Proudly Serving California's 48th District
From Congressman John Campbell's Laptop to Yours

Friday, December 7th, 2007

White House Christmas Party: Actually, there is no single White House Christmas Party. There are 22 of them over 18 days and nights. Each serves a particular guest list such as the diplomatic corps, White House staff, various agencies of the executive branch, and "friends and family" of the President and First Lady. Speaking of the President and First Lady, they stand in a reception/picture line literally for hours over these many days shaking hands and smiling with literally thousands of people. The President is amazing how many people he can call by name (he always just calls me "Campbell") and how they both can give a warm greeting that many times to that many people.

Only one of the parties is black tie, and that is the one to which members of Congress and the Senate are invited. My wife Catherine and I went to that party on Monday. The decorating theme for the year is the national parks and even the cookies were made in the shapes of wildlife from the national parks. Although there was a cookie in the shape of the President's dog, Mrs. Beasley, who we saw wandering about at one point. The food, music and decor are excellent, as you might imagine, and I really did want to take a bite out of the White House made entirely from white chocolate.

Here are a couple of pictures from the evening:

Deadlines: There are many things that people in Congress would like to pass this month. But there are a few things we have to pass. These are things that have deadlines between December 14th and January 31st and that will otherwise expire. Here is a list of those items on deadline:

  • If we do not extend the current tax rates on the Alternative Minimum Tax, those tax rates are programmed to go up this year (2007), and will result in a tax increase for over 20 million taxpayers in the US and just about everybody in California with an income over $80,000.
  • A number of other tax deductions/credits, like the alternate deduction for state sales taxes, expire and cannot be used in 2007 unless extended by December 31st.
  • Only 1 of the 12 bills that fund the federal government for the year that began over 2 months ago have been passed. If they, or a "continuing resolution" temporary funding measure, are not passed by December 14th, then the government, except for defense, will run out of money.
  • But no funding has been provided for the war effort in Iraq and Afghanistan although $146 billion for that purpose was included in the budget. It is unclear when and exactly what effect would occur if troops are left in theater without funding, but the impact will be significant within months, if not weeks.
  • The State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), the proposed massive expansion of which has generated much controversy, is scheduled to go away completely December 14th if not at least extended in its current form.
  • The Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) expires February 14th. Without it, our intelligence officers will lose virtually all ability to listen to conversations of our enemies either at home or abroad.
We are in session in Washington this week. What action, you ask, did we take on these issues? None. Nada. Zero. Zippo. Not a single bill on any of these issues was even brought to the floor for a vote. Speaker Pelosi seems unwilling to compromise with either the President or with her own Democratic controlled Senate on any of these issues so they just don't move. But the consequences of inaction on any of these seem to be more onerous than compromise or capitulation. So you would expect some movement at some point by Christmas.
But I have mistakenly assumed rational behavior would prevail in the past.
Oh, by the way, as I am writing this, they are debating a resolution on the floor of the House congratulating the Port of Los Angeles on it's 100th anniversary. Do I hear Nero fiddling somewhere............?
Energy: Speaker Pelosi brought forth an energy bill yesterday. No one had seen it before then. It has some good things, some OK things and some bad things. I voted against it because I believe the bad outweighed the good. But the point here is that we need an energy bill to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and petroleum in general. This bill passed the House 235-181, however today it failed in a procedural vote in the Senate, effectively killing it. The Senate will try again next week to pass a revised version of this legislation which, if successful, would have to be considered by the House.
Again there was an opportunity to accomplish a lot in this area in which there is agreement. I certainly wouldn't get all I wanted, but I would get some. The Speaker and the President would also get some but not all of what they wanted. There is clear common ground. But again, it seems that the Democrat House leadership is more interested in making political statements than accomplishing anything.
Apparently, the Speaker had been planning a trip to a global warming conference in Bali where she had reserved 100 rooms to tout her energy accomplishments. My understanding is that the trip has been cancelled.
Until next week, I remain respectfully,
Congressman John Campbell
Quick Links

Green Eyeshade Blog
If you think federal taxes are too high and the government spends too much of your money then you will love the new blog I am writing.

Email Updates
Sign up to receive this periodic newsletter right in your inbox.

Multimedia

Lorem ipsum doler.

Newport Beach Office
610 Newport Center Drive, Suite 330
Newport Beach, CA 92660
949-756-2244
949-251-9309 Fax		 Washington Office
1728 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
202-225-5611
202-225-9177 Fax