IRAQ
Congress's Last Stand

Earlier this month, President Bush sent Congress a $70 billion emergency supplemental request to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Congress has indicated that it will merge that request with a separate $108 billion request  that is still pending, thus setting up what is likely to be the final showdown between Bush and Congress over Iraq war funding. Taking on Bush's request first, House leaders chose to separate the war funding bill into three measures: the first to provide $162 billion to fund the wars, the second to include a number of war policy measures, and the third to fund a series of domestic priorities, including a new GI Bill that significantly increases education benefits for veterans. The White House has said it would veto any bill that included spending other than what Bush requested, "demanding a new version stripped of policy prescriptions and domestic spending, including the bill's $52 billion expansion of veterans' education benefits." Last week, the House passed only the war policy and domestic priority amendments while rejecting the war funding measure -- leaving it up to the Senate to include the money for the war in its version of the bill.

THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAILS: The House war funding bill failed by a 149 to 141 vote that encompassed a coalition of Republicans, who "withheld their votes in protest of Democratic handling of the measure," and a "a large bloc of antiwar Democrats," who were "unwilling to provide new money for the conflict." The war policy measure passed 227 to 196, including eight Republican votes. That amendment sets a goal of December 2009 to withdraw combat troops from Iraq, requires that the Iraqi government "match U.S. reconstruction funding dollar for dollar," and mandates that "any agreement between the United States and Iraq committing U.S. forces to be specifically authorized by Congress." In addition, troops "would get more rest between combat deployments, and every branch of government -- including the Central Intelligence Agency -- would have to abide by the Army Field Manual's guidelines on interrogation, which bans action that amount to torture." On the domestic front, the House passed provisions that would extend unemployment compensation for 13 weeks, "suspend implementation of the seven new Medicaid regulations proposed by the Bush administration," and provide funds for international food aid, levees around New Orleans, federal prisons, and the 2010 Census.

BENEFITS FOR VETERANS: Last February, Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA), along with a bipartisan Senate coalition, re-introduced the "21st Century GI Bill." The bill aims to dramatically expand educational benefits for returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan, mirroring the original GI Bill set up after World War II. The bill essentially guarantees "a full scholarship at any in-state public university, along with a monthly housing stipend, for people who serve in the military for at least three years" at the cost of $52 billion over 10 years. The House included Webb's GI benefit as part of the domestic priority amendment to its overall war funding bill, and it passed 256 to 166. However, in order to garner support for the measure from so-called "Blue Dog" Democrats, the measure also includes a surtax to offset the GI Bill's costs. "The proposal is the most striking example so far of a Democratic refrain being heard increasingly in Congress and on the presidential campaign trail: Americans with significant financial resources need to contribute more to efforts to help those less prosperous," the New York Times observed. High income earners would pay a 0.47 percent surtax on income over $500,000. According to OMB Watch, the surtax would affect 0.3 percent of all taxpayers. However, the Senate is expected to strip the surtax, a move that Webb supports. "I don't think we need to do that for this bill," said Webb. "It's a cost of war, and nobody is proposing offsets for all the rest of the war money."

ON TO THE SENATE: The Senate is expected to begin debate on its version of the entire war supplemental today, but the Appropriations Committee has already taken the plunge. The committee "marked up a competing version of the measure, adding billions of dollars in domestic spending unrelated to the war via nearly two dozen amendments." One such amendment includes a controversial provision that would help "pave the way for undocumented agriculture workers to win legal status," aimed at helping farmers with labor shortages. Another amendment "would add $1 billion for low-income housing energy assistance." Others include a "$300 million increase in aid to Jordan," "$50 million to track unregistered sex offenders," and "a ban on the use of funds to pay contractors who avoid taxes by incorporating overseas." Bush has said he will only sign what he calls a "clean" bill, one without additional funding for other priorities. However, Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV), "the committee chairman and a fierce guardian of congressional prerogatives, signaled that -- even at 90 -- he was prepared to confront the White House over the added domestic spending." "The president claims that by adding money for America to this bill, we are holding money for the troops hostage. What hogwash!" Byrd exclaimed.

Under the Radar

CIVIL RIGHTS -- KANSAS GOVERNOR SEBELIUS VETOES VOTER ID BILL: Yesterday, Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D) vetoed a bill that would require voters starting in 2010 to show identification at the polls. In her veto message, she said, "[N]o elected official should support enacting new laws discouraging or disenfranchising any American who has been legally voting for years." Sebelius added that the bill "seeks to solve a problem of voter fraud which does not exist in our state." Earlier this month, Missouri also rejected voter ID bill, ending its legislative session before passing a bill that would have required citizens to have both a photo ID and proof of citizenship to vote. While the measure passed the House, "amidst strongly voiced local and national opposition," it never reached a vote in the state Senate. Last month, the Supreme Court upheld Indiana's voter ID law, which requires a photo ID before voting. Currently, Arizona is the only state to require proof of citizenship, "a mandate that has led to the rejection of over 38,000 voter registration applications."

