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IOWA
DAILY REPORT Holding
the Democrats accountable today, tomorrow...forever.
PAGE 2
Wednesday,
Aug. 20, 2003
“King’s congressional lesson: ‘When you have
some clout, use it’”
– Headline from yesterday’s Sioux City
Journal. Excerpt from report by the Journal’s
Bret Heyworth: “Republican Congressman
Steve King regaled Downtown Rotary Club
members Monday with tales of his first seven
months in office, including an instance when
he said 'No' to the vice president, Department
of Health and Human Services secretary, House
majority leader and speaker of the House.
King,
Iowa's 5th District representative, was in
high demand for his vote on the Medicare bill
in late June, but he declined to go with
the Republican position for days --
finally changing his vote at the end in early
morning hours. That resulted in a 216-215
passage for the bill, a measure which is now
being hammered out in a conference committee
of the House and Senate. The lesson King
learned? When you have some clout, use it.
In this instance, King moved his vote
only after given an assurance by House
leadership that language to increase Iowa's
standing as 50th in the nation in Medicare
reimbursement rate would be considered.
King is asking that states ranking in the
top 10 nationally in health care quality would
get a 5 percent premium payment, which would
help Iowa, which ranks sixth nationally.
King said he isn't sure that will become law,
but said he knows he has the ear of the House
leadership. That came after House Majority
Leader Tom Delay and Whip Roy Blount told the
Freshmen Republican Caucus to ‘follow us, and
vote for this, so we can get some reform
started, trust us,’ which was met with one of
King's no's.’…’They told me I couldn't
vote no on this, because I represent a very
senior district,’ King recounted for
the Rotarians. But King remained firm, even
after he was called into the office of Vice
President Dick Cheney. Eventually, King
came about to the party stance, after getting
his concession at 2:30 a.m. on June 27. ‘I
knew I must be one of the three or four
deciding votes,’ King said. ‘I started
getting that sense, from serving in the Iowa
Senate, when you've got that leverage, you
better figure out how to use it.’ King
said he is comfortable in the House of
Representatives. He compared that to his six
years in the Iowa Senate from 1997 to 2002,
when he said it took three years for a comfort
level of achievement. But it only took a week
in Washington, D.C. to get his bearings and
make inroads, King said, in part
because he brought lessons from Des Moines
with him to the Capitol.” This morning’s headlines:
Des Moines
Register, top front-page headline: “Blast
heightens pressure on U. S… Mounting terrorism
imperils Iraq plan”
Main online
heads, Quad-City Times: “Baghdad blast
kills 20” & California – “Davis blasts
GOP’s ‘power grab’”
Nation/world
reports, Omaha World-Herald online: “Bus
bombing freezes Mideast peace efforts” & “Attorney
general touts tools of Patriot Act”
New York
Times, featured stories: “Bombing Kills 18
and Hurts Scores on Jerusalem Bus” &
California – “Job on the Line, Davis
Promises to Fight Recall”
Top heads,
Sioux City Journal online: “Bomber kills U.
N. envoy, 19 others in Baghdad” & “Safety
groups say automakers must make power windows
safe”
Chicago
Tribune, top online headlines: “Blasts rock
Iraq, Israel” & “2 bombings test Bush’s
agenda”
Iowa Briefs/Updates:
The Sioux City
Journal reported that a Sioux City
woman – Amanda Kye Porter, 18 – faces a
kidnapping charge after she allegedly took a
6-month-old boy away from her mother under
false pretenses. A criminal complaint said
she convinced the mother that she wanted to
take the child to be photographed with the
congregation at a church, but Porter
reportedly did not return with the 6-month-old
Gambling
fever strikes – again:
A group pushing for a new riverboat casino
in Linn County (Cedar Rapids) will file
petitions next week seeking a Nov. 4
referendum on whether to permit gaming. KCCI-TV
(Des Moines) reported that Citizens for
a Riverboat Casino indicate the group has
collected more than 10,000 signatures –
about 2,500 more than needed – in favor of
holding a referendum
The weekly
crop report indicated that “more visual
signs of moisture stress” were evident in many
corn and soybean fields during the past
week and pastures were “reported as
deteriorating quickly.” Sixty-three percent of
the corn crop was reported as good or
excellent while 60% of the soybeans were good
or excellent.
…
Interesting congressional debate expected in
months ahead as White House pushes timetable
for missile-defense system. Under the
subhead “Missile defense,” Washington
Times Pentagon reporters Bill Gertz and Rowan
Scarborough – in their “Inside the Ring”
column yesterday -- reported: “The White
House wants an operational missile-defense
system up and running by September 2004, just
in time for the presidential election. To
do it, the Missile Defense Agency needs more
money to fund the Ground Based Missile
Defense system planned for Alaska. The
Senate Appropriations subcommittee on defense,
chaired by Sen. Ted Stevens, Alaska
Republican, has pumped in more cash, but the
House has not. It promises to be one of the
most important debates when Congress returns
from its August recess.”
… On the
Korean Front: South Korean navy fires warning
shots at unidentified North Korean vessel.
Headline from yesterday’s Chicago Tribune: “North
Korea at center of navel, diplomatic
skirmishes” Report from Seoul – an excerpt
– by the Trib’s Michael A. Lev: “The South
Korean navy fired warning shots at an
unidentified North Korean vessel Monday in
waters controlled by the South, highlighting
tensions on the Korean Peninsula as the date
approaches for multination talks on the
North's nuclear weapons program. No
casualties were reported after shots were
fired at the ship that briefly crossed a
disputed border in the Yellow Sea, the South's
military said. It was the 15th intrusion
this year. The North Korean ship may have
violated South Korean territory due to poor
visibility, according to South Korean news
reports. In a separate incident, North
Korea pulled out of a commitment to
participate in an international student games
competition Aug. 21-31 in Taegu, South Korea.
