John Kerry and Chuck Hagel will take their road show to the House Foreign Affairs Committee, as the Obama administration works to get Congress to pass a resolution about whether or not the U.S. will invade Syria for a limited duration. The pair will also go in closed session before the Senate, where presumably Marco Rubio will decide how he feels about the subject.
But there's another national story to talk about this morning: homelessness. USA Today reported that according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the number of homeless people in the U.S. has dropped 17 percent from 2005 to 2012.
That doesn't mean that homelessness still isn't a significant issue, especially in Tampa. But think about it; because of the Homeless Coalition of Hillsborough County's methodology employed a couple of years ago, the number of homeless people in this county has dropped from more than 17,000, down to 2,275. But that reduced number hasn't affected the number of new ordinances designed to crack down on the homeless population in Tampa.
Back to the debate on Syria. Orlando Democratic Rep. Alan Grayson is very much against the prospect of attacking the Assad government and has created a website to allow citizens to voice their opposition as well.
We received an e-mail indicating that Tampa Republican Rep. Dana Young is endorsing Rick Cochran for the County Commission's District 4 GOP primary, prompting me to realize that there are now four candidates (including one Democrat) who have joined the race to succeed Al Higginbotham in that Eastern Hillsborough seat.
And remember immigration reform? It hasn't gone away by any stretch but until Congress returns to Washington it has faded from the headlines. Getting a head start as the House returns en mass next week, the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce urged them to ratify the Senate bill passed earlier this summer.
This article appears in Sep 5-11, 2013.