The Progress Report. July 28, 2005

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Thu, 28 Jul 2005 07:42:46 -0700

Progress Report: DeLay's Sweetheart Deal

" American Progress Action Fund "

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The Progress Report

 

by Judd Legum, Faiz Shakir, Nico Pitney,

Mipe Okunseinde and Christy Harvey

July 28, 2005

 

 

ENERGY DeLay's Sweetheart Deal

IRAQ An Unsettling Picture

UNDER THE RADAR Go Beyond The Headlines

 

 

 

ThinkProgress.orgFor news and updates throughout the day, check out

our blog at ThinkProgress.org.

 

 

 

ENERGY

DeLay's Sweetheart Deal

 

Majority Leader Tom DeLay may have faded from the front pages, but

he's still up to his dirty tricks. Yesterday, Rep. Henry Waxman

revealed that DeLay slipped " a $1.5 billion giveaway to the oil

industry, Halliburton, and Sugar Land, Texas " into the energy bill.

But it gets worse. The provision was " mysteriously inserted " into the

text of the energy bill " after the conference was closed, so members

of the conference committee had no opportunity to consider or reject

this measure. " DeLay has launched an assault on the democratic

process. Write your representatives and demand this provision be

removed from the energy bill.

 

THE ANATOMY OF A SCAM: The $1.5 billion is designated for " oil and

natural gas drilling research. " Ordinarily, any company could apply

for these funds directly from the government. But DeLay does things a

little differently. In this case, the bulk of the money must be handed

over to " a corporation that is constructed as a consortium. " As it so

happens, " the leading contender for this contract appears to be the

Research Partnership to Secure Energy for America (RPSEA) consortium,

housed in the Texas Energy Center in Sugar Land, Texas, " Tom DeLay's

home district. RPSEA " has been advocating such a research program and

is in a better position than any other group. " (DeLay testified in

support of the program before a House subcommittee last year.) If

RPSEA wins the contract they can keep " up to 10% of the funds - in

this case, over $100 million - in administrative expenses. "

 

DISPENSING WITH DEMOCRACY: The $1.5 billion giveaway was added to the

bill after " Democratic negotiators went home Tuesday at 4 a.m.

believing a deal had been finalized and the provision wasn't in the

bill. " The program was not included in the draft version of the bill

and a DeLay spokesman said " he could not explain how the item was

added to the final version of legislation prepared by the Senate and

House negotiators. " A spokesman for Rep. Joe Barton, chairman of the

House Energy and Commerce Committee, noted that Sen. Jeff Bingaman,

(D-NM), and Rep. John Dingell, (D-MI) were also informed. Bingaman's

spokesman, Bill Wicker, said " We don't see this as a sweetheart deal

for anyone. "

 

DELAY - ROBIN HOOD IN REVERSE: The broader question is: why do

taxpayers need to provide another huge subsidy oil and gas companies?

As Waxman notes " The oil and gas industry is reporting record income

and profits. According to one analyst, the net income of the top oil

companies will total $230 billion in 2005. " Halliburton, which is a

member of the consortium, would be eligible to " receive awards from

the over $1 billion fund administered by the consortium. "

 

DELAY - ATTACKING THE MESSENGER: Instead taking responsibility for his

action, DeLay attacked the messenger. DeLay spokesman Kevin Madden

said, ''Henry Waxman knows zero about Texas, zero about energy

security, and apparently even less about how a bill becomes law. " The

RPSEA consortium, for their part, doesn't want to know. Melanie

Kenderdine, who represents Gas Technology Institute, a company in the

consortium, said, " how the sausage is made is not important to me. "

 

 

IRAQ

An Unsettling Picture

 

While some were tuning into last night's premiere of " Over There, " a

drama about the Iraq war that marks " the first American series to

fictionalize a war while that same war is actually going on, " a

majority of Americans were finally arriving at a very real, and

unsettling, conclusion: " the Bush administration deliberately misled

the public about whether Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass

destruction — the reason Bush emphasized in making the case for

invading. " Even pop star Jessica Simpson's faith has been shaken. The

producer of the new drama claims no interest " in making a political

statement about the war, " focusing instead on the experience of the

soldiers. Though " combat feels apolitical to those engaged in it, " the

new drama serves as a stark reminder of " why it's up to those who put

them in harm's way to have as broad as possible a perspective on the

purpose, the goals, the endgame, and, ultimately, the meaning of the

war these young people are being used to fight. " In the real world,

conditions in Iraq are producing an unsettling picture.

