Think Progress

Under the Radar

ETHICS -- FBI QUESTIONING REP. FEENEY: The FBI is now looking into Rep. Tom Feeney (R-FL) and "his dealings with Jack Abramoff as part of its ongoing investigation into the lobbyist convicted of defrauding clients." While FBI agents refuse to say whether Feeney is under federal investigation, they "have asked the St. Petersburg Times for an email sent to the newspaper by Feeney's office describing a golfing trip the congressman took with Abramoff to Scotland in 2003." Feeney is one of three House members who "accompanied Abramoff to Scotland on trips that included rounds of golf at the legendary Royal & Ancient Golf Club at St. Andrews." The other two: former Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH), who is serving prison time for corruption, and former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-FL), currently under criminal indictment. Feeney said in a statement that he "considers this an embarrassing episode in his 17-year career as an elected official and an expensive lesson for him as a public servant." But Feeney is also listed as "Representative #3" in Justice Department documents filed in federal court yesterday on Mark Zachares, "a former Bush administration official and House GOP aide who is expected to plead guilty tomorrow on a federal corruption charge" related to Abramoff.

ETHICS -- MIERS PROPOSED FIRING U.S. ATTORNEY INVESTIGATING REP. LEWIS: Last October, former U.S. Attorney Debra Yang abruptly resigned her post in the middle of her investigation of Rep Jerry Lewis (R-CA) and his "lucrative ties" to a lobbying firm. While Yang contends that she resigned "for personal reasons based on financial concerns and the fact that she is a single mother," America Lawyer found that she was "lured away by a $1.5 million-plus offer to become a partner at Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher LLP," which employs several former Bush administration officials and is defending Lewis in the Justice Department probe. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) "has repeatedly questioned the circumstances surrounding Yang's departure" from the Justice Department. "Feinstein said to reporters on March 20, 'Was she asked to resign, and if so, why? We have to ferret that out.'" During Attorney General Alberto Gonzales's testimony last week, Feinstein stated that former White House Counsel Harriet Miers "discussed whether to remove Deborah Yang from Los Angeles." Feinstein's accusation is said to be based "on interviews" and follows her previous concerns that several other U.S. attorneys were also forced out because of their involvement with criminal investigations of Republican members of Congress. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) said of last week's testimony, "[T]he arrow points more and more to the White House...in regards to who put together the list."

EDUCATION -- GRADUATION PROMISE ACT WILL HELP IMPROVE HIGH SCHOOLS AND REDUCE DROPOUT RATES: Yesterday, the Graduation Promise Act, which is designed to improve high schools and reduce dropout rates, was introduced in the Senate by Sens. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Richard Burr (R-NC), and Edward Kennedy (D-MA), the Chairman of the Health, Education, Pensions, and Labor Committee. The legislation, which authorizes $2.5 billion in new funding, will help align federal, state, and local efforts at "transforming the nation's lowest performing high schools" in order to "ensure high school educators and students facing the highest challenges receive the support they need to succeed." "Despite several decades of intensive efforts to improve educational outcomes, the U.S. graduation rate has not reached above 70 percent in decades, and some states appear to be losing ground." "Forty years ago, the United States led the world in high school graduation rates; it now ranks seventeenth," said Marlene B. Seltzer, President and CEO of Jobs for the Future. "We are moving in the wrong direction. The Graduation Promise Act answers the need to move forward and ensure that all students stay in school and graduate ready for college and work." "The U.S. Department of Labor projects that almost 90 percent of the fastest growing U.S. jobs require at least some postsecondary education," which means high school dropouts face increasingly significant challenges in the job market. The situation is especially dire for minority and low-income students. Students living in low-income families drop out at six times the rate of their high-income peers, while only about 55 percent of African-American students and 52 percent of Hispanic students graduate on time from high school with a regular diploma. "America is facing a dropout crisis," said John Podesta, President and CEO of the Center for American Progress. "This crisis...is the big flashing sign saying 'Act Now' that Congress should heed."

Think Fast

An "obscure federal investigative unit known as the Office of Special Counsel" is launching a broad investigation into key elements of the White House political operation that "for more than six years have been headed by chief strategist Karl Rove." The administration-led inquiry will be a unified investigation covering many facets of Rove's operations. "We will take the evidence where it leads us," said Scott J. Bloch, a Bush appointee who heads the Office of Special Counsel. "We will not leave any stone unturned."

U.S. Central Command has retired the phrase "the long war" to describe the struggle against global extremists, after cultural advisers became concerned that the concept "alienated Middle East audiences by suggesting that the United States would keep a large number of forces in the region indefinitely."

"World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz met yesterday with senior managers to promise unspecified changes in his leadership and to appeal for their help." "He is not going to resign," his lawyer said. "His mood is just fine. ... He feels people are trying to interfere with his job to get at world poverty."

Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D-NY) "will soon introduce a bill to legalize same-sex marriage -- what he calls 'a simple moral imperative,'" becoming "the first governor in the nation to introduce a gay marriage bill."

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will conduct a hearing today into misleading information from the battlefield. The hearing will focus on the death of Army Ranger Specialist Patrick Tillman in Afghanistan and the capture and rescue of Army Private Jessica Lynch in Iraq, and question why inaccurate accounts of these two incidents were disseminated. 

In an interview with the Washington Post, Rep. David Hobson (R-OH), who recently went on a congressional trip to Syria, confirmed that he never received any of the attacks House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) did. He noted that "none of his Republican colleagues broached the subject." "Nobody ever called me to say, 'Why are you going to Syria with those people?'"

"Despite President Bush's vow that all Americans would have access to high-speed Internet service by 2007," a new study suggests the United States is continuing to fall behind other developed countries in broadband subscriptions."

"The map of Greenland will have to be redrawn. A new island has appeared off its coast, suddenly separated from the mainland by the melting of Greenland's enormous ice sheet, a development that is being seen as the most alarming sign of global warming."

And finally: Voters in Florida may now be going to the polls...to not vote. State Sen. Mike Bennett (R) has introduced a bill to "require ballots to have the additional option of 'I choose not to vote.'" Bennett notes that some races are so nasty that voters don't want to choose any candidate, and his bill would "enable uninformed or disgusted voters to opt out."