washington

By EDWARD EPSTEIN
San Francisco Chronicle
Thursday, May 24, 2007

Speaker Nancy Pelosi suffered the most significant setback in her five months running the House when she backed down in the legislative battle with President Bush over paying for the war in Iraq, but even some of her critics suggest she and her top deputies had little chance of prevailing.

After more than three months of deadlock over Bush's request for war funding, the California lawmaker and Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada were forced this week to drop their effort to tie the money to a U.S.

By CAROLYN LOCHHEAD
San Francisco Chronicle
Tuesday, May 22, 2007

The powerful interest groups whose backing is critical to an overhaul of U.S. immigration policy are fracturing over the new bipartisan "grand bargain" in the Senate, setting up a brawl over changes that could tear the fragile deal apart.

Many business groups and ethnic lobbies for years have provided the political muscle behind the move to legalize the estimated 12 million people now living in the country illegally, create a giant new temporary worker program for future workers and expand the H1b visas for skilled immigrants eagerly sought in Silicon Valley and elsewhere.

By EDWARD EPSTEIN
San Francisco Chronicle
Monday, May 21, 2007

Dr. Brad Clair, an Army Reserve cardiologist about to begin his third deployment of the Iraq war, is willing to serve his country and endure repeated separations from his wife and four children, but he wants to draw the line at seeing his thriving medical practice destroyed.

Clair faces financial losses of tens of thousands of dollars when he heads to Iraq's Anbar province at the end of the month because of a Medicare rule about payments to doctors.

Clair's deployment is scheduled for 90 days, but the anti-fraud Medicare rule ends reimbursements after 60 days for doctors who leave their practices and hire substitutes to care for their patients.

By LISA MASCARO
Las Vegas Sun
Thursday, May 17, 2007

The Senate's growing impatience with President Bush's Iraq war strategy can be seen not only in the maneuvering by Democratic leader Harry Reid. It is also apparent in the evolving positions of Senate Republicans.

A majority of senators, primarily Republicans, now support a plan that would begin to assert oversight of the war by imposing benchmarks on the Iraqi government and withholding economic development aid if those targets are not met.

The Republican-backed plan won crossover Democrats and offered a modest alternative to the one backed by Reid, which failed because it was considered too extreme for all but 29 Democrats. It called for cutting military funds to ensure troop withdrawal by April 1 2008.

Reid appeared pleased even in defeat. The Democratic plan got twice as many votes as a comparable bill last year, while the Republican legislation agreeing to benchmarks and penalties was the first of its kind.

"Republicans are beginning to realize the current path in Iraq is unsustainable," Reid told reporters after the vote Wednesday. "At least Republicans are now recognizing they've got to give the president something."

Democrats on both sides of the Capitol are chipping away at Republican support for Bush's war strategy and solidifying their own. Last week nearly 40 percent of House members voted to get out of the war, surprising even their leadership. Public opinion is on Democrats' side as polls show most Americans want the war over.

Vote by vote, Democrats are forcing their fellow party members as well as Republicans to choose whether to stand by the Bush administration, and potentially face a voter backlash next year at the polls, or join them in beginning to draw down troops.

Republicans know that every vote their senators take on the war provides campaign fodder for the 2008 election, while drowning out action on other issues. "I would prefer not to talk about Iraq every day," one Republican leadership aide said.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell complained that after 30 votes on Iraq since Democrats took over in January, Congress still has not produced a troop funding bill Bush would sign.

But Democrats led by Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi plan even more Iraq votes, a strategy reinforced during daily conference calls, first reported in The New York Times, with a coalition of labor and anti-war groups.

Every morning at 10:30, staff from the Democratic leadership offices is on the line with representatives of nearly a dozen groups.

The congressional officials disclose their strategy, while the groups plot ad campaigns, community protests and other activities in the field, participants say.

One of the groups, Americans United for Change, had radio ads ready before Wednesday's votes. It is trying to pressure Republican Sen. George Voinovich of Ohio to reconsider his position before the next Iraq vote.

