Good evening and welcome to the Daily Strike. Not surprisingly, the last major bill in Obama's first term agenda looks to be dead. Let's get to the day in politics.
THE SENATE: The Shirley Sherrod story seemed to die down a bit today, so our focused turned back to the world of policy. Unfortunately, the news is not good. Majority Leader Harry Reid, along with climate bill author John Kerry, announced today that they do not have the votes to take up a comprehensive energy bill that places a price on carbon. This is something most of us have known for awhile. There is just not much popular support to address climate change right now. People are too focused on the bad economy to care about something that we can't feel immediately. That doesn't mean the problem is going away though, and the more we put off addressing it, the worse it's gonna get. I should also note the the fact that John McCain put a cap-and-trade bill as a major item on his Presidential campaign platform. Now, zero Republicans would support even a minor climate change bill. It's amazing what the raw calculations of politics will do to people.
Majority Leader Reid will instead bring up a small bill that addresses the oil spill, invests money in alternative energy, and "will ween us off of foreign oil." I have my doubts about even this tiny bill passing before the August recess. Of course, Senators would NEVER suspend their 5 week recess to work on this issue.
The Senate took two non-controversial votes today, one to recognize the 20th anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and another to endorse sanctions against the Burmese government. The first bill passed unanimously, while only Senator Enzi (R-WY) voted against the second. The Senate might take a few votes related to the small business lending bill this evening as well.
THE HOUSE: The House gave final approval to the unemployment insurance extension package by a vote of 272-152. 31 Republicans voted for the bill, while inexplicably 10 Democrats voted against it.
Speaking of these Democrats, allow me to rant for a second. Some of these so-called fiscally conservative Democrats are now calling for the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy to be extended. So much for their care about the ballooning deficit. It's all a giant sham. One Democrat, Rep. Connolly (VA), talked today about how the economy was too fragile to stop these tax cuts. That's in disagreement with this statement about unemployment benefits:
“We’re no longer in a recession; we’re in a recovery,” the Virginia Democrat said. “So now we do need to have a higher standard when we call for new spending. And that higher standard has to include, ‘What’s the offset?’”
Who said that? One Gerry Connolly, two weeks ago! Concern for the deficit apparently goes out the window if the benefits go to people who don't need them at all. The blatant hypocrisy just sickens me, and even worse, the media will still refer to these conservative Democrats as "deficit hawks."
Anyways, back to unemployment insurance. The President received the bill and signed it into law this evening. The 2.5 million Americans receiving unemployment benefits will get retroactive payments in the next couple of weeks.
The House also passed a bill today that reforms the national flood insurance program to cover multiperil situations.
That's it for tonight, we'll be back Monday!
Showing posts with label unemployment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label unemployment. Show all posts
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
The Daily Strike-7/21/10-Overshadowed
Good evening and welcome to the Daily Strike. Today was supposed to be a day of great pomp and circumstance for the President, but it didn't quite turn out that way. Let's get to the day in politics.
THE WHITE HOUSE: The White House was consumed today with the unfortunate story of Shirley Sherrod, which we addressed yesterday. After right-wing media nut Andrew Breitbart posted an out-of-context video of her at an NAACP conference, she was promptly let go by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The mainstream media, nor the administration, even considered vetting Breitbart's claim. Thankfully, the administration admitted its mistake today. Press Secretary Robert Gibbs apologized on behalf of the administration, and USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack offered Sherrod her job back. Understandably, after this display, Sherrod needs time to figure out whether she wants to return to her old job. I hope, for the country's sake, that she does. Sherrod is actually a hero. Her speech actually indicated a realization 24 years ago that the plight of the poor in this country was confined to one race, and this has guided her work as a public servant. CNN reports that Sherrod's father was killed by a member of the KKK, and was not prosecuted. Sherrod used that experience as an impetus to stay in the Deep South and work for social change, and that's exactly what she's done. It was truly a shameful display by Breitbart, the mainstream media, and the administration, and I hope it never happens again.
This news overshadowed what was supposed to be a rather historic day. President Obama signed the sweeping financial reform legislation into law today at a ceremony in Washington DC (ironically at the Ronald Reagan building). Obama was surrounded by the authors of the bill, Barney Frank (MA) and Chris Dodd (CT) as well as the Congressional leadership. The bill's signing is just the beginning, especially since the bill success depends on successful implementation. Hopefully, Obama will begin this implementation process by appointing Elizabeth Warren, who led the TARP investigation committee, as head of the new Consumer Protection Agency housed within the Federal Reserve.
This bill, in many ways, is an appropriate representation of this administration. A major policy accomplishment marred by disappointing compromises, and overshadowed by the still struggling economy.
THE SENATE: The Senate finally finished work on the unemployment insurance extension bill today. Republicans refused to hold an immediate vote, and instead insisted on voting on some political "gotcha" amendments. Let's run through them, because they give a good sense of where each Senator's priorities are.
1. The first amendment, offered by Senator Brown (MA), would have paid for the extension with unspent stimulus funds. Brown may not be smart enough to think about this, but we're pretty limited in the stimulus fund we have now. There is no good reason to take money away from job investment. The amendment failed 42-56. Democrats Lincoln (AR) and Nelson (NE) joined every Republican in support.
2. Next was an amendment from Senator Coburn (R-OK), that would have required all spending that violates PAYGO budgeting rules to be posted on a special website. I don't really have a problem with this, but like the 49 Democratic Senators who voted no on this amendment, I just don't trust Tom Coburn. Democratic Senators Feingold (WI), Hagan (NC), Klobuchar (MN), Lincoln (AR), Nelson (NE), Nelson (FL), Pryor (AR), Tester (MT) and Webb (VA) voted with the GOP.
3. A similar amendment that would require the federal government to post information on the federal debt, also from Senator Coburn, got 54 votes, but was 6 votes shy of the 67 needed to suspend the rules and consider the amendment.
4. The most important amendment, in my view, was offered by Senator DeMint (R-SC). His amendment would have permanently ended the estate tax, which only affects heirs to millionaires (2% of all estates), thus adding billions to the deficit. Amazingly, these self-proclaimed "deficit hawks" absolutely don't care about the deficit at all. They just don't want to spend money helping average Americans. They're perfectly ok protecting the country's richest families and passing the debt onto our children and grandchildren. Faux fiscal conservative Democrats Lincoln (AR) and Nelson (NE) voted for this abominable amendment along with 37 Republicans. Republicans Collins (ME), Snowe (ME) and Voinovich (OH) voted with 56 Democrats against the amendment. I hope the media takes notice whenever any of these Senators proclaim to be deficit hawks.
5. DeMint also sought to include an amendment that would bar the U.S. from challenging the Arizona immigration law in federal court. Thankfully, the amendment was defeated 43-55. Democratic immigration hawks Baucus (MT), Lincoln (AR), Nelson (NE), Pryor (AR), and Tester (MT) voted yes with most of the GOP. Republicans Johanns (NE...didn't see this one coming!) and Voinovich voted with the Democrats.
The bill finally passed this evening 59-39. Once again, Republicans Collins and Snowe (ME) joined the Democrats in voting yes, while Ben Nelson voted no with the Republicans. Senators Bayh (IN) and Vitter (LA) did not vote. The bill goes back to the House tomorrow, where it will be rubber stamped and sent to President Obama for his signature later this week. When the bill is signed, it should take about two weeks for retroactive benefit checks to be sent to the unemployed.
THE HOUSE: The House passed a series of bills today under suspension of the rules as it waited the Senate to finish its work. One of the bills was to prevent interstate transport of animal crush videos, and yes, three Republicans voted against it.
That's it for tonight, we'll see you tomorrow.
THE WHITE HOUSE: The White House was consumed today with the unfortunate story of Shirley Sherrod, which we addressed yesterday. After right-wing media nut Andrew Breitbart posted an out-of-context video of her at an NAACP conference, she was promptly let go by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The mainstream media, nor the administration, even considered vetting Breitbart's claim. Thankfully, the administration admitted its mistake today. Press Secretary Robert Gibbs apologized on behalf of the administration, and USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack offered Sherrod her job back. Understandably, after this display, Sherrod needs time to figure out whether she wants to return to her old job. I hope, for the country's sake, that she does. Sherrod is actually a hero. Her speech actually indicated a realization 24 years ago that the plight of the poor in this country was confined to one race, and this has guided her work as a public servant. CNN reports that Sherrod's father was killed by a member of the KKK, and was not prosecuted. Sherrod used that experience as an impetus to stay in the Deep South and work for social change, and that's exactly what she's done. It was truly a shameful display by Breitbart, the mainstream media, and the administration, and I hope it never happens again.
This news overshadowed what was supposed to be a rather historic day. President Obama signed the sweeping financial reform legislation into law today at a ceremony in Washington DC (ironically at the Ronald Reagan building). Obama was surrounded by the authors of the bill, Barney Frank (MA) and Chris Dodd (CT) as well as the Congressional leadership. The bill's signing is just the beginning, especially since the bill success depends on successful implementation. Hopefully, Obama will begin this implementation process by appointing Elizabeth Warren, who led the TARP investigation committee, as head of the new Consumer Protection Agency housed within the Federal Reserve.
This bill, in many ways, is an appropriate representation of this administration. A major policy accomplishment marred by disappointing compromises, and overshadowed by the still struggling economy.
THE SENATE: The Senate finally finished work on the unemployment insurance extension bill today. Republicans refused to hold an immediate vote, and instead insisted on voting on some political "gotcha" amendments. Let's run through them, because they give a good sense of where each Senator's priorities are.
1. The first amendment, offered by Senator Brown (MA), would have paid for the extension with unspent stimulus funds. Brown may not be smart enough to think about this, but we're pretty limited in the stimulus fund we have now. There is no good reason to take money away from job investment. The amendment failed 42-56. Democrats Lincoln (AR) and Nelson (NE) joined every Republican in support.
2. Next was an amendment from Senator Coburn (R-OK), that would have required all spending that violates PAYGO budgeting rules to be posted on a special website. I don't really have a problem with this, but like the 49 Democratic Senators who voted no on this amendment, I just don't trust Tom Coburn. Democratic Senators Feingold (WI), Hagan (NC), Klobuchar (MN), Lincoln (AR), Nelson (NE), Nelson (FL), Pryor (AR), Tester (MT) and Webb (VA) voted with the GOP.
3. A similar amendment that would require the federal government to post information on the federal debt, also from Senator Coburn, got 54 votes, but was 6 votes shy of the 67 needed to suspend the rules and consider the amendment.
4. The most important amendment, in my view, was offered by Senator DeMint (R-SC). His amendment would have permanently ended the estate tax, which only affects heirs to millionaires (2% of all estates), thus adding billions to the deficit. Amazingly, these self-proclaimed "deficit hawks" absolutely don't care about the deficit at all. They just don't want to spend money helping average Americans. They're perfectly ok protecting the country's richest families and passing the debt onto our children and grandchildren. Faux fiscal conservative Democrats Lincoln (AR) and Nelson (NE) voted for this abominable amendment along with 37 Republicans. Republicans Collins (ME), Snowe (ME) and Voinovich (OH) voted with 56 Democrats against the amendment. I hope the media takes notice whenever any of these Senators proclaim to be deficit hawks.
5. DeMint also sought to include an amendment that would bar the U.S. from challenging the Arizona immigration law in federal court. Thankfully, the amendment was defeated 43-55. Democratic immigration hawks Baucus (MT), Lincoln (AR), Nelson (NE), Pryor (AR), and Tester (MT) voted yes with most of the GOP. Republicans Johanns (NE...didn't see this one coming!) and Voinovich voted with the Democrats.
The bill finally passed this evening 59-39. Once again, Republicans Collins and Snowe (ME) joined the Democrats in voting yes, while Ben Nelson voted no with the Republicans. Senators Bayh (IN) and Vitter (LA) did not vote. The bill goes back to the House tomorrow, where it will be rubber stamped and sent to President Obama for his signature later this week. When the bill is signed, it should take about two weeks for retroactive benefit checks to be sent to the unemployed.
THE HOUSE: The House passed a series of bills today under suspension of the rules as it waited the Senate to finish its work. One of the bills was to prevent interstate transport of animal crush videos, and yes, three Republicans voted against it.
That's it for tonight, we'll see you tomorrow.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
The Daily Strike-7/20/10-Relief, At Last
Good evening and welcome to the Daily Strike. It was another busy July day in politics, so let's get to it.
THE SENATE: Thanks to the newest Senator, Carte Goodwin of West Virginia (D), the Senate was finally able to break a logjam on the unemployment extension bill. As a result, suffering American families will finally get some much-needed relief. Goodwin joined 57 other Democrats, as well as Republicans Snowe and Collins of Maine to cut off debate on the bill. Democrat Ben Nelson (NE) and every other Republican refused to spend $34 billion to give much needed assistance to those who have borne the brunt of the very recession caused by Republican economic policies.
The vote on the bill itself will come tomorrow, though it is certain to pass, since cloture has already been invoked. The bill will then head to the House where it will be rubber stamped Thursday and sent to the President for his signature.
The bill would have passed anyway, but the President's pushback against Republican obstruction on this bill was wise and helpful. Those who think it's ok to balloon the deficit by giving tax breaks to the rich while refusing to vote for a minor bill that would help struggling Americans need to be called out.
The Senate will move next to the long-stalled small business loan bill. Democrats should force Republicans to explain why they are holding this bill up.
Away from the floor, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved the nomination of Elena Kagan to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court by a vote of 13-6. Every Democrat on the committee supported her nomination, including some who were less than impressed with her confirmation hearings. The only Republican on the committee to support the nomination was Lindsey Graham (SC), who also supported Sonia Sotomayor last year. Graham's support all but assures Kagan's nomination when she comes to the Senate floor in a couple of weeks. My guess is that she'll get about 69 votes, the same amount Sotomayor received last summer.
THE WHITE HOUSE: The President today met and held a joint press availability with new British Prime Minister David Cameron. This was Cameron's first trip to the White House as Prime Minister. The two leaders played nice, emphasizing their agreement on economic policy, climate change, Afghanistan, and Israel. The biggest point of contention, apparently, was Cameron's discomfort with Obama's excessive criticism of BP. BP, of course, is a major British corporation. I have very little sympathy for Cameron's view in this case. Cameron and Obama also disagreed as to whether there should be an investigation into BP's possible involvement in the release of the Lockerbie bomber last year.
I've always thought that even though Cameron is a conservative, he and Obama are actually pretty similar ideologically. I expect that they'll continue to have a good working relationship.
The biggest story from the White House today though involved a former USDA employee. The employee, an African American Woman, made a speech at the NAACP in which she talked about being resistant to helping white farmers 24 years ago when her career began in Georgia. Conservative media mogul Andrew Breitbart showed the video completely out of context to make it seem like the employee, Shirley Sherrod, still held those views currently.
Sherrod was forced to resign, under pressure from USDA head Tom Vilsack, with support from the White House. This is a complete shame. The White House should not be taking cues from Andrew Breitbart, a known liar. Sherrod should be reinstated immediately.
That's it for this evening, see you tomorrow!
THE SENATE: Thanks to the newest Senator, Carte Goodwin of West Virginia (D), the Senate was finally able to break a logjam on the unemployment extension bill. As a result, suffering American families will finally get some much-needed relief. Goodwin joined 57 other Democrats, as well as Republicans Snowe and Collins of Maine to cut off debate on the bill. Democrat Ben Nelson (NE) and every other Republican refused to spend $34 billion to give much needed assistance to those who have borne the brunt of the very recession caused by Republican economic policies.
The vote on the bill itself will come tomorrow, though it is certain to pass, since cloture has already been invoked. The bill will then head to the House where it will be rubber stamped Thursday and sent to the President for his signature.
