By Julianne LaJeunesse – University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

Hopefully, no one told U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner that pitching the Obama administration’s financial reform plan to Congress was going to be painless. During a heated Joint Economic Committee hearing on Thursday, U.S. Republican Reps. Michael Burgess (Texas) and Kevin Brady (Texas) called on Geithner to step down, telling him that his work is not adequately serving Americans.

“Conservatives agree that as point person, you failed,” Brady argued. “Liberals are growing in that consensus as well. Poll after poll shows the public has lost confidence in this President’s ability to handle this economy… for the sake of our jobs, will you step down from your post?”

Geithner responded to Brady by saying he’s privileged to serve in his position, but did not give the Congressman an answer. Responding to Brady’s concerns over unemployment and the types of jobs lost, Geithner remarked, “Almost nothing in what you said represents a fair and accurate perception of where this economy is today.”

The purpose of Geithner’s visit to the Hill, his second in as many days, was to encourage lawmakers to include four elements that he argued, “are critical to a strong package of [regulatory reform] legislation.”

Among them: Forcing non-banks who act as banks to be subjected to the same safeguards as recognized monetary institutions; accountability that includes a proposed council that will ensure that banks, regardless of size, work on a level playing field; a more capable financial system that will better absorb shocks and failures and adoption of a “no institution should be considered too big to fail” motto, which Geithner explained would be enforced by the government under “resolution authority.”

“This emergency authority, what we call resolution authority, has to be designed to facilitate the orderly demise of a failing firm…not ensure its survival,” he said. “Any risk of loss, must be recouped from the largest institutions, in proportion to their size. The financial industry, not the taxpayers, need to be on the hook.”

The Washington Bureau will be covering:

- The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee holds a hearing on “The Fort Hood Attack: A Preliminary Assessment”

-Reps. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), Steve King (R-Iowa) and others host a forum on the impact of illegal immigration on jobs.

-Sens. Gregg (R-N.H.) and Alexander (R-Tenn.) will hold a pen and pad briefing on the debt ceiling and health care.

- The Joint Economic Committee holds a hearing on “Financial Regulatory Reform: Protecting Taxpayers and the Economy.” Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner will testify.

- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) holds her weekly press conference.

-Reps. Lance (R-N.J.), Paulsen (R-Minn.), Jenkins (R-Kan.), Lee (D-Calif.) and Olson (R-Texas) call for a separate vote on raising the debt ceiling.

Travis Martinez, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service

Anne Schuchat, Director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases acknowledged the slow production of H1N1 vaccines, but says there are nearly 50 million doses available to the States for use.

“Like everyone, I’m disappointed in the initial production,” said Schuchat during a hearing with the House Energy and Commerce Committee. “However, today we can announce there are 49.9 million doses available of H1N1 vaccine for the states to order.”

“Its not as much as we wanted to have by now, or, frankly what we needed to have by now, but every dose is being rapidly moved out,” Schuchat added.

Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) praised the initial response to the virus, but also recognized the dangers posed by the vaccine shortage.

“The hope was that a robust vaccine supply would arrive before infections began to soar and everyone worked as quickly as possible to meet that goal. These hopes were not met. The past several weeks have reminded us that the process of making flu vaccines is unpredictable and challenging,” said Waxman.

Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response Nicole Lurie was grilled by Rep. Greg Walden (R-Oregon), who was diagnosed in late October with H1N1.

“We had testimony September 15 from Secretary Sebelius and everything seemed to be on track and fine. So, explain who, did the manufacturers, weren’t they straight with you?” asked Walden.

“There’s nobody to blame here, there’s no smoking gun,” Lurie said.

CDC estimates nearly 22 million Americans have been infected with H1N1. Of the 22 million infected, 98,000 were hospitalized and nearly 4,000 have dead.

By Ravi Bhatia-Talk Radio News Service

During his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday, Attorney General Eric Holder defended his decision to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-proclaimed mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks, through the federal court system in New York rather than through military commissions.

President Barack Obama revived former President George W. Bush’s military commissions, also known as military tribunals, in May 2009 for a small number of Guantanamo Bay detainees. Obama’s tribunals, deemed “Bush Light” by critics, provided terror suspects and war prisoners with more legal protections. However, the tribunals have been criticized for sacrificing American judicial values in order to prosecute prisoners quicker.

