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Legislative Mischief

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In These Times

On April 16, the New York Times ran a full-page ad from contact lens producer Bausch and Lomb, announcing the recall of its "ReNu with MoistureLoc" rewetting solution, and warning the 30 million American wearers of soft contact lens

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UPI

A Zogby Interactive poll finds that US voters are more distrustful than ever of political and corporate leaders. Only 3% believe Congress is trustworthy; 7% think business leaders are; 24% say President Bush can be trusted; and 29% trust the courts.

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UPI

The US Senate has given the Bush administration an extended blank check on domestic electronic phone surveillance. At no point did senators make any serious suggestion about imposing any new legal or congressional oversight procedures on the vastly e

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Reuters

[We're tough. Vote for us.] The US House of Representatives would accept a narrower Senate bill to boost fines on television and radio stations for decency violations if differences cannot be worked out between the two chambers.

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Christian Science Monitor

[A bit late.] Before a vote Friday on a veterans spending bill, Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R) of Texas rose to object to the first of some $500 million in military construction projects. They were "pork projects wrapped in the American flag," he

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The Hill

The war of words between Continental Airlines and Virgin America over Virgin’s bid to begin U.S. flights is reaching new heights this week, drawing members of both parties into debate over protectionism. Virgin requested regulatory permission to o

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Associated Press

Giving money to farmers, traditionally a popular election-year idea, is growing less popular in this election year. The Senate wants to spend nearly $4 billion to help farmers cope with high fuel prices and damage from severe weather. House leaders o

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BusinessWeek

In recent years, Congress has made a fine art of gaming the tax code. But it has just outdone itself. It's about to pass a bill that includes a measure Congress is portraying to upper-income taxpayers as a big tax cut, while at the same time it c

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Reuters

The federal government spends about $20 billion a year on farm subsidies under a law due for overhaul by Congress in 2007. Mainline farm groups support a continuation of the 2002 law, which boosted crop supports sharply. Congress would be wiser if

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Finacial Times

Arlen Specter, chairman of the Senate judiciary committee, had hoped his criticism of President Bush’s domestic wiretapping programme would be like the fight his colleague, John McCain, waged to prohibit the torture of detainees: a moment when the Re

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Associated Press

[Oh goodie, long lines for everybody.] The House approved criminal penalties and fines of up to $150 million for energy companies caught price gouging, yet lawmakers acknowledged there is no quick and easy fix to higher pump prices.

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Christian Science Monitor

If Congress gets into funding local projects, there will be no end to it, and it might be "productive of evil." So warned President James Monroe in 1822. Since then, members of Congress have siphoned off billions in federal tax dollars for

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Associated Press

Fiscal conservatives won a small but symbolically important victory Thursday in the Senate, killing funding for a seafood promotion program that had been tucked inside a bill for the Iraq war and further hurricane relief for the Gulf Coast. Led by

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Reuters

Congressional watchdogs blasted an ethics reform bill pending in the House of Representatives as a "scam" that would do little to curb the influence of money in politics.

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National Journal

3 years ago on the eve of the invasion of Iraq, Sen. Roberts was involved in disclosing sensitive intelligence information that, according to 4 former senior intelligence officers, impaired efforts to capture Saddam Hussein and potentially threatened

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USA Today

Congress still doesn't get it. After more than a year of negative headlines about political corruption and money-soaked alliances with lobbyists, House leaders are weakening their already anemic excuse for reform.

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Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The official police report on Rep. Cynthia McKinney's clash with a Capitol Hill police officer three weeks ago says the DeKalb County congresswoman struck the officer "in his chest with [a] closed fist." The "event report"

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Blue Meme

We've been jawing for weeks about the plans that Big Telecom have for discriminating between what's flowing through their pipes into our houses. A very dangerous bill working through the House took a big step toward being enacted into law, an

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