The bill would have passed anyway, but the President's pushback against Republican obstruction on this bill was wise and helpful. Those who think it's ok to balloon the deficit by giving tax breaks to the rich while refusing to vote for a minor bill that would help struggling Americans need to be called out.
The Senate will move next to the long-stalled small business loan bill. Democrats should force Republicans to explain why they are holding this bill up.
Away from the floor, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved the nomination of Elena Kagan to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court by a vote of 13-6. Every Democrat on the committee supported her nomination, including some who were less than impressed with her confirmation hearings. The only Republican on the committee to support the nomination was Lindsey Graham (SC), who also supported Sonia Sotomayor last year. Graham's support all but assures Kagan's nomination when she comes to the Senate floor in a couple of weeks. My guess is that she'll get about 69 votes, the same amount Sotomayor received last summer.
THE WHITE HOUSE: The President today met and held a joint press availability with new British Prime Minister David Cameron. This was Cameron's first trip to the White House as Prime Minister. The two leaders played nice, emphasizing their agreement on economic policy, climate change, Afghanistan, and Israel. The biggest point of contention, apparently, was Cameron's discomfort with Obama's excessive criticism of BP. BP, of course, is a major British corporation. I have very little sympathy for Cameron's view in this case. Cameron and Obama also disagreed as to whether there should be an investigation into BP's possible involvement in the release of the Lockerbie bomber last year.
I've always thought that even though Cameron is a conservative, he and Obama are actually pretty similar ideologically. I expect that they'll continue to have a good working relationship.
The biggest story from the White House today though involved a former USDA employee. The employee, an African American Woman, made a speech at the NAACP in which she talked about being resistant to helping white farmers 24 years ago when her career began in Georgia. Conservative media mogul Andrew Breitbart showed the video completely out of context to make it seem like the employee, Shirley Sherrod, still held those views currently.
Sherrod was forced to resign, under pressure from USDA head Tom Vilsack, with support from the White House. This is a complete shame. The White House should not be taking cues from Andrew Breitbart, a known liar. Sherrod should be reinstated immediately.
That's it for this evening, see you tomorrow!
Monday, July 19, 2010
The Daily Strike-7/19/10-Real People
Good evening and welcome to the Daily Strike. Make sure you're all caught up in the week in politics by reading our Weekly Strike. Tonight's entry will be a quick one.
UNEMPLOYMENT: For a long time here at the Strike, we've lamented the fact that President Obama hasn't been able to make his message relatable to average voters. His speeches have often come across as professorial and abstract. We've also lamented his lack of focus and resolve on the issue of unemployment, which is the largest issue facing his Presidency. Today, he took a bold step at alleviating our concerns. In a morning address from the White House Rose Garden, the President lambasted the Republicans for blocking an extension of unemployment benefits. Instead of rattling off a series of numbers, he brought in real Americans who have been hurt by the Republicans' obstruction. Behind every political battle are people whose livelihoods, and often survival, are dependent on government action. Oftentimes we forget that, and seem to act like it's all just a game. Republicans certainly have done that these past few weeks. In an attempt to slow down the Democratic agenda and prove their faux deficit hawk bonfides, they have caused men and women to suffer immensely. Finally, President Obama conveyed that message forcefully to the American people. I thought it was very well done, and I hope it continues.
I also hope this effort doesn't come too late. The President has failed to create a compelling narrative for his economic policies, and people seem prone to blame the party in power for everything that's continuing to go wrong with the economy. For that reason, the fundamentals of the fall campaign seem pretty set. But at the very least, Obama is starting to make Republican obstruction feel real to the American people.
WEST VIRGINIA: It looks like we'll have another Senate election this year afterall. The West Virginia legislature approved a bill late tonight that will provide for a November election for the remaining two years of Senator Robert Byrd's term. The interim Senator, Carte Goodwin, will not run for reelection. The obvious Democratic candidate is Governor Joe Manchin, and since he was such a big part in calling for an election, I expect him to enter the race. The best Republican out there is Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, though she is somewhat less well known than the popular Manchin. Early polls have shown Manchin winning a hypothetical match up pretty handily, though West Virginia is an increasingly conservative state, so I wouldn't consider the seat safe for the Democrats by any means. I'll rate it as Lean Democratic.
That's it for tonight. See you tomorrow!
UNEMPLOYMENT: For a long time here at the Strike, we've lamented the fact that President Obama hasn't been able to make his message relatable to average voters. His speeches have often come across as professorial and abstract. We've also lamented his lack of focus and resolve on the issue of unemployment, which is the largest issue facing his Presidency. Today, he took a bold step at alleviating our concerns. In a morning address from the White House Rose Garden, the President lambasted the Republicans for blocking an extension of unemployment benefits. Instead of rattling off a series of numbers, he brought in real Americans who have been hurt by the Republicans' obstruction. Behind every political battle are people whose livelihoods, and often survival, are dependent on government action. Oftentimes we forget that, and seem to act like it's all just a game. Republicans certainly have done that these past few weeks. In an attempt to slow down the Democratic agenda and prove their faux deficit hawk bonfides, they have caused men and women to suffer immensely. Finally, President Obama conveyed that message forcefully to the American people. I thought it was very well done, and I hope it continues.
I also hope this effort doesn't come too late. The President has failed to create a compelling narrative for his economic policies, and people seem prone to blame the party in power for everything that's continuing to go wrong with the economy. For that reason, the fundamentals of the fall campaign seem pretty set. But at the very least, Obama is starting to make Republican obstruction feel real to the American people.
WEST VIRGINIA: It looks like we'll have another Senate election this year afterall. The West Virginia legislature approved a bill late tonight that will provide for a November election for the remaining two years of Senator Robert Byrd's term. The interim Senator, Carte Goodwin, will not run for reelection. The obvious Democratic candidate is Governor Joe Manchin, and since he was such a big part in calling for an election, I expect him to enter the race. The best Republican out there is Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, though she is somewhat less well known than the popular Manchin. Early polls have shown Manchin winning a hypothetical match up pretty handily, though West Virginia is an increasingly conservative state, so I wouldn't consider the seat safe for the Democrats by any means. I'll rate it as Lean Democratic.
That's it for tonight. See you tomorrow!
The Weekly Strike-7/19-7/25
Good morning and welcome to the Weekly Strike. It promises to be a pretty busy week in politics, so let's get right to it.
THE SENATE: Even after the passage of landmark Wall Street Reform last week, most eyes will again be focused on the United States Senate. Tomorrow, the newest Senator, Carte Goodwin of West Virginia, will be sworn into office by Vice President Biden. Soon afterward, the Senate will vote on the long-stalled bill to extend unemployment benefits to those most hurt by the recession. Democrats should finally have the 60 votes necessary to advance the bill. If the Senate passes the House-passed bill unchanged, the President will sign it into law this week, and the benefits will go into effect retroactively.
The Senate will also try to finish a bill providing loans to small businesses, though Republicans have been successful so far in obstructing the bill's consideration.
Over in the committee realm, the Senate Judiciary panel will vote on the nomination of Elena Kagan to be a Supreme Court Justice. Since we've heard pretty much nothing on her nomination since her confirmation hearings a few weeks ago, I expect her to be confirmed quite easily. All 12 Democrats on the committee almost certainly will support her nomination (even former critic Arlen Specter has announced his support). Of the 7 Republicans on the committee, only Lindsay Graham (SC) might cross party lines on Kagan's behalf. A vote in the full Senate is expected during the first week in August.
Majority Leader Reid wants to bring two other important bills up before that time, though I'm certainly skeptical. One bill would be a scaled-down energy bill that focused on investments in clean energy paired with carbon pricing for the utilities sector. Republicans may vote to allow consideration of the bill just so they can highlight their opposition to it, but I don't see any Republicans crossing over to support the legislation during an election year. So far, Democrat Ben Nelson (NE) has already voiced his opposition. The newest West Virginia Senator didn't sound very enthusiastic about the bill either.
Democrats also hoped to move on the House-passed campaign finance bill (the DISCLOSE Act), but with moderate Republicans Brown (MA) and Snowe (ME) in opposition, the bill's chances are looking pretty dim. Thus, with financial reform complete, and the Senate still dealing with constant obstruction and stagnation, we may have seen the last of the major pieces of legislation in the 111th Congress.
THE HOUSE: The House has a much more quiet week, as they continue to await action from their Senate counterparts. After doing suspension bills today and tomorrow, the House will take up a bill that requires the national flood insurance program to enable the purchase of "multiperil" coverage. The House will also take up the unemployment bill if the Senate makes any changes to it.
THE WHITE HOUSE: The President will start the week with a well-timed push for the unemployment insurance extension. Apparently, he will (for the first time in recent memory) tell the stories of real Americans who have been hurt by the Republicans obstruction. He should have been doing this much earlier, so that he could create a narrative about the Republicans only looking out for their wealthy friends, while he is protecting the working man hurt by the recession. Anything he does now might be too late to make a difference in the mind of voters ahead of the election. The President will also meet today with former Senator and astronaut John Glenn (D-OH) to discuss space policy.
Later in the week, the President will sign the financial reform bill into law at a large White House signing ceremony. He also plans to visit Illinois to campaign for the Democrat running for Obama's old Senate seat.
That's it for now, see you this evening.
THE SENATE: Even after the passage of landmark Wall Street Reform last week, most eyes will again be focused on the United States Senate. Tomorrow, the newest Senator, Carte Goodwin of West Virginia, will be sworn into office by Vice President Biden. Soon afterward, the Senate will vote on the long-stalled bill to extend unemployment benefits to those most hurt by the recession. Democrats should finally have the 60 votes necessary to advance the bill. If the Senate passes the House-passed bill unchanged, the President will sign it into law this week, and the benefits will go into effect retroactively.
The Senate will also try to finish a bill providing loans to small businesses, though Republicans have been successful so far in obstructing the bill's consideration.
Over in the committee realm, the Senate Judiciary panel will vote on the nomination of Elena Kagan to be a Supreme Court Justice. Since we've heard pretty much nothing on her nomination since her confirmation hearings a few weeks ago, I expect her to be confirmed quite easily. All 12 Democrats on the committee almost certainly will support her nomination (even former critic Arlen Specter has announced his support). Of the 7 Republicans on the committee, only Lindsay Graham (SC) might cross party lines on Kagan's behalf. A vote in the full Senate is expected during the first week in August.
Majority Leader Reid wants to bring two other important bills up before that time, though I'm certainly skeptical. One bill would be a scaled-down energy bill that focused on investments in clean energy paired with carbon pricing for the utilities sector. Republicans may vote to allow consideration of the bill just so they can highlight their opposition to it, but I don't see any Republicans crossing over to support the legislation during an election year. So far, Democrat Ben Nelson (NE) has already voiced his opposition. The newest West Virginia Senator didn't sound very enthusiastic about the bill either.
Democrats also hoped to move on the House-passed campaign finance bill (the DISCLOSE Act), but with moderate Republicans Brown (MA) and Snowe (ME) in opposition, the bill's chances are looking pretty dim. Thus, with financial reform complete, and the Senate still dealing with constant obstruction and stagnation, we may have seen the last of the major pieces of legislation in the 111th Congress.
THE HOUSE: The House has a much more quiet week, as they continue to await action from their Senate counterparts. After doing suspension bills today and tomorrow, the House will take up a bill that requires the national flood insurance program to enable the purchase of "multiperil" coverage. The House will also take up the unemployment bill if the Senate makes any changes to it.
THE WHITE HOUSE: The President will start the week with a well-timed push for the unemployment insurance extension. Apparently, he will (for the first time in recent memory) tell the stories of real Americans who have been hurt by the Republicans obstruction. He should have been doing this much earlier, so that he could create a narrative about the Republicans only looking out for their wealthy friends, while he is protecting the working man hurt by the recession. Anything he does now might be too late to make a difference in the mind of voters ahead of the election. The President will also meet today with former Senator and astronaut John Glenn (D-OH) to discuss space policy.
Later in the week, the President will sign the financial reform bill into law at a large White House signing ceremony. He also plans to visit Illinois to campaign for the Democrat running for Obama's old Senate seat.
That's it for now, see you this evening.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
The Daily Strike-7/15/10-Check It Off The List
Good evening and welcome to the Daily Strike. This was probably the best day for President Obama in three months. He finally won approval of one of his major legislative priorities, and it appears that oil has finally stopped spilling into the gulf. So I'll try to not be as morbid as I was the past few days.
FINANCIAL REGULATIONS: The Senate today gave final approval to the most sweeping financial reforms since the Great Depression. The culmination of a year-long effort to help prevent another financial crisis is a major victory for President Obama, and cements the 111th Congress as one of the most productive in history, even despite the unprecedented GOP obstruction. In fact, unlike the health care bill, this piece of legislation strengthened over time, with the inclusion of strict derivatives regulation, and more authority for regulators to shut down the biggest banks. The reason that many liberals like myself aren't jumping for joy is that this doesn't signify a fundamental shift in the Obama presidency. Yes, he has accomplished a lot, but he has yet to settle on a compelling governing narrative that proves his devotion to the progressive cause. And most importantly, it's hard to celebrate anything when the jobs situation is as bad as it is.
The bill cleared three separate hurdles today. The vote to cut off debate was 60-38. As expected, Republican Brown (MA), Collins (ME) and Snowe (ME) voted yes, while Democrat Russ Feingold remained steadfast in his opposition from the left. Senator Crapo (ID) did not vote. On the two next votes, to waive Budget Act restrictions, and on final passage, the vote was 60-39, with Crapo (ID) present and voting no. The bill heads to President Obama's desk for his signature, which is expected to take place next week with much pomp and circumstance.
The Senate will swear in the new Democratic Senator from West Virginia when it reconvenes on Tuesday (we still don't know who that will be). Afterwards, they will vote to cut off debate on the unemployment extension bill, which is long overdue. Hopefully work on that bill can be completed by Wednesday, so that the Senate also has time to take up a Small Business Loan measure.
THE HOUSE: The House today passed a bill to reform the flood insurance program. It's about as simple as it sounds, really, though I don't know exactly what the reforms are. The bill passed by an overwhelming margin of 329-90. All opposition, save for Rep. Stupak (MI-remember him?) came from Republicans.
That's it for a short entry tonight. We'll be back on Monday morning.
FINANCIAL REGULATIONS: The Senate today gave final approval to the most sweeping financial reforms since the Great Depression. The culmination of a year-long effort to help prevent another financial crisis is a major victory for President Obama, and cements the 111th Congress as one of the most productive in history, even despite the unprecedented GOP obstruction. In fact, unlike the health care bill, this piece of legislation strengthened over time, with the inclusion of strict derivatives regulation, and more authority for regulators to shut down the biggest banks. The reason that many liberals like myself aren't jumping for joy is that this doesn't signify a fundamental shift in the Obama presidency. Yes, he has accomplished a lot, but he has yet to settle on a compelling governing narrative that proves his devotion to the progressive cause. And most importantly, it's hard to celebrate anything when the jobs situation is as bad as it is.
The bill cleared three separate hurdles today. The vote to cut off debate was 60-38. As expected, Republican Brown (MA), Collins (ME) and Snowe (ME) voted yes, while Democrat Russ Feingold remained steadfast in his opposition from the left. Senator Crapo (ID) did not vote. On the two next votes, to waive Budget Act restrictions, and on final passage, the vote was 60-39, with Crapo (ID) present and voting no. The bill heads to President Obama's desk for his signature, which is expected to take place next week with much pomp and circumstance.
The Senate will swear in the new Democratic Senator from West Virginia when it reconvenes on Tuesday (we still don't know who that will be). Afterwards, they will vote to cut off debate on the unemployment extension bill, which is long overdue. Hopefully work on that bill can be completed by Wednesday, so that the Senate also has time to take up a Small Business Loan measure.
THE HOUSE: The House today passed a bill to reform the flood insurance program. It's about as simple as it sounds, really, though I don't know exactly what the reforms are. The bill passed by an overwhelming margin of 329-90. All opposition, save for Rep. Stupak (MI-remember him?) came from Republicans.
