Bush: Bad Data Means Stop Publishing

President Bush has said that "in a society that is a free society, there will be transparency." That means that in America, we have a government where the public gets to see as much information as possible about its government.

But as the record shows, Bush is anything but pro-transparency. A careful look shows the Bush White House has systematically tried to stop publishing government information that it finds embarrassing or disagrees with - the opposite of "transparent." See the record for yourself:

- Knight-Ridder reports today that the Bush administration announced yesterday that it has "decided to stop publishing an annual report on international terrorism after the government's top terrorism center concluded that there were more terrorist attacks in 2004 than in any year since 1985, the first year the publication covered."

- When unemployment was peaking in Bush's first term, the White House tried to stop publishing the Labor Department's regular report on mass layoffs.

- In 2003, when the nation's governors came to Washington to complain about inadequate federal funding for the states, the Bush administration decided to stop publishing the budget report that states use to see what money they are, or aren't, getting.

- In 2003, the National Council for Research on Women found that information about discrimination against women has gone missing from government Web sites, including 25 reports from the U.S. Department of Labor's Women's Bureau.

- In 2002, Democrats uncovered evidence that the Bush administration was removing health information from government websites. Specifically, the administration deleted data showing that abortion does not increase the risk of breast cancer. That scientific data was seen by the White House as a direct affront to the pro-life movement.

Forging a New Way on Energy

Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D-MT) is really blazing a new path on energy policy - a critical issue considering the recent spike in oil prices. Less than six months into his first term, he is on the verge of passing bills to develop an ethanol economy and to force power companies to use more alternative/renewable energy sources. This comes on the heels of Montana regulators approving a massive new wind farm in the Judith Basin.

Notice, the Republicans are so beside themselves with rage, they can't even put a coherent argument together against these proposals. Instead, they just foam at the mouth, and vote against these forward-thinking policies because they might make Schweitzer look good. Look at House Republican Floor Leader Michael Lange: "I want to kick it right in the governor's face with this bill," he said. "I'm going to ask you with every fiber of my being to vote no on this bill. The governor is marching along with his legacy and this bill is just one more exclamation point on his legacy. Let's send a message to the people who elected us that we're not afraid of the Democrats." Is as partisan an argument as "let's deny the governor a legacy" really a credible reason to vote against proposals that deal with such serious energy challenges?

If Schweitzer manages to win out over these pathetic and petty arguments, he will have helped move Montana, the Rocky Mountain region, and the nation forward on energy. These are major accomplishments, and a long time coming for a state that has been abused by energy companies. For too long, the oil and gas industry has called the shots in this country - and its time for other leaders to step up and push innovative solutions at the state and local level to America's energy challenges.

Moveon Slams Top Democrat in New Ads

Moveon.org is launching radio ads against select Members of Congress who voted for the credit card industry-written bankruptcy bill yesterday. While most of those targeted are Republicans (and rightfully so), one of them is Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), the second-ranking Democrat in the House. As the Minority Whip, Hoyer is responsible for organizing Democratic opposition to the Republicans' right-wing agenda. Instead, he voted for the GOP's bankruptcy bill. Now, Moveon is going to make him pay a price.

It's true, as Moveon's Tom Matzzie says, that Hoyer is pretty solid on most issues. But the bankruptcy bill was an issue of economic fairness that should be core to the Democratic Party's mission. Moveon's decision to smack Hoyer shows that they understand that lawmakers change when offered both carrots AND sticks. If all Moveon did was offer praise to Democrats, it wouldn't be helping the Democrats or, more importantly, the progressive cause. By once in a while taking a Democrat out to the woodshed, they will be helping to enforce more Democratic unity down the road. And that is really the key to long-term success.

Credit Card Companies vs. Small Business

As President Bush prepares to sign the lobbyist-written Bankruptcy Bill, it should be noted that consumers aren't the only ones who are getting abused by credit card companies and banks. As this new Wall Street Journal story shows, small businesses are also getting the shaft, as the finance industry charges them higher and higher transaction fees when consumers use credit cards to make purchases. As the Journal notes, "merchants swallow the per-transaction interchange fees they fork over when customers pay by plastic because they chalk it up to the price of doing business in a credit-card world" but "now they are incurring increasingly higher fees" as card companies try to maximize profits.

The National Retail Federation estimates that the latest round of interchange fees will raise rates anywhere from 2.7% for a basic Visa card transaction to 9% or more for a transaction made with a corporate card from MasterCard. While "bigger businesses can absorb the fees more easily or pass them along unnoticed by raising prices a few pennies" small businesses can't, and are either forced to raise prices, or swallow more of the cost.

