Good evening and welcome to the Daily Strike. I hope you enjoyed last night's election liveblogging. After we signed off, Democrat Bill Owens was officially declared the winner of the contested House race in New York's 23rd district. As expected, Democrat John Garamendi won a vacant House seat in California. So despite the media's declaration of a Republican sweep last night, Democrats actually have two more votes for their agenda in Congress.
Make sure you read The Big Picture's reflections on the one year anniversary of President Obama's election. It's hard to believe it's been a year. Despite all of the frustrations we've had trying to govern, I will never forget the glow of November 4th, 2008. I'll have more on that this weekend. Forgive this entry for being short. It's game 6 of the World Series.
THE SENATE: After weeks of pointless delay, the Senate voted unanimously to approve a temporary extension to unemployment benefits. Republicans had delayed a vote on final passage because they were not given the chance to offer certain irrelevant amendments. The bill extends unemployment benefits based on the unemployment levels in the various states. It also includes an extension of the first-time home buyers credit included in this year's economic stimulus package. The measure now goes to the House, where it is expected to pass tomorrow. President Obama will sign this bill by the end of the week. I still can't get over the fact that unemployment benefits were held hostage by Senate Republicans for four weeks so they could get a vote to defund ACORN for the upteenth time. So nihilistic. Democrats need to call them out for this.
The Senate moves tomorrow to the Commerce, Science and Justice Appropriations bill which has been languishing for several months during yet another procedural dispute over amendments. The Senate will vote on cloture midday, and will hopefully finish the bill by the late afternoon.
THE HOUSE: Mark your calendars, folks! The House leadership has tentatively scheduled a vote on health care legislation for Saturday at 6pm. Democrats needed some more time to finalize last minute deals with various constituencies. The House Rules Committee will meet Friday to set parameters for the debate. I would guess that debate on the bill will begin Friday evening and continue all day Saturday. Speaker Pelosi expressed full confidence today that she has the 218 votes to pass the bill. I would guess that they'll get a majority vote when push comes to shove, and it will be a major victory for Democrats. Hopefully, it will spur the Senate into action.
The House today passed a bill that will change the effective date of the Credit CARD Act from next July to this December. Anticipating the new regulations, credit card companies have jacked up rates on consumers, so it made sense to make the bill go into effect immediately. The bill passed easily by a vote of 331-92. All no votes were from Republicans, except for South Dakota Democrat Stephanie Herseth Sandlin. In a COMPLETELY unrelated matter, almost all credit card companies are based in South Dakota. Prior to a vote on final passage, the House rejected a Republican motion to recommit that would have required the Federal Reserve to conduct studies to see if early enactment of the bill was "feasible." The motion failed 171-263. 3 Democrats voted yes and 6 Republicans voted no. The House also approved a few amendments to the bill. I'm sure this bill, like every other one, will die a slow death in the United States Senate.
That's it for today, see you tomorrow. Countdown to health care in the House is 3 days!
Showing posts with label Credit Cards. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Credit Cards. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
The Daily Strike-5/20/09-Action is the Best Disinfectant
Good evening and welcome to the Daily Strike. I have just enough time today to give you everything you need to know about the going-ons in Washington. In the past week or so, Washington has been consumed with a scandal drummed up by partisans and cable news chatter, fear mongering about relocating prisoners into the United States, and a lot of other jibber jabber. Even today, the Senate spent the morning debating a politically-charged amendment preventing Guantanamo prisoners from coming into the United States. What's the best way for Democrats to move beyond these partially self-inflicted wounds? Get stuff done. Today, they did just that.
Earlier in the day, the President held his quarterly meeting with the economic advisory commission he set up, headed by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker. It's pretty unclear what exactly this group does except get a bunch of old people around a table. The President said that the group talked about various proposed steps in financial regulation and job creation. We'll see if this group comes up with any substantive recommendations.