That's it for a short entry tonight. We'll be back on Monday morning.
Monday, July 12, 2010
The Weekly Strike-7/12-7/18
Good morning and welcome to the Weekly Strike. Now that the World Cup is over, and baseball season is on a brief hiatus, I can turn my full focus to politics. Lucky for you!
UNFINISHED BUSINESS: The theme of the week will be the ability (or lack thereof) of the United States Senate to complete some very important unfinished business. Still outstanding are an extension of unemployment benefits that failed by a single vote at the end of June, and the conference report accompanying the Financial Reform bill. Each bill was about one vote short at the end of the last session, and that vote could be the potential appointee of Governor Joe Manchin (D-WV), to replace the late Senator Byrd. However, Manchin is proving to be a bit of a pain in the neck. Since he's angling to run for the Senate seat himself this year, he's approaching this "strategically" meaning he's actually just dithering. The longer Manchin waits, the longer these pieces of legislation will languish, most likely.
On the unemployment bill, 57 of 58 Democrats, excluding Ben Nelson (NE) voted to end debate, as did Republicans Snowe and Collins of Maine. With the new West Virginia Senator, that could be law within days, giving essential relief to those afflicted by the joblessness crisis. On financial reform, Democrats have the firm support of Republican Susan Collins, and tepid support of Senators Snowe and Brown (MA). Senator Cantwell (WA), who voted against the original bill, has announced her support, leaving Senator Feingold (WI) as the only Democratic holdout. If everyone else votes as expected, this leaves Democrats with exactly 60 votes, possibly 61 depending on the ever-so non-dependable Chuck Grassley (R-IA), who voted yes the first time. Since the House has already passed the conference report, the Senate pretty much needs to an affirmative vote, lest they want to go through the arduous process of reconvening the conference committee to make even further changes. I wouldn't be surprised if one of the Republicans played the Lucy/football routine with Democratic leaders.
The Senate also will try to complete work on a bill that provides for increased loans to small businesses, and will consider, but probably not doing anything, on a potential climate/energy bill that Majority Leader Reid (D-NV) hopes to take up next week. The bill will only include subsidies for alternative energy, and will most likely not include a meaningful cap on carbon emissions.
The Senate Judiciary Committee, due to Republican delays, will probably not vote on the Supreme Court nomination of Elena Kagan this week. That should come next week, with a final full Senate vote coming at the end of the month. Kagan's confirmation is looking like the only sure thing in this bleak-looking Senate session.
THE HOUSE: The House, as usual, will be in a major holding pattern this week waiting on their Senate counterparts. After working on suspensions tomorrow and Wednesday, the House will consider two substantive bills. The first would allow government agencies to come up with policies that maximize workers' ability to tele-commute, provided that it doesn't hurt productivity. The bill is expected to save the Federal Government a little bit of money. The bill got an overwhelming number of votes a couple of weeks ago, but failed to get the 2/3rds vote required to pass under suspension of the rules. They'll try again on Thursday. Also, the House will consider a bill that reforms National Flood Insurance.
THE WHITE HOUSE: President Obama will be closely monitoring this week's Senate happenings, but he also has a few other items on his agenda. Today, he will meet with with a member of his Council on Foreign Relations, and with President Fernandez of the Domincan Republic. Nothing else is known yet about what's on the President's schedule.
That's it for now, leave some comments!
UNFINISHED BUSINESS: The theme of the week will be the ability (or lack thereof) of the United States Senate to complete some very important unfinished business. Still outstanding are an extension of unemployment benefits that failed by a single vote at the end of June, and the conference report accompanying the Financial Reform bill. Each bill was about one vote short at the end of the last session, and that vote could be the potential appointee of Governor Joe Manchin (D-WV), to replace the late Senator Byrd. However, Manchin is proving to be a bit of a pain in the neck. Since he's angling to run for the Senate seat himself this year, he's approaching this "strategically" meaning he's actually just dithering. The longer Manchin waits, the longer these pieces of legislation will languish, most likely.
On the unemployment bill, 57 of 58 Democrats, excluding Ben Nelson (NE) voted to end debate, as did Republicans Snowe and Collins of Maine. With the new West Virginia Senator, that could be law within days, giving essential relief to those afflicted by the joblessness crisis. On financial reform, Democrats have the firm support of Republican Susan Collins, and tepid support of Senators Snowe and Brown (MA). Senator Cantwell (WA), who voted against the original bill, has announced her support, leaving Senator Feingold (WI) as the only Democratic holdout. If everyone else votes as expected, this leaves Democrats with exactly 60 votes, possibly 61 depending on the ever-so non-dependable Chuck Grassley (R-IA), who voted yes the first time. Since the House has already passed the conference report, the Senate pretty much needs to an affirmative vote, lest they want to go through the arduous process of reconvening the conference committee to make even further changes. I wouldn't be surprised if one of the Republicans played the Lucy/football routine with Democratic leaders.
The Senate also will try to complete work on a bill that provides for increased loans to small businesses, and will consider, but probably not doing anything, on a potential climate/energy bill that Majority Leader Reid (D-NV) hopes to take up next week. The bill will only include subsidies for alternative energy, and will most likely not include a meaningful cap on carbon emissions.
The Senate Judiciary Committee, due to Republican delays, will probably not vote on the Supreme Court nomination of Elena Kagan this week. That should come next week, with a final full Senate vote coming at the end of the month. Kagan's confirmation is looking like the only sure thing in this bleak-looking Senate session.
THE HOUSE: The House, as usual, will be in a major holding pattern this week waiting on their Senate counterparts. After working on suspensions tomorrow and Wednesday, the House will consider two substantive bills. The first would allow government agencies to come up with policies that maximize workers' ability to tele-commute, provided that it doesn't hurt productivity. The bill is expected to save the Federal Government a little bit of money. The bill got an overwhelming number of votes a couple of weeks ago, but failed to get the 2/3rds vote required to pass under suspension of the rules. They'll try again on Thursday. Also, the House will consider a bill that reforms National Flood Insurance.
THE WHITE HOUSE: President Obama will be closely monitoring this week's Senate happenings, but he also has a few other items on his agenda. Today, he will meet with with a member of his Council on Foreign Relations, and with President Fernandez of the Domincan Republic. Nothing else is known yet about what's on the President's schedule.
That's it for now, leave some comments!
Thursday, July 8, 2010
The Daily Strike-7/8/10-Depressing
Good evening and welcome to the Daily Strike. To understand why I'm depressed about politics tonight, I bring you three things I read today (with appropriate credit due to The Big Picture).
1. The first is this poll summary from Democracy Corps, which does polling for Democratic causes. Quite simply, the numbers are awful. Yes, Democrats trail in the generic Congressional ballot. Yes, Republicans are actually less disliked than Democrats at this point. None of that is particularly surprising in this political climate. Some of the other numbers are just downright depressing. More people, by far, have favorable opinions of the NRA than just about any other political actor, including President Obama. "Big Corporations" is rated more favorably than the health care bill. And by a disturbingly large margin, people think that "cutting government spending and lowering taxes" is a better economic stimulus than "investments in new jobs."
This represents a massive failure in the war of ideas. He hasn't properly identified the perpetrators of this economic crisis: big corporations and finance. He hasn't explained why we need to make long-term investments to spur job growth. When he has said some good things, he then undermines himself by feeding into the conservative narrative (remember the discretionary spending freeze?) Without offering that vision consistently and coherently, people are stuck with the general impression that things are bad, and that liberals are in charge, so therefore liberal policies are bad.
2. This piece pretty much speaks for itself. Basically, the recession has increased poverty and homelessness significantly, and has caused millions of people to suffer. I link to this also to make the point that when Republicans and Ben Nelson don't vote to extend unemployment benefits, they're not just hurting a bunch of lazy people who can't get their asses to a job interview. They're ignoring an all-out crisis.
3. Finally, there's this article by the nation's Eric Alterman, which argues that a progressive Presidency is pretty much impossible. He argues that while Obama certainly has disappointed in many areas, the real barriers to progress are ridiculous institutional obstacles. He covers pretty much everything: the undemocratic Senate, the right-wing media, the corporate buy-out of our politicians, the mainstream consensus around bad economic policies etc. It's very sobering, but it's an important reminder how much we truly have to change in this country before we can finally tackle our worst problems. I'm afraid some of these barriers may be too difficult to overcome in the forseeable future.
Have I depressed you enough yet? At least you can go to the TV and find out where LeBron James will play next year! T-Minus 37 minutes!
OTHER TIDBITS: Before I go, I should mention that West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin has inexplicably has arranged for the special election to replace Senator Robert Byrd to take place this November instead of 2012, as had been originally planned. Manchin clearly wants to run for the seat himself, and seems to think that running this year would be to his advantage. While Manchin is popular in the state, West Virginia is increasingly conservative, and this is a Republican year, so Manchin is anything but a shoo-in. It's possible that Manchin could potentially cost Democrats a majority in the Senate because of his selfish ambition. Let's hope not.
That's it for now. See you next Monday when Congress gets back into session.
1. The first is this poll summary from Democracy Corps, which does polling for Democratic causes. Quite simply, the numbers are awful. Yes, Democrats trail in the generic Congressional ballot. Yes, Republicans are actually less disliked than Democrats at this point. None of that is particularly surprising in this political climate. Some of the other numbers are just downright depressing. More people, by far, have favorable opinions of the NRA than just about any other political actor, including President Obama. "Big Corporations" is rated more favorably than the health care bill. And by a disturbingly large margin, people think that "cutting government spending and lowering taxes" is a better economic stimulus than "investments in new jobs."
This represents a massive failure in the war of ideas. He hasn't properly identified the perpetrators of this economic crisis: big corporations and finance. He hasn't explained why we need to make long-term investments to spur job growth. When he has said some good things, he then undermines himself by feeding into the conservative narrative (remember the discretionary spending freeze?) Without offering that vision consistently and coherently, people are stuck with the general impression that things are bad, and that liberals are in charge, so therefore liberal policies are bad.
2. This piece pretty much speaks for itself. Basically, the recession has increased poverty and homelessness significantly, and has caused millions of people to suffer. I link to this also to make the point that when Republicans and Ben Nelson don't vote to extend unemployment benefits, they're not just hurting a bunch of lazy people who can't get their asses to a job interview. They're ignoring an all-out crisis.
3. Finally, there's this article by the nation's Eric Alterman, which argues that a progressive Presidency is pretty much impossible. He argues that while Obama certainly has disappointed in many areas, the real barriers to progress are ridiculous institutional obstacles. He covers pretty much everything: the undemocratic Senate, the right-wing media, the corporate buy-out of our politicians, the mainstream consensus around bad economic policies etc. It's very sobering, but it's an important reminder how much we truly have to change in this country before we can finally tackle our worst problems. I'm afraid some of these barriers may be too difficult to overcome in the forseeable future.
Have I depressed you enough yet? At least you can go to the TV and find out where LeBron James will play next year! T-Minus 37 minutes!
OTHER TIDBITS: Before I go, I should mention that West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin has inexplicably has arranged for the special election to replace Senator Robert Byrd to take place this November instead of 2012, as had been originally planned. Manchin clearly wants to run for the seat himself, and seems to think that running this year would be to his advantage. While Manchin is popular in the state, West Virginia is increasingly conservative, and this is a Republican year, so Manchin is anything but a shoo-in. It's possible that Manchin could potentially cost Democrats a majority in the Senate because of his selfish ambition. Let's hope not.
That's it for now. See you next Monday when Congress gets back into session.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
The Weekly Strike-7/6-7/11
Good morning and welcome to the Weekly Strike. It's sweltering in DC, and lucky for them, members of Congress are out of town. Even if they were here, they'd be better off than the unemployed people at whom they've thumbed their noses.
THE WHITE HOUSE: After a quiet holiday weekend, the White House gets back in gear today as President Obama meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Obama and Bibi (as he's affectionately known) haven't been on the best of terms. Obama met with the Prime Minister at a terse meeting in May, in which the press was not allowed to take pictures (some sign of sacrilege apparently). The administration was rightly angry that Netanyahu authorized the building of new settlements in East Jerusalem. Both men will use this meeting as a chance to restart diplomatic relations.
If Netanyahu were a smart, rational person, which doesn't seem to be his strong suit, he would help President Obama push for a land-for-peace agreement with the Palestinian people. He would also assure the U.S. leadership that Israel was properly concerned with the human rights situation in the Gaza Strip. Unfortunately, I don't really see this happening.
The rest of the President's schedule this week is unknown, but I would be pretty shocked if he didn't give a speech on the economy given last week's poor jobs report.
CONGRESS: Speaking of jobs, Congress takes the week off having done absolutely nothing to alleviate the jobs crisis in America. Last week's jobs report, which showed minuscule growth in private sector employment, hasn't seemed to get the attention of enough members of Congress. Most Republicans are intent to block action on any and all jobs measures, ostensibly because they care about the deficit, but more realistically because they think it is politically advantageous to them. Conservative Democrats concerned about our fiscal health have shown very little interest in even the slightest measures to alleviate the pain and suffering of the unemployed. They are preventing Congress from taking any action whatsoever.
If people didn't already realize that the jobs situation was an absolute crisis, they should now. This is what needs to be done in the short-term:
-President Obama needs to put on a Bush, Iraq-war style political campaign for a jobs relief package that includes primarily aid to state and local governments and an extension of unemployment benefits. This campaign must involve a whirlwind tour of speeches, expressing the urgency of the situation, and branding this bill as the best solution.
-In exchange for the votes of Blue Dog Democrats, Obama should package this deal with future cuts to the deficit (to take place three or four years down the line). These cuts should be a combination of progressive tax increases, and spending cuts to defense and non-essential mandatory spending.
-The leaders of the House and Senate should hold votes on this measure as soon as possible, even if they don't have the votes to pass it. No backroom negotiations, no deals...just see where everyone stands. If the vote fails, leaders should move on to Plan B:
-The House and the Senate could pass a budget resolution that contains reconciliation instructions for a jobs bill. With these instructions, the bill could pass the House and Senate on a simple majority vote, and be signed into law as soon as possible. Democrats could take comfort knowing that this spending would inject demand into the economy immediately.
This, of course, won't happen for a variety of reasons. But I just wanted to show how easy it COULD be if Democratic leaders gave as much care and concern to the jobs situation as is currently warranted. More likely, we'll see pretty much nothing done before the November elections. If the economy, as expected, continues to flutter along with minimal job gains, Democrats will suffer absolutely massive losses in November.
That's it for now, I'll see you tonight.
THE WHITE HOUSE: After a quiet holiday weekend, the White House gets back in gear today as President Obama meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Obama and Bibi (as he's affectionately known) haven't been on the best of terms. Obama met with the Prime Minister at a terse meeting in May, in which the press was not allowed to take pictures (some sign of sacrilege apparently). The administration was rightly angry that Netanyahu authorized the building of new settlements in East Jerusalem. Both men will use this meeting as a chance to restart diplomatic relations.
If Netanyahu were a smart, rational person, which doesn't seem to be his strong suit, he would help President Obama push for a land-for-peace agreement with the Palestinian people. He would also assure the U.S. leadership that Israel was properly concerned with the human rights situation in the Gaza Strip. Unfortunately, I don't really see this happening.
The rest of the President's schedule this week is unknown, but I would be pretty shocked if he didn't give a speech on the economy given last week's poor jobs report.
CONGRESS: Speaking of jobs, Congress takes the week off having done absolutely nothing to alleviate the jobs crisis in America. Last week's jobs report, which showed minuscule growth in private sector employment, hasn't seemed to get the attention of enough members of Congress. Most Republicans are intent to block action on any and all jobs measures, ostensibly because they care about the deficit, but more realistically because they think it is politically advantageous to them. Conservative Democrats concerned about our fiscal health have shown very little interest in even the slightest measures to alleviate the pain and suffering of the unemployed. They are preventing Congress from taking any action whatsoever.
