Not a minute’s walk from where the Democratic caucus was taking their stand this afternoon — the room in which Sen. Harry Reid struggled to answer a question about why they were using their organizational skills to hold a press conference instead of to get back in a room with the Republican leadership — is Statuary Hall, one of those …
Almost all female Democratic Senators filed into a press gallery, at high noon on the Hill, to articulate their response to the current stalemate on budget talks. Washington Sen. Patty Murray summed up their bottom line: “We know we have to keep the government open … but we’re not going to throw women under the bus.”
Nine …
As budget talks between the President, Vice President and congressional leadership started at the White House just past 10 a.m. this morning, Press Secretary Jay Carney treated the press to an off-camera gaggle dominated by discussion of the budget.
Carney reiterated that by any measure, the White House believes Democrats have come …
Vice President Joe Biden gave a heartfelt, hour-long speech at the University of New Hampshire today. The topic was sexual violence, and the occasion was the unveiling of new guidance to go along with Title IX, the federal civil rights law that prohibits sex discrimination, that spells out responsibilities that all federally-funded …
If you’ve had this nagging feeling that political oration just isn’t what it used to be — that speeches today are more about branding than poetry, more about drilling a message than articulating a truth, more about speaking to the lowest common denominator than about the potential heights of humanity — you’ll likely find a friend in …
Republican Gov. Jan Brewer, as part of a broader package to reduce costs of Medicaid in Arizona, is proposing an annual $50 charge for patients who are obese. The Wall Street Journal called this a “Fat Fee,” though it could go by many other names: Corpulence Cost, Plumpness Payment, Overweight Outlay, Stoutness Setback, Big-Bottom …
I caught up with Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann on the Hill this morning, and we chatted about her potential presidential bid as she power-walked — at unforgiving speeds — through the halls of the Cannon office building. The gist: Officially, she hasn’t made a decision, but she will be making one in the next few months, and she seems …
The political climate is what some have called a “perfect storm” for anti-abortion activists seeking to curb the procedure and make direct attacks on Roe v. Wade. Droves of social conservatives have taken office in recent elections, angst over health care reform continues, and the Planned Parenthood “sting” has given opponents …
The House voted 228-192 to defund NPR this afternoon. A few Republicans sided with the Democrats, but they weren’t enough to topple the GOP in the final tally. The Republican triumph is symbolic, given that the Democrat-controlled Senate is highly unlikely to follow suit. But the issue seemed anything but an empty gesture as members …
For years there has been a constant grumble, which raises to a strident squeal in election cycles, about how people today only seek out news that reaffirms their own views. A related, more troubling worry is that as people consume this reaffirming news, they are under the impression that it is full of unbiased, non-partisan facts. …
Members of the House’s Subcommittee on the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation, bless them, aren’t humorless. They gathered Tuesday to address the U.S. response to piracy, and as ranking Democrat Rep. Rick Larsen gave his opening statement, he quipped: “It’s clear that today’s pirate is no Jack Sparrow.”
He also, as …
Drunk driving offenders are often given machines to put in their cars that won’t allow the engines to start unless the offender blows in a tube to prove that he or she has not been drinking. In certain parts of the U.S., these are affectionately called “Blow ‘N’ Go’s.” And nine senators submitted a bill on Tuesday that could be a key …
During the last presidential campaign, John McCain had to withstand some ribbing, if not all-out ridicule, for his many and various abodes. (The situation was hardly helped by his noted failure to remember precisely how many there were). Take this Paul Schwartzman write-up from the Washington Post:
Indoor and outdoor swimming pools!
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