The Progress Report 1/28/2005

[Guest guest]

1/28/2005

Progress Report: Plan for Progressive Reform

" American Progress Action Fund "

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MERICAN PROGRESS ACTION FUND

The Progress Report

by Christy Harvey, Judd Legum and Jonathan Baskin

www.progressreport.org

1/28/2005

 

On January 31, the Center for American Progress will launch State

Progress, a monthly electronic digest that features the Center's

expertise on health care, education, homeland security and more – all

from a state and local perspective. State Progress will be your

one-stop shop on issues critical to state and local communities. Sign

up now. "

 

CORRUPTION

 

Payola Part Three

 

Drip. Drip. Drip. Yesterday, Salon revealed that a third conservative

syndicated columnist has been paid off by the Bush administration.

Michael McManus was paid $10,000 to promote President Bush's marriage

initiative, the same program Maggie Gallagher was paid to promote.

Like Gallagher and Armstrong Williams, McManus failed to disclose that

he was on the administration's payroll in his column, which appears in

50 newspapers nationwide, including the Washington Times, the Dallas

Morning News and the Charlotte Observer.

 

WADE HORN – THE PAYOLA POINT MAN: The payoffs to both McManus and

Gallagher can be traced back to one man, Assistant Secretary of Health

and Human Services Wade F. Horn. It was Horn's staff that cut McManus

the $10,000 check. Horn is also a former board member of Marriage

Savers, the group McManus founded in 1996. (Besides the 10K to

McManus, the administration paid Marriage Savers an additional

$49,000.) According to the 1/15/04 Orlando Sentinel, prior to joining

HHS in 2001, Horn founded the National Fatherhood Initiative and

" obtained a federal grant to study the effectiveness of the community

marriage policy programs. " Twenty thousand dollars from that grant was

funneled to Maggie Gallagher. In her syndicated column on 4/16/02,

Gallagher urged HHS to adopt the recommendations of her study, which

she didn't mention was paid for with administration money. (She also

failed to mention her contract with HHS, worth another $21,500.)

 

THE HERITAGE CONNECTION: You can find the full archive of columns from

government-funded columnists Williams and Gallagher on the Heritage

Foundation's website, Townhall.com. Heritage also helped procure over

$46,000 from HHS for Marriage Savers, which used the money to study

its efforts to convince low-income couples to get married. The

administration later touted the study in a May 2004 press conference

as evidence that its " Healthy Marriage Initiative " could work.

 

BLACK CLOUD OF SUSPICION HANGS OVER CONSERVATIVES: According to Blankley, editorial page editor of the right-wing Washington Times,

the administration's payoffs to Gallagher and Williams (and now

McManus) have cast " a cloud over conservatives. " Right-wing

columnists, aware that Payolagate threatens their own credibility, are

speaking out against the administration's actions. Debra Sanders, a

conservative columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, says she is

" appalled. " James Pinkerton, a Newsday columnist who worked for

Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, said, " You shouldn't be

on the government payroll. It's KGB-ish. "

 

FEDERAL SPENDING ON PR SKYROCKETS: It takes a whole lot of money to

make the Bush administration's policies look good. In 2004, the Bush

administration funneled over $88 million in taxpayer money to public

relations firms. That represents an increase of 128 percent since

2000. Worse, 40 percent of that money is awarded to firms without

competitive bidding. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services has

spent nearly $100 million over the last four years contracting with

public relations firms to sell the administration's policies to the

public.

 

RIGHT WING

 

Bye Bye Base

 

As the White House pushes its right-wing economic agenda into

overdrive, opposition is coming from the most unlikely of places:

conservatives. In Congress, in state capitals, and among socially

conservative activist groups, President Bush is finding that his plans

to privatize Social Security and enact more tax cuts while gutting

funding for priorities like veterans' health care are running up

against voices of conscience on the right. The result is that just a

week after being inaugurated, the president's legislative agenda is in

jeopardy.

 

SENATE CONSERVATIVES BUCK WHITE HOUSE ON SOCIAL SECURITY: Under the

headline " Republicans Skeptical of Bush Social Security Plan, " the Los

Angeles Times reports that various conservative senators are raising

questions about the White House plan to privatize Social Security. For

instance, Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) now says she is " certainly not

going to support diverting $ 2 trillion from Social Security into

creating personal savings accounts. " Bloomberg reports that Sen.

