Congressional Climate

Table of Contents

HEARINGS TO DEFEND MUSLIM RIGHTS?

MISSOURI GOP AMENDING COMPLAINT AGAINST MCCASKILL

RNC IN DEBT

Congressional
Climate Bill Tracking

H.R.658 - FAA Reauthorization and Reform Act of 2011

H.R.164 - Damaged Vehicle Information Act

H.R.514 - FISA Sunsets Extension Act of 2011

H.R.1 - Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2011

H.R.4 - Small Business Paperwork Mandate Elimination Act of 2011

H.R.96 - Internet Freedom Act

H.R.605 - Patients' Freedom to Choose Act

S.244 - State Health Care Choice Act

Video Of The Day

Yemen Demonstrators Won't Take 'No' From Saleh

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Please enjoy today's issue of the Congressional Climate newsletter, brought to you by Lobbyit.com!

Today's Hill Action:

THE SENATE:

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SENATE COMMITTEES:

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THE HOUSE:

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HOUSE COMMITTEES:

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US Senate to hold hearing on Muslim rights

A US Senate committee said Tuesday it will hold a hearing next week on protecting the civil rights of American Muslims, two weeks after another panel hotly debated the threat posed by homegrown Islamists.

The US Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights session on March 29 follows a hugely controversial March 11 hearing by the House Homeland Security Committee on domestic terror threats.

Democratic Assistant Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin announced he would lead next week's session in response to what his office, in a statement, called "the spike in anti-Muslim bigotry in the last year."

"During the course of our history, many religions have faced intolerance. It is important for our generation to renew our founding charter's commitment to religious diversity and to protect the liberties guaranteed by our Bill of Rights," Durbin said.

His office cited "Koran burnings, restrictions on mosque construction, hate crimes, hate speech, and other forms of discrimination" and said the session would focus on "measures to protect the civil rights of American Muslims."

Witnesses will include a Muslim civil rights leader, US Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the top civil rights official in the US Justice Department, and that official's predecessor under former president George W. Bush.

Missouri GOP to Amend McCaskill Ethics Complaint

Sen. Claire McCaskill acknowledged Monday that she and her husband failed to pay $287,000 in property taxes on a private aircraft that she used for official Senate travel and announced she intended to sell the "damn" plane.

The Missouri Democrat, who is up for re-election in 2012, announced earlier this month that she would pay the U.S. Treasury $88,000 after a report in Politico that McCaskill had used official funds to pay for fuel and other costs related to her use of the plane for Senate-related duties and at least one political event.

"The former auditor in me wanted to take a really close look at everything surrounding this plane. So I began a thorough review of the plane and all of the flights that have been taken," McCaskill said, according to a recording of the conference call provided by her office.

McCaskill said her review revealed that she and her husband had failed to pay property taxes on the plane following its purchase in 2007. She vowed to immediately repay those taxes, which amounted to about $287,000 in total.

"I have convinced my husband to sell the damn plane. He has hired a broker. And I can tell you I will not be setting foot on the plane ever again," McCaskill said. "This is just more trouble than it's worth," she later added.

She emphasized that the couple had not sought to hide the plane from tax authorities, noting that the couple had paid monthly sales taxes related to aircraft totaling nearly $39,000.

"This is just a mistake, which as I said, I take responsibility for," McCaskill said.

In addition, the Missouri lawmaker said her review remains open and she is reviewing whether her campaign committee may need to report additional in-kind contributions for use of the aircraft.

"We are determining if in-kind contributions from me need to be filed," she said.

The Missouri Republican Party announced this month that it requested that the Senate Ethics Committee investigate McCaskill and her use of the aircraft.

McCaskill is a top target for defeat by the GOP in 2012, when she will face her first re-election test. The National Republican Senatorial Committee on Monday circulated a video hitting McCaskill on the plane issue.

"Can Missouri voters even believe anything Senator McCaskill says anymore? This is the third time in less than two weeks that she's had to change her story about her private plane, and she only admitted any of her wrongdoing once she got caught by the media," NRSC Executive Director Rob Jesmer said in a statement after McCaskill's conference call. "Now, millionaire Claire McCaskill wants to simply write yet another big check and hope people won't ask any more questions."

RNC Has $21 Million in Debt

The Republican National Committee was $21 million in debt in February, a stark figure illustrating the deep hole the party must dig out from following a rocky financial year.

The RNC reported Sunday that it raised $5.2 million in February and paid $1 million toward the outstanding debt left by former Chairman Michael Steele.

The $21 million debt is larger than initially thought, because the party discovered an additional $1 million in unpaid bills last month, a committee source said. That included being slapped with a $650,000 bank fee for having a low balance.

The Democratic National Committee raised $6.9 million in February and had $10.5 million in cash on hand at the beginning of the month, according to the DNC. It was $17.9 million in debt.

RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said in a statement that party officials have "reexamined contracts, cut overhead by 35 percent, and exceeded our major donor fundraising goals by 200 percent in just two short months."

"We continue to receive bills from previous commitments but we have turned a corner and feel good about the direction of our Committee and our Party," he said. "Based on the success of the past two months, I am confident we will have the resources to defeat President Obama."

As Roll Call reported following an interview with Priebus this month, the chairman is examining regular expenses and trying to shed leased cars he said the RNC does not need.

In his statement Sunday, Priebus said he will "focus like a laser" on repairing frayed relationships with donors.

After becoming chairman in January, Priebus revealed that the party's financial situation was worse than it seemed.

Until tomorrow,

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