Lisa Mascaro can be reached at lisa.mascara(AT)lasvegassun.com. To comment or for more stories visit scrippsnews.com

By LISA MASCARO
Las Vegas Sun
Thursday, May 17, 2007

The Senate's growing impatience with President Bush's Iraq war strategy can be seen not only in the maneuvering by Democratic leader Harry Reid. It is also apparent in the evolving positions of Senate Republicans.

A majority of senators, primarily Republicans, now support a plan that would begin to assert oversight of the war by imposing benchmarks on the Iraqi government and withholding economic development aid if those targets are not met.

The Republican-backed plan won crossover Democrats and offered a modest alternative to the one backed by Reid, which failed because it was considered too extreme for all but 29 Democrats. It called for cutting military funds to ensure troop withdrawal by April 1 2008.

Reid appeared pleased even in defeat. The Democratic plan got twice as many votes as a comparable bill last year, while the Republican legislation agreeing to benchmarks and penalties was the first of its kind.

"Republicans are beginning to realize the current path in Iraq is unsustainable," Reid told reporters after the vote Wednesday. "At least Republicans are now recognizing they've got to give the president something."

Democrats on both sides of the Capitol are chipping away at Republican support for Bush's war strategy and solidifying their own. Last week nearly 40 percent of House members voted to get out of the war, surprising even their leadership. Public opinion is on Democrats' side as polls show most Americans want the war over.

Vote by vote, Democrats are forcing their fellow party members as well as Republicans to choose whether to stand by the Bush administration, and potentially face a voter backlash next year at the polls, or join them in beginning to draw down troops.

Republicans know that every vote their senators take on the war provides campaign fodder for the 2008 election, while drowning out action on other issues. "I would prefer not to talk about Iraq every day," one Republican leadership aide said.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell complained that after 30 votes on Iraq since Democrats took over in January, Congress still has not produced a troop funding bill Bush would sign.

But Democrats led by Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi plan even more Iraq votes, a strategy reinforced during daily conference calls, first reported in The New York Times, with a coalition of labor and anti-war groups.

Every morning at 10:30, staff from the Democratic leadership offices is on the line with representatives of nearly a dozen groups.

The congressional officials disclose their strategy, while the groups plot ad campaigns, community protests and other activities in the field, participants say.

One of the groups, Americans United for Change, had radio ads ready before Wednesday's votes. It is trying to pressure Republican Sen. George Voinovich of Ohio to reconsider his position before the next Iraq vote.

Lisa Mascaro can be reached at lisa.mascara(AT)lasvegassun.com. To comment or for more stories visit scrippsnews.com

By CAROLYN LOCHHEAD
San Francisco Chronicle
Tuesday, May 15, 2007

A Canadian-style point system at the center of a controversial new immigration overhaul could transform the ethnic and social composition of the United States in decades to come, but such a change hinges on the details expected to emerge this week from closed-door negotiations between the White House and key senators in both parties.

In concept, a point system that awards visas on the basis of such factors as education, age, job skills and English proficiency could mark a radical change from the current system that awards the vast majority of the 1 million legal-permanent-residence visas, or green cards, on the basis of a foreigner's family ties to relatives already in the United States.

Depending on how a point system is constructed, a Ghanaian physician fluent in English could get priority to enter the country, for example, over a Spanish-speaking hotel maid from Guatemala whose brother is a U.S. citizen.

That kinship-based system, in place since 1965, has encouraged large immigrant flows from Latin America and Asia, although that was not the original intention. Such "chain migration" poses a major stumbling block to efforts to legalize the estimated 12 million people now in the country illegally. Critics say such legalization efforts would encourage these new residents to bring their relatives, leading to millions more immigrants based not on skills but on family ties.

Immigrant-rights groups, which are often organized on ethnic lines, are adamant that some form of family ties remain central to U.S. immigration policy.

