The Washington Post reports New Jersey officials "asked a federal judge yesterday to block new Bush administration rules that would make it harder for states to enroll middle-income kids in a popular government-subsidized health insurance program for children." Seven other states "promised to do the same if President Bush vetoes legislation that would renew and extend" SCHIP.
Most Americans Back SCHIP Expansion. On its front page, the Washington Post reports that a new Post-ABC News poll finds that President Bush and his party may be "headed for a political setback from the fight" over the State Children's Health Insurance Program. More than "seven in 10 support the planned $35 billion spending increase and 25 percent are opposed. About half of all Americans 'strongly' support the increased spending; 17 percent are firmly against the additional funds. Eighty-one percent of Democrats, 69 percent of independents and 61 percent of Republicans are in favor."
On its front page, the Washington Post reports that a new Post-ABC News poll "shows deep dissatisfaction with the president and with Congress. Bush's approval rating stands at 33 percent, equal to his career low in Post-ABC polls. And just 29 percent approve of the job Congress is doing, its lowest approval rating in this poll since November 1995, when Republicans controlled both the House and Senate. It also represents a 14-point drop since Democrats took control in January."
Jenna: Criticism Of Father Hard For Her NBC Nightly News ran excerpts of Monday morning's "Today" show interview with Jenna Bush "where the questioning turns to her father the President, and the war." NBC (Curry): "Do you talk about the war with your father?" Jenna Bush: "We do, of course. I think every family in America talks about it. But you know, those discussions are private. And there are some things I hope America will still let me keep private." Curry: "But you are hurt by the criticism?" J. Bush: "Of course. Because he is a different role to me. He is not the President of the United States. He's my father."
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The AP reports the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee said in a report that Blackwater USA "is an out-of-control outfit indifferent to Iraqi civilian casualties." Among the "most serious charges against the prominent security firm is that Blackwater contractors sought to cover up a June 2005 shooting of an Iraqi man and the company paid, with State Department approval, the families of others inadvertently killed by its guards."
The New York Times reports Blackwater employees "have engaged in nearly 200 shootings in Iraq since 2005," in "a vast majority of cases firing their weapons from moving vehicles without stopping to count the dead or assist the wounded," according to the report. The Washington Post says the State Department "made little effort to hold Blackwater personnel accountable beyond pressing the company to pay financial compensation to the families of the dead, the documents indicate." USA Today reports, "In a statement, Blackwater said its guards 'exercised more discipline than other security contractors,'" and the "122 firings...demonstrated the company's high standards for its employees."
The AP (10/1, Flaherty) reports the Senate voted 92-3 Monday to authorize "another $150 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan." The vote "comes as the House planned to approve separate legislation Tuesday that requires President Bush to give Congress a plan for eventual troop withdrawals." The Washington Times says Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the bill "would help repair the U.S. military 'where our commander in chief has so badly mismanaged them.'"
Roll Call reports congressional Democrats are "increasingly resigned to the likelihood that no amount of negotiation will stop President Bush from vetoing spending bills" and are "trying to figure out how best to package bills for the coming fight while hoping the White House undergoes a sudden change of heart." Passage of a stop-gap "continuing resolution" or temporary spending bill gave Democrats "seven weeks of breathing room," but they "have not yet come up with a Plan B to counter the president's threats to veto as many as eight appropriations bills because they exceed his overall budget by about $22 billion."
The Hill reports lobbying efforts "in the Senate are focused on spending measures that fund the Defense, Commerce and Justice departments." Lobbyists and "congressional aides said each could come to the floor in the coming days, although a single appropriations measure often takes at least a week to resolve, as policy disputes, such as continuing the war in Iraq, and sharpened political divides complicate passage and frustrate appropriators, who often view themselves as above partisanship if not policymaking."
Senate Republicans Defy Bush The Hill reports Senate Republicans "are largely defying President Bush in what is shaping up as the most confrontational spending battle in more than a decade." GOP senators "are expected to side with Democrats in voting for spending bills that Bush has promised to veto, as they have done overwhelmingly so far."
Roll Call reports House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (Md.) "thinks creating a bipartisan fiscal commission is a swell idea. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) thinks it's unnecessary." The "divergent views from the House's top two Democrats come as alarm bells continue to be rung by outside watchdog groups and budget hawks that Congress has to do something to trim the $50 trillion or so in unfunded liabilities on the nation's books due to the rapidly growing Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security entitlements."
Pelosi To Appear On "The View" The Politico reports as "a part of her new publicity initiative," Speaker Pelosi "will gab with the gals on ABC's 'The View' tomorrow morning and 'discuss her role as first woman Speaker of the House, children's health insurance, Iraq, and news of the day,' said her communications director Brendan Daly."
