WASHINGTON — Americans are plenty angry at Congress in the aftermath of the debt crisis and Republicans could pay the greatest price, a new Associated Press-GfK poll suggests.
The poll finds the tea party has lost support, Republican House Speaker John Boehner is increasingly unpopular and people are warming to the idea of not just cutting spending but also raising taxes — anathema to the GOP — just as both parties prepare for another struggle with deficit reduction.
To be sure, there is plenty of discontent to go around. The poll finds more people are down on their own member of Congress, not just the institution, an unusual finding in surveys and one bound to make incumbents particularly nervous. In interviews, some people said the debt standoff itself, which caused a crisis of confidence to ripple through world markets, made them wonder whether lawmakers are able to govern at all.
“I guess I long for the day back in the ‘70s and ‘80s when we could disagree but we could get a compromise worked out,” said Republican Scott MacGregor, 45, a Windsor, Conn., police detective. “I don’t think there’s any compromise anymore.”
The results point to a chilly autumn in Washington as the divided Congress returns to the same fiscal issues that almost halted other legislative business and are certain to influence the struggle for power in the 2012 elections. They suggest that politicians, regardless of party, have little to gain by prolonging the nation’s most consequential policy debate. And they highlight the gap between the wider public’s wishes now and the tea party’s cut-it-or-shut-it philosophy that helped propel Republicans into the House majority last year.
The survey, conducted Aug. 18-22, found that approval of Congress has dropped to its lowest level in AP-GfK polling — 12 percent. That’s down from 21 percent in June, before the debt deal reached fever pitch.
The results indicate, too, that the question of trust remains up for grabs — a sign that the government’s stewardship of the economy over the next year will weigh heavily on the fortunes of both parties in the elections. Republicans and Democrats statistically tied, 40 percent to 43 percent respectively, when respondents were asked which party they trust more to handle the federal budget deficit. Nearly a third of independents said they trust neither party on the issue.
Report: Vaccines generally safe, some side effects
WASHINGTON — Vaccines can cause certain side effects but serious ones appear very rare — and there’s no link with autism and Type 1 diabetes, the Institute of Medicine says in the first comprehensive safety review in 17 years.
The report released Thursday isn’t aimed at nervous parents. And the side effects it lists as proven are some that doctors long have known about, such as fever-caused seizures and occasional brain inflammation.
Instead, the review comes at the request of the government’s Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, which as the name implies, pays damages to people who are injured by vaccines. Federal law requires this type of independent review as officials update side effects on that list to be sure they agree with the latest science.
“Vaccines are important tools in preventing serious infectious disease across the lifespan, from infancy through adulthood. All health care interventions, however, carry the possibility of risk and vaccines are no exception,” said pediatrician and bioethicist Dr. Ellen Wright Clayton of Vanderbilt University, who chaired the institute panel.
Still, the report stresses that vaccines generally are safe, and it may help doctors address worries from a small but vocal anti-vaccine movement. Some vaccine-preventable diseases, including measles, are on the rise.
“I am hopeful that it will allay some people’s concerns,” Clayton said.
The review echoed numerous other scientific reports that dismiss an autism link.
20 dead in attack on casino in northern Mexico
MONTERREY, Mexico — Gunmen burst into a casino in the northern city of Monterrey on Thursday and doused the premises with a flammable liquid, starting a fire that killed more than 20 people and left a dozen injured, authorities said.
The fire at the Casino Royale in Mexico’s third largest city and industrial hub represented one of the deadliest attacks against an entertainment center in Mexico since President Felipe Calderon launched an offensive against drug cartels in late 2006.
State police officials said at least two men drove up in front of the casino in a prosperous part of Monterrey and carried out the attack. Fire quickly engulfed the casino, sending dense smoke shooting from the building.
Initial reports said 11 people had been killed, but emergency personnel and firefighters continued to find bodies in the casino building. Medics treated the victims for smoke inhalation.
Monterrey Mayor Fernando Larrazabal told the Milenio television network that “the information I have is that there are more than 20 people” dead in the attack.
State police officials initially said witnesses reported hearing three explosions before the fire started, but later said that a flammable material was used. The officials were not authorized to be quoted by name for security reasons.
The reports of explosions may have been the sound of the ignition of the liquid.
While there was no immediate information linking the attack to drug cartels, Monterrey has been the scene of bloody turf battles between the Zetas and Gulf cartels in recent months.
Once Mexico’s symbol of development and prosperity, drug-related murders this year in Monterrey are on pace to double last year’s and triple those of the year before.
Gaza militants call another truce with Israel
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Gaza militants early Friday called their second truce in less than five days in an attempt to keep more than a week of hostilities with Israel from escalating.
A leader of the Islamic Jihad faction, Mahfez Azzam, said Egypt mediated the cease-fire, which is to go into effect at 1 p.m. local time Friday.
The factions had called a cease-fire late Sunday, but it dissolved almost immediately in a volley of rocket fire from Gaza on southern Israel and retaliatory Israeli airstrikes in which some two dozen Palestinians and one Israeli were killed. The violence began with a militant attack that killed eight Israelis on the Egyptian border.
“The government has called on the Palestinian factions not to give an opportunity to the [Israeli] occupation government to escalate its aggression further,” said Taher Nunu, a government spokesman in Hamas-ruled Gaza.
Another Hamas official said all key factions agreed to the truce and that the Gaza government and Egypt were trying to get tiny factions on board, too.
Hours earlier, an Israeli airstrike killed two Palestinian militants in Gaza following a salvo of rocket attacks on Israel.
Palestinian officials said the two were members of Islamic Jihad.