The Washington Bureau will be covering the following:
The Republican National Committee will hold a conference call briefing to discuss the “failed $862 billion stimulus package and President Obama’s visit to Columbus, Ohio” with Ohio State Auditor and candidate of Lieutenant Governor Mary Taylor.
Vice President Joe Biden will announce new Initiatives for identifying and eliminating government waste, fraud, and abuse with Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag.
A phone interview with Prince William County (Virginia) Board Chairman Corey Stewart about his proposal to enact Arizona’s illegal immigration bill in Virginia.

By Sarah Mamula
Talk Radio News Service
Though U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dimitry Medvedev signed the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) in Prague this past April, Congress has to yet to ratify.
Appearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton defended START, saying it will limit strategic offensive arms in both the U.S. and Russia in order to ensure stability and predictability between the two nations that together, possess 90% of the world’s nuclear weapons.
Despite bipartisan enthusiasm for ratification, Ranking Member John McCain (R-Ariz.) said he has concerns over the potential constraints in missile defense due to the inclusion of Article 5, as well as a unilateral statement made by Russia at the time of the signing that stated Russia would only validate START if the U.S. halted its defense missile build-up.
“That is a strong statement at the time of the signing,” said McCain.
Clinton, however, downplayed its significance, telling the committee, “We are not bound by it. In fact, we’ve issued our own statement making clear that the United States intends to continue improving and deploying effective missile defense systems.”
Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates, who also testified, agreed with Clinton’s view that neither Article 5 nor Russia’s statement would affect U.S. missile defense capabilities.
According to Gates, the new START retains U.S. power to maintain, modernize and deploy “the most effective missile defenses possible.”
When questioned about a recent press report claiming that secret negotiations regarding restrictions on defense missiles were occurring, Clinton defended the transparency of the U.S.-Russia negotiations on the treaty.
“There is no secret deal,” she stressed. “There is no plan to limit U.S. missile defenses in this treaty.”

The Supreme Court today said that it was reasonable for the Ontario, California, police department to read the messages from a SWAT team member’s official pager, even though the pager contained personal messages.
The police sergeant whose pager was searched, Jeff Quon, had been told that no one would look at the messages if he paid any overage charges, even though official department policy forbid him from using the pager for personal matters.
After Quon repeatedly exceeded the message limit, supervisors checked the messages and found sexually explicit personal messages the officer had sent to his estranged wife and another woman. Quon was then disciplined.
The case had been expected to settle questions of privacy expectations in electronic communications, but Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for a unanimous court, said that the search of the pager had a reasonable, work-related purpose—to determine whether the message limits were high enough for official purposes.
“Because the search was motivated by a legitimate work­ related purpose, and because it was not excessive in scope, the search was reasonable,” Kennedy wrote.
Therefore, Kennedy said there was no need to consider whether Quon had an expectation of privacy in the messages. Kennedy additionally dismissed privacy claims by the senders and recipients of Quon’s messages, saying that the other parties had not argued that they had independent claims to privacy.
In a part of the decision criticized by Justice Antonin Scalia, Kennedy wrote that courts should be careful when making decisions about privacy rights in electronic communications. He noted that “rapid changes in the dynamics of communication and information transmission are evident not just in the tech­nology itself but in what society accepts as proper behavior.”
Kennedy suggested courts should wait before making broad pronouncements, since “it is uncertain how workplace norms, and the law’s treatment of them, will evolve.”

