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On the Hill: Legislative Pileup Looms in the Senate

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

New York Times - By Carl Hulse - Nov. 21 (News Analysis) - While Republicans dispute that they are pure obstructionists, there is evidence to suggest that they are using their procedural power to slow even legislation and nominations that they know they have no chance of blocking. And in some cases, many Republicans do not truly expect to prevail.

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Republicans Hope For Just One Defection

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

National Public Radio - Nov. 21 (News Analysis) - No Republicans will vote Saturday night to advance the Senate's health care bill to open debate, Republican Whip Sen. John Kyl says. That leaves the fate of the vote in the hands of a few moderate Democrats, all of whom are needed to reach the 60 votes needed to push the bill forward. Host Scott Simon speaks with Kyl on his party's chances of defeating the bill.

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What to watch for in today's debate

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

The Politico - By Chris Frates - Nov. 21 (News Analysis) - Nancy Pelosi did it. Can Harry Reid? Two Saturdays ago, Pelosi passed health reform on a squeaker of a House vote. Today, Reid can’t spare a single Democrat as the Senate decides whether to start debate. If not, President Barack Obama’s reform hopes suffer immeasurable harm.

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Senate girds for Saturday vote and long battle on health care

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

McClatchy - By David Lightman - Nov. 20 (News Report) - The Senate Thursday began what promises to be a bitter, lengthy battle over the future of health care in America, and taxes, abortion, affordability and federal deficits emerged as key flashpoints.

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Reid uncertain of tally as healthcare bill heads for rare Saturday vote

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

The Hill - By Jeffrey Young - Nov. 20 (News Report) - The majority leader also put to rest any notion that the Senate would try to use budget reconciliation rules. Read more...

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Reid announces a Saturday vote on beginning debate on health bill

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Washington Post - By Lori Montgomery, Shailagh Murray - Nov. 19 (News Report) - That procedural vote will decide whether to bring that bill to the Senate floor and begin debate, and its approval relies on the votes of three wavering moderate Democrats. Republicans are expected to rally all 40 of their senators to block the

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Senators Press Holder to Declassify Key Facts about Patriot Act

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Salem-News.com - Nov. 19 (News Report) - We believe that the information we referenced in those paragraphs – specifically about the use of section 215 – is essential to understanding the full scope of the PATRIOT Act, which is about to be debated in Congress. As we said in June, if you have concerns about declassifying the specific language contained in our letter, we ask that you work with us to find language that conveys enough information to allow for an informed public debate on the PATRIOT Act’s reauthorization

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Talk of Plan B -- a Power Plant-Only Climate Bill -- Emerges in Senate

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

New York Times - By Darren Samuelsohn - Nov. 18 (News Report) - While President Obama and Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill continue to focus on legislation covering greenhouse gas emissions across broad sections of the U.S. economy, a small bipartisan faction of Senate moderates is examining the idea of passing a bill that deals only with the heat-trapping emissions from power plants.

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How General Electric Engineered Its Presence on Capitol Hill

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Wall Street Journal - By Paul Glader - Nov. 18 (News Report) - Many companies have offices in Washington D.C. for lobbying purposes, have employee-funded political-action committees to donate and influence politicians and belong to industry trade associations that lobby for their interests. General Electric Co., in recent years, has developed another way of engaging its business units with policy makers in Washington and other global capitols. It helps explain how President Barrack Obama has become GE's customer in chief.

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Environmental groups debate new tack in climate-change fight

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Washington Post - By David A. Fahrenthold - Nov. 16 (News Report) - A curious debate has broken out among American environmental groups, as the Senate balkily starts to focus on the threat of climate change. Is this really the time to talk about the threat of climate change?

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In House Record, Many Spoke With One Voice: The Lobbyists’

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

New York Times - By Robert Pear - Nov. 15 (News Report) - In the official record of the historic House debate on overhauling health care, the speeches of many lawmakers echo with similarities. Often, that was no accident.

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Climate Stakeholders Target Senators

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Roll Call - By Bennett Roth - Nov. 11 (News Report) - After contentious Senate committee action on climate change legislation last week, industry and environmental interests are focusing on a select group of Senators who are trying to forge consensus on the heated issue.

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Women could spell trouble for the GOP

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

The Politico - By Glenn Thrush, Meredith Shiner - Nov. 09 (News Analysis) - the growing schism between the Republican Party’s ascendant right wing and its shrinking moderate core has clear gender undertones — and Scozzafava’s departure raises fresh questions about the GOP’s ability to recruit, elect and even tolerate the sort of moderate women who used to be part of its ruling mainstream.

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Tears, tempers fly in Nancy Pelosi's campaign

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

The Politico - By Patrick O'Connor, John Bresnahan - Nov. 08 (News) - By Thursday, Ellsworth, who was working closely with Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.) realized the church wouldn’t accept anything less than a version of Hyde, so he and his staff started working on a version the bishops could accept, aides said.

