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Kidnapped Reporter Jill Carroll Freed in Baghdad
Senate Debate Over Immigration Reform Heats Up in Washington
Abramoff Sentenced to 70 Months in Prison As Senate Passes
Lobbying Reform Bill That Excludes Campaign Finance
Report Exposes Telecom Industry's Astroturf Lobbying Groups
How Lobbyists Helped Secure Billions in Taxpayer Subsidies
For Big Oil Companies Despite Record Profits
Kidnapped Reporter Jill Carroll Freed in Baghdad
Jill Carroll is free. The freelance reporter was kidnapped
nearly three months ago in Baghdad. In a television interview
shortly after her release, Carroll said she is in good condition
and had been treated well by her captors. She went on to say,
"I'm just happy to be free. I want to be with my family."
We talk with one of her friends. [includes rush
transcript]
After nearly three months in captivity, kidnapped U.S. reporter
Jill Carroll has been released. Carroll is a freelance reporter
working for the Christian Science Monitor in Iraq. She was
seized in January outside the offices of a prominent Sunni
politician in Baghdad. There had been no word from her captors
in nearly two months. They had demanded the release of all
women detainees in Iraqi prisons. Five out of an estimated
nine women prisoners were released in January.
On Wednesday, Jill Carroll's sister, Katie Carroll, read
a statement on Arab television pleading for her sister's safe
release.
Carroll gave a brief television interview in Baghdad shortly
after her release. According to the Associated Press, Carroll
said she is in good condition and had been treated well by
her captors. Her captors freed her by leaving her in a street
near the offices of the Iraqi Islamic Party. She walked inside,
and people there called US officials. Although her captors
threatened twice in videotapes to kill her, Carroll said they
never hit her or threatened to do so. Carroll said she was
kept in a room with a window and a shower, but she did not
know where she was. She went on to say: "I'm just happy
to be free. I want to be with my family."
We talk with one Jill Carroll"s friends:
- Matt Vautour, friend of Jill Carroll. He is a reporter
for the Daily Hampshire Gazette.
Senate Debate Over Immigration Reform Heats Up in
Washington
The Senate begins debate today on legislation to overhaul
the nation's immigration laws. The Senate Judiciary Committee
approved a bill that includes enforcement measures, provisions
for a guest-worker program, and a way for undocumented workers
way to work toward citizenship. We speak with the Director
of Immigration Policy Research at the National Council of
La Raza. [includes rush
transcript]
The Senate begins debate today on legislation to overhaul
the nation's immigration laws. On Monday, the Senate Judiciary
Committee approved a bill that includes a number of enforcement
measures as well as a way for the 11 million undocumented
immigrants living in this country a chance to work here legally
and eventually become U.S. citizens.
On Wednesday, Bush spoke up for the first time in favor of
a guest-worker program that leads to citizenship. Bush arrived
in Cancun, Mexico last night and is scheduled to meet with
Mexican President Vicente Fox today. The issue of immigration
will likely dominate the agenda. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen
Harper will also participate in the talks.
Back in Washington, the debate on the Senate Judiciary Committee
bill is expected to end by next week, before the Senate leaves
on recess. Any Senate bill would have to be reconciled with
a House bill passed in December that has been described as
the most repressive immigration bill in 70 years. House bill
4437 would, among other things, make every undocumented immigrant
a felon and make it a crime for priests, nuns, health care
workers and other social workers to offer help to undocumented
immigrants.
The bill sparked historic protests across the country. Including
upwards of one million people taking to the streets in Los
Angeles in what may have been California's largest demonstration
in history as well as tens of thousands of students walking
out of schools across the country.
- Michele Waslin, Director of Immigration Policy Research
at the National Council of
La Raza, the country's largest Latino civil rights and
advocacy organization.
Abramoff Sentenced to 70 Months in Prison As Senate
Passes Lobbying Reform Bill That Excludes Campaign Finance
The Senate has overwhelmingly approved imposing new rules
governing the relations between lawmakers and lobbyists. The
ninety to eight vote came just hours after former Republican
lobbyist Jack Abramoff was sentenced to nearly six years in
jail. We speak with Chellie Pingree, president of Common Cause.