By Robert Hune-Kalter
Talk Radio News Service
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates told members of the Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday that the military may soon have to resort to doing “stupid things” unless Congress passes a $33 supplemental spending request.
The Senate already approved a measure, but the version in the House has stalled. With funding for the Navy and Marine Corps set to dry up next month, Gates called on the lower chamber to get its act together.
“We begin to have to do stupid things if the supplemental is not passed by July 4,” he said.
Gates and Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also defended the DOD’s budget request for 2011.
“These budget requests reflect America’s commitment to see that our forces have the tools they need to prevail in the wars we are in, and while making the investments necessary to prepare for threats on or beyond the horizon,” said Gates.
DOD is requesting $549 billion dollars for 2011. Gates discussed major priorities of the department and named areas that have been terminated or completed from the 2010 budget. There was discussion on the completion of the C-17 Globemaster and foreseeable closure of the production line.
“I question why it is in our nation’s interest to close the only active production line for long range air lifters when there is no replacement being developed,” said Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo.)
Mullen said that based on extensive studies, the requirement for the C-17 is not needed beyond the 223 currently in service. He stressed the importance of balance between the advancement of all aspects of the military.
“We must maintain our conventional advantages,” said Mullen. “It means never having to fight a fair fight.”

By Alexa Gitler-Talk Radio News Service
A group of bipartisan Congressmen said Wednesday that they defended Israel’s right to protect its citizens against terrorist threats and denounced calls for the UN to conduct an external investigation into the May 31 incident involving the Gaza blockade.
“Support for Israel in this Congress and in this nation, is bipartisan, and we are here simply to speak with one voice to support Israel’s right to protect themselves as a sovereign democratic nation,” said Congressman Eliot Engel (D-NY).
Engel, joined by Congressmen Ted Poe (R-TX), Minority Whip Eric Cantor (VA), Shelley Berkley (D-NV), Mike Pence (R-IN) and Pete King (R-NY), came to a consensus regarding America’s involvement with Israel. The biparitsan group said that, collectively, the United States should stand with Israel and vigorously fight against the U.N. and their bias treatment towards Israel.
“We are here not only to urge this administration to veto any such resolution [from the UN directed towards Israel] but to stand up and speak up in opposition to such right now,” Cantor said.
Poe announced that a letter he co-authored with Representative Gary Peters (D-MI) was signed by 126 bipartisan Congressmen, including Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (MD) and Minority Leader John Boehner (OH), and is being sent to President Barack Obama today.
“The U.S. must continue to stand by Israel and continue to use U.S. influence and, if necessary, veto power to prevent any biased or one-sided resolutions from passing [in the UN],” said Poe.
“The United States needs to do everything in its power to stand by our most reliable ally on the planet, the only democracy in a very dangerous part in the world,” Berkley said. “Stand as one with the state of Israel, that’s where our destiny lies, that’ where we should be and that’s where we need to be.”

North Korea today rejected as a “complete fabrication” the allegations it was behind the sinking of a South Korean military ship back in March and Sin Son Ho, the DPRK’s Ambassador to the United Nations who almost never talks to the media, told a rare press conference in New York today that any Security Council action taken against Pyongyang will result in a military response.
“If any action is taken against us, I lose my job and the military will have its own job” said Sin, who contends the current accusations against his government are aimed at promoting US interests in the region. “The South Korean authorities released the investigation result on May 20th 2010, coinciding with the start of the local election in South Korea and the beginning of US secretary of State’s visit to Japan. It is clear that all these announcements were pre-scheduled according to the timetable of the Obama political events” said Sin, who contends the US has also used the tragedy help secure the future of its military base in Okinawa Japan.
Sin attacked the independence and scientific value of the South Korean investigation, arguing that the South had refused to provide Pyongyang’s experts with access to the site or the ship’s communication records. He even suggested that the South might have sunk its own ship by mistake or even grounded it on the rocks.
Asked if his government had ruled out the use of nuclear weapons in retaliation to possible Security Council action, Sin would only say: “Nuclear weapons is are our deterrent, because we are always threatened by outside forces”
On March 26th the South Korean naval ship Cheonan mysteriously sank near the North’s Yellow Sea coast, resulting in the death of 46 sailors. A South Korean investigation carried out with help from international observers concluded the ship had been torpedoed by one of the North’s submarines and on Monday, South Korean officials presented the report to the Security Council in the hopes the UN body would take action against Kim Jong Il’s regime.

