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	<title>SwamplandCategory: Senate &#124; Swampland &#124; TIME.com</title>
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	<description>Political insight from the Beltway and beyond</description>
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		<title>SwamplandCategory: Senate &#124; Swampland &#124; TIME.com</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com</link>
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		<title>Caramel Apple</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/05/22/caramel-apple/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/05/22/caramel-apple/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 22 May 2013 09:00:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Alex Rogers</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Senate]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=96225</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It was a lovefest. Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, was welcomed  to Washington Tuesday like a conquering corporate hero, not the boss of a firm that has found all sorts of ways to dodge the US Tax Code. According to a Senate investigation released the night before Cook’s testimony, Apple paid in between 0% and .06% in taxes on $104 billion in income earned outside of the Americas over the past four years. While Apple claims to pay around a 30% effective tax rate, the Senate found that its effective tax rate for U.S. corporate income taxes is 20.1%. Overall, it is believed that the Cupertino, California company has stashed around $100 billion overseas to avoid paying the 35% US corporate tax rate. Ranking Republican in the subcommittee John McCain of Arizona called Cook an “outstanding” CEO. He emphasized that Apple had not engaged in “wrongdoing” but that “Apple’s tax department has given new meaning to the company’s old slogan, quote: ‘think different.’” He said that Apple was an “egregious” tax offender, but ended on a light-hearted note: “What I really wanted to ask was why the hell do I have to keep updating the apps on my iPhone all the time?” Cook laughed, then responded, “Sir we’re trying to make them better all the time.” Other senators bobbed for Apple. Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), according to the Atlantic, met Cook during a hearing break, and opened with, “So nice to meet you. I have an iPad.” During the hearing, Ayotte asked Apple what Congress should do to fix the tax code. Cook said it would be “materially better” to have permanent comprehensive tax reform than a one-off repatriation tax holiday, which Congress passed in 2004 to attract jobs, but instead only boosted stock prices. Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) agreed, arguing that Apple would have a better shot against its Korean rival Samsung if the country supported some of his comprehensive tax reform proposals. “Your investment options are a lot more limited,” Portman told Cook, because “you can’t bring the money home.” Portman then expressed his wish for a 25% corporate<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=96225&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>Senate</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/congress/senate/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/cook.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Apple CEO Cook laughs during Senate homeland security and governmental affairs investigations subcommittee hearing in Washington</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">drogers1271</media:title>
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		<title>Internet Sales Tax Bill Faces Tough Sell in House</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/05/06/senate-passes-bill-letting-states-tax-online-sales/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/05/06/senate-passes-bill-letting-states-tax-online-sales/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 06 May 2013 23:12:04 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>AP / STEPHEN OHLEMACHER</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Senate]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=94916</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[(WASHINGTON) — Traditional retailers and cash-strapped states face a tough sell in the House as they lobby Congress to limit tax-free shopping on the Internet. The Senate voted 69 to 27 Monday to pass a bill that empowers states to collect sales taxes from Internet purchases. Under the bill, states could require out-of-state retailers to collect sales taxes when they sell products over the Internet, in catalogs, and through radio and TV ads. The sales taxes would be sent to the states where a shopper lives. Current law says states can only require retailers to collect sales taxes if the merchant has a physical presence in the state. That means big retailers with stores all over the country like Wal-Mart, Best Buy and Target collect sales taxes when they sell goods over the Internet. But online retailers like eBay and Amazon don&#8217;t have to collect sales taxes, except in states where they have offices or distribution centers. &#8220;This bill is about fairness,&#8221; said Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., the bill&#8217;s main sponsor in the Senate. &#8220;It&#8217;s about leveling the playing field between the brick and mortar and online companies and it&#8217;s about collecting a tax that&#8217;s already due. It&#8217;s not about raising taxes.&#8221; The bill got bipartisan support in the Senate but faces opposition in the House, where some lawmakers regard it as a tax increase. Grover Norquist, the anti-tax advocate, and the conservative Heritage Foundation oppose the bill, and many Republicans have been wary of crossing them. Supporters say the bill is not a tax increase. In many states, shoppers are required to pay unpaid sales tax when they file their state tax returns. However, states complain that few taxpayers comply. &#8220;Obviously there&#8217;s a lot of consumers out there that have been accustomed to not having to pay any taxes, believing that they don&#8217;t have to pay any taxes,&#8221; said Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark., the bill&#8217;s main sponsor in the House. &#8220;I totally understand that, and I think a lot of our members understand that. There&#8217;s a lot of political<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=94916&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://swampland.time.com/2013/05/06/senate-passes-bill-letting-states-tax-online-sales/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Senate</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/congress/senate/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/158697622.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">online tax amazon</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">timeassociatedpress</media:title>
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		<title>GOP Faces Senate Recruitment Woes in Key States</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/27/gop-faces-senate-recruitment-woes-in-key-states/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/27/gop-faces-senate-recruitment-woes-in-key-states/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 27 Apr 2013 14:11:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>AP / Thomas Beaumont</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Senate]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=94243</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[(DES MOINES, Iowa) — Republicans are struggling to recruit strong Senate candidates in states that present the party&#8217;s best opportunities to reclaim the majority, a sign that the GOP&#8216;s post-2012 soul-searching may end up creeping into the midterm congressional elections. It&#8217;s admittedly early, with more than 18 months before the November 2014 elections. But candidate recruitment efforts are well underway. And, so far, Republicans haven&#8217;t been able to field a top-tier candidate in Iowa or Michigan, swing-voting states where the GOP hopes to make a play for seats left open by the retirement of veteran