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House Democrats Who Voted Against the Health Care Bill - Interactive Graphic

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

New York Times - Nov. 08 (News Analysis) - Detailed table profiling the 39 Democrats who voted against a sweeping overhaul of the nation’s health care system. Lawmakers in the House voted 220 to 215 on Saturday night to approve a sweeping overhaul of the nation’s health care system. Only one Republican voted for the bill, and 39 Democrats opposed it, including 24 members of the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition. An overwhelming majority of the Democratic lawmakers who opposed the bill — 31 of the 39 — represent districts that were won by Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, in the 2008 presidential election, and a third of them were freshmen. Nearly all of the fourteen freshmen Democrats who voted “no” represent districts that were previously Republican and are considered vulnerable in 2010. Geographically, 22 lawmakers from southern states formed the largest opposition bloc. Below are details on the Democrats that opposed the health care legislation in the House.

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Bishops' backing may get bill to 218

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

The Politico - By Patrick O'Connor - Nov. 07 (News Report) - When Rafik Ismail Hamad last traveled from the West Bank to visit relatives in America, he was struck by the pressures one of his nephews was facing. The younger man, an American-born Muslim of Palestinian descent, spoke to his uncle of ethnic taunts by Army colleagues. He was haunted by the wartime disabilities of soldiers he treated as an Army psychiatrist, Hamad recalled, and was overwhelmed by a growing caseload he felt unable to manage.

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Health bill reaches moment of truth

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

The Hill - By Jared Allen, Molly K. Hooper - Nov. 07 (News Report) - The House healthcare bill has taken more twists and turns and has zig-zagged its way through more Democratic districts than the Mississippi River. And after a month’s worth of legislative wrangling and deal-making, the bill is approaching its final destination: a vote on final passage, expected sometime before the sun rises on Sunday. Pressing toward dawn on Saturday, the Rules committee passed a rule after nearly 12 hours that would set up a vote on the healthcare bill at 6 p.m.

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House leaders prepare for rare Saturday vote on health-care bill

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Washington Post - By Lori Montgomery - Nov. 05 (News Report) - House leaders put in motion the machinery to hold a rare Saturday vote on the most far-reaching expansion of the health-care system in more than 40 years. Even so, they were still locking down support Wednesday among a handful of holdouts, with the biggest bloc dissatisfied with the measure's handling of abortion.

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Energized G.O.P. Looking to Avoid an Intraparty Feud

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

New York Times - By Adam Nagourney - Nov. 05 (News Report) - Republicans emerged from Tuesday’s elections energized by victories in Virginia and New Jersey, but their leaders immediately began maneuvering to avoid a prolonged battle with conservative activists over what the party stands for and how to regain power.

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House repudiates U.N. report on Gaza war

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Washington Post - Nov. 03 (News) - The House on Tuesday condemned a U.N. report that accuses Israeli forces and Palestinian militants of war crimes in the Gaza Strip last winter as "irredeemably biased and unworthy of further consideration or legitimacy." ......... Thirteen Israelis and more than 1,000 Palestinians were killed during the Dec. 27-Jan. 18 conflict.

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Racial disparity: All active ethics probes focus on black lawmakers

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

The Politico - By John Bresnahan - Nov. 03 (News Report) - The House ethics committee is currently investigating seven African-American lawmakers — more than 15 percent of the total in the House. And an eighth black member, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.), would be under investigation if the Justice Department hadn’t asked the committee to stand down. Not a single white lawmaker is currently the subject of a full-scale ethics committee probe.

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Obama Strategy on Health Care Legislation Appears to Be Paying Off

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

New York Times - By Robert Pear, Sheryl Gay Stolberg - Nov. 02 (News Analysis) - After months of plodding work by five Congressional committees and weeks of back-room bargaining by Democratic leaders, President Obama’s arms-length strategy on health care appears to be paying dividends, with the House and the Senate poised to take up legislation to insure nearly all Americans.

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Seven members of House defense subcommittee scrutinized by ethics investigators

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Post - By Carol D. Leonnig - Oct. 30 (News Report) - The investigations by two separate ethics offices include an examination of the powerful subcommittee chairman, John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), as well as others who helped steer federal funds to clients of the PMA Group. The lawmakers received campaign

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Senate Climate Markup Set for Tuesday but Will Any Republicans Show?

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Darren Samuelson - Oct. 30 (News) - But Boxer cannot hold the markup unless at least two Republicans show up, and EPW ranking member James Inhofe (R-Okla.) signaled that he has unanimous support among the panel's minority members to boycott the session until they get more data on the legislation from U.S. EPA and the Congressional Budget Office.

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Ethics list heavy on defense spenders

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

The Politico - By Jonathan Allen - Oct. 30 (News Report) - Seven members of the powerful House panel that handles the Pentagon's purse — and the lucrative earmarks inside — have been under investigation by the House Ethics Committee, according to an internal ethics committee document obtained by The Washington Post.

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