Posts Tagged ‘congress’
Our Morning Roundup: Just When We Forgot Edition
Good morning, City Desk readers! Remember those lovely events and people we tried to forget about in the past few years, among them press secretaries, judicial nominations, and transit accidents? They're all back to rear their ugly heads this morning, so let's commence with the news rundown.
- Yesterday afternoon, City Desk posted the latest WaPo article about the Metro crash, which basically announced that circuits on four of the five lines have failed to detect the presence of trains. The 6 pm newscasts featured commentary from a variety of concerned commuters and so to quell their concerns, Metro GM John Catoe and Councilman Jim Graham held a press conference announcing that the Post got the story wrong. The system is safe, says Catoe, and the article is a gross misstatement of facts. Watch WUSA's interview with Catoe - he could be a dreidel with the way he's spinning this new information.
Swine flu, social networks, and the Secret Service after the jump. Plus, a new alternative to saving the Nats! Read More "Our Morning Roundup: Just When We Forgot Edition" »
Scam City! Grifters – and Consumer Protection – Are on the Rise, Officials Say
The economy might be in the dumps but it’s turning into a stellar year for consumer scams … and government plans to combat them.
First, this just came in from one of the Metropolitan Police Department’s Yahoo groups: Beware of the telephone shysters posing as sales reps for the FBI. No, silly! Not the real Federal Bureau of Investigation. This one's an alleged alarm company peddling “free” security systems. The pitch starts off saying "you live in a high crime statistics area" and offers a free home alarm system in exchange for letting the company put an FBI sign on your lawn. It’s the latest twist in alarm system scams.
AFTER THE JUMP: More on D.C. confidence schemes and Obama's plans to take down abusive consumer lenders.
Read More "Scam City! Grifters – and Consumer Protection – Are on the Rise, Officials Say" »
Norton: I Can Protect Same-Sex Marriage Bill
So the D.C. Council has voted to (kinda-sorta) allow same-sex marriage. What now?
Assuming the bill becomes law, plenty of observers see two fronts of possible conflict. First is that the law will set off a frenzy of congressional intervention. To wit, American Prospect's Ezra Klein.
Nope, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton says to LL this afternoon: "I anticipate being able to be able to protect it....In order to do something someone is going to have to introduce a bill or otherwise get something through the Congress. Well, you gotta pass by me on that....I believe I can prevent any bill from moving to the House floor to overturn the bill that was passed yesterday."
What Klein doesn't quite get right is that Congress need not actively "approve" D.C.'s decision. If lawmakers do nothing about the bill for 30 days, it's law.
It’s All About The Guns
So yesterday, the Senate passed a bill that would give us a vote in the House. Real Representation. But there's a catch---a gun amendment that would strip the District of its gun laws. The Post writes:
"Some D.C. officials said it was ironic that the Senate bill granted the city full representation in the House while also overruling the District's decisions on a key local issue."
With that in mind, the D.C. Police did something unusual yesterday evening. The department started reporting on weapons officers recovered.
Tejada Case Seems Small Time
Is it just me or is the case against Miguel Tejada a bit small? The former Orioles standout obviously doesn't think so. Tejada just pled guilty to lying to Congress. According to the Post account: "Federal prosecutors alleged that Tejada lied to staffers when he told them he never discussed steroids with other players and didn't know anybody using the substances."
Tejada lied about buying HGH. But he stated that he had misgivings about using the performance enhancer and threw out the drugs. Prosecutors don't have enough evidence showing that he actually used the drug. So he just lied about buying them.
The Post writes:
"Although not charged with taking performance-enhancing drugs or lying about using them, Tejada nevertheless becomes the latest prominent major leaguer to become ensnared in the steroids scandal hammering baseball."
New Utah Rep Against D.C. Congressional Vote

Jason Chaffetz, a Republican about to take Utah's 3rd district congressional seat, says he's not going to support efforts to give D.C. a vote in Congress. So says the Deseret News.
Yeah, yeah---GOP'er against District voting rights; no news there. Why should anyone care what this guy thinks?
Well, the former BYU placekicker is the first member of the Utah delegation to come out against the so-called Davis solution (after now-retired Va. Rep. Tom Davis), which seeks to appease Republican misgivings over handing Democrats an extra House vote by giving the GOP another vote in Utah, which was narrowly screwed out of an extra seat in the last reapportionment. He also replaces a fellow Republican, Chris Cannon, who had supported the Davis bill. (Chaffetz challenged Cannon from the right, running mainly on immigration and garnering George W. Bush's endorsement.)





