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Obama vs.
House
Supreme
prohibits
Court,
Round 2
for-profit
earmarks
A pointed debate over the
campaign finance ruling
heats up again
PARTIES BATTLE
OVER EXTENT
by Robert Barnes
and Anne E. Kornblut
President Obama and the Supreme
Senate is unlikely to adopt
Court have waded again into unfamiliar
ban on money for pet projects
and strikingly personal territory.
When Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.
told law students in Alabama on Tuesday by Paul Kane
that the timing of Obama’s criticism of
the court during the State of the Union Facing an election-year backlash over
address was “very troubling,” the White runaway spending and ethics scandals,
House pounced. It shot back with a new House Democrats moved Wednesday to
PHOTOS BY MELINA MARA/THE WASHINGTON POST
denouncement of the court’s ruling that ban earmarks for private companies,
allowed a more active campaign role for
Betty Wall Strohfus embraces fellow pilot Florence Reynolds before the ceremony honoring their WWII service.
sparking a war between the parties over
corporations and unions. which would embrace the most dramatic
On Wednesday, Senate Democrats fol-
A salute to the flygirls of WWII
steps to change the way business is done
lowed up with pointed criticism of Rob- in Washington.
erts, and at a hearing on the decision, a Earmarks, which lawmakers use to di-
leading Democrat said the American pub-
A long-overlooked group of women who flew noncombat
rect federal money to specific projects,
lic had “rightfully recoiled” from the rul-
military missions during World War II finally received its due
have long been a target of reformers seek-
ing. ing to limit spending abuses. Wednes-
The heated rhetoric has cast the nor-
Wednesday at a Congressional Gold Medal ceremony at the
day’s announcement is considered a way
mally cloistered workings of the court
Capitol. The service of the WASPS, or Women Airforce Service
to block no-bid federal grants to private
into a very public spotlight. Democrats firms that can afford to hire well-connect-
hope to make the decision in Citizens
Pilots, was mostly forgotten after the war. But on Wednesday,
ed lobbyists to plead their cases, and al-
United v. Federal Election Commission
about 200 survivors in their 80s and 90s accepted the highest
though it will not have a major impact on
part of their strategy to portray the con- overall spending, Democrats hailed it as a
servative justices as more protective of
Deanie Parrish accepts the Gold Medal. civilian honor bestowed by Congress.
key step in restoring trust in Congress.
corporate interests than of average Amer- “It ensures that for-profit companies
icans. no longer reap the rewards of congres-
A Democratic strategist who works sional earmarks and limits the influence
with the White House said the fight is a of lobbyists on members of Congress,”
good one for Obama, helping lay the
No rush to restructure Fannie, Freddie
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)
groundwork for the next Supreme Court said, linking the move to earlier decisions
opening. “Most Americans have no idea to ban gifts from lobbyists and forbid pri-
what the Supreme Court does or how it planning was underway for overhauling financial system. vately financed travel.
impacts their lives,” the strategist said.
Politics, shaky economy
the firms so the bailouts would end. As Some members of Congress have com- Democrats made the move to bar ear-
“This decision makes it crystal clear.” recently as December, the Obama admin- plained that the huge public commit- marks for for-profit entities despite fierce
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman
make it an unsavory task
istration said it expected to release a pre- ment is unsustainable. But the adminis- resistance from many rank-and-file law-
Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) opened the hear-
for Obama, analysts say
liminary report on how to remake Fannie tration has been reluctant to start re- makers who rely on them to spread feder-
ing on the ruling Wednesday by declaring Mae and Freddie Mac around Feb. 1. forming Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, al money around their districts and con-
that “the Citizens United decision turns But no plan was produced, and in re- officials and analysts say, because the sider them crucial to their political for-
the idea of government of, by and for the by Zachary A. Goldfarb sponse to questions from lawmakers, firms in their current form play an essen- tunes.
people on its head.” The committee’s Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner tial role in supporting the housing mar- Republicans responded immediately
ranking Republican, Jeff Sessions (Ala.), The federal government has spent the clarified last month that it would be an- ket at a time when it is still under severe by proposing a moratorium on all ear-
countered that Obama and Democrats past half year seeking to roll back its other year before the government pro- stress. As other financial firms have exit- marks, even those for nonprofits such as
are mischaracterizing the ruling for polit- emergency efforts at propping up the fi- poses how to restructure the firms. ed the market and credit has seized up, universities. House Minority Leader John
nancial markets — with the notable ex- Sixteen months after they were seized Fannie and Freddie have been behind the A. Boehner (R-Ohio) said voters would re-
court continued on A12 ception of its involvement in mortgage to prevent their collapse, the companies vast majority of mortgages made since ward Republicans in the November mid-
giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. remain wards of the state, running a tab the start of the financial crisis. The com- term elections for taking on special inter-
As the government has pledged more that has now exceeded $125 billion in panies now own or back more than half ests.
