Media

On Wednesday the New York Times reported:

Hurricane Center's Director Is Replaced After a Mutiny

Kenneth Chang, New York Times - July 10, 2007

Without ever presiding over a hurricane forecast, the director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami left his position yesterday, ending a tumultuous half-year stay.

The director, X. William Proenza, had rankled his bosses with public criticisms of spending priorities. Then, last week, almost half of his staff signed a letter calling for him to be replaced.

Mr. Proenza, who became director in January, is now on leave, said Anson Franklin, a spokesman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which oversees the hurricane center. "Bill Proenza continues to serve as a NOAA employee," Mr. Franklin said.

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]

* Hearing on Tillman, Lynch Incidents: What Was Known [The Gavel]

* Hearing on Tillman, Lynch Incidents: A Callous Reaction [The Gavel]

* Hearing on Tillman, Lynch Incidents: "Tampered" [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. Specifically, it would reform the voucher funding formula to increase eligibility and eliminate inefficiency; authorize 20,000 incremental Section 8 vouchers in each of the next 5 years, for a total of 100,000 new vouchers; encourage economic self-sufficiency; promote homeownership; simplify the voucher, public housing, and Section 8 programs; increase tenant protections; expand the housing innovation program; and attach vouchers to housing units.

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. 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.

From the Oversight and Government Reform Committee:

Rep. Waxman to Introduce the "Surgeon General Independence Act"

WASHINGTON, DC -- Today Rep. Henry A. Waxman announced his plans to introduce legislation to protect the Surgeon General from political interference. On Tuesday, the Oversight Committee held a hearing at which three former Surgeons General testified regarding the damage the political interference has done to the ability of the Surgeon General to speak openly and honestly with the American public about threats to public health.