Democratic senators. Also, the GOP is facing the prospect of contentious and expensive primary races in Georgia and perhaps West Virginia, two GOP-leaning states where sitting senators — one Republican, one Democrat — are retiring. (MORE: GOP Fights to Rebrand the Party of No) With President Barack Obama not on the top of the ticket, Republicans may have their best chance in years to try to retake the Senate, which would put a major crimp on the president&#8217;s efforts to enact his agenda and shape his legacy in the final two years of his presidency. Republicans need to gain six seats to win control of the Senate. Democrats will be defending 21 seats to Republicans&#8217; 14, meaning the GOP has more opportunity to try to win on Democratic turf. Only recently, Republicans were reveling in the fact that several veteran Democrats were retiring in states where the GOP had not had a chance to win in decades. Last week, Democrat Max Baucus of Montana became the latest to announce his retirement in a state that typically tilts Republican. But a combination of no-thank-yous from prospective Republican candidates in Iowa, slow movement among others in Michigan and lack of consensus elsewhere over a single contender have complicated the early goings of what historically would be the GOP&#8217;s moment to strike — the sixth year of a presidency, when the party out of power in the White House usually wins congressional seats. Despite that historical disadvantage, Democrats<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=94243&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/27/gop-faces-senate-recruitment-woes-in-key-states/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Senate</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/congress/senate/</primary_category_link>
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			<media:title type="html">timeassociatedpress</media:title>
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		<title>House Debates Bill to End Airport Delays</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/25/senate-passes-bill-to-ease-faa-furloughs/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/25/senate-passes-bill-to-ease-faa-furloughs/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 26 Apr 2013 01:18:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>AP / David Espo</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Senate]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=94157</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[(WASHINGTON) — Democrats and Republicans traded accusations of blame Friday as the House debated a bill that would end furloughs of air traffic controllers and delays for millions of travelers that have caused a political headache in Washington. A day after the Senate approved the measure without even a roll call, the House began a vote on the measure. The bill would let the Federal Aviation Administration use up to $253 million from airport improvement and other accounts to end the furloughs for the controllers through the Sept. 30 end of the federal fiscal year. Republicans accused the Obama administration of purposely furloughing the controllers to raise public pressure on Congress to lift the spending cuts. The FAA has resorted to the move as it swallows its share of $85 billion in across-the-board spending cuts — known as the sequester — that took effect last month at government agencies. &#8220;The administration has played shameful politics with the sequester at the cost of hard-working American families,&#8221; said Rep. Tom Latham, R-Iowa. (MORE: FAA Order Formally Lifts Boeing 787 Grounding) The White House and Democrats have argued that by law, the administration has little maneuverability in deciding where the cuts fall. Democrats said Friday that Congress should work on legislation lifting all of the cuts, which they noted have also caused reductions in Head Start pre-school programs, benefits for the long-term unemployed and medical research. &#8220;How can we sit there and say, &#8216;Four million Meals on Wheels for seniors, gone, but that&#8217;s not important. Over 70,000 children off Head Start, but that&#8217;s not important.&#8217; What is important is for Republicans to hold a hard line&#8221; on the budget, said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. In addition to restoring full staffing by controllers, the available funds can be used for other FAA operations as well, including preventing the closure of small airport towers around the country. The FAA has said it will shut the facilities as it makes its share of $85 billion in across-the-board spending cuts — known as the sequester — that<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=94157&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Senate</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/congress/senate/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/rtxyw2a.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">A Southwest airlines arrives to land at the San Diego International Airport in San Diego, California</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">timeassociatedpress</media:title>
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		<title>Montana Democrat Baucus Rules Out 7th Senate term</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/24/montana-democrat-baucus-rules-out-7th-senate-term/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/24/montana-democrat-baucus-rules-out-7th-senate-term/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 24 Apr 2013 06:58:46 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>AP / David Espo and Matt Gouras</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Senate]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=93866</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus of Montana announced plans Tuesday to retire at the end of his term after a career of enormous power and notable independence, producing both collaboration and conflict with fellow Democrats on major tax and health care legislation. &#8220;I don&#8217;t want to die here with my boots on. There is life beyond Congress,&#8221; the 71-year-old Baucus said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. He became the eighth senator to announce retirement plans for 2014, and the sixth Democrat. One public poll recently suggested he would have faced a difficult challenge if he had sought a seventh term. Republicans must gain six seats in 2014 to win a majority, and they said the retirement enhanced their prospects. Yet Democrats were cheered when former Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer, who recently stepped down after two terms, swiftly expressed interest in the race. In a brief statement, President Barack Obama said Baucus &#8220;has been a leader on a broad range of issues that touch the lives of Americans across the country.&#8221; Sen. Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican and Baucus&#8217; frequent legislative partner, was complimentary, too. &#8220;We ran the Finance Committee for 10 years together, and every bill except for three or four was bipartisan,&#8221; he said in a statement. &#8220;The Senate will be worse off as a deliberative body when Senator Baucus leaves.&#8221; &#160; In a written statement, Baucus sketched an ambitious agenda for the rest of his term, topped by an overhaul of the tax code.&#8221;Our country and our state face enormous challenges &#8211; rising debt, a dysfunctional tax code, threats to our outdoor heritage and the need for more good-paying jobs,&#8221; he said, adding several Montana-specific priorities as well. Baucus, a fifth-generation Montanan, was elected to the Senate in 1978 after two terms in the House. He became the top Democrat on the Finance Committee in early 2001. He has held the position ever since on the panel — which has jurisdiction over taxes, Medicare, Medicaid, health care and trade — as<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=93866&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/24/montana-democrat-baucus-rules-out-7th-senate-term/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Senate</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/congress/senate/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/max.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Sen. Max Baucus, (D-MT) is questioned by media at the U.S. Capitol in Washington</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">timeassociatedpress</media:title>
