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UPI's Capital Comment for July 23, 2002

By United Press International

WASHINGTON, July 23 (UPI) -- Capital Comment -- Daily news notes, political rumors, and important events that shape politics and public policy in Washington and the world from United Press International.

Headed south for the winter? -- A poll conducted by Zogby International finds that 47 percent of those surveyed believe President George W. Bush deserves to be re-elected in 2004. The survey of 1,003 likely voters found that the president's approval rating remains high at 62 percent and that support for his re-election was strong among those earning more than $75,000 per year, self-identified Protestants and married people. The president also draws a plurality of those earning between $35,000 and $75,000, Catholics and self-identified Independents. The poll also found that the congressional generic ballot was a dead-heat -- with Democrats at 35 percent and Republicans at 34 percent, a statistically insignificant difference. The survey was conducted July 19-21 and has a sampling error of 3.2 percent.

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Reining in the troops -- House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, D-Mo., is becoming increasingly fond of deadlines. Several months ago he announced his intention to pass the president's legislation creating the new Department of Homeland Security by Sept. 11, 2002 -- the 1-year anniversary of the attacks on New York and Washington. And on Monday he excoriated the GOP for proposing an extension of the Dec. 31 deadline for screening all airport baggage, calling it "a defeat for homeland defense and America's national security." But the minority leader may need to confer with his own team before pursuing the deadline issue.

Last week, the House select committee writing the Department of Homeland Security legislation took its final vote on the chairman's mark, the version of the bill that will be sent to the House floor. Every single Democrat on the committee voted against it -- making the idea that Democrats are serious about the Sept. 11 deadline somewhat suspect. One of the sticking points, Capitol Hill insiders say, is the White House's desire that hiring flexibility be included in the final legislation, something to which Democrats are strongly opposed. They believe a grant of flexibility could set a precedent for weakening the power of federal employee unions -- a bloc that serves as a cash cow for the Democrats in the campaign season. As one Republican staffer put it, "The Democrats seem to be more concerned about protecting federal unions than they are about protecting the people of the United States from terrorist attacks."

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De' news on defunding -- Reaction was mixed to the White House's announcement Monday that the United States would not fund the U.N. Population Fund over the issue of forced abortions in the People's Republic of China. Rep. Joe Pitts, R-Pa., praised the move, saying Bush, "stood up for women and for human rights. ... A nation that believes in the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness shouldn't give a penny to an organization like that." For U.S. Rep. Peter Kostmayer, D-Pa., who runs the liberal group Population Connection took a different tack, saying the move puts "millions of poor women and children's lives at risk for the sake of a handful of anti-family planning extremists."


Confab concerns -- Some conservative members of Congress are none too happy with the way the International HIV/AIDS Conference unfolded in Barcelona, Spain, last week. In a letter on its way to HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson, those congressional conservatives are taking issue with the U.S. participation in the program. International HIV/AIDS activists want the United States to fund foreign non-governmental organizations working on the issue to the tune of millions of dollars with no strings attached as to how the money will be used. Unhappy members of Congress want assurances and answers from Thompson as to what the United States intends to do and whether these demands will be honored. In Barcelona, AIDS activists stormed the meeting in an attempt to prevent Thompson from delivering his remarks.

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The members of Congress who signed the letter tell Thompson: "We would like to know: 1. What was the total amount of U.S. federal assistance -- both direct financial support and in kind donations -- which went to the XIV International AIDS Conference; and 2. how many individuals -- from both the government and non-government organizations -- attended the conference with some form of federal assistance? Please provide a complete list of these individuals including their affiliations."

They are also unhappy that the Vatican, the spiritual center of Roman Catholicism, was excluded from the conference. "We would request that unless the International AIDS Conference can guarantee the freedom of speech to U.S. representatives and discontinues it discrimination against those of religious faith -- in particular the Catholic Church -- that the United States withhold assistance to future conferences and redirect the funding to helping those living with HIV/AIDS -- either in the U.S. or abroad -- who cannot afford treatment."


In cyberspace, no one can hear you scream -- The Cato Institute, Washington's leading libertarian think tank, is playing host to a seminar and luncheon on the subject of Internet domain names . Tuesday's program: "Who rules the roost? ICANN, Domain names, and the battle over Internet governance" will explore the role played by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers in the regulation of cyberspace. Speaking on the panel will be former Clinton advisor Ira Magaziner, Michael Roberts of The Darwin Group, and Harold Feld of The Media Access Project.

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Personnel note -- The White House has announced that Dan Bartlett has been promoted to the position of assistant to the president for communications and that Michael Gerson has been advanced to the post of assistant to the president for speechwriting and policy adviser. Bartlett is deputy assistant to the president and principal deputy to presidential counselor Karen Hughes. Gerson is deputy assistant to the president and director of presidential speechwriting and was the chief speechwriter on the president's 2000 campaign... Abdulwahab Alkebsi, who has been running the office of the Islamic Institute, has joined the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy as its new director of dialogue of civilizations. The CSID is an American think tank dedicated to promoting freedom, liberty, and democracy in the Muslim world as well as presenting an accurate image of Islam in America.


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