Good morning and welcome to the Weekly Strike, where we preview the week in politics. Congress is back in session, and President Obama gets ready to travel abroad, so let's get to it.
THE WHITE HOUSE: President Obama is forced to make a painful announcement this morning that General Motors has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. As I said last night, the move isn't unexpected, but it's a painful blow to the President in the country. For a century now, the fate of GM has been notoriously linked to the fate of the U.S. economy. As part of the bankruptcy agreement, the government will give GM an additional $30 billion to help in restructuring. That will make the United States officially the majority owner in GM. The Canadian government, the UAW, and current bondholders will have the remaining stake in the company. The agreement calls for the closing over 12 to 20 factories, and will result in at least 21,000 people losing their jobs. The situation is lose-lose for Obama. He certainly does not want to be in the business of running an auto company. He is assuming all of the risk associated with GM, and will reap no rewards in the unlikely event that GM ends up turning a profit anytime soon. He'll also be chastised by Republicans, who have already called the bankruptcy deal, "government motors." If Republicans had their way, GM would have filed for bankruptcy in December, thousands of people would have already lost their jobs, and the ripple effect would be deeply felt across the economy. At least in this agreement, there is a structure in place to minimize losses and ensure at least minimal solvency for the next few months.
After today's announcement, the President packs his bag and heads to the Middle East for a crucial week-long trip. Tomorrow, the President travels to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to meet with King Abdullah. I expect they'll talk about oil and other common security interests. The big event comes on Thursday, when President Obama delivers an address in Cairo, the capital of Egypt. This speech will fulfill the President's campaign promise to give a speech in a Muslim capital during his first six months in office. Quite honestly, this was one of the reasons I was so supportive of Obama during the primary season and general election campaign. He, more than anyone else, has the credibility to speak honestly and candidly to the Muslim world about what has gone on over the past 8 years, and what the U.S. and the Muslim world have to do to ensure lasting peace. There is a 100 percent chance that Obama will say something mildly critical of past U.S. behavior, and that Republicans will attack his patriotism. The Republican party is just so predictable. The President then travels to Dresden, Germany, to visit the Buchenwald Concentration Camp. I believe that is the camp that his uncle, Charles Payne, helped liberate as a member of Patton's army. On Saturday, the President goes to France to commemorate the 65th anniversary of D-Day.
CONGRESS: Congress is back in session for about a month. The big battles are mostly at the committee level right now. Senator Kennedy (D-MA) plans to bring up a comprehensive health care proposal to the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee in the next week. Senator Baucus (D-MT), chairman of the Finance committee, is working on his portion of the bill. I'll be interested to see whether the two can reconcile their ideological differences and come up with a cohesive product in the next week or so. The stars are really aligning for health reform right now, and the push will begin this month. The goal is for the Senate to pass its version of the bill before the August 7th recess.
The House returns to work tomorrow and will consider a bunch of suspension bills. On Wednesday and Thursday, the House will consider a slew of relatively minor bills. The first would recognize the Lumbee tribe of North Carolina as a federally-protected Indian tribe, and would prohibit them from participating in gaming activities. The next bill does the same thing for a bunch of tribes in Virginia, including the Chickahominy Indian Tribe, the Chickahominy Indian Tribe-Eastern Division, the Upper Mattaponi Tribe, the Rappahannock Tribe, Inc., the Monacan Indian Nation, and the Nansemond Indian Tribe. Third, the House takes up a bill authorizing spending for the Transportation Security Administration. They were supposed to take up the bill before this last recess, but never got to it. The bill includes policy changes, like the expansion of a program for bomb-sniffing dogs. Sweet. Finally, the House will take up a bill that will give federal employees four weeks of paid parental leave upon the birth or adoption of a new child. This is one of those bills that is so fundamental to protecting workers and their children. I wish we could extend it to ALL employees, even those in the private sector. I expect the usual stupid objections from Republicans saying that the plan will cost too much.
The Senate this week will take up a bill dealing with anti-trust issues in the railroad industry. They will also vote tomorrow on the nomination of Regina McCarthy to be an administrator at the Environmental Protection Agency.
Both chambers could possibly take up a conference report on the bill to fund wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, should House and Senate leaders agree to a final version by the end of the week.
Stay tuned as we cover all of the exciting news this week from Washington!
Showing posts with label Congress. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Congress. Show all posts
Monday, June 1, 2009
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
The Daily Strike-3/11/09-Earmarks/Women/Other Items
Good Wednesday evening and welcome to the Daily Strike. Be sure to stay tuned to our blog over the next couple of days, as we'll bring you Part II of our series on The Employee Free Choice Act, as well as a review of Obama's first 50 days in office.
THE WHITE HOUSE: Another busy day at the White House. The President first signed the $410 billion spending bill into law, which will keep the government running through September. To respond to critics (like John McCain and the mainstream media), the President used the signing as an opportunity to lay out new rules for Congressional earmarks. He signed the spending bill despite the 8000 or so pet projects.
I have to mention how tired I am about all this earmark squawking. Earmarks make up about 1% of the Federal budget, first of all. Second of all, they do not significantly change overall spending levels. If Congress didn't earmark the money, federal departments would spend it anyway. It makes sense to have individual members of Congress, who have intimate knowledge of their districts, to be able to spend 1% of the federal budget on pet projects.
Obviously, the system is often abused, and I'm glad that the President has recommended some reforms. Earmarks are certainly worthy of suspicion, because they money has not been authorized in the course of the normal legislative process. It instead is thrown into giant spending bills at the last minute. Also, earmarks are used as part of pay-to-play schemes. But all of this talk about funny sounding spending items, which the mainstream media just goes crazy for, is getting on my nerves.
Anyways, the President said that from now on earmarks must have "a legitimate and worthy public purpose." He also claimed that earmarks should be posted on members' websites before they are included in bills, they should be given a full public hearing, and they should be given out by a competitive bidding process. My gut reaction is that he doesn't care too much about earmarks, and just made this announcement to shut up his critics a little bit. All of these "reforms" seem toothless, especially because Congress can make it's own rules.
The other big announcement today from the White House was the formation of the White House Council on Women and Girls, to be led by Obama's friend and advisor Valerie Jarret. First Lady Michelle Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton joined the President at the announcement, which coincided with "International Women's Day." This marks the President's second major action in regards to women's rights. The President has already signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act into law, which makes it easier for women to sue for sexual discrimination. Today's event was another reminder that not only does the President care about women's issues, but he's surrounded by some of the most admirable women leaders of our time.
