Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson Calls to End "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"

In a joint letter to President Barack Obama, House Homeland Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson calls for the end of Clinton's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" homosexual policy in the U.S. Armed Forces.

Although we are confident that you will remain true to your campaign promise to end Don´t Ask, Don´t Tell, our LGBT [gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT)] service members and our country´s national security will continue to suffer if initial action is delayed until 2010 or 2011...This bilateral strategy would allow our openly gay and lesbian service members to continue serving our country and demonstrate our nation´s lasting commitment to justice and equality for all...we stand ready to assist you in repealing this dishonorable and debilitating law as soon as possible, and in restoring justice and equality in our Armed Forces.

MiM: Where is Childers, Taylor on Cap and Trade?

Majority in Mississippi asks "Where Do Taylor and Childers Stand on Cap and Trade Taxes?" Gene Taylor appears solidly opposed.

Nunnelee and Childers look to 2010

Politics Magazine - June 2009

Despite Childers' conservative stances on abortion and gun rights (he makes some of the more moderate members of the caucus look like lefties), he should get a run for his money next year...Childers pollster John Anzalone thinks despite the favorable territory, challengers are reluctant. "[Childers] defies party labels and that's always been our message," says Anzalone. "So even though it's a really tough district [for Democrats], he has run strong in more than one election. That should give even strong Republican challengers pause." Last cycle, the DCCC spent more than a million dollars to help Childers win the seat...observers are convinced natinonal Dems will open their pockets again to keep Childers in the House. "They have an investment in him," says Anzalone, "and they are going to protect that investment."

Nunnelee makes tour stop in Southaven - DeSoto Times Tribune

Sen. Alan Nunnelee, R-Tupelo, ended a four-day "listening tour" of north Mississippi on Monday, making an appearance in Southaven before more than 60 DeSoto Countians.

Elected to the state Senate in 1994 and current chair of its Appropriations Committee, Nunnelee focused his comments during the event on his disappointments in decisions recently made in Washington.

"What they have done is engage in the crime of generational theft," he said about Congress' approval of the economic stimulus package.

Nunnelee, who is considering a run for the First Congressional District seat currently held by Democrat Travis Childers, also addressed state spending during Monday's event.

Nunnelee said state legislators have taken an approach to budget based on existing revenue rather than spending requests.

"That's what you expect of your state government," he said.

Flowers Out

Roll Call - GOP Looks to Avoid Primary in Race Against Childers (HT: Y'all)

After the GOP’s stunning 2008 special election loss in Mississippi’s Tupelo- and Southaven-based 1st district, on Wednesday the party took a big step toward avoiding another divisive regional primary fight in the Magnolia State.

State Sen. Merle Flowers, who hails from Southaven and was in Washington, D.C., earlier this month meeting with National Republican Congressional Committee officials, has decided to forgo a Congressional bid. His decision clears a major obstacle from the path of state Sen. Alan Nunnelee (R), who is from Tupelo and is now the clear favorite of party leaders among the announced candidates.

Still, Flowers’ decision doesn’t exactly gift-wrap the primary for Nunnelee. There is no lack of excitement in GOP circles to challenge Childers, and there’s talk of other potential GOP candidates getting into the race before the state’s January filing deadline. Former Eupora Mayor Henry Ross (R) has signaled his interest in seeking the nomination, and there is speculation about interest from political commentator Angela McGlowan, millionaire businessman Sam Haskell and former NFL star Wesley Walls.

No Twitter or Facebook for Gene Taylor

Gene Taylor is doing YouTube, but not Facebook or Twitter.

Some lawmakers, including Rep. Gene Taylor, a Democrat from Mississippi, have no plans to turn to Facebook or Twitter. Instead, Taylor has ramped up his Web site and opened a YouTube account.

Taylor also meets with constituents twice a month at town hall meetings in his district.

"It may be old-fashioned, but it's extremely effective," said Ana Rosato, a spokeswoman for Taylor.

I guess we'll see no Twitter updates from The Tune Inn.

Gene Taylor and Military Spending

The Hill - Wrangling starts over presidential chopper

Rep. Gene Taylor (D-Miss.), who chairs the Armed Services Seapower and Expeditionary Forces subcommittee, told The Hill that lawmakers have to tackle too many Pentagon procurement challenges in the fiscal 2010 budget and a new presidential chopper does not appear to be a priority for Obama.

“If the president can wait, I can wait,” Taylor said in a short interview. “We have to put the money where the priorities are.”

The House Armed Services Committee is starting its 2010 budget approval process Thursday. Taylor’s subcommittee is slated to mark up its portion of the defense authorization bill Friday. His panel has jurisdiction over Navy programs. The Navy runs the presidential helicopter program.

