The site for ranting and reporting by John Masters
This category is for posts related to actions by the Congress of the United States (House and/or Senate), and any member’s of Congress.
With great fanfare, and recalling the “Gingrich Revolution” of the 1990s, House conservatives yesterday proposed a broad set of spending cuts they said would help offset the costs of the Katrina reconstruction effort. Their plan reduces the budget by $500 billion over 10 years, and does so in large part by dismantling programs that invest in middle- and working-class Americans.
Read moreIn the wake of Hurricane Katrina, lawmakers of all political stripes have used the “political climate suddenly altered by the hurricane to try to advance long-stalled, sometimes controversial initiatives.” For example, Texas conservative Rep. Joe L. Barton is once again fighting to open up fragile coastal regions to offshore oil drilling, an idea that languished in Congress earlier this year.
Read moreStock prices for Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) fell 15 percent in late July, but not before Sen. Majority Leader Bill Frist unloaded his family’s shares. HCA is the nation’s largest for-profit hospital chain, founded by Frist’s father and directed by Frist’s brother, who is also a leading stockholder.
Read moreThis morning I listened, as I always do, to NPR’s Morning Edition. They interviewed Sen Rick Santorum about his book, It Takes a Family. Clearly, the book’s title is a slam against Hillary Clinton’s book, It Takes a Village. I haven’t read his book, but according to what he said this morning, instead of slamming Hillary, it sounds as if he actually agrees.
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