Obama also today met with Democratic members of the House and Senate budget committees to plan strategy for the upcoming budget fight. There is already major resistance to Obama's budget from old bulls on the committees, who want to do things their way. We'll talk more about this disturbing dynamic in the next couple of days. The House should be passing a budget resolution, an annual non-binding measure that sets spending targets, in the next few weeks. We'll have full coverage when it happens.
THE HOUSE: The House had a busy day voting on bills under suspension of the rules. As we've mentioned before, votes on so-called "Suspension" bills are usually non-controversial measures. They require a 2/3rds majority for passage. Sometimes, House leaders will bring up regular bills under suspension of the rules for a variety of reasons. First, these bills can not be amended, so members won't have to take tough votes against poison pill amendments. Second, leaders often put bills on the suspension calendar that they know require a veto-proof majority. If you know the President is going to veto a bill, you'll need a 2/3rds vote to override it. A suspension vote is a good way to test whether you have the necessary votes.
Anyways, today House leaders decided to put the "Omnibus Land Management" bill under suspension of the rules. This bill consists of various measures previously blocked by Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma. He had put holds on the bills because he objected to the authorization of more government spending. The Democrats in the Senate finally had the 60 votes necessary to break Coburn's holds, so they passed the bill in early January.
House leaders did not want to get this bill sidetracked by amendments, so they decided to gamble and try and pass the bill under suspension of the rules.
The House took up the bill today with an amendment offered by Rep. Altmire of Pennsylvania to "clarify that nothing in the bill could restrict access for hunting, fishing or trapping activities that are otherwise allowed by law, and also that it would not affect state authority to regulate these activities." So even if the bill had been passed, it would have had to return to the Senate. (thanks to our friends at CongressMatters for the information on this).
Even with this amendment, House Democrats couldn't muster a 2/3rds majority to suspend the rules and pass the bill. 34 Republicans joined all but 3 Democrats (Boren (OK), Marshall (GA) and Peterson (MN)) in voting for the bill, but it still fell about 8 votes short.
Democrats will now have to bring up the bill again under a special rule (most likely one preventing amendments). If they can hold together and defeat a Republican motion to commit the bill (which will surely be of the gotcha variety, probably having to do with guns or abortion or something), they know they've got the votes to pass it by a simple majority. My guess is that they'll bring the bill up again next week.
A few other House-related items:
-Something happened today that you rarely see on the House floor. Rep. Culberson (R-TX) was complaining in debate about how Speaker Pelosi was trying to circumvent the legislative process, and said this:
"The arrogance of power of Speaker Pelosi -- Nancy Pelosi's beginning to remind me of Marie Antoinette. With her attitude towards the people of France she couldn't be driven around Paris in anything but the very finest carriages. The contempt that the leadership of this Congress has for the American people's input for transparency --"
Rep. Rahall (D-WV) who was managing the bill on the Democratic side requested that the "words be taken down." Having words taken down is a way of punishing a member for saying something inappropriate. If the chair rules that the words were out of order, the member could be banned from talking for the rest of the day (oh the horror!). Rep. Culberson requested that his words be "withdrawn." Here's a video of the whole scene. I've also included the other two incidents I can remember of words being taken down. Enjoy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTCYy-vXUrI&eurl=http://congressmatters.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAYV5H4rsqs (the best part of this one is when former Rep. Harold Ford goes nuts and charges to the Republican side)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsGaNR9dVPM
The House will take up the bill tomorrow dealing with water pollution. Still no word on when they'll bring up the DC Voting rights bill.
THE SENATE: No votes in the Senate today. They're dealing with some executive nominations tomorrow. A vote is expected on David Ogden, nominee for Deputy Attorney General, and Thomas Perelli, nominee for Associate Attorney General.
That's it for tonight. See you tomorrow!
THE WHITE HOUSE: Another busy day at the White House. The President first signed the $410 billion spending bill into law, which will keep the government running through September. To respond to critics (like John McCain and the mainstream media), the President used the signing as an opportunity to lay out new rules for Congressional earmarks. He signed the spending bill despite the 8000 or so pet projects.
I have to mention how tired I am about all this earmark squawking. Earmarks make up about 1% of the Federal budget, first of all. Second of all, they do not significantly change overall spending levels. If Congress didn't earmark the money, federal departments would spend it anyway. It makes sense to have individual members of Congress, who have intimate knowledge of their districts, to be able to spend 1% of the federal budget on pet projects.
Obviously, the system is often abused, and I'm glad that the President has recommended some reforms. Earmarks are certainly worthy of suspicion, because they money has not been authorized in the course of the normal legislative process. It instead is thrown into giant spending bills at the last minute. Also, earmarks are used as part of pay-to-play schemes. But all of this talk about funny sounding spending items, which the mainstream media just goes crazy for, is getting on my nerves.
Anyways, the President said that from now on earmarks must have "a legitimate and worthy public purpose." He also claimed that earmarks should be posted on members' websites before they are included in bills, they should be given a full public hearing, and they should be given out by a competitive bidding process. My gut reaction is that he doesn't care too much about earmarks, and just made this announcement to shut up his critics a little bit. All of these "reforms" seem toothless, especially because Congress can make it's own rules.
The other big announcement today from the White House was the formation of the White House Council on Women and Girls, to be led by Obama's friend and advisor Valerie Jarret. First Lady Michelle Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton joined the President at the announcement, which coincided with "International Women's Day." This marks the President's second major action in regards to women's rights. The President has already signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act into law, which makes it easier for women to sue for sexual discrimination. Today's event was another reminder that not only does the President care about women's issues, but he's surrounded by some of the most admirable women leaders of our time.
Obama also today met with Democratic members of the House and Senate budget committees to plan strategy for the upcoming budget fight. There is already major resistance to Obama's budget from old bulls on the committees, who want to do things their way. We'll talk more about this disturbing dynamic in the next couple of days. The House should be passing a budget resolution, an annual non-binding measure that sets spending targets, in the next few weeks. We'll have full coverage when it happens.
THE HOUSE: The House had a busy day voting on bills under suspension of the rules. As we've mentioned before, votes on so-called "Suspension" bills are usually non-controversial measures. They require a 2/3rds majority for passage. Sometimes, House leaders will bring up regular bills under suspension of the rules for a variety of reasons. First, these bills can not be amended, so members won't have to take tough votes against poison pill amendments. Second, leaders often put bills on the suspension calendar that they know require a veto-proof majority. If you know the President is going to veto a bill, you'll need a 2/3rds vote to override it. A suspension vote is a good way to test whether you have the necessary votes.
Anyways, today House leaders decided to put the "Omnibus Land Management" bill under suspension of the rules. This bill consists of various measures previously blocked by Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma. He had put holds on the bills because he objected to the authorization of more government spending. The Democrats in the Senate finally had the 60 votes necessary to break Coburn's holds, so they passed the bill in early January.
