What do a Missouri congressman’s astonishingly misinformed comments on rape and pregnancy have to do with a Massachusetts Senate race between two pro-abortion rights candidates? If you’ve been listening to Elizabeth Warren and …
Senate
Two More Fed Nominees Blocked: A Missed Chance for Obama
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. …
Why Endangered Democrats Are Thanking Paul Ryan
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 …
Senate Democrats Putting Up a Fierce Fight for 2012
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 …
Amid Supercommittee Wrangling, Tax Reform Gains Momentum
Whether or not Congress’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.
Rand Paul Has Some Lame Questions for FBI Chief Robert Mueller
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 …
Coburn Takes On Ethanol Hypocrisy
The Senate voted down a bill Monday afternoon that would’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 …
Senate Dems Distance Themselves from the Obama Agenda
The Senate votes Wednesday on a measure that would delay the “swipe fee” provisions of the financial re-regulation bill. The vote, which essentially pits bank backers against supporters of retail chains, will be close. But the thing that interests me about it is its sponsor: Democratic Senator Jon Tester of Montana. Tester’s …
Obama & Ryan Budgets Fail in the Senate
I tend to be ethically opposed to writing about political votes — votes that either chamber undertakes simply to get members on the record. These votes have little to do with actually making laws and everything to do with millions of dollars in broadcast commercials. I can just hear the baritone narrator’s voice now: “Dean Heller …
Senators Pass Around Fake Picture of bin Laden on Their BlackBerrys
This is probably the most troubling sentence you’ll read today: “While I was shown a photo by another senator of what appeared to be a deceased Osama bin Laden, I do not know if it was authentic.”
That was part of a statement issued on Wednesday by New Hampshire Senator Kelly Ayotte clarifying that she had not, in fact, seen a picture …
Sen. Inhofe’s Adventures Flying the Friendly Skies
Since they can’t agree on much else, maybe Congress can come to a consensus on a resolution to keep Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe out of the pilot’s seat.
The Smoking Gun has obtained FAA documents that show Inhofe, who’s a licensed private pilot, landed his Cessna plane on a closed runway last October in Port Isabel, Texas, even …
Maybe It Really Is About Abortion…
The pro-life Susan B. Anthony List and Rep. Jim Jordan, head of the Republican Study Committee, just held a conference call in which Jordan said the fight is all about abortion. “The country’s broke. The vast majority of Americans, whether they’re pro-life or not, don’t want their tax dollars being spent to take the life of …
Is This Really All About Abortion?
This morning Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid called the networks together and gave them an update on the negotiations (as I type this Reid is starting another press conference in the Senate). He said the issues have narrowed to one: abortion. Reid said House Speaker John Boehner is pushing a rider that would make Title X into block …
