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Chamber: Pass Immigration Reform
The Salt Lake Chamber has written an open letter (which ran as a full page ad in the Deseret Morning News and Salt Lake Tribune last weekend) urging Sens. Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennett to "finish the job and pass immigration reform this year."
Utah Dialogue Interviews Bishop
Utah Dialogue's Ben McAdams and Charlie Luke have posted a new podcast interview, this time with Rep. Rob Bishop.
Washington Watch
Bennett Introduces Iraq Bill
Sen. Bob Bennett introduces with seven other senators bipartisan legislation "that would make the Iraq Study Group recommendations the basis for future U.S. strategy in Iraq" (see press release); Bennett says of the death of Wyoming Sen. Craig Thomas: "As a fellow westerner, Sen. Thomas and I worked together on a number of issues of interest shared by Utah and Wyoming. You could always count on him to be a straight shooter" (press release)
New Cannon Website, Blog
Rep. Chris Cannon launches a new and improved congressional website, which includes a blog, video and other features (see press release); Cannon's Juab County water legislation passes the House by voice vote (press release).
Matheson and Cowboy Boots
Article: "One of the biggest icons of the West is a popular political accessory in the East. In a place where people tend not to buck convention, U.S. lawmakers increasingly pull on Tony Lamas, Ariats, Justins and Noconas to express their individuality. Cowboy boots offer a way to signal regional identity, a way to show you don't follow the crowd. ... The boots can also make a powerful political statement. ... When Rep. Jim Matheson, a Salt Lake City Democrat, sees someone wearing cowboy boots, 'I think that's someone I'm going to relate to,' he said" (Denver Post).
Today in Political History
June 6, 1944: D-Day: Allied troops land on the beaches of Normandy under the command of General Dwight Eisenhower.
June 6, 1996: The U.S. Senate narrowly rejects a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution as outgoing Majority Leader Bob Dole and the Democrats clash over deficit reduction. (Source: Perspicuity)
Wise Words
“We are not weak, if we make proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power... The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave.”
--Patrick Henry (Source: Quotes Exchange)
Utah Trivia
Total land area: 84,916 sq. mi.; 65% owned by the federal government.
Highest point: Kings Peak, 13,528 ft. (Uinta Mountains, Duchesne Co. - NE part of state)
Lowest point: Beaver Dam Wash, 2,350 ft. (Near St. George, Washington Co. SW part of state)
National Politics
Best Stories From …
-- Los Angeles Times: "As senators returned to the Capitol Monday after a weeklong recess, supporters of an immigration bill expressed guarded confidence that it would pass despite raging conservative criticism. They appeared buoyed by their success shepherding the controversial bill through its first week of debate and by the sense that voters want them to solve the problem of illegal immigration -- even if those voters don't entirely approve of the solution they have chosen. Even so, among the 12 senators behind the immigration bill, there is an acknowledgment that the week ahead will be a tough one."
-- Washington Post: "Democratic leaders fear that Rep. William J. Jefferson's indictment yesterday on racketeering and bribery charges, coming exactly one year after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi engineered his ouster from the powerful Ways and Means Committee, could rekindle a smoldering dispute between the speaker and black lawmakers who were once pillars of her power" (see also related Washington Post editorial).
-- Las Vegas Review Journal: Editorial: "When Democrats took control of Congress four months back, incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., bragged it would take her party less than 100 hours to curb wasteful pork spending by requiring members to attach their names to their 'earmarks,' exposing such waste to the harsh light of public scrutiny. She failed to mention this 'reform' would remain in effect for little more than 100 days."
-- Des Moines Register: Columnist David Ypsen says there's "reason to believe Fred Thompson's planned [presidential bid] could ... help [John] McCain in Iowa by taking more support away from [Mitt] Romney than he takes from McCain. ... The Register's Iowa Poll showed last month that without Thompson in the race, Mitt Romney leads McCain 30 percent to 18 percent in the state. But when Thompson is added to the mix in an American Research Group poll of Iowa GOPers taken about the same time, Romney's support drops by about half. By contrast, McCain sees no similar erosion to Thompson and might even gain some support. ... Maybe that's why McCain is so willing to welcome his old friend Fred into the race."
Blog Watch
At Utah Senate Democrats, Sen. Scott McCoy says: "Well the voucher mess has now moved to the courts. Both sides have filed law suits to try and untangle the disaster that is HB 148 and HB 174. The Utah Supreme Court will hear arguments in the two cases this Friday. It will be great political and judicial theater for sure. What I truly love the most about the latest chapter in the voucher drama is the rich irony that we will be saved by the courts. How wonderful it is to see conservative legislators, such as Senator Bramble, who extol the supremacy of the Legislative Branch, throwing up their hands (after the requisite amount of public platitudes about the will of the people and sufficient wailing and gnashing of teeth) and pleading with the Judiciary to sort out this mess over which the impotent Legislature now seems to have no control (or responsibility). So the solution is not to have the political will and intestinal fortitude (i.e., leadership) to fix this mess of our own making but rather to put our fate in the hands of those five wise Justices, even if they are ever prone to judicial activism (i.e., decisions the conservatives don't like). Talk about passing the buck" (for more on the voucher issue, see these two Steve Urquhart posts and Davis County Watch).
Lighter Side
In Tennessee in 1927, a state senator introduced a bill that would have made gossip a misdemeanor. A Tennessee “society matron” told a newspaper: “I know this bill is aimed at slanderous misstatements, but if you interpreted it in a technical way, every bridge party would end by all the ladies being jailed for gossip.” A businessman also spoke out against the bill: “I believe all these restrictive laws are more dangerous than the condition they aim to correct. After a while we’ll have laws making it illegal to eat peas with a knife.” The bill failed. (Source: Wall Street Journal, B1, June 4, 2007, subscription required) |