Cecilia Munoz, vice president at the National Council of La Raza, a Latino immigrant lobbying group, called the point system a radical experiment.

Munoz said a point system that "would be open to anyone in the world, create a potentially huge demand and is very much skewed toward highly educated, English-speaking people, has implications not only for the immigration system, but I think broader implications for class and arguably race."

Frank Sharry, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, an immigrant lobby, said he is open to a point system depending on how it is structured.

"This point system is very critical," Sharry said. "Who will benefit, how the points will be apportioned, whether there's equity between high and low skill, whether it favors people here, or unknown, disconnected folks from around the world, and whether family is going to count enough are just some of the issues that are really going to be make-or-break for us when we finally see what's on the table."

As controversial as such an overhaul might be, political pressure on all sides has intensified to fix what everyone calls a broken immigration system. Last year's immigration bill met a dead end and seemed set to do so again this year without concessions on family migration.

The big trade-off for immigrants here now could be legalization of the estimated 12 million current illegal residents, in return for changing the future legal immigration system to attract more highly skilled and educated people.

The Senate is scheduled to start debate Wednesday on an immigration overhaul. Sources close to the talks said that while they may yet collapse, negotiators are nearing a deal on a hybrid of the family- and skills-based system that would award points for skills, age, education and family ties.

The effect such a system would have on who gets one of the world's most coveted prizes -- a U.S. green card -- depends on the weight given to each category.

Point systems were first devised in Canada in the 1980s and copied by Australia, New Zealand and, in 2003, by the United Kingdom -- an often-overlooked innovation by Prime Minister Tony Blair. They are geared to attracting people who have attributes valued by the receiving nation, and that are judged to make the immigrant more likely to succeed economically. These include education, occupation, work experience, language and age.

(E-mail Carolyn Lochhead at clochhead@sfchronicle.com.)

By RICHARD POWELSON
Scripps Howard News Service
Monday, May 14, 2007

Congress is considering a new congressional medal for organ donors and their surviving relatives.

Democrats and Republicans from several states are backing the proposed medal program and want to name it after former Senate Republican leader Bill Frist of Tennessee, a one-time heart-and-lung transplant surgeon. Frist was among those in past years seeking more support to pass a "gift of life" congressional-medal program.

At the least, supporters say, the medals would be fitting recognition for those who helped others live longer with transplanted organs. Also, proponents say publicity about the program could increase awareness of how to register to give organs.

"I don't know if we're going to see huge increases in donation" if the program becomes law, said Dr. Jeffrey Crippin, a liver specialist in St. Louis and president of the American Society of Transplantation. "But I would say even if it helps one person get through the process ... then it's done some good."

About 100,000 Americans on any given day are seeking organs for transplant, but an average of 17 die daily while waiting in vain, according to the National Kidney Foundation.

A majority of them await a kidney -- more than 70,000, at last count.

The kidney foundation is among several organizations supporting the congressional medal for donors and their families.

"It certainly could help increase awareness," said Troy Zimmerman of the foundation. "If you increase awareness, then that could lead to perhaps more organ donors. But that's not the primary intent. It's more just a way of recognizing the sacrifice" of donors.

The United Network for Organ Sharing, which matches organ donors and coordinates transplants across the country, also endorses the medal.

It could be a pleasant remembrance for family members of "the good that came out of the tragedy of losing their loved one," said the network's Anne Paschke.

Before his first election to the Senate in 1994, Frist in 1986 helped start the heart-and-lung transplant program at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and later worked with others successfully to get organ donor cards on the back of Tennessee driver's licenses.

In the Senate, Frist helped pass a law to insert donor cards and information in mail containing income-tax refunds. He and a Democrat, Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut, also were able to help pass improvements in the national organ donor program. Frist retired from the Senate last year.

Last year, 14,757 donors nationally provided organs allowing 28,932 transplants, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing.

