FIRE WATCH
Over the weekend in northeastern Nevada, numerous wildfires were started by lightning, and strong winds caused the Highway 93 fire to be pushed over containment lines, burning an additional 50 acres. Since July 6th, the blaze has burned about 85,533 acres.
Fires 20 miles west of Montello were sparked by thunderstorms Saturday, and wind caused the fire to spread across 1,000 acres. By Sunday evening the fire was 100 percent contained.
Near the California border north of Reno, a 4,368 acre fire was 97 percent contained in Balls Canyon as of Sunday morning. In the past week, more than 185,000 acres of land has been burned in Northern Nevada.
Current counties on alert: Carson, Douglas, Storey, Southern Washoe, Eastern Lyon Counties, and Northern Washoe County.
SENATOR ENSIGN SECURES SEAT ON FINANCE COMMITTEE
Tuesday, July 10, Senator John Ensign (R-NV) was named to the Senate Finance Committee. Having jurisdiction over tax policy, trade matters, and entitlement programs, the Finance Committee will be an opportunity for the Senator to push his legislative priorities. Senator Ensign was selected by Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, and was then confirmed by the GOP senators.
The Senate Finance Committee oversees a wide range of issues for the federal government, extending from Medicare to Social Security.
The position adds to the strength of Nevada’s Congressional Delegation, now with two seats on Ways and Means in the House and two members of leadership in the Senate. The last Nevadan to serve on the Senate Finance Committee was former Senator Richard Bryan in 2000.
SCHIP REAUTHORIZATION AND COMPROMISE
A $35 billion bipartisan agreement has been reached in the Senate Finance Committee to reauthorize the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. This program's proposed new source of funding is an increase in the federal tobacco tax. The bill will be marked up in committee as of July 17; the current authorization expires September 30th.
This program is proposed to be funded by a 61-cent increase in the federal tobacco tax, bringing it to a total of $1 per pack, with funds going to provide coverage for those currently enrolled in SCHIP and Medicaid.
Although President Bush called for the bill to cover up to 200 percent of the federal poverty line, leaving the remainder of the uninsured to be covered by changes in the federal tax treatment of health care benefits or tax credits to help purchase coverage.
The $50 billion cost of the bill proposed by Senate Democrats is significantly higher than both the $35 billion finance proposal authorized in the FY2008 budget resolution and the President's proposal of $5 billion.
DEBATE CONTINUES THIS WEEK ON DEFENSE POLICY BILL
This week the Senate is scheduled to resume debate on defense, with numerous amendments being proposed with the likelihood of Republican filibusters. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and others have noted that the expected procedural vote on the Reed-Levin amendment is a key vote for the Iraq War debate.
The Luger-Warner amendment being proposed attempts to establish an alternative course between Republican support for the war and Democratic demands to withdrawal by requiring the President to come up with an alternate plan if he fails to report success by September 15th. By October 16th the President would then have to provide Congress with a plan for redeployment of U.S. forces in Iraq and change the current combat mission, which must be implemented by December 31st.
The amendment also places requirements on the intelligence communities to produce new national intelligence estimates on prospects for Iraq's stability to then be reviewed on terms of the 2002 use of force resolution authorizing the Iraq war.