 

" THE HUMAN TOLL " : President Bush assured the Iraqi people of a better

quality of life. Yet, " living conditions for the people of Iraq,

already poor before the war, have deteriorated significantly since the

US invasion. " A new report by the United Nations Development Programme

and the Iraqi Ministry of Planning and Development Cooperation finds

" that the Iraqi people are suffering widespread death and war-related

injury, high rates of infant and child mortality, chronic malnutrition

and illness among children, low rates of life expectancy and

significant setbacks with regard to the role of women in society. "

Though " living conditions for the people of Iraq [were] already poor

before the war, " they have " deteriorated significantly since the US

invasion. "

 

A 50-YEAR STEP BACK FOR WOMEN: In 2004, Labor Secretary Elaine Chao

pledged, " The commitment of this administration to women's rights in

Iraq is unshakable. " Earlier this year, First Lady Laura Bush ensured

that " Women will influence the drafting [of the Iraq constitution]

because they hold nearly one-third of the seats in the assembly. "

However, draft versions of the forthcoming Iraq constitution are

" raising concerns that women could lose rights in marriage, divorce

and inheritance. " Sections of the constitution " bear out fears that

restrictions on [women's rights] rights may soon be enshrined in the

law. The latest copy of the charter, due to be finalised in three

weeks, revealed wording that could roll back a 1959 secular law that

enshrined women's equality. " Though the drafting committee claim to

have " taken account of women's concerns, " members have no plans to

make changes.

 

PRETTY HANDS ON FOR A HANDS-OFF POLICY: Back in 2003, President Bush

directly addressed the Iraqi people: " We will help you build a

peaceful and representative government...[and] then our military

forces will leave. Iraq will go forward as a unified, independent and

sovereign nation that has regained a respected place in the

world...You deserve to live as free people. " But now senior Bush

administration officials are " playing a more vigorous public role in

defining its own image of a future Iraq and pushing factions toward

political accommodation to stem the drift toward civil war. The tactic

runs the risk of alienating many proud Iraqis -- already fed up after

two years of unfulfilled promises, deteriorating security, unreliable

power supplies, undrinkable water and checkpoint shootings. " Just this

week, the new American ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, " injected

himself into the writing of the constitution " and already some Iraqi

committee members have " privately complained that the Americans and

British were interfering in Iraqi internal affairs. "

 

THE SAME OLD PROMISE: Though no one in the administration will provide

any timetable for troop return, several recent news reports are

claiming that the Pentagon is planning a sharp reduction in the number

of American troops in Iraq. These conclusions point to statements made

by the top U.S. commander in Baghdad, Gen. George Casey, who said, " I

do believe that if the political process continues to go positively,

if the developments with the (Iraqi) security forces continue to go as

it is going, I do believe we will still be able to make fairly

substantial reductions after these elections — in the spring and

summer of next year. " Although " Casey's remarks marked the first time

in months that a top U.S. official had commented publicly about the

specific prospects of a significant reduction in U.S. forces in Iraq, "

the statements were not much more than a reiteration of President

Bush's constant promise that " our troops will come home when Iraq is

capable of defending herself. "

 

THE STATUS OF THE IRAQI SECURITY FORCES: The administration has told

the public that hopes of a sharp reduction in troops relies on the

progress being made on training Iraqi security forces. But after first

delaying the release of the administration's Iraq progress report to

Congress, Secretary Rumsfeld decided to keep " the readiness and

performance of U.S.-trained Iraqi security forces " section classified

from the American people. However, the inspector generals of the State

and Defense Departments have come forward to reveal that " insurgents

and other criminals have infiltrated Iraqi police ranks due to poor

screening procedures. " The joint report also undermines President

Bush's myopic focus on the number of Iraqi forces that have been

trained: " This emphasis on numbers overshadows the attention that

should be given to the qualitative performance of those trained. There

is a perception that training programs have produced 'cannon fodder'

-- numbers of nominal policemen incapable of defending themselves, let

alone the Iraqi public. " But officials in the Bush administration

already knew this. Just last week, the Senate was presented with an

originally classified Pentagon report admitting " only about half of

Iraq's new police battalions can conduct operations at all...while the

other half of police and two-thirds of the new army battalions are

only 'partially capable' of carrying out counterinsurgency missions --

and that, only with American help. " Are these the " developments with

the security forces " that Gen. Casey is relying on?