House leaders did not want to get this bill sidetracked by amendments, so they decided to gamble and try and pass the bill under suspension of the rules.
The House took up the bill today with an amendment offered by Rep. Altmire of Pennsylvania to "clarify that nothing in the bill could restrict access for hunting, fishing or trapping activities that are otherwise allowed by law, and also that it would not affect state authority to regulate these activities." So even if the bill had been passed, it would have had to return to the Senate. (thanks to our friends at CongressMatters for the information on this).
Even with this amendment, House Democrats couldn't muster a 2/3rds majority to suspend the rules and pass the bill. 34 Republicans joined all but 3 Democrats (Boren (OK), Marshall (GA) and Peterson (MN)) in voting for the bill, but it still fell about 8 votes short.
Democrats will now have to bring up the bill again under a special rule (most likely one preventing amendments). If they can hold together and defeat a Republican motion to commit the bill (which will surely be of the gotcha variety, probably having to do with guns or abortion or something), they know they've got the votes to pass it by a simple majority. My guess is that they'll bring the bill up again next week.
A few other House-related items:
-Something happened today that you rarely see on the House floor. Rep. Culberson (R-TX) was complaining in debate about how Speaker Pelosi was trying to circumvent the legislative process, and said this:
"The arrogance of power of Speaker Pelosi -- Nancy Pelosi's beginning to remind me of Marie Antoinette. With her attitude towards the people of France she couldn't be driven around Paris in anything but the very finest carriages. The contempt that the leadership of this Congress has for the American people's input for transparency --"
Rep. Rahall (D-WV) who was managing the bill on the Democratic side requested that the "words be taken down." Having words taken down is a way of punishing a member for saying something inappropriate. If the chair rules that the words were out of order, the member could be banned from talking for the rest of the day (oh the horror!). Rep. Culberson requested that his words be "withdrawn." Here's a video of the whole scene. I've also included the other two incidents I can remember of words being taken down. Enjoy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTCYy-vXUrI&eurl=http://congressmatters.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAYV5H4rsqs (the best part of this one is when former Rep. Harold Ford goes nuts and charges to the Republican side)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsGaNR9dVPM
The House will take up the bill tomorrow dealing with water pollution. Still no word on when they'll bring up the DC Voting rights bill.
THE SENATE: No votes in the Senate today. They're dealing with some executive nominations tomorrow. A vote is expected on David Ogden, nominee for Deputy Attorney General, and Thomas Perelli, nominee for Associate Attorney General.
That's it for tonight. See you tomorrow!
Thursday, February 12, 2009
The Daily Strike-2/12/09-Today, However, Not So Great
Good Thursday evening and welcome to the Daily Strike. Today wasn't quite the day Obama had in mind.
GREGG: The big news of the day was that Commerce Secretary nominee and Republican Senator Judd Gregg removed his name from consideration, because he says he couldn't reconcile his own views with the administration. He mentioned the stimulus package and the 2010 census as areas of disagreement. There had been some chatter that the administration would not let the conservative Gregg have control over the census process in 2010, as Commerce sectretaries typically do, but this still comes as a pretty big surprise.
It seems like the administration is not happy. In a statement, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs seemed to indicate that Gregg had approached Obama about the post. Obama himself told a local TV Station in Peoria, IL that Gregg's decision was somewhat of a surprise.
So what are the repercussions? Firstly, we need a commerce secretary. This is the second one to back out, after New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson. This makes two key cabinet vacancies three weeks into the administration. I suspect the vacancy at Health and Human Services will be announced in the next week or so, but they'll be back at square one for commerce secretary.
Politically, this is not great news for Democrats. Gregg returns to the Senate where he'll vote like a conservative Republican. I'm wondering whether he'll abstain from the vote on the stimulus compromise. His designated replacement, Bonnie Newman, will not get sworn in as Senator. Apparently, she would have been rather moderate and could have provided a critical vote to clear procedural hurdles on many items of the Obama agenda. Gregg announced this afternoon that he will not run for reelection in 2010, so the seat remains a good potential pick up for the Democrats, and their expected nominee Rep. Paul Hodes.
What about Obama? I expect the media to pen story after story on Obama's cabinet troubles in recent weeks, but ultimately, this story will die pretty fast, especially since the details aren't that juicy: Gregg backed out because he doesn't support the administration's policy. I'm still not entirely clear why he accepted the position in the first place.
STIMULUS: No vote on the economic stimulus conference report (final package) today. There were a few final hang-ups on the bill worked out in the morning, and I'm still not sure the bill has been released to the public. The House is expected to vote on the report tomorrow. The first vote will likely be on a special rule governing debate on the package. This should be a strict party line vote. Then, the Republicans will have one chance to recommit the bill to the conference committee (basically, a way to kill the bill). This should fail on another party line vote. Finally, there will be a vote on final passage.
The Republicans have already lost one representative in their quest for unity in opposition. Rep. Joseph Cao of Louisiana, a Republican who upset Rep. William Jefferson (indicted on bribery charges) in a heavily Democratic district in New Orleans, has announced that he will support the final bill. I expect there to be maybe 3 or 4 more defections. I also suspect, as with the original House version, a few conservative Democrats break ranks. My bet for final passage: 246-188 (give or take a few votes).
The bill will then move to the Senate, where things get tricky. To overcome a Republican filibuster, Democrats must get 60 votes; they currently hold 58 seats. With the support of the moderate trio of Snowe, Collins and Specter, they have 61 votes. Senator Ted Kennedy had come back to vote on the Senate bill earlier this week, but he is still suffering from brain cancer, and apparently has returned to Florida and won't be able to make the vote. That brings the vote total down to 60. Also, Ohio Democrat Sherrod Brown's mother died, and her memorial service is tomorrow. Most likely, the vote will be postponed until Saturday, when Brown can return. But what if something unexpected happens to another Democrat? Will a moderate Republican (say Dick Lugar of Indiana?) cross over and support the final package? They'll figure out some way to do it. It would be pretty low to filibuster the bill knowing that the Democrats would have the votes to overcome it if they were all present and voting?
THE PRESIDENT: Today, Obama continued his road tour with a speech in Peoria, IL at the Catepillar Factory. The company has claimed that if the stimulus package passes, they'll be able to rescue some jobs. With a deal already in place, the trip was mostly about symbolism. He also spoke on Capital Hill at a ceremoney honoring the 200th birthday of his favorite President Abraham Lincoln. He has another Lincoln tribute gig tonight in Springfield, IL.
PORKING US: The Republican strategy to fight the stimulus, as I have mentioned earlier, has been focused on:
-using small weird-sounding spending items to characterize the whole bill
-arguing philisophically against government spending in recession, partially denying the success for the New Deal.