Lindsey Graham (R-SC) " says Bush should consider raising the $90,000

cap on yearly income subject to Social Security taxes. " The

administration is so concerned with the disarray among its

conservative ranks that, according to the Washington Post, the

president held a special meeting at the White House to " plead for

patience " from conservative lawmakers as they make the case for

dismantling Social Security.

 

SOCIAL CONSERVATIVES NOT PLAYING BALL: The White House is also having

trouble with its traditional base of social conservatives. The New

York Times reports that various conservative Christian groups wrote a

letter to the White House indicating that they " lack [e]nthusiasm for

changing the retirement system or other tax issues. " The groups are

" threatening to withhold support " for the privatization scheme " unless

Mr. Bush vigorously champions a constitutional amendment banning

same-sex marriage. " This follows an earlier NY Times story about how

social conservatives are at odds with the Big Business cronies of

conservative lawmakers who only want to cut taxes for the wealthy.

" People are not going to give the kind of support necessary for tax

reform that leaves the investor class untaxed, " said one top religious

conservative leader.

 

FORMER BUSH BUDGET CHIEF ABANDONS TAX CUT ORTHODOXY: Mitch Daniels,

the former White House budget director who is now governor of Indiana,

unveiled a plan last week to raise taxes on the wealthy in Indiana.

The move is noteworthy because it was Daniels who, as budget director,

helped pass massive federal tax cuts for the wealthy that fueled huge

state budget deficits like the one he now faces in Indiana. It was

Daniels who railed against those who said his federal tax cuts would

create deficits. Brushing aside statistical data, he told one reporter

in 2001, " There is every reason to believe, every reason to believe

there will be more, not less, surplus available over these 10 years. "

Now, the federal deficit is skyrocketing, and Indiana this year faces

a $600 million deficit. As the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

noted, the policies shepherded through Congress under Daniels

increased state deficits by up to $175 billion over President Bush's

first term.

 

FORMER CONSERVATIVE CONGRESSMAN PUSHES FOR PROGRESSIVE TAX: After a

career as one of the most conservative House members and ardent

supporters of the Bush tax cuts, Bob Riley became governor of Alabama

in 2003 and headed " a revolutionary campaign to raise his state's

total taxes by more than a billion dollars while also lowering taxes

for the poor. " Though right-wing groups like Grover Norquist's

Americans for Tax Reform helped defeat the measure, CNN reported,

" Riley has joined a growing number of GOP governors in swing states,

from Georgia to Nevada, who are pushing mammoth tax hikes as a way to

cover gaping budget shortfalls – gaps they blame, in part, on cuts by

the feds (read: George W. Bush). "

 

CONSERVATIVE CRITICIZES BUSH TREATMENT OF VETERANS: Earlier this

month, Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) was stripped of his chairmanship of the

Veterans Affairs Committee after he voiced concern that the White

House was shortchanging health care for America's veterans. As Smith

said, his dismissal from the chairmanship " all came down to the fact I

wanted to spend too much on veterans. " Smith said, " I am not a yes

man. I am a loyal Republican who believes in fighting for good public

policy and that is the best way to show loyalty. "

 

HOUSE CONSERVATIVES REJECT BUSH'S UNFUNDED MANDATES: AP reports that

other House conservatives are expressing their displeasure at the

administration's implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act. Rep.

Mike Pence (R-IN), who leads the Republican Study Committee, told the

National Press Club that " I have no problem with Washington, D.C.

finding ways to get resources to the schools, but not red tape, not

mandates. "

 

UNDER THE RADAR:

 

ENERGY – BODMAN'S CONFLICTING INTERESTS: Samuel Bodman, President

Bush's nominee for secretary of energy, will not be divesting his

millions of dollars of stock options in Cabot Corporation, the energy

company of which he used to be CEO. Of the several companies created

under Bodman's leadership, two are of particular interest: Cabot Oil

and Gas Corporation and Cabot LNG/Tractebel. Cabot Oil and Gas " has a

drilling program which is 40% exploration oriented, " which may be a

serious problem for Bodman, an " energetic advocate " for drilling in

the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge. The business of Cabot

LNG/Tractebel is " to imagine, design, implement and operate systems

and networks in the fields of electricity, gas, water and waste

services. " Additionally, there is no declaration of what his spouse

will do with her own tens of thousands of dollars of Cabot stock.

