Today in Washington D. C. - March 12, 2008

On The Floor: Senate reconvened at 9:30 AM today and resumed consideration of the fiscal 2009 budget resolution (S. Con. Res. 70). Today, Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) introduced an amendment to the budget to eliminate the alternative minimum tax (AMT). Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-ND) introduced a competing amendment to eliminate the AMT while raising other taxes to “pay for” it. The budget is scheduled for 50 hours of floor debate, as is required. The annual “vote-a-rama” on a series of amendments to the budget is likely to occur Thursday night.

Yesterday, the House rejected< a Republican attempt to offer a resolution calling for the immediate consideration of the Senate-passed FISA bill. In subsequent vote, the House failed to override President Bush’s veto of the fiscal 2008 intelligence authorization bill, which would have limited the interrogation techniques the CIA and other intelligence agencies could use. Finally, House Democrats broke their own rule about holding votes open in the process of passing a bill creating an ethics office independent from the House ethics committee.

From Senate & News Sources: House Democrats have finally decided to take some action on FISA, but unfortunately, they decided to unveil another bill that again leaves out immunity for telecom companies. Roll Call writes today, “The House’s refusal to bow to Senate and White House demands to include immunity for telecommunications companies that provided information to the federal government in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks has been one of the main obstacles in reaching agreement, and Democratic leaders continued to block such provisions in the new bill.” House Republican Leader John Boehner said of the bill, “This latest FISA proposal from House Democratic leaders is dead on arrival.”

White House Press Secretary Dana Perino excoriated the Democrats’ bill saying, “It is clear that House Democratic leaders have once again bowed to the demands of class-action trial lawyers, MoveOn.org, and Code Pink and put their ideological interests ahead of the national interest. . . . House Democratic leaders know that this proposal is unacceptable to the Intelligence Community, the U.S. Senate, and the Administration. It is time for House Democratic leaders to get serious about our national security, put aside these partisan games, and bring the bipartisan Senate bill to a vote immediately.” Even Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s spokesman acknowledged to The Washington Post that the new House bill is “unlikely to achieve 60 votes in the Senate.”

The Senate, meanwhile, continues work on the budget today. Leader McConnell again warned about the budget’s assumption of a $1.2 trillion tax increase, noting, “Under the Democrat plan for taxing the ‘rich,’ 43 million families would be hit with an average tax increase of $2,300 next year.” $2,300 isn’t an insignificant amount of money for most families. It could buy eight months worth of groceries, home heating oil and electricity for nearly a year, gasoline for two cars for over a year (even at today’s prices), or health care expenses for almost a year. Clearly Democrats’ focus on expanding the federal budget does not bode well for the family budget.

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