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See other Congress ArticlesTitle: Daily Action Report 09/09/06 - Pro Life Bill Stalled in Committee
Source: laptopamerica.net
URL Source: http://laptopamerica.net
Published: Sep 10, 2006
Author: LapTopAmerica.net
Post Date: 2006-09-10 03:59:07 by Neil McIver
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LaptopAmerica.net -Saturday Daily Action Report
September 9, 2006
Norman Thomas, an early leader in the American socialist movement promoted the concept that Americans would never knowingly adopt socialism but, under the name of liberalism, they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program until one day America will be a socialist nation without ever knowing how it happened!
Dear Laptop American,
This day in 1769, the first Spanish missions were founded in California by Junipero Serra, whose statute is in the U.S. Capitol.
In 1822, Mexican Emperor Augustin Iturbide took California from Spain and soon Mexican Secularization Acts took all mission property from the Church.Attempting to explain, the U.S. Board of Land Commissioners reasoned: "The Missions were intended...to be temporary...It was supposed that within that period of time the Indians would be sufficiently instructed in Christianity and the arts of civilized life."
In 1849, the year the U.S. acquired California, workers building a sawmill for John Sutter on the south fork of the American River, discovered gold. Soon prospectors, called "Forty-Niners," arrived and California became the 31st State on September 9, 1850.
Its Constitution, which prohibits slavery, states: "We, the People of the State of California, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom...do establish this Constitution."On May 23, 1862, President Lincoln restored the mission lands taken by the Secularization Acts:
"I grant unto the...Bishop of Monterrey...in trust for the religious purposes...the tracts of land described in the foregoing survey."
Laptop FREEMail ...Federal spending database needs to be launched:
Where YOUR money is spent is still hidden from view!
UPDATE: We orginally reported on this item and targeted Sen. McCain. It is time to call on the big guns at GOP National HQ&apss!
News report flash: For the average citizen, trying to see how the federal government spends money can be a baffling experience. Even journalists and think tankers, who are supposed to specialize in government oversight, have trouble getting a handle on the massive volume of cash that flows from federal coffers. The main reason for this is that there’s currently no system for assimilating, organizing, and releasing information on the hundreds of billions of tax dollars that are spent each year on federal grants and contracts. This lack of disclosure is absurd.
What to know how your tax dollars are spent? Want to know who receives free cheese from the Fed?
Senator Coburn has sponsored Senate Bill 2590, the
Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 and this would do the trick.
Staffers on Capitol Hill are calling the proposed database a "Google-like tool for federal accountability."
The idea of a database has been picking up steam on Capitol Hill. The House has already passed a similar proposal by Republicans Tom Davis and Roy Blunt. Their version would create a public database for federal grants but exclude federal contracts.
In general, however, there is wide agreement in favor of opening up both grants and contracts to more public oversight.
On 8/2/2006 this bill was placed on the Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 576.
One report states that:
The bill requires the OMB to ensure that the public will have access free of charge to a searchable website providing information on federal financial assistance, including federal contracts, by Jan. 1, 2007. The website would allow the public to search for information about federal:
• Contracts;
• Grants, including block grants, formula grants, and project grants;
• Cooperative Agreements;
• Loans, including direct loans, guaranteed loans, and insured loans;
• Direct payments for specified (e.g., financial aid) and unrestricted use (e.g., pensions, veterans benefits); • Insurance; and
• Indirect financial assistance.The website will not contain details about credit card transactions or minor purchases. Beginning Oct. 1, 2007, the bill requires the disclosure of subcontracts and subgrants. How the OMB will go about this is uncertain, since there is no established method for collecting such information.
Within 30 days of awarding federal funds, the following information is to be posted to the website:
• The name of the entity receiving the federal funds, excluding individuals receiving federal assistance and federal employees;
• The amount of federal funds the entity has received in each of the last 10 fiscal years;
• A list of each transaction with the entity receiving federal funds, including funding agency, program source, and a description of the purpose. The intent appears to link the funding to information found in the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance;
• The location of the entity and primary location of performance, including the city, state, congressional district, and country. Since the recipient entity may be in a different location than where the service is performed, such information is important;• A unique identifier for each recipient and parent entity. This unique number will be vital to illuminating our system of contracts, since company mergers and acquisitions are frequent. It will also help ensure the accuracy of searches. (Federal contractors and grantees are currently required to have a Dunn & Bradstreet (DUNS) number, the standard for business identification used by companies worldwide to link information about suppliers, customers and trading partners. So an entity&apss DUNS number could easily be used to satisfy this requirement.)
• Any other relevant information determined by the OMB director.
The bill specifically indicates that a website with a link to the FPDS (https://www.fpds.gov/), FAADS (http://www.census.gov/govs/www/faads.html), or other web sites, such as Grants.gov, will not satisfy the requirements of this bill unless those sites allow for the public to search by:
• Name of entity, parent entity, or type of industry;
• Geography, including location of the entity and the primary location of the performance;
• Amounts and types of federal funding;
• Program sources and type of activity being performed;
• Time factors such as fiscal years or multiple fiscal years; and
• Other relevant information.The bill requires the public be allowed to download data from searches that are conducted on the website. Although not specified, this would presumably allow the public to download data in formats compatible with common programs, such as spreadsheet applications, for further analysis.
