Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson had pledged to resign her Senate seat in her bid for Rick Perry’s governor’s mansion. She lost the GOP gubernatorial primary last month to Perry and today announced that, in fact, she will not resign — as first reported by Reid Wilson over at Hotline. She intends to serve out her term which expires in …
Senate
Coffee Talk with Democracy Corps
Democratic gurus James Carville and Stanley Greenberg were the guests at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast this morning, where they discussed the results of a Democracy Corps poll on the deficit. The results from the survey aren’t likely to inspire jaw drops: 93% of the 1,000-plus voters polled say they view the deficit as a major …
Morning Must Reads: Shore Thing
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
–Obama will announce he’s opening coastal waters to offshore drilling today.
–The New York Times has a handy-dandy map:
–The Greens gripe, but get Bristol Bay.
–The left worries that the White House just jumped the gun on concessions for a climate bill.
–The White …
Morning Must Reads: Trust
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
–Dexter Filkins and Mark Landler describe a growing deficit of trust between the White House and Hamid Karzai.
–Obama prods him in an interview with Matt Lauer on “Today.”
–AHIP caved fairly quickly to the administration’s needling over pre-existing conditions for minors. The …
Obama Announces 15 Recess Appointments
President Barack Obama today announced his intention to make 15 recess appointments, signaling his frustration with the Senate’s foot dragging. The White House pointedly noted that these nominees have been waiting an average of 214 days for confirmation. Overall, the White house said, Obama has 217 nominees before the Senate who’ve …
So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodbye
The Senate scattered to the four winds this afternoon, leaving unfinished work on a $9.2 billion bill to extend for one-month unemployment benefits. This will not make for a restful two-week recess for exhausted lawmakers as some of the benefits begin to run out April 5 – the day after Easter. Barring any kidnapped girls or celebrity …
Done Deal
The House just voted 220-207 to pass the tweaked package of health reform fixes approved by the Senate earlier today and sent back to the lower chamber for one final vote.
It may be hard to believe, but after all the vitriolic town halls, the missed deadlines, the desperate search for 60 in the Senate, the thousand deaths and rebirths …
Deja Vu
If you happened to have turned on C-SPAN in the last half hour you may have noticed the Senate was full of senators but no vote going on. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid convened the upper chamber to try and get consensus on how to proceed after Senator Tom Coburn, an Oklahoma Republican, objected to proceeding to a one-month extension …
The World’s Greatest Deliberative Body and Argument Clinic
Is there anything about modern politics that doesn’t bring to mind a Monty Python skit? In response to my post below, commenter Stuart Zechman posits this clip, which is a perfect encapsulation of the United States Senate:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teMlv3ripSM&hl=en_US&fs=1&]
UPDATE: The WGDBAC just passed the …
Al Frumin’s Bad Day
In the middle of a meeting in the early evening Wednesday on – what else? – reconciliation, the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Terrance Gainer interrupted proceedings to speak with the Senate Parliamentarian. Though neither man would discuss what was going on, reports soon emerged: Tea Party protesters were planning to picket the …
Obama: The Most Popular Insult In Florida
Well Charlie Crist’s latest radio ad certainly throws a healthy dose of cold water on those whispers about him switching parties:
There were never any credible reports he was mulling a flip, but musings about the Florida governor and Republican Senate hopeful taking desperate action were understandable given the brutal beating he …
Temper, Temper…
Yesterday I reported that the GOP storm on health care seemed to be subsiding. Indeed, reconciliation looks on schedule to go through by Friday, though Senator Tom Coburn says he believes he’ll be able to successful strip out certain provisions forcing the Senate to send the bill back to the House for final passage. It seems, though, …
Frank Lautenberg: Make Them Filibuster
This just in from Ryan Grim, at the Huffington Post:
The Democratic senator from New Jersey announced Wednesday that he would introduce the “Mr. Smith Bill,” which would specifically require the minority to talk out a filibuster, a la Jimmy Stewart in “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.” Once debate ends and no senator requests the
…