Politico got an exclusive look inside the Republican National Committee’s fundraising scheme for the rest of the year. It seems chairman Michael Steele is going to try and scare donors into giving him cash by fear-mongering about the “socialist” government President Obama will usher in without their help to oppose him. I would say …
Politicos on the Hill are hyperventilating about revelations that Rep. Eric Massa, a New York Democrat who yesterday announced his retirement due to a reoccurrence of life-threatening cancer, allegedly sexually harassed a young male staffer. Dems – and maybe they know more about Massa’s sex life than I do, especially since he denied …
Here’s a new story from me on the Senate Parliamentarian who’ll be refereeing the process of reconciliation on health care reform. Apparently, Republicans — and keep in mind, Alan Frumin was hired by Trent Lott — aren’t waiting for the process to begin. They’re preemptively calling his foul.
Charlie Rangel today announced he’ll temporarily lay down the gavel to the Ways & Means Committee, Congress’s top tax writing panel, after being admonished by the Ethics committee for two corporate sponsored trips to the Caribbean. So, the question is: who succeeds him? ABC News reported that Michigan’s Sander Levin, the No. 3 …
This morning Ben Smith over at Politico floated the idea that billionaire Mort Zuckerman might challenge Kirsten Gillibrand for Hillary Clinton’s old Senate seat in New York. This evening in a post on the New York Daily News, a paper he owns, he says he’s not gonna run. With Harold Ford out as well, this has been a good week for …
More than five days after he began but two days too late to prevent a cut off in services that will now have to be fixed retroactively, Senator Jim Bunning gave up his one-man filibuster of a $10 billion bill to extend unemployment benefits for 30 days. The measure passed with large bipartisan support 78-19. The Kentucky Republican said …
Five days after he was admonished by the Ethics Committee for two corporate-sponsored trips to the Caribbean, ABC News and NBC News are reporting that New York Democrat Charlie Rangel will “temporarily” give up the gavel of the Ways and Means Committee. Rangel tonight denied the reports, telling reporters on Capitol Hill that he …
Meanwhile, on the other side of Capitol Hill, Dennis Kucinich introduces legislation to end the war in Afghanistan:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwQKfwAGgEA&feature=player_embedded]
Senate Democrats are looking to force Jim Bunning, who has single handedly blocked a bill extending unemployment insurance benefits (amongst other provisions) causing them to lapse on Sunday, into an actual filibuster. Well, sort of. Roll Call reports that Dems are lining up a series of senators who will attempt to move for a vote on the …
Third Floor U.S. Senate
The GOP Senate conference is downstairs having their weekly policy lunch on the second floor of the Senate. I hear Kentucky’s Jim Bunning is getting an earful in the meeting and rumors are swirling that he may cave and accept Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s offer to have a vote on his plan to use stimulus …
There’s a legend in Hawaii about a surfer named Eddie Aikau. In the 70’s Eddie was the top lifeguard in Waimea Bay on Oahu, winning dozens of surf competitions. He was always the guy willing to risk his life, no matter how rough the water, to make a save. Eddie volunteered for the 1978 Polynesian Voyaging Society’s 30-day, …
I didn’t think it was possible for Senator Jim Bunning, a Kentucky Republican, to get more unpopular with his colleagues: he was forced, feet dragging, to announce he wouldn’t run for reelection after fellow Kentuckian and minority leader Mitch McConnell wouldn’t even endorse him. But tonight, he is pariah to a whole new level. …
As Karen and Michael noted we all did stories for the Broken Government project with our sister company CNN. Mine was on term limits (thank you deconstructiva for reminding me to post). Love ’em or hate ’em, they aren’t likely to happen any time soon as, thanks to a 1995 Supreme Court ruling, it’ll take a constitutional amendment to enact them.
