I Can See Washington D.C., From My House!
Hey! I can see Washington D.C. from my house!
It’s true, thanks to Matt Felling of Anchorage’s KTVA Channel 11! Seeing the need for some direct contact between our Senators in D.C. and those of us here in the state they are serving, he has put together a weekly segment called “A View from the Hill” which I will be sharing with you here at The Mudflats.
Both senatorial offices were very cooperative in setting up this information pipeline, and see the value in keeping the lines of communication open. Shows will alternate between Senator Lisa Murkowski (R) and Senator Mark Begich (D).
“Alaska is on the frontlines of many political and cultural issues, raising lots of tough questions,” said Felling. “I’ve got no problem putting those questions to our elected officials. Journalism isn’t a profession in my mind; it’s a vocation.”
Here’s Lisa Murkowski on health care reform, off-shore drilling and more.
Here are my rough notes if you don’t want to listen all the way through.
Olympia Snowe on Health Care – Snowe voted to advance the process after having worked for months. There is much more to be done before the vote on the floor. Her vote was just a vote for the process. It’s now with Senator Reid and he and Democrats will craft a bill between what has come out of two committees. It’s difficult, and may take time. There is no concensus. Still contention among Democrats about public option. Several weeks before we see something.
We’ve got to do reforms within the insurance industry for pre-existing conditions. Won’t come into play until 2013. We need meaningful tort reform.
Afghanistan – There is lots of confusion. Confusion doesn’t help the troops when the message from DC is confused. We need to say we support the mission, not just the troops. Obama is not being clear that he supports the mission. McCrystal was put there to take charge because of his strategic prowess. We need to have the generals on the ground working with “our chief back here in Washington DC” and make sure that all the signals are together.
How do we know what is enough? Says we’ll see more men and women going into Iraq. Whether it’s more troops or a “civilian surge,” we need a supplement to those who are there. They will be the “backups.”
Outer Continental Shelf Drilling – Things are in a holding pattern. This is unfortuanate because we’ve been in his holding pattern for some time. It’s difficult. We don’t need to reinvent the wheel. We don’t have enough people who are reviewing the permits that are necessary. So we need to put some pressure on and ask how can we help. Spoke with Sec. of the Interior Ken Salazar and impressed upon him the importance of doing this. There’s been a fair amount of pushing and urging them along in the process. If you don’t get those permits, you miss the season. How many years has Shell been held waiting for the necessary permits to come through. Maybe it’s time to say that “this isn’t a friendly work environment.”
Emissions standards – The EPA is tasked with reducing emissions. They don’t have to be concerned with jobs and the economy. This is where congress comes in and looks at policy from a bigger picture. We need to do it in a way that allows the process to move forward. Doesn’t believe that the EPA is the best tool. The EPA agrees it should be coming out of congress?? Policies will be complex. Let’s not be afraid to get it right. It will take time. She just came from hearing of energy committee that discussed the cost of climate change. Kerry, liberal senator and Graham conservative senator coming together to discuss ways to advance in a bipartisan way.
Nobel Peace prize – Felt the announcement was premature, and puts expectations on the presiden to do miraculous deeds like solving middle east peace, fixing climate change, ending war in iraq, nuclear disarmament. As an american, good to hear they have confidence in us.
In short:
Health care – We shouldn’t rush it. We’ve been waiting, but it’s complex and it’s going to take time.
Afghanistan - We need a unified message, and the president needs to fall in line with McCrystal. We need more people there, either troops or contractors.
OCS Drilling – We should rush it. Shell has been waiting, and we need to hurry it up in any way possible.
Emission Standards – We should have congress deciding about emission standards, presumably because they can be more objective and trustworthy than the EPA.
Nobel Peace Prize - Now Obama will be expected to save the world. Feels pleased as an American, sort of.
Pepto Bismol Rating on a scale of 1 to 7:
Tune in next week for Senator Mark Begich!
sorry I couldn’t listen to her all the way through…all I hear is careful crafting of untruths to keep herself in office
Health care – We shouldn’t rush it. We’ve been waiting, but it’s complex and it’s going to take time.
