President George W. Bush reassured a gathering of religious and civic leaders this morning (3/1/05) that he is committed to pursuing his Faith-Based and Community Initiative to expand the role of religious organizations in the delivery of government-funded social services. "Hopefully you will be reassured that this initiative is one that has a lot of impetus, and be reassured that we want to help change America," President Bush said to some 250 guests attending the White House Faith-Based and Community Initiatives Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C.

In an op-ed column in today's New York Times, Paul Krugman argues that the GOP leadership's drive to create private Social Security accounts isn't about "finding a way to strengthen Social Security; it's about finding a way to phase out a system that conservatives have always regarded as illegitimate." Lawmakers will need to find a way to ensure that benefits aren't cut for Social Security recipients in the future, whether or not that includes some form of private accounts. They will need to do so, however, in a way that doesn't place those benefits at risk. Social Security benefits are currently responsible for keeping 13 million elderly people from living below the poverty line. If those benefits did not exist, almost 50 percent of elderly people would live below the poverty line. If the level of those benefits were to be put at risk through the creation private accounts, some seniors would fare well; however a number of them would end up losing out on thousands of dollars per year, and many household incomes would fall below the poverty line. Click here to see a new report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities that outlines the effect of Social Security on poverty among senior citizens. The report provides data on a state-by-state basis.

Senate Environment and Public Works Chairman Inhofe's staff is investigating a coalition of state and local air quality officials that recently testified against his "Clear Skies" legislation. The State and Territorial Air Pollution Program Administrators/Association of Local Air Pollution Control Officials was asked to provide financial records, including IRS filings and details of government grants or contracts. The groups' executive director, Bill Becker, accused the Senate panel of trying "to intimidate the associations, and our members are very troubled by that."