New Budget From The Bush Administration; Family And Medical Leave Act Under Review; Rudy Giuliani Files Takes Step Toward Presidential Run; Evolution, Education, Religion And The Battle For America's Soul
New Budget From The Bush Administration
The Bush administration urged skeptical members of Congress on Tuesday to support the president's new 2.9 trillion-dollar spending plan, arguing that the budget can be balanced without raising taxes. Democrats charged that the president used overly optimistic assumptions about how much revenue the economy will generate over the next five years to make the budget. Discussing the numbers with Larry is Joel Havamann, Assistant Editor at the Los Angeles Times' D.C. Bureau, Max Sowickey, economist for the Economic Policy Institute, and Allison Fraser of the Roe Institute for Economic Studies at the Heritage Foundation.
Family And Medical Leave Act Under Review
The U.S. Labor Department will seek public comment on the Family and Medical Leave Act in part due to business groups which say workers are taking advantage of the legislation. Larry and his guests discuss the federal law which guarantees workers as many as 12 weeks of unpaid leave to treat and recover from serious medical conditions, to care for an ailing family member or bond with a new baby. David Dabbs, Attorney with McGuire Woods LLP and Jocelyn Frye, Legal Counsel for the National Partnership for Women & Families join Larry for the conversation.
Rudy Giuliani Files Takes Step Toward Presidential Run
Former New York City mayor, Rudy Giuliani, whose popularity soared after his response to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, has moved closer to a full-fledged campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. The two-term mayor filed a "statement of candidacy" with the Federal Election Commission on Monday. Larry Mantle and his guests discuss what impact Giuliani's candidacy will have on the race and how he is likely to fair against the various Democratic opponents he could face if he gets the Republican nomination. Joining Larry to talk about the probabilities are NPR Political Editor Ken Rudin, WNYC Senior Reporter Andrea Bernstein, veteran political strategist Arnold Steinberg, and author and professor Fred Siegel whose book The Prince of the City: Giuliani, New York and the Genius of American Life has just been published in paperback.
Evolution, Education, Religion And The Battle For America's Soul
What should we teach our children about where we come from? Is evolution good science? Is it incompatible with faith? In his new book Monkey Girl: Evolution, Education, Religion, and the Battle for America's Soul (Ecco), award-winning journalist Ed Humes takes us behind the scenes of the recent war on evolution in Dover, Pennsylvania, the epic court case on teaching "intelligent design" it spawned, and the national struggle over what Americans believe about human origins. Ed Humes joins Larry Mantle to talk about what happens when science and religion collide.