The House helped honor NASA’s 50th Anniversary last night by passing the "NASA 50th Anniversary Commemorative Coin Act,” a bill introduced by Houston Representatives John Culberson and Sheila Jackson Lee. Congressman Culberson, who is a passionate supporter of NASA and scientific research said, “Just like it was impossible 200 years ago to measure the value of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, we cannot place a value on the discoveries now taking place at NASA.”

You may not realize it, but sending men to the moon and space craft to the outer reaches of the Solar System has directly led to many of the technologies you use today. Some of these advances include heart pumps, heart defibrillators, smoke detectors, wireless electronics, satellite TV, GPS navigation, biohazard detectors, and LASIK eye surgery technology (of course if you watch late night television, you are also familiar with advertisements for the Tempur-Pedic mattress.)

Be sure to follow our blog in the coming year for up-to-date information on NASA’s anniversary celebrations and the status of the commemorative coins.

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This week the House will vote on the Defense appropriations bill, which will determine the amount of money the U.S. spends on the military next year. Chairman John Murtha and Speaker Nancy Pelosi plan on offering amendments to the bill to cut funding for our troops serving in Iraq. While I doubt that Murtha and Pelosi care to read them, we are beginning to see numerous reports suggesting that the troop surge is working. Even the New York Times, a publication that long argued against the war admits, “we just might win…there is enough good happening on the battlefields of Iraq today that Congress should plan on sustaining the effort at least into 2008.” Let’s hope Congress listens to that common sense advice while debating the withdrawal amendments this week.

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Imprisoned Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean moved once step closer to returning home to their families last night. By voice vote, the House approved an amendment to the Justice Department funding bill that could lead to the early release of Ramos and Compean. John Culberson defended the amendment on the House floor saying, “We cannot as Members of Congress send a stronger signal to the White House and to the American people how committed we are to protecting this border and standing behind our law enforcement agents, and letting the Border Patrol agents know that we are proud of them and support the work that they are doing for the sake of our children and for the sake of our constituents. We understand clearly that we will never win the war on terror until we have truly protected our borders.”

Afterwards, Homeland Security Subcommittee Chairman Allan Mollohan praised Culberson saying, “Well, with Mr. Culberson speaking on this issue with such knowledge, he's a member of our subcommittee and I respect his knowledge of border issues so much that I approach this debate with fear and trembling. I know that he is passionate about this issue as he has talked with me about it before, in addition with the other border issues that I'm totally serious he is nigh an expert on.”

The House and Senate must now pass the FY2008 Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations bill before the President can sign it into law.

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If you like media grandstanding and political posturing, you would have loved this morning’s vote on the House floor to prohibit funding for permanent military bases in Iraq. At first glance, this seems like the sort of legislation that all democracies should debate during a time of war. Yet, on closer inspection, it is clear this bill would do absolutely nothing to change American policy.

What exactly does “permanent military base” mean you might ask? I have no idea. In Japan, Germany, and South Korea for example, where countless U.S. soldiers were stationed over the years, the Department of Defense is now closing bases and relocating personnel to other locations. Even here in America the term is meaningless. As recently as 2005, the House voted to close 33 bases around the country. Did anyone think those bases were permanent? Of course not.

If you can believe it, language prohibiting permanent military bases in Iraq was included in other bills and has already been signed into law by the President three times. This means it is already against the law to build “permanent” military bases in Iraq.

Since there is no such thing as a permanent military base and because this is already U.S. law, why are Democrats spending valuable floor time bringing this up again and again while critical issues go unresolved? I think Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said it best recently after acknowledging that Democrats are under attack from anti-war groups such as MoveOn.org – “If we don’t do anything, these groups will feel like we haven’t done anything.” With all due respect, most people probably think that passing meaningless laws just for the sake of appearances isn’t doing “anything.”

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On Saturday, the non-partisan Tax Foundation released some helpful information about the AMT (Alternative Minimum Tax). According to their research, unless something is done soon, the number of Americans paying the AMT next year will jump from 3.4 million to 23 million. This is a significant increase considering that the AMT was originally created to target only 155 wealthy individuals.  Earlier this year the new majority promised an “AMT fix,” but unfortunately no action has taken place. If this lack of interest continues much longer, many families earning between $150,000 and $500,000 will owe the government more in taxes next year. John Culberson is pushing for Congress to abolish the AMT and it is time for Democrats to follow through on their promise. Unfortunately at this point, the new majority seems more interested in spending your money than in allowing you to keep your hard earned tax dollars.

Impact of the AMT by Congressional District

Impact of the AMT by State

History of AMT Returns and Liability

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