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Politics : Liberalism: Do You Agree We've Had Enough of It? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: locogringo who wrote (122254)	1/21/2012 10:15:44 PM
From: lorne	2 Recommendations Respond to of 224720

House Women: Gingrich Elevated Female Members Washington Whispers By Paul Bedard January 19, 2012 usnews.com Newt Gingrich, under fire today from his ex-wife, championed women members in the House when he became speaker, busting the GOP "glass ceiling" to elevate them to leadership roles, according to three current congresswomen. "Newt Gingrich was very, very, very welcoming to all of us who were women. I mean he really just pushed us out front," said North Carolina Rep. Sue Myrick. "He was the one who said immediately, 'We're going to put women in the chair. We're going to put women on committees.' He said, 'You would be a good appropriator.' He did do that," added Rep. Kay Granger of Texas. They and other House members recently talked about Gingrich's promotion of women Republican members at a seminar hosted by the moderate Republican Ripon Society. The September session was focused on broadening the Republican's base by reaching out to women and three House members offered up that Gingrich, not typically associated with championing women's rights, moved swiftly to promote women when he became House speaker after the 1994 "Republican Revolution" election. [Rick Perry Abandons Bid for presidency, backs Newt Gingrich.] The comments are timely because of the new charges Thursday against Gingrich by his former wife Marianne, who claims her ex-husband didn't treat her well. Ripon videoed the session and provided the following key quotes from Myrick, Granger and Missouri Rep. Jo Ann Emerson. Rep. Myrick, at 5:40 into the video, says: "Newt Gingrich was very, very, very welcoming to all of us who were women. I mean he really just pushed us out front and literally helped in a lot of ways for us to feel comfortable operating in the process, and he put us on committees that women weren't normally put on. To Newt's credit, he did a great job with that and it really helped a lot of us to find our bearings as we were starting into the job." Rep. Emerson at 9:50 into the video states: "I do want to attribute my position on Appropriations to Newt Gingrich. ...The Republicans did not have women on Appropriations until that time." Rep. Granger at 17:25 into the video adds: "We've all talked about Newt, but he was the one who said immediately, 'We're going to put women in the chair. We're going to put women on committees.' He said, 'You would be a good appropriator.' He did do that."

To: locogringo who wrote (122254)	1/22/2012 8:37:38 AM
From: lorne	4 Recommendations Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 224720

Dems propose 'Reasonable Profits Board' to regulate oil company profits By Pete Kasperowicz - 01/19/12T thehill.com Six House Democrats, led by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), want to set up a "Reasonable Profits Board" to control gas profits. The Democrats, worried about higher gas prices, want to set up a board that would apply a "windfall profit tax" as high as 100 percent on the sale of oil and gas, according to their legislation. The bill provides no specific guidance for how the board would determine what constitutes a reasonable profit. The Gas Price Spike Act, H.R. 3784, would apply a windfall tax on the sale of oil and gas that ranges from 50 percent to 100 percent on all surplus earnings exceeding "a reasonable profit." It would set up a Reasonable Profits Board made up of three presidential nominees that will serve three-year terms. Unlike other bills setting up advisory boards, the Reasonable Profits Board would not be made up of any nominees from Congress. The bill would also seem to exclude industry representatives from the board, as it says members "shall have no financial interests in any of the businesses for which reasonable profits are determined by the Board." According to the bill, a windfall tax of 50 percent would be applied when the sale of oil or gas leads to a profit of between 100 percent and 102 percent of a reasonable profit. The windfall tax would jump to 75 percent when the profit is between 102 and 105 percent of a reasonable profit, and above that, the windfall tax would be 100 percent. The bill also specifies that the oil-and-gas companies, as the seller, would have to pay this tax. Kucinich said these tax revenues would be used to fund alternative transportation programs when oil-and-gas prices spike. "Gas prices continue to rise, creating a hardship for the American people," he said. "At the same time, oil companies are making record profits gouging their customers. This bill would tax only the excess profits and create forward-thinking transportation alternatives." Specifically, he said the money would be used to fund a tax credit on the purchase of fuel-efficient cars and set up a grant program for mass transit programs when oil-and-gas prices are high. The bill does not estimate the size of these grants or the amount of money that might be collected through the tax. Co-sponsoring the bill are five other Democrats: Reps. John Conyers Jr. (Mich.), Bob Filner (Calif.), Marcia Fudge (Ohio), Jim Langevin (R.I.), and Lynn Woolsey (Calif.). --------------------------------------------------------------------------------