-newfound concern over the federal deficit.
Today, the Republican party's shenanigans went on overdrive. Rep. Jack Kingston of Georgia (one of the Strike's least favorite Reps.) went on the House floor to talk about a supposed provision in the bill that would fun "mouse research" in Speaker Pelosi's home district in San Francisco. Apparently, some Republican staffer sent over this item to the Washington Times, and it ended up on the Drudge Report (the Republican mecca website). Of course there is no such provision. There is funding for various marshing and farming activities, some of which, probably, would apply to research projects in San Francisco (the Strike's wonderful home town!). Kingston took it a step further by trashing San Francisco ad hominem. He was saying how the mice "probably walk around like San Franciscans, with sunglasses and flip flops and they go out to dinner in Sausilito." What the h@!! is he talking about?
The other curious criticism levied today was for a train track to be built from California to Las Vegas. They were calling this wasteful! How could you possibly say that is wasteful? It is infrastructure spending, which you claim to support! They're just using the term "Las Vegas" to associate a legitimate project with something "sinful." I won't waste everyone's time on these clowns, but I wanted to give you an example of what the Republican party has become.
Well, it's time for the Strike to go pack for a weekend with Lady Strike up in Syracuse, where Lady Strike is from. Posting will be light this weekend, but I'll make sure I keep you updated as the House and Senate votes on the final version of the stimulus package. Meanwhile, if there's something I miss while I'm gone, I hope our other bloggers can chip in! Thanks and have a great weekend!
GREGG: The big news of the day was that Commerce Secretary nominee and Republican Senator Judd Gregg removed his name from consideration, because he says he couldn't reconcile his own views with the administration. He mentioned the stimulus package and the 2010 census as areas of disagreement. There had been some chatter that the administration would not let the conservative Gregg have control over the census process in 2010, as Commerce sectretaries typically do, but this still comes as a pretty big surprise.
It seems like the administration is not happy. In a statement, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs seemed to indicate that Gregg had approached Obama about the post. Obama himself told a local TV Station in Peoria, IL that Gregg's decision was somewhat of a surprise.
So what are the repercussions? Firstly, we need a commerce secretary. This is the second one to back out, after New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson. This makes two key cabinet vacancies three weeks into the administration. I suspect the vacancy at Health and Human Services will be announced in the next week or so, but they'll be back at square one for commerce secretary.
Politically, this is not great news for Democrats. Gregg returns to the Senate where he'll vote like a conservative Republican. I'm wondering whether he'll abstain from the vote on the stimulus compromise. His designated replacement, Bonnie Newman, will not get sworn in as Senator. Apparently, she would have been rather moderate and could have provided a critical vote to clear procedural hurdles on many items of the Obama agenda. Gregg announced this afternoon that he will not run for reelection in 2010, so the seat remains a good potential pick up for the Democrats, and their expected nominee Rep. Paul Hodes.
What about Obama? I expect the media to pen story after story on Obama's cabinet troubles in recent weeks, but ultimately, this story will die pretty fast, especially since the details aren't that juicy: Gregg backed out because he doesn't support the administration's policy. I'm still not entirely clear why he accepted the position in the first place.
STIMULUS: No vote on the economic stimulus conference report (final package) today. There were a few final hang-ups on the bill worked out in the morning, and I'm still not sure the bill has been released to the public. The House is expected to vote on the report tomorrow. The first vote will likely be on a special rule governing debate on the package. This should be a strict party line vote. Then, the Republicans will have one chance to recommit the bill to the conference committee (basically, a way to kill the bill). This should fail on another party line vote. Finally, there will be a vote on final passage.
The Republicans have already lost one representative in their quest for unity in opposition. Rep. Joseph Cao of Louisiana, a Republican who upset Rep. William Jefferson (indicted on bribery charges) in a heavily Democratic district in New Orleans, has announced that he will support the final bill. I expect there to be maybe 3 or 4 more defections. I also suspect, as with the original House version, a few conservative Democrats break ranks. My bet for final passage: 246-188 (give or take a few votes).
The bill will then move to the Senate, where things get tricky. To overcome a Republican filibuster, Democrats must get 60 votes; they currently hold 58 seats. With the support of the moderate trio of Snowe, Collins and Specter, they have 61 votes. Senator Ted Kennedy had come back to vote on the Senate bill earlier this week, but he is still suffering from brain cancer, and apparently has returned to Florida and won't be able to make the vote. That brings the vote total down to 60. Also, Ohio Democrat Sherrod Brown's mother died, and her memorial service is tomorrow. Most likely, the vote will be postponed until Saturday, when Brown can return. But what if something unexpected happens to another Democrat? Will a moderate Republican (say Dick Lugar of Indiana?) cross over and support the final package? They'll figure out some way to do it. It would be pretty low to filibuster the bill knowing that the Democrats would have the votes to overcome it if they were all present and voting?
THE PRESIDENT: Today, Obama continued his road tour with a speech in Peoria, IL at the Catepillar Factory. The company has claimed that if the stimulus package passes, they'll be able to rescue some jobs. With a deal already in place, the trip was mostly about symbolism. He also spoke on Capital Hill at a ceremoney honoring the 200th birthday of his favorite President Abraham Lincoln. He has another Lincoln tribute gig tonight in Springfield, IL.
PORKING US: The Republican strategy to fight the stimulus, as I have mentioned earlier, has been focused on:
-using small weird-sounding spending items to characterize the whole bill
-arguing philisophically against government spending in recession, partially denying the success for the New Deal.
-newfound concern over the federal deficit.
Today, the Republican party's shenanigans went on overdrive. Rep. Jack Kingston of Georgia (one of the Strike's least favorite Reps.) went on the House floor to talk about a supposed provision in the bill that would fun "mouse research" in Speaker Pelosi's home district in San Francisco. Apparently, some Republican staffer sent over this item to the Washington Times, and it ended up on the Drudge Report (the Republican mecca website). Of course there is no such provision. There is funding for various marshing and farming activities, some of which, probably, would apply to research projects in San Francisco (the Strike's wonderful home town!). Kingston took it a step further by trashing San Francisco ad hominem. He was saying how the mice "probably walk around like San Franciscans, with sunglasses and flip flops and they go out to dinner in Sausilito." What the h@!! is he talking about?
The other curious criticism levied today was for a train track to be built from California to Las Vegas. They were calling this wasteful! How could you possibly say that is wasteful? It is infrastructure spending, which you claim to support! They're just using the term "Las Vegas" to associate a legitimate project with something "sinful." I won't waste everyone's time on these clowns, but I wanted to give you an example of what the Republican party has become.
