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Incentives for veterans in the film industry debate turns interesting

The Providing Incentives for Veterans in the Film Industry Act is currently being voted on in the House, and the piece of legislation which was expected to receive universal support, has seen some detractors rise.

The bill, introduced by former congressman Joshua Bauman, would require movie producers to "hire 50% of military veterans to obtain access to military military bases and federal land". It is assumed that means 50% of the movie company is veterans, not that 50% of veterans should be hired by movie producers. A radical interpretation of this could be that any movie crew coming onto a military base be 50% veteran.

The other big thing this legislation would do is give a $30 million deduction to film or television production staff who has 40-50% being veterans. Financially, this lets film productions be able to take a big drop of the bucket out of the year in which they produce a movie, not in future years as is the norm. As our financial analyst, S.L. Imey, junior partner of the legal tax firm Dewey, Cheetum, and Howe, tells us: "It's not so much additional money as letting them get it now instead of later."

With many movie production staffs reaching into the hundreds at least, as well as veteran status traditionally being a check box on a job application, film analysts feel it would be relatively simple for a movie or television production staff to reach 40% of staff being veterans.

The legislation passed the House Intelligence and Foreign Affairs Committee by unanimous consent. The debate on the House Floor however, saw a little more fanfare. 

The debate started off with House Minority Whip Andrew Sutherland asking about whether this was a new appropriation or an old one that is being re-assessed within the current budget. The first oddity of this debate came at that time when now Democratic Vice Presidential nominee April Robinson responded.

"The bill would reassess how the tax credit is used, however it also increases the tax credit for film companies that increase their staff with former military personal which I hardly believe will make a dent towards the budget," Robinson replied.

Imey pointed out the clear difference between a deduction and a tax credit to us.

"Simple difference. A deduction reduces the income you pay tax on. A tax credit reduces the tax owed," Imey said.

Minnesota's David Carter meanwhile, motioned to table the legislation. He quoted more political and sinister motives as to why Congress would be interested in passing the bill.

"I for one do not see this bill as a bill that's going to greatly help out our Veterans I see this bill as another way in which our congress is trying to "cozy up" to Hollywood elite types and give benefits to Hollywood production companies," Carter said.

Carter also challenged Congress to do more for veterans who are homeless, and veterans who are homeless with mental diseases. His motion to table however, could not find a second in time for the debate to end and a final vote to begin.

The vote, which is slated to be counted soon, is well expected to pass the House. It will now move onto the Senate, where it may wait quite a while before it can be considered. This would be due to a procedural logjam where only four bills can be considered at a time. The current number of bills on the Senate floor is six.

Castillo walks tightrope as officers indicted

After what some would say was a very harsh response to the Diallo situation by one New York congressman, said congressman now seems to be walking a tightrope as the four officers in case were indicted.

New York Democrat Johnathan Castillo, now known for his resolution which accused NYPD officers of "racially profiling", has seemingly held back aggressiveness when it comes to the newly revealed indictments.

In fact, in Castillo's press release titled "Castillo reacts to indictment of officers indicted in Diallo case", there was no mention of the resolution he previously introduced. The main focus of this release was more to do with criminal justice reform, rather than any official comment to the four officers being indicted.

"In our community, we have a predominate minority community and as long as I serve in this congress I will fight to change the criminal justice system for my constituents and the millions of minorities across the state of New York and the United States," read one part of the congressman's press release.

If his implication is that the officers will get off scot-free, he seems to be walking the tightrope of with one side of bold action reminiscent to the resolution and the other side of only more hidden suggestions of need for criminal justice reform. 

The trial of the four police officers is scheduled to begin within the coming days.

IKA emergency injunction denied

The Imperial Klans of America's (IKA) emergency injunction against the implementation of the Hate Crime Prevention Modernization Act has been denied.

The United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky has ruled against the IKA, saying that the effects of the IKA's rights would not be immediate. "Therefore, the need for an emergency injunction is not seen by the court," Chief Justice Charles Ralph Simpson III penned.

The IKA has now filed a motion in the case to have legal proceedings be moved to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Alabama. This would send an eventual appeal to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, rather than the Sixth.

In the meantime, the hate crime awareness government website will open and the implementation of other parts of the hate crime legislation will continue.

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John Merican, LA Times:

Congressman Carter, what is CEDAW?

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Samantha Roscoe, CBS News:

Do you have any suggestions to how the Veterans Affairs Department can fix current issues?

1 hour ago, Thyne said:

Do you have polling or insight into perception? What does the public want? Do they think the shooting was justified? 

 

Any comment from Guiliani? 