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		<title>Republican Massachusetts Senate Candidate Asks FEC To Allow Gay Couples To Contribute Jointly To Campaign</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/08/republican-massachusetts-senate-candidate-asks-fec-to-allow-gay-couples-to-contribute-jointly-to-campaign/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/08/republican-massachusetts-senate-candidate-asks-fec-to-allow-gay-couples-to-contribute-jointly-to-campaign/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 08 Apr 2013 19:36:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Zeke J Miller</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Senate]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=92358</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Massachusetts Republican Senate candidate Dan Winslow, who is running for the seat vacated by Sen. John Kerry, has filed a request with the Federal Election Commission Monday for guidance on whether his campaign can accept contributions from same-sex married couples as they are allowed to for straight couples. The request for an advisory opinion asks whether the FEC will treat these couples as married under state law or as unmarried through the Defense of Marriage Act. The request was filed on behalf of the campaign, citing donations from the Gerard R. Gershonowitz and Howard P. Johnson, who are married in Massachusetts and contributed to the campaign. At issue is whether the funds would count against one spouse’s contribution limit or be split between the two. Former FEC Chairman Trevor Potter told TIME the issue has never been settled by the FEC. Winslow is seeking to carve out space for himself as a moderate Republican in Democratic Massachusetts and is a long-time supporter of gay marriage. “We’ve received a donation from a same-sex couple who want to donate as a couple, and Dan Winslow believes they should be allowed to donate that way,” said spokesman Charles Pearce. “We’ve asked the FEC to tell us if we can.” The campaign has asked the commission to reply within 20 days before the April 30 primary. Winslow trails former U.S. Attorney Michael J. Sullivan, who is opposed to gay marriage, with recent polling showing him with the support of only 10 percent of primary voters. More than 46 percent in the three-way race with former Navy SEAL Gabriel Gomez are undecided. &#160;<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=92358&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/08/republican-massachusetts-senate-candidate-asks-fec-to-allow-gay-couples-to-contribute-jointly-to-campaign/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Senate</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/congress/senate/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/ap652542419476.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Dan Winslow</media:title>
		</media:content>

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			<media:title type="html">zekemiller</media:title>
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		<title>Anuzis &#8220;Seriously Considering&#8221; Run For Michigan Senate Seat</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/03/14/anuzis-seriously-considering-run-for-michigan-senate-seat/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/03/14/anuzis-seriously-considering-run-for-michigan-senate-seat/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 14 Mar 2013 16:06:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Zeke J Miller</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Senate]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=90458</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[National Harbor, MD — Former Michigan Republican National Committeeman Saul Anuzis will announce he is “very seriously considering” a run for the United States Senate Thursday evening at the Conservative Political Action Conference outside of Washington. Anuzis, a former candidate for GOP chairman and the past chair of the Michigan party, is exploring a run to replace retiring Democratic Sen. Carl Levin in 2014 at a reception at the annual conservative gathering, he confirmed to TIME. “I think this is a unique opportunity for Michigan Republicans,” he said. “We have traditionally been a purple state that can go red under the right circumstances. If you take a look at off-presidential years, this has been when we’ve won our governorships and other statewide races. I think there is a mood in this country for non-traditional politicians. Sometime you just want an average guy. I’m not the Harvard graduate; I’m not the big shot business guy. I’ve lived a real life and I think there are a lot of people who will find that appealing.” The long-time Republican operative said he has been in contact with donors, conservative leaders, and other officials about his potential candidacy, adding that “they’ve all been very encouraging.” Several leading candidates, including Rep. Candice S. Miller and former Republican president candidate Mitt Romney’s brother Scott Romney, have already said they will not run. Rep. Justin Amash, who has positioned himself as the House of Representatives’ most outspoken libertarians since the retirement of Ron Paul, is said to be considering a run. A coalition of tea party members and Ron Paul supporters ousted Anuzis as committeeman in 2012 at the state party convention, and several Michigan Republican operatives said that if Amash runs they expect the primary to be a test case for Karl Rove’s effort to pick more electable nominees in state and local primaries. “If some strong candidates emerge, the most important thing for the party is for us to take the seat,” he said, indicating he would step aside if he though a more electable candidate came<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=90458&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Senate</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/congress/senate/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/rtxwkij.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Saul Anuzis</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://2.gravatar.com/avatar/b456c5209a547a000e0b869f3333aa77?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F2.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">zekemiller</media:title>
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		<title>A Real Live Filibuster!</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/03/06/a-real-live-filibuster/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/03/06/a-real-live-filibuster/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 06 Mar 2013 17:31:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Alex Altman</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Senate]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=89815</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[At about 11:45 a.m. Wednesday morning, Kentucky Republican Rand Paul took the floor of the Senate to launch one of the chamber&#8217;s rarest spectacles: a genuine filibuster. Paul, a libertarian, announced at the outset of his remarks that he would filibuster Barack Obama&#8217;s nomination of John Brennan as CIA director over concerns that the administration&#8217;s use of drone attacks against Americans abroad and on U.S. soil was unconstitutional. Rampant abuse of the filibuster has stifled the Senate in recent years, but the kind of marathon soliloquies immortalized in movies like Mr. Smith Goes to Washington are now exceedingly rare. The last genuine talking filibuster was performed by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who held the floor for more than 8 1/2 hours on Dec. 10, 2010, in objection to an $858 billion tax bill. To curb the use of the tactic, liberal reformers like Oregon&#8217;s Jeff Merkley, New Mexico&#8217;s Tom Udall and Iowa&#8217;s Tom Harkin spearheaded an effort to change the chamber&#8217;s rules to require members to hold forth on the Senate floor if they want to hold up a bill or a nominee. (Subscribers can read my recent story about their efforts, which is behind TIME&#8217;s magazine paywall.) However, their efforts to reform the filibuster were stymied by institutionalists leery of relinquishing the minority party&#8217;s greatest weapon. Instead, the Senate passed a toothless bipartisan &#8220;reform&#8221; package that mostly sustained the status quo. As a result, the filibuster has continued to beguile the majority; on Wednesday, the Democrats failed to break the Republicans&#8217; filibuster of one of Barack Obama&#8217;s judicial nominees. Proponents of the so-called &#8220;talking filibuster&#8221; provision would cheer Paul for upholding the spirit of the filibuster. Paul&#8217;s office signals the senator will speak for at least a few hours.