In brief: Obama signs bill aimed at freeing capital
Washington – President Barack Obama has signed into law a bill aimed at giving small businesses more access to capital, touting the measure as a step toward job creation and a sign of hope for bipartisan cooperation in Washington.
“I’ve always said that the true engine of job creation in this country is the private sector, not the government,” Obama said as he signed the bill Thursday. “For startups and small businesses, this bill is a potential game changer.”
Obama signed the JOBS Act, the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, in a Rose Garden ceremony as House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., a vocal critic of the president, looked on. The measure was only a small portion of the larger jobs bill Obama pushed last year.
Still, the president sought to draw attention to the bill and the image of cooperation in a town that is sharply divided along party lines and moving no closer together in an election year. As both Cantor and Obama said they hoped the agreement on this measure would signal more to come, many in Washington suspect the JOBS Act may be the last – and the only – bill aimed at boosting the economy to pass the divided Congress this year.
‘Merchant of Death’ gets 25-year term
New York – A Russian arms dealer dubbed the Merchant of Death for his history of arming violent dictators and regimes was sentenced Thursday to 25 years in prison, far short of the life term prosecutors sought for his conviction on terrorism charges that grew from a U.S. sting operation.
Viktor Bout’s sentence was the mandatory minimum he faced, though federal sentencing guidelines had called for life in prison.
U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin in Manhattan said it was sufficient and appropriate because Bout’s crimes originated only because of an elaborate sting operation created by the Drug Enforcement Administration to catch one of the world’s most notorious arms dealers.
She said there was no evidence the 45-year-old Bout had ever planned to harm Americans or commit a crime punishable in U.S. courts until the sting was created.
The sentencing came four years after Bout’s arrest in Thailand, where he was held before his extradition to the U.S. for trial in late 2010, and months after a jury convicted him of four conspiracy charges relating to his support of a Colombian terrorist organization.
Offshore drilling fees buying forest land
Washington – Offshore drilling fees are financing the purchase of $41.6 million worth of new national forest lands in 15 states.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Thursday the 28 different purchases from North Carolina to Oregon will protect clean water and fish and wildlife habitat, absorb private inholdings within wilderness areas, and support outdoor recreation spending.
The purchases from willing sellers represent about 20,000 acres, which were chosen from 68 applications. In one case, the fund is paying $1.4 million to complete the purchase of 1,481 acres previously marketed for vacation home sites along the Imnaha River in northeastern Oregon and add them to the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area on the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest.
The money comes from the Land and Water Conservation Fund, created in 1964. Congress taps mitigation fees paid by companies drilling for offshore oil and gas to finance the fund year to year. The fund is capped at $900 million a year.