Bodman has " pledged to recuse himself as energy secretary from any

issues directly affecting the chemical and specialty materials company. "

 

KATHERINE HARRIS – BUNDLED WITH LOVE: The St. Petersburg Times reports

that Rep. Katherine Harris (R-FL), the lightning rod secretary of

state/Bush-Cheney campaign co-chair during Florida's 2000 recount,

last month accepted $20,000 in donations connected to a controversial

fundraiser dubbed " the Brooklyn Bundler. " The Bundler – a.k.a. New

York Rabbi Milton Balkany – has been " indicted on charges of stealing

hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal money intended for

disabled children, " and was " implicated, but not charged, in a case

involving bribery of federal prison officials. " A spokesman for Rep.

Harris, who is considering a Senate run in 2006, said Harris was

" unsure " whether she had met with Balkany.

 

HEALTH CARE – THE CASE AGAINST HIGH DEDUCTIBLES: A new study shows

health plans with high patient-paid deductibles, embraced by many

Republicans as a market-based solution to quell soaring medical care

costs, lead to poorer quality care and increased patient debt. A

survey of data from 4,000 adults with health insurance " found that

about half of patients with a high-deductible plan racked up medical

debt and were faced with other billing woes, compared with 31 percent

of those with more traditional health plans. " The study also found the

higher deductibles encouraged patients to skimp on necessary care:

" Roughly 38 percent of insured adults with high-deductible plans were

more likely to not fill a prescription or show up for a medical test,

compared with 27 percent of those on more traditional lower-deductible

plans. "

 

ENVIRO – CASE FOR GLOBAL WARMING HEATS UP: A worldwide, collaborative

climate-modeling study published in the journal Nature has found that

" global warming might be twice as catastrophic as previously thought, "

increasing global temperatures by up to 19.8 degrees. " More than

95,000 volunteers from 150 countries participated in the study by

downloading a program, run as a screensaver, which created slightly

different climate simulations on each computer and sent them back to

researchers. " Lead project scientist David Stainforth admitted, " When

you start to look at these temperatures, I get very worried indeed. " A

new study by the National Academy of Sciences finds that President

Bush's non-solution to the problem, the Clear Skies Initiative, " would

actually weaken air quality standards for some large coal-fired

utilities across the country, putting millions of Americans at greater

risk from air pollution. " For more info on global warming, check out

Meeting the Climate Challenge, a new report co-published by the Center

for American Progress.

 

ECONOMY – CHINA LOSING FAITH IN DOLLAR: President Bush's pledges to

reduce America's trade deficit have met with skepticism from foreign

leaders. Now, a top Chinese economist, Fan Gang, says his country,

which finances a large portion of America's debt, has " lost faith in

the stability of the U.S. dollar " and will begin investing in a " more

flexible basket " of currencies. The announcement comes as a result of

President Bush's reckless fiscal policies, which are leading the

dollar towards a dangerous " free fall " that could imperil the U.S.

economy. " The U.S. dollar is no longer – in our opinion is no longer –

(seen) as a stable currency, and is devaluating all the time, and

that's putting troubles all the time, " Fan said. The dollar " hit a new

low in December against the euro and has been falling against other

major currencies on concerns about the ever-growing U.S. trade and

budget deficits. "

 

GOOD NEWS

 

The Bush administration has abandoned plans to ask the Supreme Court

to loosen restrictions on large media consolidation.

 

DON'T MISS

 

DAILY TALKING POINTS: Conservative Journalists Tainted by White House

Payola.

 

SOCIAL SECURITY: Krugman says President Bush is " exploiting the

tragedy of high black mortality for political gain. "

 

CHENEY: The vice president dresses down for a ceremony commemorating

the liberation of Auschwitz. He sticks out like a sore thumb amidst

respectfully attired world leaders.

 

UN: Seventy Nobel laureates sign on to letter praising the leadership

of Secretary General Kofi Annan.

 

DAILY GRILL

 

" Mr. Leavitt, in his first public event as secretary of health and

human services, introduced Mr. Bush as someone who had 'improved

quality health care for millions.' " - NY Times, 1/28/05

 

VERSUS

 

" The number of Americans living in poverty rose by 1.3 million last

year, to 35.9 million, while those without health insurance climbed by

1.4 million, to 45 million, the Census Bureau reported. It was the

third straight annual increase for both categories. " - NY Times, 8/26/04

 

DAILY OUTRAGE

 

Talon news Washington Bureau Chief Jeff Gannon has used Bush

administration and Republican National Committee (RNC) documents and

releases in his Talon " news reports " verbatim and without attribution.

In at least two of his articles, Gannon " lifted more than half of the

text directly from GOP 'fact sheets.' "

 

© Copyright 2005 by American Progress Action Fund. All rights reserved.