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Life After The Surge
By Matthew Blake
Is the Department of Veterans Affairs finally turning a corner or is the worst yet to come?
From Walter Reed to false diagnoses of personality disorder, a Department that was never given the resources to provide health care for returning Iraq soldiers has relied on scandalous shortcuts. A glimmer of hope was provided yesterday, though, when the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee unanimously approved the nomination of James Peake as new department secretary. Peake promised that he will hire more medical staff and stop using so much of the department budget on bonuses to senior officials.
A separate House Veterans Affairs Committee hearing, however, offered a depressing glimpse at the escalating health care problems the next secretary will inherit. The hearing was prompted by a CBS News report that veterans are twice as likely to commit suicide as the rest of the population. Each day an estimated 17 veterans commit suicide.
(63) CommentsDecember 14, 2007
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Heck of a Job! Bush's Mortgage Helpline Is Working Now
By Matthew Blake
Need mortage relief fast? Well, the White House is there for you...no wait, they're not there after all, but now I think they finally are.
At a press conference this afternoon announcing mortgage relief for victims of subprime lending, President Bush said that the White House had come up with an administration hotline so frightened homeowners could work with a "certified financial counselor."
Well, the number, 1-888-995-HOPE, first didn't work. But after a few minutes of waiting to speak with a "specially trained professional," I can report that I finally just spoke to someone who said he could direct me to such a professional.
(36) CommentsDecember 6, 2007
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Unregulated, Uninspected Food For Thought
By Matthew Blake
After an audit released last week that amounted to a complete and utter indictment of the Food and Drug Administration, Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt yesterday admitted "our [food safety] system is not adequate for the future."
But making a system that is might be hard when Leavitt's boss, President Bush, has already vetoed a bill that would give a modest, five percent increase in agency funding.
"Money doesn't solve everything but it does indicate the nation's priorities," Ted Kennedy said at a Senate Health, Education and Labor Committee hearing yesterday. "The FDA does not have the capacity to ensure the safety of the nation's food."
(14) CommentsDecember 5, 2007
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Exclusive: Washington Lobbying Secrets Sort of Exposed
By Matthew Blake
Did you know that people increasingly use the Internet, even more so than radio? Or that e-mail is an effective communication tool but recipients don't like flooded in-boxes?
Yes! It's true and I learned it all at a $225-a-ticket briefing called "Innovative Advocacy: New Strategies for Effective Advocacy" sponsored by the United States Chamber of Commerce and the Adfero Group, a D.C. public affairs firm. I was hoping to get an inside look at the secret handshakes of the Washington rainmakers and influencers but it was not to be. Mostly the hill staffers and lobbyists who spoke debated things like whether or not e-mail is the "only way to communicate." It turns out no, it is not.
There were a few interesting nuggets: One powerpoint slide showed results from a poll in which Congressional staffers ranked the information sources they use for research. The Congressional Research Service, which is only starting to become open to the general public, finished first followed by Capitol Hill rags (like The Hill and Roll Call). "Political blogs," meanwhile, finished 15 out of 15 behind "Unsolicited policy materials from advocacy organizations" and "Other types of blogs."
(12) CommentsNovember 30, 2007
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State Department Auditor: Blackwater-Connected, Mean
By Matthew Blake
There are so many accusations directed at State Department Inspector General Howard Krongard for preventing inspections of State Department mismanagement in Iraq, it can get confusing. But two things became clear after today's House Committee Hearing on Oversight and Government Reform:
1. Howard Krongard's brother Alvin "Buzzy" Krongard is, irrefutably, on Blackwater's Advisory Board.
2. Howard Krongard is a pain in the ass to work for.
(12) CommentsNovember 14, 2007
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What's Next For 'ENDA With No Gender'?
By Matthew Blake
Congressional democrats, civil rights groups and now the New York Times frame The Employment Non-Discrimination Act as an example of the politics of the possible. But an almost-definite Presidential veto makes it look like a convoluted example.
An ENDA bill to protect employees from sexual orientation discrimination passed the House Wednesday, after Tammy Baldwin's amendment to include protections for transgendered employees was debated but not voted on.
