Democrat and Republican come together on gefilte fish
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/images/02/25/art.gefilte.gi.jpg caption="Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Rep. Don Manzullo bonded over gefilte fish."] (CNN)–Who says there's no bipartisanship in Washington?
Democrats and Republicans may differ over health care, but Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Rep. Don Manzullo, R-Illinois, have quickly come to terms on gefilte fish.
Agreement came at the House Foreign Affairs Committee where Mrs. Clinton was summoned to talk about security through diplomacy.
Manzullo complained that Israel has slapped exhorbitant duties on gefilte fish prepared by a processor in his district - a large processor, he said, of carp caught in the Mississippi River and Great Lakes. "Passover's coming quickly," Manzullo warned, and the Illinois Republican asked if Clinton could use her influence "to get the gefilte fish to Israel, by Passover."
Mrs. Clinton chuckled, but without hesitation declared, "Congressman I will take that mission on."
"Thank you, thank you," Manzullo replied, adding that a failure to get the delicacy to Israel could cost "a couple of hundred jobs."
Mrs. Clinton promised her "best efforts," describing the matter as "one of those issues that should rise to the highest levels of our government."
Agency on the budget chopping block
(CNN) - The Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation is among 121 federal programs the White House is proposing to eliminate or reduce, according to an Obama administration official. The foundation provides scholarships and fellowships in life sciences for individuals raging from middle school students to scientists and researchers.
Reached by telephone, Thursday morning, at the agency's Auburn, New York-based office, the executive director of the small federal agency, Judith Shellenberger was stunned to learn her agency's future is in peril.
"I didn't know," Shellenberger said. "We do good work," she added and "we just made several awards."
An Obama administration official who asks not to be named says the foundation is "obviously inefficient" because it pays out in fellowships and awards only 20 percent of it's annual one million dollar budget.
Congress must go along with any cuts the president proposes.
Capitol Visitors Center told to send back 'Made in China' items
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/01/29/art.caphillext0129.gi.jpg caption="A Pennsylvania Congressman is concerned about souvenirs intended for sale in the Capitol Hill Visitors Center that are imported from China."]
WASHINGTON (CNN) - Washington souvenirs worth $100,000 - including images of the Capitol dome and printings of the U.S. Constitution - are locked in storage, blocked from sale in the new U.S. Capitol Visitors Center because the items are made in China.
Rep. Bob Brady, D-Pennsylvania, chairman of the House Administration Committee, told CNN Radio that he warned operators of the visitors center not
to purchase merchandise made outside the United States, but they did it anyway.
Although the center has the goods in hand, Brady said, "I'm not allowing them to sell those products."
Grassley takes aim at the FBI
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/07/25/art.grassley.getty.jpg
caption=”Grassley took aim at the FBI on Friday.”]WASHINGTON (CNN) - The FBI is celebrating its’ 100th anniversary Saturday, but it is unlikely that Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, will be sending a card or baking a cake. Grassley remains one of the bureau's harshest critics in Congress.
While the Iowa senator is quick to praise agents in the field, he says, over the years that when problems crop up at the FBI, "It's been when headquarters has been interfering with the local agents."
Grassley charges that the FBI remains locked in turf battles with other federal law enforcement agencies such as the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.
FBI Director Robert Mueller has repeatedly told Congress that the bureau has greatly improved its information sharing and cooperation with other federal agencies since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. But Grassley says the bureau still has a "Pac-Man mentality" - intent on gobbling up the jurisdiction of other agencies.
Listen: Grassley talks with CNN radio about the FBI
Grassley concedes the FBI deserves credit, because there's not been another terrorist attack on U.S. soil since 2001, but the senator also insists there's room for the FBI to transform itself from a crime-solving agency into one that is capable of averting terror threats of the 21st Century.
Dems push for crackdown on oil speculators
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/05/06/thecapitol.jpg caption="Democrats on Capitol Hill are pushing for a crackdown on oil price speculators Tuesday."]
WASHINGTON (CNN) - Senate Democrats say one way to lower oil prices is to crackdown on oil price speculators - investors who trade in oil contracts aiming to profit from changes in prices.
But Republicans are skeptical. Senate Republican Charles Grassley of Iowa charges that Democrats' demands to curb speculating is a "fig leaf" to avoid more drilling for oil in the United States.
The Senate is facing a test vote on a Democratic bill that would reign in excessive oil price speculation.
Grassley says it the "right thing" to further regulate oil speculating but he says Congress needs a much more balanced approach including more U.S. oil exploration and development; greater conservation and more use of alternative fuels including ethanol. Much of the nation's ethanol production comes from corn grown in Grassley's home state.
Listen: Sen. Grassley talks to CNN Radio
Democratic Senator Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, one of the main sponsors of the bill to stop excessive oil price speculating, estimates that "as much as 20 to 30 to 40 percent of the current price could be taken off if you got rid of excessive speculation."
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