There are millions of people who can’t wait. Lots of time just allows the health insurance folk pump more money into Congress. Maybe they are hoping we’ll get bored and accept a health care law that is basically a give-away to the industry.
5…..maybe like more 10 plus you forget the Advil.
All I really hear is lets take our time unless it is about war or drilling off shore.
Wait on health care, rush on drilling. Oh so obviously the best interests of business over people.
5 Pepto’s not enough!
If I started off with 7 out of 7, there would be no room to grow….and unfortunately I think there will be times we need it. Sigh… AKM
IMO Blackwater needs to be shut down not only because Cheney has control but because they seem to answer to no one,They seem to get away with murder. I think we need to think hard and long about whether or not to even sent 10,000 more troops over to Afghanistan..Are we going to have to pay them like we paid the Iraqi people to not fight each other.How many billions more are we going to spend on war when we have a war going on here with the health insurance industry.Why is it so much more important to kill others than to help keep someone healthy because they can now afford their health insurance.
I couldn’t listen to all that garbage either… off to get some prozac or something like coffee to help settle me down after all that.
It’s about 11:20 pm eastern here but no one’s in the tree house… where is ya alls?
Big sigh AKM
kraut..I was in da treehouse all by myself…will go back
This is interesting – I had the distinct impression that it was prerecorded, then the questions were asked again and recording of answers then played. I would think they would have to pre record in order to meet the Senators’ schedules, as it would be difficult to always be available at the exact time. I think our poor news guy is getting to try out his acting skills to sound like he is actually talking to the Senator. It would be hilarious if they got the questions out of order at some point. – sorry that is mean – but it would be funny.
This my take on her statements.
Health Care: Well, my family and I are insured. Who cares about the other millions. They’re not my problem.
Afghanistan: Prez Obama needs to let McCrystal do whatever he wants. He is the real American.
OCS Drilling: But we promised the Oil companies that we were going to do this. If it doesn’t happen I will lose my money for Re-election.
Emission Standards: If it goes to Congress, the Republicans can do a
“NO” vote and hold up the progress.
Nobel Peace Prize-Why can’t I have it? See how nice I’m playing!!
Moosecowski is full of Constipation, upset stomach and diarrhea. As much crap running out of her mouth she needs a STFU bag!!
On a scale of 1-7; 7 being the worst. She is a Pepto Bismol moment of 6.75. I reserve the right to extend over the 7 limit, if warranted..
To WfA – The conversations are in real-time. There is no do-over, no net, no artifice.
Rarely have so many people been so wrong about so much. Never have the consequences of their misunderstanding been so tragic.
Nixon on the Vietnam War
The Senator needs to understand that President Obama is the Commander in Chief and Gen McCrystal is under the Presidents command. The President is not obliged to tell her, or the rest of the world what his plan is. We need to have the SENATOR on the ground working with “our chief back in Washington DC” and make sure that all the signals are together.
Well, I’m not even going to listen to it, lol. Reading AKM’s take on it is enough for me to know, no thanks.
But, the idea behind what the journalist is doing is a good one. Every state should be doing this so that more people who live in there know their elected officials better.
But, if they’re given the questions ahead of the interview, like Writing from Alaska says, well, then I’m less impressed, canned answers, eh.
I agree Peter d., she shows lack of respect for our standing President, it seems like most of the Repubs are arrogant.
Hey Lisa,
Health care reform is really important to Alaskans. It’s about people’s lives, not politics. Take a look at those other countries…better health…less cost. How about working cooperatively with Sen. Begich on this on behalf of Alaskans???
I guess no one is ever going to ask Mark Begich about Senator Claire McCaskill’s contracting oversight hearings. Ask him why he joined forces with Lisa Murkowski to stop an amendment that would require Alaska Native Corporations to adhere to the revenue cap that every single other minority designation has to.
I also wonder how Begich can continue to say that no public option in healthcare is a good thing for Alaskans. Pretty clear to me he’s either clueless or doesn’t care. Yeah, because greedy opportunistic companies never use Alaska as a breeding ground for monopolistic activity.
Begich is a wolf in sheeps clothing. Just because he calls himself a Democrat doesn’t mean he’s one of the “good guys”.