In my earlier "Da Vinci Code" piece for the American Prospect, I touched on how the interests of Big Business is often diametrically opposed to the interests of small mom and pop businesses. This is a perfect example: huge credit card companies and banks are using the government's lax oversight to bleed small mom and pop businesses dry. Will lawmakers sit by and merely pay lipservice to small businesses as they always do? Or will they actually act to stop this abuse? Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) already has a Loan Shark Prevention Act that deals with credit card companies ripping off consumers. A nice piece of companion legislation would be a bill regulating the fees that credit card companies are allowed to charge small businesses.

Depends On How You Define "A Lot"

CLAIM:
"In Montana, there are a lot of families who have their whole lives invested in the farm or their small business. Then tragedy strikes, parents pass away, leaving the children to sell the farm or business just to satisfy the IRS."
- U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-MT) justifying his vote to completely eliminate the estate tax, 4/13/05

FACT:
Under the current estate tax, an average of just 25 families per year in Montana are forced to pay any estate tax at all. That is three tenths of one percent of all Montanans who pass away in a given year.
- 2002 study by Quantria Strategies, LLC, 5/2002

The War on America's Middle Class

In case there was any question about how politicians in Washington, D.C. are now openly waging a war on America's middle class, just consider what has gone on over the last few months:

- Congress restricted consumers ability to seek legal redress against abusive corporations

- The Senate rejected efforts to raise the minimum wage from its near 50-year low

- The U.S. House voted to eliminate the estate tax - effectively giving billions of dollars away to the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans at a time of war and deficits.

- Congress passed a credit card industry-written banruptcy bill making it harder for consumers to get legal protections when skyrocketing medical costs put them into unsurmountable debt

- President Bush proposed slashing funding for things like food stamps, child care, and health care.

The facts are clear - there is a war going on in America. It is being waged by the wealthiest and most powerful interests in our nation's Capitol against average citizens. It is being aided and abetted by both Republicans and sellout Democrats. And its not going to stop until there really is no more middle class to speak of.

What's Wrong With House Democrats?

Read this story and you will find out. A top House Democrat is corralling business lobbyists to help get more Democratic votes on the credit-card-industry-written Bankruptcy Bill. He is doing this, despite representing a working class congressional district in New York City - a city that will be hit particularly hard by the bankruptcy bill. Worse, his effort to pass the bankruptcy bill is made easier because the House Democratic leadership officially has no position on the bill.

At least Rep. David Obey (D-WI) keeps it real and tells the truth: "They ought to be ashamed of themselves. This bill is a measure of how bought-off both parties are."

I'm thankful there are people like Obey in Congress. But today is truly a sad day for the Democratic Party. What once was a party of the working class has now become something very, very different. Sadly, when you read a story like this and see Democrats support something like the bankruptcy bill, there should be no question as to why Democrats are in the minority.

CLAIM vs. FACT: Upcoming Bankruptcy Bill Vote

This is culled from Atrios's terrific post:

CLAIM:
"We would like a [bankruptcy] bill that did more to protect people by the way who have medical liabilities - people that have divorces that are looking for either alimony or child custody money are protected in this bill."
- Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-CA), 4/7/05

FACT:
On 4/13/05 (the eve of the final vote on the bankruptcy bill) Rep. Ellen Tauscher authored a memo to House Democrats saying "that final passage of the [bankruptcy] bill will be a key vote" for Democrats. She and her allies wrote that they "encourage [other members] to support this common-sense, bipartisan legislation," and said "it is past time that Congress pass sensible bankruptcy reform."

Senate GOP Gets Nervous About CAFTA

The Hill Newspaper this morning reports that Senate Republicans are getting nervous about the prospects of passing the Bush administration's Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has announced his opposition - a move that "underscores the serious problems Republican leaders face in lining up support within their own party to move the agreement through the Senate."

Sen. Gordon Smith (R-OR) is also voicing concerns: "I think the trade deficit is becoming so high and so alarming that any trade legislation is in jeopardy now, irrespective of its merits. That has to be overcome before anything is done. Otherwise, it will fail."

Still, there are some who continue to push the free trade line with ever more ridiculous logic. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), for instance, said "one of the few ways we can stop the hordes of people coming into this country by helping them become part of the free-trade agreement." In other words, instead of a trade deal that would force companies to improve wages/working conditions in Central America (and thus not force American workers to compete with near-slave wages), Hatch is openly admitting the goal of the trade deal is to export as many American jobs as possible so as to keep potential immigrants in their own country. Sure, there are immigration problems right now - but a U.S. Senator essentially admitting that a trade deal's goal is to ship jobs overseas is quite telling about where the Senate's loyalties lie.