&#8221;I&#8217;m here today to speak for as long as I can hold up,&#8221; Paul said. If you&#8217;re following on Twitter, the (lamentable) hashtag is #filiblizzard. We&#8217;ll see how long he can last. A vote on Brennan&#8217;s nomination, which could have taken place Wednesday, is now held up until Paul sits down. You can watch Paul&#8217;s<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=89815&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Senate</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/congress/senate/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/rand-paul.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">U.S. Senator Paul questions Sen. Kerry during Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington</media:title>
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		<media:content url="http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/41a5f1af68b9fd647df540c67f1a464a?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F1.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">Alex Altman</media:title>
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		<title>Brennan&#8217;s Ordeal: The Beginning of the End</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/03/06/brennan-to-congress-are-we-done-yet/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/03/06/brennan-to-congress-are-we-done-yet/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 06 Mar 2013 10:45:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michael Crowley</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Senate]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=89738</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The Senate Intelligence Committee voted 12-3 yesterday to approve John Brennan&#8217;s nomination to be CIA director. That&#8217;s no great surprise, nor is his fate before the full Senate terribly suspenseful. A few Republican Senators, notably including the amigos John McCain and Lindsey Graham, may yet delay a final vote, as they did with Chuck Hagel, as leverage to force the Obama White House to cough up more details about how the president handled the attack in Benghazi. But it&#8217;s hard to see Brennan failing to reach Langley by the end of the month. That&#8217;s partly because the holdup wasn&#8217;t really about Brennan at all. The main reason for the Senate Intelligence Committee&#8217;s delay in voting out Brennan&#8217;s nomination was the demand by a handful of Senators to see White House legal memos justifying the killing by drone of American citizens. (Some Republicans also insisted on more detail about Benghazi.) The real issue was a question of process and Congressional oversight, not whether Brennan&#8217;s vision for the CIA is a wise one. And to the extent there has been a sustained and substantive objection to the counter-terror policies Brennan has overseen at the White House, it has revolved around the exceedingly narrow issue of the government&#8217;s ability to drone a U.S. citizen. As Scott Shane writes in the New York Times: Only one American, the radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who had joined the Qaeda affiliate in Yemen, has been deliberately killed in a strike, in September 2011. At least three other Americans killed in strikes in Yemen were not the intended targets, officials have said. While [Intelligence Committee chairwoman Dianne] Feinstein has sought legal opinions governing strikes targeting non-Americans, they are still being withheld by the administration, which views them as confidential legal advice to the president. As a result, the detailed legal rules for a vast majority of drone strikes, including so-called signature strikes aimed at suspected militants whose identities are unknown, remain secret. John Brennan&#8217;s confirmation has prompted some interesting debate about counter-terrorism and the use of drones. But<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=89738&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Senate</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/congress/senate/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/brennan.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
		<media:thumbnail url="http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/brennan.jpg?w=200" />
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			<media:title type="html">John Brennan</media:title>
		</media:content>

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			<media:title type="html">crowley100</media:title>
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		<title>Brown Out</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/02/01/brown-out/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/02/01/brown-out/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 01 Feb 2013 18:40:45 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Alex Rogers</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Senate]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=86850</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The Boston Herald has reported that former Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown will not run for Senate in the special election to succeed John Kerry, opening up the possibility that he may run for governor next year.  The newspaper has cited &#8220;a source close to the senator.&#8221; Two days ago the Boston Herald wrote that Brown was &#8220;leaning strongly&#8221; towards reclaiming a Senate seat, again citing unnamed sources.  If Brown did run, that would be his third Senate race since 2010, with a fourth campaign coming up in 2014. If Brown refuses to run the race for Massachusetts Senate, Democratic Reps. Ed Markey and Stephen Lynch look to be the frontrunners.  The special primary will be on April 30; the special general election will be on June 25.  In the interim, Mo Cowan, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick&#8217;s ex-Chief of Staff, will temporarily hold the vacated seat. UPDATE: Here is Brown&#8217;s full statement on why he has decided not to run: Representing Massachusetts in the United States Senate was the greatest privilege of my life, an experience that takes second place only to my marriage to Gail and the birth of our daughters. It was a higher honor than I had ever expected, and in the time given to me I always tried to make the most of it. When I was first sent to the Senate in early 2010, it wasn’t exactly welcome news for President Obama or many other Democrats. Yet among my best memories from those three years in office are visits to the White House to see the President sign into law bills that I had sponsored. I left office last month on the best of terms with colleagues both Republican and Democrat. I had worked well with so many of them, regardless of party, to serve the public interest just as we are all supposed to. All of this was in keeping with the pledge I made at the beginning to do my own thinking and to speak for the independent spirit of our great state. Over<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=86850&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Senate</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/congress/senate/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/scott-brown.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Senator Scott Brown (R-MA) gestures as he addresses supporters during a campaign rally in Wakefield</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://2.gravatar.com/avatar/509f545dfcf07266c1eb847a42170416?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F2.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">drogers1271</media:title>