If people didn't already realize that the jobs situation was an absolute crisis, they should now. This is what needs to be done in the short-term:
-President Obama needs to put on a Bush, Iraq-war style political campaign for a jobs relief package that includes primarily aid to state and local governments and an extension of unemployment benefits. This campaign must involve a whirlwind tour of speeches, expressing the urgency of the situation, and branding this bill as the best solution.
-In exchange for the votes of Blue Dog Democrats, Obama should package this deal with future cuts to the deficit (to take place three or four years down the line). These cuts should be a combination of progressive tax increases, and spending cuts to defense and non-essential mandatory spending.
-The leaders of the House and Senate should hold votes on this measure as soon as possible, even if they don't have the votes to pass it. No backroom negotiations, no deals...just see where everyone stands. If the vote fails, leaders should move on to Plan B:
-The House and the Senate could pass a budget resolution that contains reconciliation instructions for a jobs bill. With these instructions, the bill could pass the House and Senate on a simple majority vote, and be signed into law as soon as possible. Democrats could take comfort knowing that this spending would inject demand into the economy immediately.
This, of course, won't happen for a variety of reasons. But I just wanted to show how easy it COULD be if Democratic leaders gave as much care and concern to the jobs situation as is currently warranted. More likely, we'll see pretty much nothing done before the November elections. If the economy, as expected, continues to flutter along with minimal job gains, Democrats will suffer absolutely massive losses in November.
That's it for now, I'll see you tonight.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
The Daily Strike-7/1/10-Supplemental Madness
Good evening and welcome to the Daily Strike. The Senate skipped out of town yesterday having not finished: a) war funding, b) unemployment benefits and c) financial regulation. Late last night, Majority Leader Reid tried one last time to pass an extension of unemployment benefits, but he failed by a single vote. Republicans Snowe and Collins of Maine both voted yes, but Democrat Ben Nelson (NE) broke with his party and singlehandedly caused mass suffering for millions of people. The plan should be able to pass when the new West Virginia Senator is sworn in, but that won't happen until after the July recess. Now on to the rest of the day in politics.
THE HOUSE: The House is trying to finish up a supplemental war funding bill, and the Democratic leadership is using all sorts of interesting parliamentary maneuvers to include key domestic funding, such as aid to state and local governments, money for summer jobs programs, and Pell Grants. The problem for House leaders is that a majority of House members don't support BOTH the war funding and the domestic spending. So Democrats have resorted to some cleaver trickery. According to a rule adopted by the House this evening, the war funding would be passed and sent to the President, only if all of the other domestic spending is also approved. If the domestic spending is rejected, the war funding too will be rejected. Thus, by voting for the domestic spending, members are actually "deeming" the war funding passed. My guess is that the amendments will be agreed to, and that the war measure will be sent to the President for his approval. I'm not quite sure exactly how this works. I guess the Senate would then have to vote on the domestic spending separately (which won't happen, of course, for another couple of weeks). Also included in this bill (under the rule) is a budget enforcement resolution that sets spending targets for Fiscal Year 2011. This is in place of a normal budget resolution, which House Democrats didn't want to pass, because it would have foreseen record deficits. (I guess we should just pretend they don't exist?).
It looks like the House will be taking votes late into the night, so I'll have to update you tomorrow.
Prior to consideration of this measure, the House passed rather easily the same extension of unemployment that died yesterday in the Senate. The final vote was 270-153, with 29 Republicans voting yes, and a pathetic 11 Democrats voting no. The Senate will try to concur when they return on July 12th, but by that time, millions of Americans will already have gone without needed unemployment assistance.
The House will adjourn after votes end later tonight or early tomorrow morning.
PRESIDENT OBAMA: President Obama gave a speech today at American University outlining his plans for comprehensive immigration reform. The speech was prototypical Obama. He talked about how the issue has been demagogued by the Republicans, and he specifically mentioned the new law in Arizona. He also criticized the left (unfairly in my view) for having unreasonable expectations about illegal immigration, and for not being serious enough about securing the border. I understand politically why Obama would pay close attention to this issue. He does want to bring Latino voters to the polls. However, the political risks seem to outweigh the potential rewards. Jobless Americans are looking for people to blame for their malaise, and if the issue of immigration comes front and center, immigrants will be an easy scapegoat target.
That's it for tonight! See you tomorrow!
THE HOUSE: The House is trying to finish up a supplemental war funding bill, and the Democratic leadership is using all sorts of interesting parliamentary maneuvers to include key domestic funding, such as aid to state and local governments, money for summer jobs programs, and Pell Grants. The problem for House leaders is that a majority of House members don't support BOTH the war funding and the domestic spending. So Democrats have resorted to some cleaver trickery. According to a rule adopted by the House this evening, the war funding would be passed and sent to the President, only if all of the other domestic spending is also approved. If the domestic spending is rejected, the war funding too will be rejected. Thus, by voting for the domestic spending, members are actually "deeming" the war funding passed. My guess is that the amendments will be agreed to, and that the war measure will be sent to the President for his approval. I'm not quite sure exactly how this works. I guess the Senate would then have to vote on the domestic spending separately (which won't happen, of course, for another couple of weeks). Also included in this bill (under the rule) is a budget enforcement resolution that sets spending targets for Fiscal Year 2011. This is in place of a normal budget resolution, which House Democrats didn't want to pass, because it would have foreseen record deficits. (I guess we should just pretend they don't exist?).
It looks like the House will be taking votes late into the night, so I'll have to update you tomorrow.
Prior to consideration of this measure, the House passed rather easily the same extension of unemployment that died yesterday in the Senate. The final vote was 270-153, with 29 Republicans voting yes, and a pathetic 11 Democrats voting no. The Senate will try to concur when they return on July 12th, but by that time, millions of Americans will already have gone without needed unemployment assistance.
The House will adjourn after votes end later tonight or early tomorrow morning.
PRESIDENT OBAMA: President Obama gave a speech today at American University outlining his plans for comprehensive immigration reform. The speech was prototypical Obama. He talked about how the issue has been demagogued by the Republicans, and he specifically mentioned the new law in Arizona. He also criticized the left (unfairly in my view) for having unreasonable expectations about illegal immigration, and for not being serious enough about securing the border. I understand politically why Obama would pay close attention to this issue. He does want to bring Latino voters to the polls. However, the political risks seem to outweigh the potential rewards. Jobless Americans are looking for people to blame for their malaise, and if the issue of immigration comes front and center, immigrants will be an easy scapegoat target.
That's it for tonight! See you tomorrow!
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
The Daily Strike-6/29/10-What Can Brown Do To You?
Good evening and welcome to the Daily Strike. Once again, not a proud day in Congress. But that's not really news anymore, is it.
FINANCIAL REGULATIONS: The Wall Street reform bill had to go back to a House-Senate conference committee, because Democrats didn't have enough votes to break a GOP filibuster on the previously agreed-to conference report. Massachusetts Republican Scott Brown, who got all sorts of carve outs in the bill to buy off his vote, pulled his support because he didn't approve of a $19 billion fee on big banks. Brown, of course, campaigned against these sort of political shenanigans and backroom deals, but I guess protecting his frich friends on Wall Street comes first and foremost.
If Democrats Russ Feingold (WI) and Maria Cantwell (WA) didn't decide to oppose the bill from the left, the Democrats could tell Brown to you know what. But evidently Cantwell and Feingold are being so stubborn that they're willing to see the bill get made worse. That's exactly what happened today. The House-Senate conference just approved a revised version of the conference report that removes the bank tax, and instead uses leftover money from the TARP bailout program, as well as various FDIC fees. Inexplicably, they seemed to have made this deal without getting the firm support of any of the Republicans they need to get 60 votes. But if all goes well, it is still possible that the bill could pass both chambers by the end of the week. In fact, late word is that the House will take up the conference report tomorrow.
KAGAN: Today Senators asked their first set of questions to Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan. There wasn't much news out of today's questioning, mostly because Kagan is so polished and isn't going to say anything too controversial. She did admit that her political leanings are progressive/Democratic, and that she still does have moral problems with the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy.
On Stare Decisis, she said that she almost always is deferential to precedence, but there are some circumstances where settled law should be changed. None of these answers will make the front pages of any newspapers, I can guarantee you that.
One thing I didn't realize about Kagan is that she is extremely funny. Republican Senator Graham (R-SC) asked Kagan where she was this past Christmas, during the failed terrorist plot on the Detroit-bound airliner. Kagan quipped that since she is Jewish, she was probably at a Chinese restaurant. When Senator Specter pressed her on allowing cameras in the courtroom, she said that she would have to do her hair more often. Awesome.
CLIMATE CHANGE: The President held a bipartisan meeting at the White House today to discuss his push for a comprehensive energy bill. The meeting offered no surprises. Republicans insisted that Obama take any price on carbon off the table. Obama, and his Democratic allies, countered that pricing carbon is the whole point! Nothing from this meeting gives me any optimism about a climate bill passing the United States Senate this year, especially since zero Republicans seem willing to play ball.
THE SENATE: The Senate voted 66-33 to move to a bill that will spur lending to small businesses. Majority Leader Reid (D-NV) has filled the amendment tree, meaning he is trying to prevent Republicans from delaying the bill with endless amendments. Hopefully, Reid can finish the bill by tomorrow evening so that the Senate can take up the Financial Regulation conference report Thursday and Friday.
All Democrats voted yes on the procedural vote, as did Republicans Bond (MO), Brown (MA), Collins (ME), Grassley (IA), LeMieux (FL), Lugar (IN), Snowe (ME) and Voinovich (OH).
THE HOUSE: The House voted on some suspension bills today. Speaker Pelosi tried to pass a standalone extension of unemployment benefits as a suspension bill, but it failed to received the necessary 2/3rds vote. Democrats will have to bring up the extension under regular order. Democrats in both chambers, having failed to pass a larger package of unemployment insurance and tax extenders, want to get moving on unemployment by the end of the week. 15 Democrats in the House voted against extending benefits, while 30 Republicans voted yes (more than I would have thought).
That's it for today, we'll see you tomorrow!
FINANCIAL REGULATIONS: The Wall Street reform bill had to go back to a House-Senate conference committee, because Democrats didn't have enough votes to break a GOP filibuster on the previously agreed-to conference report. Massachusetts Republican Scott Brown, who got all sorts of carve outs in the bill to buy off his vote, pulled his support because he didn't approve of a $19 billion fee on big banks. Brown, of course, campaigned against these sort of political shenanigans and backroom deals, but I guess protecting his frich friends on Wall Street comes first and foremost.
If Democrats Russ Feingold (WI) and Maria Cantwell (WA) didn't decide to oppose the bill from the left, the Democrats could tell Brown to you know what. But evidently Cantwell and Feingold are being so stubborn that they're willing to see the bill get made worse. That's exactly what happened today. The House-Senate conference just approved a revised version of the conference report that removes the bank tax, and instead uses leftover money from the TARP bailout program, as well as various FDIC fees. Inexplicably, they seemed to have made this deal without getting the firm support of any of the Republicans they need to get 60 votes. But if all goes well, it is still possible that the bill could pass both chambers by the end of the week. In fact, late word is that the House will take up the conference report tomorrow.
KAGAN: Today Senators asked their first set of questions to Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan. There wasn't much news out of today's questioning, mostly because Kagan is so polished and isn't going to say anything too controversial. She did admit that her political leanings are progressive/Democratic, and that she still does have moral problems with the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy.
On Stare Decisis, she said that she almost always is deferential to precedence, but there are some circumstances where settled law should be changed. None of these answers will make the front pages of any newspapers, I can guarantee you that.
One thing I didn't realize about Kagan is that she is extremely funny. Republican Senator Graham (R-SC) asked Kagan where she was this past Christmas, during the failed terrorist plot on the Detroit-bound airliner. Kagan quipped that since she is Jewish, she was probably at a Chinese restaurant. When Senator Specter pressed her on allowing cameras in the courtroom, she said that she would have to do her hair more often. Awesome.
CLIMATE CHANGE: The President held a bipartisan meeting at the White House today to discuss his push for a comprehensive energy bill. The meeting offered no surprises. Republicans insisted that Obama take any price on carbon off the table. Obama, and his Democratic allies, countered that pricing carbon is the whole point! Nothing from this meeting gives me any optimism about a climate bill passing the United States Senate this year, especially since zero Republicans seem willing to play ball.
THE SENATE: The Senate voted 66-33 to move to a bill that will spur lending to small businesses. Majority Leader Reid (D-NV) has filled the amendment tree, meaning he is trying to prevent Republicans from delaying the bill with endless amendments. Hopefully, Reid can finish the bill by tomorrow evening so that the Senate can take up the Financial Regulation conference report Thursday and Friday.
All Democrats voted yes on the procedural vote, as did Republicans Bond (MO), Brown (MA), Collins (ME), Grassley (IA), LeMieux (FL), Lugar (IN), Snowe (ME) and Voinovich (OH).
THE HOUSE: The House voted on some suspension bills today. Speaker Pelosi tried to pass a standalone extension of unemployment benefits as a suspension bill, but it failed to received the necessary 2/3rds vote. Democrats will have to bring up the extension under regular order. Democrats in both chambers, having failed to pass a larger package of unemployment insurance and tax extenders, want to get moving on unemployment by the end of the week. 15 Democrats in the House voted against extending benefits, while 30 Republicans voted yes (more than I would have thought).
That's it for today, we'll see you tomorrow!
Thursday, June 24, 2010
The Daily Strike-6/24/10-A Flaw in Our Democracy
Good evening and welcome to the Daily Strike. It was actually one of the busiest days in Congress for awhile, but certainly not the best.
THE SENATE: Majority Leader Reid (D-NV) tried one more time to pass a package of tax extenders, which included an extension of unemployment benefits. Once again, and perhaps for the final time, he has failed. The vote was 57-41, which in our perverse system of government these days means that the bill failed. Every Republican voted against the bill, and it shouldn't come as any surprise. As many others have pointed out today, Republicans have institutional power to make the majority fail. If they do so, the economy will get worse, and voters will get angry at the governing party. This will immensely benefit Republicans in this fall's elections.
Ben Nelson of Nebraska was the one Democrat complicit in this monstrosity. Despite Nelson's past votes to protect the estates of billionaires, and keep tax breaks to oil companies, he was apparently too concerned about the deficit to vote for emergency recession measures. Majority Leader Reid voted no so he could bring up the bill again, but for now, it's looking likely that Democrats will give up. They might try to pass the bill in separate parts, starting with an extension of unemployment benefits. The Senate will turn next week to the House-passed bill which encourages lending to small businesses (which was coincidentally a measure included in this bill).
There is something fundamentally wrong with a democracy when a minority of 41 can sabotage the agenda of a large majority without facing any recourse. In fact, they'll benefit from the economy's failure in November's elections. President Obama and the Democrats need to make very clear to the American people who is responsible for 1.2 million Americans losing unemployment insurance.
The Senate did find time today to pass the conference report for the Iran sanctions bill, which has enjoyed large bipartisan support. The vote today, in fact, was 99-0. The bill builds on sanctions passed in 1996 designed to stop Iran's development of nuclear weapons.
