The congressmen contend the fund diverts money from the general treasury that instead could be used to reduce the massive federal deficit. Apart from that, they point out, Sen. John Kerry said recently that his decision to participate in the public financing system was the biggest mistake in his failed 2004 presidential campaign.
SELF-HELP BOOK
"I've lost 40 pounds and have another 20 to go," NBC "Today" show travel editor Peter Greenberg tells The Beltway Beat.
Greenberg, who logs an average of 400,000 air miles each year, has a new book out this week, "The Traveler's Diet: Eating Right and Staying Fit on the Road." And let's just say he's the first reader to follow his own advice.
What you might not have known: "People who drink diet sodas don't lose weight - in fact, they gain weight," the travel editor writes, explaining how he kicked a severe "Diet Pepsi habit" after learning that laboratory rats fed artificial sweeteners actually ate more than rats fed real sugar.
HEARD ENOUGH
Days after the national anthem was translated loosely into Spanish on a widely released album, we see where Rep. Jim Ryun, Kansas Republican, is seeking co-sponsors to legislation affirming that the musical composition be sung only in English.
As far as the congressman is concerned, there are a "few things specific to our nation that should not be recited or sung in another language."
SIGN OF THE TIMES
"American owners." - Sign with big letters posted in front of the Grape & Grain liquor store in Bridgeville, Del.
HER TURN
Mary Cheney's new memoir, "Now It's My Turn," was officially released this week, one highlight being that when she first told her dad, Vice President Dick Cheney, about her homosexuality, he calmly replied: "You're my daughter, and I love you, and I just want you to be happy."
We assume both Cheney and his wife, Lynne, will be on hand at The Palm on May 19 when a book party will be held in his daughter's honor.