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’ complaint: [...]
Senate
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 [...]
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 [...]
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.
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 [...]
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 support, failing 40-59, [...]
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 measure is the [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