Well, it's time for the Strike to go pack for a weekend with Lady Strike up in Syracuse, where Lady Strike is from. Posting will be light this weekend, but I'll make sure I keep you updated as the House and Senate votes on the final version of the stimulus package. Meanwhile, if there's something I miss while I'm gone, I hope our other bloggers can chip in! Thanks and have a great weekend!
Monday, February 9, 2009
The Daily Strike-2/9/09-The Vote and the Press Conference
Selling the stimulus was the name of the game today, in a variety of venues, and we have you covered. Welcome to the Daily Strike.
SENATE VOTE: First things first, how is this bill doing as it meanders through Congress? Today, the Senate voted to cut off debate on the stimulus bill by a vote of 61-36 (if it weren't for Senator John Cornyn's (R-TX) absurd decision to skip the vote to attend a New York fundraiser, I would have predicted it exactly right!) As expected, three Republicans voted for the bill, Senators Snowe and Collins of Maine, and Senator Specter of Pennsylvania. It's not easy being a dissenting Republican when you have the talk radio echo chamber on your case. Senator Specter even had to tell conservative radio host Laura Ingraham to cool it today when she was pressing him on his vote.
Next up, the Senate votes on whether to waive the budget rules on the Collins-Nelson amendment (which is now the underlying bill). This vote, as I mentioned in the last post, will require a 60 vote super majority. I expect the result to be exactly the same as today's, except that maybe cowboy Cornyn will show up this time. We'll keep tabs on when the House-Senate conference convenes, and will provide coverage of what happens in these meetings (from the little of these meetings that become publicly available).
OBAMA BACK ON THE TRAIL: Obama had two very important public appearances today. The first was a town hall meeting in Elkhart, IN. The meeting was not censored like the Bush town-halls, and many of the questions were quite pointed. Obama was introduced by a man who had been laid off by the RV plant he used to work out. He talked about how the stimulus bill will help him survive by enabling him to continue to collect unemployment insurance while he looks for a new job. This was very powerful, and I think representative of the strategy Obama frankly should have applied more forcefully: make the stimulus real in terms of how it affects average people's lives. The questions varied from those discussing alternative energy, one talking about whether money will flow to states or localities, and the obligatory cute kid who asked "what will you do for our schools?" The two most interesting questions:
1. This one guy got off to a great start, talking about how the previous 8 years have been misguided by a trickle-down economic philosophy, but then ended up with a disappointing finish of "why don't you just give us all a check?"
2. This one brave woman identified herself as someone who thinks Obama should have a beer with Sean Hannity and asked about the hypocrisy of the tax issues surrounding his nominees. Obama handled the question well by joking about Hannity's dislike of him, and then called the women's questions about his nominees "legitimate."
The main event was tonight's press conference in the East Room of the White House. The President took a very serious and somber tone in discussing, in very real terms, the impact of the economic crisis. In his opening remarks, he gave a couple of good anecdotes indicating how bad the economy really is. He talked about how a food bank in Indiana is advertising on TV, even though it is running out of food. This was very effective. He also gave a rather nuanced explanation of how government spending can break the economy out of a downward spiral in which low consumer demand causes businesses to fail, the businesses then cut jobs, which leads to lower demand etc etc. In a remark that would make Reagan jump in his grave, Obama essentially said that at this moment, government is the only entity that can save the economy from catastrophe.
This sort of explanation, I think, is necessary, since a couple of recent polls have shown that the general public still regards tax decreases as a better stimulus. (Side note: He should have tested the explanation out on new RNC chairman Michale Steele, who ridiculously said that government has never created a single job..this is from a guy who was on government payroll for four years). I think Obama could have been more effective in making the case, however. I know this is getting nit-picky, but he loses touch a bit when his talk becomes more wonky and therefore more difficult to relate to.
He answered the questions quite well, I thought. There were a couple about the lack of bipartisanship, to which Obama calmly reminded the assembled reporters of his numerous outreach efforts to Republican members of the House and the Senate, and implicitly chastised the right-wing ideology that these people espouse. A few questions related to foreign policy, which I think was strange, considering that the press conference was called for the express purpose of discussing the stimulus. Of course, someone had to ask about A-Rod, wasting the country's time. I think the press conference was an overall success, because he effectively explained why the economy needs immediate action, and why doing nothing would be so disastrous. Look for excessive Republican criticism in the coming days of Obama breaking his promise of bipartisanship, but it was only a matter of time before Obama fought back against his Republican critic.
CONGRESS TOMORROW: The House is in a holding pattern as it waits to get into conference on the stimulus bill. It held no votes today. Tomorrow, the House will take up some non-controversial bills under suspension of the rules, and then will vote on a procedural measure related to the stimulus called a "motion to construct conferees." Usually, these are votes that bind the conferees to insist on certain parts of the House-passed package and not adopt certain components of the Senate package. I'm not sure what the motion will consist of in tomorrow's case. I don't even know who has offered the motion, but I will, of course, keep you posted.
Then, the House will vote on what's called a "Privileged Resolution." These resolutions take precedence over all House business and deal with matters that affect the safety and integrity of the House. This resolution was introduced by Rep. John Carter of Texas (a Republican), and it states that New York Rep. Charlie Rangel, the chairman of the Ways and Means committee, has dishonored the House and should give up his chairmanship. This all stems from allegations that Rep. Rangel owes a lot of money in taxes on unreported income on various shady deals. I'm not going to defend Rangel, because the evidence against him is pretty bad, but it seems like a waste of time to being this resolution up for a vote. A privileged resolution is subject to one hour of debate unless someone offers a motion to table (kill) it. A Democrat has offered that motion, so the House will vote on whether to set aside this resolution and focus on something more pressing, like say, the economy.
The Senate, after finishing up their version of the stimulus bill, take up some nominations in the afternoon, including controversial Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn, who is a former lobbyist. He'll probably pass with 60-70 votes or so. There could be some other votes. We'll let you know.
OBAMA TOMORROW: The President heads to Fort Myers, Florida tomorrow to hold another town hall meeting about the stimulus. Joining Obama will be Republican Governor Charlie Crist, who has broken with his party to support the recovery package. I think that Governor Crist is a rising star within the party. He certainly has conservative views, but he doesn't let his ideology get in the way of desperately needed help for his constituents. He exhibited this same decency last year when he extended voting hours in some of Florida's poorest precincts, even though he knew it would cost his party votes. Of course, this sensitivity to people over the ideological dogma of his party just might ruin his chances at the GOP nomination in 2012. If he somehow did get the nomination, he would be a very formidable candidate.