Big News on Trade

Last week in the Nation Magazine, I lamented the fact that not one U.S. Senator had stood up to oppose President Bush's nomination of free-trading U.S. Rep. Rob Portman (R-OH) as America's next U.S. Trade Representative. That piece had followed an earlier op-ed I wrote urging politicians of both parties to stop his nomination. So I was thrilled to read this new AP story about Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN) announcing "his opposition to President Bush's nomination Portman." Bayh is "protesting what he says is the administration's failure to enforce trade laws." According to CongressDaily, Bayh has told Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) that he is putting a formal hold on Portman's nomination.

I am not a huge fan of Evan Bayh, especially considering his ardent free trade positions in the past. And certainly, this move may be motivated by his 2008 presidential aspirations. That said, however, this is HUGE news, as it means the Democratic Party is finally starting to take trade issues seriously. The fact that one of the party's most outspoken advocates for corporate free trade deals is now re-positioning himself on the trade issue means that a wholesale change is happening. Sure, Portman may still get through, and Bayh may not fight for this tooth and nail (though, let's hope he does) - but his move today alone signals a tectonic shift is occuring.

It's time for other Democrats to join Bayh and make Portman's nomination a referendum on the trade policy that the Bush administration is trying to ram down American workers' throats. Between this effort and the upcoming vote on the CAFTA deal, trade is becoming a central issue to highlight exactly how the White House is trying to abandon average Americans in order to do the bidding of its corporate donors.

Congress Put on Notice About Bankruptcy Bill

Moveon.org has put Republican and Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives on notice that if they vote for the credit-card-industry-written bankruptcy bill this week, there will be serious consequences for them in their home districts. Go to Moveon.org's special bankruptcy website and make a financial contribution that helps send a message to politicians that when they sell out, they will pay a political price.

Dorgan Steps Up On Trade

Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) just introduced a resolution to deny President Bush's request to extend "fast track" trade authority that Congress granted him a few years back. This authority lets Bush negotiate corporate free trade deals with little to no input from Congress - a power that lets him bypass most labor, human rights and environmental standards.

As AP reports, Dorgan noted that "fast-track authority was responsible for problems with the Central American Free Trade Agreement recently signed with the Dominican Republic and five Central American countries." Farmers are getting quite nervous about the deal - and rightly so. Dorgan also noted the deal would lead to "U.S. jobs going overseas, as companies try to take advantage of low-wage labor in countries with no environmental controls."

To understand why fast track is so bad, check out the Australia free trade deal Bush negotiated under fast track authority. The deal undercut small family farmers in the United States, while also codifying laws that make sure medicine prices stay high.

Senators who are serious about representing America's workers should sign onto Dorgan's bill immediately. Trade pacts are among the most important and far-reaching economic policies that affect average Americans - and no president should have the ability to circumvent Congress in negotiating them.

Poll: Americans Know They are Being Shafted

A friend just passed me results from a new national NBC News poll out today about taxes (I can't find a link to the info). The results show the American public really knows its being shafted. All told, 54 percent of Americans believe corporations are paying less than their fair share in taxes, and 54 percent believe the tax system is "basically unfair."

This is a huge opportunity for Democrats to start talking about these issues - the GOP has made an art out of packaging elitist tax policy that rewards the wealthy in populist language. But the public knows its a bunch of crap - and that means there is an opening for Democrats to expose the lies.

Santorum Faces DeLay-Style Questions

The Washington Post reports that Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) said House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) needs to "lay out what he did and why he did it" if "he is going to put an end to questions about his travel and dealings with lobbyists."

It's true, DeLay needs to answer these questions. But then again, these very same questions should be swirling around Santorum as well. Santorum has run the so-called K Street project in which he "vets the hiring decisions of major lobbyists" at weekly breakfasts in the Capitol, despite the Senate Ethics Committee questioning Santorum's behavior. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported on 8/12/02 that contributions to Santorum's campaign and political action committee "have come from some of the same lobbying firms that attend his breakfasts." That same campaign and PAC, according to a very recent Newhouse News Service story, is funding charter planes for Santorum's own personal travel "to the tune of nearly $83,000 in two years."

Is Santorum shaking down lobbyists to make them pay for his jet setting and lavish lifestyle? And what favors are those lobbyists getting from Santorum in return?

Where Your Tax Dollars Go

As April 15th approaches, the National Priorities Project has put out a terrific state-by-state, city-by-city resource for folks to see where their hard earned tax money is going. Previously, they put out a state-by-state report on how much we are paying for the Iraq war. This is exactly the kind of data progressives can use to highlight how conservatives are mismanaging the federal budget. Check it out.