Are you satisfied that the four police officers in the Diallo case have been indicted? (National)

Yes - 61%
No - 23%
Unsure - 16% (A lot of these are so tired of the politicization that they just want the issue to go away)

Do you believe that the police officers are getting what they deserve? (National)

Yes - 49%
No - 37%
Unsure - 14%

Do you think the shooting of Diallo was justified? (National)

Yes - 16%
No - 66%
Unsure - 18%

What is your opinion on the Castillo resolution? (National)

Approve - 22%

Disapprove - 42%

Unsure - 36%

Are you satisfied that the four police officers in the Diallo case have been indicted? (NYC)

Yes - 53%
No - 35%
Unsure - 12% (Not as many within the city are tired of the politicization)

Do you approve of the job that police officers are doing in your community overall? (NYC)

Yes - 48% 
No - 30%
Unsure - 22%

Do you think the shooting of Diallo was justified? (NYC)

Yes - 25%
No - 56%
Unsure - 19%

Do you approve of the job that Mayor Rudy Giuliani is doing? (NYC)

Yes - 22%

No - 49%

Unsure - 29% 

What is your opinion on the Castillo resolution? (NYC)

Approve - 27%

Disapprove - 48%

Unsure - 25%

Notes:

There is another resolution on the shooting, introduced by fellow Congressman Byron Baudin. However it has not gained as much traction due to Baudin's lack of promotion of the resolution.

To answer your other question, the office Rudy Giuliani is currently declining to comment.

Chris Brink, CBS News:

What do you think of the OECD report on reading proficiency?

United States reading proficiency takes big hit

The anticipated results of OECD's new reading proficiency scores have been released, and the United States has taken a major hit in the subject.

When the latest survey of reading proficiency was taken in 1994, the United States received a score of 280. Only nine countries ranked higher then America at the time. The latest score has revealed that the United States now records a score of 260. OECD's scores are of Americans who are between the ages of 16 and 45.

The score of 260 drops the United States from a 7th place ranking in OECD members to now a 24th place ranking. Among countries which are now ahead of the United States in reading proficiency include leader Japan at 291 points, New Zealand with 276 points, Australia with 275 points, Canada with 268 points, and Germany with 265 points.

Education analyst Allen Messa notes that while most countries did see drops in reading proficiency, none of the others were as high as the United States.

"Most of the countries that saw drops, saw drops of 10-15 points," Messa said. "However, the United States saw a drop of 20 points. This is a really big deal for America to have dropped 30 points in six years."

Out of the 29 countries who are in the membership of the OECD, only five now rank below the United States in reading proficiency. Those countries are France, Greece, Italy, Spain, and Turkey. 

It should be noted that in the other statistic OECD records, numeracy, that America held it's ground staying at a score of 273, which is now tied for 12th place with Estonia.

CBS News was unable to receive comment from the Department of Education before press time.

Chris Brink, CBS News:

Where do you stand on the Cuban Democracy legislation before the House?

Chris Brink, CBS News:

Representative Pennypacker, what are your goals for this upcoming month?

OECD soon to reveal new reading and numeracy proficiency scores

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development is getting ready to reveal new reading proficiency scores for it's members, of which the United States is one.

Other members of the OECD include Canada, the United Kingdom, Iceland, Germany, Turkey, Spain, and others.

Reading proficiency scores are currently ranked on a 0 to 500 range. The United States currently sits at 280, which is relatively at about 7th place. Some analysts are expecting some decreases in reading proficiency scores worldwide, however they are not expected to be large decreases. 

In numeracy proficiency, the United States currently sits at 273, which puts it in 11th place.

BREAKING: The grand jury in the Amadou Diallo case has found that all four officers involved should be indicted. The Bronx DA has announced that two are officially being indicted with manslaughter, the other two are being charged with involuntary manslaughter.

Robinson, Frost, and Baudin include latest Diallo correspondence; concerns over politicization of family rising

The Diallo family home seems to continue in its status as a popular place for politicians, as after two initial visits from former Presidential candidates DuBois and Baudin, two more Washington politicians have made contact.

DNC Chairwoman April Robinson has visited with the Diallo family and Reverend Al Sharpton, who has reportedly been sitting in on most of the meetings involving the family. Robinson’s discussion apparently included a discussion about the Police Training and Independent Review Act of 1999, which recently failed the House by over 300 votes.

She told the Diallo mother that she felt that even though there was some opposition, that it could end up passing. Obviously Robinson could not have known the result of the bill in advance, but it may still deal her with at least a slight blow to her credibility with the Diallo family.

However, Robinson did note that “we should be promoting Amadou's life before his death” and that “If you [Mrs. Diallo] can bring more attention to that, I believe we can have a much stronger success in ensuring the bill is passed and this becomes a very rare event in America.” 

Chairwoman Robinson met with the press outside of the Diallo home, where she certainly did not take the Giuliani bait as many others have through this incident.