THE HOUSE: The President will have to schedule another signing ceremony for later this week. The House today concurred in the Senate amendments on the Credit Card Bill of Rights, which will, among other things, prohibit arbitrary rate increases on customers who are less than 60 days late on paying their bills. President Obama pushed hard for passage of this legislation, and rightfully so. It makes very substantive changes in the rules under which credit card companies operate. The House had to take two separate votes on the bill. The Senate, led by Republican Tom Coburn, included an unrelated amendment allowing people to bring guns into national parks. House leaders decided that they didn't want to hold up the credit card bill because of this provision. Therefore, they took separate votes on the bill itself, and the gun amendment. If one of the amendments had failed, the entire bill would not have been agreed to.
The good news? The credit card portion of the bill passed by a vote of 361-64. All no votes were from Republicans, except for Rep. Herseth-Sandlin of the credit-card loving state of South Dakota. The bad news? The gun portion of the bill passed by a vote of 279-147. All but 2 Republicans voted for this part of the bill, while a majority of Democrats voted against it.
The House then voted on a Republican motion to recommit that would provide monetary assistance to small business to compensate for any "carbon emissions" tax. This was basically a political statement against cap-and-trade hidden in a Congressional motion. But Democrats had no real reason to oppose it. The motion was agreed to by a vote of 385-41. All no votes were from Democrats.
The underlying bill was approved by an overwhelming 406-15 margin, with all opposition coming from Republicans.
The House will move on tomorrow to the FAA authorization bill.
The only Democrats who were not overcome by political pressure on this vote were Durbin (IL), Harkin (IA), Leahy (VT), Levin (MI), Reed (RI) and Whitehouse (RI).
The Senate then took a break from the war funding bill to vote on the conference report accompanying the military procurement reform bill. The report was agreed to by a unanimous vote of 95-0. The House will vote on it tomorrow, and President Obama will sign it by the end of the week. Chalk up another legislative victory.
The Senate went back to dispose of a few amendments on the war funding bill. The first amendment, from Republican leader Mitch McConnell, would limit the release of detainees into the United States pending a report on the detention center at Guantanamo Bay. . The amendment was agreed to 92-3. The "no" votes were from Democrats Burris (IL), Durbin (IL) and Leahy (VT).
The Senate then took a break from the war funding bill to vote on the conference report accompanying the military procurement reform bill. The report was agreed to by a unanimous vote of 95-0. The House will vote on it tomorrow, and President Obama will sign it by the end of the week. Chalk up another legislative victory.
The Senate went back to dispose of a few amendments on the war funding bill. The first amendment, from Republican leader Mitch McConnell, would limit the release of detainees into the United States pending a report on the detention center at Guantanamo Bay. . The amendment was agreed to 92-3. The "no" votes were from Democrats Burris (IL), Durbin (IL) and Leahy (VT).
The Senate also unanimously approved a Brownback (R-KS) amendment requiring the federal government to consult state governments before relocating prisoners to their states. How much more political hay can they get out of this issue? I guess we'll soon find out, though it sure wastes a lot of time on the Senate floor.
The Senate will vote on cloture tomorrow, before dealing with the remaining amendments to the bill. I expect that cloture should be invoked relatively easily. Republicans have gotten their amendments approved, so they'll probably vote for the bill en masse. I suspect that 10 or so Democrats will vote against the bill.
That's it for a busy, "end of session"-type day. We'll be back for more tomorrow and Friday!
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
The Late Night Strike-5/19/09-Better Late Than Never
Good evening. I had an extremely busy day in Strike-land, meaning I did not have time to write up an entry. Thanks to the Big Picture for filling in. I wanted to mention a couple of quick things.
1. The Senate today passed the amended Credit Card Bill of Rights by a vote of 90-5. The dissenters were Republicans Alexander (TN), Bennett (UT), Kyl (AZ) and Thune (SD) as well as Democrat Johnson (SD). (Again, no coincidence that South Dakota is home to a lot of Credit Card companies). The bill now goes back to the House, which will vote on the Senate version tomorrow, and presumably send it on to the President. This will mark a big victory for President Obama. It will be the first substantive bill he's signed dealing with financial regulation, for one. Also, it has some real teeth. The bill will prevent credit card companies from increasing interest rates if consumers are less than 60 days late in making a payment.
2. The House passed, by a vote of 367-54 (with Rep. Kaptur, D, of Ohio voting present), the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act, which will now go back to the Senate for one final seal of approval before being sent to the President.
See you tomorrow!
1. The Senate today passed the amended Credit Card Bill of Rights by a vote of 90-5. The dissenters were Republicans Alexander (TN), Bennett (UT), Kyl (AZ) and Thune (SD) as well as Democrat Johnson (SD). (Again, no coincidence that South Dakota is home to a lot of Credit Card companies). The bill now goes back to the House, which will vote on the Senate version tomorrow, and presumably send it on to the President. This will mark a big victory for President Obama. It will be the first substantive bill he's signed dealing with financial regulation, for one. Also, it has some real teeth. The bill will prevent credit card companies from increasing interest rates if consumers are less than 60 days late in making a payment.
2. The House passed, by a vote of 367-54 (with Rep. Kaptur, D, of Ohio voting present), the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act, which will now go back to the Senate for one final seal of approval before being sent to the President.
See you tomorrow!
Monday, May 18, 2009
The Weekly Strike-5/18-5/24
Good morning and welcome to the Weekly Strike, where we preview the week in politics. The action on Capital Hill is expected to heat up in advance of the Memorial Day recess. Let's get to it.
THE WHITE HOUSE: The President, fresh off reconciliation with Notre Dame Catholics over abortion, the President wades into another seemingly irreconcilable conflict today when he meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu has been Prime Minister (his second go-around) for only a few months, and this is his first sit-down with the President. I'm most interested in their one-on-one meeting from 10:30-11:30 this morning. Will Obama push hard for concessions from Netanyahu to help foster a renewed peace effort with the Palestinians? Netanyahu is a center-right politician who hasn't exactly shown affinity for U.S.-led peace efforts in the past. He, unlike other Israeli politicians, has never committed to a two state solution. My fantasy would be an LBJ-style stare down in which Obama intimidates Netanyahu into accepting a new road map for peace. I can dream.
The President has a quiet rest of the day, and week for that matter. The other known major event on the President's calendar is a speech on Thursday on the subject of Guantanamo Bay, torture, the memos, the photos etc. This speech, according to Politico.com is designed to "elevate the coverage/conversation." It looks like this speech is following the pattern of several past Obama speeches. After an acute scandal breaks out, Obama, after letting the American people digest it a little bit, gives a speech explaining the key issues in context, and talks to the American people like adults. This type of speech has done wonders for him in the past. In the wake of the Jeremiah Wright scandal last year, Obama gave one of his best speech on race relations. Last month, Obama gave a speech at Georgetown on the "five pillars" of the economy. If Obama did not give speeches like this, issues like torture would get down in the weeds of "who knew what, when." The President wants the American people to understand the broader context. I will be anxious to see what he says.
THE SENATE: Congress enters the last week in session before the Memorial Day recess, and both chambers have a lot of work to do. The Senate tomorrow will vote on cloture on the Credit Card Bill of Rights. If the motion gets the required 60 votes (which it almost certainly will), Senators will vote on a series of germane (relevant) amendments (a list agreed to by the two party leaders) prior to a vote on final passage. The Senate will then move on to consider the war funding bill, which passed the House last week. It seems like the Senate always waits until the last minute to debate important funding bills, and the House, under strict time constraints, is usually forced to accept the Senate version. The main difference between the Senate bill is that it includes funding for the International Monetary Fund. Republicans have objected to this spending as unnecessary in an emergency war supplemental spending bill. If the IMF provisions are included, House Republicans may not vote for it like they did the original House version. It's possible that the IMF funding will be taken out during the amendment process, but if not, there could be some intense House-Senate negotiations by the end of the week. I expect the Senate to pass some version of the bill by a wide margin. I hope that some of the most anti-war Democrats, like Russ Feingold (WI) and Barbara Boxer (CA), are forceful in their insistence that we don't commit to a never-ending quagmire in Afghanistan.
Congressional leaders want to get this bill to the President's desk before this Friday, because otherwise the Pentagon will have to wait a couple more weeks to get funding.
THE HOUSE: The House also has a packed week on tap. After considering suspension bills today and tomorrow, the House will take up four significant bills starting on Wednesday. First, the House will take up the Senate version of the "Helping Families Save Their Homes" Act. This bill originally had the "cramdown" provision, allowing bankruptcy judges to renegotiate the terms of mortgages. That provision was taken out by the Senate. The House will send vote on a revised version on Wednesday (I'm not sure what they're adding) and will send it back to the Senate, so they upper chamber can vote on changes by the end of the week.
The House then moves on to a bill authored by conservative Democrat, and former NFL-bust, Heath Shuler (NC), entitled " Job Creation Through Entrepreneurship Act of 2009." The bill expands small business development programs under the Small Business Administration, and includes new programs to help entrepreneurial veterans, women, and Native Americans. The bill is co-sponsored by a number of Republicans, so I expect it to pass pretty easily.
Finally, the House will vote on two authorization bills. The first reauthorizes funding for the FAA through 2012. It makes some substantive changes to FAA policy, which I would probably understand more if I was a pilot. One of the proposed changes is increased funding for the NextGen navigation system. If you're REALLY interested, you can read this. The second authorizes funding for the Transportation Security Administration. I'm not sure what policy changes, if any, are included in this bill, because they have not released the summary.
Both chambers also might vote on conference reports on a few other bills, including military procurement. As I said last week, it's very possible that Obama gets a big pile of legislation on his desk to sign by week's end.
That's it for now. Join us tonight for the Daily Strike, and leave your comments!
THE WHITE HOUSE: The President, fresh off reconciliation with Notre Dame Catholics over abortion, the President wades into another seemingly irreconcilable conflict today when he meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu has been Prime Minister (his second go-around) for only a few months, and this is his first sit-down with the President. I'm most interested in their one-on-one meeting from 10:30-11:30 this morning. Will Obama push hard for concessions from Netanyahu to help foster a renewed peace effort with the Palestinians? Netanyahu is a center-right politician who hasn't exactly shown affinity for U.S.-led peace efforts in the past. He, unlike other Israeli politicians, has never committed to a two state solution. My fantasy would be an LBJ-style stare down in which Obama intimidates Netanyahu into accepting a new road map for peace. I can dream.
The President has a quiet rest of the day, and week for that matter. The other known major event on the President's calendar is a speech on Thursday on the subject of Guantanamo Bay, torture, the memos, the photos etc. This speech, according to Politico.com is designed to "elevate the coverage/conversation." It looks like this speech is following the pattern of several past Obama speeches. After an acute scandal breaks out, Obama, after letting the American people digest it a little bit, gives a speech explaining the key issues in context, and talks to the American people like adults. This type of speech has done wonders for him in the past. In the wake of the Jeremiah Wright scandal last year, Obama gave one of his best speech on race relations. Last month, Obama gave a speech at Georgetown on the "five pillars" of the economy. If Obama did not give speeches like this, issues like torture would get down in the weeds of "who knew what, when." The President wants the American people to understand the broader context. I will be anxious to see what he says.
THE SENATE: Congress enters the last week in session before the Memorial Day recess, and both chambers have a lot of work to do. The Senate tomorrow will vote on cloture on the Credit Card Bill of Rights. If the motion gets the required 60 votes (which it almost certainly will), Senators will vote on a series of germane (relevant) amendments (a list agreed to by the two party leaders) prior to a vote on final passage. The Senate will then move on to consider the war funding bill, which passed the House last week. It seems like the Senate always waits until the last minute to debate important funding bills, and the House, under strict time constraints, is usually forced to accept the Senate version. The main difference between the Senate bill is that it includes funding for the International Monetary Fund. Republicans have objected to this spending as unnecessary in an emergency war supplemental spending bill. If the IMF provisions are included, House Republicans may not vote for it like they did the original House version. It's possible that the IMF funding will be taken out during the amendment process, but if not, there could be some intense House-Senate negotiations by the end of the week. I expect the Senate to pass some version of the bill by a wide margin. I hope that some of the most anti-war Democrats, like Russ Feingold (WI) and Barbara Boxer (CA), are forceful in their insistence that we don't commit to a never-ending quagmire in Afghanistan.
Congressional leaders want to get this bill to the President's desk before this Friday, because otherwise the Pentagon will have to wait a couple more weeks to get funding.
THE HOUSE: The House also has a packed week on tap. After considering suspension bills today and tomorrow, the House will take up four significant bills starting on Wednesday. First, the House will take up the Senate version of the "Helping Families Save Their Homes" Act. This bill originally had the "cramdown" provision, allowing bankruptcy judges to renegotiate the terms of mortgages. That provision was taken out by the Senate. The House will send vote on a revised version on Wednesday (I'm not sure what they're adding) and will send it back to the Senate, so they upper chamber can vote on changes by the end of the week.
The House then moves on to a bill authored by conservative Democrat, and former NFL-bust, Heath Shuler (NC), entitled " Job Creation Through Entrepreneurship Act of 2009." The bill expands small business development programs under the Small Business Administration, and includes new programs to help entrepreneurial veterans, women, and Native Americans. The bill is co-sponsored by a number of Republicans, so I expect it to pass pretty easily.
Finally, the House will vote on two authorization bills. The first reauthorizes funding for the FAA through 2012. It makes some substantive changes to FAA policy, which I would probably understand more if I was a pilot. One of the proposed changes is increased funding for the NextGen navigation system. If you're REALLY interested, you can read this. The second authorizes funding for the Transportation Security Administration. I'm not sure what policy changes, if any, are included in this bill, because they have not released the summary.
Both chambers also might vote on conference reports on a few other bills, including military procurement. As I said last week, it's very possible that Obama gets a big pile of legislation on his desk to sign by week's end.
That's it for now. Join us tonight for the Daily Strike, and leave your comments!
Thursday, May 14, 2009
The Daily Strike-5/14/09-Congressional Wrangling
Good evening and welcome to the Daily Strike. Today was one of those wacky Thursdays in Washington, so let me tell you all about it.
THE HOUSE: The House of Representatives, as is frequently the case, had a very active Thursday. Off the floor House Speaker Nancy Pelosi held a press conference to answer questions about her alleged knowledge of the Bush administration's "enhanced interrogation techniques." Pelosi has given somewhat conflicting statements. In 2002, Pelosi was the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. She attended a September meeting in which she said she was told that "enhanced interrogation methods" were deemed legal, but NOT told about waterboarding. Recent released CIA memos suggest that Pelosi was in fact briefed about waterboarding in that meeting. Pelosi, in her press conference today, contended that she was told that waterboarding had been deemed legal, but she was not told that it had been used (when it fact, it had indeed by used on Abu Zabayda.) Am I the only wondering why this has turned into a scandal? I would like to know why Pelosi didn't raise any objections to the Bush administration's legal justifications for torture. She clearly knew about these legal memos, and didn't do anything about it, and she should be faulted for that. But isn't it a little odd that the main blame for an era of illegal torture is falling on a member of Congress who tried to BAN torture several times? Isn't this a distraction from the people who authorized, conducted and defended enhanced interrogations? I know they're trying to expose Pelosi as some sort of hypocrite, but I don't see what their point is. Does Pelosi's apparent hypocrisy make torture any less wrong? It also doesn't make much sense politically. Anyone opposed to torture is far more likely to blame the Republicans, who not only were the ones who sanctioned torture, but who go on TV every five minutes to defend it. Anyone for torture is probably not a fan of Nancy Pelosi. I just don't see what the critics are trying to get at here.
On the floor, the House approved two important bills today. The first was a bill to authorize spending to make public schools more energy efficient. The bill passed easily, over the objection of some Republicans who gave their usual complaints about spending. The final tally was 275-155. 24 Republicans voted yes. The only Democrat voting no was Rep. Taylor (MS).
Prior to the vote on final passage, the House approved two additional amendments. The first, offered by Rep. Giffords (D-AZ), would have encouraged schools receiving money under the bill to educate their students about the benefits of sustainability. The amendment passed 334-97, with all no votes coming from Republicans (except liberal Rep. Tierney (D-MA). (Did he press the wrong button or something?). The second amendment, offered by Rep. Griffith (D-AL), would have included asthma reduction as one of the demonstrable elements of the bill. His amendment passed unanimously. The House also rejected a Republican motion to recommit, which would have prohibited money authorized in this bill from being spent unless the deficit was under $500 billion. Of course, the deficit, even by the most generous projections, won't be under that amount any time soon, so the motion basically intended to kill the bill. Luckily, it was defeated 182-247. Six Democrats (Adler (NJ), Arcuri (NY), Childers (MS), Nye (VA), Perriello (VA), and Taylor (MS)) voted for the motion, while one Republican (Reichert (WA)), voted against it.
The House was then SUPPOSED to move onto the war spending bill, but the Republicans decided to waste taxpayer time and money to force a vote that makes 3-year-olds seem mature. To make a political point, Republicans proposed changing the title of the school funding bill to include the phrase " ...will saddle our children with billions of dollars of debt." Well, isn't that clever. The House took 15 minutes of valuable time to defeat the proposed change by a vote of 149-257. Even 25 Republicans realized how stupid their colleagues were being.
Finally, the House moved on to a debate on war funding. The bill wasn't too controversial. Democrats had left out extraneous spending items and restrictions on military activities, so Republicans were, for the most part, on board. The main opposition came from liberal Democrats who, justifiably, don't want to continue pouring money into what they see as unwinnable wars. The bill passed by a vote of 368-60. 51 of the 60 no votes were from liberal Democrats. If you're interested in the the level of conviction of your Democratic member of Congress, here's the vote tally.
The controversy was actually on the rule governing debate. Republicans were upset that two of their amendments weren't considered, each having to do with Guantanamo detainees. Democrats did not want to have to subject their members to a politically difficult vote, so they prohibited amendments to the bill. For this reason, Republicans tried to defeat the previous question, and the rules governing debate. They were not successful in either endeavor. The previous question was ordered by a vote of 240-188, and the rule was approved 247-178. In each case, a handful of anti-war Democrats joined almost all Republicans in opposition. The Republicans also lost another vote on a motion to recommit, which would have redirected money in the bill to border enforcement on the Mexican border. The final vote on the motion was 191-237. 17 Democrats voted for it, and 4 Republicans voted against it.
The House will come back next week with a full schedule (as is typical of the final week of a legislative section). We'll keep you fully in the loop.
THE SENATE: The Senate had an uncharacteristically quiet Thursday. They were supposed to dispose of several amendments to the Credit Card Bill of Rights, but decided to punt on the issue until next Tuesday. On Tuesday morning, the Senate will vote on cloture on the bill. If the bill gets the requisite 60 votes, Senators will consider a few amendments, and then vote on final passage. They would then move on to their version of the war funding bill. The Senate did approve the House changes to the mortgage fraud bill by unanimous consent. The bill now goes to President Obama for his signature. Obama should get a few more pieces of legislation to his desk by the end of next week, including the war funding bill, the military procurement reform bill, and possibly the Credit Card Bill of Rights.
THE WHITE HOUSE: The only major event from the President today was a town hall meeting in Albuquerque to help sell the aforementioned Credit Card Bill of Rights. The President, though, took question on a variety of other topics. On the Employee Free Choice Act, a stalled bill that would make it easier for workers to join a union, the President offered tepid support, saying that "more work needs to be done" in Congress. Not exactly the type of answer I would like to hear. Because of the economic downturn, and the tenacious campaign of the business lobby, I think EFCA (otherwise known as "Card Check") will have a tough time becoming law this year. The President was asked about the prospects for a single-payer health care system. The President again demurred, and said that while such an option would "make sense," the administration is not "starting from scratch." In other words, the President can't wave his magic wand and create a single payer system, given political realities. I hope he can get us the next best thing, a strong public health insurance option. The President took time to attack his fiscal critics, saying that they didn't care about debt under the Bush Administration. On the credit card issue, the President played the populist card, calling some dealings "not honest" and knocking "fine print" in lending practices.
The President tomorrow welcomes the World Series Champion Philadelphia Phillies to the White House, but has nothing else on his public schedule.
That's it for us today. Please join us tomorrow night, where we'll tell you this week's featured comment. You have one more day to enter the contest!
