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The following is a roundup of political activity going on in Washington and across the nation. It’s courtesy of Scott Wilk, Community Organizer, and Anchor Consulting group. The Beacon will be posting these daily as they become available.

In the House:

  • The House is in recess until September 8th.
  • Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) said he has a commitment from the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, Barney Frank (D-MA), to advance his legislation opening the Federal Reserve to broader federal audits, effectively limiting the Fed’s ability to make emergency loans.
  • The National Republican Campaign Committee plans to air TV ads against Reps. Bill Foster (D-IL) and Frank Kratovil (D-MD), and will target five Democrats with radio ads, all focusing on the health care debate.

In the Senate:

  • The Senate is in recess until September 8th.
  • Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (R) appointed his former Chief of Staff George LeMieux to fill out the remaining sixteen months of Sen. Mel Martinez (R) who is not running for re-election and will resign his seat on or about September 9th.
  • Despite stating a lack of desire to run for her husband’s seat, Victoria Reggie Kennedy, Sen. Ted Kennedy’s (D-MA) widow, is being increasingly talked about as an interim appointment in advance of a special election for complete Sen. Kennedy’s term.  Under legislation being advanced in Massachusetts, the governor would have the power to appoint an interim successor who would not be eligible to run in the special election currently mandated by state law.
  • With the loss of Kennedy, Senate Democratic leaders are now looking to Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) to provide the necessary 60th vote on health care.
  • In terms of who will emerge to run in the special election to finish Sen. Kennedy’s term, political insiders are looking to see what former Rep. Joe Kennedy (D) will do.  Joe Kennedy is Sen. Ted Kennedy’s nephew.

Other News

  • “President Obama’s supporters hope to recapture the energy of last year’s triumphant election campaign in a bid to regain control of the health-care debate, planning more than 2,000 house parties, rallies and town hall meetings across the country over the next two weeks.” (WaPo)
  • On Saturday, “[f]riends, relatives and political comrades celebrated Sen. Edward Kennedy in an all-star Irish wake Friday that highlighted the veteran Massachusetts Democrat’s gift for friendship, his love of music and practical jokes, and the storied family that supported him in his final illness.” (USAT)
  • “Questions are emerging about what” California Senate candidate and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina (R) “knew about HP’s growing presence in Iran during her six-year tenure at the Silicon Valley firm from 1999 to 2005.” (San Jose Mercury News).
  • Stoking “anger over the health care issue as he advances his free-market philosophy,” Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), the Senator “who predicted that President Obama’s effort to overhaul the health care system would become his ‘Waterloo,’ is doing his best to make that happen.” (NYT)
  • Appearing on Fox News Sunday yesterday, “former Vice President Dick Cheney accuse[d] President Obama of setting a ‘terrible precedent’ by launching an ‘intensely partisan, politicized look back at the prior administration,’ seeming to question Obama’s fitness as commander-in-chief.” (Fox News)
  • Mr.  Cheney also “hinted that, in the waning days of the Bush administration, he had pushed for a military strike to destroy Iran’s nuclear-weapons program.” (WSJ)

Federal Grant of the Day

  • National Ocean Service (NOS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Department of Commerce- FY10 California Bay Watershed Education and Training Program- The NOAA Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) Program is an environmental education program that supports experiential learning through local competitive grant awards in specific geographic regions. Currently B-WET Programs are implemented in the Chesapeake Bay, California, the Hawaiian Islands, New England, the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Northwest.  The California B-WET grant program is a competitively based program that supports existing environmental education programs, fosters the growth of new programs, and encourages the development of partnerships among environmental education programs throughout the San Francisco Bay, Monterey Bay, and Santa Barbara Channel watersheds. Funded projects provide meaningful watershed educational experiences to students and teachers. Environmentally educated individuals can become effective future workers, problem solvers, and thoughtful community leaders and participants.  Full proposals must be received and validated by Grants.gov, postmarked, or provided to a delivery service on or before 5p.m. PDT, October 8, 2009.

Today in History

  • On August 31, 1959, Brooklyn Dodgers left-hander Sandy Koufax struck out 18 batters, setting a new National League record for most strikeouts in a single game.

Source and thanks to www.anchor-consult.com | For more information, contact Anchor Consulting at 703-333-6013 or [email protected]