In his argument for employing federal courts rather than military courts, Holder cited the 300 convicted international and domestic terrorists currently in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons. He claimed that the United States could prosecute terrorists “safely and securely” in the federal system because “we have been doing it for years.”

“I studied this issue extensively,” Holder said in his opening statements. “I consulted the Secretary of Defense. I heard from prosecutors from my Department and from the Defense Department’s Office of Military Commissions. I spoke to victims on both sides of the question. And at the end of the day, it was clear to me that the venue in which we are most likely to obtain justice for the American people is in the federal court.”

While Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) defended Holder, saying that “we can rely on the American justice system,” the decision was met with criticism from Republican members of the committee. In one instance, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) called Holder’s choice “a perversion of the justice system.”

“You’re a fine man,” Graham said to Holder. “I know you want to do everything to help this country be safe but I think you’ve made a fundamental mistake here.”

Senator Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) mentioned that Mohammed had already said he would plead guilty to the terrorists acts.

“How could you be more likely to get a conviction in federal court when Khalid Sheikh Mohammed has already asked to plead guilty before military commission and be executed?” Kyl asked, garnering scattered applause and laughter from some audience members. “How can you be more likely to get a conviction in an Article III [federal] court than that?”

In response, Holder said, “the determination I make … does not depend on the whims or the desires of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. He said he wanted to do that then. I have no idea with what he wants to do now with regards to these military commissions that now [have] enhanced protections. My job is to look at the possibilities.”

Holder also touched on issues such as prison reform legislation, claiming that drug courts specifically established for non-violent crimes have so far been effective, responding to Senator Al Franken’s (D-Minn.) opinion that too many prisoners were in prison for drug possession.

“We’re essentially [taking] kids who are in possession of drugs and sending them to crime school,” Franken said. “They learn from other criminals how to do crime, and two-thirds of them come back [after] they’re released within three years.”

“I’m familiar with the [drug court] we have here in Washington, D.C…. that has [proven] to be very successful in dealing with people who are selling drugs because they are addicted to drugs,” Holder said. “These are low level dealers, not the people who live in penthouses and drive big cars and all that.”

Holder recommended a data driven analysis of the U.S. prison system. He said that a “sentencing group” is looking at a “wide variety” of issues in U.S. prisons.

“Who is in jail?” Holder asked. “Are they in jail for appropriate amounts of time? Is the amount of time they spend in jail a deterrent? Does that have an impact on the recidivism rate? This group will be reporting back to me within the next couple of months. It is on that basis that we’ll be formulating policy and working with the Committee.”

Travis Martinez, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service

Congressmen Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.), Lamar Smith (R-Texas) and other high ranking House Republicans Wednesday discussed a letter they sent to President Barack Obama outlining national security concerns raised by the administration’s decision to transfer Guantanamo Bay detainees to prisons in the U.S.

“Throughout this year, a bipartisan majority in Congress has listened to the American people and voted against importing these dangerous terrorist into the U.S,” the letter stated. “Republicans want to work in a bipartisan way on a comprehensive plan to keep America safe, but we will not stand by as your administration defies the will of the American people and brings these terrorist to U.S. soil.”

Rep. Hoekstra also introduced a discharge petition to force a vote on his pending bill H.R. 2294, the Keep Terrorists Out of America Act. The bill was introduced earlier this year by House Minority Leader John Boehner and would require the president to notify Congress 60 days prior to the transfer or release of any Guantanamo Bay detainee.

By Leah Valencia, University of New Mexico- Talk Radio News Service

Members of the House Trade Working Group called on the Obama administration Wednesday to review current U.S. trade agreements and push for a trade overhaul in the upcoming World Trade Organization ministerial meeting.

“We want to work together to develop a trade agenda that we can all be proud of,” said Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) during a press conference.

Rep. Michael Michaud (D-Maine) and Slaughter said they want Obama to live up to campaign promises on trade by dismissing the Doha round trade liberalization talks, agreements aimed at lowering trade barriers for developing countries, and start a compete overhaul that focuses on labor rights for American workers.

“As our nation’s representatives prepare to head to Geneva, we want them to know that the trade act not only represents a way here at home, it also mirrors calls from many WTO countries to turn around the WTO,” said Michaud. “This represents exactly what many nations have called for at WTO: a review of the existing views and the will to fix what is broken.”

