Tuesday, January 04, 2011
U.S. House to investigate Wikileaks
From The Hindu
Even as the United States’ 112th Congress convenes for the first time on Wednesday, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives has planned a far-reaching investigation into Wikileaks, the whistleblower website that courted controversy by publishing secret State Department cables over the last few months.
According to a list of hearing topics obtained by Politico magazine, the House Oversight Committee headed by Representative Darrell Issa, “is aiming to launch investigations on everything from WikiLeaks to Fannie Mae to corruption in Afghanistan in the first few months” of the year.
While the investigation into Wikileaks in particular is regarded by some as a partisan action targeting U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder for his “slow and too weak” reaction to the leaks, Mr. Issa’s minority counterpart, Representative Elijah Cummings was quoted as saying that Congress ought to “be careful with [oversight] power” and use caution and austerity in hearings.
Specifically Mr. Cummings warned, in a statement to Politico, that he would “draw a line at which any witch hunts or hearings that are conducted purely for partisan gains,” and he would ask Mr. Issa not to prejudge any of issues or seek answers only to confirm political leanings.
Some commentators also noted that “there was a grand jury in place looking at Assange and these investigators should be left to complete their work,” adding that charges were needed that would stick.
The House Oversight Committee enjoys sweeping powers of summons and can demand testimonies from top officials through subpoena. According to the Guardian newspaper the Committee could begin conducting hearings later this month.
In justifying his committee’s investigation into Wikileaks, Mr. Issa reportedly said it wanted “to get that right so the diplomats can do their job with confidence and people can talk to our government with confidence.” He added that the new Congress would have to pass legislation to try to prevent similar acts of whistle blowing.
In a television interview over last weekend he was further quoted as saying, “If the president says, ‘I cannot deal with this guy as a terrorist’' then he has to be able to deal with him as a criminal, otherwise the world is laughing at this paper tiger we've become.”
In the mid-term Congressional elections held in November Democrats lost control of the House and their majority was trimmed in the Senate.
President Barack Obama is likely to face an onslaught of challenges to numerous policies enacted last year, including healthcare reform across states, as well as to his 2011 policy agenda, which is likely to focus on job-creation and controlling the U.S.’ deficit.
On Tuesday the Gallup Poll said that surveys indicated that for the first time in eight months Mr. Obama’s approval ratings had jumped to 50 per cent.
Even as the United States’ 112th Congress convenes for the first time on Wednesday, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives has planned a far-reaching investigation into Wikileaks, the whistleblower website that courted controversy by publishing secret State Department cables over the last few months.
According to a list of hearing topics obtained by Politico magazine, the House Oversight Committee headed by Representative Darrell Issa, “is aiming to launch investigations on everything from WikiLeaks to Fannie Mae to corruption in Afghanistan in the first few months” of the year.
While the investigation into Wikileaks in particular is regarded by some as a partisan action targeting U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder for his “slow and too weak” reaction to the leaks, Mr. Issa’s minority counterpart, Representative Elijah Cummings was quoted as saying that Congress ought to “be careful with [oversight] power” and use caution and austerity in hearings.
Specifically Mr. Cummings warned, in a statement to Politico, that he would “draw a line at which any witch hunts or hearings that are conducted purely for partisan gains,” and he would ask Mr. Issa not to prejudge any of issues or seek answers only to confirm political leanings.
Some commentators also noted that “there was a grand jury in place looking at Assange and these investigators should be left to complete their work,” adding that charges were needed that would stick.
The House Oversight Committee enjoys sweeping powers of summons and can demand testimonies from top officials through subpoena. According to the Guardian newspaper the Committee could begin conducting hearings later this month.
In justifying his committee’s investigation into Wikileaks, Mr. Issa reportedly said it wanted “to get that right so the diplomats can do their job with confidence and people can talk to our government with confidence.” He added that the new Congress would have to pass legislation to try to prevent similar acts of whistle blowing.
In a television interview over last weekend he was further quoted as saying, “If the president says, ‘I cannot deal with this guy as a terrorist’' then he has to be able to deal with him as a criminal, otherwise the world is laughing at this paper tiger we've become.”
In the mid-term Congressional elections held in November Democrats lost control of the House and their majority was trimmed in the Senate.
President Barack Obama is likely to face an onslaught of challenges to numerous policies enacted last year, including healthcare reform across states, as well as to his 2011 policy agenda, which is likely to focus on job-creation and controlling the U.S.’ deficit.
On Tuesday the Gallup Poll said that surveys indicated that for the first time in eight months Mr. Obama’s approval ratings had jumped to 50 per cent.
Labels: House of Representatives, Obama administration, Wikileaks
Friday, April 23, 2010
Join us, don't fight us: Obama to Wall Street
From The Hindu
President Barack Obama travelled to New York on Thursday where he reached out to Wall Street to win its cooperation on his major financial regulation overhaul package awaiting a Senate vote.
Speaking at the Cooper Union educational institution in Lower Manhattan he said, ?I am here today because I want to urge you to join us, instead of fighting us in this effort. I am here because I believe that these reforms are, in the end, not only in the best interest of our country, but in the best interest of our financial sector. And I am here to explain what reform will look like, and why it matters.?
The House of Representatives already passed a bill last December with sweeping reforms and now Mr. Obama hopes the Senate will follow suit in four key areas of regulation in the coming weeks after which he could sign the reforms into law.