Taylor’s position on the new presidential helicopter, also known as VH-71, is likely to spark some intense debate on the committee and could place him at odds with defense appropriators who are weighing the possibility of salvaging the VH-71.

However, Taylor indicated he would favor either an existing military helicopter or one in development for the president. Additionally, he supports spending money on upgrading the existing fleet of decades-old presidential helicopters to enable them to fly for as many as 10 more years.

Government Executive - House panel reverses cuts in aircraft programs

At Friday's Seapower Subcommittee markup, lawmakers responded to a Government Accountability Office warning in March that aircraft carrier catapult development costs were exceeding its budget and that one portion of the testing program is two years behind its original schedule.

Navy officials are committed to the electromagnetic system, which has been touted as more powerful and less stressful for the rest of the ship.

If the new catapult doesn't work, the ship essentially will be "a $7 billion helicopter carrier," said Seapower Subcommittee Chairman Gene Taylor, D-Miss. That would leave the Navy with just nine fully functional flattops.

His panel also took aim at the Navy's management of the troubled Littoral Combat Ship program, though members essentially agreed to relax a $460 million per ship cost cap by removing government costs from cap calculations.

Each LCS -- the Navy wants 55 -- originally was to cost no more than $220 million. The ships are smaller and faster than the Navy's $1 billion destroyers, designed for close-to-shore missions like mine-hunting and counterterrorism.

"I will not propose one penny more," Taylor said. The markup gives contractors Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics a "take it or leave it" offer to continue building the ships, he said. If they drop out of the program, the markup authorizes the Navy to put together a proposal for other contractors to bid on.

"A lot of people would jump at the chance to build that ship," at $460 million apiece, Taylor insisted.

Navy Times - Capitol Hill opens door for Super Hornets

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill might force the Navy to buy more Boeing-made F/A-18 Super Hornets, a move that would override the Defense Department’s formal budget request in an effort to fill the Navy’s so-called “fighter gap.”

As the annual defense authorization bill begins to make its way through Congress, Rep. Gene Taylor (D-Miss.) on Friday inserted into the bill a clause — known as a “mark” — that gives the Navy permission to enter into a new multi-year contract with Boeing.

“The mark recognizes, even if the secretary of defense does not, that the Navy is facing an acute shortage of strike fighters to fill air wings of our carriers in the coming decade,” Taylor said at a meeting of the seapower subcommittee.

“This mark clearly indicates that the Navy should build more of these planes instead of trying to extend the life of the older and less capable F/A18A thru D Hornets. It makes absolutely no sense to me that the department would pay $26 million to extend the flying life of an older plane by just 1,500 hours, when for $50 million they could buy a brand new, more capable plane that is good for 8,000 hours,” Taylor said in a statement.

The Navy is facing a projected shortfall in fighter jets as the older F/A-18 Hornets wear out faster than the new F-35 Lightening II Joint Strike Fighter is arriving to replace them.

The Defense Department formally requested to lower the number of Super Hornets purchased in fiscal year 2010, and Navy officials have officially voiced strong support for the F-35C, which is scheduled to join the fleet in 2015.

A Navy spokesman on Friday declined to comment on the move, which could significantly reshape the fighter fleet over the next decade.

Thompson Nominates US Attorneys

According to the Sun Herald, Bennie Thompson has submitted his picks for US Attorney. Travis Childers says he made a recommendation as well. Gene Taylor did not make any recommendations even for South Mississippi.

The Sun Herald - Nominations for state attorney posts under way

U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson’s office has made nominations for U.S. attorney positions in Mississippi and awaits action from President Barack Obama, who must fill a large number of open slots.

Currently, none of the rumored candidates for the Southern District is from South Mississippi. The appointments of the prosecutors, which the president makes and the Senate confirms, only began within the last few weeks.

Thompson, who is close to Obama and endorsed his candidacy, is making most of the nominations for Mississippi.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Travis Childers’ office confirmed he has also made a recommendation, but declined to discuss the details.

U.S. Rep Gene Taylor has not made any recommendations.

Thompson’s office wouldn’t provide any details of who was recommended. The recommendations were made to the president between January and March. For now, they wait on word from Washington, where those recommendations are being vetted.

“We are just waiting on the administration to fully vet whatever candidates (Obama) is considering and we’ll know something when they say something,” said Lanier Avant, Thompson’s chief of staff. “We are very early in the process. Historically you will see that it takes a few months for all these appointments to be made, not just in judiciary but in other parts of the government.”

Gene Taylor's Town Hall

Picayune Item - Taylor answers questions at Town Hall Meeting

We don’t want to borrow money from the Chinese to buy weapons from the Chinese to defend ourselves against the Chinese, said Rep. Gene Taylor D-Miss., during a town hall meeting last night. “You got to have an industrial base to defend yourself,” he said. This statement was in response to a question asked by an attendee on his views on the General Motors Corp. bailout.