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		<title>John Kerry Bids Farewell to the Senate After 28 Years</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/01/30/john-kerry-bids-farewell-to-the-senate-after-28-years/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/01/30/john-kerry-bids-farewell-to-the-senate-after-28-years/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 31 Jan 2013 03:45:58 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Alex Rogers</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Senate]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=86605</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Massachusetts Sentor John Kerry, who was confirmed Tuesday as Secretary of State, bid farewell to the Senate in an emotional speech Wednesday afternoon. Here are some highlights from the speech, including Kerry&#8217;s reflection on Sen. Ted Kennedy and President Kennedy: Senator Kerry’s resignation takes effect Friday, after which he will be sworn in as the 68th Secretary of State. Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts appointed his former chief of staff, William Cowan, to replace Mr. Kerry in the Senate until a special election is held. You can watch the entire address here.<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=86605&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Senate</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/congress/senate/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/rtr3cwk2.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">John Kerry</media:title>
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		<media:content url="http://2.gravatar.com/avatar/509f545dfcf07266c1eb847a42170416?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F2.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">drogers1271</media:title>
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		<title>The Abrasive Moderate: The Death of Arlen Specter (1930–2012)</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2012/10/14/the-abrasive-moderate-the-death-of-arlen-specter-1930-2012/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2012/10/14/the-abrasive-moderate-the-death-of-arlen-specter-1930-2012/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 14 Oct 2012 19:52:54 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michael Crowley</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Senate]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=79965</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[As friends, colleagues and admirers mourn the death on Sunday of former Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter, it&#8217;s hard to avoid a metaphor about American politics. Specter spent most of his 30-year Senate career as a Republican before switching to the Democratic Party in April 2009. That partisan switch was partly about self-preservation: Specter was facing defeat in his upcoming Republican primary at the hands of a conservative opponent who complained that Specter had become too liberal for the GOP. But it also reflected a larger reality of national politics: moderate Republicans are a vanishing breed. (MORE: The Price of Opportunism: Arlen Specter’s Tough Fight) Since Specter&#8217;s arrival in Washington in 1981, his party has grown more conservative and less tolerant of heterodoxy. By 2009 moderate Republicans were already an endangered species in Washington, and since Specter&#8217;s 2010 defeat (switching parties wasn&#8217;t enough to save Specter, who lost in the Democratic primary that year), several other prominent moderates have been defeated or have announced their resignations; another one, Scott Brown, may be headed for defeat this fall. (See Nate Silver&#8217;s recent look at the fate of the moderate Senate Republican.) Specter&#8217;s last throes in Washington were dramatic. He was one of three Senate Republicans to vote for Obama&#8217;s 2009 economic-stimulus package. (Only one, Maine&#8217;s Susan Collins, will return to Washington in January; she too may draw a conservative primary challenge in 2014.) Specter&#8217;s vote also enabled the passage of Obama&#8217;s Affordable Care Act in the Senate in December 2009; had he voted no, the bill likely would not have passed. In this sense, the conservative challenge to Specter backfired mightily. And although Republicans did pick up Specter&#8217;s seat in that 2010 election, Pennsylvania has been trending from purple to blue. Its incumbent Democratic Senator, Bob Casey, appears to have a safe lead in his re-election bid, and Mitt Romney has basically given up on the state. The time may come soon when Pennsylvania&#8217;s GOP finds itself looking for a Senate candidate who looks a lot like Arlen Specter; whether the national party&#8217;s<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=79965&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Senate</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/congress/senate/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/600_arlen_1014.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
		<media:thumbnail url="http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/600_arlen_1014.jpg?w=200" />
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			<media:title type="html">The Abrasive Moderate</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://2.gravatar.com/avatar/25edc643b57a776abbc75835c699af51?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F2.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">crowley100</media:title>
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		<title>Losing Crossover Appeal Could Cost GOP the Senate</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2012/09/21/losing-crossover-appeal-could-cost-gop-the-senate/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2012/09/21/losing-crossover-appeal-could-cost-gop-the-senate/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 21 Sep 2012 09:45:54 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Adam Sorensen</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[2012 Election]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Senate]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=78813</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[As volatile polling clouds the state of the presidential race and pundits diagnose the Romney campaign's alleged ills, it's actually the GOP's effort to take the Senate, not the White House, that's in grave condition.<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=78813&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Senate</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/congress/senate/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/sl_superpac_0124_blog.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
		<media:thumbnail url="http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/sl_superpac_0124_blog.jpg?w=200" />
		<media:content url="http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/sl_superpac_0124_blog.jpg?w=200" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">sl_superpac_0124_blog</media:title>
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		<media:content url="http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/7666b70a5b0305bd59953f5bca02cce5?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F1.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">Adam Sorensen</media:title>