North Korea initially blamed aircraft
equipment problems when the 218-person
delegation failed to show up Sunday at the
Universiade Games, but the government
announced Monday that the athletes would
stay home because their safety could not be
guaranteed after anti-North Korean
demonstrations last week. South Korean
Unification Minister Jeong Se Hyun sent a
letter to North Korea urging officials to
change their minds to avoid negative
consequences for inter-Korean ties. With the
reclusive North Korean government frequently
exhibiting mercurial behavior, often as a
negotiating tool while confronting South Korea
and the West, it was impossible to
determine if the incidents would have any
effect on the planned six-way talks. The
discussions are scheduled for Aug. 27-29 in
Beijing, and will involve officials from
Japan, Russia, China, the United States as
well as North and South Korea. One sign
that North Korea intends to go to Beijing was
a government statement Monday in which
Pyongyang repeated some demands it may present
in Beijing. The release said North Korea
would not dismantle its ‘nuclear deterrent
force’ until the United States renounced its
‘hostile policy’ toward the North.”
Congressional
progress report.
John McCaslin
– in his “Inside the Beltway” column – in
yesterday’s Washington Times reported: “The
first six months of the busy 108th Congress
saw a total of 66 bills and resolutions signed
into law. Better yet, of the 66 pieces of
legislation, 35 contained no or no significant
costs to taxpayers, according to the
Republican Study Committee. The new law
with the largest amount of spending: the 2003
Omnibus Appropriations Bill, at a cost of $397
billion. The greatest savings to taxpayers:
the Jobs and Growth Tax Reconciliation Act,
reducing federal revenue by $306 billion over
five years.”
“Tests show
confinement lots exceeding nullified air
standards” – headline from yesterday’s
Quad-City Times. Excerpt of coverage by the
Times’ Kathie Obradovich: “State
air-quality tests near six of the Iowa’s
largest livestock confinement operations show
that some facilities are regularly producing
air pollutants far greater than standards that
were nullified by the Legislature earlier this
year, environmental regulators heard Monday.
Sean Fitzsimmons, who supervised the tests for
the Department of Natural Resources, said
early test results show emissions of hydrogen
sulfide and ammonia that are far higher than
the rejected standards. He said he
believes the results make it ‘prudent’ that
state environmental regulators move toward
regulating emissions of those gases. The Iowa
Legislature approved a resolution last spring
that required the DNR to conduct a study of
hydrogen sulfide and ammonia from livestock
confinement operations. The resolution also
nullified proposed DNR standards for
regulation of those gases after some lawmakers
argued they were hundreds of times higher than
limits set by federal occupational safety
regulations. The Environmental Protection
Commission is considering two competing
petitions from environmental activists and the
agribusiness industry to rewrite the rules.
Discussion of those petitions will continue
next month. Fitzsimmons said tests near some
of the state’s largest animal confinement
operations shows some of those rejected
standards are being exceeded many times over.
He said the DNR started monitoring near the
largest facilities to present a ‘worst-case
scenario.’” Today’s editorials:
Des Moines Register:
“Rebuild U. S. energy systems…Ramming a
bill through Congress in a few months,
however, would invite political
gridlock…Experts have warned Congress about
the problem for years.”…”Renew
anti-terrorist resolve” Editorial says
that in the wake of yesterday’s bombings the
world should “summon new resolve to fight the
terrorists who must be cheering the horror of
two attacks in one day.”…”Doctors are fed
up, too” Excerpt: “Nearly 8,000 doctors
are calling for a government-financed,
health-insurance plan for all Americans.”
The
Quad-City Times reported that two of the most
prolific drivers in NASCAR history –
Winston Cup’s Bill Elliott and Sterling Marlin
– are scheduled to be in the Quad-Cities
tonight for a series of events,
highlighted by an appearance at the
Davenport Speedway. One of the goals of
their visit is to encourage Quad-City race
fans to fly to Winston Cup races in other
parts of the country…Radio Iowa’s Todd Kimm
reported that Iowa State football coach Dan
McCarney says Austin Flynn – a redshirt
freshman from Texas – will be the likely
starter at quarterback when the Cyclones
open their season a week from Saturday. Flynn
had competing with JC transfer Waye Terry for
the starting job.
DSM 7 a. m.
74, overcast. Most temperatures in the 70s
across Iowa at 7 a.m. – from 69 in Dubuque
and Estherville to 74 in
Marshalltown and Des Moines and 75
in Waterloo and Ottumwa. Today’s
high 93, chance T-storms. Tonight’s low 73,
chance T-storms. Thursday’s high 87, mostly
sunny. Thursday night’s low 65, breezy.
Grand Flotilla
scheduled on the Mississippi next summer.
Radio Iowa’s Matt Kelley reported that tickets
are on sale for what's being billed as the
largest flotilla on the Mississippi River in
more than a century. Event spokeswoman
Jean Freidl said the Grand Excursion's
10-day Grand Flotilla event has much to
offer sightseers, adventurers and history
buffs. She says there are 16 different ports
involved and they will offer port cruises
for a couple hours, day-to-day excursions or
the full cruise from Saint Louis to Saint Paul.
Freidl says 70,000 tickets are available for
the various cruises. The event begins June
25, 2004,in the Quad Cities and ends in the
Twin Cities on July 4. Freidl says it's a
re-creation of an 1854 publicity tour
during which some 1,200 people from the East
Coast came to celebrate the connection of
the railroad to the river. Freidl says during
the excursion, many towns along the river will
hold community showcases. Dubuque is
opening the new Mississippi River Museum and
the Quad Cities will be holding a
Buffalo Bill Days event with covered wagons,
horse-drawn buggies and such.
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