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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: CYBERKEN who wrote (291234)	8/28/2002 5:24:04 PM
From: Mr. Palau	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

Congressional Republicans Push Iraq Hearings Wed Aug 28, 4:49 PM ET By Vicki Allen WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top Republican on the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee ( news - web sites) on Wednesday increased pressure on the White House to make its case for an invasion of Iraq, saying he wants Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to testify before the committee. Virginia Sen. John Warner called for more congressional inquiry into President Bush ( news - web sites)'s call to topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein ( news - web sites), as House International Relations Committee Chairman Henry Hyde, an Illinois Republican, was working to secure administration witnesses for hearings on Iraq he plans to hold in September. In a letter to Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat, Warner urged a series of committee hearings "to explore the national security implications of possible military action against Iraq." Levin was not immediately available to comment. Saying the "crescendo of debate on Iraq has reached an extraordinary level," Warner said the committee hearings should start with administration witnesses, preferably Rumsfeld. Rumsfeld said on Tuesday Bush had not made a decision on whether to launch an invasion of Iraq, but said the United States would get international support if it decided to take the action. The administration says Iraq is developing weapons of mass destruction and poses a threat to the United States and its allies. Most leaders of those countries oppose a military action. If Levin decides to hold hearings, he would follow on Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearings last month that got views from think tanks and analysts but not the White House, which said it was not ready to send its people to testify. Sen. Joseph Biden, a Delaware Democrat and Foreign Relations Committee chairman, said at the time he might hold more hearings when Congress returned from its August recess to hear from administration witnesses, His spokesman said that had not yet been decided. In his letter, Warner said there "appears to be a 'gap' in the facts" possessed by the White House and by Congress, and "a growing diversity of viewpoints" among experts. He said it was essential "in this extraordinarily complex foreign policy debate, that Congress step up and assume its responsibilities," and share with the president accountability for military actions against Iraq. In the Republican-led House of Representatives, the International Relations Committee will hold hearings soon after Congress returns next week and intends to hear from administration officials, Hyde's spokesman said. "Chairman Hyde is in discussion with the White House on the availability of witnesses," spokesman Sam Stratman said. "Chairman Hyde wants to hear from the administration." He said Hyde "is prepared to support the president" but thought more information on the risks and the administration's longer-term plans for the region was needed from public hearings along with more classified briefings. story.news.yahoo.com

To: CYBERKEN who wrote (291234)	8/28/2002 5:24:21 PM
From: Mr. Whist	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 769670

Your answer was another PsychoKen avoidance. The correct answer is (a). The union workers had federal pension protection, the non-union workers were at the mercy of the company ... and after the Fat Cats at the top of the food chain pocketed their millions before the company went belly up ... guess what? ... there wasn't a dime left for the non-union workers' pension plan. But I guess all this is foreign to you choose not to engage in honest hard work.

To: CYBERKEN who wrote (291234)	8/28/2002 5:26:10 PM
From: Mr. Palau	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

GOP Solution: More taxes or bigger federal government. NYC Mayor Hints Cuts Alone Can't Solve Budget Woes Tue Aug 27, 6:43 PM ET By Joan Gralla NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Tuesday hinted that either taxes or fees will have to go up -- or the city will have to get more federal or state aid -- because it cannot cut spending enough to close next year's $5 billion budget gap. Nor did the anti-tax Republican mayor sugar-coat the seriousness of the city's economic problems, which have caused tax revenues to fall. In July, the jobless rate stood at 7.7 percent, higher than the national rate of 5.9 percent. "We will have to for the next year and the year after (that) and who knows how many years after that resolve a $5 billion deficit," Bloomberg told City Hall reporters. New York City's economy fell victim to the national slowdown just a few months before the Sept. 11 air attacks, which cost 100,000 people their jobs. Tough times on Wall Street, which has seen profits wither with the stock market downturn, hit New York City hard because it gets such a large amount of tax revenues from this sector. Trying to get a head start on the looming budget shortfall, the mayor gave city agencies until September to tell him how they can slice their budgets by 7.5 percent. If all departments can cut that steeply -- traditionally, education, police and firefighters are spared some of the cuts suffered by other agencies -- the city would save $1 billion. Noting that would only solve 20 percent of the city's problem, Bloomberg told City Hall reporters: "So we're going to have to do more than that." BALANCED BUDGETS New York City's current $42 billion budget year began on July 1. Ever since a fiscal crisis in the 1970s, the city has by law been required to balance its budgets. One of the toughest issues facing Bloomberg, who refused to raise any tax but the levy on cigarettes during last spring's budget negotiations with the City Council, is finding the money to boost the salaries of police officers and firefighters. On Tuesday, 20 out of 51 members of the Democrat-led City Council urged Bloomberg to grant bigger increases to the police and firefighters -- without making them work more days, as he has demanded. Asked if he would support adding a new surcharge on the personal income tax, getting the state to reinstate the $400 million a year commuter tax, or increasing taxes on wealthy New Yorkers, Bloomberg only rejected the idea of trying to set aside new streams of money for a single purpose. Explaining that the first $5 billion raised by what he called expense reduction, an increase in revenue from taxes or fees, or more federal or state aid would have to be used to close next year's shortfall, Bloomberg concluded: "The first $5 billion has already been spent." He also ruled out selling more debt, saying the state probably would not allow that. Nor would credit agencies, he added. Bloomberg has yet to say much about how he plans to close the huge budget gaps he faces. His five-year budget plan calls for hiking tolls for East River commuters. This summer, he hinted the city might cut the $500 million it gives the Metropolitan Transportation Agency of the State of New York each year. In mid-August, thousands of police officers and firefighters, hailed as heroes on Sept. 11, rallied in Times Square to demand bigger pay raises than those reportedly about to be offered them by a state arbitration panel. That panel, whose decisions are binding, was expected to give 23,000 police officers a 14 percent pay hike. But in return, the police officers would have to work extra days. In June, the mayor reached a deal with the 80,000-member teachers union to boost their salaries by 16 percent -- but they had to agree to work an extra 20 minutes a day and accept harsher and speedier disciplinary proceedings. story.news.yahoo.com