THE HOUSE: The House had a very productive day, far more so than their Senate counterparts. The House today finally passed a bill that helps undo the damage of the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision. The bill will put new requirements on corporate and labor campaign contributions. The bill passed by a narrow margin of 219-206. The only Republicans supporting the bill were Castle (DE) (the bill's co-sponsor) and Cao (LA).,
36 Democrats opposed the bill. The opposition was a mixture of Blue Dogs who were scared to vote against the interest of the power brokers at the Chamber of Commerce, and liberal members who were upset that the NRA got a special exemption in the bill. The list of dissenting Democrats is as follows (skip down a paragraph if you don't care!):
Barrow (GA), Bean (IL), Bishop (GA), Boren (OK), Boyd (FL), Bright (AL), Butterfield (NC), Childers (MS), Clarke (NY), Critz (PA), Dahlkemper (PA), Davis (IL), Davis (TN), Donnelly (IN), Edwards (MD), Fudge (OH), Hastings (FL), Herseth Sandlin (SD), Hill (IN), Holden (PA), Kilpatrick (MI), Kratovil (MD), Marshall (GA), McCarthy (NY), McIntyre (NC), Minnick (ID), Mitchell (AZ), Nye (VA), Owens (NY), Payne (NJ), Peterson (MN), Rush (IL), Taylor (MS), Thompson (MS), Waters (CA) and Watt (NC).
The House also put their stamp of approval on two bills headed directly to the President's desk. The Iran sanctions conference report passed the House 408-8, with opposition coming from Republicans Flake (AZ) and Paul (TX) and Democrats Baird (WA), Baldwin (WI), Blumenauer (OR), Conyers (MI), Kucinich (OH) and Stark (CA). President Obama will sign the bill into law this coming week.
The House also passed the so-called "Doc-Fix" bill that fixes reimbursement rates to Medicare providers through November. The Senate had passed a fix when it became clear that the broader extenders bill was headed downhill. The vote on this measure was 417-1, with only Democrat George Miller (CA) voting no (not sure why).
Next week, both chambers are expected to take up the final version of the Wall Street Reform bill, which while weakened significantly, will be a major legislative accomplishment.
Until then, enjoy your weekend!
THE SENATE: Majority Leader Reid (D-NV) tried one more time to pass a package of tax extenders, which included an extension of unemployment benefits. Once again, and perhaps for the final time, he has failed. The vote was 57-41, which in our perverse system of government these days means that the bill failed. Every Republican voted against the bill, and it shouldn't come as any surprise. As many others have pointed out today, Republicans have institutional power to make the majority fail. If they do so, the economy will get worse, and voters will get angry at the governing party. This will immensely benefit Republicans in this fall's elections.
Ben Nelson of Nebraska was the one Democrat complicit in this monstrosity. Despite Nelson's past votes to protect the estates of billionaires, and keep tax breaks to oil companies, he was apparently too concerned about the deficit to vote for emergency recession measures. Majority Leader Reid voted no so he could bring up the bill again, but for now, it's looking likely that Democrats will give up. They might try to pass the bill in separate parts, starting with an extension of unemployment benefits. The Senate will turn next week to the House-passed bill which encourages lending to small businesses (which was coincidentally a measure included in this bill).
There is something fundamentally wrong with a democracy when a minority of 41 can sabotage the agenda of a large majority without facing any recourse. In fact, they'll benefit from the economy's failure in November's elections. President Obama and the Democrats need to make very clear to the American people who is responsible for 1.2 million Americans losing unemployment insurance.
The Senate did find time today to pass the conference report for the Iran sanctions bill, which has enjoyed large bipartisan support. The vote today, in fact, was 99-0. The bill builds on sanctions passed in 1996 designed to stop Iran's development of nuclear weapons.
THE HOUSE: The House had a very productive day, far more so than their Senate counterparts. The House today finally passed a bill that helps undo the damage of the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision. The bill will put new requirements on corporate and labor campaign contributions. The bill passed by a narrow margin of 219-206. The only Republicans supporting the bill were Castle (DE) (the bill's co-sponsor) and Cao (LA).,
36 Democrats opposed the bill. The opposition was a mixture of Blue Dogs who were scared to vote against the interest of the power brokers at the Chamber of Commerce, and liberal members who were upset that the NRA got a special exemption in the bill. The list of dissenting Democrats is as follows (skip down a paragraph if you don't care!):
Barrow (GA), Bean (IL), Bishop (GA), Boren (OK), Boyd (FL), Bright (AL), Butterfield (NC), Childers (MS), Clarke (NY), Critz (PA), Dahlkemper (PA), Davis (IL), Davis (TN), Donnelly (IN), Edwards (MD), Fudge (OH), Hastings (FL), Herseth Sandlin (SD), Hill (IN), Holden (PA), Kilpatrick (MI), Kratovil (MD), Marshall (GA), McCarthy (NY), McIntyre (NC), Minnick (ID), Mitchell (AZ), Nye (VA), Owens (NY), Payne (NJ), Peterson (MN), Rush (IL), Taylor (MS), Thompson (MS), Waters (CA) and Watt (NC).
The House also put their stamp of approval on two bills headed directly to the President's desk. The Iran sanctions conference report passed the House 408-8, with opposition coming from Republicans Flake (AZ) and Paul (TX) and Democrats Baird (WA), Baldwin (WI), Blumenauer (OR), Conyers (MI), Kucinich (OH) and Stark (CA). President Obama will sign the bill into law this coming week.
The House also passed the so-called "Doc-Fix" bill that fixes reimbursement rates to Medicare providers through November. The Senate had passed a fix when it became clear that the broader extenders bill was headed downhill. The vote on this measure was 417-1, with only Democrat George Miller (CA) voting no (not sure why).
Next week, both chambers are expected to take up the final version of the Wall Street Reform bill, which while weakened significantly, will be a major legislative accomplishment.
Until then, enjoy your weekend!
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
The Daily Strike-6/23/10-Fired
Good evening and welcome to the Daily Strike. It was quite a momentous day in politics, but it was even more momentous in sports, as the United States advanced to the next round of the World Cup with an extra-time goal against Algeria. It was awesome.
MCCHRYSTAL: The President "accepted the resignation" today of General Stanley McChrystal as the lead commander in Afghanistan. McChrystal was in hot water for mocking several administration officials in a Rolling Stone article. Obama, rightly, believed that this act crossed the line. The President can't have a general in world's most difficult conflict who uses poor judgment, nor can he have one who threatens the sacrosanct chain of command. As the President said in an afternoon press event, disagreement is healthy, but disunity is not.
The President chose General David Petraeus, one of America's most popular military figures, to take control of the quagmire in Afghanistan. Petraeus will leave his current post as the head of Central Command. Conservatives and moderates were giddy at the choice, citing Petraeus' supposed surge success in Iraq. But the surge was partly successful due to exogenous factors, such as the Sunni awakening in the summer of 2007. Petraeus seems like a competent general, but he is being handed a war with a flawed strategy and no end in sight. I hope Petraeus is able to turn things around.
Because Petraeus is so widely respected, he is likely to gain Senate confirmation to his post almost immediately. His hearing will most likely be next week, coincidentally at the same time as the hearings for Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan (talk about a story that's fallen off the map!).
THE SENATE: There seems to be some possible light at the end of the tunnel for the long-stalled tax extenders/unemployment bill in the Senate. Today, Senator Reid (D-NV) filed cloture on a third version of the bill, which inexplicably cuts more funding for Medicaid and rolls back some of the revenue provisions. The changes are designed to win the votes of Maine moderates Snowe and Collins, though the two Republican Senators have yet to voice their support. It remains to be seen whether Reid will be able to corral the votes.
The Democrats beat back an absurd, hypocritical amendment today, offered by Senator DeMint (R-SC) that would permanently extend the low tax rate on Capital Gains. All of the self-proclaimed deficit hawks in the Senate (i.e. every single Republican Senator besides Voinovich of Ohio, plus Ben Nelson of Nebraska) voted to put a major dent in our deficit and debt. And apparently no one will call them out for this blatant hypocrisy! Luckily, the amendment failed 40-57.
THE HOUSE: The House today overwhelmingly passed a bill that gives the newly formed Oil Spill commission full subpoena power. The only dissenting vote was from Ron Paul (R-TX). The House will take up the DISCLOSE Act, which sets new limits on campaign expenditures. We'll have more on that bill tomorrow.
CONFERENCE: House and Senate conferees are trying to finish negotiations on the Wall Street Reform bill, yet they're stuck on a few sticking points. House Democrats, led by the New York delegation and some moderates want to gut the language on derivatives offered by Senator Lincoln (D-AR). Removing this provision would be bad policy, and it also might jeopardize the bill's chances in the Senate. Meanwhile, Democrats have had to tread carefully in order to keep the votes of the four Republicans who supported the bill, Senators Brown (MA), Collins (ME), Grassley (IA) and Snowe (ME). Conferees will try to come to a conclusion by Friday so that final votes can be held in each chamber next week.
That's it for now, see you tomorrow!
MCCHRYSTAL: The President "accepted the resignation" today of General Stanley McChrystal as the lead commander in Afghanistan. McChrystal was in hot water for mocking several administration officials in a Rolling Stone article. Obama, rightly, believed that this act crossed the line. The President can't have a general in world's most difficult conflict who uses poor judgment, nor can he have one who threatens the sacrosanct chain of command. As the President said in an afternoon press event, disagreement is healthy, but disunity is not.
The President chose General David Petraeus, one of America's most popular military figures, to take control of the quagmire in Afghanistan. Petraeus will leave his current post as the head of Central Command. Conservatives and moderates were giddy at the choice, citing Petraeus' supposed surge success in Iraq. But the surge was partly successful due to exogenous factors, such as the Sunni awakening in the summer of 2007. Petraeus seems like a competent general, but he is being handed a war with a flawed strategy and no end in sight. I hope Petraeus is able to turn things around.
Because Petraeus is so widely respected, he is likely to gain Senate confirmation to his post almost immediately. His hearing will most likely be next week, coincidentally at the same time as the hearings for Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan (talk about a story that's fallen off the map!).
THE SENATE: There seems to be some possible light at the end of the tunnel for the long-stalled tax extenders/unemployment bill in the Senate. Today, Senator Reid (D-NV) filed cloture on a third version of the bill, which inexplicably cuts more funding for Medicaid and rolls back some of the revenue provisions. The changes are designed to win the votes of Maine moderates Snowe and Collins, though the two Republican Senators have yet to voice their support. It remains to be seen whether Reid will be able to corral the votes.
The Democrats beat back an absurd, hypocritical amendment today, offered by Senator DeMint (R-SC) that would permanently extend the low tax rate on Capital Gains. All of the self-proclaimed deficit hawks in the Senate (i.e. every single Republican Senator besides Voinovich of Ohio, plus Ben Nelson of Nebraska) voted to put a major dent in our deficit and debt. And apparently no one will call them out for this blatant hypocrisy! Luckily, the amendment failed 40-57.
THE HOUSE: The House today overwhelmingly passed a bill that gives the newly formed Oil Spill commission full subpoena power. The only dissenting vote was from Ron Paul (R-TX). The House will take up the DISCLOSE Act, which sets new limits on campaign expenditures. We'll have more on that bill tomorrow.
CONFERENCE: House and Senate conferees are trying to finish negotiations on the Wall Street Reform bill, yet they're stuck on a few sticking points. House Democrats, led by the New York delegation and some moderates want to gut the language on derivatives offered by Senator Lincoln (D-AR). Removing this provision would be bad policy, and it also might jeopardize the bill's chances in the Senate. Meanwhile, Democrats have had to tread carefully in order to keep the votes of the four Republicans who supported the bill, Senators Brown (MA), Collins (ME), Grassley (IA) and Snowe (ME). Conferees will try to come to a conclusion by Friday so that final votes can be held in each chamber next week.
That's it for now, see you tomorrow!
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
The Daily Strike-6/22/10-Insubordination
Good evening and welcome to the Daily Strike. Today was the first day in a long time that a news story other than the oil spill dominated Washington. I guess that's good?
MCCHRYSTAL: The top General in Afghanistan, Stanley McChrystal, is in hot water, and for good reason. In an ill-advised interview to a freelance reporter with The Rolling Stone, McChrystal made a variety of disparaging comments about those above him in the chain of command. Among the targets of his criticism (some of it conveyed through aides), were President Obama, Vice President Biden, Ambassador to Afghanistan Elkenberry, Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, and National Security Advisor Jim Jones. McChrystal said that Obama was not prepared for their first meeting together, and that he came away from that meeting "unimpressed." He made some not-so-veiled references to his disagreements with Vice President Biden, who opposed the troop buildup. He referred to Jones as a "clown" stuck in the 1980's.
I'm not the type of guy who believes strongly in authority structures. That is, except when it comes to civilian control of the military. Civilian command of the military is fundamental to democracy. Commanders serve at the pleasure of the President, and expected to serve with nothing but honor and loyalty. If the General has a problem with someone, he must convey it privately, lest this sacrosanct chain of command be interrupted. By all measures, McChrystal should be fired. This, in fact, is an offense that can get you in trouble in military courts.
McChrystal has been criticized by pretty much everyone, including members of both parties, Defense Secretary Gates, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Admiral Mike Mullen, and late this afternoon, the President himself. Obama said that he is very disturbed by this interview, but that he wanted to talk with McChrystal by making any decisions. Rumor has it that McChrystal has put his resignation on the table, and it's up to Obama whether to accept it.
This isn't just about some stupid comments to a magazine. Obama can't let himself be bullied around by the military brass, like previous Democratic Presidents have been. Others have been afraid of standing up to military leaders because they think they'll be accused of being anti-military. McChrystal can't be allowed to get away with undermining the President. The President is counting on him to execute his strategy for Afghanistan, and he needs his full commitment and support. I hope McChrystal is no longer a commander by tomorrow.
OIL MORATORIUM: In more bad news for the White House today, a District Court judge filed an injunction against the administration's deepwater drilling moratorium. This is a horribly bad decision, because we need to figure out what went wrong and how to drill safely before we cause more damage to the environment. The judge who filed the injunction is a Reagan appointee who has a lot of stock invested in oil companies. Go figure. The administration is appealing the decision.
THE SENATE: The Senate is in a holding pattern as Democratic leaders try to figure out how to pass this long-stalled extenders package. I heard rumors this morning that Majority Leader Reid (D-NV) was ready to throw in the towel on this bill, which made me cringe. I read articles this afternoon, though, that indicated that Democrats are still trying to pass the bill, and are looking to negotiate with Maine moderates Snowe and Collins. The most likely concession would be cuts in Medicaid aid to states. Making devastating cuts out of vague concern for the deficit is short-sighted and nihilistic, but if it's the only way we can get unemployment benefits extended and other aid to state governments, then so be it. I'm just hoping they can get something done before the July 4th recess, which begins next Friday.
THE HOUSE: The House just dealt with some suspension bills today. Tomorrow, they will vote on a measure that would give the President's Oil Spill commission full subpoena power. On Thursday, they'll finally take up the DISCLOSE Act, the campaign finance bill we discussed yesterday. Sources say that Democrats should have enough votes to pass the bill when it comes to the floor.
That's it for tonight, see you tomorrow.
MCCHRYSTAL: The top General in Afghanistan, Stanley McChrystal, is in hot water, and for good reason. In an ill-advised interview to a freelance reporter with The Rolling Stone, McChrystal made a variety of disparaging comments about those above him in the chain of command. Among the targets of his criticism (some of it conveyed through aides), were President Obama, Vice President Biden, Ambassador to Afghanistan Elkenberry, Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, and National Security Advisor Jim Jones. McChrystal said that Obama was not prepared for their first meeting together, and that he came away from that meeting "unimpressed." He made some not-so-veiled references to his disagreements with Vice President Biden, who opposed the troop buildup. He referred to Jones as a "clown" stuck in the 1980's.
I'm not the type of guy who believes strongly in authority structures. That is, except when it comes to civilian control of the military. Civilian command of the military is fundamental to democracy. Commanders serve at the pleasure of the President, and expected to serve with nothing but honor and loyalty. If the General has a problem with someone, he must convey it privately, lest this sacrosanct chain of command be interrupted. By all measures, McChrystal should be fired. This, in fact, is an offense that can get you in trouble in military courts.