[includes rush
transcript]
On Capitol Hill, the Senate has overwhelmingly approved
imposing new rules governing the relations between lawmakers
and lobbyists. The ninety to eight vote came just hours after
former Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff was sentenced to
nearly six years in jail.
Under the bill, lobbyists would no longer be allowed to shower
Senators with meals and gifts. Lobbyists would be required
to disclose more about their dealings with lawmakers. And
it will become harder for Senators to insert pet projects
and laws into spending bills at the behest of lobbyists.
But critics say the Senate could have done much more to break
the stranglehold lobbyists have on lawmakers.
Two of the Senate's most vocal advocates for lobbying reform
- Democrat Russ Feingold and Republican John McCain - both
voted against the bill which McCain described as "very,
very weak."
This is in part because the Senate decided not to address
one of the most pressing issues - campaign finance. According
to the New York Times, the bill does little to break the link
between lobbyists and lawmakers' money-raising machines. The
bill steers clear of regulating the fund-raising activities
of lobbyists. This will allow lobbyists to continue running
political action committees for the same lawmakers they hope
to influence and to peddle campaign donations to lawmakers
via their clients.
The Senate vote came just hours after Jack Abramoff was sentenced
to 70 months in prison on fraud charges stemming from his
purchase of a Florida casino. Abramoff is still awaiting sentencing
on federal charges of bribing government officials and defrauding
at least four Native American tribes out of tens of millions
of dollars. Abramoff is at the heart of what is turning out
to be one of the largest Congressional scandals in history.
- Chellie Pingree, president and CEO of Common
Cause, a national non-partisan advocacy organization.
Report Exposes Telecom Industry's Astroturf Lobbying
Groups
Common Cause on Tuesday released a new report exposing "Astroturf"
lobbying groups and other allies created by the telecommunications
industry to pressure lawmakers to enact industry-friendly
policies as Congress debates critical issues worth billions
of dollars to the industry. [includes rush
transcript]
- Chellie Pingree, president and CEO of Common Cause, a
national non-partisan advocacy organization.
Click
for full report
How Lobbyists Helped Secure Billions in Taxpayer
Subsidies For Big Oil Companies Despite Record Profits
A new report by Government Accountability Office estimates
the oil and gas industry will be able to avoid paying between
20 and 80 billion dollars in royalties to the government.
Industry lobbyists helped secure a provision passed by Congress
10 years ago subsidizing oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.
We speak with Edmund Andrews, the New York Times reporter
who exposed the story. [includes rush
transcript]
We return now to the issue of lobbying, specifically how
lobbyists helped secure billions in taxpayer subsidies for
the oil and gas industry.
Earlier this week the New York Times exposed that the government
stands to lose between twenty and eighty billion dollars because
of a provision passed by Congress 10 years ago subsidizing
oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. At the time the vote in
Congress received little attention with the exception perhaps
of lobbyists from the oil and gas industry.
The New York Times set the scene like this: It was after
midnight and every lawmaker in the committee room wanted to
go home, but there was still time to sweeten a deal encouraging
oil and gas companies to drill in the Gulf of Mexico.
"There is no cost," declared Representative Joe
Barton, a Texas Republican who was presiding over Congressional
negotiations on the sprawling energy bill last July. An obscure
provision on new drilling incentives was ""so noncontroversial,""
he added, that senior House and Senate negotiators had not
even discussed it.
Mr. Barton's claim had a long history. For more than a decade,
lawmakers and administration officials, both Republicans and
Democrats, have promised there would be no cost to taxpayers
for a program allowing companies to avoid paying the government
royalties on oil and gas produced in publicly owned waters
in the Gulf.
Now, a new report by Government Accountability Office estimates
that because of this so-called non-controversial provision,
the oil and gas industry will be able to avoid paying between
twenty and eighty billion dollars in royalties to the government.
- Edmund Andrews, reporter for the New York Times.
Articles:
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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