Five senators held a press conference today immediately following a vote on a Democratic proposal to “suspend filling the nearly full Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) in order to increase supply and lower energy prices,” the official release said. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) said that Saudi Arabia currently produces nearly two million barrels of oil per day below capacity, and said that prices would likely lower by 50 cents per gallon in the next month or two if they increased production by just one million barrels per day. Schumer said that himself and the other senators wanted to present President Bush with a “motion of disapproval” of the Saudi arms deal, and urge him to put pressure on the Saudis to increase productivity and lower prices as he leaves for his trip to the Middle East today. “We are saying to the Saudis that ‘if you don’t help us, why should we be helping you?’” Schumer said. “You need our arms, but we need you to cooperate and not strangle American consumers.”

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Senator Levin discusses differences in the testimonies of Secretary Gates and General Petraeus. He also disagrees with the Secretary going off of “hope.”(1:29)

 

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This afternoon the Senate Armed Services Committee gave strong recommendations to Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Michael Mullen after interrogating them through questioning. Senator Carl Levin, perhaps the most diligent and pressing in his questions, was profoundly concerned about the amount of money being spent and that will be spent on Iraq in the future. It was the view of multiple senators that Iraq needs to be paying for far more and that they are using the US as a crutch.

“The Iraqi forces will shoulder more of the burden as we reduce our forces over time,” says Gates. He continued to discuss Iraq’s economic and legislative successes as of recent. But he goes on to say, “just as there is real progress to report, there are also substantial reasons to be cautious.”

There is also a deep concern about the large drug industry in Afghanistan and that the large amounts of money being transferred from drug trade may be going toward weaponry purchases which end up being used against US and coalition forces.

As senators continued to ask pressing questions, Gates and Mullen had most answers, but at times they were rather different that what the senators would have preferred to hear. It’s evident that the senators are looking for a different direction than where the war is going.

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In a hearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee, Senator Feinstein questioned Attorney General Mike Mukasey about a Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel memo allegedly arguing that the 4th Amendment’s prohibition of warrantless, unreasonable searches and seizures. Mukasey responds that his statement that the 4th Amendment applies “across the board” is not newsworthy, saying that his understanding of the memo is not that it argued the 4th Amendment did not apply. (0:40)

 

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In a hearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee, Senator Feinstein questioned Attorney General Mike Mukasey about a Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel memo allegedly arguing that the 4th Amendment’s prohibition of warrantless, unreasonable searches and seizures. Mukasey initially avoided answering by saying that he was unaware of any domestic military operations, but he then said that the 4th Amendment applies “across the board.” (0:41)

 

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Army modernization testimony speaking about support for new and necessary modernization programs for the U.S. Army (0:36)

 

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The U.S. Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Airland heard testimonies today on Army modernization. Lieutenant General Stephen M. Speakes and Lieutenant General N. Ross Thompson III offered testimony that “focuses on the Army modernization strategy, which is informed both by lessons learned from the wars in Iraq Afghanistan and the Army’s operational concept of full-spectrum operations, recently unveiled in the revised Field Manual (FM) 3-0, Operations,” reads the testimony.

The witnesses continued to thank the subcommittee and the U.S. Congress for their continued support, but emphasized that funding for modernization programs is the “cornerstone” to their operations.

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Why did you bail out Bear Stearns? It was the resounding question heard over and over in the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee hearing on “Turmoil in U.S. Credit Markets: Examining the Recent Actions of Federal Financial Regulators.” Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, SEC Chairman Christopher Cox, United States Treasury Under Secretary Robert Steel, and President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Timothy F. Geithner, all attempted to answer that question to Congress.

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Democratic Senators Kent Conrad (D-ND) and Max Baucus (D-MONT.), Representatives John Spratt (D-SC) and George Miller (D-CA) held a press conference today talking about the Democratic Budget. Sharon Patterson-Stallings, a recipient of the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) and Carmen Berkley, a recent graduate from Pittsburgh University and Vice-President of the United States Student Association also joined the Senators and the Representatives to show their support to the Budget. This week, the Senate and the House will be debating the Democrats’ plan to cut taxes for the middle class, create jobs at home and strengthen the economy.

The plan is concentrated on education tax cuts, energy tax cuts, Alternative Minimum Tax relief and infrastructure. The objective is to restore fiscal responsible balance by 2012/2013.

This budget promises to secure both complex domestic society and economic leadership, “where Bush has failed” said Chairman Miller. It also promises to help homeowners, by property tax deduction, not only itemizing it, helps soldiers get houses, helps families with children and helps College graduates with their loans.

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Rear Admiral Kenneth W. Deutsch discusses the future of the Operationally Responsive Space Office (ORS) at Senate Subcommittee on Strategic Forces hearing. (0:27)

 

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