Roundup: Childers, Thompson, Harper

Northeast Mississippi Down Syndrome Society visits with Travis Childers and Gregg Harper:

As for our personal meetings, we met first with Congressman Gregg Harper of MS. We were asked by the staff from NDSS to go by there to speak with him although he is outside of our region since no one else had scheduled an appointment with him. He has a son with Fragile X and is very supportive of any Bills that would help in any way. Next up was a meeting with Congressman Travis Childers of MS First District. We were extremely impressed by his interest in what we were there for and what we had to say. He mentioned several friends of his who live with Ds and even shared some personal stories about his past experiences with them. He was very knowledgeable of Ds and pledged his support to our cause. This meeting was by far the best meeting we had all day as far as content covered and reception by the congressman.

Homeland Security Chief Avoids Mention of 9/11, Terrorism in Remarks to Congress - Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson does, too:

As Janet Napolitano heads to Capitol Hill for the first time as homeland security secretary, she is leaving behind the tough terrorism talk of her predecessors.

She is the first security chief to leave out the words "terror" and "vulnerability" from remarks prepared for delivery to the House Homeland Security Committee, according to a copy obtained by The Associated Press.

Napolitano, a former Arizona governor, instead charts a course in very different terms than Chertoff, who used law enforcement and military jargon -- "intelligence," "analysis," "mission" -- to describe the agency's objectives.

In her prepared remarks, Napolitano mentions "technology," "border" and "protect" most often and talks about holding department employees accountable and spending taxpayer money wisely, although she makes clear that the department's responsibility is protecting the nation against terrorism.

The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee doesn't mention terrorism or 9/11 in his prepared remarks for Wednesday's hearing. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., says the priorities are securing borders, responding to natural disasters, ensuring transportation safety, protecting infrastructure and administering grants.

The committee's top Republican said he was struck by Napolitano's prepared remarks.

"This can't be the evil we don't speak about," said Peter King of New York. "Any testimony on homeland security should be centered around the threat of terrorism and what we're doing to combat it."

Harper on President's Agenda:

Harper said that deficit cutting rings hollow, especially after the president just signed the federal stimulus plan. "What we've done thus far doesn't indicate that that's the case," said Harper. "So if we're talking about reducing deficit spending, then we should have never passed a $1.2 trillion federal stimulus bill that was loaded with all kinds of wasteful federal spending." Harper said he supports Obama's plan to increase troops in Afghanistan, but that he can't support most of the president's domestic agenda.