THE UNIVERSITY DARRY KANSAN
THURSDAY, MAY 10, 2007
NEWS
>> WAR IN IRAQ
7A
Bill to stop funds faces veto
Travis Heving/ASSOCIATED PRESS
President Bush and White House staff are threatening to veto a proposed House bill that pay for the war through July.
BY ANNE FLAHERTY
AND LOLITA C. B
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON - The White House threatened on Wednesday to veto a proposed House bill that would pay for the war only through July - a limit Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned would be disastrous.
The warnings came as Democratic leaders wrestled with how to support the troops but still challenge President Bush on the war. Bush has requested more than $90 billion to sustain the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through September.
Democrats were unbowed.
"With this latest veto threat, the president has once again chosen confrontation over cooperation," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
In a flash of defiance, House Democratic leaders this week promoted legislation that would provide the military $42.8 billion to keep operations going through July, buy new equipment and train Iraqi and Afghan security forces. Congress would decide shortly before its August recess whether to release an additional $52.8 billion to fund the war through September.
"In essence, the bill asks me to run the Department of Defense like a skiff, and I'm trying to drive the biggest supertanker in the world," Gates told senators Wednesday. "And we just don't have the agility to be able to manage a two-month appropriation very well."
The veto threat came from White House spokesman Tony Snow, traveling aboard Air Force One with Bush to tour tornado damage in Kansas.
"There are restrictions on funding and there are also some of the spending items that were mentioned in the first veto message that are still in the bill." Snow said.
House members planned a vote Thursday, just two days after David Obey (D-Wis.) chairman of the
Appropriations Committee, briefed White House chief of staff Josh Bolten on the plan.
The stern White House response also reflected the high stakes involved for Bush, who is struggling to beat back congressional skepticism about his Iraq strategy. In recent days, Bush has tried to shore up support by personally reaching out to moderate Republican and Democratic rank-and-file.
Democrats face their own uphill battle. Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), say they want to provide troops the resources they need. At the same time, several members within their caucus are calling to cut off funds for the unpopular and costly war.
Democratic leaders acknowledge the new Iraq bill might pass in the House only to sink in the Senate. where Democrats hold a slimmer majority and are more reluctant than their House counterparts to restrict war funds.
"The House and Senate may take different paths forward, but we share a single goal — namely, to write legislation that responsibly provides for our troops while ensuring that the Iraqi people take greater control over their own future," said Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), chairman of the Appropriations Committee.
Pentagon plans to maintain a buildup of U.S. forces in Iraq through the end of the year.
In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Gates left open the possibility of bringing troops home soon, even as the
"If (we) see some very positive progress and it looks like things are heading in the right direction, then that's the point at which I think we can begin to consider reducing some of those forces." Gates said.
Gates told the panel that proposals for a short-term funding bill would be very disruptive and "have a huge impact" on contracts to repair and replace equipment. And if Congress votes in July to pull the plug on war funding, "I would have to shut down significant elements of the Department of Defense in August and September because I wouldn't have the money to pay salaries."
IMMIGRATION
City churches house illegals
BY PETER PRENGAMAN ASSOCIATED PRESS
"We want to put a human face to very complex immigration laws and awaken the consciousness of the human spirit," said Father Richard Estrada of Our Lady Queen of Angels Catholic Church in Los Angeles, where one illegal immigrant will live.
Organizers agents will make arrests inside the churches.
Organizers don't believe immi-
LOS ANGELES — Churches in five big U.S. cities plan to protect illegal immigrants from deportation, offering their buildings as sanctuary if need be, as they pressure lawmakers to create a path to citizenship for the nation's estimated 12 million illegal immigrants.
Beginning Wednesday, a Catholic church in Los Angeles and a Lutheran church in North Hollywood each intend to shelter one person, and churches in other cities plan to do so in coming months as part of the "New Sanctuary Movement."
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has not tried to arrest Elvira Arellano, an illegal immigrant who has taken shelter at a Methodist
sanctuary in churches, although she noted agents had the authority to arrest anyone violating immigration law.
The faith groups "don't seem to realize that they are being charitable with someone else's resources, and that's not charity," said Ira Mehlman of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which favors limits on immigration.
Anti-illegal-immigration groups called the sanctuary effort misguided.
"We are talking about illegal immigrants taking someone else's job, filling up the classroom of someone else's child," he said.
The sanctuary effort is loosely based on a movement in the 1980s, when churches harbored Central American refugees fleeing wars in their home countries. Organizers of the current movement include members of the Jewish, Muslim, Catholic and other faiths.
"We are talking about illegal immigrants taking someone else's job, filling up the classroom of someone else's child."
Participating churches in San
IRA MEHLMAN Federation for American Immigration Reform
ICE spokeswoman Virginia Kice declined to say if agents would attempt to arrest others who take
church in Chicago since August. Her son is a U.S. citizen and he has lobbied in the Mexican legislature on behalf of families that would be split if parents are deported.
hurries in san Diego, Seattle, Chicago and New York won't initially house illegal immigrants. Instead, leaders will provide legal counsel, accompany them to court hearings and prepare plans to house them in churches if authorities try
to deport them.
The plans come as immigration reform legislation has been stalled since last summer, and tens of thousands of illegal immigrants have been detained and deported in stepped-up immigration raids in recent months.
STOCK MARKET
Federal Reserve not changing interest rates
BY MADLEN READ ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — Wall Street wobbled, then regained its stride Wednesday after the Federal Reserve told investors what they expected to hear: that inflation is still too high for comfort, but the central bank is holding interest rates steady. The Dow Jones industrials rose to another record close.
The central bank's Open Market Committee as anticipated left interest rates unchanged at 5.25 percent, as it has done since last summer. The statement that accompanied the decision was little changed from the one the Fed released after its last meeting in March; the assessment said policy makers were keeping their inflation watch the priority despite a slower economy.
Though some investors were hoping the Fed would raise the possibility of a future rate cut, they weren't surprised by the committee's stance.
Moreover, they were relieved to hear the Fed is not more inclined to raise rates, a move that would make access to capital more expensive and potentially hurt the stock market.
"The Fed said we're not going anywhere," Larry Smith, chief investment officer at Third Wave Global Investors. "They're not saying inflation is going to the moon, they're not saying it's a huge problem right now, but they're concerned that inflation won't come down to their comfort range."
Stocks drew support Wednesday from more takeover news, particularly speculation about a possible bid by mining company BHP Billiton Ltd. for rival Rio Tinto Group. Investors were also pleased about a government report that showed that after three months of declines, the nation's gasoline inventories rose last week. If they keep increasing, fuel costs for U.S. drivers are likely to ease.
The Dow Jones industrial aver
age rose 53.80, or 0.40 percent, to
13,362.87, after reaching a new trading
high of 13,369.29. It was the blue chip index's 21st record close since
the beginning of the year.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index advanced 4.86, or 0.32 percent, to 1,512.58 — a new six-and-a-half year high. The index is near its closing record of 1,527.46, reached March 24, 2000.
The Nasdaq composite index rose 4.59, or 0.18 percent, to 2,576.34.
The stock market has reacted well to the Fed's rate stance; the Dow has hit 43 record closes since the start of October, soon after the Fed stopped raising rates.
"I think the markets can react favorably without the Fed lowering rates," said Steven Goldman, chief market strategist at Weeden & Co., noting that rates will remain stable as long as the economy keeps growing moderately, as the Fed predicts it will, and inflation doesnt accelerate too much.