Over the next day or so, we'll start to see what effect this public campaign will have on the views of the electorate, and if it helps Obama:
1. Win some battles in the House-Senate conference
2. Get the final bill by the weekend.
It will be an exciting week, so stay here with The Daily Strike for all of your political needs.
SENATE VOTE: First things first, how is this bill doing as it meanders through Congress? Today, the Senate voted to cut off debate on the stimulus bill by a vote of 61-36 (if it weren't for Senator John Cornyn's (R-TX) absurd decision to skip the vote to attend a New York fundraiser, I would have predicted it exactly right!) As expected, three Republicans voted for the bill, Senators Snowe and Collins of Maine, and Senator Specter of Pennsylvania. It's not easy being a dissenting Republican when you have the talk radio echo chamber on your case. Senator Specter even had to tell conservative radio host Laura Ingraham to cool it today when she was pressing him on his vote.
Next up, the Senate votes on whether to waive the budget rules on the Collins-Nelson amendment (which is now the underlying bill). This vote, as I mentioned in the last post, will require a 60 vote super majority. I expect the result to be exactly the same as today's, except that maybe cowboy Cornyn will show up this time. We'll keep tabs on when the House-Senate conference convenes, and will provide coverage of what happens in these meetings (from the little of these meetings that become publicly available).
OBAMA BACK ON THE TRAIL: Obama had two very important public appearances today. The first was a town hall meeting in Elkhart, IN. The meeting was not censored like the Bush town-halls, and many of the questions were quite pointed. Obama was introduced by a man who had been laid off by the RV plant he used to work out. He talked about how the stimulus bill will help him survive by enabling him to continue to collect unemployment insurance while he looks for a new job. This was very powerful, and I think representative of the strategy Obama frankly should have applied more forcefully: make the stimulus real in terms of how it affects average people's lives. The questions varied from those discussing alternative energy, one talking about whether money will flow to states or localities, and the obligatory cute kid who asked "what will you do for our schools?" The two most interesting questions:
1. This one guy got off to a great start, talking about how the previous 8 years have been misguided by a trickle-down economic philosophy, but then ended up with a disappointing finish of "why don't you just give us all a check?"
2. This one brave woman identified herself as someone who thinks Obama should have a beer with Sean Hannity and asked about the hypocrisy of the tax issues surrounding his nominees. Obama handled the question well by joking about Hannity's dislike of him, and then called the women's questions about his nominees "legitimate."
The main event was tonight's press conference in the East Room of the White House. The President took a very serious and somber tone in discussing, in very real terms, the impact of the economic crisis. In his opening remarks, he gave a couple of good anecdotes indicating how bad the economy really is. He talked about how a food bank in Indiana is advertising on TV, even though it is running out of food. This was very effective. He also gave a rather nuanced explanation of how government spending can break the economy out of a downward spiral in which low consumer demand causes businesses to fail, the businesses then cut jobs, which leads to lower demand etc etc. In a remark that would make Reagan jump in his grave, Obama essentially said that at this moment, government is the only entity that can save the economy from catastrophe.
This sort of explanation, I think, is necessary, since a couple of recent polls have shown that the general public still regards tax decreases as a better stimulus. (Side note: He should have tested the explanation out on new RNC chairman Michale Steele, who ridiculously said that government has never created a single job..this is from a guy who was on government payroll for four years). I think Obama could have been more effective in making the case, however. I know this is getting nit-picky, but he loses touch a bit when his talk becomes more wonky and therefore more difficult to relate to.
He answered the questions quite well, I thought. There were a couple about the lack of bipartisanship, to which Obama calmly reminded the assembled reporters of his numerous outreach efforts to Republican members of the House and the Senate, and implicitly chastised the right-wing ideology that these people espouse. A few questions related to foreign policy, which I think was strange, considering that the press conference was called for the express purpose of discussing the stimulus. Of course, someone had to ask about A-Rod, wasting the country's time. I think the press conference was an overall success, because he effectively explained why the economy needs immediate action, and why doing nothing would be so disastrous. Look for excessive Republican criticism in the coming days of Obama breaking his promise of bipartisanship, but it was only a matter of time before Obama fought back against his Republican critic.
CONGRESS TOMORROW: The House is in a holding pattern as it waits to get into conference on the stimulus bill. It held no votes today. Tomorrow, the House will take up some non-controversial bills under suspension of the rules, and then will vote on a procedural measure related to the stimulus called a "motion to construct conferees." Usually, these are votes that bind the conferees to insist on certain parts of the House-passed package and not adopt certain components of the Senate package. I'm not sure what the motion will consist of in tomorrow's case. I don't even know who has offered the motion, but I will, of course, keep you posted.
Then, the House will vote on what's called a "Privileged Resolution." These resolutions take precedence over all House business and deal with matters that affect the safety and integrity of the House. This resolution was introduced by Rep. John Carter of Texas (a Republican), and it states that New York Rep. Charlie Rangel, the chairman of the Ways and Means committee, has dishonored the House and should give up his chairmanship. This all stems from allegations that Rep. Rangel owes a lot of money in taxes on unreported income on various shady deals. I'm not going to defend Rangel, because the evidence against him is pretty bad, but it seems like a waste of time to being this resolution up for a vote. A privileged resolution is subject to one hour of debate unless someone offers a motion to table (kill) it. A Democrat has offered that motion, so the House will vote on whether to set aside this resolution and focus on something more pressing, like say, the economy.
The Senate, after finishing up their version of the stimulus bill, take up some nominations in the afternoon, including controversial Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn, who is a former lobbyist. He'll probably pass with 60-70 votes or so. There could be some other votes. We'll let you know.
OBAMA TOMORROW: The President heads to Fort Myers, Florida tomorrow to hold another town hall meeting about the stimulus. Joining Obama will be Republican Governor Charlie Crist, who has broken with his party to support the recovery package. I think that Governor Crist is a rising star within the party. He certainly has conservative views, but he doesn't let his ideology get in the way of desperately needed help for his constituents. He exhibited this same decency last year when he extended voting hours in some of Florida's poorest precincts, even though he knew it would cost his party votes. Of course, this sensitivity to people over the ideological dogma of his party just might ruin his chances at the GOP nomination in 2012. If he somehow did get the nomination, he would be a very formidable candidate.
Over the next day or so, we'll start to see what effect this public campaign will have on the views of the electorate, and if it helps Obama:
1. Win some battles in the House-Senate conference
2. Get the final bill by the weekend.
It will be an exciting week, so stay here with The Daily Strike for all of your political needs.
Monday, January 26, 2009
The Weekly Strike-1/26 to 2/1
Good Monday morning and welcome to the Weekly Strike, where I'll give you the rundown of what to expect this week in politics.