“I think the mayor already has enough publicity, we should be focusing our attention on the Diallo family and most importantly ensuring that the life of Amadou is remembered and not wasted,” Robinson told the press assembled.

Robinson in the press conference, also pointed out to the fact that the press should be focusing on the positive aspects of Diallo’s life, not the negatives or the tragedy that ended his life.

New York Representative Aaron Frost also reached out to Mrs. Diallo, he asked if she would like to join him in introducing new legislation to prevent things like that happened to her son. Diallo declined, citing more interest in seeing her son’s murders being brought to justice.

Fellow New Yorker, Byron Baudin, the original person to see Mrs. Diallo after the death of her son, according to sources, called to apologize about the IKA donation. He told her that “it was not solicited nor was it accepted.”

In the meantime, these politicians at least seem to be getting some backlash by one Senator about over-politicizing the family.

Oregon’s Miriam Schultz issued a press release concerning the over-politicization after the visits by Baudin and DuBois came out to public knowledge.

"We all are extremely saddened by the death of Amadou Diallo but the continued politicization of the Diallo Family must end,” Schultz said. “When the situation with Thomas Ross occurred, we didn't grandstand by visiting the family. We instead pulled ourselves up by our bootstraps and worked towards passing the Hate Crime Prevention Modernization Act of 1999.”

Kirk Roman, former NY Times Write and ABC News reporter agrees that the family is being too politicized.

“The Diallo family is being over-politicized,” Roman told CBS News. “None of the current visits which happened have produced any type of justice or law enforcement reform to ensure that this tragedy never happens again or to get the Diallo family any type of justice.”

Recent polling conducted by CBS News has learned 77% of Americans agree with the statement that the Diallo family is being over-politicized. With a resolution of this issue yet to come yet, there is a probability that this issue becomes even more politicized as time goes on.

Potential constitutional amendment gets tabled in House

In a shocking vote Wednesday Night, the motion to table the Balanced Budget Amendment passed. The constitutional amendment, which the Republicans were pushing on heavily in the House, would have required a balanced budget every year, except for years where certain circumstances were in play.

Democratic-leaning political commentators reached out to CBS News in earnest, all with why they thought the bill failed. Meanwhile, no Republican commentators replied to our requests for comment. John Alexander, former Chief of Staff to the current House Minority Whip Andrew Sutherland cited Republican defections, and Democrats being “unified” in their opposition.

"Simple. Democrats were pretty unified in their opposition whereas many Republicans peeled off, maybe they saw the writing on the wall,” Alexander said “The proposed amendment obviously didn't have the votes to pass and that was shown by the strong vote in support of tabling it."

It should be noted that Ohio Democrat Mark Anderson actually defected on the Democratic side.

Anderson Scooper, political reporter for the New York Daily News, with connections to Senator Anderson Sherman, called the Balanced Budget Amendment a political show.

“This was all for political show, and like much of the recent GOP agenda it failed miserably,” Scooper said. “Because that is what happens when you sprint to the extremes of your own party and turn your back on your own voters.”

The most recent press release from House Minority Leader Nathaniel Dodge (D-NM) with the title of “Bipartisan Groups Kills Bad Budgeting Amendment”, had some interesting words referring to the tabling of the Balanced Budget legislation.

“[The tabling of the BBA is] a strike for responsible governance and a body blow to Speaker White's misguided agenda,” Dodge said.

The Democratic spin seems to be coming out in full force in the first few hours of the BBA failing, as Sutherland has now penned an editorial in the Washington Post titled “Balanced Budget Amendment Nothing but Partisan Game Playing”. 

While the Democratic spin has been doing it’s jobs, news is not all bad for the Republicans however.

In the late hours of the debate on the constitutional amendment, several Republicans took to their press offices, as well as the House Floor, to voice their continued support for the legislation, including Colorado’s Jerome Hooper.

"Just as any family, and the vast majority of states, require, we cannot spend more than we take in. That is simply irresponsible, and to push the burden of debt onto our children and grandchildren, frankly, is immoral," Hooper said on the House floor.

Hooper has seemingly become a new player on the Republican scene, and political analysts mention the fact that if Hooper continues to make himself prominent, he could make a name for himself.

“Hooper has not done much yet, but he seems to have a promising future within the party,” CBS News Political Analyst Gordon Brink said. “He has now introduced a line-item veto amendment, which may raise his status within financially-minded groups.”

While the Democrats are currently coming out of this economic battle as the winners, Republicans certainly have a good shot at taking back the lead on economic policy if they plan to pursue it.

By the way everyone, the political commentator and pundit system is still active, so if you have been thinking about signing up and was unsure whether the system is still in operation, it is.

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John Merican, LA Times:

Did it have anything to do with the IKA endorsement, or the endorsement by the controversial John Conroy?

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Where does Mr. Baudin stand on the Balanced Budget Amendment?