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		<title>The Akin Effect in Massachusetts: Why Elizabeth Warren Needs to Nationalize the Race</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2012/08/22/the-akin-effect-in-massachusetts-why-elizabeth-warren-needs-to-nationalize-the-race/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2012/08/22/the-akin-effect-in-massachusetts-why-elizabeth-warren-needs-to-nationalize-the-race/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 22 Aug 2012 18:16:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Adam Sorensen</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Senate]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[2012]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[elizabeth warren]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[scott brown]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[todd akin]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=76254</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[What do a Missouri congressman&#8217;s astonishingly misinformed comments on rape and pregnancy have to do with a Massachusetts Senate race between two pro-abortion rights candidates? If you&#8217;ve been listening to Elizabeth Warren and Scott Brown this week, you&#8217;d think quite a lot. Brown was among the first Republicans to call on Todd Akin to withdraw from his pivotal Missouri Senate race after Akin said women don&#8217;t get pregnant from &#8220;legitimate rape.&#8221; (He&#8217;s since apologized.) Brown followed that up with a public letter to national Republican chairman Reince Preibus (rhymes with &#8220;Jebus&#8220;) urging the GOP &#8220;to recognize in its platform that you can be pro-choice and still be a good Republican.&#8221; It was a smart move considering what Brown probably knew was coming. On Wednesday, Warren&#8217;s campaign released a radio ad tying Akin&#8217;s position to the Republican party as a whole. &#8220;It&#8217;s not just one extreme candidate in Missouri,&#8221; the narrator says. &#8220;It&#8217;s part of a Republican pattern.&#8221; The ad is itself part of a pattern: Warren is desperately trying to rally Massachusetts Democrats by nationalizing the race. On the campaign trail, Warren often lays out the stakes of her election in terms of the country&#8217;s direction&#8211;it could determine control of the Senate and the next Supreme Court&#8211;without mentioning her opponent. (Brown is not referenced in the above radio ad.) A quick look at the latest poll out of Massachusetts illustrates the urgency of her task. In short, Warren has a base problem. A Public Policy Polling survey released Tuesday found that 20% of Massachusetts Democrats are backing Brown. Some crossover is to be expected in a blue state where the GOP voting bloc is dwarfed by independents and Democrats. But Brown&#8217;s ability to siphon significant Democratic support poses a real threat to Warren&#8217;s candidacy. Brown, a career legislator and newly promoted Colonel in the National Guard, has a lot of raw appeal in Massachusetts, a heavily Catholic state that&#8217;s never sent a woman to the U.S. Senate. But that&#8217;s not the only reason he may survive in hostile territory. PPP found that 24% of voters who&#8217;d<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=76254&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://swampland.time.com/2012/08/22/the-akin-effect-in-massachusetts-why-elizabeth-warren-needs-to-nationalize-the-race/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Senate</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/congress/senate/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/rtr2ratq.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
		<media:thumbnail url="http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/rtr2ratq.jpg?w=200" />
		<media:content url="http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/rtr2ratq.jpg?w=200" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">Elizabeth Warren</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/7666b70a5b0305bd59953f5bca02cce5?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F1.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">Adam Sorensen</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Two More Fed Nominees Blocked: A Missed Chance for Obama</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2012/05/07/two-more-fed-nominees-blocked-a-missed-chance-for-obama/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2012/05/07/two-more-fed-nominees-blocked-a-missed-chance-for-obama/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 07 May 2012 17:17:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Adam Sorensen</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Barack Obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Congress]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Federal Reserve]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Senate]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[White House]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=70535</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Two years ago, in April of 2010, President Obama nominated economist Peter Diamond to the board of the Federal Reserve. Four months later, after Republicans in the Senate blocked his appointment, Obama nominated him again. After almost a full year of waiting, Diamond gave up and withdrew his name from consideration last summer. Republicans&#8217; complaint: Diamond, who won the Nobel Memorial Prize while waiting by the phone to hear about his appointment, didn&#8217;t have the monetary chops to serve at the central bank. The reality:  Republicans in Congress want to deny Obama the ability to appoint any nominee who believes that the Fed should try to affect employment, one half of the bank&#8217;s dual mandate. It&#8217;s still happening. On Monday, Louisiana Senator David Vitter placed a hold on Obama&#8217;s latest two Fed nominees, Jerome Powell and Jeremy Stein, tossing them into the same limbo where Diamond lived for two years and making it unlikely they&#8217;ll be confirmed by year&#8217;s end. &#8220;I refuse to provide Chairman Bernanke with two more rubber stamps who approve of the Fed&#8217;s activist policies,&#8221; Vitter said. But perhaps more curious than Senate intransigence on this issue is Obama&#8217;s decision&#8211;ongoing for years now&#8211;not to respond to this problem with urgency. After all, he wielded recess appointments to bolster what he saw as some of his most important accomplishments as President: a health care entitlements chief in Don Berwick and a director, Richard Cordray, for his new financial consumer protection agency. But nothing is more important to Obama&#8217;s presidency, to his re-election and to the American people than the economy. And believe it or not, these two nominations are Obama&#8217;s last remaining tools to influence U.S. economic policy. There&#8217;s no need to get too technical here. Fiscal policy requires Congress&#8217;s cooperation. Barring disaster-dodging like 2011&#8242;s debt-ceiling deal and impending wrangling over the Bush tax cuts, that&#8217;s a non-starter: Republicans aren&#8217;t willing to vote for fiscal stimulus, full stop. Monetary policy is also largely out of Obama&#8217;s hands&#8211;that power lies with Ben Bernanke at the Federal Reserve. But Bernanke does respond to<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=70535&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://swampland.time.com/2012/05/07/two-more-fed-nominees-blocked-a-missed-chance-for-obama/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Senate</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/congress/senate/</primary_category_link>
