Senate Compromise Avoids Government Shutdown

For the third time this year, the Government avoided a major shutdown, this time due to a deadlock over disaster relief funding. What led to the standoff was the republicans demand that, if they were to allow the Democrats to spend 3.65 billion dollars on disaster relief funding for FEMA, the Democrats would have to cut an auto loan program popular with democrats to avoid adding significantly to the budget deficit. The showdown ended yesterday when FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) stated that they could make ends meet without the billion dollars in proposed funding this week. They will be able to use the remaining 2.65 billion beginning Saturday and running through November 18th. As a result of this, the Democrats have not had to cut the auto loan program. Many, such as Majority Leader Harry Reed, who stated that "it will be a win for everyone," are optimistic and pleased with the way the two sides met half-way on this issue. However, a conflict over how to fund FEMA and how much funding FEMA needs is one which is sure to happen soon, and compromises such as this will not always be available; something will have to be done.

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/todays_paper?dt=2011-09-27&bk=A&pg=1

Health Insurance

As the United States continues to grapple with a stubbornly weak economy, the cost of health insurance for many Americans this year has climbed more sharply than in previous years, outstripping any growth in workers’ wages and adding more uncertainty about the pace of rising medical costs. Health insurance, unlike other industrialized countries, is largely provided by employers. Although the latest Census found more Americans losing company-sponsored insurance, almost 170 million Americans were on employer-based plans in 2010. Many businesses cite the high cost of coverage as a factor in their decision not to hire, and health insurance has become increasingly unaffordable for more Americans. Over all, the cost of family coverage has about doubled since 2001, when premiums averaged $7,061, compared with a 34 percent gain in wages over the same period. A new study by the Kaiser Family Foundation shows that the average annual premium for family coverage through an employer reached $15,073 in 2011, an increase of 9 percent over the previous year. “The open question is whether that’s a one-time spike or the start of a period of higher increases,” said Drew Altman, the chief executive of the Kaiser foundation. Slowing down those soaring costs is one of the main issues on the agenda of a bipartisan congressional deficit-reduction panel that is due to make recommendations by November 23 on how to slash the U.S. budget deficit by at least $1.2 trillion.

Sarah Palin for Office?

Sarah Palin has been uncommonly quiet in the political world in the last few weeks… Fox news hasn't featured her in a while, and even her twitter and Facebook accounts show no recent activity. The reason for this, according to Tim Crawford (the chief of her political action committee), is because she is "on the verge of making her decision of whether or not to run for office."

So, will Palin run? If so, she has a lot of work to do from now until mid-October concerning her eligibility for running… For one thing, she and her team will have to send a letter of candidacy to the Secretary of State in Utah if she wants her name to appear on that state’s ballot. Then, the same must be done for Florida if she wants the Republican vote. And that's just the beginning.

If Ms. Palin does not run, however, it's said that her pick for president is Gov. Rick Perry of Texas. But the questions is this: will Palin be backing Perry in the race for president, or herself?

We shall see...

Disaster Relief Spending

On Thursday, The House of Representatives is expected to take action on a bipartisan agreement ending a dispute over disaster relief spending that threatened to cause a partial shutdown of the government by the end of the week. The House is going to approve legislation that will pass a short-term spending extension through October 4. On Monday night, the Senate approved bills, which together will fund the federal government for the first seven weeks of the new fiscal year beginning Saturday. Democrats and Republicans have been arguing over whether or not to cut spending elsewhere in order to offset increased disaster relief funding in the current fiscal year. On Monday, FEMA ended their dispute by saying that it has enough money to get through the rest of the current fiscal year without assistance. The new agreement may only provide a temporary solution to FEMA's funding woes. Administration officials say that more funds will be required for the agency soon. The Senate had initially passed legislation providing $6.9 billion in funding for FEMA and other federal agencies, to be used for disaster relief both immediately and in the new fiscal year. If Congress had failed to reach a new spending agreement, a partial government shutdown would have occurred at the close of the current the fiscal year at midnight Friday. We shall see whether or not the government is willing to cut spending elsewhere in order to provide more assistance for disaster relief spending.

National Forest Care

The Obama administration is crafting a new plan to manage the nation's 155 national forests, including six in Arizona, for the next 15 to 20 years. At stake is the future of 193 million acres of forests and grasslands that are the nation's single largest source of drinking water and home to more than 15,000 species of plants and wildlife.
As President Barack Obama's administration takes up the crucial but contentious issue, it is under intense scrutiny from competing interest groups that hope to shape the plan to their liking. Neither environmentalists nor business interests are happy with the first draft of the new forest rule. Conservation groups say it lacks adequat protection for wildlife and water and gives individual forest managers too much discretion in how to carry out the plan. Business groups say some of its provisions to protect species could end up kicking ranchers, timber companies and others off the land. The first draft of the Forest Service plan focuses for the first time on how to strengthen the health of forests in the face of climate change and includes enhanced protections for water resources and watersheds, updated provisions for sustainable recreation, and a requirement that the land be managed for such multiple uses as mining, logging, energy production, outdoor recreation and wilderness protection.The final plan, which does not require congressional approval, is expected to be published in November.

In-state Tuition for Undocumented Students

Recently, Governor Chafee of Rhode Island has voiced his support for a controversial measure: allowing undocumented students the access to reduced college tuition in the state of Rhode Island. The new policy entails that the student has to have attended a public RI high school, received a diploma, lived in RI after high school for at least three years, and taken an affidavit saying that he has intentions of becoming a legal citizen as soon as he becomes eligible. Chafee advocates this policy because he believes it will "improve the intellectual and cultural life of our state while strengthening our workforce and helping our economy". He and others believe that students will be left behind if they don't provide assistance. One of those others is Governor Rick Perry. He and Mitt Romney have been at odds with the issue for quite some time. People like Romney believe that accepting this policy will encourage illegal immigration. From a previous debate, Perry said, "I think you don't have a heart. This was a state issue. Texans voted for it and I still support it greatly." Romney then weighed in, "I think that if you're opposed to illegal immigration, it doesn't mean that you don't have a heart, it means you have a heart and a brain." This issue could be settled as soon as Monday night.

Is "No Child Left Behind" History?

Friday morning, ten years after the Bush administration’s landmark attempt to revamp the nation's education system with the No Child Left Behind law (by 2014 be proficient in math and reading), President Obama proposed to allow states to opt out of the heavily criticized guidelines. He believes education standards needs to be redifined and the focus should be on preparing students to be college and career ready. The law, which passed with broad bipartisan support in 2001, required public schools to meet targets aimed at making all students proficient in reading and math by 2014 or face stiff penalties. Obama's new proposal is that states and districts will have to set basic guidelines to evaluate a teacher's performance based on a number of factors, not simply student performance. The purpose is not to give states and districts a reprieve from accountability, but rather to unleash energy to improve our schools at the local level,” President Obama said in a statement released by the White House. One of the major criticisms of the current No Child Left Behind guidelines is that it encouraged schools to lower standards rather than improve.The new guidelines "should reduce the pressure to teach the test and the narrowing of the curriculum," one administration official said. Some critics fear the new guidelines will give the federal government an even larger role in state's education decisions, but Obama administration officials deny the accusation maintaining the new guidelines will actually give states more flexibility including how to spend 20% of their Title I money, which funds low-income education and can account for as much as one billion dollars nationwide.