ENVIRONMENT -- WAXMAN: 'WHITE HOUSE INVOLVED IN CALIFORNIA WAIVER DENIAL': Yesterday, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) released documents and testimony that show White House involvement in the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) decision to deny California's request for a waiver to regulate its greenhouse gas emissions standards for cars and trucks. According to testimony by former EPA Associate Deputy Administrator Jason Burnett, EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson's "preference for a full or partial grant of the waiver did not change until after he communicated with the White House." Burnett refused to give further specifics, telling the investigators "that he had been directed not to answer any questions about the involvement of the White House in the decision to reject California’s petition." Burnett, who was involved in a series of questionable EPA decisions during his tenure, resigned from the EPA on May 6. He was deposed on May 15. In his memo, Waxman writes that "it would be a serious breach if the President or other White House officials directed Administrator Johnson to ignore the record before the agency and deny California's petition for political or other inappropriate reasons." Johnson is expected to testify before Waxman's committee today at 1 p.m.

ETHICS -- WHITE HOUSE SAYS SECRET PENTAGON PROPAGANDA SIMILAR TO WRITING FOR A 'LIBERAL BLOG': Earlier this month, the Pentagon released documents relating to the secret military analysts program first reported by the New York Times on April 20. The documents raise questions about White House involvement in the program, which it had previously denied. One e-mail from a Pentagon official expressed his hope to get the analysts "in with potus" -- President Bush -- an idea the writer said "was submitted to karl and company," suggesting involvement from Karl Rove. Yesterday, White House spokesman Scott Stanzel refused to discuss the White House's involvement in the program, but insisted that "it's not unusual for administration officials to brief people...just like I'm standing here answering your question." But the Pentagon program, unlike the daily, televised press briefings, were kept secret. "Participants were instructed not to quote their briefers directly or otherwise describe their contacts with the Pentagon," the Times reported. When a reporter pointed this out to Stanzel, he ducked the question. "You can talk to the Defense Department. It was their program," he said.

Think Fast

"President Bush has apologized to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki for an American soldier shooting at a Quran, the prime minister’s office said."

The Louisiana National Guard unit called home after Hurricane Katrina "was ordered yesterday to prepare to return to Iraq for its second tour." The unit is part of about 40,000 active-duty and National Guard soldiers who Pentagon officials notified yesterday that they will be "deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan in the upcoming months and years."

"Only one in five detainees in U.S. custody in Iraq are members of the main extremist groups fighting U.S. and Iraqi forces, while many of the rest can be reintegrated back into society, according to U.S. military statistics and interviews." The U.S. military indicated it would seek to release more of the average men caught in the fighting.

Blackwater "has run into heavy local resistance to its efforts to set up military and law-enforcement training facilities near San Diego's major Navy bases." Mayor Jerry Sanders "is moving to stop the company over permit problems," stating it didn't get the "scrutiny appropriate for a facility for firearms training."

Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) is "not expected back at work in the Senate this week" as doctors continue to search for the cause of a weekend seizure that put him in the hospital. Kennedy's office says that "he's doing well and anxious to get back to work," but doctors are still evaluating him and his staff expects "the senator to remain in the hospital for a couple of days."

Mired in scandal, Rep. Vito Fossella (R-NY) has announced that he will not be seeking re-election this fall. In his statement, he cited the "need to concentrate on healing the wounds that I have caused to my wife and family."

And finally: In the next month, at least two groups are planning on holding ice cream socials for staffers on Capitol Hill. However, organizing these events is tricky under the new ethics regulations. For example, attendees will "get no more than a single scoop at a time. ... Cones and disposable cups with plastic spoons will be used -- not fancy plates and silverware -- for fear the event might turn into something approaching a meal, which would be forbidden."

Good News

On Thursday, the House "extended a helping hand" to Americans struggling in today's economy "by passing an extension of unemployment benefits for those workers who have exhausted the 26 weeks of regular benefits and are still looking for work."

State Watch

MAINE: Many rural Maine residents are seeing decreasing life spans.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: Several "health clinics have started an initiative to convert their patients' health records to an electronic format and share those records among themselves and D.C.-area hospitals."

ECONOMY: In the economic slowdown, state lawmakers are deciding "whether -- or when -- to tap into their states' rainy day funds."

Blog Watch

THINK PROGRESS: Former Alabama governor Don Siegelman: "This will make Watergate look like child's play."

WONK ROOM: The Bush administration plan to protect the spotted owl from global warming is to wait 10 more years.

SHAKESVILLE: Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol gets the facts of the California Supreme Court decision on same-sex marriage wrong in his New York Times column.

Daily Grill

"All this is part and parcel of the daily grind of Washington journalism."
-- Max Boot, 4/20/08, on the Pentagon's military analyst propaganda program

VERSUS

"[B]ut to be part of a recurring meeting that is designed to shape the public opinion -- that's a strange thing for officers to be willing to do."
-- Lt. Gen. William Odom (ret.), 5/19/08

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