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I’m aware that Richard Lugar spends his days in Washington and I don’t. I’m aware he has more access to his Senate colleagues, particularly in the Republican caucus. But I still think I’ll end up more right than him about this:
Sen. Richard Lugar, the ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, predicted Friday that a “large majority” of members in his party will back a key nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia and that it will be ratified.
So far, Lugar (Ind.) has been the only Senate Republican to back the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), which was negotiated in the spring but has yet to be ratified by the Senate. The Indiana Republican predicted that the treaty pass his committee in mid-September and will come up for a vote in the lame-duck session after the November elections.
“In fairness to the Republicans in the Senate, I think a majority in fact do favor the treaty nominally and will eventually vote for the treaty,” he said in an interview on C-SPAN’s “Newsmakers” program that will air Sunday. If it is brought up, “a large number of Republicans will be in favor of the treaty, but not all of them,” he said.
President Obama has urged the Senate to ratify the treaty for months, but it has been stalled in the Senate due to Republican doubts over the agreement.
What planet is Lugar on? Currently, Republicans would rather lose Russian nuclear base inspections than ratify this treaty, and they’re using it to gain leverage for pork-barrel spending on nuclear weapons “modernization,” which has basically nothing to do with this treaty. If it wasn’t that, they’d hold it hostage for maintaining Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, or more sanctions on Iran, or giving the “state of Jesus” statehood, or any of a thousand other ideas.
This is a case where Lugar and a disciplined Democratic caucus can’t get this done; treaties require 67 Senate votes for ratification. I’m not seeing eight helpful Republicans out there.
Lugar pronounced himself “hopeful” that the treaty won’t become a political football. So, a wish and a pony. Frankly, a political football – this time, based on the expiration of inspections and the threat of rogue actors obtaining nuclear material – is probably the only way this gets passed at all.
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This could work. Old nuclear weapons mouldering in warehouses don’t benefit anybody. The Republicans want to build their missile defenses and modernize our remaining weapons. True, you shouldn’t have to bribe people to do the right thing, but we’re talking Republicans here.
Apologies for the O/Ts, David–was saving them for Roundup, but my day’s about wound down now.
Ex-UBS whistleblower hits out at ‘corrupt’ US justice
“Former UBS banker Bradley Birkenfeld hit out on Saturday against the “corrupt” US judiciary which sent him to jail even though he was the whistleblower who led to the US tax fraud case against the bank.
‘”The Department of Justice’s corruption is evident today — why am I the only one in prison when I had revealed everything?” the US banker asked in a French-language interview with Swiss newspaper Le Temps.
“Birkenfeld turned in thousands of people for trying to evade taxes in the United States.”
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/0828/whistleblower-corrupt-justice/
In the immortal words of Bill Clinton, Gimme A Break!!
Under our ridiculous whistleblower statutes, Birkenfeld stands to collect up to $250 million dollars when he gets out of jail.
TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY MILLION DOLLARS.
I think that’s worth a couple years in Club Fed.
Transcript: Shaun Donovan [US Housing Secretary] on “State of the Union”
“And so, in addition to the tools we already have in our toolbox, we’re going to be launching in the next few weeks two additional tools that are critical. One is we’re going to be rolling out an FHA refinancing effort to help borrowers who are under water in their homes get above water. And, second, we’re launching an emergency homeowners’ loan program for unemployed borrowers to be able to stay in their homes.”
LINK.
David talked about these programs before but we’re starting to get a few more details. The underwater refi is similar to existing programs in that it’s voluntary and requires lenders to reduce the loan balance by 10%. So we’ll have to see how that turns out. The $50,000 (apparently non-recourse!) loan for the unemployed is less helpful than loan mods and seems ripe for fraud. I was disappointed that Donovan said another homebuyer tax credit was a possibility. That would be foolish.