Trade Czar's Roots: Comics & Curfews
Rob Portman , the president's new trade czar, thinks he's got just the right training to take on Hill opponents of the controversial Central American Free Trade Agreement and overseas movie and music pirates. But it's not his years as a trade lawyer or White House lobbyist or his previous post as the Republican congressman charged with winning Ohio for President Bush in 2004. It's more basic than that.
"I traded comic books" as a kid, he brags, citing Archie as his favorite. And baseball cards, though he concedes, "I don't think I ever got any great ones." Well, he did trade once for a Roberto Clemente of the Pittsburgh Pirates, but Portman's team of choice is the rival Cincinnati Reds, so the deal wasn't too exciting. Worse: He doesn't have the prized card today. But his best experience has come in negotiating curfews and allowances with his teenage kids. "They are good," he says. "Every time I think I've won," he says, smiling, "there's another nuance--like the curfew goes from 11 to 11:15."
His homegrown skills are working. Portman is winning support for the troubled CAFTA proposal, which aims to open trade with Central America the way the North American pact did in Mexico and Canada. Next up: trade with China. One thought is hiring his kids to help out. "I think," he says, "they'll be tougher than the Chinese."
Talking the Talk, Driving the Drive
With Congress mulling the massive energy bill, we went to the Alliance to Save Energy with a question. House and Senate members talk a lot about saving energy, but do any drive a gas-sipping hybrid? Yes. Fifteen do, to be exact: eight Democrats, six Republicans, and one independent. "I get 32, 33, sometimes 34 miles per gallon," Rep. Jeb Bradley , a New Hampshire Republican, tells us about his Ford Escape Hybrid. "I'm really stoked about that." California Sen. Barbara Boxer has two Toyota Priuses--one in Washington and one at home. So do Rhode Island Sen. Lincoln Chafee and California Rep. Darrell Issa . Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar just got his Prius after being on the waiting list for months. And Maryland Rep. Roscoe Bartlett , who has 80,000 miles on his Prius, is getting another. "It's the only time he ever bought a new car," says a spokeswoman.
In North Korea, a Hostage-Free Zone
What's the real reason behind the Pentagon's decision to suspend a program that sent teams to North Korea to search for the remains of Americans killed in the Korean War? "Do we want to put our people at risk?" asks one senior defense official. If the North Koreans test an atomic weapon in the next few months, it would likely invite a strong American response, and fears are that North Korea would retaliate by taking the teams hostage.
Can You Say, 'Chief Justice Scalia'?
It looks like the White House is considering only one sitting U.S. Supreme Court judge as a replacement for ailing Chief Justice William Rehnquist , who's expected to step down this summer. Insiders tell us that Justice Antonin Scalia , not Justice Clarence Thomas , is the one President Bush is most likely to tap. The thinking: How could the Senate reject a judge they OK'd for the court 98 to 0?
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