		<media:content url="http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/7666b70a5b0305bd59953f5bca02cce5?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F1.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">Adam Sorensen</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Why Endangered Democrats Are Thanking Paul Ryan</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2012/03/12/why-endangered-democrats-are-thanking-paul-ryan/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2012/03/12/why-endangered-democrats-are-thanking-paul-ryan/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 12 Mar 2012 13:02:49 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kate Pickert</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Congress]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Health Care]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Senate]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[affordable care act]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[claire mcCaskill]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[medicare]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[obamacare]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[paul ryan]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=67491</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Clearly, health care reform was a losing political issue for lots of congressional Democrats, especially those who were up for reelection in 2010. The issue helped mobilize Republican voters who managed to unseat enough Democrats to shift the balance of power on Capitol Hill. Democrats lost their Senate super majority and Republicans now hold a majority in the House. A new political science paper now offers evidence of the damage the Affordable Care Act did to Democratic power, arguing that the party could have held onto 25 more House seats and therefore a simple House majority if they hasn’t passed the health care law. Vulnerable Democrats who supported the ACA and are up for reelection this year don’t want to see a repeat of 2010 and are preemptively looking to define their health care votes in new terms. Sen. Claire McCaskill, one such Democrat, is defending her vote for the health care law by pointing to an unlikely source – Republican House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan. Ryan’s Medicare reform plan, which he proposed at part of the House GOP&#8217;s 2012 budget last spring, would turn the program into a system of government subsidies/vouchers for seniors to purchase private health plans. Sound familiar? Yes, this is essentially the same system the Affordable Care Act will put in place for currently uninsured non-seniors who won’t qualify for Medicaid. This has been pointed out before, including by me, but McCaskill is doing something new in highlighting the similarities between the ACA and the Ryan plan to defend herself from critics. While the Ryan-Obamacare message could blunt some criticism of McCaskill, the incumbent may be slightly less vulnerable than it appears. The Hill reports that the party is trying to recruit a new GOP candidate, despite the fact that three others have already thrown their hats in the ring.<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=67491&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://swampland.time.com/2012/03/12/why-endangered-democrats-are-thanking-paul-ryan/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Senate</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/congress/senate/</primary_category_link>
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			<media:title type="html">katepickert</media:title>
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		<title>Senate Democrats Putting Up a Fierce Fight for 2012</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2011/12/02/senate-democrats-putting-up-a-fierce-fight-for-2012/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2011/12/02/senate-democrats-putting-up-a-fierce-fight-for-2012/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 02 Dec 2011 16:14:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jay Newton-Small</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[2012 Election]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Senate]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=60711</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[On Friday morning, South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint sent a blast email to his Senate Conservatives Fund list blasting former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson as a RINO (Republican In Name Only) and endorsing his Tea Party challenger Mark Neumann. In 2010, DeMint made himself no favorite of the leadership by using his PAC to support non-establishment, mostly Tea Party candidates. Republicans arguably lost the opportunity to take back the Senate because at least three of those candidates – Christine O’Donnell in Delaware, Ken Buck in Colorado and Nevada’s Sharron Angle – lost their general elections. Despite DeMint’s antics, this time around Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has bigger worries. Democrats control 23 of the 33 seats up in 2012, many in red states like Montana, Nebraska and West Virginia, and by every expectation they should lose the Senate. But Republicans have had a hard time finding candidates willing to go through a Tea Party primary &#8211;ahem, Tommy Thompson. Democrats have also kept pace with fundraising. And Republicans are finding they have a couple of their own seats to defend, particularly in Indiana where Dick Lugar is facing a Tea Party primary challenge (DeMint has stayed noticeably mum in this race) and in Massachusetts where Elizabeth Warren is taking on Scott Brown. Senate Democrats, meanwhile, have had a good year for candidate recruitment. When Senator Kent Conrad announced his retirement earlier this year, most people wrote off North Dakota, but former state Attorney General Heidi Heitkamp has proven a great recruit for Democrats and on Thursday the non-partisan Cook Political Report, which tracks congressional races, named the race a toss-up. Democrats have also found a strong candidate in Arizona, where GOP Senator Jon Kyl is retiring, in Richard Carmona, a Surgeon General in George W. Bush’s administration. Democrats are still more likely than not to lose the Senate, but, led by Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chair Patty Murray, they’re putting up a decent fight. “I think we’re very, very likely to keep the Senate,&#8221; New York Democrat Chuck Schumer boasted on<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=60711&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://swampland.time.com/2011/12/02/senate-democrats-putting-up-a-fierce-fight-for-2012/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Senate</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/congress/senate/</primary_category_link>
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			<media:title type="html">jnewtonsmall</media:title>
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		<title>Amid Supercommittee Wrangling, Tax Reform Gains Momentum</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2011/11/02/amid-supercommittee-wrangling-tax-reform-gains-momentum/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2011/11/02/amid-supercommittee-wrangling-tax-reform-gains-momentum/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 02 Nov 2011 11:00:32 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jay Newton-Small</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Barack Obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Congress]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[John Boehner]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Senate]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Taxes]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=58914</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Whether or not Congress&#8217;s deficit supercommittee succeeds in finding $1.2 trillion in savings by Thanksgiving, one likely result is that sometime in the next 18 months, Congress will tackle tax reform. There are already many areas of agreement between Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, Democrats&#8217; top tax writer, and Republican Rep. Dave Camp, his counterpart on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee. Over the last year, both men have held a series of hearings on the issue. Tax reform isn’t something that should be done hastily– just look at the Savings &#38; Loan Crisis produced by the rushed tax reform process in 1986 – but with so much already discussed, a comprehensive overhaul is already well on it’s way. So much is apparent in the current supercommittee negotiations. Last week, deficit negotiators from both sides unveiled their offers. Dems proposed a $3 trillion-deficit cutting plan and Republicans proposed a $2.2 trillion version. The biggest difference? Taxes. The seemingly wide rift on this issue was on display at a public hearing Tuesday, during which Texas Rep. Jeb Hensarling  sharply told Senator Patty Murray,  &#8220;Certainly we cannot tax our way out of this crisis.