February 25, 2010

In an effort to continue to encourage Americans to support the relief efforts in Haiti, Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush appear in a new television PSA released by the Ad Council today. In the new spot, the Presidents acknowledge the generosity of Americans following the tragedy and communicate the immediate and long-term needs in Haiti. Viewers are directed to donate to the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund (CBHF), which will help those who are most in need of food, water, shelter, medical care and support. Full release.

Congressman Jim Moran read a letter on the floor of the House of Representatives today from an active duty soldier in Iraq. Congressman Moran stated that the soldier had, "learned that a fellow soldier was also gay, only after he was killed by an IED in Iraq. The partner of the deceased soldier wrote the unit to say how much the victim had loved the military; how they were the only family he had ever known." The soldier originally provided the letter in response to an inquiry for the Pentagon's current study of "don't ask, don't tell." Full release.

Sustainability is the hottest trend in urban planning and real estate development, and now there's a report that explains what it means and what opportunities it presents. The report, which is being offered at no charge, is titled Beyond Green Building: How to Get Deals Done in the New Era of Sustainable Community Planning and Development. It was prepared by Partnership for Sustainable Communities (PSC), a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting land use reform, including higher density zoning, infill development, and measures to encourage affordable housing. Full release.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), working in collaboration with the Ad Council and the Stay Strong Foundation, announced today the launch of a national public service advertising (PSA) campaign designed to raise awareness of mental health problems among young adults in the African American community. The new PSAs were unveiled at a Black History Month event at Howard University this morning to coincide with the first annual HBCU National Mental Health Awareness Day. The launch was telecast to colleges and universities nationwide. Full release.

"This vote is an important step towards breaking the monopoly power of some health insurers," responded Dr. Stuart Bussey, President of the Union of American Physicians and Dentists (UAPD), to the news of a vote taken Wednesday by the US House of Representatives. The House passed the Health Insurance Industry Fair Competition Act (HR 4626), which rolls back the anti-trust exemptions that the insurance industry has enjoyed since the passage of the McCarran Ferguson Act in 1945. Representatives voted 406-19 in favor of the bill, which received strong support from the White House earlier in the week. The bill now moves to the Senate for consideration. Full release.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi delivered opening remarks at Blair House this morning during the bipartisan meeting on health insurance reform hosted by President Obama. Below are the Speaker's opening remarks: "As we sit around this table, I think we should be mindful of what they do when they sit around their kitchen table. What we do here must be relevant to their lives. And for them, they don't have time for us to start over. Many of them are at the end of the line with their insurance…I just hope that as we sit around this table, we understand the urgency that the American people have about this issue, how it affects not only their health, but their economic security." Full release.

Does the United States need more college graduates to remain an economic power, or is college just too expensive to benefit many Americans? That will be the focus of a debate that the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia, in partnership with MacNeil/Lehrer Productions, is holding Friday, February 26 at 7:00 p.m. at the National Press Club. It will air on PBS stations across the country. Full release.

Gas money for your tank doesn't grow on trees, but one day you might be filling up with fuel that does. A team of researchers at the University of Maryland, College Park, and Bowie State University is working on ways to turn poplar trees into high-yield crops for biofuels including ethanol, the renewable biofuel used in gasoline blends and flex-fuel vehicles. The hybrid trees would be grown on plantations and harvested without affecting existing woodlands. The study is funded by a $3.2 million, four-year grant from the National Science Foundation's Plant Genome Research Project, which supports research on plants seen as having economic and agricultural importance. Full release.

Although more lawmakers joined the ranks of "Taxpayers' Friends" for their voting records in 2009, the vast legion of "Big Spenders" who opted to grow government remained overwhelmingly large, according to the National Taxpayers Union's (NTU) 31st annual Rating of Congress. The unique scorecard utilizes every roll call vote affecting fiscal policy, 333 House and 227 Senate votes taken last year. Full release.

In response to President Barack Obama's bipartisan health summit on February 25, Newt Gingrich's Center for Health Transformation (CHT) will host the "American People's Online Health Summit," a LIVE blog to engage the American people in health reform negotiations and give them a voice in Washington. CHT Founder and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, in addition to leading health care experts and the American public, will participate throughout the day. CHT will ask critical questions, express desired outcomes, and present the best policy ideas on health reform. Full release.

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