Conservative Blogger
Monday, April 18, 2016
Top Obama doc Fauci to Congress on Zika funding: 'Act now'
Dr. Anthony Fauci, a top Obama administration doctor, urged Congress
on Sunday to promptly agree to appropriate an additional roughly $2
billion to fight against Zika -- the latest in the back and forth
between the White House and GOP-led House about funding against the
deadly virus.
“We have to act now,” Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told “Fox News Sunday.”
House Republican leaders have argued that the federal government has enough money now to fight the virus and that additional funding should come through the regular appropriations process this fall.
However, House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers suggested last week that he would support immediate supplemental funding, with a White House request that includes a detailed spending plan.
“We can’t do it without the numbers,” the Kentucky Republican said Wednesday on Capitol Hill.
While Rogers also has tried to assure the public that Congress will not allow a public health crisis, he has suggested that the administration might not get all of the roughly $2 billion, which he has referred to as a “slush fund.”
“I disagree with that,” Fauci said, arguing the administration has presented Congress with a “project-by-project approach” and that it will also use money left from fighting the Ebola virus.
There has so far been no documented Zika infections in the United States from mosquitoes that carry the virus. But nearly 350 illnesses have been reported across all 50 states, each linked to travel to Zika outbreak regions, largely the Caribbean and Latin America. Thirty-two of the infected women were pregnant. The virus can also be spread through sex.
“The regular appropriations process takes too long,” Fauci said Sunday. “I don’t want to wait to have to develop a vaccine.”
The House agreed late last week on a bipartisan measure to speed up development of a treatment.
However, on Friday, Democratic Reps. Nita Lowey, N.Y.; Rosa DeLauro, Conn.; and Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Fla., urged Rogers to hold a special meeting on the administration’s request for emergency supplemental funding.
Under the rules of the Appropriations Committee, three members may request the chairman convene a special meeting. If the chairman fails to schedule such a meeting within seven calendar days, a majority of the committee members may convene a special meeting on their own.
A Zika infection causes only a mild and brief illness in most people. But in the last year, infections in pregnant women have been strongly linked to fetal deaths and devastating birth defects, mostly in Brazil, where 1,113 cases of related microcephaly have been confirmed since October.
“We have to act now,” Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told “Fox News Sunday.”
House Republican leaders have argued that the federal government has enough money now to fight the virus and that additional funding should come through the regular appropriations process this fall.
However, House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers suggested last week that he would support immediate supplemental funding, with a White House request that includes a detailed spending plan.
“We can’t do it without the numbers,” the Kentucky Republican said Wednesday on Capitol Hill.
While Rogers also has tried to assure the public that Congress will not allow a public health crisis, he has suggested that the administration might not get all of the roughly $2 billion, which he has referred to as a “slush fund.”
“I disagree with that,” Fauci said, arguing the administration has presented Congress with a “project-by-project approach” and that it will also use money left from fighting the Ebola virus.
There has so far been no documented Zika infections in the United States from mosquitoes that carry the virus. But nearly 350 illnesses have been reported across all 50 states, each linked to travel to Zika outbreak regions, largely the Caribbean and Latin America. Thirty-two of the infected women were pregnant. The virus can also be spread through sex.
“The regular appropriations process takes too long,” Fauci said Sunday. “I don’t want to wait to have to develop a vaccine.”
The House agreed late last week on a bipartisan measure to speed up development of a treatment.
However, on Friday, Democratic Reps. Nita Lowey, N.Y.; Rosa DeLauro, Conn.; and Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Fla., urged Rogers to hold a special meeting on the administration’s request for emergency supplemental funding.
Under the rules of the Appropriations Committee, three members may request the chairman convene a special meeting. If the chairman fails to schedule such a meeting within seven calendar days, a majority of the committee members may convene a special meeting on their own.
A Zika infection causes only a mild and brief illness in most people. But in the last year, infections in pregnant women have been strongly linked to fetal deaths and devastating birth defects, mostly in Brazil, where 1,113 cases of related microcephaly have been confirmed since October.
Lewandowski says campaign understands delegate rules, calls Trump 'presumptive nominee'
Donald Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski on Sunday dismissed
criticism about his team failing to understand GOP delegate rules and
declared his candidate the party’s “presumptive nominee."