a71 Opinion: State of the Union
and more money to cover the companies’ what has become the single costliest
without the high court. A21 losses, it has assured the public that component of the federal bailout for the housing continued on A13 earmarks continued on A13
LETTER FROM CONGO
‘Diva’ has a new job description:
Labels hide the lies of the ‘sapeur’ lifestyle
Head coach, high school football
tion Tuesday, was applauded by some of
By Stephanie McCrummen by Alan Goldenbach her peers in the coaching profession. It
in kinshasa, congo also prompted a modest amount of pre-
In Natalie Randolph’s first season as dictable sniping in anonymous com-
T
his vast central African nation is wide receivers coach at H.D. Woodson ments on an online version of this story
known for many things: the mas- High School in the District a few years that a woman is unfit to be coaching a
sive corruption of the late leopard- ago, one of the most difficult moments sport long dominated by boys.
hat-wearing dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, each week came at the end of the game “Some people say she’s just a woman
grinding poverty, a devastating conflict in when the two teams lined up for their and she doesn’t know anything. There’s
the east. But it is worth noting that Congo traditional handshake. definitely going to be a higher level of
is also home to a formidable cult of high “I hate shaking hands,” she said at the scrutiny because it’s a woman in a man’s
fashion, as demonstrated by the scene at time, “because they walk right past me world,” said Toni Morgan, a referee for
a rickety, sheet-iron pool hall here one re- and don’t realize I’m a coach.” the Eastern Board of Officials and a reg-
cent Sunday. Randolph has been dealing with ular official of football games in the D.C.
It was a lackluster afternoon until a slights like that ever since she fell in love Interscholastic Athletic Association.
shiny maroon Mercedes pulled up, deliv- with football, a passion that led to a five- Said one D.C. high school football
ering a group of young men in clouds of year career as a wide receiver for the D.C. coach: “All I know is, I don’t want to be
cologne and ensembles of Gaultier, Caval- Divas of the women’s professional foot- the first one to lose to her. That’s going to
li and Issey Miyake. ball league and a two-year stint as a var- be wild.”
“Labels! Labels!” yelled one of the pool sity assistant at Woodson. Randolph, a 1998 graduate of Sidwell
players. “Show us the labels!” Now the 29-year-old science teacher is Friends and former sprinter at the Uni-
“Versace!” answered Ukonda Pangi, 22,
MIGUEL JUÁREZ FOR THE WASHINGTON POST
putting herself on the line again. versity of Virginia, is hardly a football
pointing to a rhinestone buckle as he Guy Matondo, one of Congo’s fashion devotees, or “sapeurs,” struts with a golf club On Friday, Randolph is scheduled to newbie. She was a receiver for the Divas
strutted about like Mick Jagger. “Look! and shows off his shoes, glasses and Cavalli shirt. “This is very expensive,” he says. be formally named the head football of the Independent Women’s Profession-
Look at this belt! That’s Versace!” coach at Coolidge High School in North- al League from 2004 to 2008 and an as-
Congo’s fashion devotees call them- Last month, the men paraded in their “the art of wearing,” which is experienc- west Washington, making her what is be- sistant at H.D. Woodson in 2006 and ’07.
selves “sapeurs,” and at the moment, a best Guccis and Yamamotos to the grave ing a rebirth in a country devastated by lieved to be the only woman coaching She joined the Coolidge faculty in 2008
group of them are attempting to revive a of one of Congo’s most famous sapeurs, war and poverty. boys’ varsity high school football in the but has not coached the previous two
movement that has been in some decline laid flowers and declared a World Day of “Clothing — it’s an important science United States. seasons.
in recent years, perhaps not coincidental- Sape. Their hope: to promote Congo’s The appointment, which Randolph
ly along with Congo itself. contributions to what people here call congo continued on A12 confirmed in a brief telephone conversa- coach continued on A13
INSIDE
THE WORLD POLITICS & THE NATION COLLEGE HOCKEY
Setback in Israel? CAPITALS
Vice President Biden’s rebuke
More Massa twists
BASKETBALL
of the country comes as
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office was notified in
“
The Hoyas have
a tendency to
4
Netanyahu is trying to
October of concerns about then-New York Rep. Eric
evaporate before
HURRICANES
reaffirm U.S. relations. A8
Massa’s behavior. A2
your eyes; they are
LOCAL LIVING 1
HEALTH-CARE REFORM
a team of baffling 3
Adopt this dog
Making his case
lapses and strange
Tomas
Rescue groups say this month
President Obama takes his full-court press on
vanishings.”
Fleischmann
is a prime time to add man’s
health-care reform to the St. Louis area. A3
— Sally Jenkins
scores the
best friend to your family.
George F. Will: On health-care reform, Obama is
column, D1
game-winner in
foolishly channeling Woodrow Wilson. A21
overtime. D1
CONTENTS © 2010
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