to many families hardest hit by the recession. "Recognizing that each city and state faces a unique set of challenges, the President's $1.5 billion initiative focuses on local solutions to local problems and rewards the most innovative and effective approaches to help more at-risk families in America stay in their homes. Full release.

Over 95 percent of the 800 seniors who were surveyed by RetireSafe recently said Social Security benefits have not kept up with the actual cost-of-living over the last five years. In the survey, seniors said that they are struggling to make ends meet because the lack of a cost of living increase is hitting them hard. While their living expenses are increasing more rapidly than they can keep track of, their Social Security benefits aren't keeping up. RetireSafe, a seniors' grassroots advocacy organization with over 400,000 supporters, is calling on seniors to support legislation to fix the problem. RetireSafe president Thair Phillips said, "The first step is to get an accurate Consumer Price Index for Seniors, a CPI-S." According to Phillips, the present COLA is based on a CPI for younger urban wage earners rather than older Americans. RetireSafe is working with U.S. Rep. John (Jimmy) Duncan Jr. (R-TN) to present legislation that will direct the government to calculate a CPI specifically for seniors. Full release.

The Justice Department, FBI and U.S. Postal Inspection Service today announced that the investigation into the 2001 anthrax attacks, which killed five individuals and sickened 17 others, has formally concluded. Earlier today, representatives of the FBI and Justice Department provided a 92-page investigative summary along with attachments to victims of the attacks, relatives of the victims and appropriate committees of Congress. This document sets forth a summary of the evidence developed in the "Amerithrax" investigation, the largest investigation into a bio-weapons attack in U.S. history. As disclosed previously, the Amerithrax investigation found that the late Dr. Bruce Ivins acted alone in planning and executing these attacks. The investigative summary and the attachments are now accessible to the public and have been posted to the Justice Department Web site at www.usdoj.gov/amerithrax under the Freedom of Information Act. Full release.

The world faces daunting problems, from energy needs to medical research to clean water and more. Without a doubt, the answers lie in the ability of our educational system to rise to these challenges. With that goal, Babson College, Olin College of Engineering and Wellesley College will co-sponsor an interdisciplinary regional summit, "Educational Imperatives of the Grand Challenges," Wednesday, April 21, from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm in Houghton Chapel at Wellesley College (http://grandchallengesummit.olin.edu). The summit will bring together educators, business leaders, scientists, engineers, students, government officials and policy makers to discuss the changes necessary at all levels in the educational system to prepare students with the skills and perspectives necessary to tackle global problems in energy, health, the environment and other critical areas. Full release.

The case of the 10 American missionaries arrested on child trafficking charges in Haiti should serve as a wake up call for other U.S. congregations that are increasingly becoming involved in short-term mission work. "Missionary groups that are local and more independent, like the ones arrested in Haiti, are very vulnerable when doing service work in a foreign country, particularly in times of crisis," said Bill Leonard, dean of the Divinity School at Wake Forest University. "This is an illustration of the danger that almost every church faces when they send lay people into foreign lands, and in some ways, I'm surprised that there are not more of these incidences." The Baptist missionaries were arrested on January 29 for trying to take 33 Haitian orphans to the neighboring Dominican Republic without proper paperwork. Eight of the missionaries were released this week and returned to the United States after a judge ruled that there was no criminal intent in the case. However, the group's leader, Laura Silsby, and Charisa Coulter, continue to be held for questioning in relation to their trip to Haiti before the January 12 earthquake. Full release.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi released the following statement in response to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius' decision to increase aid to states by $4.3 billion in reimbursements for Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage for dual eligibles due to the federal medical assistance percentage payments (FMAP) increase under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act: "I applaud the Administration's decision, which will mean much-needed relief to states facing severe budget constraints in light of the tough economic climate. The California Congressional delegation's diligence in raising this issue with HHS has paid dividends for California, which will be rewarded with an additional $680 million, all due to the FMAP increase included in the Recovery Act that we passed a year ago. "As I noted to Governor Schwarzenegger when we met in Washington recently, the Recovery Act will deliver more than $83 billion to California and has already generated more than 250,000 jobs in our state and continues to fulfill its mission of generating jobs and economic growth. Full release.

Plaintiffs in the historic lawsuit seeking a larger and more equitable Congress filed their briefs today in U.S. District Court. The lawsuit, Clemons v. Department of Commerce, challenges the constitutionality of the current size of the United States House of Representatives, arguing that the provision in the United States Code (2 USC Section 2a) that freezes the size of the House at 435 members is unconstitutional, violating the well-established principle of "one-person, one-vote" by a substantial margin. "In short, the government asserts that they don't have to adhere to the 'one-person, one-vote' equality standard that is imposed on the states" said Scott Scharpen, founder and president of Apportionment.US, the non-profit charity coordinating the lawsuit on behalf of the plaintiffs. "We honestly thought that we would get into a philosophical discussion around the question, 'How equal is equal?' Yet surprisingly, the government essentially claims that equality is not a factor at all when apportioning the U.S. House." Full release.

Activists nationwide call for the withholding of US support for illegitimate Sudanese elections, currently scheduled for April 11, 2010. The Sudan Sham Elections 2010 campaign begins February 20th. For the 50 days leading up to the Sudanese elections, ordinary citizens in every state are taking targeted and effective action to ensure the US government will not legitimize sham elections in Sudan. Although the Obama administration came out with strong words when presenting its Sudan policy in October 2009, there has been no visible positive change on the ground. The fifty states will tag-team, each participating in a day of action, advocating for a new direction in US policy. "How can it make sense?" asks Gabriel Stauring Director of Stop Genocide Now, a group that seeks to change the way the world responds to genocide. "You have an indicted war criminal, Omar al-Bashir, as the candidate. The candidate and current president of Sudan, a post he attained through military coup, and his government is responsible for millions of deaths across Sudan. Full release.

What are the likely partisan consequences of continued mass immigration? Those on the left see it as benefiting them; union leader Eliseo Medina recently told a gathering that immigration, "will create a governing coalition for the long term not just for an election cycle." At the same time, some on the right claim that immigrants are natural Republican voters, given their relative conservatism on certain social issues. Which view is correct? To shed some light on this question, the Center for Immigration Studies is releasing a new report, "Immigration, Political Realignment, and the Demise of Republican Political Prospects" by James G. Gimpel. Gimpel, a professor of government at the University of Maryland, College Park, and co-author of The Congressional Politics of Immigration Reform, examined the Republican share of the vote and the foreign-born share of the population over three decades in all 3,000-plus counties in the United States. Full release.

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