Some of the nation's top political commentators, legislators and intellectuals offer their insight into the biggest news story burning up the blogosphere today.




Today's question:

What will the fallout be if Congress does not pass healthcare reform by the Easter/Passover recess?
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The Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA) has just joined with 199 other companies and organizations as a member of the Broadband for America (BfA) coalition.  Like most organizations we are very careful with our brand, and don’t join organizations without doing a great deal of homework.  When the opportunity to join BfA was presented to us, we quickly realized that it fit perfectly with many of the aims and goals of LCLAA.
 
The Labor Council for Latin American Advancement is a national advocacy organization representing the interests of over 1.7 million Latino and Latina trade unionists throughout the U.S. and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.   Why would a trade union organization join hands with many of the Internet service providers and content distributors in the private sector?  For the same reason that the Cuban American National Council, Dominican American National Roundtable and others joined, to advocate for providing broadband Internet access to every home and business in America.  
 
LCLAA stands arm-in-arm with the Latino Health Institute of Beth Israel Medical Center, League of United Latin American Citizens, and the dozens of other Latino-focused organizations which have joined Broadband for America.

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It is critical that federal lawmakers amend the Fair Housing Act to ban discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people.

That’s what I urged lawmakers to do at the March 11 House Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties hearing titled "Protecting the American Dream: A Look at the Fair Housing Act." The Task Force was the only LGBT rights group presenting oral testimony at this historic hearing.

Right now, the Fair Housing Act protects against housing discrimination based on race or color, religion, sex, national origin, family status or disability. But the truth of the matter is, every day in America, people are discriminated in housing simply because of their sexual orientation or their gender identity.

I am very pleased that the President has used the power he has to jump start an effort that I believe will go a long way toward helping to connect the talent and ingenuity of entrepreneurs and small businesses with the growing, global opportunities for our goods and services to serve expanded and developing markets. Last year, I held a hearing where I said that today’s economic environment demands a ‘bolder effort’ to increase our exports and global competitiveness. I commend the President for making what appears to be a bold step to expand our nation’s exports while, at the same time, creating more jobs here at home.

In January I blogged about the obstruction and inefficiency that the nation has witnessed in the U.S. Senate throughout my first year in the "world's greatest deliberative body."

Since then things haven't improved. In many ways, they've actually gotten worse. Over the past two months, we've seen the list of bills passed by the House of Representatives, but stalled in the Senate, climb to 290; we've seen a single senator hold up key legislation, causing the Highway Trust Fund and critical Unemployment Insurance to lapse; we've seen a single senator grind business to a halt to consider a project in his state; and we've seen routine nominations blocked by filibusters, or left to languish by the mere threat of filibuster, despite majority support of many.

The continued abuse of Senate rules is the kind of business-as-usual Washington politics that so frustrates the American people.

Some of the nation's top political commentators, legislators and intellectuals offer their insight into the biggest news story burning up the blogosphere today.




Today's question:

Chief Justice John Roberts fired back at the White House this week. Will the battle between the high court and the White House continue to escalate in 2010?

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Since taking office, President Obama’s Administration has been singularly obsessed with passing a government takeover of healthcare.  In times like these, one would think that the President and his team would have other buzz words and topics on their mind rather than a wildly unpopular expansion of government.  I can think of several things…to start, how about, jobs, the economy, or the deficit?!

Yesterday, the Treasury Department released its latest budget numbers, and the story is told in a trail of red ink.  In February, the federal government ran a deficit of nearly $221 billion, 14% higher than the previous record set in February of 2009. 

As you might know, the fiscal year of the U.S. Government begins on October 1 and ends on September 30.  Now, 5 months into the new fiscal year, the government’s budget deficit totals nearly $652 billion which is 10.5% higher than this time last year.  This is absolutely beyond sustainability.

As Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus’s Afghanistan Taskforce, I want to offer my thoughts on the war in Afghanistan in light of Rep. Kucinich’s resolution, H.Con.Res. 248, considered today on the House floor.  I firmly believe our current strategy falls far short of bringing stability to Afghanistan or security to America.  My serious concerns about U.S. strategy have led me to oppose the war funding supplemental bill in 2009, oppose increased funding for the 30,000 troop surge, support a war tax, and call for an about-face in funding priorities.  My concerns have led me to host innumerous congressional briefings on Afghanistan, pursue the commissioning of GAO reports to audit aspects of U.S. engagement, and author multiple op-eds on the subject.  In short, I take my chairmanship very seriously.

As long as we continue to pursue military solutions to this conflict, paying little to no heed to economic, political and social solutions, security will remain elusive.  As long as we continue to forego the building of Afghan capacity and instead prop up a privatized defense industrial complex, as well as an increasingly privatized development industrial complex, Afghans will never be able to answer our call to “stand up”.  As long as we remain unwilling to bring to justice our allied warlords and corrupt officials in Afghanistan, our calls for an end to corruption in Kabul ring hollow. Read more...

President Obama and Congressional liberals have hit a wall.  The American people have rejected their government takeover of health care, and the only people changing their minds are the moderate Democrat members who are now opposing the latest version.

Despite all the rhetoric, news coverage, and town hall meetings, the public opinion polls have remained constant against ObamaCare. The Wall Street Journal reported public opinion remains at about 2 to 1 against this scheme.  Why? The poll revealed that 57% of voters believe that ObamaCare would hurt the economy, and they are right to be concerned. 

The government take-over of health care that liberals are ramming through will increase taxes on families and small businesses, include mandates that will force employers to cut jobs, increase the cost of health care, and increase uncertainty for families and small businesses.

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