Earlier this year Michaud introduced a legislation that calls for a review of the North American Free Trade Agreement and the Central Free Trade Agreement. The bill has support from nearly half of the House Democratic Caucus.

“Even our trading partners are astonished that all these years we have watched our country away decline without making a peep,” said Slaughter. “We have just gave away, gave away, gave away.”

Though President Barack Obama has not addressed trade agreements recently, he will meet with the WTO general council in Geneva, Switzerland to discuss the WTO trading system and the global economic climate on Nov. 30.

On Wednesday the USO, Cosmopolitan Magazine and Maybelline put together the first all female care-package to send to U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

By Laura Smith – University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

A bipartisan collection of lawmakers urged the Department of Defense Wednesday not to award a military contract to European based aviation company Airbus following a recent World Trade Organization (WTO) ruling that the company received illegal subsidies from the European Union.

“We need fair competition with fair rules. [The] Department of Defense should not favor Airbus more than the WTO does. This is not a French government decision, this is a U.S. government decision,” Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) said.

Airbus is competing for a $40 million contract from the Air Force against U.S. based manufacturer Boeing to replace aerial refueling tankers. The Department of Defense has said in September that they won’t consider the ruling by the WTO that Airbus received illegal subsidies.

Lawmakers, such as Brownback, Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) and Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO), are asking the Department of Defense to “level the playing field.”

“Airbus and the European Union have refused to allow fair competition,” charged Murray. “They use the Aerospace industry as a jobs program and they use billions of dollars in illegal launch aid to fund it. They don’t even require Airbus to repay the subsidies if the aircraft does unsuccessful. So it’s no risk, all reward for the company.”

“We can’t afford to undercut American companies,” added Bond. “We need a fair competition and a level playing field for American workers and American companies.”

A report entitled: State of World Population 2009, was released today by the UN’s Population Fund (UNFPA). The report says boosting support to women can be the changing factor in tackling global warming.  It underscores that better reproductive health care and improved relations between women and men can make or break the fight against climate change.

“The whole world has been talking about carbon credits, carbon trading and emissions targets. But not enough has been said about the people whose activities contribute to those emissions or about those who will be most affected by climate change, especially women” the report states.

UNFPA’s Daniel Schensul added, “We have to think beyond population growth and on how we organize families. A divorce causes more emissions than a birth of a child.”

The report also highlights that if women were given equal worldwide access to family planning, then population growth could be mitigated to prevent the burden of massive human numbers on earth.  And if there are lower fertility rates across the globe, UNFPA believes this contributes to slower growth in greenhouse gas emissions “in the long run.”

Women are also more likely than men to be sustainable consumers.

By 2050, population in Africa is expected to increase by 1 billion while for Asia, growth is expected to be over 2 billion.

“People have different vulnerabilities and capacities–especially among the poor–and women are the largest population of poor in the world,” added Schensul.

Across the globe, poor people have contributed the least to green house gas emissions. The report underlines that climate change must be a people centered approach–with women at the center.

“With the possibility of a climate catastrophe on the horizon, we cannot afford to relegate the world’s 3.4 billion women and girls to the role of victim,” said Ms. Thoraya Obaid, head of UNFPA. “Wouldn’t it make more sense to have 3.4 billion agents for change?”

For a full copy of the report: http://www.unfpa.org/swp/2009/en/

For a link to the UNFPA video on climate change go to: http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid34626169001?bctid=50859881001

By Meagan Wiseley – University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) Wednesday called the shootings carried out by Major Nidal Hasan at Fort Hood Army Base earlier this month the “most destructive terrorist attack on America since 2001.”

Lieberman said the Senate Homeland Security Committee will begin an investigation into the shootings to determine if they could have been avoided.

“We are interested in getting the facts and correcting the system so that our government can provide the best homeland security possible for the American people,” Lieberman said during an afternoon press conference, “At the completion of the investigation the committee will issue a report and recommendations.”

Lieberman said the investigation will focus on answering two specific questions: did the Federal Government know information concerning Major Hasan that could have prevented the attack on Fort Hood, and, how does this incident affect the government’s understanding and enforcement of “home grown Islamic terrorism” in the U.S.?

A Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs hearing on the Fort Hood attacks was initially scheduled for Wednesday, but has been postponed until the following day.

“Our hearing tomorrow will begin with a focus on what we know on the public record about the Fort Hood attack and Nidal Hasan,” Lieberman added.