Lewandowski told “Fox News Sunday” that the Trump campaign indeed comprehends the rules -- which vary among states and sometimes apply to conventions, not primaries or caucuses.
Nevertheless, he thinks the rules are not always fair.
“We understand what happens,” said Lewandowski, arguing primary challenger Texas Sen. Ted Cruz does better in state contests in which “party bosses pick the delegates,” not the voters.
He added: “There are people out there who don’t have the ability to write a check,” to become a convention-picked delegate.
Trump, Cruz or Ohio Gov. John Kasich will need 1,237 delegates to win the Republican Party nomination.
Trump leads with 744, followed by Cruz with 559 and Kasich with 144.
While Trump also has won roughly 20 state contests with larger delegate pools, Cruz has been able to win a dozen or so delegates by essentially campaigning at the smaller-scale state and county conventions -- like those in Colorado and Wyoming on Saturday in which Cruz won all 14 delegates.
Ken Cuccinelli, Cruz’s delegate operations director, said on ABC’s “This Week” that the Trump campaign must stop accusing Cruz of not following the rules and using “hyperbolic rhetoric” about the issue that it cannot support.
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said last week on Twitter that the nomination process has been known to all for more than a year and that the campaigns have a responsibility to understand the process.
“Complaints now?” he tweeted. “Give us all a break."
Trump, during a campaign event Saturday in Syracuse, N.Y., suggested the Republican establishment and others are going to have a “rough week” at the party’s nominating convention in July if he arrives with a large delegate lead and officials try to take it from him.
“That’s not what we’re about,” Lewandowski said Sunday, attempting to clarify Trump's remarks. “We’re supposed to be bringing this party together. If the party wants a nominee (who can win the White House), it needs to pick Donald Trump.”
Lewandowski also said Trump, a billionaire businessman, will do “very well” in the New York primary Tuesday in which 95 delegates are at stake, but declined to predict a sweep amid strong polling numbers.
However, he predicted Trump also will do well in upcoming mid-Atlantic state contests, including those in Connecticut, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.
“He’s going to be the presumptive nominee going forward,” Lewandowski said.
Paul Manafort, Trump's newly hired convention manager, told The Washington Post in a story Sunday the campaign’s goal is for Trump to be the presumptive nominee by mid-May.
Lewandowski also on Sunday said that he was happy that Palm Beach County (Fla.) officials decided last week not to proceed with charges that he allegedly assaulted a reporter by grabbing her arm.
He declined to apologize for the incident and for calling her “delusional” for saying he grabbed her. However, Lewandowski said he would speak privately with the reporter in an attempt to put the issue behind them.
Lewandowski has said he tried to call the reporter, Michelle Fields. She says he did not. Lewandowski told “Fox News Sunday” that police have phone records showing he did.
Lewandowski told “Fox News Sunday” that the Trump campaign indeed comprehends the rules -- which vary among states and sometimes apply to conventions, not primaries or caucuses.
Nevertheless, he thinks the rules are not always fair.
“We understand what happens,” said Lewandowski, arguing primary challenger Texas Sen. Ted Cruz does better in state contests in which “party bosses pick the delegates,” not the voters.
He added: “There are people out there who don’t have the ability to write a check,” to become a convention-picked delegate.
Trump, Cruz or Ohio Gov. John Kasich will need 1,237 delegates to win the Republican Party nomination.
The latest headlines on the 2016 elections from the biggest name in politics. See Latest Coverage →
While Trump also has won roughly 20 state contests with larger delegate pools, Cruz has been able to win a dozen or so delegates by essentially campaigning at the smaller-scale state and county conventions -- like those in Colorado and Wyoming on Saturday in which Cruz won all 14 delegates.
Ken Cuccinelli, Cruz’s delegate operations director, said on ABC’s “This Week” that the Trump campaign must stop accusing Cruz of not following the rules and using “hyperbolic rhetoric” about the issue that it cannot support.
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said last week on Twitter that the nomination process has been known to all for more than a year and that the campaigns have a responsibility to understand the process.
