After I mentioned in yesterday’s Al Franken story that both Senator Ted Kennedy and Robert Byrd have been absent due to medical reasons – thus making the Dems’ majority more like 58 than 60 — I got a lot of questions about Byrd’s health. Byrd was hospitalized after a fall in his home the week of May 11 and released yesterday, …
Michelle Obama has unwittingly caused a national French debate over working on Sundays. It seems the First Lady wanted to take Sasha and Malia shopping while there: the problem was virtually every store in Paris is closed on Sundays. There is a ban in France, a Catholic country, on working the day God rested. Embarrassed, President …
The Minnesota Supreme Court this afternoon ruled unanimously that Al Franken is “entitled to receive the certificate of election as United States Senator from the State of Minnesota.” Barring an appeal by G.O.P. incumbent Norm Coleman to the U.S. Supreme Court — an appeal that court would be unlikely to be heard until the next …
It’s not often that a former political aide gets a hefty $$ deal to write a tell-all book – such a betrayal would come after only the harshest kind of disillusionment. Apparently Andrew Young, John Edwards’ former aide who once claimed Rielle Hunter’s baby as his own, is that disappointed and angry with his former boss. Young …
The U.S. House of Representatives passed sweeping climate change legislation just after 7:15pm tonight by 219-212. The bill is House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s signature issue and a top priority of the Obama Administration. It now goes to the Senate which is aiming for passage in October. Pelosi decided just Monday to fast track the …
There’s a privilege granted to leaders of both parties in the House to speak for as long as they want on the House floor on whatever subject they want. After nearly five hours of debate on the climate bill, House Minority Leader John Boehner took the floor around 5:30pm and began speaking about the 300-page chairman’s amendment added to …
Right now the House is voting on the Interior Department appropriations amendments and there’s an amusing game of whack-a-mole happening on the House floor. Dems are using this series of 11 votes to whip the climate change bill (if you watch C-SPAN you can see the Dem leaders working the room). Usually, as we saw this past week, it’s …
The Goracle is coming! The Goracle is coming! The Goracle… is staying home.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi invited former Vice President Al Gore to come help lobby members as she seeks to pass historic global warming legislation in the House this week. He was scheduled to address the caucus and hold a press conference with her. …
If, on the odd chance, you’re a fan of C-SPAN, you may have noticed that the House has been stuck voting on motions to adjourn – four of them today thus far. That is because the GOP is protesting – as they have been for a week. The scuffle started when Dems moved to cut off GOP amendments to the Commerce, Justice and science …
The Senate today began its first impeachment trial since Bill Clinton. This one is much less controversial; Federal Judge Samuel B. Kent of the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of Texas is most likely going to be convicted. Kent was accused of sexually assaulting two female employees at his court in Galveston and trying to …
The headline would seem simple enough but it was harder than most people could have imagined reaching consensus amongst Dems in the House on a bill to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. But, six weeks after House Energy & Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman and Rep. Ed Markey introduced the legislation, an agreement was finally …
Republicans and Democrats agree that tourism to the U.S. is a good thing. The average foreign visitor spends $4,500 on everything from hotels and trains to Abercrombie and Fitch and Disney World. Alas, international tourism rates to the U.S. have yet to recover to pre-911 levels and they actually declined 10% in the first quarter of …
From his prepared remarks this he’s just now delivering in the White House Brady briefing room:
Today, I want to start by addressing three issues, and then I’ll take your questions.
First, I’d like to say a few words about the situation in Iran. The United States and the international community have been appalled and outraged by
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