Skip Nav | Home | Mobile | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About Us | Contact | Help | Security | Support Us

World

Hidden Article

This posting has been hidden because it breaches the Indymedia UK (IMC UK) Editorial Guidelines.

IMC UK is an interactive site offering inclusive participation. All postings to the open publishing newswire are the responsibility of the individual authors and not of IMC UK. Although IMC UK volunteers attempt to ensure accuracy of the newswire, they take no responsibility legal or otherwise for the contents of the open publishing site. Mention of external web sites or services is for information purposes only and constitutes neither an endorsement nor a recommendation.

Actions in Congress Moving Toward Recess

Mr Roger K. Olsson | 31.07.2007 18:39 | Analysis | Other Press | Technology | London | World

Giuen Media



Tuesday, July 31, 2007


Jul. 31, 2007 (AP Online delivered by Newstex) -- Actions in Congress on Monday as lawmakers worked toward adjourning next week for their August recess.

___

ETHICS

Democratic leaders released a package of ethics changes they hope to have through the House and Senate before the beginning of their August recess. Under the bill, senators would have to identify their pet projects, or 'earmarks,' publicly two days before a vote. Lobbyists and their clients would be prohibited from giving gifts, including meals and tickets, to senators and their staffs. The House added the gift ban in January.

NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND

The head of the House Education Committee wants the No Child Left Behind law changed to allow merit pay for teachers and a new way of judging schools. Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., says the law should pay teachers extra for boosting student achievement. He also says other tests or graduation rates _ instead of just math and reading tests _ should be considered for judging schools. The House could vote on the legislation in September.

JAPAN SEX SLAVES

The House approved a resolution urging Japan to apologize for coercing thousands of women to work as sex slaves for its World War II military. The resolution is symbolic, but it has caused unease in Japan and added tension to an otherwise strong alliance. Officials in Tokyo say their country's leaders have apologized repeatedly.

MEDICARE

House Democrats want changes to Medicare and plan to dramatically scale back federal subsidies to HMOs that cover millions of seniors. They also plan to sweeten the Medicare payment system for doctors, provide free colon cancer screening for all beneficiaries and add funds for the low-income. Republicans claim the measure would destroy the private Medicare plans that insure 8 million seniors.

ENERGY

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made changes to her energy package to quell a rebellion among some oil-patch Democrats. They argue the legislation would hurt U.S. energy production. A Pelosi spokesman said some changes were made in the oil and gas sections of the bill. The oil and gas industry opposes tax changes that the industry says would cost oil companies $15 billion over 10 years. Pelosi wants to shift the money to tax incentives for renewable energy sources and energy conservation measures.

SURVEILLANCE

Congress and President Bush's aides are working to expand the government's surveillance authority without jeopardizing citizens' rights. Aides say the new plan would change the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to allow surveillance without a warrant of terror suspects who are overseas. Details remained undecided, chiefly over whether after-the-fact court approval would be required for emergency surveillance.

VETERANS

The House required the Veterans Affairs Department to provide outreach and mental health services to veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns with brain injuries and post traumatic stress disorder. The House also waived co-payment for veterans receiving hospice care, and passed a bill allowing disabled veterans living temporarily with a family member to become eligible for adaptive housing assistance. The fourth bill extends pension benefits to World War II veterans of the U.S. Merchant Marine.

Newstex ID: AP-0001-18538462


Delivered by Newstex LLC
via theFinancials.com

Mr Roger K. Olsson
- e-mail: rogerkolsson@yahoo.co.uk
- Homepage: http://www.adbrite.com/mb/commerce/purchase_form.php?opid=377909&afsid=1

Publish

Publish your news

Do you need help with publishing?

/regional publish include --> /regional search include -->

World Topics

Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista

Kollektives

Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World

Other UK IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern Indymedia
Scotland

Server Appeal Radio Page Video Page Indymedia Cinema Offline Newsheet

secure Encrypted Page

You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.

If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

IMCs


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech