The Daily Strike-2/4/10-A Legislative Accomplishment?

Good evening and welcome to the Daily Strike. I'm happy to take a break from stocking up on milk and toilet paper in advance of the DC Snowpocolypse and fill you in on the day in politics.

THE HOUSE: On the day that the Democrats officially lost their 60-seat majority, Congress actually sent a reasonably important piece of legislation to President Obama's desk! It's been awhile. Unfortunately, this bill isn't quite anything to write home about. The House voted today to agree to the Senate-passed bill that both raises the debt ceiling and implements new pay-as-you-go budgeting rules. Because House leaders wanted their members to be able to vote for the PAYGO provision (popular!) and against raising the debt ceiling (unpopular) they voted on each part of the bill separately.

The debt ceiling portion, as expected, passed by an extremely narrow 217-212 vote. 37 Democrats joined every single Republican in opposition. It still amazes me how easily politicians can get away with votes like this. If we did not raise the debt ceiling, we would default on our loans and the economy would descend into chaos. The PAYGO provision, which requires Congress to offset all new spending increases with offsetting spending cuts or tax increases, passed by a larger vote of 233-187. This has long been a cause celebre of Blue Dog Democrats, which makes it all the more confusing that a few Blue Dog Democrats voted against it. Once again, Republicans all voted no, because they think that the provision will result in tax increases.

For those of you Congress nerds, here is a list of Democrats who voted against the debt ceiling and PAYGO. For the rest of you, skip down to the next section.

Debt Ceiling: Adler (NJ), Boccieri (OH), Bright (AL), Carney (PA), Childers (MS), Donnelly (IN), Drieuhaus (OH), Ellsworth (IN), Foster (IL), Giffords (AZ), Grayson (FL) (that one surprises me), Halvorson (IL), Hodes (NH), Kirkpatrick (AZ), Kissell (NC), Kosmas (FL), Kratovil (MD), Maffei (NY), Markey (CO), Massa (NY), McIntyre (NC), McNerney (CA), Melancon (LA), Minnick (ID), Mitchell (AZ), Murphy (NY), Murphy (PA), Nye (VA), Owens (NY), Perriello (VA), Peters (MI), Schauer (MI), Space (OH), Taylor (MS), Teague (NM), Titus (NV) and Wu (OR).

PAYGO: Bright (AL), Filner (CA), Kosmas (FL), Kucinich (OH), Maffei (NY), McIntyre (NC), McNerney (CA), Minnick (ID), Mitchell (AZ), Nye (VA), Pastor (AZ), Peters (MI), Taylor (MS), Waters (CA), and Weiner (NY). An interesting mixtures of liberals and moderates.

The House also passed a bill to enhance cybersecurity by a vote of 422-5, with all no votes coming from the GOP. The bill authorizes new spending for research and development for cybersecurity research. The House also voted on a bunch of amendments.

Next week, the House plans to vote on a bill to eliminate the health insurance industry's anti-trust exemption. This bill would have little policy implications, but it is perhaps a decent way to get Democrats momentum on health reform. We'll have more on this next week.

THE SENATE: The Senate today swore in its newest member, Scott Brown of Massachusetts. Brown was sworn in by Vice President Biden this evening, officially ending the Democrats' 60-vote majority. Before Brown was sworn in, the Democrats used their remaining super majority hours on some nominations. By a vote of 60-37, the Senate approved the nomination of Patricia Smith to be Solicitor for the Department of Labor. All yes votes were from Democrats. The Senate also confirmed Martha Johnson to be administrator of the General Services Administration by a unanimous 94-2 vote. Her nomination was delayed almost a year by Republican Senators, and then she is confirmed almost unanimously. What a perfect embodiment of what's wrong with the United States Senate. Now we get word that Republican Senator Shelby (AL) has announced that he will filibuster EVERY Obama nominee until the administration heeds his demands on some unrelated issues. I can't believe this is how the United States Senate functions. The American people need to understand how the Senate is crippling progress in this country.

Majority Leader Reid (NV) said that the Democrats will take a vote on a jobs-related bill on Monday. Reid did not release details of exactly what the bill is or how much it's going to cost. Reid will need the support of one Republican to advance the bill. Thus is the new reality for Democrats.

THE WHITE HOUSE: President Obama held a conference call with Democratic National Committee supporters this afternoon. He answered questions on jobs, health care, small business tax cuts and education. The most notable takeaway from the even was that President Obama wants a jobs bill passed before Congress goes back to health care. I disagree with that approach. Like sour milk, the longer the health care bill is out there, the nastier it gets. I'm very disappointed that President Obama hasn't shown more leadership in crossing the health care finish line.

That's it for now. Because of the snowpocolypse, we won't be writing until we've dug ourselves out on Monday morning. Have a great weekend!

The Daily Strike-2/3/10-Friendly Congressional Showdown

Good evening and welcome to the Daily Strike. It looks like we are headed for another snow-pocolypse this weekend. Is this God's punishment for Congress' inaction on health reform? Maybe.

SENATE DEM/OBAMA CONFRONTATION: The President, fresh off his stellar performance during a Friday question/answer session with the House GOP, held a similar public meeting today with members of the Senate Democratic caucus. The President was slightly more polite to members of his own party, but he came with some harsh words of advice. The President told Democratic Senators that the message from the Massachusetts election was NOT to sit back and do nothing. He said that if Democrats don't follow through on their promises and pass health reform, people will soon not be able to differentiate between the two parties. Finally, he implored Democratic Senators to get out of the world of inside-the-beltway cable chatter and blogs and to get back in touch with their constituents.

It's becoming increasingly clear that Democrats won't heed this good advice. In fact, you could tell by the questions asked at the meeting. First of all, Obama took questions primarily from vulnerable members who wanted some free air time. Embattled Arkansas Senator Blanche Lincoln said that Obama has to disassociate from the "extreme left" and return to the center. Of course! It's such a radical, extreme idea to expand the private health care system! It's absolutely COMMUNIST to want to create jobs and regulate Wall Street. I can understand when political pundits complain about Obama being too "leftist," but Democratic Senators should know that his agenda is centrist.

Another vulnerable Senator, Evan Bayh of Indiana, said that the President must make "hard choices" to decrease the deficit. This is the same Senator Bayh who voted to drastically cut taxes on the heirs of millionaire estates. B(a)y(h) the way, the Senator's predecessor, Republican Dan Coats, has decided to take another shot at the seat this November. This could be a very close race.

Today's display, combined with the Democrats inability to come up with a coherent plan to finish health reform, lead me to believe that Democratic Senators are more interested in running for the hills than doing anything productive. Matthew Yglesias suggested that Senate Democrats might want to be in the minority so they won't have to have the responsibility of governing. I think, unfortunately, he may be right.

SCOTT BROWN: Republican Senator-elect Scott Brown (MA ) made a big fuss before he was elected about being sworn-in right away. Then, he decided he needed "time" for a transition. Basically he decided that he didn't want to be sworn in before February 11th, because the Senate was taking tough votes on raising the debt ceiling. Every Republican knew the bill had to pass, but none of them wanted to vote for it. If Brown had been sworn in, at least one Republican would have to support the bill. Well now Brown has changed his mind and wants to be sworn in tomorrow so that he can vote on a possible jobs bill next week. So starting tomorrow evening, the Democrats will officially lose their 60 seat supermajority.

Speaking of a jobs bill, it looks like the Senate will be taking up various jobs measures piece by piece. They'll probably start with the more popular ideas, like tax breaks for small businesses who hire new workers. I wish they would do something more comprehensive, but some action is better than no action.

Before Brown is sworn in, the Senate will vote on the nomination of Patricia Smith to be a Solicitor at the Department of Labor. The Senate will then vote to cut off debate on Martha Johnson to be Administrator for the GSA. Republicans are adamantly opposed to her nomination for some reason (I have no idea). So Democrats will use their last hours with a supermajority to push through her nomination.

HOUSE: The House today today began consideration of a bill that enacts new cyber-security provisions. The bill appears to have bipartisan support. The House has already voted on a few amendments, and will vote on final passage tomorrow. They will also vote on whether to adopt the Senate-passed measure to raise the debt ceiling and institute statutory pay-as-you-go budgeting rules. We'll have full coverage in tomorrow night's entry.

That's it for now. We'll see you tomorrow night!

The Daily Strike-2/2/10-Don't Ask

Good evening and welcome to the Daily Strike. This angle has been overplayed, but we're talking about a floundering health care plan, gays in the military, and a pending Democratic electoral nightmare. Is it 1994 again?

DADT: There was a very interesting hearing on Capitol Hill today in which Senators grilled top Pentagon officials on repealing the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy relating to gays in the military. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that it's not a matter of if the policy is overturned, but how and when. Perhaps more surprisingly, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Admiral Mike Mullen, also strongly endorsed the idea that gays and lesbians should be able to serve openly in the United States military. It's pretty significant when the military establishment is pushing for a repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

I've never been particularly passionate about this issue, because I think it is premised on two largely more important issues: the broader struggle for LGBT rights, and why the Pentagon needs such a broad military force that they're willing to overlook their past prejudices. That said, if Congress can pull off a repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, it would be a major victory for equal rights. It can also be done relatively easily if Congress overturns the ban in its annual Defense Authorization Bill.

THE WHITE HOUSE: The President has decided to put himself out there a bit more over the past week. Today, he held a town hall meeting in Nashua, NH to promote a proposal to give $30 billion in loans to the Small Business Administration. This is one of several proposals on the table intended to accelerate job creation. I wish the United States Senate would get going on some of these proposals, but the likeliness of that happening soon is not good.

ELECTION UPDATE: Today is primary day in Illinois. Voters in the Land of Lincoln will choose nominees for this fall's Senate and Gubernatorial races. It is very possible that incumbent Democratic Governor Pat Quinn loses his primary race tonight to state comptroller Dan Hynes. In the Senate races, the favorite on the Democratic side to replace Roland Burris is State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias. He is locked in a pretty close race with Chicago Inspector General David Hoffman. On the Republican side, "moderate" Rep. Mark Kirk is expected to win the primary relatively easily, despite challenges from the far-right. I have this race listed as a tossup, though recent polling shows that Democrats might not be as doomed here as they are in other places.

Speaking of Lincoln and doomed, two new polls today show that Arkansas Democratic Senator Blanche Lincoln is toast in her reelection bid this year no matter which Republican she faces. And for those of you who think the seat could be saved if Lincoln retires, no other Democratic candidates fare well either. As PPP polls director Tom Jensen said, Arkansas voters are just not in the mood to elect a Democrat this year. I hope Lincoln sees the writing on the wall and focuses her last year in office on being a good legislator. Chances are, she will freak out about this polling and tack hard to the right. As a result of these two polls, we are changing Senator Lincoln's race from "Lean Republican" to "Likely Republican."

That's it for tonight. No significant action to report from Congress today, though the House did vote on a few suspension bills. The Senate is out of session tomorrow for the Democrats' policy retreat, which President Obama will attend.

The Daily Strike-2/1/10-More on the Budget

Good evening and welcome to the Daily Strike. Make sure you catch up on the week in politics in this morning's Weekly Strike, which is below.

BUDGET: We talked about the President's budget this morning. But little did I know, the Republicans have released a budget of their own. The ranking Republican on the House Budget Committee, Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, has written a budget that actually eliminates the deficit and projects long-term budget surpluses. The way he does this is, well, absolutely insane. Ryan proposes privatizing Medicare and Social Security, and giving seniors vouchers to buy private insurance. The vouchers, though, will grow far slower than projected health care costs. In other words, we would be drastically cutting health benefits to future seniors. In fact, as Ezra Klein points out, it's not the privatization that saves money, it's that Ryan would have the government impose strict cost controls on health care.

This budget proposal teaches us three things. For one, the Republican party's policy proposals are extremely dangerous. They would do violence to what remains of our social safety net. Second, all the Republican rhetoric about how Democrats were cutting Medicare in the health care bill were disingenuous at best. Democrats would have enacted modest cost controls in Medicare that independent analysts said would not effect benefits. Ryan's budget would end Medicare as we know it. This is proof once again that Republicans are willing to do or say anything for their own political benefit. Third, when politicians of either party grandstand about "cutting the deficit" and "balancing the budget," they never explain exactly what they would do. Ryan's budget proposal is what ACTUAL deficit reduction looks like without raising taxes. At the very least, Ryan is being honest.

And finally, we're reminded that even though we may be disappointed with President Obama and Democrats in Congress, we are reminded of what could potentially happen with Republicans in power.

THE SENATE: The Senate voted this evening to cut off debate on the nomination of Patricia Smith to be Solicitor at the Department of Labor. Smith's nomination had been held up by Republicans due to their worries about her work as New York's Labor Commissioner. The vote was 60-32, with all 60 Democrats (including lame duck Massachusetts Senator Paul Kirk) supporting her nomination, and all 32 Republicans voting no. 8 Republicans did not vote. Boy, things are gonna be really difficult after February 11th when Senator-elect Scott Brown is sworn in. We won't be able to pass controversial nominations on straight party-line votes. Thank you, Massachusetts.

That's it for tonight, see you tomorrow!

The Weekly Strike-2/1-2/7

Good morning and welcome to the Weekly Strike, where we preview the week in politics. It's the first day in February, and you know what that means, budget time!

BUDGET: The President this morning unveiled his Fiscal Year 2011 budget proposal. There is a lot of good, and some bad, in this blueprint. Among the good things in this proposal are money set aside for a jobs bill, money for the health care overhaul, and increased funding for Pell Grants. On the revenue side, I'm particularly pleased with a new fee on banks (though it is a modest fee), the expiration this year of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, and new taxes on international corporations. The bad parts of the budget are, of course, the freeze in non-defense discretionary spending over the next three years and continued inflated spending on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Overall, the budget will increase the deficit this year to $1.6 trillion, and would increase the ten year projected deficit to just under $9 trillion. The budget proposal will add $5 trillion to the national debt over 10 years.

First off, I should mention that a President's budget blueprint never actually comes to fruition. Congress has its own priorities, and it almost never agrees to most of the President's recommended tax increases and spending cuts. Overall, though, the budget is a solid proposal that keeps in tact the President's key investments in health care, education, and energy. The revenue proposals strike me as very progressive; all of the taxes will be imposed on the wealthy and corporations.

I will say, though, that this proposal makes the freeze in discretionary spending look even more ridiculous. The budget proposal was going to show record deficits no matter what, and the proposed spending fee is barely making a dent. I don't think Republicans will stop attacking the President's spending habits because he proposed something that, at most, would decrease the deficit a fraction of a percentage point. All the freeze will do is deprive government agencies of critical funding needs.

Real deficit reduction will only occur when the economy grows, unemployment goes down, and tax revenue increases. Even with the jobs bill, there is still not enough in this budget that will ignite necessary economic growth. We'll have more on the budget proposal throughout the week, including reactions from key lawmakers. Just a hunch: Republicans won't be praising it.

THE WHITE HOUSE: The President has only released his schedule for today thus far. This morning, he will give remarks on the budget. This afternoon, he will participate in a YouTube forum, where he will answer questions from users that were posed during last week's State of the Union address.

I don't think the President could possibly have a better day than he did on Friday. By now you've probably heard that President Obama engaged in an hour-long back and forth with members of the House Republican Conference. House Republicans asked questions (usually in the form of veiled political attacks), and the President responded in detail, politely ridiculing the Republicans for lies and obstruction. It was beyond good political theater; it was must-see. Democracy would work a lot better if these types of honest exchanges and debate happened more frequently. As you can see in this video, the President was able to address GOP criticism head-on, without shoddy filtering from the mainstream media.

THE HOUSE: The House has a reasonably busy schedule this week. Tomorrow and Wednesday, the House will vote on a series of suspension bills. Thursday, the House will take up a measure to improve cyber-security. The bill will award research grants to improve computer and network security.

The House will then take up the Senate-passed bill raising the debt ceiling by $1.9 trillion. I expect that the House will pass this bill and send it to the President. Blue Dog Democrats should feel more comfortable supporting this debt increase after the Senate included an amendment that would reinstitute pay-as-you-go budgeting rules. If the House agrees to the Senate bill, and the President signs it, the debt limit should be sufficient to finance government operations through the end of the year.

By the way, it's looking like we'll go another week without any resolution on health reform. House and Senate Democrats have not yet agreed on a way forward. I would continue to insist that the House pass the Senate version of health reform, and then both chambers pass a "sidecar" reconciliation bill with requisite changes.

THE SENATE: The Senate will vote this evening on the nomination of Patricia Smith to be Solicitor for the Department of Labor. Smith's nomination has been held up by Republicans for several months due to statements she made relating to her work as a New York State Labor Commissioner. Smith told the Senate HELP committee that her labor commission launched a program called "wage watch" to find companies who were not paying proper wages. Evidence surfaced that showed that the program was actually developed by unions and public interest groups. This seems like a reason to support her nomination even more in my view.

That's it for now. We'll see you tonight! Leave some comments!