California has a $15 billion budget hole and a political stalemate in full tilt boogie. Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is playing with taxes and payrolls as a game of chicken continues with Democrats and fellow Republicans.
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Congress is about to call it quits for the summer and it has yet to ease the ever-rising price of gas. Democrats and Republicans are bickering over offshore oil drilling.
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It’s a battle over hearts and minds. And oil. Bush urged Congress to vote to on allowing oil drilling off American coastal waters, prompting spars over what’s causing fuel prices to rise. Democrats say it's speculators. Republicans say it’s all about demand.
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Senator Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, indicted on seven counts of making false statements by a federal grand jury Tuesday, has represented Alaska for 40 years.
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Senator Ted Stevens has been indicted on seven counts of making false statements. The 84-year-old Alaska Republican and former chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee is accused of falsely reporting hundreds of thousands of dollars in services he received from a company that helped renovate his home. In 2005, Stevens became a lightning rod for critics of wasteful spending when he backed a costly "bridge to nowhere" in his home state. It ultimately was not funded.
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An energy bill that Democrats hoped would lower gas prices was killed by House Republicans yesterday. The bill would have tapped into 70 million barrels of oil the government has stockpiled in its Strategic Petroleum Reserve for emergencies. It's the fourth failed energy bill since June.
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Guest: Eric Schmitt, The New York Times
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Jason Burnett, a former Environmental Protection Agency official, told the Senate's Environment and Public Works committee that the White House pressured the EPA in 2007 to deny climate regulation that would have required a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from cars in California. Burnett's testimony contradicts earlier statements from EPA chief Stephen Johnson, who said the denial was solely his decision.
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As credit card companies continue to descend upon college campuses, Congress is threatening to make it more difficult for students to qualify for credit. But is Congress protecting students from debt or is it infringing on students’ rights?
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Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are scheduled to take up a proposed bailout of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It’s a bill that has President Bush and congressional Democrats seeing eye-to-eye.
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From Medicare to mortgages, an increasing number of U.S. Representatives from the GOP are defying President Bush’s wishes when it comes to voting on Capitol Hill. Why? It’s a re-election strategy.
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The Takeaway for July 17, 2008
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This year the drug trade's been in full bloom in Mexico. While US-Mexican relations have been a strained by illegal immigration issues, the two countries are renewing joint efforts to fight the seemingly escalating cases of drug trafficking. On June 30th, President Bush signed the Merida Initiative, which appropriates $465 million to help fight drugs in Mexico and Central America. We welcome David Johnson who's leading that fight.
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If last week was the week to stall on Capitol Hill, Congress seems to be making up for it this week. We now know the fate of both the FISA and Medicare bills. The rising price of oil is next up for discussion.
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Guest: Anna Mathews, Wall Street Journal
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Guest: Todd Zwillich, Capitol News Connection's Power Breakfast
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Guest: Craig Holman, Public Citizen
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Friday marks the fifth anniversary of a law responsible for recovering some peace and quiet in your life: The National Do Not Call Registry. The Takeaway listens to what we've been missing.
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Guest: U.S. Senator Benjamin Cardin, D-Md.
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Guest: Todd Zwillich, Capitol News Connection's Power Breakfast
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Guest: Eric Lichtblau, The New York Times
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What does democracy sound like? That depends on where you are. The Takeaway compares U.K. Question Time and the U.S. House of Representatives to hear the difference in the way lawmakers serve you.
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America is 84th in the world for the number of women in office. While Hillary Clinton’s bid for the White House may have ended, it has invigorated women throughout the nation to seek a place in elected office. The Takeaway talks to political guru Andrea Bernstein about how more women are throwing their hats into the political ring.
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A probe by the Senate Armed Services Committee has found that senior Pentagon lawyers were active in developing harsh interrogation techniques used in the systematic torture of detainees in American prisons at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and Abu Ghraib, Iraq. The Takeaway talks with Mark Mazzetti, the New York Times reporter who covered Tuesday’s senate hearing.
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With demand growing for tougher immigration enforcement and a flurry of new state laws addressing the issue, local police are stepping up and arresting illegal immigrants. Damien Cave, the Miami Bureau Chief for the New York Times, has been tracking these local crackdowns.
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