No votes were held in the House this week. The House will readjourn on Monday, February 25, 2008 when it is expected to consider several bills, including an energy tax package.

Satellite Success

On Wednesday, the U.S. Navy successfully intercepted a U.S. satellite in orbit that was expected to fall to Earth sometime in early March. This is another successful use of our nation’s missile defense system, which has been the offshoot of President Reagan’s visionary Strategic Defense Initiative (Star Wars) system. In 2007 alone, warships equipped with Aegis radar systems have hit nine test targets in various flight stages over the Pacific Ocean. Critics of this system have complained that it is easy to achieve successful tests of a system which launches its own targets. However, in this case, our military did not control the variables. Even more impressive is the fact our missile had to hit a specific spot on the satellite in order to destroy the dangerous hydrazine fuel that could pose a health threat to humans should they come into contact with the fuel after the satellites re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere. Hopefully, with this successful operation critics will finally begin to see the value in this effective system, which with sea and land based components, can be deployed to protect our homeland as well as our allies around the world. The continued support and success of this system will play an imperative part of our deterrence strategy, as China, Iran, and North Korea continue to pursue greater ballistic missile and satellite capabilities.

Protecting PEPFAR

This week, the President traveled to Africa to observe the progress being made by the United States’ efforts to increase economic development and fight HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other treatable diseases. In his 2003 State of the Union Address, the President proposed a new initiative aimed at halting the spread of AIDS in Africa. The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) promised substantial new resources for fighting AIDS, and in the last five years, $18.3 billion has been appropriated for PEPFAR to assist 15 of the most afflicted countries of the world. This year, PEPFAR must be reauthorized, and in his Fiscal Year 2009 budget, the President proposed a five year reauthorization that would double the amount of funding dedicated for this cause. Unfortunately, the reauthorization of PEPFAR is being used as another attempt to promote pro-abortion programs. The bill being considered by the House Foreign Affairs Committee creates a reproductive health mandate, requiring the integration of “reproductive health” and/or “family planning” into nearly every aspect of the program. This as an attempt to distort a bipartisan program by tapping into PEPFAR’s resources in order to promote controversial abortion-related services, which would undermine the integrity of the program and could also adversely affect faith-based groups. Additionally, under this proposed legislation international groups that perform and/or promote abortion would be able to obtain PEPFAR monies for HIV/AIDS programs, creating a loophole in the Mexico City Policy, which restricts funds from being used to pay for the performance of abortion as a method of family planning or to motivate or coerce any person to practice abortions. The proposed legislation would also eliminate requirements for abstinence education, and would remove the current legislative requirement that no HIV/AIDS funding may go to a group that does not explicitly oppose prostitution and sex trafficking. These are a few of the numerous provisions that Republicans will be fighting against as this legislation moves forward.

Quote of the Week

"Clearly she supports all that -- not all, most -- of what my dad did in the '90s.” – Chelsea Clinton, responding to a question while campaigning for her mother at the University of Akron on February 14, 2008.