McChrystal has been criticized by pretty much everyone, including members of both parties, Defense Secretary Gates, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Admiral Mike Mullen, and late this afternoon, the President himself. Obama said that he is very disturbed by this interview, but that he wanted to talk with McChrystal by making any decisions. Rumor has it that McChrystal has put his resignation on the table, and it's up to Obama whether to accept it.
This isn't just about some stupid comments to a magazine. Obama can't let himself be bullied around by the military brass, like previous Democratic Presidents have been. Others have been afraid of standing up to military leaders because they think they'll be accused of being anti-military. McChrystal can't be allowed to get away with undermining the President. The President is counting on him to execute his strategy for Afghanistan, and he needs his full commitment and support. I hope McChrystal is no longer a commander by tomorrow.
OIL MORATORIUM: In more bad news for the White House today, a District Court judge filed an injunction against the administration's deepwater drilling moratorium. This is a horribly bad decision, because we need to figure out what went wrong and how to drill safely before we cause more damage to the environment. The judge who filed the injunction is a Reagan appointee who has a lot of stock invested in oil companies. Go figure. The administration is appealing the decision.
THE SENATE: The Senate is in a holding pattern as Democratic leaders try to figure out how to pass this long-stalled extenders package. I heard rumors this morning that Majority Leader Reid (D-NV) was ready to throw in the towel on this bill, which made me cringe. I read articles this afternoon, though, that indicated that Democrats are still trying to pass the bill, and are looking to negotiate with Maine moderates Snowe and Collins. The most likely concession would be cuts in Medicaid aid to states. Making devastating cuts out of vague concern for the deficit is short-sighted and nihilistic, but if it's the only way we can get unemployment benefits extended and other aid to state governments, then so be it. I'm just hoping they can get something done before the July 4th recess, which begins next Friday.
THE HOUSE: The House just dealt with some suspension bills today. Tomorrow, they will vote on a measure that would give the President's Oil Spill commission full subpoena power. On Thursday, they'll finally take up the DISCLOSE Act, the campaign finance bill we discussed yesterday. Sources say that Democrats should have enough votes to pass the bill when it comes to the floor.
That's it for tonight, see you tomorrow.
Monday, June 21, 2010
The Weekly Strike-6/21-6/27
Good morning and welcome to the Weekly Strike. We hope you all had a great weekend and are ready to dive back into the depressing world of politics.
THE WHITE HOUSE: The President begins his week not with any of the myriad of issues on his plate, but rather by giving a speech in Ward 8 of Washington, DC on the importance of fatherhood. A similar speech he gave on Father's Day 2008, in Chicago, was one of my favorite of his speeches. At that point, I thought his challenge of deadbeat Dads could really help him break down the cultural divide that has killed Democrats for generations. I guess he's still trying.
Other than that, the President will hold a meeting Wednesday at the White House with members of both parties to discuss comprehensive energy legislation. The President is really trying to push something through by the end of the summer, but I just don't see that happening. For one thing, the Senate only has 30 days left in session before it's August recess, and it still must deal with the current extenders package, war funding, the Financial Regulation conference report, and the Elena Kagan nomination. The way the Senate works these days, I doubt they'll even be able to start consideration of a climate bill. Not to mention the fact that Democrats are nowhere near agreement on how to proceed.The lead negotiators of the bill, Senators Lieberman (CT) and Kerry (MA) both insist that some sort of bill that prices carbon is possible, but I just don't see where the 60 votes are. Republicans no matter what will insist that the bill represents a national energy tax, and coal state Democrats are happy to team up with their Republican rivals on this one.
This weekend, the President will travel to the G20 summit in Toronto, where he will discuss the global economy with world leaders. This will be his first meeting with the new Prime Minister of Great Britain, David Cameron, since Cameron assumed office last month.
THE SENATE: The Senate will start today with votes on three District Court nominees. These nominees are finally starting to move through the Senate after numerous Republican delay tactics. The Senate will then somehow try to finish work on the tax extenders bill, which includes an extension of unemployment insurance. Twice last week, the Senate failed to achieve cloture on two separate versions of the bill, so I guess they'll have to keep negotiating. I fear the fate of struggling Americans falls in the hands of moderate Republicans Snowe (ME), Collins (ME) and Brown (MA), who will be able to extract some serious concessions. I know I covered this extensively last week, but I'll reiterate how much of a shame it is that the Senate can't move this basic package of recession safety net programs. It's very easy to be obsessed with the deficit when you make a secure $150,000 a year, with a pension on the horizon, and you don't even know how to use an ATM card.
It's possible that the Senate will take up the conference report on Financial Regulation if conferees can finish their work this week. More likely, the bill will come up next week, or just after the July recess.
THE HOUSE: The House once again has a busy schedule. After dealing with suspension bills tomorrow and Wednesday, the House will try once again to take up the DISCLOSE Act, which sets new requirements for corporations donating to political campaigns. The bill had to be pulled last week after objections were made to a compromise made with the NRA that exempted the gun organization from the bill's regulations. Hopefully they'll work out this issue by the end of the week.
It's also possible that the House will take up the Senate-passed war funding bill. Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-WI) has been trying to delay the bill until the Senate finishes its extenders package (good for him!). But if the Pentagon says they need money, they'll usually get it. What remains to be seen is whether Obey can succeed in adding funding for state and local governments to prevent layoffs to teachers and public service employees.
We may also see the House take up the conference report on the Iran sanctions bill, which is expected to get broad bipartisan support.
That's it for now, leave some comments!
THE WHITE HOUSE: The President begins his week not with any of the myriad of issues on his plate, but rather by giving a speech in Ward 8 of Washington, DC on the importance of fatherhood. A similar speech he gave on Father's Day 2008, in Chicago, was one of my favorite of his speeches. At that point, I thought his challenge of deadbeat Dads could really help him break down the cultural divide that has killed Democrats for generations. I guess he's still trying.
Other than that, the President will hold a meeting Wednesday at the White House with members of both parties to discuss comprehensive energy legislation. The President is really trying to push something through by the end of the summer, but I just don't see that happening. For one thing, the Senate only has 30 days left in session before it's August recess, and it still must deal with the current extenders package, war funding, the Financial Regulation conference report, and the Elena Kagan nomination. The way the Senate works these days, I doubt they'll even be able to start consideration of a climate bill. Not to mention the fact that Democrats are nowhere near agreement on how to proceed.The lead negotiators of the bill, Senators Lieberman (CT) and Kerry (MA) both insist that some sort of bill that prices carbon is possible, but I just don't see where the 60 votes are. Republicans no matter what will insist that the bill represents a national energy tax, and coal state Democrats are happy to team up with their Republican rivals on this one.
This weekend, the President will travel to the G20 summit in Toronto, where he will discuss the global economy with world leaders. This will be his first meeting with the new Prime Minister of Great Britain, David Cameron, since Cameron assumed office last month.
THE SENATE: The Senate will start today with votes on three District Court nominees. These nominees are finally starting to move through the Senate after numerous Republican delay tactics. The Senate will then somehow try to finish work on the tax extenders bill, which includes an extension of unemployment insurance. Twice last week, the Senate failed to achieve cloture on two separate versions of the bill, so I guess they'll have to keep negotiating. I fear the fate of struggling Americans falls in the hands of moderate Republicans Snowe (ME), Collins (ME) and Brown (MA), who will be able to extract some serious concessions. I know I covered this extensively last week, but I'll reiterate how much of a shame it is that the Senate can't move this basic package of recession safety net programs. It's very easy to be obsessed with the deficit when you make a secure $150,000 a year, with a pension on the horizon, and you don't even know how to use an ATM card.
It's possible that the Senate will take up the conference report on Financial Regulation if conferees can finish their work this week. More likely, the bill will come up next week, or just after the July recess.
THE HOUSE: The House once again has a busy schedule. After dealing with suspension bills tomorrow and Wednesday, the House will try once again to take up the DISCLOSE Act, which sets new requirements for corporations donating to political campaigns. The bill had to be pulled last week after objections were made to a compromise made with the NRA that exempted the gun organization from the bill's regulations. Hopefully they'll work out this issue by the end of the week.
It's also possible that the House will take up the Senate-passed war funding bill. Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-WI) has been trying to delay the bill until the Senate finishes its extenders package (good for him!). But if the Pentagon says they need money, they'll usually get it. What remains to be seen is whether Obey can succeed in adding funding for state and local governments to prevent layoffs to teachers and public service employees.
We may also see the House take up the conference report on the Iran sanctions bill, which is expected to get broad bipartisan support.
That's it for now, leave some comments!
Thursday, June 17, 2010
The Daily Strike-6/17/10-Apologies
Good evening and welcome to the Daily Strike. There are a lot of serious issues out there right now, most notably the continuing negligence and contempt Congress is showing to the unemployed. But I'll devote tonight's entry to a story that will simply dominate a couple of news cycles.
BARTON: Yesterday, as we mentioned, President Obama was able to get BP to voluntarily put $20 billion into an escrow fund to compensate victims of the massive oil spill. Today, a key Republican reacted to that news by giving Democrats a major political gift. Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX), is the ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. When it came time for Barton to give an opening statement at a hearing with BP CEO Tony Heyward, he condemned yesterday's deal as a "shakedown" and apologized to BP. Barton said, "I’m ashamed of what happened in the White House yesterday. I think it is a tragedy of the first proportion that a private corporation can be subjected to what I would characterize as a shakedown, in this case a $20 billion shakedown ."
Both Democrats and Republicans heavily criticized the remark for being extraordinarily tone-deaf and ludicrous. The fact that he is apologizing to the group that screwed up the livelihoods of millions of Americans, and not demanding that THEY apologize is pretty mind boggling. Yet, Barton seems to be reflecting the consensus opinion of many Republicans. Other GOP reps have called yesterday's deal "Chicago-style" deal-making and "redistribution of wealth." Part of it is that Republicans just want to find some way to blame this on President Obama. But a lot of it is that Republicans reflexively defend large corporations no matter how guilty they are.
Republican leaders threatened to remove Barton from his position if he did not retract his statements, and he did so this afternoon. But Democrats seem armed with new ammunition tying Republicans to one of the least popular corporations in the country right now. I'm sure they'll find some way to screw it up.
THE SENATE: This might be one of the worst days in Congress this year. We start in the Senate, where even after leaders paired down the tax extenders/unemployment bill, they failed to gain the 60 votes necessary to cut off debate. The final tally, which just came in a few minutes ago, was 56-40. Democrats had already decreased the unemployment benefits and had shortened an extension of the so-called "doc fix." The bill also had been stripped of COBRA benefits for laid off workers. Even with these revisions, they couldn't pass this bill. All in the midst of 9.7% unemployment. There's not much more to say on this other than that it disgusts me. The vote tally hasn't been published yet, but based on statements it looks like Senator Ben Nelson (NE) is the Democratic holdout. It's possible that there were a couple more. Of course, no Republicans came around to support this legislation, ostensibly because of misguided concerns about adding to the deficit in the short-term. Here's my Kanye moment: The Senate does not care about unemployed people.
I'm not sure what the future holds for this bill. They'll probably have to widdle it down even more to the point that it won't be effective. As of right now, no more votes are scheduled for this week. The general public won't know exactly why this bill got bottled up in Congress, so they'll blame the governing party, and will proceed to elect people who will absolutely never vote to extend unemployment benefits.
The Senate also rejected a Republican substitute that would have cut funding in the bill across the board and offset spending with unused stimulus money. The amendment failed 41-57 along party lines, though Nelson (NE) did vote with the GOP. I can't even talk about the Senate anymore, it makes me too angry.
(Late Edit: Senator Lieberman, one of the most hypocritical deficit hawks, also voted against the bill. I hate him.)
THE HOUSE: The situation in the House isn't much better. The House did finalize a second piece of legislation today designed to spur small business lending. The legislation was approved 241-181. 3 Republicans crossed over to vote yes, while 13 Democrats voted no. No matter what the legislation is these days, a certain group of conservative Democrats pretty much automatically vote against their party.
The House was scheduled to move next to the campaign finance bill sponsored by Reps. Van Hollen (D-MD) and Castle (R-DE). However, Speaker Pelosi was forced to withdraw the bill from the floor due to concerns from both the Congressional Black Caucus and the Blue Dogs. The CBC was upset that the NRA got a special carve out while groups like the NAACP would still be forced into new stringent disclosure requirements. Blue Dogs didn't want to vote for a bill that's opposed by so many key interest groups, like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. As a result, this bill will not come up until next week, at the earliest.
To put it mildly, this is not a day to be particularly proud of our democratic institutions.
BARTON: Yesterday, as we mentioned, President Obama was able to get BP to voluntarily put $20 billion into an escrow fund to compensate victims of the massive oil spill. Today, a key Republican reacted to that news by giving Democrats a major political gift. Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX), is the ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. When it came time for Barton to give an opening statement at a hearing with BP CEO Tony Heyward, he condemned yesterday's deal as a "shakedown" and apologized to BP. Barton said, "I’m ashamed of what happened in the White House yesterday. I think it is a tragedy of the first proportion that a private corporation can be subjected to what I would characterize as a shakedown, in this case a $20 billion shakedown ."
Both Democrats and Republicans heavily criticized the remark for being extraordinarily tone-deaf and ludicrous. The fact that he is apologizing to the group that screwed up the livelihoods of millions of Americans, and not demanding that THEY apologize is pretty mind boggling. Yet, Barton seems to be reflecting the consensus opinion of many Republicans. Other GOP reps have called yesterday's deal "Chicago-style" deal-making and "redistribution of wealth." Part of it is that Republicans just want to find some way to blame this on President Obama. But a lot of it is that Republicans reflexively defend large corporations no matter how guilty they are.
Republican leaders threatened to remove Barton from his position if he did not retract his statements, and he did so this afternoon. But Democrats seem armed with new ammunition tying Republicans to one of the least popular corporations in the country right now. I'm sure they'll find some way to screw it up.
THE SENATE: This might be one of the worst days in Congress this year. We start in the Senate, where even after leaders paired down the tax extenders/unemployment bill, they failed to gain the 60 votes necessary to cut off debate. The final tally, which just came in a few minutes ago, was 56-40. Democrats had already decreased the unemployment benefits and had shortened an extension of the so-called "doc fix." The bill also had been stripped of COBRA benefits for laid off workers. Even with these revisions, they couldn't pass this bill. All in the midst of 9.7% unemployment. There's not much more to say on this other than that it disgusts me. The vote tally hasn't been published yet, but based on statements it looks like Senator Ben Nelson (NE) is the Democratic holdout. It's possible that there were a couple more. Of course, no Republicans came around to support this legislation, ostensibly because of misguided concerns about adding to the deficit in the short-term. Here's my Kanye moment: The Senate does not care about unemployed people.
I'm not sure what the future holds for this bill. They'll probably have to widdle it down even more to the point that it won't be effective. As of right now, no more votes are scheduled for this week. The general public won't know exactly why this bill got bottled up in Congress, so they'll blame the governing party, and will proceed to elect people who will absolutely never vote to extend unemployment benefits.
The Senate also rejected a Republican substitute that would have cut funding in the bill across the board and offset spending with unused stimulus money. The amendment failed 41-57 along party lines, though Nelson (NE) did vote with the GOP. I can't even talk about the Senate anymore, it makes me too angry.
(Late Edit: Senator Lieberman, one of the most hypocritical deficit hawks, also voted against the bill. I hate him.)
THE HOUSE: The situation in the House isn't much better. The House did finalize a second piece of legislation today designed to spur small business lending. The legislation was approved 241-181. 3 Republicans crossed over to vote yes, while 13 Democrats voted no. No matter what the legislation is these days, a certain group of conservative Democrats pretty much automatically vote against their party.
The House was scheduled to move next to the campaign finance bill sponsored by Reps. Van Hollen (D-MD) and Castle (R-DE). However, Speaker Pelosi was forced to withdraw the bill from the floor due to concerns from both the Congressional Black Caucus and the Blue Dogs. The CBC was upset that the NRA got a special carve out while groups like the NAACP would still be forced into new stringent disclosure requirements. Blue Dogs didn't want to vote for a bill that's opposed by so many key interest groups, like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. As a result, this bill will not come up until next week, at the earliest.
