White House Threatens 9/11 Bill Because Of Union clause

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate began debating legislation to bolster America's security on Wednesday with the White House threatening a veto because one part would extend union protection to 45,000 airport workers [...]

The overall bill would implement many of the stalled recommendations of the bipartisan commission created after the September 11 attacks.

The measure refines other recommendations and imposes new ones, such as the labor provision, and would let state and local governments share information with federal authorities, build better communication systems and provide grants to help high-risk areas prepare for disasters.

But White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said if the labor provision remains in the legislation, "the president's senior advisers would recommend he veto the bill."

Thirty-six Republican senators sent a letter to Bush on Tuesday saying they would provide the needed votes to sustain a veto in the 100-member Senate.

   The other day I posted some of this and stated that the Democrats should just drop that union part of the bill and get the remainder passed.

There is time afterwards to worry about the airport workers getting unionization. The 36 Republicans who say that they will support a veto makes it impossible for the Democrats to get this passed before it even leaves for the Presidents desk, so drop it now and make another version of a union bill. Make it a bill which will put those 36 Republicans and the White House in a very bad spot if the bill is not passed.

   As it is at this point in time, the Democrats will just be beating their heads into a brick wall as they did with the non-binding resolution's for Iraq and our troops.

    Come on Democrats. Don't be so stupid!

 

Technorati tags: U.S. Senate.Republican Senators, Airport Workers, 9/11 Bill, Union

 

McCain Not Speaking At CPAC

     Senator McCain is trying to be a slick little fellow as of late.

 Sponsors of the Conservative Political Action Conference invited McCain to speak at their gathering, which starts today, and McCain said no thanks. They call this event the premier gather of the countries conservatives but I guess that  " McPain " has gotten to big for them, but not to big to go and try to invite some of the attendees to a reception in private. Needless to say, the organizers are a little hostile towards  " McPain " at this point. Source

   If Senator McCain keeps things such as this up, the Democrats will have only themselves to blame if they do not capture the White House as McCain is simply splitting the Republicans into groups. Who is going to back who on the GOP side will become an interesting topic later on in the year.

Washington Times

  "It was a classical McCain move, dissing us by going behind our backs," said William J. Lauderback, executive vice president of the American Conservative Union.
    Convening through Saturday at a sold-out Omni Shoreham Hotel, the 34th annual CPAC will feature personal appearances and nationally televised speeches by every Republican presidential hopeful except Mr. McCain, said David A. Keene, chairman of the ACU, which, along with Young America's Foundation and Human Events, is a principal sponsor of CPAC.
    Conservative activists have speculated that Mr. McCain did not want to be seen on television "pandering" to Republican "right-wingers" but wanted to court those same activists at a reception in the same hotel.
    "He turned down repeated CPAC offers to speak but then tried to get around us by having his office call the hotel to rent a room for a reception for CPAC attendees -- without first seeking approval of CPAC organizers," said Mr. Lauderback.

 

Technorati tags: CPAC, John McCain, Conservatives