by Frank James
A quick guided tour of some of the morning's most important, most interesting, or both, Washington-related stories.
The Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee Rep. Charles Rangel unveiled a tax-reform package that would cost $1.3 trillion and which he said would be more equitable by lowering taxes for 90 million Americans while increasing them on the wealthiest. Republicans responded by labeling it the largest tax increase ever.
The Bush Administration introduced financial sanctions against Iran's military which it said supported terrorism, a reflection of American frustrations with other nations' reluctance to crack down on alleged Iranian ambitions for nuclear weapons and meddling throughout the Middle East.
Wild fires continued to burn in Southern California but firefighters got an assist from weakening winds as President Bush visited the affected region promising continued federal support as he tried to put to rest the specter of his administration's Hurricane Katrina response.
Congressional sponsors of the resolution to officially note the genocide of Armenians conducted by the Ottoman Turks in the early 1900s decided to delay a vote after an outraged Turkey threatened to retaliate by stopping the U.S. from transhipping materiel and oil needed by U.S. troops in Iraq through Turkey. The delay rescued House Speaker Nancy Pelosi from a political tight spot.
The House approved a slightly changed version of the State Children's Health Insurance Program but still lacked the votes to override another presidential veto, indeed losing one Republican who had voted for the earlier, vetoed bill.
Marketers are evading the federal Do-Not-Call Registry by sending so-called "lead cards" to consumers on the registry, especially elderly ones, who fail to realize that by returning the cards they are opening themselves up to sometimes unscrupulous marketing techniques.
The Equal Employment and Opportunity Commission said the number of racial harassment lawsuits is rising, especially those featuring nooses, a symbol of racial hatred and intimidation, and urged employers to be more vigilant.
Major League Baseball owners, executives and some players have been choosing favorites in the presidential race, giving more than $267,000 to the candidates with Republicans getting 59 percent of the contributions and Democrats 41 percent.
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Comments
$1.3 trillion tax increase. The late Everett Mckinley Dirksen said" A billion here and a billion there and pretty soon you're are talking real money." Senator you are rolling over in the grave you never heard of $1.3 trillion.
Jim McCreery ranking GOP member of the Ways and Means committee called it:"The Mother of All Tax Increases." Jerry White, Springfield, IL
Posted by: Jerry White | October 26, 2007 9:26 AM
Could it be? Could it just possibly be that the size of the tax increase actually reflects a decrease in the value of the dollar?
Posted by: San Miguel | October 26, 2007 9:48 AM
By the way? Who's it going to cost 1.3 trillion?
Posted by: San Miguel | October 26, 2007 9:56 AM
Sooner or later we were going to have to start to pay for all those recent tax cuts and refunds that got us back our defecit. Plus isn't there a war we need to keep funding? Democrats may be tax and spend, but it seems the Republicans are just spend and spend and when someone points out there are bills to pay, blames the collector.
Posted by: kg123 | October 26, 2007 10:26 AM
Jerry White,you didn't quite say it how we explained it to you.
Come back in so we can reprogram you. Thanks, Rush.
Posted by: Raving Loon | October 26, 2007 11:00 AM
Jerry White, you obviously did not read the article. It is revenue neutral which means no total increase in taxes. The majority of Americans will have lower taxes with this plan.
Posted by: PD | October 26, 2007 11:11 AM
Look out..
This just in:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7064428.stm
Could it be that when GWB looked deeply into Vlad's eyes, he saw....himself??
Posted by: C.Morris | October 26, 2007 1:47 PM