So, four months after its first deadline, the Finance Committee is finally done. Now the spotlight turns to Harry Reid. The fates must have some small sense of irony to burden the largest bill of just about anyone’s career (unless you’re Bobby Byrd and were here for the passage of the Civil Rights Act) on the most vulnerable 2010 …
Olympia Snowe didn’t make a liar out of Max Baucus, who had been predicting for months that he would have at least some GOP support when passing his health care reform bill out of the Finance Committee (all along most of us read this as one person: Snowe). For the chairman this must be a huge relief. But Snowe made it clear that her …
A day after surviving a GOP-sponsored vote to take away his House Ways & Means gavel, Charlie Rangel was again in the news. The House Ethics Committee voted unanimously to expand their investigation to Rangel’s personal disclosure forms. Earlier this year, Rangel quietly amended these forms, reporting an additional $600,000 in income …
John McCain returned to the Senate in 2000 a virtual liberal: throwing bombs at his Republican leaders (and especially George W. Bush).
John McCain returned to the Senate in 2009 a virtual conservative: a model Republican and leading critic of President Obama – especially, these days, on the war in Afghanistan.
McCain’s …
A few weeks ago I was on the phone with Stu Rothenberg, editor of the non-partisan Rothenberg Political Report, which tracks congressional races, who was remarking to me that of the five open seats Dems must defend next November – Massachusetts, New York, Illinois, Colorado and Delaware – few looked truly in danger. Indeed, …
Or, in Senator Ensign’s case, what happens in Washington and is sent back home to Nevada. Both Senators from the Silver State are increasingly deep political doo-doo, though for vastly different reasons. And one’s scandal may end up helping the other.
Brought to us by Rob Kutner, a writer at the The Tonight Show.
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If you haven’t already noticed on CSPAN2, the Senate has begun debate on the FY2010 Defense Appropriations bill. Typically, defense is the last of the 13 spending bills to be passed because it’s a must pass – ie, you can’t not update military funding in a time of war – and it often becomes a Christmas tree for all the pork that …
Turns out he’s on Capitol Hill! The General, as George W. Bush so famously called him, and Pakistani strong man is visiting the United States for an extended period of time. Eagle-eyed AFP correspondent Olivier Knox spotted him near Russell Senate Office Building this morning, coterie in tow.
What’s he doing here? Apparently …
Yes, they’re worried about seniors with paddle boards — in a sense.
As Speaker Pelosi right now meets with her caucus for the second time today and the third time this week as members try to come to consensus on a health care bill, here’s a story from this week’s dead tree edition on what has so many of her freshmen and …
In her first trip to the Eastern continent and her first paid speaking engagement, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin reserved some zingers for the audience back home. Even though the speech was officially closed press, the Wall Street Journal got their hands on a recording.
Ms. Palin didn’t refer to President Barack Obama by name, but
…
We’ve heard a lot of threats back and forth about the risks of Dems going it alone on health care reform. Here’s a story from me on the challenges for both Democrats and Republicans in flying solo and, in a twofer Monday, here’s another story from me on the 2010 Senate landscape.
For all that Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus moved frustratingly slowly the last five months – especially to those of us standing in the hall in front of his office waiting for an agreement — he’s moving lightning quick to the mark up. The bill that he will be moving through his committee tomorrow will already have some of the …