BIG VOTES: This week, there will be some very key votes in both the House and Senate. Tonight the Senate votes on the confirmation of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner at 6pm. This will follow the swearing-in of New York's newest Senator, Kirsten Gillibrand. (EDIT-THIS WILL ACTUALLY BE TOMORROW) Analysis of the Roll Call will be available here tonight. I expect him to pass relatively easily. He got a few no-votes in the committee due to his tax problems, and I expect those votes to transfer to the full Senate. I would guess he gets about 70-75 votes and will take office tomorrow. The Senate then moves to consider the SCHIP (State Children's Health Insurance Program) bill. This is a bill to expand a popular state sponsored health insurance program for children whose parents make too much to be covered by Medicaid. Congress twice passed versions of it in the previous Congress, and President Bush twice vetoed it. The latest version passed the House a couple of weeks ago by a strong majority. I expect that the Senate will follow suit, although some of the Republicans who supported it in the past have some objections to language allowing children of legal immigrants to covered immediately. Majority Leader Reid is open to Republican amendments, so I expect the Senate version to come out slightly different from the House version, meaning it will be a little while before this ends up on President Obama's desk for a signature. Either way, passage would be a huge accomplishment for the Democrats and an early victory for the President. A final vote on the bill probably won't happen until tomorrow or Wednesday.
Meanwhile, in the House, nothing important today (some Suspension Bills...definition to come). Tomorrow, the House will vote on the Senate version of the Lilly Ledbetter Bill, a bill which makes it easier for people to sue their previous employer for wage discrimination. The bill reverses a Supreme Court decision handed down last year. The bill's passage is a formality. The original bill passed the House in early January. The Senate altered it a bit, and passed it's own version last week, and that version now goes back to the House, and most likely, on to the President, who will have his first big legislative accomplishment.
The Super Bowl of votes will happen on Wednesday when the House takes up the first version of the economic stimulus bill, in what will be a huge test for the new President. I expect most Democrats to support it (you haven't heard much grumbling amont Democrats on this bill for a week or two) and most Republicans to oppose it, meaning it will pass with 240-260 votes if I had to guess. It will be interesting to note the crossover votes and I will make sure I do that on Wednesday night. Prior to the vote on final passage, there will most likely be a Republican motion to recommit the bill (definition coming!!), meaning they will offer their alternative, which will most likely be rejected loosely on party lines. I expect some more conservative Democrats will vote for their alternative, since it is probably more geared toward marginal income tax cuts and corporate tax cuts. Shall we say 190-200 votes? The Republicans will hold their policy retreat Thursday and Friday, so Congress will have a four day weekend to digest the stimulus vote.
THE WHITE HOUSE: Today, the White House is expected to announce new rules permitting states to set their own targets for emission standards. This represents a sharp break from the Bush administration which denied waivers to states looking to lower greenhouse gasses. This is another chance for Obama to use Executive Orders to establish some early victories. The announcement comes this morning.
Tomorrow, he heads to Capital Hill to meet with House Republicans on the stimulus. This seems like a meeting to show off his bipartisan credentials. Don't expect him to make any major concessions in the bill to the diminished House minority.
The rest of the week will probably be a giant sales pitch for the stimulus package, and we'll keep you posted on that.
NOMINATION UPDATE: All cabinet nominees are confirmed except for:
-Geithner, who should be confirmed today
-Eric Holder, Attorney General, whose committee vote was stalled last week by Senate Republicans. He will be voted on in committee most likely this Wednesday.
-Hilda Solis, Labor. Republicans are holding up her nomination to get more information on her stance on the Employee Free Choice Act, which she supports. They want her to be on record supporting it before they vote on her nomination.
-Tom Daschle, Health and Human Services...What's the holdup here? I have no idea. Maybe something to do with his wife's lobbying? We'll keep you posted.
EDIT-U.S. Trade Rep nominee Ron Kirk still has to be confirmed, as does the yet-to-be-named Commerce Secretary.
There's also the question of undersecretaries, the most notable being William Lynn at Defense, who has been under fire for lobbying on behalf of Raytheon. He will probably be confirmed, but the Ranking Republican on the Armed Services committee happens to be John McCain, so there could be some interesting confrontation there.
BIG VOTES: This week, there will be some very key votes in both the House and Senate. Tonight the Senate votes on the confirmation of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner at 6pm. This will follow the swearing-in of New York's newest Senator, Kirsten Gillibrand. (EDIT-THIS WILL ACTUALLY BE TOMORROW) Analysis of the Roll Call will be available here tonight. I expect him to pass relatively easily. He got a few no-votes in the committee due to his tax problems, and I expect those votes to transfer to the full Senate. I would guess he gets about 70-75 votes and will take office tomorrow. The Senate then moves to consider the SCHIP (State Children's Health Insurance Program) bill. This is a bill to expand a popular state sponsored health insurance program for children whose parents make too much to be covered by Medicaid. Congress twice passed versions of it in the previous Congress, and President Bush twice vetoed it. The latest version passed the House a couple of weeks ago by a strong majority. I expect that the Senate will follow suit, although some of the Republicans who supported it in the past have some objections to language allowing children of legal immigrants to covered immediately. Majority Leader Reid is open to Republican amendments, so I expect the Senate version to come out slightly different from the House version, meaning it will be a little while before this ends up on President Obama's desk for a signature. Either way, passage would be a huge accomplishment for the Democrats and an early victory for the President. A final vote on the bill probably won't happen until tomorrow or Wednesday.
Meanwhile, in the House, nothing important today (some Suspension Bills...definition to come). Tomorrow, the House will vote on the Senate version of the Lilly Ledbetter Bill, a bill which makes it easier for people to sue their previous employer for wage discrimination. The bill reverses a Supreme Court decision handed down last year. The bill's passage is a formality. The original bill passed the House in early January. The Senate altered it a bit, and passed it's own version last week, and that version now goes back to the House, and most likely, on to the President, who will have his first big legislative accomplishment.
The Super Bowl of votes will happen on Wednesday when the House takes up the first version of the economic stimulus bill, in what will be a huge test for the new President. I expect most Democrats to support it (you haven't heard much grumbling amont Democrats on this bill for a week or two) and most Republicans to oppose it, meaning it will pass with 240-260 votes if I had to guess. It will be interesting to note the crossover votes and I will make sure I do that on Wednesday night. Prior to the vote on final passage, there will most likely be a Republican motion to recommit the bill (definition coming!!), meaning they will offer their alternative, which will most likely be rejected loosely on party lines. I expect some more conservative Democrats will vote for their alternative, since it is probably more geared toward marginal income tax cuts and corporate tax cuts. Shall we say 190-200 votes? The Republicans will hold their policy retreat Thursday and Friday, so Congress will have a four day weekend to digest the stimulus vote.