On the Web:

http://www.donatelife.net (How to pledge to become an organ donor)

http://www.optn.org (Organs needed at transplant centers)

By LISA HOFFMAN
Scripps Howard News Service
Friday, May 11, 2007

The collapse of the World Trade Center skyscrapers touched all corners of the country. That's the finding of a study of those who have signed on to the World Trade Center Health Registry, a confidential health survey of those directly affected by the 9/11 terror attacks on the iconic towers -- be they tourists, rescue or recovery workers, students or those on business trips.

The voluntary survey, which is sponsored by the New York City health department, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and hospitals, among others, is an attempt by health-care experts to compare, over time, the health of those in close proximity to the attacks with that of the general population.

Among the more than 70,000 who have enrolled, the report counted registrants from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. They included 1,035 California residents, 156 from Arizona and 128 from Alabama.

X...X...X

Here's a good excuse to get out of mowing the lawn: Push-power lawnmowers expel as much pollution per hour as 11 cars do. Riding mowers spew as much as 34 autos.

So the Environmental Protection Agency has proposed cutting by 35 percent the emissions of hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxide allowed from not only mowers but also leaf blowers, Weed Whackers and chain saws. Environmentalists trash the proposal as too lax while the small-engine manufacturers say it's too restrictive. The EPA says it will listen to both sides before issuing a final rule next year.

X...X...X

Not only are American farms on a fast path to corporate concentration, but so are agricultural markets. A new University of Missouri study, which Congress is looking at, found that the top four beef packers control 83 percent of the market, while four pork-packing outfits represent 66 percent of that market. Four poultry concerns account for 58 percent of the chicken-and-turkey market.

Ethanol production is the only agricultural sector in which concentration has dropped. In 1987, four companies controlled 73 percent of the market. Today, they represent just 31 percent.

X...X...X

Much maligned as mercenaries and often at odds with U.S. combat forces in Iraq, the thousands of American and other private contractors in Iraq now have an association to advocate for them: the International Contractors Association. Claiming 400 members so far, the group wants to provide a support network, endorse professional standards and negotiate group benefits for the estimated 100,000 private contractors believed to be in Iraq. More than 700 of these workers -- most of whom provide security for officials and firms -- are believed to have died since the war began.

X...X...X

Latest twist on the old online "please help me and I'll give you a cut" scam that, unbelievably, some suckers actually fall for: This one purports to be from a U.S. Army colonel who was sent back to Germany because of the Abu Ghraib prisoner-abuse scandal. The officer says he was able to smuggle $21.7 million out of Iraq before he was redeployed and, yes indeedy, will share the pot with you if you agree to help him fudge how he came about the ill-gotten gains.

X...X...X

Corn controversies are popping up all over the place. Farmers who grow blue corn, the basis for those trendy tortilla chips and wraps, want Congress to include it in the roster of crops that qualify for federal agricultural subsidies and loans. Their numbers are small -- only about 400 out of the 300,000 corn farmers nationwide -- but would likely grow if the crop got the federal blessing in the farm bill Congress currently is cobbling together. But the U.S. Agriculture Department objects, calling blue corn a specialty product not generally sold in the open market and thus not worthy of joining its white- and yellow-corn cousins under the umbrella of federal support.

X...X...X

Elsewhere in Congress, House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller is blasting the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration for not protecting workers who make microwave popcorn. At issue is the chemical compound diacetyl, which is key to the popcorn's butter flavoring. The compound has been linked to a severe lung disease that has killed three workers and sickened dozens of others, say Miller and other Democratic lawmakers who want the compound pulled from the market until more tests are done.

OSHA says it will increase its inspections of popcorn manufacturers and is encouraging the 24 states with their own workplace-safety overseers to do the same.

Not to worry, eating the popcorn is safe; it's just making it in the factory that's at issue.

By EDWARD EPSTEIN
San Francisco Chronicle
Thursday, May 10, 2007

Firebrand Republicans would have you believe that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi might have engaged in corruption for her husband, tried to grab a luxury "Air Force Three" jetliner for her personal use, consorted with an American enemy in Syria and disrespected the top American general in Iraq.

