The Pentagon pays an average of $400 to put a gallon of fuel into a combat vehicle or aircraft in Afghanistan. The statistic is likely to play into the escalating debate in Congress over the cost of a war that entered its ninth year last week. Pentagon officials have told the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee a gallon of fuel costs the military about $400 by the time it arrives in the remote locations in Afghanistan where U.S. troops operate. “It is a number that we were not aware of...

Hartford (WTNH) - A new study shows a growing number of people don't identify with any religion leaving many to wonder if faith is being put on the back burner. "In God we trust"...or, do we? It seems when it comes to religion we, as a society, have become a bit skeptical. A new survey out of Trinity College , in Hartford, is sending shock waves across Connecticut and the country. "It's a very big change nationally," said Barry Kosmin of Trinity College. Kosmin and Ariela Keysar are the lead ...

Source: Washington Post TOLEDO, Ohio -- A federal judge has ruled that the U.S. government was wrong to freeze the assets of an Ohio-based charity accused of having ties to a militant Islamic group. U.S. District Judge James Carr said Tuesday the government shouldn't be allowed to close down an organization and freeze its assets without first getting a warrant. Attorneys for Kindhearts for Charitable Humanitarian Development say the government refused to say why the charity was essentially sh...

Source: The Hill Several Republican senators are urging Attorney General Eric Holder to scrap plans to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate CIA officials who interrogated suspected terrorists. In a letter to Holder sent Wednesday, the nine GOP Senators, including Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo.), the ranking member of the Intelligence Committee, said that the appointment of a special prosecutor could “have serious consequences, not just for the honorable members of the intelligence community, but...

On her good days, Metta Johnson can sit by a friend's pool and enjoy the sun. On her bad days, the 61-year-old Dallas woman with severe arthritis can do little more than lie in bed, writhing from the pain. But whatever each morning brings her, Johnson at least knows she's one day closer to receiving Medicare and the health care she hopes will improve her life. Besides covering 38 million Americans 65 and older, Medicare helps pay for the health care of more than 7 million younger Americans w...

Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), the former "Saturday Night Live" comedian, has turned out to be the only member of the Senate Judiciary Committee to stump Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor. In the process, he sparked the biggest laughs of the so-far dry hearing, living up to his reputation as a funnyman. Franken’s flash of humor was a departure from the cautious approach he has taken to public appearances since coming to the Senate last week after an eight-month legal battle with former Sen. No...

Perhaps desperate for new ways to undermine Barack Obama’s presidency, Fox News has joined forces with the “birthers,” the fringe who irrationally claim that Obama’s presidency is illegitimate because he was not born in the U.S. As Think Progress has reported, Obama’s Hawaii birth certificate is widely available on the internet. FactCheck.org has also extensively researched the subject. Their conclusion: Born in the U.S.A. But Fox News has started reporting on birthers without noting the ba...

Source: The Hill Reflecting the troubles President Obama will have wrangling his own party into line, a wing of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) is launching a new television advertisement targeting nine of its own senators on healthcare. The advertisement, funded by Organizing for America (OFA), will urge senators to back a major healthcare overhaul by spotlighting five Americans affected by high costs. <snip> Among centrist Democrats targeted by the advertisement, Sens. Blanc...

Source: Briefing Room The Hill Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) summoned the memories of his two late brothers to hail the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pension (HELP) Committee's passage of healthcare legislation Wednesday. "This room is a special place. In this room, my two brothers declared their candidacy for the presidency," Kennedy said in a statement following HELP's party-line vote to approve a healthcare bill for full Senate consideration. "Today, the nation takes another major step ...

Source: The Hill House Democrats will introduce their full healthcare reform bill Tuesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Monday while acknowledging she has much work left to do to win over members of her own caucus. "We’re still on schedule. We have plans to vote for this legislation before we leave for the August recess," Pelosi said at a news conference. Pelosi said, however, that the bill to be unveiled would have to undergo further changes during committee markup to garner eno...