“Complaints now?” he tweeted. “Give us all a break."
Trump, during a campaign event Saturday in Syracuse, N.Y., suggested the Republican establishment and others are going to have a “rough week” at the party’s nominating convention in July if he arrives with a large delegate lead and officials try to take it from him.
“That’s not what we’re about,” Lewandowski said Sunday, attempting to clarify Trump's remarks. “We’re supposed to be bringing this party together. If the party wants a nominee (who can win the White House), it needs to pick Donald Trump.”
Lewandowski also said Trump, a billionaire businessman, will do “very well” in the New York primary Tuesday in which 95 delegates are at stake, but declined to predict a sweep amid strong polling numbers.
However, he predicted Trump also will do well in upcoming mid-Atlantic state contests, including those in Connecticut, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.
“He’s going to be the presumptive nominee going forward,” Lewandowski said.
Paul Manafort, Trump's newly hired convention manager, told The Washington Post in a story Sunday the campaign’s goal is for Trump to be the presumptive nominee by mid-May.
Lewandowski also on Sunday said that he was happy that Palm Beach County (Fla.) officials decided last week not to proceed with charges that he allegedly assaulted a reporter by grabbing her arm.
He declined to apologize for the incident and for calling her “delusional” for saying he grabbed her. However, Lewandowski said he would speak privately with the reporter in an attempt to put the issue behind them.
Lewandowski has said he tried to call the reporter, Michelle Fields. She says he did not. Lewandowski told “Fox News Sunday” that police have phone records showing he did.
Despite the angry attacks, Hillary and Bernie aren't far apart on the issues
The way that Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders were
savaging each other in Brooklyn, you’d think they were miles apart
politically.
But that’s kind of an illusion. They’re really not all that different on the issues.
It’s in the nature of party primaries that the contenders have to exaggerate their differences. They need to portray their rivals as hopelessly wrong and misguided on a laundry list of subjects, or else the contest seems purely personal—and indeed, it’s gotten bitterly personal between these two Democrats.
But when you drill down, the distinctions that raised Bernie’s decibel level to 11 at the CNN debate turn more on nuance than matters of mighty principle.
Sanders wants to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Clinton also wants to raise the minimum wage, but to $12. So there’s a grand total of three bucks between them—and Hillary, who quickly said she sorta likes $15, has a more complicated plan (naturally) depending on local cost-of-living.
Both the Vermont senator and the former first lady say they want to rein in Wall Street. Sanders goes further rhetorically when it comes to breaking up the big banks, but (as Clinton pointed out) couldn’t tell New York’s Daily News what laws he would use. His main argument is that Clinton is too close to Wall Street big shots, with the infamous six-figure speeches to Goldman Sachs, to have credibility on the subject. But when challenged by CNN, Sanders couldn’t name anything Clinton had done that was influenced by those ties.
Gun control is Clinton’s pivotal issue against
Sanders, but he has supported, for instance, an assault-weapons ban,
despite being from a rural state with no gun control laws. He does
differ from her on shielding gun manufacturers from liability suits. But
by and large, they are both in favor of tighter gun controls.
Fossil fuels? Clinton doesn’t accept money from the industry, as Sanders once charged, because that would be illegal. Her campaign has taken money from people who work in the industry, and the Sanders camp has taken a much lesser amount. Neither is exactly sympathetic to the oil and gas crowd.
One of the greatest debate clashes was over Israel. Sanders, taking an unusual step in a New York Democratic primary, spoke sympathetically about respecting the Palestinians (and criticized the Jewish state for a disproportionate response to provocations in Gaza). But as secretary of State, Clinton also pursued an administration policy that would ultimately lead to a two-state solution—just as her husband did, and as Sanders favors. And despite her pro-Israel rhetoric, no administration could orchestrate a peace deal without treating the Palestinian side with respect. Indeed, Clinton said at the debate she would try to “get an agreement that will be fair both to the Israelis and the Palestinians,” while protecting Israel’s security.
The list goes on. On issue after issue, Hillary and Bernie are, yes, liberal Democrats. They are light-years away from the Republicans on banking, minimum wage, gun control and other issues. There was a similar dynamic between Clinton and Barack Obama eight years ago. Sure, Sanders goes much further in promising, say, free college tuition, but even there Clinton decided to pitch a program of grants to the states that would allow students to avoid taking out loans.