These and other charges Pelosi has faced reflect the rough political atmosphere in the U.S. Capitol, and experts say that even though the Republican allegations generally fade after a few days, they won't stop.

The reason, the experts add, is that Pelosi, as a San Francisco liberal, remains a prime villain to the GOP base. Her critics know that attacking her rallies the faithful, and they hope that one of the charges eventually will stick and cause Pelosi serious trouble.

Such attacks have happened in Congress over the past two decades, going back to the time of Speaker Jim Wright in the late 1980s. The Texas Democrat was forced out of office in a scandal surrounding earnings from his autobiography. Since then, top congressional lawmakers have faced partisan assaults that have brought down such once-powerful House GOP figures as Speaker Newt Gingrich and the majority leader, Tom DeLay.

"Pelosi has proven to be a more effective and popular speaker than Republicans anticipated, so it is no surprise that she has become a target of attacks and unsubstantiated rumors," said Thomas Mann of Washington's Brookings Institution, co-author of "The Broken Branch: How Congress Is Failing America and How to Get It Back on Track."

"I have yet to see anything with Pelosi that is even semi-tangible evidence of transgression," said Mann's co-author, Norman Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute.

Larry Sabato, a University of Virginia political scientist, said Pelosi's popularity in national polls practically mandates that Republicans attack her. "They're trying to lower her very high favorable ratings," he said.

Republicans deny that the charges are politically motivated.

"I don't believe in charges for charges' sake," said Rep. Adam Putnam of Florida, the No. 3 House Republican as chairman of the House Republican Conference. "It's a kind of natural law that as you move up in the pecking order, people shoot at you."

The attacks on Pelosi, which often are picked up by the mainstream media and conservative bloggers, cover a lot of ground.

There was the allegation, which even President Bush made, that Pelosi's visit to Damascus, Syria, last month was dangerous foreign-policy free-lancing with President Bashar Assad, who Bush has labeled a terrorism supporter. Some Republican House members called for Pelosi to be prosecuted under the Logan Act for dealing with an enemy.

None of them mentioned that five Republican House members had visited Assad at about the same time as Pelosi, and the GOP member who was in Pelosi's delegation said Pelosi didn't say anything that would undermine U.S. foreign policy.

Earlier, there was a stink over the bill raising the federal minimum wage to $7.25. The original bill exempted American Samoa, which since the 1930s has been covered by its own, much lower minimum wage.

By far the largest industry in Samoa is tuna, and the biggest operator is Starkist, which is owned by Del Monte Foods, which happens to be headquartered in downtown San Francisco in Pelosi's district. The Republicans charged that there must be a connection somewhere between Pelosi and the exemption for Samoa.

But it doesn't appear the company's executives or any political action committees associated with them or the company have donated money to Pelosi. Nor is there evidence she intervened for Del Monte.

But the GOP criticism apparently hit a nerve, because subsequent versions of the bill, which is still pending, would gradually raise American Samoa's minimum wage.

Then there was the three-day furor over what plane Pelosi _ who is second in line of presidential succession _ should use to fly home to California. Republicans charged that she wanted to create her own luxurious "Air Force Three," as they dubbed it.

The stink was finally stopped by Bush spokesman Tony Snow _ who told fellow Republicans to lay off because in an age of terrorism, Pelosi was entitled to nonstop transportation to the West Coast.

The latest charge is that Pelosi has helped provide what could eventually be a windfall for her husband, Paul Pelosi.

The speaker inserted language into a pending water development bill authorizing $25 million for the Port of San Francisco to repair its ocean cruise terminal, among other things. Republicans charge that the work will benefit her husband's investments in property. And they say the authorization is a possible violation of new Pelosi-backed lobbying rules.

Pelosi's office said she obeyed the rules, that port officials came to her as the city's congresswoman to help the agency and that it's hard to see, for instance, how "repairing the slab panels, beams and concrete girders of the bulkhead portion" of a pier would help her husband's property.

