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A trio of domestic political stories are bubbling along: healthcare reform, the Cash for Clunkers program, and a looming crisis at the United States Postal Service.
ABC's Jake Tapper covered the same "visceral anger" from conservative opponents of healthcare legislation at Congressional town hall meetings that CBS' Wyatt Andrews told us about Monday. Andrews pointed to FreedomWorks.org as one of the organizers of the activists. ABC's Tapper identified FreedomWorks.org as "run by corporate lobbyist and former House Majority Leader Dick Armey." He also pointed to a "widely circulated memo" by Bob MacGuffie of Right Principles urging opponents of "the socialist agenda in Washington" to put their representative "on the defensive with your questions…The goal is to rattle him." Tapper noted that the visible fruits of that organizing: "All those town hall meetings are on YouTube," videostreams that Tapper himself used to illustrate his report.
All three newscasts updated us on the Cash for Clunkers subsidy that pays new car buyers to trade in gas guzzlers for fuel-efficient models. NBC's Kelly O'Donnell and CBS' Nancy Cordes filed from Capitol Hill where the Senate is likely to extend the program through Labor Day by adding $2bn. They quoted the Transportation Department's progress report that $664m has been disbursed so far, trading mostly American-made trucks and SUVs for hatchbacks and sedans, half from Detroit and half from foreign-owned plants, models such as the Toyota Corolla and the Honda Civic. ABC's Sharyn Alfonsi filed a visually spectacular feature on the death of the clunkers--how junkyards tear out guzzling engines and shred their skeletal remains for scrap metal. "If you love cars, turn your head."
The USPS is on track to lose $7bn this year. NBC's Lisa Myers covered the crisis Monday noting the triple threat of "the Internet, competition from private carriers and the recession that have combined to cause a steep decline in the volume of mail." Hundreds of post offices, sorting facilities and collection points, mostly in urban areas, will have to be closed, stated ABC's Steve Osunsami. A crisis looms: "In October the Postal Service is required to make a $5.4bn payment to its employee health insurance plan--and that money is not there."
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