The Kyoto Protocol on climate change will take effect on Wednesday (February 16). The United States initially signed up to Kyoto’s framework but the Bush administration rejected the accord in March 2001. The administration also opposes caps on carbon dioxide emissions, deemed responsible for the greenhouse effect and global warming. ROSS GELBSPAN Gelbspan is the…

The House of Representatives has begun debate on the “REAL ID Act of 2005” (HR 418) and may vote as early as Thursday. The following people are available for interviews: JUDITH GOLUB Available for a limited number of interviews, Golub is senior director of advocacy and public affairs for the American Immigration Lawyers Association. She…

Senator EDUARDO SUPLICY A senator from Brazil, Suplicy was the sponsor of the “Citizen’s Basic Income” legislation that was signed into law last year. The law is grounded in the concept that an unconditional and guaranteed minimum income is the simplest and most effective step toward the eradication of poverty. It will be implemented gradually…

The New York Times reported Monday that U.S. scientists “have begun designing a new generation of nuclear arms meant to be sturdier and more reliable and to have longer lives, federal officials and private experts say.” More Information JACQUELINE CABASSO Executive director of the Western States Legal Foundation, which focuses on nuclear policy, Cabasso said…

FRANCES FOX PIVEN Author of the recent book The War at Home: The Domestic Costs of Bush’s Militarism, Piven said today: “The new budget proposals continue the Republican strategy of emasculating the parts of government that serve ordinary Americans in order to build the military, subsidize corporations, and slash taxes on the affluent. With deficits…

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is currently traveling to Europe, Israel and the Israeli-occupied territories. The following are available for interviews: GEORGE MONBIOT Monbiot is a columnist for the London-based Guardian and author of the book The Age of Consent: A Manifesto for a New World Order. More Information HOUZAN MAHMOUD Mahmoud is the U.K.…

LEE PRICE Price is research director at the Economic Policy Institute. He said today: “Four years ago, President Bush assured us that we could afford his massive tax cuts tilted toward the well-to-do and still maintain a budget surplus large enough to maintain Social Security commitments. Now, four years later, we have deficits largely caused…

The following analysts will be available Wednesday night and Thursday to comment on policy proposals in the State of the Union address: DIANA ZUCKERMAN Zuckerman is president of the National Research Center for Women & Families. She wrote the article “Social Security and Women.” More Information BILL SPRIGGS Spriggs wrote the recent articles “African Americans…

The Senate is expected to debate the nomination of Alberto Gonzales for attorney general until Thursday, a nominee that lawyers at the Center for Constitutional Rights describe as one of the architects of Guantánamo as well as the torture and abuse of detainees. U.S. District Court Judge Joyce Green on Monday ruled that special military…

ANTONIA JUHASZ Juhasz wrote the recent article “Of Oil And Elections.” She said today: “The front-runner for the new Prime Minister of Iraq is Adel Abdul Mahdi, Iraq’s current Finance Minister who announced on Dec. 21 that his government was hoping to privatize its oil and that this would be ‘very promising to the American…