National News
CQ - House Prepares to Steer Highway Fund Into Fast Lane
The Highway Trust Fund is in trouble — estimates have shown that it could be $4 billion in the red next year. But an administration budget review that will likely be released next week will paint an even bleaker picture.
CQ - Standoff Over Amendments Keeps Energy Speculation Bill on Hold
Democrats and Republicans traded salvos over the blame for high gasoline prices Tuesday, but substantive progress on energy legislation eluded lawmakers as a bill to curb oil speculation stalled in the Senate.
CQ- Housing Bill Headed to House Floor
The House set the stage for floor consideration Wednesday of a comprehensive housing package, including a lifeline for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that would not include a dollar cap but, against White House wishes, would be subject to the federal debt limit.
CQ - An Editing Job for Congress To Avoid a Patent Suit Landslide
House lawmakers are expected to vote Tuesday to undo an obscure provision in a 1999 omnibus appropriations law that threatens the validity of thousands of patent law cases.
The Hill - Issa, Souder press Waxman on Countrywide hearings
Two House Republicans on Tuesday pressed the Democratic chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee to hold hearings on whether a mortgage lender gave preferential treatment to lawmakers.
AP - Randy “Duke” Cunningham seeks clemency from Bush
Former U.S. Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, who is serving federal prison time for accepting millions of dollars in bribes, has asked President Bush to grant him clemency.
The Hill - House Oversight Should Pressure Scott Bloch to Resign (Rep. Tom Davis)
Yesterday, I wrote to Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, to ask for a third time that he turn this committee’s powerful microscope on U.S. Special Counsel Scott Bloch’s unethical and perhaps illegal activities.
Conde Nast Portfolio - No Friends of Angelo
Two Republican members of Congress are pressing for reform in the wake of the revelations by Portfolio.com that Senators and others received loans on favorable terms from Countrywide Financial.
Wall Street Journal - Richest Americans See Their Income Share Grow
In a new sign of increasing inequality in the U.S., the richest 1% of Americans in 2006 garnered the highest share of the nation's adjusted gross income for two decades, and possibly the highest since 1929, according to Internal Revenue Service data.
The Hill - ANWR split gives GOP 2 platforms
The official platform of the Republican Party this year may contrast with Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) position on drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Differences between the party platforms and the policies of presidential nominees are rare, but this year they could be unavoidable on the Republican side because McCain has broken with the GOP on high-profile issues in recent years.
USA Today - Spending on vets exceeds 1947 high
The federal government is spending more money on veterans than at any time in modern history, surpassing the tidal wave of spending following World War II and the demilitarizing of millions of troops.
Washington Post - Ex-Advisers Warn Against Threatening to Attack Iran
The Bush administration should stop talking about a military attack as an option if negotiations do not immediately halt Iran's uranium reprocessing program, two former national security advisers said yesterday.
LA Times - Defense officials promise to restore trust in Air Force
Michael B. Donley and Gen. Norton A. Schwartz, nominees to become the service's secretary and chief of staff, tell a Senate hearing they will improve oversight of the nation's nuclear arsenal.
Politico - Taxpayers pay for rep's big screen TVs
Members of Congress get between $1.3 million and $1.63 million per year to run their offices. Much of the money goes to staff salaries and rent for district offices. Some of it does not.
International News
Washington Post - A Wake-Up Call From Afghanistan
Increased Fighting Draws More Attention to the Strain Posed by the Iraq War
LA Times - Indian government survives confidence vote
India's ruling coalition survived a confidence vote by a slim margin Tuesday, keeping alive the possibility that a controversial nuclear cooperation deal with the U.S. would go ahead as planned.
NY Times - Rice Meets Top N. Korean Diplomat
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pushed North Korea on Wednesday to accept terms to verify the dismantling of its nuclear weapons program, as the two countries held cabinet-level talks for the first time in four years.
LA Times - On Russian visit, Chavez is all business
Deals on oil drilling and arms shipments mark the Venezuelan president's whirlwind trip to Moscow, as he seeks an ally in his anti-U.S. stance.
Washington Post - Iraqis Take Flawed Step On Electoral Legislation
Iraq's parliament passed legislation Tuesday setting new rules for provincial elections, a step widely viewed here as critical to the country's process of political reconciliation.
State News
North County Times - Fire tax measure debated
A county-led effort to tax residents to pay for more firefighting resources is turning into a battle between urban centers, where most residents live, and rural areas, where most wildfires begin.
North County Times - Construction of I-15 ramps will disrupt city's industrial district
City leaders and merchants in the city's Hale Avenue industrial corridor are asking for more details about state Department of Transportation plans to build freeway ramps in the area beginning this fall.
North County Times - ICE anti-gang operation nets 81
NORTH COUNTY ---- Federal agents arrested 81 people last week in a crackdown on illegal immigrants connected with gangs, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said Tuesday.
San Diego Union Tribune - Voters see problem in budget deficit, and doubt state leaders can resolve it
A growing number of California voters believe the chronic state budget deficit is a serious problem and lack faith in the ability of the state's political leadership to do anything about it, according to a new Field Poll.
San Francisco Chronicle - Most foreclosures in at least 20 years
Foreclosures across the state jumped to their highest levels in at least 20 years over the past three months as tens of thousands of Californians lost their homes and more than 100,000 neared the brink.
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