The bill also requires that the website provide an opportunity for public input about the utility of the site and recommendations for improvements. OMB would report annually on its implementation of this effort both to Congress and on the new website. The report is to include data about usage and public feedback on the utility of the site, including recommendations for improvements.
Per Senator Coburn&apss website here are the major findings from hearings on this proposed bill:
- As federal spending approaches $3 trillion this fiscal year, the public&apss ability to track how it is spent remains a monumental task. There is currently no single source of accurate, complete and timely information on federal government spending.
- Grants, contracts and loans account for nearly $1 trillion in federal spending annually, yet both areas lack enough transparency to allow taxpayers to know where that money goes.
- The two primary sources for data on grants (Federal Assistance Awards Data System - FAADS) and contracts (Federal Procurement Data System - FPDS) are incompatible, hard to search, and lack basic information on what purpose tax money was spent to accomplish.
- Major "umbrella" contracts are often awarded to companies for large projects, requiring the primary recipient to subcontract out most of the work; many times, work is sub-contracted down multiple levels. This process of multiple subcontracts is not seen by the taxpayer, and therefore the public never knows it its money is being spent wisely or is wasted.
- Similarly, 91% of all federal grant money is given to States that then subgrant the money down multiple levels. The American public has almost no way of knowing where the money ultimately goes because subgrants are not currently tracked.
- The Executive Branch simply is not likely to solve this problem without Congressional action, such as S. 2590, the "Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006."
Here are the questions we need answers to and this bill would help us find out the answers:
• Are spending items properly a federal responsibility under the U.S. Constitution? What Article and section authorizes the spending item?
• Would the activities be more efficiently funded by local governments, businesses, or private charities?
• Does federal funding go to groups that actively support policy positions and beliefs that you oppose?Most measures are placed on the calendar under the heading "General Orders" in the sequence in which they were added to the calendar. Other sections are provided to address special situations in which floor actions have been deferred and to show the status of bills in conference and of appropriations bills. On 8/2/2006 this bill was placed on the Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 576, we need to apply some pressure to get a final vote.
TAKE ACTION NOW:
Laptop FREEMail 70;
Pro-Life Bill Obstructed by Democrats:
Procedural obstructions used to stall bill!
In the last few days of July, before Congress went on August vacation, the Senate passed the Child Custody Protection Act ( S. 403 ), sponsored by Senator John Ensign (R-NV), by a vote of 65-34 ( Roll Call vote 216 ). This important piece of legislation makes it a federal crime for any person (other than her own parent) to transport a minor girl across state lines to obtain an abortion in violation of a parental notification or parental consent law in her home state.
Despite a strong majority vote, including 14 Democrats, Senate Democrats refuse to go to conference with the House passed bill, the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act ( H.R. 748 ), which passed the House in April 2005 by a vote of 270-157 . Immediately after the Senate passed the CCPA, Senate Minority Leader Richard Durbin (D-IL) objected to a routine procedural motion by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) to go to conference with the House bill.
Sen. Durbin&apss obstructionism was backed by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, who actually voted yes on passage of the CCPA, but then allowed his deputy to object to the conference motion. The entire Democratic caucus also stands behind this move to kill the CCPA and keep it from President Bush&apss desk, despite the fact that it has passed the House and Senate by significant majorities.
In fact, Senate Democrats have killed the CCPA all four times it has been passed by the House since 1998! Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, Minority Whip Richard Durbin, and the entire Democratic caucus should be held accountable for stalling a bill supported by nearly 80% of the American people.
Let&apss hit Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Minority Whip Richard Durbin with 1,000&apss of emails telling them to stop stalling the Child Custody Protection Act!
TAKE ACTION NOW..
They said it 70;
"We finished in Washington, DC on August 12, 2006. It&apss been one heck of a ride and an amazing journey across America."
To Read More Click here…
www.21stcenturypaulrevereride.us
They said it 70;
There is one thing we do know. Congress has done absolutely nothing to develop domestic resources, to make America energy independent. The President presents energy plans which Congress rejects, summarily. And there is no executive follow-through. The United States consumes about 20 million barrels of oil per day. Of this, 12 million barrels are imported.
To Read More Click here…
http://www.freecongress.org/commentaries/2006/060809.asp
Laptop Video of the Day - To View Click here…
If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their money, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them, will deprive the people of their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. - Thomas Jefferson
http://www.freedom-force.org/videos/video.cfm?&player=2-1-05mandrake
Remember we covet your prayers, comments and advice as without YOU dear Member, Laptop is nothing . Please let your family and friends know about us so that they can JOIN with us and through our Laptops, take back America!
Sincerely,
Bryan MalatestaExecutive Director
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