After launching a campaign of TV ads last week pressuring GOP senators to vote for a Democratic-backed economic stimulus package, liberal activist group Americans United for Change will start running radio ads tomorrow that ask if GOP senators will side "with Rush Limbaugh" in voting against a stimulus measure in the Senate.
The ads open with the radio host's recent controversial quote about President Obama's economic agenda--"I hope he fails."
"We can understand why an extreme partisan like Rush Limbaugh wants President Obama's jobs program to fail, but the members of Congress elected to represent the citizens in their districts? That's another matter," the narrator says.
"Now the Obama plan goes to the Senate. And the question is, will Sen. Jim Bunning side with Rush Limbaugh too?" the narrator says in one of the ads.
The ads will target Republican Sens. Jim Bunning (Ky.), Richard Burr (N.C.), and Mel Martinez (Fla.), airing in their home states.
The ads close by asking listeners to call each GOP senator "tell him he represents you, not Rush Limbaugh."
The group has also expanded its TV campaign to target Sens. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) and Kit Bond (R-Mo.).
Labor coalition Change to Win said this afternoon that it was never approached by Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) or his associates about the governor's alleged three-way scheme to obtain a high-paying job within the organization by appointing Valerie Jarrett to President-elect Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat.
The Service Employees International Union (SEIU), meanwhile, has denied any wrongdoing after the complaint alleged that Blagojevich met with an SEIU official to discuss Jarrett's potential appointment.
"No one connected with Change to Win ever considered, discussed or promised any position at Change to Win to Governor Blagojevich, his staff or his advisers. In the affidavit released by the United States Attorney, a position at Change to Win is discussed only in conversations between the governor and his advisers," Change to Win Communications Director Greg Denier said in a written statement issued to reporters this afternoon.
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Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and other Democrats on the committee today called on President Bush and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to use some of the $700 billion to help prevent foreclosures, pressing the president for swift action.
"The fact remains that the Administration has not dedicated the time, attention or resources needed to address the cause of the crisis -- the historic levels of foreclosure," the senators wrote in a letter to Bush and Paulson.
The group of senators--comprised of Dodd, Charles Schumer (N.Y.), Jack Reed (R.I.), Tim Johnson (S.D.), Tom Carper (Del.), Robert Menendez (N.J.), Daniel Akaka (Hawaii), Sherrod Brown (Ohio), and Robert Casey (Pa.)--proposed the administration modify existing mortgages to help keep homeowners in their homes.
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Americans United for Change has long opposed many of President Bush's policies, but this year it's found a new way to say it--with a 28-ton bus.
The group today launched its Bush Legacy Bus, a rolling museum dedicated to the "worst policy failures" of the Bush administration. The bus will travel the country for the next five months, stopping in 150 cities and bearing a simple message: that Bush's policies have wreaked havoc on America.
The bus features interactive exhibits on the Iraq war, the economy, and healthcare. A screen displays images of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, with captions that criticize the government's response. A chart entitled "not just Bush's war" traces Iraq war support to House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), and former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas). The floor shows a timeline of events in the Bush presidency.
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Liberal interest group Americans United for Change says it is almost finished constructing a tour bus dedicated to "the devastating impact" President Bush has left on the U.S.
The bus will feature interactive exhibits on the legacy of Bush's policies on healthcare, the economy, energy, and the War in Iraq.
The group says it will take the Bush Legacy Bus on a tour across the country. Its more illustrious stops will include the Democratic National Convention, the Republican National Convention, and offices of senators and congressmen who have supported Bush's policies.
The bus will be unveiled at a cookout sponsored by the AFL-CIO June 24. The cookout will be held across from the White House in downtown Washington, DC, in front of the AFL-CIO's office.
Americans United for Change president Bad Woodhouse explains the bus in this video:
Five senators sent a letter to the head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CTFC) today, calling on him to restrict the trade of oil futures, citing rising gas prices as reason to limit investment.
Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) called on CFTC Chairman Walter Lukken to use emergency powers to prevent futures traders from increasing the size of their investments, and to reduce the holdings of institutional investors, such as banks and investment funds, whose investments exceed certain levels.
The senators wrote that the increasing price of oil futures is driving up the price of gasoline. Futures trading centers on the purchase and sale of oil at future prices, and investors essentially bet on how the price of oil will fluctuate. Over 99 percent of new investors are betting that the price of oil will go up, the senators wrote, resulting in a speculation bubble that has driven up the price of oil.
Imprisoned lobbyist Jack Abramoff influenced some White House actions and offered expensive meals and tickets to White House officials, according to a proposed report released by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee today.
The report also states that Abramoff had personal contact with President Bush, and that high-level White House officials held Abramoff in high regard and sought recommendations from him on policy issues.
The committee, headed by Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), today announced the release of the proposed report, which the committee will mark up Thursday.
See the report and the committee's announcement here.
In a letter to members of Congress today, 112 organizations are calling for action on legislation to protect whistleblowers at federal agencies.
The effort was spearheaded by the Government Accountability Project, Public Citizen, the Project On Government Oversight, and the Union of Concerned Scientists. The group also includes the American Civil Liberties Union, Society of Professional Journalists, American Association of Small Business Owners, and Consumers Union.
Along with Iraq war veterans and concerned citizens, Iraq Campaign 2008 says it will unfurl a 50-foot replica "Mission Accomplished" banner at the White House tomorrow, marking the five-year anniversary of President Bush's now-infamous speech.
The unfurling is slated to occur at 10:30 a.m. on Pennsylvania Ave.
On May 1, 2003, President Bush declared an end to major U.S. combat operations in Iraq (see the speech here) aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, anchored off the coast of San Diego. The ship bore a large banner that read "Mission Accomplished." CNN reported that, in October 2003, reporters pressed the White House on the banner, as U.S. casualties in Iraq had risen; the White House responded that the banner had been placed by the Navy.
The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) is circulating a letter sent by the speaker of the Colombian House of Representatives to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). In it, Colombian Speaker Oscar Palacio criticizes Pelosi for her opposition to the U.S-Colombia free trade agreement President Bush sent to Congress April 7.
In the letter, Colombian Speaker Oscar Palacio says the U.S. House's decision to shelve the agreement "affords colonial treatment to us that is unbefitting one of the United States' staunchest allies." The House voted April 10 to circumvent the fast-track law applying to trade deals and shelve the agreement, despite President Bush's attempt to force a vote.
Palacio also says arguments based on violence against Colombian union members are "erroneous." U.S. labor unions have used violence against union members as a cornerstone of their opposition to the deal. The LA Timesoutlined violence against Colombian unionists in March.
"Under the framework of the Democratic Security Policy, Colombia has made great efforts to prevent crimes of that nature from occurring," Palacio says.
See the text of the letter, as provided by USTR, below.
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