Blog Post

From the Judiciary Committee:

House Judiciary Committee Issues Subpoena for RNC Documents

(Washington, DC) - Today, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI), issued a subpoena for documents from the Republican National Committee (RNC) as part of ongoing congressional investigations into the targeted purge of US Attorneys and related matters. The Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law authorized Conyers to issue the subpoena yesterday.

On April 24, 2007 the Oversight Committee held a hearing, "Misleading Information from the Battlefield," which focused on the rescue of Army Private Jessica Lynch in Iraq and the death of Army Ranger Specialist Patrick Tillman in Afghanistan. The Gavel covered the hearing extensively, which left many disturbing questions unanswered:

* Oversight Committee Hearing on Tillman, Lynch Incidents [The Gavel]

Last night the House passed the Section 8 Voucher Reform Act of 2007, H.R. 1851, sponsored by Rep. Maxine Waters (CA-35). The bill expands the number of families receiving vouchers by 20,000 a year for each of the next five years and ensures the program works effectively for the nation's low income working families with children, elderly and disabled.

The House has passed the Responsible Redeployment from Iraq Act by a vote of 223-201. This marks the largest vote in favor of redeployment to date.

The legislation, sponsored by Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton, would begin the responsible redeployment of U.S. troops within 120 days and complete redeployment by April 1, 2008.

From the Oversight and Government Reform Committee:

The House is currently debating HR 2956, the Responsible Redeployment from Iraq Act. The legislation, sponsored by Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton, would begin the responsible redeployment of U.S. troops within 120 days and complete redeployment by April 1, 2008. The President would have to report to Congress why troops should remain in Iraq for limited purposes such as to fight terrorism or to train Iraqi forces.

Rep. Lloyd Doggett (TX-25) spoke during the debate on the rule.

The report describes a policy badly in need of a New Direction. The report is not a snapshot of what is happening in Iraq today, but a sad reality of what has been occurring in that country for the past few years.

Since the President announced his surge six months ago, we've lost nearly 600 American troops and spent more than $60 billion. But by the Bush Administration's own admission, there is unsatisfactory progress on the key benchmarks endorsed by the President in January and political reconciliation is non-existent.

In May, Representative Louise Slaughter (NY-28), Chairwoman of the Rules Committee, requested a report on the contracting for armored vehicles and up-armoring equipment headed to Iraq. The Pentagon Inspector General has just released the report, entitled "Procurement Policy for Armored Vehicles."

Read the report (pdf) >>

Armored Vehicles Chronically Late