The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell will be resigning today.

Powell, the son of outgoing Secretary of State Colin Powell, has led the FCC during a controversial period, causing dissatisfaction from many groups encompassing various sides. During his tenure the FCC weighed in on indecency fines, communications company mergers and a heated battle between various telecom groups. His ideological bent has been hard to classify.

We've managed to obtain the call for projects for the re-authorization of TEA-21 that the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee distributed recently. It's located over on the analysis side of the website, so be sure to head over there and check it out.

House Members will be required to submit their projects by February 7. We will be in touch to discuss projects you may wish to advance with your Representatives. In the meantime, do not hesitate to be in touch with any questions you may have.

Michael Leavitt, President Bush’s nominee to head the Department of Health and Human Services(HHS), told a Senate committee about his plan for an overhaul of the Medicaid program. Leavitt, a former Utah governor and current EPA administrator, said giving states more flexibility in how they use federal Medicaid money would allow them to cover more people while holding down federal costs. Leavitt told the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee the program “is not meeting its potential to do well in the lives of the poor.” Health, Education, Labor and Pensions ranking member Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Massachusetts) asked whether Medicaid could simultaneously hold down costs, increase enrollment and maintain quality care.

During the hearing, Leavitt was pressed on a range of issues, including recent findings that some FDA-approved drugs had serious side effects. Senators also urged Leavitt to advocate for a permanent leader for the FDA, which has been operating for the last year and a half without a permanent director. Leavitt said implementing the new Medicare drug law would top his agenda at HHS. However, Leavitt did not agree to some senators’ proposals to allow the head of HHS to negotiate with drug companies for better prices for Medicare beneficiaries. Leavitt said he thought that it was better to leave that for the markets.

The Post reported today that the administration is seeking a series of cuts in the Housing and Urban Development community branch.

The $4.7 billion Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program -- comprising most of the community planning budget -- could be cut as much as 50 percent according to aides contacted the Post. Under the new plan, CDBG would be moved to the Commerce Department and simultaneously reduced in size. Mayors and urban interests will be sure to fight for the popular program, which affects cities across the nation.

When President Bush submits his budget request to Congress next month it is expected that he will try to impose, enforceable limits on the growth of federal benefit programs, and the respective House and Senate Budget Committees will support that effort.

President Bush is also expected to seek cuts in housing assistance for low-income families, freeze or slightly increase most domestic programs, and larger increases for domestic security. The spending plan for 2006, like the appropriations enacted for this year, would give priority to military operations and domestic security over social welfare programs.

The new chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, Sen. Judd Gregg (R-New Hampshire) has said he and other fiscal conservatives wanted to establish “enforcement mechanisms” to “put the brakes on the growth of entitlements” which pay benefits to millions of Americans.

A legislative proposal drafted by the White House would make it more difficult for Congress to pass legislation increasing the “long term unfunded obligations” of benefit programs like Social Security, Medicare, Civil Service retirement and disability, veterans disability compensation, and health benefits for retired federal employees.

A White House document describing the proposal says that Medicaid, the health program for low-income people, can be added to the list as soon as federal officials devise a reliable way to estimate its long-term costs. Medicaid spending has gone up 43% in the last five years, so that federal and state outlays together now total more than $300 billion a year.

The president’s proposal, the Spending Control Act, closely resembles a bill drafted by Rep. Jim Nussle (R-Iowa) and the chairman of the House Budget Committee.

The AP is reporting that President Bush will nominate federal appeals court judge Michael Chertoff to head up the Department of Homeland Security later today. Chertoff was in charge of the Justice Department's criminal division from 2001 to 2003.