politicssss

Chapter 3 Article

My article is titled "Government Credit Cards for Katrina Expenses Draw Scrutiny" and

is from the Internet site, CNN.com.

The main idea of this article is that the government increased the amount of government

issued credit cards issued to federal employees for Hurricane Katrina related expenses from

$2,500 to $250,000 each.

There are many people concerned about this, including Charles Grassley, Senate Finance

Committee Chairman, Chairwoman Susan Collins of the Senate Homeland Security Committee,

and Connecticut Senator, Joe Lieberman. They are urging congressional leaders to lower the cap

to $50,000 to ensure that purchases are being made wisely. In past years, audits found hundreds

of thousands of dollars of improper expenditures such as purchases of palm pilots, computers,

airline tickets and even paying for prostitutes and gambling.

We talked in class about federalism, which is the division of authority between national

and state governments. The national government is getting involved in a state issue because of

the total devastation that New Orleans has endured.

I feel that $250,000 is too much money to be available on the credit cards. The

government has seen from past experience that people do abuse the system. If they do not lower

the amount to $50,000, then I agree with the White House in saying that agencies must designate

which of their staff will receive the card, and purchases over $50,000 must be pre-approved by a

senior manager. I also agree that the software should be installed so it will help track

questionable purchases when made. I feel that since the purchases are billed directly to the

government, we need a better way of tracking every item that is purchased. .

Chapter 1 Article

My article is titled "Bush Releases Oil Reserve" and it's from the Internet site,

CNN.com .

The main idea of this article is that President Bush is releasing oil in

reserve to help the refiners that are affected by the recent Hurricane.

The U.S. Minerals Management Service and the Environmental Protection

Agency was quoted in this article, as well as Energy Secretary, Samuel Bodman.

Mr. Bodman is the person who made this statement to the Associated Press in a

recent interview.

We talked in class last Thursday on how Hurricane Katrina is affecting the

United States. Capitalism is a word we discussed in class, which means that the

government should interfere with the economy, such as gas prices. President Bush

is aware that the United States is in need of help and is willing to release oil we

have in reserve along the Texas and Louisiana Gulf coast. Mr. Brodman states

though, that this will probably not make a difference in the price of gasoline at the

pumps.

I feel that this is a good and positive move for the citizens of the United States,

as it shows us that the Bush Administration is willing to do their part to help. Gas

prices were getting out of control before Hurricane Katrina hit, and now it is a nice

feeling to know that we live in a country where our President is willing to step up and

do what he can to help.