Roundup From DC

Bennie Thompson is the only Mississippian signed on to the labor union backed "Employee Free Choice Act". MajorityInMississippi has the details.

Gregg Harper is cosponsoring a bill which would exempt Washington DC residents from federal income tax. PikeCountyTimes has thoughts on this.

Gene Taylor plans to hold hearings on

A proposal that would force U.S. defense contractors to buy performance bonds...as a way of fighting arms' cost overruns...[Taylor] said he planned to hold hearings on the related costs and benefits as soon as possible..."The cost overruns cannot continue," Taylor, Democrat of Mississippi, told a defense industry conference. "And I can't think of a better alternative" than mandating performance bonds for new arms programs. If adopted, such bonds in effect would guarantee "that what you said you were going to build would be delivered on time at the proper price," he said. "If you failed to do that ... that bonded amount would go to the government." Last year, the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office found that 95 major Defense Department arms programs' price tags grew a total of $295 billion beyond their original cost estimates. Taylor, at the conference co-hosted by Aviation Week Magazine and McAleese & Associates, said performance bonds were standard procedure for companies doing business with state and local governments. "It works at those levels," he said. "And I see no reason why it shouldn't work at the national level."

Meanwhile Travis Childers' DC gun rights bill is in the middle of a fight over giving Washington DC a voting member in Congress.

Bennie Thompson is calling Rod Beckstrom's resignation from one of the federal government's top cybersecurity positions

the result of inefficient leadership, an unclear organizational structure and poorly designed roles and responsibilities within the federal government. The best way to handle the cybersecurity problem isn't to give more control to the NSA but instead to rely for leadership on a civilian agency "that interfaces with but is not controlled by NSA," Thompson said. However, he didn't specify which agency he thought should be placed in charge of the government's efforts. (via NetworkWorld)

While Thompson said he had been optimistic at Beckstom’s appointment, the Bush administration put him in a position without clear lines of authority or a budget, a “no-win situation.” Beckstrom “did not have experience working miracles,” he said – namely overcoming the domination of the National Security Agency in cybersecurity policy formation. (via BroadbandCensus)

Facing skepticism at home, some Democrats resist spending boost

Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss., has a hard time going home to Bay St. Louis and explaining why Congress wants to boost federal spending for the rest of this fiscal year by 8 percent.

"The police in my hometown make $10, $11 an hour" he said (although they actually make $12 to $13 an hour, according to the city). "How do I explain what we're doing here?"

"People may not understand all the nuances of this legislative process," said Mississippi's Taylor. "But they understand they're still hurting."