Issue Analysis

Summary

The people say the Farm Bill is wrong.

Most Democrats voted Yes and most Republicans voted No for the Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act of 2008 H.R.5351. Charles Rangel (a Democrat) and 36 cosponsors introduced the bill. Republicans have not introduced an energy bill.

Iraq War Cost

Joseph Stiglitz Nobel Prize winning economist testified February 28, 2008 to the Joint Economic Committee, chaired by Senator Chuck Schumer. The witnesses included Joseph Stiglitz (who believes the overall costs of the war will reach $3 trillion), and Robert Hormats, vice chairman of Goldman Sachs International.

“For a fraction of the cost of this war,” said Mr. Stiglitz, “we could have put Social Security on a sound footing for the next half-century or more.”

Mr. Hormats said Social Security and Medicare could have been put “on a more sustainable basis.” He cited the committee’s own calculations from last fall that showed that the money spent on the war each day is enough to enroll an additional 58,000 children in Head Start for a year, or make a year of college affordable for 160,000 low-income students through Pell Grants, or pay the annual salaries of nearly 11,000 additional border patrol agents or 14,000 more police officers.

Energy

· Business:

o It takes more energy to make ethanol than it returns when you burn it.

· Research:

o Hydrogen from aluminum-gallium catalyst: Professor Jerry Woodall calls his process "economically viable for producing hydrogen on-demand for vehicles, electrical generating stations and other applications."

o Process to remove carbon dioxide from the air and turn it into gasoline.

o Ocean current could drive thousands of underwater turbines, produce the energy of 10 nuclear plants and supply one-third of Florida's electricity. A small test turbine is expected to be installed within months.

o Nuclear waste: Not a problem.

o Ethanol May Add to Global Warming

· Government:

o H.R. 5351: Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act of 2008 (Act)

o 2/27/2008: Passed the House.

o 2/28/2008: Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.

o The Act would impose a conservation fee on oil and gas taken from deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico; scrap nearly $6 billion worth of oil industry tax breaks enacted by Congress in recent years; and seek to recoup royalties lost to the government because of an Interior Department error in leases issued in the late 1990s. The Act passed the House with the partisan vote of 99% of Democrats supporting and 100% of Republicans opposing.

o The Republican leader, John Boehner states the Republican opposition like this: “Unfortunately, the Majority’s ‘no energy’ bill will only make matters worse by raising taxes and setting the table for even higher prices at the pump. Worse yet, it actually carves out tax breaks for Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez – courtesy of American taxpayers.”

o This partisan remark is about Citgo, the U.S.-based company owned by the government of Venezuela. Only the biggest oil companies would have their subsidy reduced by the Act. Citgo is not big enough.

o Democrats said the Act could produce as much as $15 billion in revenue. Most of that money would pay to promote renewable fuels such as solar and wind power, alternative fuels including ethanol and biodiesel and incentives for conservation. The Heritage Foundation says these alternative energy methods have failed before. They say Congress should go back to the drawing board and craft a policy that places greater emphasis on the market.

o Republicans do not offer an alternative bill.

FISA

· The courts can find if telecom wiretaps are illegal by the federal government agreeing to be sued on this issue.

· Neither Boehner nor Pelosi propose suing the federal government.

o Democrats in Congress have been meeting for two weeks to try to work out a compromise on immunity — something short of an all-or-nothing approach. One option is to allow the federal government to substitute itself for the phone companies in the lawsuits and bear legal liability.

· Current FISA law allows for an emergency wiretap to be reported to the court within three days.

Inequality

· In the economic expansion of 2002–2005, the top 1 percent captured almost three quarters of income growth.

· The Congressional Budget Office updated its data series on household incomes (1979-2005). Had income shares not shifted as they did, the income of each of the 109 million households in the bottom 95% would have been $3,660 higher in 2005.

· 37 million in poverty in 2005 in United States.

· 47 million have no health insurance

Farm Bill of 2007

· The people say the Farm Bill is wrong.

Foreign Policy

· Aid

o 90% of ‘aid’ ends up in the pockets of US companies February 27th, 2008

Spending

· Proposed Military Spending Is Highest Since WWII

· Cost of the War in Iraq

o $497,460,911,183 on February 25, 2008 at 2:13 PM MT

· Defense Spending

o The United States spends more than the next 46 highest spending countries in the world combined.

o The United States accounts for 48 percent of the world's total military spending.

o The United States spends on its military 5.8 times more than China, 10.2 times more than Russia, and 98.6 times more than Iran.

o The United States and its strongest allies (the NATO countries, Japan, South Korea and Australia) spend $1.1 trillion on their militaries combined, representing 72 percent of the world's total.

Conservation

· Test Your Know About Global Warming with this 10-question Test.