Expect the Senate to also keep transgendered people in the rhetoric but not the legislation. A press release yesterday by Massachusetts Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy pointed out that, "Today it's perfectly legal in most states to fire an employee because of sexual orientation or gender identity." Kennedy declared that, "America stands for justice for all" and "Congress must make clear that when we say 'all' we mean all."
(23) CommentsNovember 9, 2007
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Terror Watchlist Membership Really Taking Off
By Matthew Blake
Congress is, gradually, dealing with the consequences of a federal terrorist watchlist that in four years has swelled to 860,000 records. Today, New York Democrat Yvette Clark proposed the Fair, Secure and Timely Redress Act of 2007 that would provide a "one-stop shop" for U.S. citizens erroneously put on the burgeoning watchlist.
"There is now a single, comprehensive terrorist watch list," Clarke reasoned at a Capitol Hill press conference today. "So it only makes sense to have a comprehensive 'clear' list." The bill. expected to be co-sponsored by House Homeland Security Chair Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, would require the Department of Homeland Security to develop a consolidated database of people who have been mistakenly put on the list.
Whether Clarke's legislation is the right solution, recent government reports make clear that she is not dealing with an isolated problem. A Justice Department Inspector General's report found that of the 99,000 instances where a citizen crossing the border or boarding a plane matched a name on the Terrorist Screening Center's watchlist, 43 percent were cases of mistaken identity.
(8) CommentsNovember 8, 2007
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Dial "Dem" For Immunity?
By Matthew Blake
With the Senate Judiciary Committee scheduled to mark-up the FISA Amendments Act tomorrow, a movement against immunity for telecoms hasn't translated into legislative promises by even traditional Bush foes.
Currently four of the 19 committee members (Delaware's Joe Biden, Wisconsin's Russ Feingold, Massachusetts's Ted Kennedy and Maryland's Ben Cardin) have vowed to oppose immunity. Chair Pat Leahy, top Republican Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, Illinois's Dick Durbin and Wisconsin's Herb Kohl are taking a wait-and-see approach to whether telecommunications companies deserve retroactive immunity for going along with the National Security Agency's illegal spying program. The other members of the committee have not issued statements and did not respond to The Nation's request for their position on immunity.
So after approving Attorney General nominee Michael Mukasey yesterday, Senators on the Judiciary Committee, particularly Democrats and the moderate Specter, are once again agonizing about whether to defy the President.
(35) CommentsNovember 7, 2007
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Is The Government Finally Scrutinizing The Death Penalty?
By Matthew Blake
The Supreme Court's focus on the administration of death by lethal injection could expose the plethora of problems that come with the death penalty.
That's the hope of Russ Feingold who's using the Court's stay of execution for a Mississippi prisoner to re-introduce his Federal Death Penalty Abolition Act. The Wisconsin Democrat fired off a statement yesterday declaring that, "This de facto moratorium on executions by lethal injection gives us a chance to recognize just how deeply flawed the implementation of capital punishment in this country is."
Since the Supreme Court effectively legalized the federal death penalty in 1976, death penalty legislation or even legislative oversight has been nearly non-existent. Feingold's hearing this summer on death penalty implementation was the first of its kind since 2001-- the last time a Democratic majority enabled Feingold to chair a Senate committee.
(19) CommentsNovember 2, 2007
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Eh, No Big Deal: Reports Show Still No Plan To Rebuild Iraq
By Matthew Blake
With President Bush's original goal of establishing "a beacon of liberty in the Middle East" no longer operative, what, exactly, is the administration's goal for Iraq?
An independent government report released yesterday said there isn't one. The U.S. doesn't have a "National strategy for victory in Iraq" and, more specifically, a plan to rebuild the country's government and oil-based economy.
The Government Accountability Office report assailed "the lack of strategies with purpose, scope, role and responsibilities and performance measures" in securing and stabilizing Iraq. And the U.S. is not following through on the three broadly agreed upon strategies it previously outlined:
(11) CommentsOctober 31, 2007
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