Those making the charge, the Republican Study Committee, a group of 100 conservative GOP House members, admit they don't have evidence of wrongdoing, just suspicions they want debated.

"It's amazing," responded Pelosi spokesman Nadeam Elshami. "They admit they have no proof, no evidence. They just go ahead and attack."

(E-mail Edward Epstein at eepstein@sfchronicle.com.)

By LISA MASCARO
Las Vegas Sun
Monday, May 07, 2007

Nevada congresswoman Shelley Berkley pulls her Cadillac into a Las Vegas gas station and immediately feels her constituents' pain, about $60 worth by the time she's done filling the tank.

Residents can't stomach the prospect of $4-a-gallon gasoline any better than she can. She winces as the nation depends on foreign oil from a region hostile to her beloved Israel while the state's vast solar and geothermal energy sources go untapped.

So she introduced sweeping legislation to turn the nation's energy source green.

And it will probably never become law.

Such is the plight of a midlevel, mid-career member of Congress such as Berkley. Even though Democrats control Congress for the first time since she came to Washington eight years ago, Berkley is not likely to see her name on marquee legislation or change Washington the way Mr. Smith did.

For a lawmaker who embodies Vegas with glittery pizzazz _ which last week included hot-pink sunglasses to match a Dana Buchman blazer to match fuchsia manicured nails _ Berkley's power and prestige are more subtle statements.

In the House, with its 435 members, power comes in different forms. There are the obvious faces of the party, the leaders and committee chairs who have risen through seniority and skill. Even young stars enjoy a bit of clout simply by their newness.

Then there are lawmakers such as Berkley, who congressional scholar Norman Ornstein said could simply ride out a career as a backbencher but instead has learned to collect her strength in less obvious ways.

Those who know her say she has emerged as the go-to expert on gambling, nuclear waste and Middle Eastern affairs, someone colleagues and lobbyists can trust for information.

Perhaps even more valuable, she has carved a niche with her ability to nudge and noodle her peers to deliver votes, all the while willing to cede the limelight.

"There are a lot of different ways of approaching a career and breaking out of the pack when you're in these middle stages; she's done it well," Ornstein said.

Her strength plays out behind the scenes in ways few back home will ever know.

"There are some colleagues you see on C-SPAN nonstop," said Rep. Tom Lantos, the California Democrat who heads the House Foreign Affairs Committee. "They may be some of the least respected members of Congress. Shelley is not one of those."

But the chairman, who tapped Berkley to lead a congressional delegation to Europe later this month, said the reputation she has gained makes her better known among her colleagues than "the majority of the women in the U.S. Senate."

As the congresswoman lays out her goals for the session, she plans to have a hand in the big-ticket issues of the day: revamping Medicare, providing health care for the uninsured, improving education, mending Social Security _ many of the campaign themes she shared with Democrats nationally in 2006.

As always, she will continue working to block nuclear waste from being shipped to Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, and will use her new position on the powerful Ways and Means tax-writing committee to protect the state's No. 1 industry, the casinos on the Strip.

But not many of those topics are found in the 11 bills Berkley has offered this session. The bills include meager feel-good legislation such as one to support the contributions of suffragists.

Others, like her energy bill and legislation to boost veterans' benefits, have strengths, but with 131 other energy bills vying for attention, hers will likely be folded into broader legislation. Her FREE Act _ Freedom through Renewable Energy Expansion _ got a five-minute hearing this month and may never be heard from again.

She is confident her hand will be seen in key Democratic legislation, including the energy bill.

"You're not going to see in the final bill that comes out, it's not going to be in neon 'the Shelley Berkley FREE Act,' " she said in her office.

"I have no expectation that's going to happen," she said. "But I have an expectation that many of the sections of my legislation are going to be in the final legislation."

(Lisa Mascaro can be reached at lisa.mascara(at)lasvegassun.com.)