EU-DIGEST

US Senate to vote on bailout bill tonight - calling this bailout a good thing by any other name still means helping the "fat cats"

In a surprise move to resurrect President Bush’s $700 billion Wall Street rescue plan, Senate leaders slated a vote on the measure for Wednesday — but added a tax cut plan already rejected by the House. Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and GOP Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky unveiled the plan Tuesday. The Senate plan would also raise federal deposit insurance limits to $250,000 from $100,000, as called for by the two presidential nominees only hours earlier. The move to add a tax legislation — including a set of popular business tax breaks — risked a backlash from House Democrats insisting they be paid for with tax increases elsewhere.

Note EU-Digest

This move by the US Senate is another tactic to force this unpopular "give the government a blank check" bill of 700 billion down the throat of the US population. Democrats and Republicans should scrutinize this vote very closely and note the names who voted against or for it, so come November they can vote accordingly. This move by the Senate is also seen as a tactic to force the Congress to reverse their earlier vote. If Democratic and Republican Senators really listen to their voters this bill in the Senate shall also not pass.

Labels: Bailout, Democrats, Republicans, US Senate

For the complete report from TIME Magazine click on this link

Is Al Gore the Answer? - by Joe Klein

"A prominent fund raiser told me, "Gore-Obama is the ticket a lot of people wanted in the first place." A congressional Democrat told me, "This could be our way out of a mess." Others suggested Gore was painfully aware of his limitations as a candidate. "I don't know that he'd be interested, even if you handed it to him," said a Gore friend. Chances are, no one will hand it to him. The Democratic Party would have to be monumentally desperate come June. And yet ... is this scenario any more preposterous than the one that gave John McCain the Republican nomination? Yes, it's silly season. But this has been an exceptionally "silly" year."

Labels: Al Gore, Democrats, US elections

Democrats demand veto power for US-Iraq proposal - by Elana Schor

Democrats in Congress opened a new front today in their battle to extricate the US from Iraq, pressing for veto power over a long-term security pact that the Bush administration is planning with Baghdad. Under early terms of the pact that were agreed to by the two nations last fall, the US military is bound to help protect the Baghdad government for the foreseeable future. Alarmed at the prospect of George Bush locking the US armed forces into defending Iraq even when America does not perceive a threat, Democrats responded by pushing for congressional oversight of the agreement.

Labels: Democrats, Iraq, US

Launch of Presidential Global Primary

On Tuesday February 5, American Democrats living in The Netherlands can vote for the first time online in the Super Tuesday Global Presidential Primary. The worldwide primary for expats will send 22 delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Denver in August. Organized by Democrats Abroad Netherlands (DANL), the Dutch electronic voting booth will be open from 5 PM to 9 PM on February 5 at De Balie near the Leidseplein in Amsterdam. Members of DANL can vote and non-members can join, register and cast their votes. A program of guest speakers will begin at 6 PM, including Ruth Oldenziel and Willem Post (historians – American politics), Paul Scheffer (Prof. UvA), and Russell Shorto (dir. John Adams Institute). Greg Shapiro (stand-up comedian, Boom Chicago) will contribute political satire. There will be live music and a bookshop, and the Balie Café will be open for drinks and snacks. Entrance is free.

Labels: Democrats, EU

U.S. Congress recesses amid Democratic achievements and success - by Richard Cowan

After months of being flogged for accomplishing little, Democrats who control Congress headed into a summer recess having passed several high-profile bills from raising the minimum wage to bolstering U.S. security and expanding children's health care.

Their top priority -- ending the Iraq war -- remains frustratingly unfulfilled. But the Democrats who took over in January were able to go home early on Sunday for a monthlong break having won more support in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives for bringing combat troops home by early next year, marking a significant turnaround from last year.

Labels: Democrats, US

Democratic majority in US Congress and Senate vote on measures to block further abuse of Bush Presidential powers

"Showing a direct defiance to President Bush, the Senate has passed a war-spending bill that will require the start of troop withdrawal from Iraq in four months and complete the withdrawal by March next year in spite of Bush's threat to veto the bill. The senate passed it by a margin of 51-47, allotting a $122 billion spending package for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Democrats in the senate said that withdrawal was the wish of people following the midterm elections in which Republicans lost control of both the houses.

The bill will now go to the President's table for approval, with the House already passing a similar bill. However, Bush has stated that he will be vetoing any bill that sets a time limit for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq. The approval of the bill by both the houses points to Bush's falling stock regarding the war on terror.

In another development, the House of Representatives by a vote of 329-78 on March 26 followed the Senate and stripped Bush of his authority to appoint U.S. attorneys on an interim basis, ending the ability of the Bush administration to do an end run around the Senate in putting controversial U.S. attorneys in office. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.), places a 120-day limit to the term of a United States attorney appointed on an interim basis. Democrats allege that Bush's authority to appoint interim U.S. attorneys on an unlimited basis, inserted stealthily into the 2006 reauthorization of the USA Patriot Act, was used as a loophole to insert Bush administration political loyalists into office.

The Bush administration's firings of eight federal prosecutors has created a controversy that continues to fester. As a result most Democrats and many Republicans feel that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales should be fired. As the Democratic party controlled Congress starts to exert more and more of its investigatory powers into every area of the administration's domain, even Bush's own political Guru Rove is not exempt. There are very few options left for the US Administration to stage a come-back - even a confrontation with Iran could badly backfire.

Labels: Alberto Gonzales, Bush, Democrats, Impeachment, Iraq