Source: Associated Press PHOENIX (AP) — The U.S. Senate has confirmed Victor Mendez as the next administrator of the Federal Highway Administration. The confirmation was announced Monday by the highway administration. Executive director Jeff Paniati praised Mendez's leadership and experience. He has been acting administrator since January. Mendez started at the Arizona Department of Transportation in 1985 as a transportation engineer. He was promoted to deputy director in 1999 and acting dire...

HBO Carries a Torch For Teddy Kennedy The neatest trick of the week would be to make a film about the life of Edward M. Kennedy that wasn't compelling. The man has lived the equivalent of a hyper-dramatic autobiographical novel, a story to give one's emotions a workout and a continuing saga that involves the great issues -- and one of the major political dynasties -- of the 20th century. Even considering the intrinsic richness of the material, HBO producers have done a particularly laudable j...

Source: The Hill The White House on Monday said that President Obama would consider asking Congress to delay the summer break if he hasn't seen sufficient progress on healthcare reform by the August recess. Hours after Obama told reporters that he is "going to get this done," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said that it is unlikely legislation will be finalized before the recess. "Maybe," said a shrugging Gibbs. "I don't know." He added: "I don't think anyone was under the illusion ...

As if it's not bad enough we have to deal with Evan Bayh and his posse of Blue Dog Democrats in the Senate. A handful of conservative Republican senators "have made it their duty to review practically every amendment -- major or minor -- that passes through the Senate chamber, much to the chagrin of many Senators and staff who feel the self-appointed legislative gatekeepers are overstepping their bounds," Roll Call reports. The concerns of Sens. Tom Coburn (R-OK), Jim DeMint (R-SC) and, to a ...

Source: The Hill Key House Republicans are charging Attorney General Eric Holder of playing politics at the Justice Department. Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) said Holder has ignored at least three letters sent over the past month from Republicans demanding to know why Justice dismissed charges of voter intimidation filed against two members of the “New Black Panther Party for Self-Defense” (NBPP). NBPP National Chairman Milik Zulu Shabazz and party member Jerry Jackson both faces charges for violat...

Source: Associated Press WASHINGTON – The Associated Press has learned that President Barack Obama has chosen a well-known Alabama family physician, Dr. Regina Benjamin, to be the next surgeon general. <snip> Benjamin was the first black woman to head a state medical society, received the Nelson Mandela Award for Health and Human Rights and just last fall received a MacArthur Foundation "genius grant." But she made headlines in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, with her determination to ...

Source: Roll Call House Ways and Means Chairman Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) said Friday afternoon that the House’s health care bill would be unveiled Monday and would include a $540 billion tax increase on people making more than $350,000 a year. The tax increase, which would take effect in 2011, would hit the wealthiest Americans, Rangel said. Rates would become progressively higher, with those making at least $500,000 paying one rate and those bringing in $1 million or more paying the highest ra...

Source: The Hill Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) on Friday scolded Republicans for mischaracterizing briefings about a classified CIA program and revealed new details about alleged attempts to keep it secret from Congress. Eshoo, a senior member of the intelligence panel, disputed assertions by the panel’s ranking Republican, Rep. Pete Hoekstra (Mich.) that the CIA was not obligated to inform Congress about a specific classified program because it was not fully up and running. “That’s a total misc...

The Congressional Progressive Caucus has fired Bill Goold, its executive director, leaving the House Democrats’ liberal wing without a staff-level chief as they head into a critical legislative fight on health care. Goold’s termination was effective immediately. The reasons behind the dismissal are not yet clear. “He’s no longer with the caucus,” CPC spokesman Carl Rauscher said. “It’s a personnel matter and we can’t really discuss personnel matters.” He said the search to replace him is alread...