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The Politico reports, "Forty-four congressional Democrats who voted to condemn MoveOn.org for its ad branding Army Gen. David Petraeus 'General Betray Us' have accepted more than $3.9 million in contributions from the influential anti-war group and its members." Among those "who opposed resolutions specifically repudiating the full-page ad in The New York Times, only 17 Democrats and one independent took cash from the group and its members - contributions totaling almost $1.4 million."
Roll Call reports that while it "appears increasingly likely that the Senate will punt a vote on the controversial appellate court nomination of Leslie Southwick until at least after the October recess, Republican leaders are still eyeing the possibility of a roll call this week and are igniting a wholesale lobbying campaign to try to come up with 60 votes to win his confirmation." A "key group of GOP Senators and at least one Democrat will huddle today to talk strategy and gauge support for the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals hopeful."
A number of publications continue to look at the new Supreme Court term. USA Today says the court began the season by "engaging in spirited arguments over the rights of political parties. The case from Washington state involves a unique law governing primary elections, but the court's decision could broadly affect First Amendment principles, laying out when candidates may adopt a party label without the party's endorsement." The Washington Post says "skeptical justices heard the state of Washington defend its unique voter-approved election system against a challenge that it unconstitutionally prevents political parties from choosing their own nominees." The Seattle Times reports Justice Antonin Scalia asked why, "under the top-two primary, a candidate can associate with a party, but a party can't disassociate from a candidate. Scalia wrote a crucial opinion in a California election case in 2000 invalidating primaries, including Washington's old 'blanket primary,' in which people could vote for anyone, regardless of party."
The Christian Science Monitor reports the court will today take up two cases "that could bring clarity to the now murky federal sentencing system. Both cases involve attempts by federal judges to hand down sentences that were more lenient than sentences that would have been required under a mandatory guidelines system. Both sentences were vacated by appeals courts because the sentencing judges were said to have unreasonably exerted too much discretion in the sentencing process." The Hill says the court is also set to hear a case over a provision of the Voting Rights Act that "mandates pre-approval for electoral changes in areas with histories of racial disenfranchisement."
The court also turned down several cases. The Los Angeles Times says the court "refused to expand the rights of church groups, turning down appeals in a pair of cases." The AP says one case dealt with "religious organizations paying for workers' birth-control health insurance benefits, the other over an evangelical group's plea to hold religious services at a public library." The AP says the court refused to hear the case of Guantanamo Bay detainee Salim Ahmed Hamdan, once the driver for Osama bin Laden, who is "challenging the legality of the military commission system that plans to try him for war crimes." The AP also says the court declined to review the case of Christopher Scott Emmett, "scheduled to be executed this month, though he could win a reprieve while the high court considers the constitutionality of lethal injection procedures." And the San Francisco Chronicle says elementary-school teacher Deborah Mayer, "who was dismissed after telling her class on the eve of the Iraq war that 'I honk for peace' lost a U.S. Supreme Court appeal today" when the justices denied her a hearing without comment.
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ABC World News interviewed Justice Clarence Thomas, a "man seldom heard from" who is "something of an enigma, he speaks little from the bench, letting his judicial writings speak for themselves. In a memoir just released, he is quite outspoken, breaking his silence about his confirmation hearings, his feelings of racism directed toward him and about heavy drinking in his past." Regarding his 1991 confirmation hearings, Thomas said, "It was the most inhumane thing that has ever happened to me. And the thing that is incredible to me is that responsible people allowed it to happen. ... It is probably the most pernicious, far more pernicious bigotry that what I experienced when I was in the South."
Hill: "I Stand By My Testimony" In a New York Times op-ed, Anita Hill writes, "On Oct. 11, 1991, I testified about my experience as an employee of Clarence Thomas's at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. I stand by my testimony. Justice Thomas has every right to present himself as he wishes in his new memoir, 'My Grandfather's Son.' He may even be entitled to feel abused by the confirmation process that led to his appointment to the Supreme Court. But I will not stand by silently and allow him, in his anger, to reinvent me."
In a widely distributed article, the AP reports that Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff "defended the construction of a fence along the southwest border, saying it's actually better for the environment than what happens when people illegally cross the US-Mexico line." Chertoff said he'd "seen pictures of human waste, garbage, discarded bottles and other human artifacts in pristine areas."
Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports the Sierra Club and Defenders of Wildlife called yesterday for "the Interior Department to stop construction in a wildlife area on the San Pedro River in southeastern Arizona. Congress has given Chertoff authority to waive legal requirements, including environmental laws, to build border barriers."
