*GOP’S SPENDING CUTS: To meet demands from the White House and be more in accord with House-passed bills, Senate Republicans want to close out fiscal 2003 with a $386-billion omnibus measure that would actually cut proposed spending for most federal agencies by 1.6% and eliminate $9.8 billion approved by senators last year for domestic security, education and other programs. "We have come down considerably in many of these bills," Appropriations Chairman Ted Stevens (R.-Alaska) told the Associated Press, referring to the 11 spending measures that never cleared Congress in 2002 because of Senate Democratic intransigence.
Because Democrats refused to give up their committee chairmanships until late last week, the spending bill will not go through a committee hearing where extra pork could be heaped on. Instead, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R.-Tenn.) is bringing it directly to the floor. To give added urgency to the measure-which congressional Republicans want passed before President Bush delivers his State of the Union address January 28-Frist tentatively scheduled a session last Saturday and threatened no Senate recess this week unless the bill is approved.
*AFTER REICH: In finally opting not to formally nominate controversial Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere Otto Reich, the President avoided battle with fellow Republican senators who opposed Reich’s anti-Castro stance. (See "Capital Briefs" last week.) But then Bush sent to the Senate "Reich II"-Ambassador to the OAS Roger Noriega, a onetime aide to Sen. Jesse Helms (R.-N.C.) and a man who fully shares Reich’s vigorous support of continuing the embargo against Castro’s Cuba. But Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard Lugar (R.-Ind.), who made no secret of his opposition to Reich over the embargo issue, has nonetheless agreed to give Noriega a hearing.
Noriega’s position on trade with Castro is not pleasing to the senator he will most likely have to deal with on the issue: super-liberal Republican Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, who is expected within days to become chairman of the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Because of Chafee’s unabashed support of trade with Havana, conservatives had hoped GOP senators would instead tap Sen. George Allen (R.-Va.), the second-ranking Republican on the subcommittee and a Castro opponent, for chairman. But in a Senate where seniority and tradition still rule, Chafee is the senior Republican on the panel and Capitol Hill sources almost unanimously agree he will emerge with the gavel.
*NEW TWIST ON CLONING: The January 16 edition of Washington, D.C.’s Metro Weekly, targeted at homosexuals, raised ominous ideological points about the logic of cloning. "While human cloning will impact the whole world, it will affect gay and lesbian people uniquely. A clone born to a same-sex couple will be the first baby ever created outside the realm of heterosexuality. Currently, gay and lesbian couples who want to bear a child must enlist a third party of the opposite sex to contribute sperm or an egg. With cloning, this will no longer be necessary," it said.
*DASCHLE AND RACE CARD: To nobody’s surprise, Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D.-S.D.) continues to play the race card. Early last week, after alluding to former GOP Leader Trent Lott (R.-Miss.), Daschle said that "among the Republican leadership there may have been a change of face, but there has not been a change of heart. . . . When the administration chose to re-nominate Charles Pickering to the second highest court in the land, it now appears that in many respects, they did not even have a change of face . . ." Then, on Wednesday on the Senate floor, Minority Whip Harry Reid (D.-Nev.) asked Daschle whether there appears to be a "pattern here that this administration is not concerned about women and other minorities." Daschle answered that renominating Pickering and failing to back various liberal measures indicate that "there is, without a doubt, a pattern." (For more on Pickering, see page 12.)
*MORE REGISTRATIONS: Far from backing down in the face of criticism, the Justice Department has expanded its registration program for men from certain foreign countries, adding Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, and Kuwait to its list. Male foreign visitors over age 16 from those countries must register with the government and be fingerprinted, said Justice January 16. This means that 25 countries of origin are affected. "We recognize after September 11 that we must have a better understanding of who is entering and exiting our country," Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft said. Legal permanent residents, refugees, and asylees will not have to register. There have been complaints from the usual suspects about racial and religious profiling, but feminist groups, who presumably would be offended by the implied inability of women to commit terrorist acts, have not yet been heard from.
*AMERICA TILTS TOWARDS LIFE: To help commemorate the 30th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, leaders of various pro-life organizations gathered last week in Washington, D.C., to outline their legislative agenda this year. The pro-life wish list includes a ban on partial-birth abortion, a permanent ban on all human cloning, and repeal of the Clinton FDA’s hasty, politically motivated approval of the drug RU-486.
Pro-life leaders also announced new statistics on American’s opinions regarding legislative and judicial action against abortion. A survey by Wirthlin Worldwide asked 1001 American adults 18 and older, "Would you favor judicial nominees to the U.S. Supreme Court who would uphold laws and restore legal protection for unborn children?" Sixty-six percent answered they would strongly or somewhat favor such nominees while only 28% said they would strongly or somewhat oppose them. The poll also showed 68% in favor of "restoring legal protection for unborn children" in light of "recent medical advances such as in utero surgery and 3D ultrasound technology." Only 25% were opposed.