&#8221; But this sparring belies the state of near-consensus on tax reform. There’s now enough agreement that if Republicans were to give an inch on revenue, a deal could quickly be achieved. (MORE: Tax Reform and the Revenue Problem) If the supercommittee does come to an agreement, it will likely include $800 billion in new revenue that House Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor discussed with the White House during the summer&#8217;s heated debt ceiling talks. Assuming the agreement is passed by both chambers, the supercommittee would send instructions on tax reform to the relevant Congressional committees, which would then spend much of next year enacting tax reform. There are two sticking points: Democrats are demanding a few hundred billion dollars in revenue increases up front, which would be achieved in part by doing away with the  flashy deductions for the rich that they&#8217;ve been<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=58914&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://swampland.time.com/2011/11/02/amid-supercommittee-wrangling-tax-reform-gains-momentum/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Taxes</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/taxes/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/sl_supercommittee_1101_blog.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">sl_supercommittee_1101_blog</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://2.gravatar.com/avatar/557ff2649ffce53285c86e4b694cff6d?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F2.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">jnewtonsmall</media:title>
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		<title>Rand Paul Has Some Lame Questions for FBI Chief Robert Mueller</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2011/07/21/rand-paul-has-some-lame-questions-for-fbi-chief-robert-mueller-today/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2011/07/21/rand-paul-has-some-lame-questions-for-fbi-chief-robert-mueller-today/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 21 Jul 2011 15:12:27 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Massimo Calabresi</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Senate]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fbi]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mueller]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rand paul]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=52687</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[There’s another Aug. 2 deadline looming in Washington that also features a stand-off between a Tea Party favorite and the Obama administration. Senator Rand Paul, the freshman from Kentucky, has placed a hold on the otherwise broadly supported bipartisan bill that would allow FBI Director Robert Mueller to extend his 10-year stint by two more years. The White House says that Mueller needs to be confirmed by Aug. 2 or his term will end before Labor Day. What does Paul want in exchange for dropping the hold? A face-to-face meeting with Mueller to ask a series of questions he posed in a four-page letter to the director a week ago. The two are scheduled to meet on Thursday afternoon, a Paul aide says, after Mueller cut short an out-of-town trip for the meeting. Paul’s questions are pretty lame. The first two are about the FBI’s investigation of two Iraqi refugees who were arrested last month in Paul’s hometown of Bowling Green and charged with being terrorists. Mueller and the FBI have already managed to talk down Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, the GOP Senate leader and the senior Senator from Kentucky, on this issue. Paul’s next question has been answered by multiple congressional inquiries, news organizations and independent investigators: how did the FBI drop the ball on Zacarias Moussaoui and other al-Qaeda operatives in the run up to 9/11 and what was done to punish those responsible? The 9/11 commission alone spent many pages on the matter. Similarly, Paul’s questions about controversial Patriot Act provisions have been the subject of lengthy investigations, including by Justice’s Inspector General and by Congress. Paul is also worried about the FBI’s attention to domestic terrorists within the anti-abortion movement. Lame or not, oversight is an important part of Congress’ mandate, so in handling Paul’s request for a meeting the FBI is right to have “been polite” as a Paul aide described it. The FBI declined to comment on Thursday’s meeting. The Paul aide says that the expectation is that the meeting will satisfy the<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=52687&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://swampland.time.com/2011/07/21/rand-paul-has-some-lame-questions-for-fbi-chief-robert-mueller-today/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Senate</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/congress/senate/</primary_category_link>
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			<media:title type="html">calabresim</media:title>
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		<title>Coburn Takes On Ethanol Hypocrisy</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2011/06/14/coburn-takes-on-ethanol-hypocrisy/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2011/06/14/coburn-takes-on-ethanol-hypocrisy/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 14 Jun 2011 16:30:46 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jay Newton-Small</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Senate]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[agriculture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Congress]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[dianne feinstein]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ethanol]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tom coburn]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=50074</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The Senate voted down a bill Monday afternoon that would&#8217;ve strip $6 billion in annual ethanol subsidies and get rid of an import tariff on ethanol, particularly from Brazil, coming into the United States. The measure, co-sponsored by Oklahoma Republican Tom Coburn and California Democrat Dianne Feinstein, garnered a surprising amount of support, failing 40-59, consider the leaders of both parties opposed it. Once upon a time, additives were needed to make gas burn cleaner. In the 1990 Clean Air amendments, refiners were given a choice: ethanol – then a nascent market incapable of mass production, or MTBE, a byproduct of the refining process. Most refiners chose MTBE, though it turned out to be a horrible ground pollutant that was subsequently banned in 2003. By that time, ethanol production had boomed and the mandate switched over to purely ethanol. Corn prices shot up. Meanwhile, gasoline technology has advanced over the years and it now burns cleaner without any additives. Even Al Gore last year issued a mea culpa for supporting ethanol subsidies. But ethanol supporters argue that producing millions of gallons of ethanol at home helps reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil. It also helps that the first caucus state in the nation is Iowa – where the ethanol boom has proliferated corn growing in every nook and cranny of the state, even in tree boxes and inside highway exit ramp loops. It takes a brave presidential wannabe to disavow the ethanol boondoggle – just look at the flack Tim Pawlenty got last month when he came out against it. In fact, Republicans in general tend to come from rural states and are sympathetic to farming needs. At least they were until the advent of the Tea Party. When House GOPers this spring were trying to figure out where to slash spending, one of the areas considered taboo was ethanol and farm subsidies. But keeping them off the table, provoked a backlash from some fiscal conservatives who argued that it was hypocritical to keep sacred cows for the sake of<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=50074&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Senate</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/congress/senate/</primary_category_link>
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			<media:title type="html">jnewtonsmall</media:title>
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