The New York Times reports that the Transportation Security Administration, "citing 'credible specific information' about terror tactics...stepped up their scrutiny of passengers carrying remote-control toys aboard airplanes." While the TSA's chief said the move "was not motivated by a specific terror plot," there is "concern both in the United States and internationally that common remote-control toys could be used to detonate a bomb as part of a terror plot."
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Clinton Expected To Report Similar Take. Barack Obama announced yesterday that his campaign had brought in "at least" $20 million in the 3rd quarter, of which $19 million is available for spending in the primary, the New York Times reports. The returns show that despite stagnating in the polls, Obama remains a force to be reckoned with in the fundraising arena. The Chicago Tribune notes that Obama's fundraising is down over the summer and notes that Clinton, "by late Monday, had not disclosed her fundraising total for the July-to-September quarter, which ended at midnight Sunday. But her campaign previously has come close to matching Obama's fundraising."
Meanwhile, Bloomberg reports that John Edwards trails far behind Obama, bringing in just $7 million in the quarter. The Wall Street Journal says that campaign "appears to be flagging," noting that Edwards's total for the quarter was only just above the $5.2 million raised by "lesser-known rival" Bill Richardson.
Other Democratic candidates trail far behind in their totals. Gannett News Service reports Sen. Joe Biden brought in just under $2 million, while the AP reports that Sen. Chris Dodd brought in $1.5 million.
The Politico reports this morning that Sen. John McCain's struggling campaign brought in $5 million during the 3rd quarter, but still had $2 million in campaign debt. Fred Thompson had previously revealed that he raised $8 million in the quarter, while Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney have not released their totals.
A new Zogby International poll shows Hillary Clinton opening a double-digit lead over her nearest rival in New Hampshire. Clinton pulls 38% in the new poll, followed by Barack Obama at 23% and John Edwards at 12%. Bill Richardson places fourth with 8%, while the rest of the field is at 3% or less. The poll surveyed 505 likely voters from September 26-27.
The Greenville (SC) News reports this morning that a new poll out from American Research Group shows Mitt Romney leading in South Carolina with 26%, followed by Rudy Giuliani, 23%; John McCain, 15%; and Fred Thompson,10%. On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton leads with 41%, followed by Barack Obama at 30%. The rest of the Democrats are at 7% or less.
A Minneapolis Star Tribune Poll of 800 Minnesota adults shows Hillary Clinton leading the Democratic field with 47%, followed by Barack Obama at 22% and John Edwards at 16%. On the GOP side, Rudy Giuliani leads with 27%, followed by John McCain, 22%; Fred Thompson, 16%; and Mitt Romney, 5%. The Star Tribune notes, "The results at this stage should be taken with something of a grain of salt, said Dan Hofrenning, chairman of the Political Science Department at St. Olaf College. 'It's still pretty early, and there hasn't been much campaign action from anyone on the radar screen here,' he said. Hofrenning also noted that there's no way to know how well a poll sampling the state's entire adult population reflects the views of those who will attend party caucuses Feb. 5."
Seeking to offset previous support for both the Iraq war and an anti-Iranian bill, Sen. Hillary Clinton yesterday looked to get out in front of the Iran war issue co-sponsoring a bill requiring congressional approval for spending any money fighting Iran. The Hill reports the move is seen as a "counterweight" to her support for "an anti-Iran amendment added by Sens. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) to the defense authorization bill last week. Among other provisions, that measure encouraged Bush to classify the Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist group, alarming many Democratic base voters who viewed it as a veiled push for war against Iran." This support was criticized by Democrats. Long Island Newsday, under a headline calling the measure a "Clinton bill," reports that Clinton is "smarting from recent charges that her hawkishness is pushing America toward war with Iran," prompting her to support the Webb measure. "Although the Democratic presidential front-runner voted to allow President George W. Bush to send troops to Iraq in 2002, she said this time around the United States should use economic sanctions to gain leverage against Iran. ... The bill that would bar the president from spending U.S. funds on military action in Iran, had no co-sponsors before Monday, and had been stalled in the Foreign Affairs committee since it was introduced."
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Jay Leno: "Hillary Clinton has proposed $5,000 be given to every baby in America at birth. ... And, today, Barack Obama topped that with $6,000 and a year's supply of Turtle Wax."
Jay Leno: After leaving the US "last week, the Iranian president met with the president of Venezuela. You know, if we could have gotten Kim Jong-Il down there, we could have had the first nut ball trifecta."
David Letterman: "Here's good news: George W. Bush says that he is committed to fighting global warming. He nipped that in the bud, didn't he?"
David Letterman: "President Bush says he's really going to buckle down now and fight global warming. As a matter of fact, he announced he is sending 20,000 troops to the sun."
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