The Daily Muck

Specter Prepping Bill to Sue Bush
“”We will submit legislation to the United States Senate which will…authorize the Congress to undertake judicial review of those signing statements with the view to having the president’s acts declared unconstitutional,” Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said on the Senate floor. Specter’s announcement came the same day that an American Bar Association task force concluded that by attaching conditions to legislation, the president has sidestepped his constitutional duty to either sign a bill, veto it, or take no action.” (AP)

No Security Clearances Revoked over Plame
“No one in the Bush administration has been stripped of security clearances over the leak of former CIA officer Valerie Plame’s identity to reporters three years ago. In a letter to Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., the CIA said it had no record of anyone in the administration who is no longer privy to the nation’s most sensitive secrets because of the Plame leak.” (AP)

Inspector Says Terror Watch List Too Vague
“Travelers whose names are similar to those on the watch list can be questioned and held for hours before being admitted into the country, according to a report released Monday by Homeland Security Inspector General Richard L. Skinner. That results in “an extremely inefficient use” of border officers’ time, Skinner’s report concluded.” (AP)

US Evacuation of Lebanon Challenged in Lawsuit
“An Arab-American civil rights group filed a federal lawsuit on Monday charging the Bush administration with failing to protect the lives of thousands of U.S. citizens trapped in Lebanon by the Israeli military offensive. The lawsuit, which was filed by the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, seeks an emergency court order that would compel the U.S. government to stop sending weapons to Israel as long as U.S. citizens are trying to leave Lebanon.” (Reuters)

Lawmakers Urge Funds for U.S. Attorneys
See our earlier story on this here.
“Justice Department spokeswoman Kathleen M. Blomquist laid much of the blame on Congress, saying members have repeatedly rejected administration requests for higher funding and have taken back $120 million intended for prosecutor pay raises and other expenses since 2003. “As this trend has developed, we have urged Congress to support the president’s request to fully fund the U.S. attorneys offices so that we can return additional prosecutors to the courtroom,” Blomquist said in a statement.” (WaPo)

Justice Prosecutors Request Abramoff Docs from Congress
Here’s a head-scratcher: the Justice Department last month asked for documents — dating no later than 2003 — concerning the Senate Rules Committee’s handling of Abramoff-related matters. It also requested files from the recent investigation conducted by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. Congress has reportedly assented to the Rules Committee document request. (The Hill)

Santorum Spreads Campaign Cash to Personal Staff
“Santorum’s campaign committee, and to a lesser degree his America’s Foundation political action committee, have paid 12 members of his personal staff and the GOP Conference [over $82,000 for] a variety of activities, ranging from reimbursements for meals and travel expenses to “political consulting fees,” in addition to being actual paid members of his campaign staff.”

The arrangement appears legal, but unwise. As a Congressional guidebook declares, ““the public’s perception of the conduct of an elected official and his or her staff may have significance beyond the mere conformity with the technical requirements of rules or statutes … [staff] activity may be an easy target for political opponents seeking media attention by charging that official government personnel are being used for private political campaigning, raising the specter of appearances of impropriety.” (Roll Call)

Will Bob Dole Enter the Fray in Connecticut?
Connecticut Republicans think they might be able to convince Alan Schlesinger to drop out as the GOP’s nominee if former presidential candidate Bob Dole — husband of Elizabeth Dole, chair of the GOP effort to keep control of the Senate — were to help talk the struggling candidate down off the ledge they say he’s perched upon. (Political Wire)

Marshals: Innocent People Placed On ‘Watch List’ To Meet Quota
“You could be on a secret government database or watch list for simply taking a picture on an airplane. Some federal air marshals say they’re reporting your actions to meet a quota, even though some top officials deny it. The air marshals, whose identities are being concealed, told 7NEWS that they’re required to submit at least one report a month. If they don’t, there’s no raise, no bonus, no awards and no special assignments.” (ABC7)

Election is Problem for Abramoff-Tainted Senator’s Bill
” GOP leaders want to spare Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT) the uncertainty of managing a bill on the floor as Democrats look to score political points before the election, according to appropriations aides.” (The Hill)

