Today in Washington D. C. - April 2, 2008

On The Floor: The Senate resumed consideration of the motion to proceed to H.R. 3221, which will be the vehicle for the housing bill. Yesterday, the Senate voted 94-1 to move forward with consideration of housing legislation after Reid and McConnell agreed to let Dodd and Shelby try to write a compromise bill. While the Senate Banking Committee works on housing, the Joint Economic Committee is holding a hearing with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke this morning. Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Ranking member Richard Shelby (R-AL) are currently working on putting together a bill which Majority Leader Harry Reid would like to have on the floor later in the day.

From Senate & News Sources: In an op-ed for Human Events, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell laid out some of the key issues facing Congress during its two month work period leading up to Memorial Day:

If Democrats want to help homeowners, they need to work with Republicans on proposals that will draw substantial bipartisan support. Republicans have proposed new tax benefits for struggling businesses, new Truth-in-Lending requirements, expanded protections against foreclosure for returning veterans, and FHA reform to help struggling homeowners stay in their homes.

. . . “it’s been nearly a year since the Director of National Intelligence asked Congress to modernize our nation’s electronic surveillance laws. The House had a chance to make the necessary changes before the recess. But it chose an irresponsible path instead, passing an amendment to the bipartisan Senate bill that included none of the things the Director of National Intelligence had called for. . . .

General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker will be here next week, and we owe them a debt of gratitude. Under the leadership of these two men, our prospects for protecting America’s national security interests in the Persian Gulf have improved. Our men and women in uniform have protected the Iraqi people, scattered Al Qaeda, deterred militias, and helped create an environment that has led to progress not only at the tactical level, but in governing and reconciliation.

Unfortunately, Democrats continue to ignore political and military progress in and are yet again trying to figure out how to retreat from Iraq, according to stories by the AP and Politico. All of the Democrats’ various withdrawal plans over the last year were defeated and a majority of Americans still do not support precipitous withdrawal. Democrats would do well to actually pay attention to what Gen. Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker say, instead of simply plowing ahead with more plans to leave.

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