By Linn Grubbstrom – Talk Radio News Service
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) told reporters Tuesday that a $30 billion fund for small business loans currently under consideration in the House would simplify the conditions for small businesses to acquire capital and would increase their ability to hire new employees.
“All of these are designed to get more money in the hands of small businesses, to expand and to create jobs all over the country,” said Hoyer.
President Barack Obama outlined the importance of the fund, as well as a number of other spending measures, in a letter sent to Congressional leaders Saturday evening, and described the fund as a “cost-effective [way] of spurring job creation.”
Although there has been grumbling on the right that the legislation amounts to a bail out, Hoyer highlighted the fact that small business owners and entrepreneurs support both sides of the aisle and said that Republicans should realize that when Congress votes on the small business legislation this week.
“I hope that the Republicans will come together and support this legislation because there are Republican small businessmen and Democrat small businessmen who are not able to get capital,” said Hoyer. “All small businesses are struggling to get capital.”

Rep. Bob Etheridge (D-N.C.) issued a statement Monday apologizing for a heated on-camera exchange with individuals who identified themselves as students working on a project.
“I deeply and profoundly regret my reaction and I apologize for all involved,” the statement reads. “No matter how intrusive and partisan our politics can become, this does not justify a poor response.”
The video that prompted the response surfaced Monday morning and quickly gained attention on a number of blogs. It opens with the Congressman being asked on a D.C. street if he fully supports President Barack Obama’s agenda. Etheridge is then seen slapping the camera and repeatedly asking “who are you?” before taking the questioner by the wrist and the back of the neck in a seemingly hostile manner.
The questioner, whose face is blurred out, claims in the video that he is “just a student.”

by Miles Wolf Tamboli
Talk Radio News Service
Director of New America Foundation’s Energy Initiative Lisa Margonelli recently released a new energy initiative that aims to “reduce US oil demand by more than 3 million barrels a day by 2020.”
Secure Transportation Reducing Oil Needs Gradually, or STRONG America 2020, hopes to reduce American dependence on oil without new technology, vehicles or fuels.
“[STRONG America 2020] doesn’t use any alternative fuels or alternative vehicles … we have some perverse incentives built into our system for using energy and for purchasing energy in the US, and it addresses those, and it also encourages energy efficiency,” Margonelli told Talk Radio News in an interview.
Margonelli said that Americans do not pay the true price of gasoline at the pumps, but through taxing, which goes toward oil subsidies, military costs of maintaining shipping lanes and health care.
The energy expert told Talk Radio News that she supports the controversial “behavior change legislation.”
“It would give people a clear reason and a sense that they can plan and be empowered to actually do something about the amount of gasoline and oil that we use as a country,” said Margonelli. She explained that the STRONG tax, which will add three cents per gallon to the cost of gasoline at the pump each year, reaching 30 cents by 2020, could save 450 million barrels of oil each year and raise $5.5 billion for improving the transportation sector.
Margonelli hopes for the improvement of existing transportation options for optimum efficiency, and for increased incentives for carpooling and ride-sharing. She believes that reassigning oil subsidies into secured loans will directly benefit many Americans.
“What we need to do is to move $5 to $10 billion [from oil subsidies] away from the oil industry and make those subsidies into secured loans or loans to middle-income Americans to get more efficient cars,” Margonelli said.
According to the New America Foundation executive, the eventual saving of 3 million barrels of oil a day will liberate a great deal of American capital, which can then be recycled into the economy.

From Friday’s gaggle with Pentagon spokesperson Bryan Whitman
Wikileaks

The Daily Beast reported this morning that Pentagon investigators are searching for Julian Assange, the founder of the whistleblower site Wikileaks, amid concerns that the site could soon post potentially damaging State Department documents.
Whitman acknowledged that there is an investigation and emphasized that the Department has a responsibility to ensure that classified material is safeguarded. The spokesperson added that it isn’t uncommon for DoD officials to ask reporter to withhold information that could endanger the U.S.

World Cup
The U.S. military has provided security resources for international sporting events, including this years’ Winter Olympics.
However, this is not the case in South Africa, which is hosting the 2010 World Cup. Although security will be provided for U.S. officials attending the games, there will not be any larger presence.
Arlington Cemetery

No new comments on the Arlington Cemetery story.