For those in attendance concerned about the current administration’s budget, which Taylor’s slide showed has increased the national debt by $629 billion, he said that he also did not believe that President Obama was doing his part.

“I’m doing my part,” Taylor said. He said that everyone needed to do a sliver of their part to make the difference.

Gregg Harper's Leadership PAC

Roll Call - Leadership PACs Grow Popular for Freshmen

Five months into the 111th Congress, the newest Members of the House have been particularly active in starting leadership PACs.

According to a search of Federal Election Commission filings, five Members who were elected in November already have their own leadership committees. That’s up from just two freshmen who had them at the same point of the 110th Congress.

The five freshmen who have already opened committees include four Republicans — Reps. Gregg Harper (Miss.), Duncan Hunter (Calif.), Tom McClintock (Calif.) and Aaron Schock (Ill.) — as well as Democratic Rep. Glenn Nye (Va.).

Harper, who served as the Rankin County GOP chairman in Mississippi before being elected, opened GreggPAC in mid- October of last year and ended up distributing more than $40,000 from that committee by Dec. 31.

The Mississippi Congressman ended up making contributions to 30 Republicans who ran for Congress in 2008, 21 of whom won.

“By forming the PAC ... six to eight weeks out from the November election it gave us the opportunity to help build the party and help some of the other incoming freshmen,” Harper said.

“I spent the years working in the trenches doing grass-roots campaigns,” he added. “And if you can do anything, whether it’s legwork or financially, to help good folks get elected, that’s something you want to do.”

Latest Chapter in Bennie Thompson's Caribbean Travels

Respond Mississippi - House Ethics Committee Investigates Bennie Thompson Caribbean Trip

The Hill reports the House Ethics Committee is investigating a Caribbean Trip made by several Congressmen including Bennie Thompson that may have violated House Ethics Rules against corporate sponsorship.

We've been talking about this for a while here, starting with a report from Kingfish, then this story about how the a complaint had been filed with the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) for a formal review of the sponsorship by Citigroup of the Caribbean junket, and then a piece from - believe it or not - the Clarion Ledger. A New York paper described the trip as "shameful" and the Madison County Journal made connections between Bennie Thompson's Caribbean trips and Allen Stanford. Still, the story has yet to get much attention in Mississippi.

Gregg Harper: Cap and Trade "reckless"

McClatchy - Climate and energy bill faces hurdles when Congress returns

"The Democrats' cap and trade energy plan — which should be called 'cap and tax' — is a reckless proposal that will do more harm than good," said Rep. Gregg Harper, R-Miss.

The National Republican Congressional Committee is pushing hard. In recent weeks it sent news releases to media in the congressional districts of 12 committee Democrats.

"There is mounting evidence that under the Democrats' National Energy Tax plan utility rates will skyrocket and American families and businesses will suffer as a result," it said.

Travis Childers vists hospitals over Memorial Weekend

Dems make recess push over energy, healthcare agenda - The Hill

For a man who isn’t sick, Rep. Travis Childers (D-Miss.) spent a lot of time in hospitals last week.

As part of his four-day healthcare tour, he visited three hospitals and attended an AARP meeting in Tupelo, Miss.

Vulnerable members like Childers left for the Memorial Day recess with the strong urging of leaders to focus on issues like healthcare and energy in order to lay the groundwork for a long summer of debate about how to rein in climate change and overhaul the nation’s healthcare system.

But he wasn’t the only one. Seeking to turn the focus of Congress away from the debate over CIA briefings to their ambitious policy agenda, House Democrats held almost 300 events on healthcare and energy during the recess.

Gene Taylor Cosponsors "Gulf Coast Civic Works Act"

McClatchy - Gulf Coast activists protest at FEMA headquarters

Trinh Le, a community development coordinator from Biloxi, Miss., said, "If you drive around Biloxi, you see vacant lots and empty building." Residents face high insurance rates, she said, and "Vietnamese shrimpers are having a hard time making ends meet."

Gulfport, Miss., resident Derrick Evans said he came to Washington out of solidarity with volunteers from Turkey Creek, a historic African American community.

"There is an affordable housing crisis of epic proportions," he said. "A dry roof over a toxic trailer beats no roof at all."

The groups support the Gulf Coast Civic Works Act, a bill co-sponsored by several members, including Reps. Gene Taylor, D-Miss., Charlie Melancon, D-La., and Rep. Rodney Alexander, R-La., that would create 100,000 jobs in the region through construction and development projects.

The bill failed to get any traction in the last congressional session. It was re-introduced in the House in early May.