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Iowa primary precinct caucus and caucuses news, reports
and information on 2004 Democrat and Republican candidates, campaigns
and issues Iowa
Presidential Watch's IOWA
DAILY REPORT Holding
the Democrats accountable today, tomorrow...forever.
PAGE 2
Friday,
September 5, 2003
Good news on the Bush Beat: Columnist Lambro
reports that Dem chances of beating GWB were
“sharply reduced” last week.
Headline on column in yesterday’s Washington
Times: “Upbeat growth numbers” Excerpt
from Lambro’s report: “The Democrats'
chances of beating President Bush in 2004 were
sharply reduced last week by one closely
watched economic number. The Commerce
Department's report that the economy was
expanding at a 3.1 percent annual rate in the
second quarter must have sent a pall over the
Democratic National Committee headquarters
here, not to mention the campaign offices of
the Democratic presidential contenders. Barring
some catastrophic setback in the war on
terrorism, next year's presidential election
is going to be decided by the state of the
economy. Who says so? Why, all the Democratic
candidates. That single issue is at the
core of their campaign agendas, such as they
are. But last week's strong, upward
revision in the nation's gross domestic
product — which measures all the goods and
services America produces and sells — dealt a
sharp blow to the Democrats' chief domestic
issue. It's virtually impossible to
overstate both the economic and political
importance of the elevated GDP growth. The
rate announced in early August was 2.4
percent, much higher than the anemic 1.4
percent of the previous six months. There was
cheering in the White House when the
revised estimate came out Thursday morning,
showing much stronger consumer demand and
business investment, as well as an upsurge in
manufacturing for durable-goods orders. Part
of the growth surge was due to increases in
defense spending in the war on terrorism, but
much of it also is due to the administration's
$350 billion tax-cut package, which is working
its way into the economy. Income tax
withholding rates are down in worker
paychecks, about $30 billion in child
tax-credit refund checks have gone out to 25
million families this summer, and business tax
credits are being implemented to buy equipment
for future expansion. While Mr. Bush's
Democratic opponents have pounded his $1.7
trillion in tax cuts over the past three
years, the fact is that it has resulted in
higher after-tax incomes for most households.
The total economic stimulus from this year's
stepped-up tax cuts won't be known until the
third-quarter GDP numbers are out in November.
That's when we will see the full impact of the
child tax-credit refund checks sent out in
July and August. We have already seen
incremental numbers this summer that bode well
for the rest of the year and beyond. Retail
sales jumped by 1.4 percent in July and will
likely rise higher as a result of
back-to-school buying. In June, U.S. factory
orders saw their biggest increase in three
months. Home sales have been spectacular, too,
due to lower interest rates, though mortgage
rates have crept upward lately and housing
sales have slowed — though they are still in
record territory. But the most
breathtaking number in the revised
second-quarter GDP figures was consumer
spending, which shot up by 3.8 percent —
nearly twice the 2 percent rate between
January and March. Rising corporate
earnings have also been a big story this
summer, driving stock values higher and
boosting worker pensions and other stock
portfolios.”
Determined IA GOP
Congressman Nussle – House Budget Committee
chair – continues efforts to crackdown on
federal waste and fraud.
Headline
yesterday on OpinionJournal.com (Wall Street
Journal): “Your Tax Dollars at Work…Rep.
Jim Nussle takes on wasteful and
fraudulent spending.” Column – excerpt – by
Opinionjournal.com assistant editor Brendan
Miniter: “The federal government is falling
ever deeper into the red, but in Washington
there seems to be no deficit of wasteful and
even fraudulent spending. The IRS recently
estimated that $8.5 billion to $9.9 billion
was paid out improperly out of $31.3 billion
in earned income tax credits in 2002, despite
a five year effort to curb such abuse. Over at
the Department of Education, government
auditors found hundreds of millions of dollars
wasted, including fraudulent Pell Grant
schemes and even an employee buying porn on
the Internet with a government credit card.
And, as the General Accounting Office
uncovered, Medicare is often tricked into
paying twice the market price for some drugs.
House Budget Committee chairman Jim Nussle
(R., Iowa) and a few others are leading an
effort to cut waste. Mr. Nussle was shouted
down earlier this year when he called for a 1%
across-the-board spending cut. But he got a
helping hand last spring in the congressional
budget resolution, which outlines spending
priorities. A few sentences stuck in the
middle of the bill require all congressional
committees to look for waste and report their
findings by this past Tuesday.
Unfortunately, most of those reports are going
to be late. That's not to say they're not
being taken seriously. Mr. Nussle
has already held hearings, posted his findings
on the Internet and asked citizens to report
wasteful spending on his committee's Web
site, www.budget.house.gov. And several
House committees have asked for extensions so
they can include reports filed by Democrats
and vote on their findings. Making big
spenders go on the record, either against
cutting waste or for cuts, makes the short
delay well worth it…The fight over
spending cannot come soon enough.