And that is telling. While it looks virtually impossible for Sanders to win the nomination, he has basically won the argument, with Clinton sliding left on a whole host of issues, including the Pacific trade deal she once backed.
In the end, it shouldn’t be hard for Bernie supporters to back Hillary—except that many of them, who adore the 74-year-old lawmaker, are mad at her. And the two candidates are really fed up with each other. But that has far more to do with personality than ideology.
Howard Kurtz is a Fox News analyst and the host of "MediaBuzz" (Sundays 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET). He is the author of five books and is based in Washington. Follow him at @HowardKurtz. Click here for more information on Howard Kurtz.
But that’s kind of an illusion. They’re really not all that different on the issues.
It’s in the nature of party primaries that the contenders have to exaggerate their differences. They need to portray their rivals as hopelessly wrong and misguided on a laundry list of subjects, or else the contest seems purely personal—and indeed, it’s gotten bitterly personal between these two Democrats.
But when you drill down, the distinctions that raised Bernie’s decibel level to 11 at the CNN debate turn more on nuance than matters of mighty principle.
Sanders wants to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Clinton also wants to raise the minimum wage, but to $12. So there’s a grand total of three bucks between them—and Hillary, who quickly said she sorta likes $15, has a more complicated plan (naturally) depending on local cost-of-living.
Both the Vermont senator and the former first lady say they want to rein in Wall Street. Sanders goes further rhetorically when it comes to breaking up the big banks, but (as Clinton pointed out) couldn’t tell New York’s Daily News what laws he would use. His main argument is that Clinton is too close to Wall Street big shots, with the infamous six-figure speeches to Goldman Sachs, to have credibility on the subject. But when challenged by CNN, Sanders couldn’t name anything Clinton had done that was influenced by those ties.
The latest headlines on the 2016 elections from the biggest name in politics. See Latest Coverage →
Fossil fuels? Clinton doesn’t accept money from the industry, as Sanders once charged, because that would be illegal. Her campaign has taken money from people who work in the industry, and the Sanders camp has taken a much lesser amount. Neither is exactly sympathetic to the oil and gas crowd.
One of the greatest debate clashes was over Israel. Sanders, taking an unusual step in a New York Democratic primary, spoke sympathetically about respecting the Palestinians (and criticized the Jewish state for a disproportionate response to provocations in Gaza). But as secretary of State, Clinton also pursued an administration policy that would ultimately lead to a two-state solution—just as her husband did, and as Sanders favors. And despite her pro-Israel rhetoric, no administration could orchestrate a peace deal without treating the Palestinian side with respect. Indeed, Clinton said at the debate she would try to “get an agreement that will be fair both to the Israelis and the Palestinians,” while protecting Israel’s security.
The list goes on. On issue after issue, Hillary and Bernie are, yes, liberal Democrats. They are light-years away from the Republicans on banking, minimum wage, gun control and other issues. There was a similar dynamic between Clinton and Barack Obama eight years ago. Sure, Sanders goes much further in promising, say, free college tuition, but even there Clinton decided to pitch a program of grants to the states that would allow students to avoid taking out loans.
And that is telling. While it looks virtually impossible for Sanders to win the nomination, he has basically won the argument, with Clinton sliding left on a whole host of issues, including the Pacific trade deal she once backed.
In the end, it shouldn’t be hard for Bernie supporters to back Hillary—except that many of them, who adore the 74-year-old lawmaker, are mad at her. And the two candidates are really fed up with each other. But that has far more to do with personality than ideology.
Howard Kurtz is a Fox News analyst and the host of "MediaBuzz" (Sundays 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET). He is the author of five books and is based in Washington. Follow him at @HowardKurtz. Click here for more information on Howard Kurtz.
Clinton looks beyond New York as Sanders attacks, Trump works for big Tuesday
Hillary Clinton appeared increasingly confident this weekend about her position as the Democratic presidential front-runner -- downplaying the sharp exchanges with rival Sen. Bernie Sanders as typical, late-campaign rhetoric; focusing her attacks on GOP front-runner Donald Trump and even campaigning in California ahead of Tuesday’s big New York primary.
