Think Progress

ADMINISTRATION -- REPORT SAYS BUSH OFFICIALS PAID FOR CAMPAIGN TRIPS WITH TAXPAYER DOLLARS: A draft House Oversight Committee report released yesterday concludes that the White House "used the political affairs office to orchestrate an aggressive strategy to use taxpayer-funded trips to help elect Republican candidates for public office." Under federal law, the use of public funds or resources for partisan activities is illegal. But with the direction of  former White House political director Sara Taylor, the political affairs office identified struggling GOP candidates and arranged for cabinet members to make appearances on their behalf. "In some instances, the White House specifically requested that travel be billed to the taxpayers to save Republican campaigns money," the report notes. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez attended 59 events, former Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns attended 38, and Labor Secretary Elaine Chao attended 25. White House spokesperson Scott Stanzel did not deny the allegations, simply stating, that report was little more than an effort "to score political points" three weeks before Election Day. The report is the latest in a growing list of activities constituting politicization of government under the Bush administration.

NATIONAL SECURITY -- WHITE HOUSE REFUSES TO APPOINT 'WMD CZAR': Last year, Congress passed a law forcing the federal government to carry out all the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission. The bill also called on the White House to create a new special office -- a "WMD czar" -- to coordinate anti-nuclear proliferation and counterterrorism efforts. The idea was that "the government needed one top official to cut through interagency disputes and make sure everybody was working together on how best to keep nukes and other weapons of mass destruction out of the hands of terrorists." But Newsweek reports that President Bush has yet to nominate anyone for the position. Sources tell Newsweek that David Addington, Dick Cheney's chief of staff, "recoiled at the idea of creating a new White House office whose director was answerable to Congress." The WMD czar "would not just have to be confirmed by the Senate," but Congress "would also be guaranteed access to any 'information, documents and studies' commissioned or written by the nuke czar. In addition, the law required that his or her deputies could be called to testify before Congress." Congressional oversight of the new position "set off Addington and other White House lawyers" because they believed "the concept would violate executive privilege."

HEALTH CARE -- U.S. FALLS BEHIND OTHER INDUSTRIALIZED NATIONS IN INFANT MORTALITY: According to a new report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), infant mortality in the United States stalled "at the same level from 2000 through 2005 while other countries improved." The data "extends a worsening trend for the United States," as "the US ranking in infant mortality worsened to 29th worldwide, down from 27th in 2000 and 23rd in 1990." According to the CDC, "these years represent the first period of sustained lack of progress in the U.S. infant mortality rate since the 1950s." "This is really the first time that the U.S. infant mortality rate hasn't declined in a century. So we're quite concerned about this plateau," said the CDC's Marian MacDorman. In 2006, the most recent year for which data is available, there were 6.71 deaths per 1,000 live births in the United States. The CDC noted that the current rate "is about 50 percent higher than the national goal of 4.5 infant deaths per 1,000 births." The CDC also found that "the infant mortality rate for non-Hispanic black women was 2.4 times the rate for non-Hispanic white women."

Socialist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez "mocked US President George W. Bush as a 'comrade.'" "Bush is to the left of me now," Chavez told an audience of international intellectuals debating the benefits of socialism. "Comrade Bush announced he will buy shares in private banks."

More than 200,000 registered Ohio voters "may be blocked from casting regular ballots on Election Day because of a federal appeals court decision on Tuesday requiring the disclosure of lists of voters whose names did not match those on government databases." Once local officials receive the names, they may "ask partisan poll workers to challenge these voters on Election Day."

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (R) is breaking with the conservative line on voter fraud and ACORN, saying yesterday, "'I think that there's probably less [registration fraud] than is being discussed. As we're coming into the closing days of any campaign, there are some who enjoy chaos."

A revised draft of the Iraq-U.S. security agreement "includes a previously discussed timeline for the withdrawal of American combat troops, with the troops moving out of Iraq's cities and towns by the middle of next summer and leaving the country in 2011," according to Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh.

Sen. Mitch McConell's (R-KY) third-largest donor "is a $14 billion New York City hedge-fund firm led by a man -- nicknamed 'the Vulture' -- who squeezes distressed companies and countries for their last dollars and boasted that the current U.S. economic crisis is 'the opportunity of a lifetime.'"

FDIC Chairwoman Sheila Bair criticized the federal government's bailout plan "for failing to take more aggressive steps to prevent Americans from losing their homes, highlighting a rift between her and other senior U.S. officials over terms of the $700 billion rescue package." "We're attacking it at the institution level as opposed to the borrower level, and it's the borrowers defaulting," said Bair.

Global markets tumbled yesterday "amid mounting anxiety that the world economy is plunging into a deep and protracted recession." "European stocks fell 3 percent by midday after Wall Street and Japan's Nikkei both suffered their worst one-day losses since the stock market crash of 1987, and the MSCI World stock index traded 3 percent lower."

Several of the nation's largest banks reported that consumers "are increasingly unable to pay off their credit cards," forcing them "to hoard cash to protect against future losses and lend to fewer people." According to J.P. Morgan, "the number of credit card loans in default rose 45 percent in the third quarter from the comparable period a year ago."

And finally: Think you might be feeling lonely on next Valentine's Day? Then consider joining right-wing luminaries such as former attorney general John Ashcroft and Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO) on a 10-night cruise hosted by the Young America’s Foundation. After all, who can resist sharing "pressing thoughts with individuals who have done so much to advance the Conservative Movement"?