First, Mr. Obama said, the bill being considered in the Senate would create new protections for the financial system and the broader economy, in particular ensuring that ?taxpayers are never again on the hook because a firm is deemed ?too big to fail.?? Arguing that the recent financial crisis had occurred because there was no process ?designed to contain the failure of a Lehman Brothers,? he said that it was for this reason that ?we need a system to shut these firms down with the least amount of collateral damage to innocent people and businesses. He said that he had insisted that the financial industry ? and not taxpayers ? shoulder the costs in the event that a large financial company should falter, with the goal being to make certain that taxpayers are never again on the hook because a firm is deemed ?too big to fail.?
Second, Mr. Obama argued that regulatory reform ought to bring new transparency to financial markets, for example by preventing firms such as AIG from making ?huge and risky bets using derivatives and other complicated financial instruments in ways that defied accountability, or even common sense.? In this regard he said that there was a legitimate role for these financial instruments in our economy, to allay risk and spur investment.
Third, he explained that his administration would enact the ?strongest consumer financial protections ever,? to protect people taking on mortgages and credit cards and auto loans from being misled by ?bandit? companies and losing their homes and fortunes.
Finally, he said that the Wall Street reforms he was proposing would give shareholders ?new power? in the financial system, including having a say on the salaries and bonuses awarded to top executives and a stronger role in determining who manages the companies in which they?ve placed their savings. ?Americans don?t begrudge anybody for success when that success is earned. But when we read in the past about enormous executive bonuses at firms even as they were relying on assistance from taxpayers, it offended our fundamental values,? Mr. Obama said, adding that this compensation structure had also created perverse incentives to take "reckless risks."
Labels: Barack Obama, House of Representatives, Wall Street
Friday, March 05, 2010
House passes $15 billion jobs bill
From The Hindu
The United States House of Representatives today followed the Senate in passing a jobs bill of $15 billion and thereby setting the ball rolling for President Obama’s top priority for 2010 – tackling unemployment.
With a 217-201 vote largely along partisan lines the Hiring Incentive to Restore Employment Act (the “HIRE Act”) offers a payroll tax holiday for businesses that hire unemployed workers and an income tax credit of $1,000 for businesses that retain these employees. The bill passed in the Senate a few weeks ago, by a vote of 70-28 and it remains to be signed into law by Mr. Obama
While the bill is significantly smaller than the $787 billion American Reinvestment and Recovery Act – more commonly known as the stimulus package – that was passed approximately a year ago, it offers a range of supports designed to boost new hiring.
Apart from the tax holiday and credits, the bill also provides for the extension of the Highway Trust Fund, “allowing for tens of billions of dollars in infrastructure investment”, according to a statement by the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi.
Further the bill contains provisions based on the Build America Bonds programme, she said, and aims to simplify the process for states to borrow for infrastructure projects, including school construction and energy projects.
Speaking on the floor of the House after the vote Ms. Pelosi said, “We must be unrelenting in our efforts to create more jobs”. However the House Republicans charged their Democrat colleagues with fiscal profligacy.
Mike Pence, Chairman of the House Republican Conference, said, “A one-time government handout is not going to create jobs – only immediate and permanent tax relief for working families, small businesses and family farms will help get businesses hiring again”.
Stressing the need for across the board tax relief, not “Carter era wage subsidies” to unemployed workers, he also raised objections to the bill for transferring $19.5 billion from the government's general fund to the highway trust fund.
Mr. Spence pointed out that the general fund was running a $1.6 trillion deficit making it inappropriate to “prop up an insolvent highway trust fund with an insolvent general fund”.
With a 217-201 vote largely along partisan lines the Hiring Incentive to Restore Employment Act (the “HIRE Act”) offers a payroll tax holiday for businesses that hire unemployed workers and an income tax credit of $1,000 for businesses that retain these employees. The bill passed in the Senate a few weeks ago, by a vote of 70-28 and it remains to be signed into law by Mr. Obama
While the bill is significantly smaller than the $787 billion American Reinvestment and Recovery Act – more commonly known as the stimulus package – that was passed approximately a year ago, it offers a range of supports designed to boost new hiring.
Apart from the tax holiday and credits, the bill also provides for the extension of the Highway Trust Fund, “allowing for tens of billions of dollars in infrastructure investment”, according to a statement by the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi.
Further the bill contains provisions based on the Build America Bonds programme, she said, and aims to simplify the process for states to borrow for infrastructure projects, including school construction and energy projects.
Speaking on the floor of the House after the vote Ms. Pelosi said, “We must be unrelenting in our efforts to create more jobs”. However the House Republicans charged their Democrat colleagues with fiscal profligacy.
Mike Pence, Chairman of the House Republican Conference, said, “A one-time government handout is not going to create jobs – only immediate and permanent tax relief for working families, small businesses and family farms will help get businesses hiring again”.
Stressing the need for across the board tax relief, not “Carter era wage subsidies” to unemployed workers, he also raised objections to the bill for transferring $19.5 billion from the government's general fund to the highway trust fund.
Mr. Spence pointed out that the general fund was running a $1.6 trillion deficit making it inappropriate to “prop up an insolvent highway trust fund with an insolvent general fund”.
Labels: Barack Obama, House of Representatives, Senate, United States
Subscribe to Comments [Atom]