“At the end of a campaign that is certainly hard fought, there are going to be a lot of charges and all kinds of misrepresentations,” Clinton told ABC’s “This Week,” avoiding a question about high-dollar campaign support and instead talking about the rival campaigns’ positions on increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour.
“Let's look at what's really at stake here,” she continued. “We're having a vigorous back and forth about raising the minimum wage, which we both support. And the Republicans don't want to do that at all. In fact, Donald Trump has said that American workers are paid too much.”
Clinton has a double-digit lead over Sanders in New York, while Trump has a nearly 20-point lead over challenger Ohio Gov. John Kasich and a more-than-30-point lead over Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz, second to Trump in the delegate count, according to the RealClearPolitics poll average.
Clinton talked to ABC after a big weekend of campaigning in California, which does not hold its primary until June 7, the last day of the primary season but with 475 delegates at stake.
She attended two fundraisers hosted by Hollywood star George Clooney -- one in San Francisco and the other in Los Angeles. And she held a rally at Southwest College, in the Los Angeles area.
The latest headlines on the 2016 elections from the biggest name in politics. See Latest Coverage →
A $353,400 contribution, which will go to a variety of Clinton and Democratic Party-related efforts, was requested for some tickets, an amount Clooney called “obscene.”
Clinton was back in New York on Sunday, as was Sanders, who had just returned from Rome where he attended a Vatican conference at which he briefly met with Pope Francis.
“I have become a little bit tired of being beaten up by the negativity of the Clinton campaign. And we're responding in kind,” Sanders said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” about his TV debate last week with the former secretary of state and the increasing negativity in the Democratic primary.
The Vermont senator and self-described democratic socialist then launched into his criticism about Clinton’s Wall Street ties, support for the war in Iraq and the minimum wage issue.
Clinton leads Sanders 1758-to-1076 in the delegate count with 247 at stake in New York. Sanders faces long odds in surpassing Clinton and getting 2,383 delegates to secure the nomination before the party’s July convention.
However, he has beaten Clinton in seven of the last eight contests, and his campaign remains optimistic about at least perhaps challenging Clinton for so-called super-delegates at the convention in Philadelphia.
“I think we have real shot to win on Tuesday if there is a large voter turnout,” Sander said Sunday. “I think a lot of these super-delegates are going to conclude that Bernie Sanders is the candidate to prevent what must not be allowed to happen, and that is Donald Trump becoming president.”
Trump has now taken to calling Clinton “crooked Hillary,” in an apparent effort to damage her like he did by referring to Florida GOP Sen. Marco Rubio as “Little Marco.”
Clinton told ABC: "What I’m concerned about is how he goes after everybody else. … He can say whatever he wants to say about me, I really could care less.”
On Sunday, Trump and his campaign also continued to criticize the Republican Party’s delegate-awarding process, which they say relies too much on party “bosses.”
“I think we’re going to make it without (relying) on the bosses,” Trump said at a rally in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. “I spent practically less money than anybody else, and I’m in first place by a lot. Don’t you want that for your president?”
Cruz has been able to out maneuver the Trump campaign for super-delegates and has taken the roughly dozen or so delegates in such states as Colorado and more recently Wyoming, which hold nomination conventions instead of caucuses or voter primaries.
Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski told “Fox News Sunday” that Cruz does better in state contests in which “party bosses pick the delegates,” not the voters.
He added: “There are people out there who don’t have the ability to write a check,” to become a convention-picked delegate.
Trump, Cruz or Kasich will need 1,237 delegates to win the Republican Party nomination. Trump leads with 744, followed by Cruz with 559 and Kasich with 144.
Ken Cuccinelli, Cruz’s delegate operations director, told ABC that the Trump campaign must stop accusing Cruz of not following the delegate rules and using “hyperbolic rhetoric” about the issue that it cannot support.
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said last week on Twitter that the nomination process has been known to all for more than a year and that the campaigns have a responsibility to understand the process.
“Complaints now?” he tweeted. “Give us all a break."
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