Despite Bribery Allegations, Political Prospects Still Bright for Rep. Jefferson
“Simple logic dictates that U.S. Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA), who sits squarely in the cross hairs of a sprawling federal corruption investigation, should be considered politically vulnerable as the fall election season draws near. But with the deadline to sign up for the Nov. 7 congressional race less than three weeks away, the silence on the campaign trail is deafening. In fact, the embattled eight-term New Orleans Democrat has drawn only one announced opponent, a political unknown.” (Times Picayune)

Taiwanese Man Sentenced in Weapons Plot
“A Taiwanese businessman who once worked for U.S. defense contractor Lockheed Martin was sentenced Monday to 6 1/2 years in prison for attempting to buy sophisticated military weaponry for the Chinese government.” (AP)

Rep. Harris Says She is Cancer-Free
“An ovarian mass that U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris had removed last week is benign, her campaign said Monday.” (AP)

Friends of DeLay Say He Does Not Want To Be Majority Leader Again
“‘He can’t see himself ever becoming majority leader again, let alone House speaker — and he sees no point in crawling over glass to get elected only to be a backbencher after so many years as a member of the House leadership,’ a Republican confidante of [Former Rep. Tom] DeLay [R-TX] says. Publicly, his stance is different. ‘The Hammer,’ who faces trial in Texas, has implied that he will campaign hard if Democrats win their legal battle to keep the Texas GOP from replacing his name on the November ballot. His chances of winning have improved as sympathy for him has grown even among Republican voters in his district who had developed ‘DeLay fatigue’ after 21 years of his service in Congress.” (Insider Politics)

Important Financial Information Buried in Congressmen’s Financial Reports
By providing more information [on their public financial disclosure forms], some politicians actually seem to be revealing less. The average House member’s 2005 report is 15 pages, while the average senator filed 18. Of the 32 members of Congress who attached documents, the Center found that the longest report was 608 pages of extensive investment account and tax statements. Politicians can show disdain for what can be a cumbersome process by providing only minimal information or by inundating the reader with hundreds of pages of attachments, McGehee of the Campaign Legal Center said. ‘It’s a kind of bedding, if you will,’ she said. ‘Most reporters are lazy and won’t go through it.’ Other politicians put it all out there so nobody can blame them for withholding anything. ‘The majority of officeholders do make a good-faith effort,’ McGehee added.” (Capital Eye)

McCain’s Gaming Bill Too Strict, or Not Strict Enough
“Some of the senators who are openly opposed [to Senator John McCain’s (R-AZ) gaming bill], such as Sen. David Vitter, R-La., Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, and Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., want the legislation to have even more teeth. They are concerned about a grandfather exemption for any tribe that put in an application with the Interior Department by April 15, 2006, for off-reservation gaming.” (Arizona Republic)

Some House Dems Want State Deparment WMD Report Before Considering India Legislation
“Three Democrats in Congress wrote Monday to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice requesting the Department issue its semi-annual report, as required by the Iran-Syria Nonproliferation Act….The law was passed in 2005 to amend an earlier law, the Iran Non- Proliferation Act of 2000. The reporting requirements, which are mentioned in the letter to Seretary Rice state, require a report to Congress every six months. The most recent report was submitted to Congress in December 2005.” (Raw Story)

Rep. Hefley defends Mollohan
“Former House ethics committee Chairman Joel Hefley (R-CO) last week quietly inserted a statement into the Congressional Record defending Democratic Rep. Alan Mollohan’s (D-WV) service on the panel and scolding GOP leaders for attempting to change ethics rules at the start of the 109th Congress.” (The Hill)

Senator Says Environmentalists Akin to Third Reich
“Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) is the nation’s most prominent global warming denier. He famously declared that global warming is “the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people.” Now, he’s taken the argument a step further. In an interview with Tulsa World, Inhofe compared people who believed global warming was a problem to Nazis.” (Think Progress)