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

To: Hope Praytochange who wrote (764108)	8/5/2007 6:11:01 PM
From: pompsander	Respond to of 769670

I don't know if I agree they had such a good session...but compared to what? _________________________ Congress recesses amid Democratic achievements By Richard Cowan Sun Aug 5, 9:01 AM ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) - After months of being flogged for accomplishing little, Democrats who control Congress headed into a summer recess having passed several high-profile bills from raising the minimum wage to bolstering U.S. security and expanding children's health care. Their top priority -- ending the Iraq war -- remains frustratingly unfulfilled. But the Democrats who took over in January were able to go home early on Sunday for a monthlong break having won more support in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives for bringing combat troops home by early next year, marking a significant turnaround from last year. Democrats also will be able to batter President George W. Bush and congressional Republicans for sticking with a war policy that droves of Americans increasingly oppose. And it was Bush's fellow conservatives who helped kill his top domestic priority, immigration reform. Much of the Democrats' progress was incremental and out of the spotlight of the fights with Bush over the Iraq war, now in its fifth year. While those battles were raging, Democrats were able to plow ahead with bills they say will fulfill campaign promises to improve national security and help the neediest. "We have made more progress in the last seven days than previous congresses made in the last seven years," Democratic leaders boasted about the spurt of legislation that passed in the final days. Some nonpartisan observers agreed Democrats had reason to boast. "Democrats have had a good run legislatively over the past few weeks and that does help them going into the recess," said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics. That would be welcome news for a Congress that this year has seen its public approval ratings dip even below Bush's chronically low polling. A Pew Research Center survey released on Thursday said Bush scored a 29 percent approval rating, while Democratic leaders were at a similarly lethargic 33 percent. Even though those poor ratings do not necessarily translate into public support for Republican lawmakers, Democrats will have their work cut out for them, trying to convince voters back home that they have responded to last November's call for change. And they will face another challenge when they return from recess in early September when the future of the Iraq war will again take center stage with a mid-September progress report to Congress. A battle over funding the government in the fiscal year starting October 1 also looms, with Bush having promised to veto bills that spend more than he has asked for. Democrats will point to these accomplishments: * The first minimum wage increase in a decade went into effect in July helping the lowest-paid workers. Republicans repeatedly blocked the pay hike when they controlled Congress. * Republicans lost their majority in last November's elections largely because of the Iraq war, but also due to voter disgust with ethics violations that left some Republican lawmakers and aides in jail or under investigation. Democrats pushed through ethics and lobbying reforms that public advocacy groups applauded while also saying the provisions could have been stronger. Bush is expected to sign the bill into law. * Congress passed, and Bush signed into law on Friday, a series of post-September 11 anti-terrorism steps that had been recommended by an independent commission in 2004. These include broader screening of cargo bound for the United States, allocating more federal grants to cities at high-risk of attack and improving emergency workers' communications systems so they can better coordinate during an attack or natural disaster. * The House and Senate passed different versions of a bill to significantly expand child health insurance coverage for those in low-income families not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid. Bush has threatened to veto either version, but Democrats may be able to override him. * The House and Senate passed bills to help students handle soaring college costs and crack down on misconduct in the student loan industry. They likely will send Bush a bill in September that goes directly to the stressed wallets of middle-class parents. * A popular measure allowing broader stem cell research that supporters hope will help cure Parkinson's disease and other incurable illnesses was passed a second time and Bush vetoed it a second time. * Appealing to growing consumer fears of global warming and U.S. reliance on foreign oil, the Senate passed a bill mandating that cars get 40 percent better fuel efficiency and encouraging a dramatic increase in ethanol as a fuel. Democrats hope to send Bush a bill after the August recess. * A fiscal 2008 budget plan passed with new controls that attempt to impose fiscal responsibility after years of huge budget deficits. Under the plan, any new tax cuts or spending increases would have to be paid for. Republicans complain there is no guarantee Bush's tax cuts will be renewed after 2010. * After six years of mostly getting a free pass from Republicans, the Bush administration is facing oversight by committees with probes ranging from the Justice Department's firing of federal prosecutors to the Pentagon's handling of the death in Afghanistan of ex-football player Pat Tillman.

To: Hope Praytochange who wrote (764108)	8/6/2007 4:09:38 PM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 769670

Bush and Afghan Leader Differ on Iran August 6, 2007 By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG nytimes.com CAMP DAVID, Md., Aug. 6 — President George W. Bush and President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan found much to agree on during their two-day summit here, with one major exception: the role of Iran in Afghanistan. Mr. Karzai characterized Iran as “a helper and a solution” in a CNN television interview broadcast on Sunday. But when the two men greeted reporters here today, Mr. Bush pointedly disagreed with Mr. Karzai’s assessment, saying, “I would be very cautious about whether the Iranian influence in Afghanistan is a positive force.” Mr. Bush, who has long regarded Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism, said it is “up to Iran to prove to the world that they are a stabilizing force as opposed to a destabilizing force.” The talks with Mr. Karzai, which focused heavily on the security of Afghanistan, came just a few weeks after the Bush administration released a national intelligence estimate concluding that Al Qaeda’s leadership had reconstituted itself in the mountainous border territory between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Mr. Bush was asked if he would seek permission from Pakistan’s president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, before striking inside Pakistan to pursue “actionable intelligence” about Al Qaeda. He declined to say. “I’m confident, with real actionable intelligence, we will get this job done,” he said. On the eve of his Camp David meeting with Mr. Bush, Mr. Karzai painted a bleak picture of life in his country, saying that security had worsened and that the United States and its allies were no closer to catching Osama bin Laden than they were a few years ago. “The security situation in Afghanistan over the past two years has definitely deteriorated,” Mr. Karzai said on the CNN program “Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer,” in an interview that was taped in Kabul on Saturday. It was broadcast Sunday while Mr. Karzai was on his way to Camp David for a two-day meeting with President Bush. “The Afghan people have suffered,” Mr. Karzai said. “Terrorists have killed our schoolchildren. They have burned our schools. They have killed international helpers.” As for catching Mr. bin Laden, Mr. Karzai said: “We are not closer, we are not further away from it. We are where we were a few years ago.” The White House had hoped to use the meeting to showcase what Gordon D. Johndroe, a spokesman for the National Security Council, called both the “progress and challenges” in Afghanistan. Mr. Karzai is trying to rebuild his war-torn country and strengthen his fragile government while confronting a resurgent Taliban, a booming opium trade, government corruption and mounting civilian deaths. In the interview on Sunday, Mr. Karzai avoided saying whether he believed that General Musharraf was doing enough to track down terrorist leaders. But he suggested — without exactly saying so — that Mr. bin Laden must be on the Pakistan side of the border. “I can’t talk about that, whether he is in Afghanistan or in Pakistan,” Mr. Karzai said, “but I definitely know that he cannot be in Afghanistan.” Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company