Cap and Trade, FCC’s “Future of Media” Project and Another Fannie Mae Bailout
Sen. Lindsey Graham withdraws his support for climate legislation co-sponsored by Sens. John Kerry and Joe Lieberman.
The Federal Communications Commission is launching a “Future of Media” initiative to ensure that Americans have access to “diverse sources of news and information.”
Fannie Mae is asking for another $8.4 billion in bailout funds.
1. ENVIRONMENT
Sen. Lindsey Graham withdraws his support for climate legislation co-sponsored by Sens. John Kerry and Joe Lieberman.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Fellow Marlo Lewis on why Graham is trying to deceive the public.
“Graham stated: ‘It’s not a global warming bill to me. Because global warming as a reason to pass legislation doesn’t exist anymore.’ He also explained: ‘There is no bipartisan support for a cap-and-trade bill based on global warming.’ Permit me to translate Graham’s Clintonese: ‘We want capntrade even if the original and central rationale is no longer credible, and oh, by the way, we’re not calling it capntrade anymore. I’m in this to win but I’ll be a no-show when Kerry and Lieberman introduce the non-global warming, non-capntrade, global warming-capntrade bill.’”
2. MEDIA
The Federal Communications Commission is launching a “Future of Media” initiative to ensure that Americans have access to diverse news sources.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews on why the initiative is intrusive and unnecessary.
“The premise of the Commission’s Future of Media campaign is that media face various threats requiring government action. In reality, however, there exist today an abundance of opportunities for the creation of information, access to it, and avenues for personal expression that pave the way for government to leave the realm of communications alone.”
3. FINANCE
Fannie Mae is asking for another $8.4 billion in bailout funds.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Counsel Hans Bader on why Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac need reform.
“Fannie and Freddie helped spawn the mortgage crisis by acting as loan toilets, buying up risky mortgages and thus creating an artificial market for junk. From the time Fannie and Freddie began buying risky loans as early as 1993, they routinely misrepresented the mortgages they were acquiring, reporting them as prime when they had characteristics that made them clearly subprime. They paid their CEOs millions, and engaged in massive accounting fraud — $6.3 billion at Fannie Mae alone — to increase the size of their managers’ bonuses.”