The Congressional Budget Office calculated
recently that ‘discretionary spending’ has
increased more than 15% over the last two
years. That, while the economy stumbled and
federal revenues fell. The deficit is much
more than tax cuts and the war on terror.
The Cato Institute reports that nondefense
outlays increased 12.2% in 2002 and 13.7% in
2003. What's more, under Ronald Reagan
nondefense discretionary spending was cut
13.5%, compared with a 20.8% increase since
President Bush was sworn in. This deficit is
caused by overspending. In October Mr.
Nussle hopes to issue a comprehensive report
of waste dug up by the House, which will
include ways to clean up some of the worst
abuses. The Senate Budget Committee will
likely issue its own findings. The
benchmark in Washington for whether you care
about a problem is always how much you're
willing to spend on it. There is often little
effort to ensure that money is spent
effectively. By going after waste, Mr. Nussle
is also fighting a battle over accountability.
There are plenty of critics, of course, who
complain that curbing waste is nice, but
doesn't even come close to addressing the
federal deficit…Only a rising economy as well
as tough policy decisions to cut spending will
bring the federal government back to fiscal
solvency. But it's hard to see how focusing
on waste is a mistake.” This morning’s headlines:
Des Moines
Register, top front-page headline: Iraq – “Resolution
‘not sufficient’…France, Germany critical,
but say U. S. draft on Iraq a start”
Quad-City
Times, featured online heads: Albuquerque
debate -- “Democrats unite against Bush”
& Estrada – “Judicial nominee withdraws”
Nation/world
online stories, Omaha World-Herald: “Bush
says economy showing ‘promise’” & “Democratic
candidates at debate focus criticism on Bush
policies”
Main
headlines, New York Times online: “Germany
and France say U. S. draft resolution falls
short, but is a place to start talks” & “Bush
defends economy, says it is showing signs of
promise”
Sioux City
Journal, top online heads: “U. S. Said to
Shift Approach in Talks With North Korea”
& “Rumsfeld Eager for More Iraqis to Keep
Peace”
Chicago
Tribune online, featured reports: Estrada – “Embattled
judicial nominee withdraws” & Iraq – “U.
S. seeks international force”
… Northwest Iowa concern: Anticipated job
losses at Gateway facility. Excerpt from
report by the Sioux City Journal’s Michele
Linck: “After months of increasing
speculation, Gateway Inc., announced Wednesday
it will cut the work force at its North Sioux
City and Sioux Falls facilities and close its
plant in Hampton, Va.
The closing of the Virginia plant on Sept. 30
will eliminate 450 jobs, the company said, or
about 5 percent of the company's work force.
The plant manufactures PCs.
Gateway declined to say how many jobs will be
lost at the South Dakota sites.
‘Our first consideration is our employees. We
still need to so some notifications
internally,’ said Lisa Emard, a corporate
spokeswoman working at North Sioux City
Wednesday. ‘I don't have any details or
numbers to share,’ she said.
Gateway employs about 8,500 people, 2,500
of them at North Sioux City and about 950 in
Sioux Falls. More than 2,300 work in
Gateway's 190 stores, about 600 work at
corporate headquarters in Poway, Calif. and
the remaining employees are at the call center
in Kansas City and at Gateway's in-house
Information technology hub in Denver.”
Iowa Briefs/Updates:
KCCI-TV (Des
Moines) reported that a Warren County (Indianola)
has decided to move the murder trial for
Rodney Heemstra to Sioux City. Heemstra –
whose trial will begin in mid-October – is
charged in the shooting death of his neighbor
Tommy Lyon
Radio Iowa
reported that an Iowa State trooper – Aaron
Williams – injured in a near head-on traffic
accident while on patrol in Poweshiek County
(Grinnell) in late July has been released from
the hospital. Patrol officials said,
however, there’s no timetable for his return
to work
The
Waterloo/Cedar Falls Courier reported that
U. S. Highway 218 was shutdown for several
hours yesterday morning to clean up after
a semi-trailer truck overturned. The problem:
the highway was covered with mounds of
microwave burritos and breasts of chicken Kiev.
On the Korean Front:
Headline from yesterday’s Chicago Tribune – “N.
Korean legislators back Kim, nuclear buildup”
Excerpt: “North Korea's parliament on
Wednesday re-elected leader Kim Jong Il to his
most important post, chairman of the National
Defense Commission, and endorsed Pyong- yang's
decision to increase ‘its nuclear deterrent.’
Kim, 61, nodded nonchalantly from a platform
as 670 legislators in the body stood in
unison, clapped wildly and shouted cheers in
support of his new 5-year term as chairman of
the defense commission, the North's highest
governing body. Tens of thousands of
soldiers stood in neat lines at a Pyongyang
rally as a speaker called for increased
‘battle readiness against American
imperialists.’ Women in colorful dress and
children wearing red scarves sang songs and
danced on streets decorated with flags and
flowers. The festivities, carefully
choreographed by the communist regime, came as
Kim upped the stakes in negotiations with
the United States and other countries over
North Korea's nuclear weapons program.
