By Aaron Richardson

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Ca) testified Wednesday at a hearing surrounding the legal issues of the military commissions system, stating that there is a better way to prosecute the detainees at Guantanamo Bay.

“Some call for the creation of a National Security Court to try the detainees and others have advocated all the detainees go into federal criminal courts. Earlier this year I introduced the HR 1315 “The Terrorist Detainees Procedures Act of 2009” The legislation would make use of the military courts-martial and would prosecute the detainees as unlawful combatants.” said Schiff.

Schiff also testified how he felt about the way the current system that is in place.

“I believe the commissions system has proved so flawed and the due process proved inadequate and discredited that in the case of the detainees at Guantanamo should be completely dropped,” Schiff said.

According to a statement released by Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Tx) the issue is not the way in which the detainees are being prosecuted, but the rights they may receive as possible terrorists.

“Now President Obama wants to give known terrorists the constitutional rights of citizens on trial in the U.S. Once terrorists are given additional rights, such as the right to remain silent, of course they do just that. The result is no interrogations, no information and possibly more attacks.”

Reporters are covering:

1. The House Appropriations Committee Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Subcommittee hearing on the base posture and supplemental request. Witness: Gen. David Petraeus, commander of the U.S. Central Command.

2.House Energy and Environment Subcommittee hearing on “The American Clean Energy Security Act of 2009, Day 4. Witnesses: Former Vice President Al Gore, former Sen. John Warner, (R-Va.), and others.

By Kayleigh Harvey – Talk Radio News Service

At a hearing of the House Appropriations Committee today on the Supreme Court budget for the fiscal year 2010, Justice Stephen Breyer told the committee that “If you do have a Judge you do have to have a courtroom and in Los Angeles there is a big hole in the ground,” in response to a question from Congressman John Culberson (R-TX) on how Congress could help them with their workload.

 

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By Kayleigh Harvey – Talk Radio News Service

Jeremy Travis, President of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice tells the The House Appropriations Committee: “America stand apart from the rest of the Western world, worse, in terms of our levels of incarceration, how we treat people while they are in prison and the approach to reintegration.” Mr. Travis suggested that America look at reintegration strategies used in the United Kingdom and Germany at a Subcommittee hearing today on “What Works for Successful Prisoner Re-entry.”

 

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The House Appropriations Committee held a hearing today on “The Need for an Economic Recovery Bill.”

“These are very difficult times for the American people. The U.S. lost almost 2 million jobs in the last year. Growth in population force mean unemployment has expanded even more – 3.1 million. One in eight persons in the labor force is either unemployed or underemployed,” said Chairman Dave Obey (D-Wisc). Obey discussed the need to increase federal spending in order curtail the effects of the recession.

“States will face a budget gap of $100 billion in each of the next two years; the gap is roughly 15 percent of state operating budgets,” said Obey. “If states raise taxes and cut important investments it would add substantially to the downward momentum of the U.S. economy.” Most state are required to balance their budgets, and may have to call on the federal government to fill their budget gaps.

Three governors testified to the budget cuts that their states are being forced to make and how they will continue to have to make tough decisions concerning which programs and funding that they will have to reduce or eliminate.

“This economic crisis is unprecedented in recent decades..the projected drop in revenue…leaves us facing our largest budget gap ever — $5.4 billion over the next two years, or 17 percent of our biennial budget,” said Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle. “I could cut the [government] workforce for the state of Wisconsin..in half and we still wouldn’t be dealing with the full scope of the deficit we now face,” said Doyle to illustrate how drastic his budget gap was.

States all throughout the U.S. are experiencing drastic problems related to the recession. “The use of our food banks are up over 30 percent in client usage,” said Vermont Gov. James Douglas. “Applications for unemployment is so large that we had to shift 150 people out of other departments to actually deal with the ongoing crisis of servicing those that are applying to unemployment,” said Douglas. “It is time for us all to pull together, join hands together, be partners, address this, not only to stimulate the economy but to service the basic core needs of our communities.”

Governor of Vermont James Douglas testifies before the House Appropriations Committee on the need for federal and state governments to work together to offset the effects of the recession. (0:54)

 

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Witness Walter Lukken of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) testified before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies. Lukken tried to explain the multitude of issues contributing to rising oil, corn, and other commodity prices and what the CFTC is doing to address the problem. (more…)