To put it mildly, this is not a day to be particularly proud of our democratic institutions.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
The Daily Strike-6/16/10-Escrow
Good evening and welcome to the Daily Strike. I hope you caught the President's address last night. It has been pretty widely panned from both the left and the right in the last 24 hours, and I think rightly so. The President did not make a convincing case for energy reform. He did not go into specifics as to why we need to put a price on carbon. I had more thoughts on the speech in my Twitter feed, but for now, I'll get to the good news. Oh, and then I'll lay into the United States Senate for awhile.
ESCROW: The President won a pretty huge victory today when he got BP to agree to a $20 billion escrow fund to compensate victims of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. The payments will be administered by Kenneth Feinberg, who was in charge of compensating victims of the September 11th attacks. BP, notably, will also suspend dividends to shareholders this year, and will throw down an additional $100 million to help oil workers hurt by the administration's 6 month moratorium on deep water drilling.
Besides actually stopping the spill, this is probably the best thing the President could have done. I bet he wishes he agreed to this deal yesterday. The only thing I'll say is that BP and the White House should have come to this agreement much sooner.
After announcing the agreement, the chairman of the BP board asserted that the company cares about "the small people." I probably would have phrased it just a bit differently. For his part, the President said that he asked shareholders to keep the victims in mind who have had their livelihoods completely destroyed.
It also seems like President Obama is finally starting outreach to key Senators as he tries to get momentum for some sort of climate bill. Today he met with Republican Senator Scott Brown of Massachusetts. I think the chances of actually getting a progressive climate bill this year, are unfortunately, very low.
THE SENATE: Oh, the United States Senate. I'm just not sure it could get much worse than this. Today, the Senate failed to cut off debate on the tax extenders bill, which includes unemployment benefits. This time, it wasn't even the filibuster that killed it. The bill only got 45 votes, with 52 voting no. 12 Democrats voted against giving people help during a deep recession, and it wasn't just moderates. Liberals such as Senators Feingold (WI), Kohl (WI) and Menendez (NJ) joined your usual cast of ConservaDems: Bayh (IN), Begich (AK), Landrieu (LA), Lieberman (CT), McCaskill (MO), Nelson (FL), Nelson (NE), Pryor (AR), and Webb (VA). In order for the bill to pass, Democratic leaders will be forced to allay misguided concerns about the deficit. This means cutting unemployment benefits and aid to state governments. It is unconscienable that our Senate has become deficit-obsessed when we read stories daily about schools closing and people unable to find work. Ezra KIein writes up a phenomenal summation of the policy implications of this vote, which you can read here. I'll just add that it doesn't complete shock me that so many Senators voted no today. None of them have felt the brunt of this recession. They're all making six figures, and raking in donations from the financial industry. Their friends too are well-connected, as are those they spend most of their day with (staffers, donors etc.). It's becoming crystal clear that most Senators just don't care about bringing down the 9.7% unemployment rate. If it were about the deficit, these same Senators would have voted to eliminate oil subsidies, or would have raised taxes in corporate dividends. What we're seeing is just a fundamental failure of democracy.
The Senate did have time to vote on a couple of amendments to the bill. One by Majority Leader Reid (D-NV) extends the homebuyer's tax credit through the end of this year. A companion amendment from Senator Isakson (R-GA) that would have used stimulus money to pay for this extension narrowly failed.
THE HOUSE: The House continued work on the 2nd part of its Small Business package, which they'll wrap up tomorrow. I'm still not sure whether they'll get to the DISCLOSE Act this week. The Act, as we mentioned, would set new rules on campaign donations in response to this year's Supreme Court decision in Citizens United.
I should also mention that House and Senate conferees continue to work out their differences on the Wall Street reform bill. It seems like things are moving along, and it still looks like we could get a vote in both chambers before the July 4th recess.
One complication, which absolutely amazes me, is that several New York Democrats are threatening to withhold their votes if reform becomes too stringent, especially on derivatives. As Rep. Joe Crowley said, " "Those of us in New York represent not only Main Street, but Wall Street, as well."
I guess that's today's Democratic Party. Fight tooth and nail to protect Wall Street, ignore the plight of the unemployed. Shoot me.
ESCROW: The President won a pretty huge victory today when he got BP to agree to a $20 billion escrow fund to compensate victims of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. The payments will be administered by Kenneth Feinberg, who was in charge of compensating victims of the September 11th attacks. BP, notably, will also suspend dividends to shareholders this year, and will throw down an additional $100 million to help oil workers hurt by the administration's 6 month moratorium on deep water drilling.
Besides actually stopping the spill, this is probably the best thing the President could have done. I bet he wishes he agreed to this deal yesterday. The only thing I'll say is that BP and the White House should have come to this agreement much sooner.
After announcing the agreement, the chairman of the BP board asserted that the company cares about "the small people." I probably would have phrased it just a bit differently. For his part, the President said that he asked shareholders to keep the victims in mind who have had their livelihoods completely destroyed.
It also seems like President Obama is finally starting outreach to key Senators as he tries to get momentum for some sort of climate bill. Today he met with Republican Senator Scott Brown of Massachusetts. I think the chances of actually getting a progressive climate bill this year, are unfortunately, very low.
THE SENATE: Oh, the United States Senate. I'm just not sure it could get much worse than this. Today, the Senate failed to cut off debate on the tax extenders bill, which includes unemployment benefits. This time, it wasn't even the filibuster that killed it. The bill only got 45 votes, with 52 voting no. 12 Democrats voted against giving people help during a deep recession, and it wasn't just moderates. Liberals such as Senators Feingold (WI), Kohl (WI) and Menendez (NJ) joined your usual cast of ConservaDems: Bayh (IN), Begich (AK), Landrieu (LA), Lieberman (CT), McCaskill (MO), Nelson (FL), Nelson (NE), Pryor (AR), and Webb (VA). In order for the bill to pass, Democratic leaders will be forced to allay misguided concerns about the deficit. This means cutting unemployment benefits and aid to state governments. It is unconscienable that our Senate has become deficit-obsessed when we read stories daily about schools closing and people unable to find work. Ezra KIein writes up a phenomenal summation of the policy implications of this vote, which you can read here. I'll just add that it doesn't complete shock me that so many Senators voted no today. None of them have felt the brunt of this recession. They're all making six figures, and raking in donations from the financial industry. Their friends too are well-connected, as are those they spend most of their day with (staffers, donors etc.). It's becoming crystal clear that most Senators just don't care about bringing down the 9.7% unemployment rate. If it were about the deficit, these same Senators would have voted to eliminate oil subsidies, or would have raised taxes in corporate dividends. What we're seeing is just a fundamental failure of democracy.
The Senate did have time to vote on a couple of amendments to the bill. One by Majority Leader Reid (D-NV) extends the homebuyer's tax credit through the end of this year. A companion amendment from Senator Isakson (R-GA) that would have used stimulus money to pay for this extension narrowly failed.
THE HOUSE: The House continued work on the 2nd part of its Small Business package, which they'll wrap up tomorrow. I'm still not sure whether they'll get to the DISCLOSE Act this week. The Act, as we mentioned, would set new rules on campaign donations in response to this year's Supreme Court decision in Citizens United.
I should also mention that House and Senate conferees continue to work out their differences on the Wall Street reform bill. It seems like things are moving along, and it still looks like we could get a vote in both chambers before the July 4th recess.
One complication, which absolutely amazes me, is that several New York Democrats are threatening to withhold their votes if reform becomes too stringent, especially on derivatives. As Rep. Joe Crowley said, " "Those of us in New York represent not only Main Street, but Wall Street, as well."
I guess that's today's Democratic Party. Fight tooth and nail to protect Wall Street, ignore the plight of the unemployed. Shoot me.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
The Daily Strike-6/15/10-The Oval Office Address
Good evening and welcome to the Daily Strike. We're coming to you just before the President makes a nationally televised speech to the nation on the oil spill along the Gulf Coast. According to early reports, the President will talk about the administration's response to the spill, ongoing federal efforts to rebuild suffering industries what he plans to ask from BP executives at a meeting tomorrow. He's also likely to use the opportunity to call for comprehensive energy legislation before this year's midterm elections. The naysayers are rightly pointing out how much of an heavy lift this will be, but he might as well use this opportunity to go for bold change. To hear my thoughts on the speech in real time, follow my Twitter account. Here's the rest of the day in politics:
THE SENATE: The Senate continued work on the extenders bill (the bill that extends expiring tax breaks and unemployment insurance). Yesterday, Majority Leader Reid (D-NV) filed cloture on the bill, though he withdrew the motion today, most likely realizing that he doesn't have 60 votes to give basic safety net protection to millions of Americans during a recession. He will have to give in to the unreasonable demands of moderate Democrats and Republicans, and not surprisingly, he'll be dealing with the usual suspects, like Senators Nelson (D-NE), Snowe (R-ME) and Collins (R-ME). Until Reid can reach some sort of deal, the debate will continue indefinitely. While it continues, Senators will vote on amendments like they did today.
The first couple of amendments dealt with the oil spill issue. Senator Sanders (I-VT) wisely proposed removing millions of dollars in subsidies to oil companies. You'd think with all the deficit hawks in Congress, this would be a no-brainer. But you're forgetting that these self-proclaimed deficit hawks only care about spending when it goes to the poor or middle class! The amendment failed by a vote of 35-61. Every Republican voted against the amendment, as did the following corporate Democrats who have a lot of explaining to do: Akaka (HI), Baucus (MT), Bayh (IN), Begich (AK), Bennet (CO), Bingaman (NM), Conrad (ND), Dodd (CT), Dorgan (ND), Hagan (NC), Inouye (HI), Kerry (MA), Landrieu (LA), Lieberman (CT), Lincoln (AR), Nelson (NE), Pryor (AR), Tester (MT), Udall (CO), Udall (NM), Warner (VA) and Webb (VA).
Next was an amendment from Senator Vitter (R-LA) that would have sought to ensure that any revenues from the oil trust fund would be used to pay off the deficit and not go into any new spending. The amendment failed by a vote of 48-49, with Vitter getting the support of 9 Democrats.
The final amendment, from Senator Franken (D-MN) establishes a Office of the Homeowner Advocate for the purposes of informing people of their options under the Home Affordable Modification Program. The amendment passed 63-33, with the support of every Democrat besides Conrad (ND) and Nelson (NE). Republicans Brown (MA), Burr (NC), Collins (ME), Graham (SC), Grassley (IA), Murkowski (AK), Snowe (ME) and Vitter (LA).
The Senate also approved three District Court nominees today, which leaves about 30 seats vacant! Don't you just love the Senate?
THE HOUSE: The House today passed an important bill to spur small business lending by a vote of 247-170. 5 Republicans crossed over to support the bill, while 8 Democrats voted no, out of concern that the bill would add to the deficit. This is a pretty unambitious proposal to accelerate lending to business so that they can invest in capital. I'm surprised (sort of) that it faced such opposition.
More interesting, though, was the Republican motion to recommit that preceded the vote on final passage. Republicans used the motion to bring up a vote on whether to overturn the individual mandate in the new health care law. Republicans have been harping about the provision being unconstitutional and evil. Of course, by eliminating the individual mandate, the entire law would be undermined. Insurance prices would go up, because while companies would be required to cover people with preexisting conditions, healthy people would not be getting into the insurance pool. Republicans, though, were mostly interested in scoring a political point. And they did a pretty good job, on first glance. 21 Democrats crossed over to support repeal, all of whom voted against health care in the first place. Rep. Cao (R-LA) was the lone Republican voting no. Let's just hope that the 21 Democrats who voted yes today are the first to be defeated in this November's election. Here's the list in case you're interested: Altmire (PA), Boren (OK), Boucher (VA), Bright (AL), Chandler (KY), Childers (MS), Critz (PA), Davis (TN), Edwards (TX), Holden (PA), Marshall (GA), McIntyre (NC), Minnick (ID), Nye (VA), Peterson (MN), Ross (AR), Shuler (NC), Skelton (MO), Tanner (TN), Taylor (MS) and Teague (NM).
That's it for tonight. Head over to my Twitter account for my reaction to the speech.
THE SENATE: The Senate continued work on the extenders bill (the bill that extends expiring tax breaks and unemployment insurance). Yesterday, Majority Leader Reid (D-NV) filed cloture on the bill, though he withdrew the motion today, most likely realizing that he doesn't have 60 votes to give basic safety net protection to millions of Americans during a recession. He will have to give in to the unreasonable demands of moderate Democrats and Republicans, and not surprisingly, he'll be dealing with the usual suspects, like Senators Nelson (D-NE), Snowe (R-ME) and Collins (R-ME). Until Reid can reach some sort of deal, the debate will continue indefinitely. While it continues, Senators will vote on amendments like they did today.
The first couple of amendments dealt with the oil spill issue. Senator Sanders (I-VT) wisely proposed removing millions of dollars in subsidies to oil companies. You'd think with all the deficit hawks in Congress, this would be a no-brainer. But you're forgetting that these self-proclaimed deficit hawks only care about spending when it goes to the poor or middle class! The amendment failed by a vote of 35-61. Every Republican voted against the amendment, as did the following corporate Democrats who have a lot of explaining to do: Akaka (HI), Baucus (MT), Bayh (IN), Begich (AK), Bennet (CO), Bingaman (NM), Conrad (ND), Dodd (CT), Dorgan (ND), Hagan (NC), Inouye (HI), Kerry (MA), Landrieu (LA), Lieberman (CT), Lincoln (AR), Nelson (NE), Pryor (AR), Tester (MT), Udall (CO), Udall (NM), Warner (VA) and Webb (VA).
Next was an amendment from Senator Vitter (R-LA) that would have sought to ensure that any revenues from the oil trust fund would be used to pay off the deficit and not go into any new spending. The amendment failed by a vote of 48-49, with Vitter getting the support of 9 Democrats.
The final amendment, from Senator Franken (D-MN) establishes a Office of the Homeowner Advocate for the purposes of informing people of their options under the Home Affordable Modification Program. The amendment passed 63-33, with the support of every Democrat besides Conrad (ND) and Nelson (NE). Republicans Brown (MA), Burr (NC), Collins (ME), Graham (SC), Grassley (IA), Murkowski (AK), Snowe (ME) and Vitter (LA).
The Senate also approved three District Court nominees today, which leaves about 30 seats vacant! Don't you just love the Senate?
THE HOUSE: The House today passed an important bill to spur small business lending by a vote of 247-170. 5 Republicans crossed over to support the bill, while 8 Democrats voted no, out of concern that the bill would add to the deficit. This is a pretty unambitious proposal to accelerate lending to business so that they can invest in capital. I'm surprised (sort of) that it faced such opposition.
More interesting, though, was the Republican motion to recommit that preceded the vote on final passage. Republicans used the motion to bring up a vote on whether to overturn the individual mandate in the new health care law. Republicans have been harping about the provision being unconstitutional and evil. Of course, by eliminating the individual mandate, the entire law would be undermined. Insurance prices would go up, because while companies would be required to cover people with preexisting conditions, healthy people would not be getting into the insurance pool. Republicans, though, were mostly interested in scoring a political point. And they did a pretty good job, on first glance. 21 Democrats crossed over to support repeal, all of whom voted against health care in the first place. Rep. Cao (R-LA) was the lone Republican voting no. Let's just hope that the 21 Democrats who voted yes today are the first to be defeated in this November's election. Here's the list in case you're interested: Altmire (PA), Boren (OK), Boucher (VA), Bright (AL), Chandler (KY), Childers (MS), Critz (PA), Davis (TN), Edwards (TX), Holden (PA), Marshall (GA), McIntyre (NC), Minnick (ID), Nye (VA), Peterson (MN), Ross (AR), Shuler (NC), Skelton (MO), Tanner (TN), Taylor (MS) and Teague (NM).
