National News
THE HOUSE DEBATE OVER SYRIA — U.S. Rep. Sander Levin, D-Mich., favors an American strike against Syria in retaliation against its use of chemical weapons on its own citizenry. “I’m a yes,” he was quoted as saying by NBC.
Many other Jewish House members were more nuanced.
U.S. Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) pronounced himself skeptical. ” “I think everybody recognizes that the use of chemical weapons is horrific, but what we really have to decide is whether or not a military strike will advance or protect the national security interests of the United States.”
U.S. Rep. Susan Davis (D-Calif):: “I look forward to intense and rigorous meetings and debate prior to a vote of the Congress, which is the right thing to do. It is unconscionable for a government to use chemical weapons against its own people. Making a decision on what is in the best interests of the American people will take thoughtful and cautious deliberation.”
U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) said he believes President Obama will receive the authorization he seeks for a military strike: “I do think that a majority will vote yes. I think to vote no would be a catastrophe,” he said. Interviewed by Wolf Blitzer on the Piers Morgan Show on CNN, he said that he had been assured that U.S. intelligence has intercepted Syrian conversations that acknowledge the chemical warfare. While he hadn’t heard the tapes himself, he said, he’s willing to believe President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry.
“The secretary certainly overstated the evidence that this was a deliberate decision made by the high command in Syria,” U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Fla., was quoted as saying in the Miami Herald. “There’s all sorts of ambiguity regarding that particular point. The secretary said it was undeniable. It’s been denied. And in fact the Syrian government has said: A) they didn’t do it, B) they would never do it, C) they never will do it, and D) they’ve invited in U.N. inspectors to prove that.”… Furthermore, he said, ” “I don’t know where we get this odd notion that every time we see something bad in the world we should bomb it.” On the Alex Witt Show on MSNBC on Sunday, he also said: “”It’s simply not our responsibility” to intervene in Syria.
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-California, stated: “During the past ten days I have been receiving updated intelligence briefings and reports, and the evidence is now compelling that the Assad regime gassed its own people on August 21, killing about 1400 including over 400 children. This evidence of chemical attack comes from intelligence sources, respected NGOs, widespread and contemporaneous social media reports and video, and soon I hope from the UN inspectors themselves. Like many Americans, after the Intelligence Community’s tragically flawed analysis of the Iraqi WMD program, I greet all intelligence analyses of a hostile nation’s possession or use of such weapons with a strong degree of skepticism. But at a certain point the evidence from a multitude of sources is so substantial that to ignore it amounts to turning a blind eye. With the most recent clinical evidence from blood, hair or tissue samples of sarin use, we are approaching that point.The President has said that Assad must be held accountable for violating the Geneva Protocol and all the international norms against chemical weapons use — not to mention crimes against humanity. I agree with him. The President has also said that the failure to hold Assad accountable will not only encourage him to use chemical weapons again, but increase the likelihood that other nations will conclude that their development and use of WMD will be tolerated, and I agree with that too.”
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Florida) told CNN if the United States attacks Syria, other countries have pledged to participate. However, she said, she was not at liberty following classified briefings to say which countries. She also said: “”As a Jew, the concept of ‘never again’ has to mean something.” She described the pictures of dead children in what appeared to have been a chemical weapon strike as “searing images.”
If evidence is overwhelming that Syria used chemical weapons, said Rep. John Yarmuth (D-Ky), and if the retaliatory strike would be “limited and targeted to military targets, I would vote for that…” Under such circumstances, he said, not retaliating would be “a license for Assad to continue to do whatever he wants to do.”
*
OTHER ISSUES OF THE HOUSE — Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia toured North Dakota’s oil drilling sites with Rep. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., and told reporters. “I hope to be able to tell the president that there’s a lot for him to learn here as far as energy production here in America.” Cramer said when President Obama talks of an “all of the above” energy policy, it shouldn’t mean only energy above the ground, it should also include energy sources below the ground.
In a telephonic Town Hall, U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel (D-Fla.), said the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, will curb the rise in insurance costs. “One thing about Obamacare is there are 31 million Americans who do not have access to insurance right now, and many of those folks end up at emergency rooms or clinics,” she said. “And somebody’s got to foot the bill for their care. And who’s footing the bill? It’s the rest of us, who are paying for insurance, paying our taxes. Obamacare is not just for the people who don’t have insurance. It’s for all of us.”
U.S. Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.) says tougher laws are needed to protect citizens against hackers who can tamper with computers that control devices in their homes. He cited the case of a hacker in Texas who watched another family’s child on their baby monitor, and yelled expletives at the child.
U.S. Rep. Alan Lowenthal (D-Calif.) wants to take congressional redistricting out of the hands of the Congress and put it instead into the hands of a bipartisan independent citizen’s panel. He said California’s new redistricting process is his model.
Touring the Protein Sciences plant in Pearl River, N.Y., Rep. Nita Lowey said renewed congressional calls for debt ceilings could jeopardize the cause of medical research. “We’re not really sure how this is all going to end up and when it’s going to end,” she said.
Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo) who helped organize “Startup Day Across America” to showcase new U.S. companies, visited Stuff N’ Mallows, a company started by three Colorado State University students who said the s’mores snack never melted fast enough. Said founders James Schrack, Tyler Krenzelok and Paul Jenkins: “We are excited to see how far we can take this, in hopes we can turn our little mallow company into a national gourmet brand.”
Explaining why she favors an increase in the federal minimum wage, Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) said: “McDonald’s employees work an average of 24 hours per week, and those I spoke with who had been working a decade or more had advanced up to $8.50 per hour, earning a grand total of $10,608 for the whole year. Compare that to the pay package of McDonald’s CEO Donald Thompson — $13,751,919 in 2012. That comes out to an hourly wage of $6,611. Don earns more in the first two hours of the first day of the year than a McDonald’s worker makes all year long…”
U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.), meeting with local police chiefs in Illinois, said he favors limiting the ability of civilians to obtain military-style weapons. He also called for gun purchasers to be the subjects of universal background checks
At a recent town hall forum in Woodland Hills, Calif., Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., faced angry questions about transparency in government. Constituents demanded he do and say more about IRS investigations into targeted groups and about what they perceived as unequal application of the laws. They also shouted opposition to the Affordable Care Act.
U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, (D-Fla.) chair of the Democratic National Committee, in a fundraising appeal, said Democrats need to recruit top candidates, invest in high tech digital tools for identifying and communicating with voters, expand access to the ballot box, and point out what she calls Republicans “bait and switch” rhetoric that makes voters think the GOP is now more moderate.
*
San Diego Region
San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis and Deputy Dist. Atty. Paul Greenwood, who heads the Elder Abuse Unit, have issued a 10-point guide to help seniors reduce the risk of being victimized by financial elder abuse. The tips: 1) choose a caregive with caution. 2) keep an inventory of all jewelry; 3) every home should have a shredder; 4) protect your incoming and outgoing mail; 5) obtain a credit search on yourself at least two or three times a year; 6) every telephone should have caller I.D.; 7) You will never win the Canadian lottery; 8) Consider allowing your bank to send a duplicate copy of your monthly statement to a trusted family member or professional advisor; 9) don’t assume that the friendly handyman is in fact licensed. 10) Always have a second line of defense, such as a locked screen door or a chain guard, at your front door. For more information: http://www.sdcda.org/files/tentips.pdf
Compiled by Donald H. Harrison, who welcomes your contributions via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com