*SADDAM'S DOMESTIC POLICY: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Robert Mueller said many jaw-dropping things in testimony February 11 before the Senate Intelligence Committee. This was the most chilling: "Baghdad has the capability and, we presume, the will," he said, "to use biological, chemical, or radiological weapons against U.S. domestic targets in the event of a U.S. invasion."
*AL QAEDA REMAINS GREATER THREAT: Despite this ominous warning about Iraq, Mueller stressed that the "al Qaeda network will remain for the foreseeable future the most immediate and serious threat facing this country." "FBI investigations have revealed a widespread militant Islamic presence in the U.S. We strongly suspect that several hundred of these extremists are linked to al-Qaeda," said the FBI director. "The challenge of finding and rooting out al Qaeda members once they have entered the U.S. and have had time to establish themselves is our most serious intelligence and law enforcement challenge."
*HAMAS AND HIZBALLAH HERE, TOO: If Iraqi agents armed with weapons of mass murder and al Qaeda cells were not enough to worry about, Mueller added Hamas and Hizballah to the mix of terrorist groups that have penetrated the United States. "Be assured . . . that our focus on al Qaeda and ideologically similar groups has not diverted our intelligence and investigative efforts from potential threats from groups like Hamas and Lebanese Hizballah," said Mueller. "Both of these groups have significant U.S.-based infrastructure that give them the capability to launch terrorist attacks inside the U.S."
*RSC BUDGET KNIFE: As congressional Republicans warm up to do battle over the President's budget, the conservative House Republican Study Committee is poised to soon unveil its own budget. According to RSC sources, the alternative budget will differ pointedly from the President's in that it calls for abolishing the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities, the Legal Services Corp. and Americorps. In addition, the RSC budget reportedly will freeze spending at the levels in the budget for Fiscal 2003.
*DANIELS DEPARTURE? Several sources close to Mitch Daniels confirm to HUMAN EVENTS that he will almost certainly quit as director of the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) this spring-as soon as the 2004 budget is approved by Congress-in order to seek the Republican nomination for governor of Indiana (where Daniels' family has remained since he took the job two years ago). Most often mentioned as his potential successor as the administration's budget boss is Clay Johnson, a longtime Bush friend who just left as head of the White House personnel office to become No. 2 at OMB.
*LOWER TAX ON SOCIAL SECURITY?: While President Bush looks to end the double taxation of corporate dividends-which would help Americans of all ages-Rep. Sam Johnson (R.-Tex.) is focusing just on senior citizens, feeling his proposed reduction has a better chance of getting through Congress. Johnson is again sponsoring a bill to repeal the increased tax on Social Security benefits that was passed in 1993 at the urging of President Bill Clinton. That tax added a huge burden on senior citizens. Johnson's repeal bill had 163 cosponsors last year.
"Until 1993, only half of Social Security benefits were subjected to income taxes," Johnson explained in a "Dear Colleague" letter. "That first tier of taxes on 50% of benefits could be justified by arguing that the employer's share of payments into Social Security were never subject to individual income taxes during the employee's working career. The second tier of tax, on up to 85% of benefits, is double taxation of this Social Security income."
*NOT-SO-FAVORITE SON: As he continues to move to the left in seeking the Democratic nomination for President, North Carolina Sen. John Edwards is not exactly helping himself back home-where he is also up for re-election next year. According to a just-completed "Research 2000" poll conducted for the Raleigh News and Observer, only 39% of likely Tarheel State voters approve of his decision to run for President and only 39% would vote right now to re-elect him senator. The same survey showed that George W. Bush would defeat Edwards in his home state by a handsome 56%-to-40% margin.
*McCAIN AGAIN: For all the guessing that he might retire next year at age 68, John McCain last week sent his strongest signals yet that he will seek re-election as Republican senator from Arizona in 2004. Supporters of McCain unveiled a "Friends of John McCain" web page with buttons telling the visitor how to "sign up to be a McCain supporter" and make donations. McCain's campaign committee also sent out invitations to a $1,000-a-plate dinner commemorating his 20 years in Congress. "I will bet just about anything that John runs again," Arizona GOP Chairman Bob Fannin told HUMAN EVENTS during the recent Republican National Committee meeting in Washington.
*COWGIRLS CASH IN: Although no one is ever surprised by congressional overspending, conservatives were still horrified at the pork buried in the 2003 omnibus spending bill that emerged from a House-Senate conference last week with a price tag $10 billion over President Bush's request. Conservative Rep. Jeff Flake (R.-Ariz.), noting that the bill includes handouts of $90,000 for the Cowgirl Hall of Fame, $350,000 for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and $750,000 for the Baseball Hall of Fame, said he would "nominate Congress for the Pork-Barrel Hall of Fame, but I'm afraid the appropriators would actually try to appropriate money for it."
*NO GUN RIGHTS: Sen. Jon Corzine (D.-N.J.) introduced legislation February 12 to prevent the Bush Administration from arguing before the Supreme Court in defense of a lower court ruling that the 2nd Amendment guarantees an individual's right to keep and bear arms. Claiming that no such right exists and that his interpretation is "established Supreme Court precedent," Corzine argued, "The American people should not be forced to pay taxes to support unreasonable interpretations of the 2nd Amendment that are inconsistent with constitutional law and threaten to undermine legislation needed to reduce gun violence and to save lives. We should protect taxpayers from being forced to subsidize the administration's ideological gambits."
