FOCUS ON DC
DARRELL ISSA TAPPED BY SPEAKER
The House Select Committee on Intelligence is a very small, carefully chosen bi-partisan Committe on Capitol Hill. It is the members of this small group that are given exclusive briefings on covert operations, intelligence data and other confidential information and actions of the federal government. It is an important oversight role that is played by the members of this Committee as they literally have access to information that the vast majority of Congress does not. For years, the now-disgraced Duke Cunningham served on this committee. It was recently announced by Speaker Dennis Hastert that California Congressman Darrell Issa will be replacing Cunningham on this important panel. This is a great appointment for the Congressman, and increases his growing clout on Capitol Hill. Congratulations Darrell Issa!
GOT MILK?
Today I got a press release from the office of United States Senator Dianne Feinstein. FR readers will be comforted to know that the 
Senator is now the Co-Chairman of the newly formed Congressional Dairy Farmer Caucus. Along with the announcement were some important factoids such as:
- Americans drink more than 6 billion gallons of milk per year.
- Another 10 billion gallons of milk are used each year to produce cheese.
- Yogurt, ice cream, butter and other dairy products use another 4.2 billion gallons of milk.
Feinstein announced that among others, California GOP Congressman Devin Nunes (pictured) will co-chair this new group.
A suggestion for the caucus – declare that the best thing that the Congress can do for dairy farmers is reduce federal regulation of their business, and while they are at it, abolish the draconian death tax that causes family daily farms to be sold to pay estate taxes.
BIG-GOVERNMENT DELAY CALLS IT QUITS
Yesterday the embattled Tom Delay announced that he will be resigning from Congress and not seeking re-election. The translation here is undoubtedly that he felt that he could not win re-election to his House seat this Fall… That said, this is a good opportunity to share with FR readers that as I look objectively at the job that Delay did as the Majority Leader in the House of Representatives, by the single most important indicator, he was a failure. You see, Tom DeLay was considered to be the highest ranking and most visible conservative in Congress. Yet, it was under his watch that the federal government grew by leaps and bounds. Oh sure, on my battle fronts, Delay was able to achieve some conservative victories. But in the end, there was no line in the sand to even halt growth in government spending, let alone actually shrink the size and scope of the federal government. I’m sure a lot will be written about the tenure of Tom Delay, but unfortunately one major part of his political epitaph will be that he presided over government expansion, yet called himself a conservative. I should add, by the way, that if some find fault with my characterization of Delay, or feel that he actually tried to shrink government — well, by all means make your case. It just seems to me that as Majority Leader, you should be judged by the actions of the institution, rather than by unseen backroom machinations…
It has been reported today that John Garamendi, California’s Insurance Commissioner underwent heart surgery yesterday. The FR wants to wish a healthy and speedy recovery to Commissioner Garamendi.
Have a great day!
Jon
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