That's it for tonight. Head over to my Twitter account for my reaction to the speech.
Monday, June 14, 2010
The Weekly Strike-6/14-6/20
Good morning and welcome to the Weekly Strike. It looks like this is the week President Obama will try to take full charge of the oil spill response. Let's get to the week in politics.
THE WHITE HOUSE: After facing complaints that he has been slow to react to the devastating oil spill in the gulf coast, the President this week will take matters into his own hands. Today and tomorrow, he will be traveling to the Gulf Coast states of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana to again tour the devastation. When he returns, he will address the nation from the Oval Office, his first such address as President. There is no setting more Presidential than an Oval Office address, and it seems like President Obama wants to prove to the American people that he is ready to be a true leader in cleaning up this mess.
Along with the change of style, the administration is also pursuing a change in policy. The Obama administration will ask BP executives at a Wednesday meeting to set up an escrow account, worth up to $20 billion, to fully repay victims of the disaster. BP is publicly mum on whether they will accept this plan, but my guess is that they'll be publicly ho-hum, while fighting tooth-and-nail in private. I'm frankly more interested in what comes out of this meeting than I am with the President's speech tomorrow night. This is where we'll learn whether the Obama administration can get sucker-punch a corporation that has been thoroughly discredited in public.
I'm also pleased to see that the President is taking some leadership on the jobs issue. This Saturday night, Obama sent a letter to Congressional leaders asking them to approve $50 billion in emergency funding for states and localities to prevent layoffs to teachers, firefighters and policemen. It's unclear whether Democrats on Capital Hill can move this funding quickly. They'd probably have to include it in the current jobs legislation, now on the Senate floor, or as part of a larger war-funding measure. Nothing could do more immediately to stave off a double-dip recession than emergency spending to protect state employees. It may not make sense to brain-dead conservatives, but it's not exactly a great investment in our future when kids are forced to sit in classes with 100 other students, police forces can't protect neighborhoods, and thousands of workers don't have any money to spend.
This funding will be universally opposed by Republicans, who have taken up the mantle of deficit-peacocks this election season. The big problem, once again, will be Blue Dog Democrats, whose misguided concerns about the debt will lead them to oppose this common-sense jobs measure, which in turn will keep joblessness high and doom their chances for reelection. To win over some Blue Dogs, the best option might be to couple this emergency funding with steps two or three years down the road that reduce the deficit. This way, you can do something about the jobs situation now, but also improve our fiscal balance sheet in the long-term.
THE SENATE: The Senate this week will continue to slog through the bill to extend a variety of tax provisions, as well as long-term unemployment benefits. The bill has been hung up while Democrats seek to find spending offsets and make other changes. There will be no votes on the bill today or tomorrow, so the earliest we could see final action on this bill probably won't be until Thursday or Friday.
The Senate will also take up some District Court nominees tomorrow.
THE HOUSE: The House gavels in today for a busy week of work. After dealing with suspension bills today and tomorrow, the House will take up a measure designed to spur lending to small businesses. This is a bill pushed heavily by the White House in recent weeks. I expect the bill to pass, with little to no Republican support. I would love to see how they explain away this one!
The House also might take action on a couple of other key pieces of legislation. It's possible we could see consideration of the DISCLOSE Act, a bill that would require corporations to stand by their advertisements of political candidates. This bill is in response to the Supreme Court's decision in the Citizens United case. It's possible we could see the House take up the war-funding bill by the end of the week as well.
That's it for now, see you tonight!
THE WHITE HOUSE: After facing complaints that he has been slow to react to the devastating oil spill in the gulf coast, the President this week will take matters into his own hands. Today and tomorrow, he will be traveling to the Gulf Coast states of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana to again tour the devastation. When he returns, he will address the nation from the Oval Office, his first such address as President. There is no setting more Presidential than an Oval Office address, and it seems like President Obama wants to prove to the American people that he is ready to be a true leader in cleaning up this mess.
Along with the change of style, the administration is also pursuing a change in policy. The Obama administration will ask BP executives at a Wednesday meeting to set up an escrow account, worth up to $20 billion, to fully repay victims of the disaster. BP is publicly mum on whether they will accept this plan, but my guess is that they'll be publicly ho-hum, while fighting tooth-and-nail in private. I'm frankly more interested in what comes out of this meeting than I am with the President's speech tomorrow night. This is where we'll learn whether the Obama administration can get sucker-punch a corporation that has been thoroughly discredited in public.
I'm also pleased to see that the President is taking some leadership on the jobs issue. This Saturday night, Obama sent a letter to Congressional leaders asking them to approve $50 billion in emergency funding for states and localities to prevent layoffs to teachers, firefighters and policemen. It's unclear whether Democrats on Capital Hill can move this funding quickly. They'd probably have to include it in the current jobs legislation, now on the Senate floor, or as part of a larger war-funding measure. Nothing could do more immediately to stave off a double-dip recession than emergency spending to protect state employees. It may not make sense to brain-dead conservatives, but it's not exactly a great investment in our future when kids are forced to sit in classes with 100 other students, police forces can't protect neighborhoods, and thousands of workers don't have any money to spend.
This funding will be universally opposed by Republicans, who have taken up the mantle of deficit-peacocks this election season. The big problem, once again, will be Blue Dog Democrats, whose misguided concerns about the debt will lead them to oppose this common-sense jobs measure, which in turn will keep joblessness high and doom their chances for reelection. To win over some Blue Dogs, the best option might be to couple this emergency funding with steps two or three years down the road that reduce the deficit. This way, you can do something about the jobs situation now, but also improve our fiscal balance sheet in the long-term.
THE SENATE: The Senate this week will continue to slog through the bill to extend a variety of tax provisions, as well as long-term unemployment benefits. The bill has been hung up while Democrats seek to find spending offsets and make other changes. There will be no votes on the bill today or tomorrow, so the earliest we could see final action on this bill probably won't be until Thursday or Friday.
The Senate will also take up some District Court nominees tomorrow.
THE HOUSE: The House gavels in today for a busy week of work. After dealing with suspension bills today and tomorrow, the House will take up a measure designed to spur lending to small businesses. This is a bill pushed heavily by the White House in recent weeks. I expect the bill to pass, with little to no Republican support. I would love to see how they explain away this one!
The House also might take action on a couple of other key pieces of legislation. It's possible we could see consideration of the DISCLOSE Act, a bill that would require corporations to stand by their advertisements of political candidates. This bill is in response to the Supreme Court's decision in the Citizens United case. It's possible we could see the House take up the war-funding bill by the end of the week as well.
That's it for now, see you tonight!
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
The Daily Strike-6/9/10-Election Redux
Good evening and welcome to the Daily Strike. Primary election season is about half-way done, and it's been an interesting one. Let's get to it.
ELECTION: Last night, primary elections were held across the country, and there were more than a few notable races. The biggest disappointment of the night came in Arkansas, where incumbent Centrist Democrat Blanche Lincoln held off a challenge from the labor-backed Lt. Governor Bill Halter. I was rooting for Halter mostly because I think we should hold Democrats accountable who do the bidding of corporations. Lincoln has been a major thorn in the side of Democrats on almost every issue since President Obama took office (with the exception of her recent work on financial regulation). Truth be told, the election last night doesn't matter very much, because both candidates would lose big to Republican nominee Rep. John Boozman. I would be shocked of Boozman is not the next Senator from Arkansas.
In Nevada, Democrats have seemingly caught a pretty nice break. Republicans have nominated tea-party candidate Sharron Angle, who has all kinds of interesting views (she's against putting fluoride in our water supply) to run against Majority Leader Harry Reid (NV). Reid is very unpopular, and would lose to a decent Republican this year, but he may be saved by Angle's nuttiness. I have upgraded Reid's chances in our Senate Rankings to "Toss Up."
In California, two female former executives won big. Carly Fiorina, who left Hewlett Packard in disgrace and recently said that concerns about global warming are akin to "concerns about the weather" will face Senator Barbara Boxer. I think Boxer is a favorite against Fiorina, even though she's not rating very highly in the polls these days. Meg Whitman, formerly of EBAY, will run against Democratic Attorney General, and former Governor, Jerry Brown in the race for the statehouse. I believe Brown to be a slight favorite due to his name recognition, but Whitman is certainly capable of pouring millions of her own money into the race.
Out in South Carolina, there will be a runoff in the Republican race for Governor between Congressman Gresham Barrett (who voted for Tarp! Gasp!) and tea-party favorite Nikki Haley, who seems to have withstood a potential sex scandal. Haley was close to winning the race outright last night, and I would suspect that she'll route Barrett in the runoff.
In the night's only general election race, Republican Tom Graves won a House seat in Georgia, replacing Nathan Deal, who quit Congress to run for Governor. Graves was up against another Republican, as no Democrats were able to qualify for the runoff. Graves will take his seat this week, which will give Republicans 178 House seats (vs. 255 for the Democrats, with 2 vacancies).
I changed some election rankings on the right side of the screen after last night's results. Let me know what you think!
THE SENATE: The Senate, shockingly, is making progress on the long forestalled jobs bill that we've covered extensively on this blog. The bill would extend expiring tax breaks and unemployment benefits. The Senate version includes a reduction in a proposed tax on financial transactions, supplemented by a tax increase on oil companies. Today, the Senate voted on a several amendments to the bill.
The first amendment, offered by Senator Cardin (D-MD) would have allowed the children of those who work for the federal government to get access to their parents' health care until they are 26 (similar to the provision in the health care law). Apparently, Senators are wealthy enough that this benefit doesn't matter to them as much as it would say, to a janitor in some federal building. The amendment got 57 votes, three short of what it would have needed to overcome budget restrictions. All Republicans, as well as Senator Feingold (WI), voted no.
Senators killed two Republican amendments, one from Senator Roberts (KS) that would have exempted pediatric medical devices from the new tax on medical equipment, and another from Senator Cornyn that would have required more transparency into the holders of U.S. debt.
The most crucial amendment was offered by Senators Sessions (R-AL) and McCaskill (D-MO). It would freeze non-defense discretionary spending for three years, which goes beyond the proposed freeze offered by President Obama. The amendment failed to get the 60 votes needed to advance. The final tally was 57-41, with all Republicans and Democrats Bayh (IN), Begich (AK), Bennet (CO), Cantwell (WA), Carper (DE), Casey (PA), Klobuchar (MN), Lieberman (CT), Lincoln (AR), McCaskill (MO), Nelson (NE), Nelson (FL), Shaheen (NH), Udall (CO), Warner (VA) and Webb (VA) voted yes.
The Senate will take an unfortunate break from this bill tomorrow while they consider an ill-advised resolution stripping the EPA from the authority to regulate greenhouse gases. We'll have more on that tomorrow. I hope President Obama takes a more active role in seeing this jobs bill through to its conclusion as soon as possible.
THE HOUSE: The House took a couple of procedural votes today relating to the upcoming House-Senate conference on the Wall Street reform legislation. Republicans offered a non-binding motion to instruct conferees that recommends the removal of a few Senate provisions, and asks that the bill be made available online 72 hours prior to a vote. The motion was rejected 198-217.
The House moves tomorrow to a bill reforming the Federal Housing Administration.
That's it for tonight. See you tomorrow!
ELECTION: Last night, primary elections were held across the country, and there were more than a few notable races. The biggest disappointment of the night came in Arkansas, where incumbent Centrist Democrat Blanche Lincoln held off a challenge from the labor-backed Lt. Governor Bill Halter. I was rooting for Halter mostly because I think we should hold Democrats accountable who do the bidding of corporations. Lincoln has been a major thorn in the side of Democrats on almost every issue since President Obama took office (with the exception of her recent work on financial regulation). Truth be told, the election last night doesn't matter very much, because both candidates would lose big to Republican nominee Rep. John Boozman. I would be shocked of Boozman is not the next Senator from Arkansas.
In Nevada, Democrats have seemingly caught a pretty nice break. Republicans have nominated tea-party candidate Sharron Angle, who has all kinds of interesting views (she's against putting fluoride in our water supply) to run against Majority Leader Harry Reid (NV). Reid is very unpopular, and would lose to a decent Republican this year, but he may be saved by Angle's nuttiness. I have upgraded Reid's chances in our Senate Rankings to "Toss Up."
In California, two female former executives won big. Carly Fiorina, who left Hewlett Packard in disgrace and recently said that concerns about global warming are akin to "concerns about the weather" will face Senator Barbara Boxer. I think Boxer is a favorite against Fiorina, even though she's not rating very highly in the polls these days. Meg Whitman, formerly of EBAY, will run against Democratic Attorney General, and former Governor, Jerry Brown in the race for the statehouse. I believe Brown to be a slight favorite due to his name recognition, but Whitman is certainly capable of pouring millions of her own money into the race.
Out in South Carolina, there will be a runoff in the Republican race for Governor between Congressman Gresham Barrett (who voted for Tarp! Gasp!) and tea-party favorite Nikki Haley, who seems to have withstood a potential sex scandal. Haley was close to winning the race outright last night, and I would suspect that she'll route Barrett in the runoff.
In the night's only general election race, Republican Tom Graves won a House seat in Georgia, replacing Nathan Deal, who quit Congress to run for Governor. Graves was up against another Republican, as no Democrats were able to qualify for the runoff. Graves will take his seat this week, which will give Republicans 178 House seats (vs. 255 for the Democrats, with 2 vacancies).
I changed some election rankings on the right side of the screen after last night's results. Let me know what you think!
THE SENATE: The Senate, shockingly, is making progress on the long forestalled jobs bill that we've covered extensively on this blog. The bill would extend expiring tax breaks and unemployment benefits. The Senate version includes a reduction in a proposed tax on financial transactions, supplemented by a tax increase on oil companies. Today, the Senate voted on a several amendments to the bill.
The first amendment, offered by Senator Cardin (D-MD) would have allowed the children of those who work for the federal government to get access to their parents' health care until they are 26 (similar to the provision in the health care law). Apparently, Senators are wealthy enough that this benefit doesn't matter to them as much as it would say, to a janitor in some federal building. The amendment got 57 votes, three short of what it would have needed to overcome budget restrictions. All Republicans, as well as Senator Feingold (WI), voted no.
Senators killed two Republican amendments, one from Senator Roberts (KS) that would have exempted pediatric medical devices from the new tax on medical equipment, and another from Senator Cornyn that would have required more transparency into the holders of U.S. debt.
The most crucial amendment was offered by Senators Sessions (R-AL) and McCaskill (D-MO). It would freeze non-defense discretionary spending for three years, which goes beyond the proposed freeze offered by President Obama. The amendment failed to get the 60 votes needed to advance. The final tally was 57-41, with all Republicans and Democrats Bayh (IN), Begich (AK), Bennet (CO), Cantwell (WA), Carper (DE), Casey (PA), Klobuchar (MN), Lieberman (CT), Lincoln (AR), McCaskill (MO), Nelson (NE), Nelson (FL), Shaheen (NH), Udall (CO), Warner (VA) and Webb (VA) voted yes.
The Senate will take an unfortunate break from this bill tomorrow while they consider an ill-advised resolution stripping the EPA from the authority to regulate greenhouse gases. We'll have more on that tomorrow. I hope President Obama takes a more active role in seeing this jobs bill through to its conclusion as soon as possible.
THE HOUSE: The House took a couple of procedural votes today relating to the upcoming House-Senate conference on the Wall Street reform legislation. Republicans offered a non-binding motion to instruct conferees that recommends the removal of a few Senate provisions, and asks that the bill be made available online 72 hours prior to a vote. The motion was rejected 198-217.
The House moves tomorrow to a bill reforming the Federal Housing Administration.
That's it for tonight. See you tomorrow!
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