THE WHITE HOUSE: Today, the White House is expected to announce new rules permitting states to set their own targets for emission standards. This represents a sharp break from the Bush administration which denied waivers to states looking to lower greenhouse gasses. This is another chance for Obama to use Executive Orders to establish some early victories. The announcement comes this morning.
Tomorrow, he heads to Capital Hill to meet with House Republicans on the stimulus. This seems like a meeting to show off his bipartisan credentials. Don't expect him to make any major concessions in the bill to the diminished House minority.
The rest of the week will probably be a giant sales pitch for the stimulus package, and we'll keep you posted on that.
NOMINATION UPDATE: All cabinet nominees are confirmed except for:
-Geithner, who should be confirmed today
-Eric Holder, Attorney General, whose committee vote was stalled last week by Senate Republicans. He will be voted on in committee most likely this Wednesday.
-Hilda Solis, Labor. Republicans are holding up her nomination to get more information on her stance on the Employee Free Choice Act, which she supports. They want her to be on record supporting it before they vote on her nomination.
-Tom Daschle, Health and Human Services...What's the holdup here? I have no idea. Maybe something to do with his wife's lobbying? We'll keep you posted.
EDIT-U.S. Trade Rep nominee Ron Kirk still has to be confirmed, as does the yet-to-be-named Commerce Secretary.
There's also the question of undersecretaries, the most notable being William Lynn at Defense, who has been under fire for lobbying on behalf of Raytheon. He will probably be confirmed, but the Ranking Republican on the Armed Services committee happens to be John McCain, so there could be some interesting confrontation there.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
The Daily Strike-1/25/09-Vocab Word I
Sunday's are usually slow in politics, so today's Daily Strike will be the first in a series of vocabulary lessons that can help us understand the ins and outs of Congress. Today's term is "Special Rule." When the House of Representatives considers a bill, it first must pass a rule that governs debate. The rule originates in the Rules Committee, which is an arm of the Majority leadership. The current chairwoman is Louise Slaughter of New York, and the ranking Republican is David Dreier of California (you'll frequently see him debating the rules and complaining about how the minority has been shut out of the legislative process). The Rules Committee customarily is heavily weighted in the majority's favor. There are three types of rules that govern debate. An open rule allows for any member to offer amendments. This is pretty unusual, because you don't want your members to have to take tough votes on amendments proposed by the other side. A modified open rule allows amendments predetermined by the rules committee. A closed rule allows no amendments. Most bills these days are considered under closed rules, which the minority party often complains about. The rule must be voted upon before debate can officially begin on a bill. The vote on the rule usually is along party lines. Why is this important? The rules committee can help the majority achieve its will by limiting the minority's power to affect legislation.
Elsewhere today:
-Not much news coming from the Sunday talk-shows, except that John McCain claims he will not support the stimulus bill in its current form. This is not surprising, although it could be a sign that McCain's renewed maverick streak is coming to a close.
-The Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, talked about the appointment of Gillibrand, saying that her one concern was that the Democrats may lose her House seat. This concern, of course, is very valid. There were rumors that Gillibrand and Pelosi had a less than harmoneous relationship, but both vehemently deny any tension.
Stay tuned tomorrow for the Weekly Strike, an overview of the coming week in Congress, and tomorrow's Daily Strike.
Elsewhere today:
-Not much news coming from the Sunday talk-shows, except that John McCain claims he will not support the stimulus bill in its current form. This is not surprising, although it could be a sign that McCain's renewed maverick streak is coming to a close.
-The Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, talked about the appointment of Gillibrand, saying that her one concern was that the Democrats may lose her House seat. This concern, of course, is very valid. There were rumors that Gillibrand and Pelosi had a less than harmoneous relationship, but both vehemently deny any tension.
Stay tuned tomorrow for the Weekly Strike, an overview of the coming week in Congress, and tomorrow's Daily Strike.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
20th Congressional District
I'm quite proud of the selection of Kirsten Gillibrand to be the next Senator from New York. I was a resident of her district in college and was able to meet her a couple of times. Her selection does set up a bit of a battle in her relatively conservative upstate NY district. A lot of people have talked about how this seat has a Republican lean, but due to the diligence of the folks at www.swingstateproject.com, we now know that Obama narrowly won the district in 2008. Bush had won by 8 points in 2004. The real problem for the Democrats is that they have a very narrow bench. Their best option seems to be a series of county chairmen, unless former New York Rangers goalie Mike Richter were to run. The Republicans have some appealing candidates, like Assemblyman James Tedisco, who is the affable minority leader of the state assembly. There's also John Faso, who lost to Eliot Spitzer in the 2006 Governor's race, and Sandy Treadwell, who lost to Gillibrand last time around. The election will be held within 30 to 40 days after Governor David Paterson calls for it, which could be awhile, since he may want to give the Democrats maximum time to find a good candidate.
Currently, with Gillibrand set to resign the House, the Democrats' advantage stands at 255-178. If Hilda Solis is confirmed as Labor Secretary, the advantage will be 254-178.
Currently, with Gillibrand set to resign the House, the Democrats' advantage stands at 255-178. If Hilda Solis is confirmed as Labor Secretary, the advantage will be 254-178.
Welcome
Welcome to my new blog! The idea is to filter what happens in Congress to my friends and other people who might see this, so they can track the progress of the Obama administration without having to know all of the arcane procedural rules of Congress. When Congress is in session, I will write a post at the end of the day to update what bills have passed, to analyze the bills and who voted for them, and to discuss what political impact they'll have. I will also occasionally provide some useless information on Congressional procedure. I hope you enjoy!
UPDATE: I forgot to mention that the title of the blog is a parliamentary technique in the House of Representatives to extend the debate on an amendment. When the House is in the Committee of the Whole (I'll explain later), amendments are only debating for five minutes on each side, unless you offer an amendment to the amendment. If you don't actually want to offer a new amendment, but you still want to debate, you can ask to "strike the last word" as a pro forma amendment. This means that you are amending the amendment by eliminating the last word. In reality, the chair assumes that the person offering this "amendment" is really just doing it for more debate time, and won't actually do anything about striking the last word.
UPDATE: I forgot to mention that the title of the blog is a parliamentary technique in the House of Representatives to extend the debate on an amendment. When the House is in the Committee of the Whole (I'll explain later), amendments are only debating for five minutes on each side, unless you offer an amendment to the amendment. If you don't actually want to offer a new amendment, but you still want to debate, you can ask to "strike the last word" as a pro forma amendment. This means that you are amending the amendment by eliminating the last word. In reality, the chair assumes that the person offering this "amendment" is really just doing it for more debate time, and won't actually do anything about striking the last word.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