Major rural issue –
and political timebomb.
Headline from
yesterday’s Chicago Tribune: “Biggest farms
still harvest subsidies…Congress is told
loophole hurts small operations” Excerpts from
report by Andrew Martin of the Tribune’s
Washington Bureau: “Congressional efforts
to limit subsidies to farmers have failed to
make much of a dent in the $20 billion in
annual payments in part because farms have
been reorganized to skirt the rules, a
congressionally appointed commission said
Wednesday. The 2002 Farm Bill set a $360,000
cap on the amount of subsidies that could be
received by any ‘person,’ which was defined as
an individual or business organization. But
some farms appear to have gotten around the
limit by increasing the number of people they
represent. The report found that 12 percent
of the nation's farms claim to have three or
more ‘persons’ eligible for government
payments. In fact, 325 farms reported
having 21 or more ‘persons’ who met the
definition of farmer and collected government
subsidies. But while the report was critical
of loopholes that allow large farmers to avoid
payment limits, it suggested that a more
sensible program could help small and midsize
farmers struggling to compete in an era of
increasing consolidation. The report was
released a week before global trade talks in
Cancun, Mexico, where farm subsidies will be
one of the most controversial topics.
Farmers in developing nations have long
complained that subsidized exports from the
U.S. and other wealthy countries have made it
impossible for them to compete in world
markets…Citing U.S. Department of
Agriculture statistics for 2001, the
commission found that two-thirds of the
nation's 2.1 million farms received no
government payments. But of the nation's
203,172 largest farms--those with $250,000 in
sales or more--61 percent of the operators
receive government assistance. ‘If
something goes wrong on the world market, hey,
they got an entitlement in their pocket,’ said
Ken Cook, executive director of the
not-for-profit Environmental Working Group. He
called the report ‘important and sobering’ and
said it ‘strengthens the hand of reformers.’
Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), who has
pushed for payment caps to farmers, noted that
the report shows that 45 people received more
than $1 million in government payments during
one year. "Farm payments were intended to help
small and medium-sized farmers," Grassley
said. "To me, this doesn't look like the best
utilization of taxpayers' money." Grassley
said he didn't agree with parts of the report
but didn't elaborate. Neil Harl, a
commission member and an agriculture professor
at Iowa State University, said the report
demonstrates that Congress needs to address
abuses in government subsidies. The way the
system is structured, he said, large farmers
who receive the most subsidies are using their
extra profits to get more land. ‘It makes
life more difficult for small and midsize
farms,’ Harl said. ‘I don't think there is
a public interest in subsidizing that.’
The report, commissioned by Congress as part
of the 2002 Farm Bill, was intended to study
the potential impact of tougher payment limits
on overall government expenditures, farm
income, rural communities, and supply and
prices of farm products.” Today’s editorials, Des Moines Register:
“Welcome
move at U. N….International role in
stabilizing Iraq could help achieve U. S.
objective…It’s turned out the United Nations
isn’t irrelevant after all.” & “…as bill
for war comes due…The lesson: You can’t
have guns and butter and tax cuts…The billions
of taxpayer dollars America spends in Iraq
will not be spent in the United States.”
Radio Iowa
reports that the Northern Iowa volleyball
team – after posting a 2-1 record last
week at a Los Angeles tournament – has moved
up two spots on the national coaches poll. The
UNI squad, which only lost to top-ranked USC
during the West Coast trip, is now ranked
sixth in the nation.
DSM 7 a. m. 54, fair/clear. Temperatures at 7
a. m. ranged from 41 in Monticello and
43 in Audubon, Harlan and
Independence to 54 in Sheldon, Creston,
Council Bluffs, Des Moines and Pella
to 57 in Orange City.
Today’s high 84, sunny. Tonight’s low 59,
clear. Saturday’s high 87, mostly sunny.
Saturday night’s low 61, mostly clear.
Sunday’s high 87, mostly sunny.
“Army taps
Arsenal for mounts” – headline from
yesterday’s Quad-City Times. Excerpt from
report by the Times’ Ed Tibbetts: “A new
emphasis on precision strikes against
terrorist and other U.S. enemies in Iraq has
led to an emergency request of the Rock Island
Arsenal. The Arsenal has just been awarded
a contract to produce 1,000 new machine gun
pedestals to fit on light military vehicles.
Arsenal officials say they intend to
deliver the first 400 of the pedestals by the
end of next month. Al Wilson, the acting
commander at the Arsenal, said the Army put in
the emergency request because it does not have
enough of the pedestals to meet an unexpected
need in Iraq.”
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