The only reason an office of the Executive Branch can refuse a subpoena without being held in contempt of Congress is to effectively assert executive privilege. Executive privilege, as ruled on by the Supreme Court in United States v. Nixon, can only be invoked if the materials being withheld are not “essential to the justice of the case” (418 U.S. at 713-14) or are a matter of national security.

Chairman Waxman’s letters are an implication that the EPA and the White House will continue not to comply with the committee and subpoena by refusing to provide these documents. Considering the EPA’s gross negligence under the Bush administration, this comes as no surprise.

• “After struggling with soaring heating costs through the winter, millions of Americans are behind on electric and gas bills, and a record number of families could face energy shut-offs over the next two months, according to state energy officials and utilities around the country. [NYT]
  

• “Though the Pentagon doesn’t keep statistics on foreclosures, officials say a growing number of service members are struggling with their mortgages.” [NPR]
  

• “The Bush administration regularly dismisses the idea of stepping in to prop up the housing market. Behind the scenes, a government agency is doing just that. Last year, the Federal Housing Administration’s insurance fund paid $158.6 million in incentives to keep lenders from foreclosing on mortgages backed by the government. That is a 61% leap from five years ago, according to government data. As a result, more than six in 10 homeowners who defaulted on FHA-insured loans were able to stay in their houses, up from three in 10 in 2000.” [WSJ]
  

While it is great that Bush is even acknowledging that climate change is a problem, a simple acknowledgement does not make up for his lack-luster proposals. The President’s plan includes stopping the growth of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 2025 and giving $1 billion to Clean Coal Research.

The President stated that adopting Kyoto would have caused our economy to take a hit and would have shifted “American jobs to other countries.” One way of preventing economic and job loss would be to begin appropriating money for the Green Jobs Act of 2007 [pdf] which creates jobs for “energy efficient building, construction and retrofits, renewable electric power, energy efficient vehicles, biofuels, and manufacturing that produces sustainable products and uses sustainable processes and materials.”

The President also took credit for legislation which would set fuel economy standards at 35 mpg by 2020. As GRIST points out, “the administration fought this energy bill tooth and nail, and eventually succeeded in stripping the most ambitious elements out of it.”

The President also criticized those who wish to continue or even begin enforcing environmental protection laws passed 30 year ago:

As we approach this challenge, we face a growing problem here at home. Some courts are taking laws written more than 30 years ago — to primarily address local and regional environmental effects — and applying them to global climate change. The Clean Air Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act were never meant to regulate global climate. For example, under a Supreme Court decision last year, the Clean Air Act could be applied to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles. This would automatically trigger regulation under the Clean Air Act of greenhouse gases all across our economy — leading to what Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell last week called, “a glorious mess.”

The President is right that the government should not be enforcing 30 year old laws. It should be passing and enforcing laws that are tougher and more broad than those laws.

President Bush is facing criticism for his speech at home and abroad. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) called the President’s plan “the height of irresponsibility.”

South Africa called Bush’s strategy a unilateral approach to confronting climate change:

“There is no way whatsoever that we can agree to what the US is proposing, which means that the fundamental distinction between developed and developing countries should be erased and that we should turn a blind eye to historical responsibility for the problem.

“In effect, the US wants developing countries that already face huge poverty and development challenges to pay for what the US and other highly industrialized countries have caused over the past 150 years,” he said.

House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming Chairman Edward J. Markey (D-MA) said, “By the time President Bush’s plan finally starts to cut global warming emissions, the planet will already be cooked.”

While some people are thrilled to have anything on the table, it is obvious that the President has no real desire to stop climate change or protect the environment. Over the last seven years, Bush has effectively made the Environmental Protection Agency EPA, an agency within his own administration, impotent to being able to protect the environment. Being led by Stephen Johnson, the EPA has no intention of protecting the environment, even if it has been sued or has a court order to do so. Bush’s strategy for combating climate change is nothing but fluff.

The International Formula Council disputed the report, stating that bisphenol A has “overwhelming scientific evidence [that] supports [its] safety.” Regardless of the International Formula Council’s stance, New Jersey state lawmakers have banned the sale of all products containing bisphenol A.

A federal lawmaker from New Jersey has also accused the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of allowing “far too many unregulated contaminants in our water.” Senator Frank Lautenburg (D-NJ) has demanded that the EPA begin regulating pharmaceuticals in drinking water. Sen. Lautenberg went on to say that “beyond drugs, there are 140 chemicals in the water the EPA doesn’t regulate,” even though the EPA admits some of the chemicals can cause cancer.

Instead of regulating the chemicals, Benjamin Grumbles of the EPA suggested that people just not use their toilets as a trash can. While people should heed Mr. Grumbles advice about throwing trash and medication in the toilet, I wonder where he suggests people put their urine and fecal matter, which contain those drugs.

Maybe people should just follow the same advice given to those who are traveling to Mexico — “don’t drink the water.”

The stimulus package will add $168 billion to the deficit over two years, suggesting a period of higher inflation. Many economists also believe it is very likely that the country will fall deeper into recession, regardless of the aid.

Late this afternoon, the Senate finally passed the stimulus package with a vote of 81-16. The bill includes aid for 117 million low- and middle-income households, 20 million senior citizens, and 250,000 disabled veterans. The agreed upon package excludes illegal immigrants from receiving any rebates.

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