Kahn Bani Sa'ad Corrections Facility, Iraq The Special Inspector General for Iraqi Reconstruction (SIGIR) has released a new audit report today concerning the work (or lack thereof) of Parsons Delaware, Inc., a contractor who was doing design and construction work on

The federal minimum wage will increase to $6.55 per hour today, the second bump that is part of a law passed last year to increase the wage to $7.25 by next summer (see this story in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution). As the AJC correctly points out, the increase will have a significant impact in Georgia, but for more than half the states, it won't do much because the federal government is woefully behind the curve:

Appropriations Committee chair Robert Byrd (D-WV) stated yesterday that he is postponing markups of the Interior-Environment and Legislative Branch FY 2009 appropriations bill and a second supplemental bill. The announcement to push off the supplemental comes a week after Bryd announced July 10 that he planned to markup the measure July 24. His reluctance to move Interior-Environment is similar to that of House Appropriations Committee chair David Obey's (D-WI) -- uncertainty about their ability to block Republican-backed oil and gas drilling provisions that would be tacked on to the bill.

With the Congressional appropriations process grinding to a halt in the House and the future of FY 2009 appropriations bills in doubt, Democratic leaders announced ($) last week that they absolutely intend to pass one appropriations bill before the start of the fiscal year on Oct. 1 - the Defense Department appropriations bill. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said that she knows the bill will be passed because, "that is our responsibility." Apparently she doesn't feel the same responsibility to pass the other 11 appropriations bills on time. Hmmmm.....