 

THE EFFECTS OF THE DEARTH OF POSTWAR PLANNING: " Military conflict has

two dimensions: winning wars and winning the peace. " In a study

commissioned by the nonpartisan Council on Foreign Relations, two

former national security advisers have found that " in Iraq, pre-war

inattention to post-war requirements--or simply misjudgments about

them--left the United States ill-equipped to address public security,

governance, and economic demands in the immediate aftermath of the

conflict, seriously undermining key U.S. foreign policy goals and

giving early impetus to the insurgency. " The conclusion echoes that

of the State Department, which reported, according to one analyst,

that President Bush " didn't go in with a plan " but instead " with a

theory. " The " human, military and economic " costs of the so-called

theory " are high and continue to mount. " The study also undermines

President Bush's attempt to blame the state of post war Iraq on the

" catastrophic success " of our own troops who were " so successful so fast. "

 

Under the Radar

 

ENERGY -- WHAT THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION DOESN'T WANT YOU TO KNOW:

According to a report in this morning's New York Times, the

Environmental Protection Agency made a last minute decision this week

to delay the release of its annual report on automobile fuel

standards. The Times, which obtained a copy of the study, says the

report shows what many environmentalists fear: despite technological

advances, automobile fuel efficiency has deteriorated since the 1980s.

The postponement is especially disappointing (and suspicious) given

the imminent congressional vote on energy legislation. Indeed, while

the new Energy Policy Act of 2005 has many flaws, perhaps none is more

onerous than its almost complete avoidance of issues related to fuel

consumption. According to Daniel Becker of the Sierra Club:

" Something's fishy when the Bush administration delays a report

showing no improvement in fuel economy until after passage of their

energy bill, which fails to improve fuel economy. " Fishy indeed.

 

CORPORATE POWER -- COX MAY HAVE PERJURED HIMSELF IN CONGRESSIONAL

TESTIMONY: Yesterday, the nonpartisan Foundation for Taxpayer and

Consumer Rights (FTCR) called on the Senate Banking, Housing, and

Urban Affairs Committee to review testimony provided by Rep. Chris

Cox, Bush's nominee to be chair of the Securities and Exchange

Commission. The group argues that Cox failed to provide truthful

testimony about his involvement in a mid-1980s investment scheme that

swindled investors out of $130 million. The issue in contention is the

the depth of involvement by Cox in the scheme; Cox alleges he was a

minor player, but FTCR has documents which prove otherwise. In a

letter to Sen. Paul Sarbanes (D-MD), FTCR lays out the reasons for why

Cox's testimony " was false in two respects and misleading in its

entirety. " The Committee is set to vote Thursday on the Cox nomination.

 

NATIONAL SECURITY -- SAFETY DELAYED: An audit by the Justice

Department's Inspector General found that the FBI has yet to review

more than 8,000 hours of audio wiretap recordings related to

counterterrorism investigations. While the Inspector General, Glenn

Fine, said none of the recordings are associated with " high priority "

investigations, he went on to stress that the FBI " has no assurance "

that they do not contain information that could be crucial for

pursuing terrorists. Few were happy with the report. " It sounds very

much like business as usual, " said Lee Hamilton, the former Vice

Chairman of the September 11 Commission " and business as usual is

unacceptable. " The new revelations add to reports last September that

the FBI had failed to translate " more than 120,000 hours of

potentially valuable terrorism-related recordings. "

 

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS -- BOLTON ASKED WHETHER HE TESTIFIED IN PLAME

LEAK: Sen. Joseph Biden (D-DE) wrote a letter to Secretary of State

Condoleezza Rice, based on a report by MSNBC, inquiring as to whether

John Bolton, the nominee for U.N. ambassador, has testified to a grand

jury about the leak of Valerie Plame's identity. Part of the

questionnaire Bolton filled out prior to testifying before Congress

last March asked whether he was interviewed or simply supplied any

information for a grand jury investigation. According to Sen. Barbara

Boxer (D-CA), Bolton indicated he had not provided any such

information. The response to the letter will determine whether Bolton

lied on his questionnaire, though it is unknown whether he testified

before or after he signed the document — or at all.

 

TORTURE -- FRIST BENDS TO WHITE HOUSE, DERAILS DETAINEE AMENDMENT:

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist yesterday " derailed a bipartisan

effort to set rules for the treatment of enemy prisoners at Guantanamo

Bay and other military detention camps by abruptly stopping debate on

a $491 billion defense bill, " Knight-Ridder reports. The " unusual

move " came after Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC),

both former veterans, " beat back an effort " by Frist to block the

detainee amendment, which is also opposed by President Bush. McCain, a

former POW, says the broader purpose of the bill is to protect U.S.

soldiers who are captured abroad. Speaking on the Senate floor this

week, McCain said, " The enemy we fight has no respect for human life

or human rights. They don't deserve our sympathy. But this isn't about

who they are. This is about who we are. "