Source: Associated Press WASHINGTON – An appeals court has ruled, in a case arising from the Abramoff scandal, that statements federal lawmakers make during congressional ethics investigations cannot be used against them in criminal probes. The case involves former Florida Republican Rep. Tom Feeney and a golf trip he took to Scotland, paid for by now-imprisoned lobbyist Jack Abramoff. The House Ethics Committee said in 2007 that the trip violated House rules and Feeney agreed to pay the U.S....

Source: Roll Call House Democrats’ health care bill has been delayed indefinitely as leaders continue negotiations with fiscally conservative Blue Dog Democrats. Committee chairmen had planned to release their bill on Friday and begin marking it up on Monday, but notices were sent out this morning noting that both the release and markup would be delayed. Read more: (Link)

Source: The Hill Seventeen House members from both parties are calling on the Obama administration to investigate the Federal Reserve over its role in Bank of America's acquisition of Merrill Lynch at the height of the financial crisis. The deal has caused significant controversy on Capitol Hill, where Democrats and Republicans on the House Oversight Committee have held several hearings with former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Bank of America CEO ...

Source: The Hill The House rebuked President Obama for trying to ignore restrictions to international aid payments, voting overwhelmingly for an amendment forcing the administration to abide by its constraints. House members approved an amendment by a 429-2 vote to have the Obama administration pressure the World Bank to strengthen labor and environmental standards and require a Treasury Department report on World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) activities. The amendment to a 2010 f...

Source: Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The face of homelessness in the United States is changing to include more families and more people who live in the suburbs and rural communities. The number of homeless has remained steady since 2007, but within the overall count are trends that can tell officials where federal resources would do the most good, the Housing and Urban Development Department says in its annual report to Congress being released Thursday. About 1.6 million people used a h...

Source: The Hill Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-Pa.) has taken up the mantle as the chief opponent of "Don't ask, don't tell" in Congress, and he's confident the policy banning gays from serving openly in the military will get its first full committee hearing in a decade and a half this session. Murphy, a second-term Democrat, will be lead sponsor of the Military Readiness Enhancement Act, which would repeal "Don't ask, don't tell" — a policy first passed by Congress and signed into law under Presiden...

Source: Associated Press ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — An environmental group has given formal notice that it will sue the federal government to protect polar bears from pesticide pollution. The Center for Biological Diversity on Wednesday gave 60-day notice it will sue the Environmental Protection Agency for failing to consider the effects of pesticides on polar bears and their Arctic habitat. Read more: (Link) The Center for Biological Diversity Press Release Polar Bears Poisoned by Pesticide...

Source: Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Lawyers for a Guantanamo detainee charged in federal court in Manhattan with terrorism offenses have asked the U.S. government to preserve locations where he was held overseas at so-called "Black Sites." The lawyers filed papers Tuesday seeking a court order to compel the government to preserve the locations so they can inspect them prior to his trial. Read more: (Link)

Source: Associated Press LAS VEGAS (AP) — A federal judge has refused to throw out a lawsuit by a woman accusing Republican Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons of accosting her outside a Las Vegas restaurant in October 2006. U.S. District Court Judge Roger Hunt ruled former waitress Chrissy Mazzeo can go forward with allegations of retaliation and cover-up by Gibbons and several other defendants. In a ruling filed Monday, the judge tossed out Mazzeo's claim that her due process rights were violated and t...

Source: Associated Press ATLANTA — The percentage of Americans with private health insurance has hit its lowest mark in 50 years, according to two new government reports. About 65 percent of non-elderly Americans had private insurance in 2008, down from 67 percent the year before, according to preliminary data released Wednesday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "It's bad news," said Kenneth Thorpe, a health policy researcher at Emory University. In the 1970s and early...

Source: Associated Press NEW YORK – Authorities are pursuing charges against 10 more people in the Bernard Madoff financial scandal after the mastermind of one of the biggest financial frauds in history was sentenced to spend the rest of his days behind bars, The Associated Press has learned. A person familiar with the investigation, speaking on condition of anonymity because the probe is ongoing, wouldn't detail what the potential charges would be or say whether the 10 people include Madoff's...