THE HOUSE: The House of Representatives, as is frequently the case, had a very active Thursday. Off the floor House Speaker Nancy Pelosi held a press conference to answer questions about her alleged knowledge of the Bush administration's "enhanced interrogation techniques." Pelosi has given somewhat conflicting statements. In 2002, Pelosi was the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. She attended a September meeting in which she said she was told that "enhanced interrogation methods" were deemed legal, but NOT told about waterboarding. Recent released CIA memos suggest that Pelosi was in fact briefed about waterboarding in that meeting. Pelosi, in her press conference today, contended that she was told that waterboarding had been deemed legal, but she was not told that it had been used (when it fact, it had indeed by used on Abu Zabayda.) Am I the only wondering why this has turned into a scandal? I would like to know why Pelosi didn't raise any objections to the Bush administration's legal justifications for torture. She clearly knew about these legal memos, and didn't do anything about it, and she should be faulted for that. But isn't it a little odd that the main blame for an era of illegal torture is falling on a member of Congress who tried to BAN torture several times? Isn't this a distraction from the people who authorized, conducted and defended enhanced interrogations? I know they're trying to expose Pelosi as some sort of hypocrite, but I don't see what their point is. Does Pelosi's apparent hypocrisy make torture any less wrong? It also doesn't make much sense politically. Anyone opposed to torture is far more likely to blame the Republicans, who not only were the ones who sanctioned torture, but who go on TV every five minutes to defend it. Anyone for torture is probably not a fan of Nancy Pelosi. I just don't see what the critics are trying to get at here.
On the floor, the House approved two important bills today. The first was a bill to authorize spending to make public schools more energy efficient. The bill passed easily, over the objection of some Republicans who gave their usual complaints about spending. The final tally was 275-155. 24 Republicans voted yes. The only Democrat voting no was Rep. Taylor (MS).
Prior to the vote on final passage, the House approved two additional amendments. The first, offered by Rep. Giffords (D-AZ), would have encouraged schools receiving money under the bill to educate their students about the benefits of sustainability. The amendment passed 334-97, with all no votes coming from Republicans (except liberal Rep. Tierney (D-MA). (Did he press the wrong button or something?). The second amendment, offered by Rep. Griffith (D-AL), would have included asthma reduction as one of the demonstrable elements of the bill. His amendment passed unanimously. The House also rejected a Republican motion to recommit, which would have prohibited money authorized in this bill from being spent unless the deficit was under $500 billion. Of course, the deficit, even by the most generous projections, won't be under that amount any time soon, so the motion basically intended to kill the bill. Luckily, it was defeated 182-247. Six Democrats (Adler (NJ), Arcuri (NY), Childers (MS), Nye (VA), Perriello (VA), and Taylor (MS)) voted for the motion, while one Republican (Reichert (WA)), voted against it.
The House was then SUPPOSED to move onto the war spending bill, but the Republicans decided to waste taxpayer time and money to force a vote that makes 3-year-olds seem mature. To make a political point, Republicans proposed changing the title of the school funding bill to include the phrase " ...will saddle our children with billions of dollars of debt." Well, isn't that clever. The House took 15 minutes of valuable time to defeat the proposed change by a vote of 149-257. Even 25 Republicans realized how stupid their colleagues were being.
Finally, the House moved on to a debate on war funding. The bill wasn't too controversial. Democrats had left out extraneous spending items and restrictions on military activities, so Republicans were, for the most part, on board. The main opposition came from liberal Democrats who, justifiably, don't want to continue pouring money into what they see as unwinnable wars. The bill passed by a vote of 368-60. 51 of the 60 no votes were from liberal Democrats. If you're interested in the the level of conviction of your Democratic member of Congress, here's the vote tally.
The controversy was actually on the rule governing debate. Republicans were upset that two of their amendments weren't considered, each having to do with Guantanamo detainees. Democrats did not want to have to subject their members to a politically difficult vote, so they prohibited amendments to the bill. For this reason, Republicans tried to defeat the previous question, and the rules governing debate. They were not successful in either endeavor. The previous question was ordered by a vote of 240-188, and the rule was approved 247-178. In each case, a handful of anti-war Democrats joined almost all Republicans in opposition. The Republicans also lost another vote on a motion to recommit, which would have redirected money in the bill to border enforcement on the Mexican border. The final vote on the motion was 191-237. 17 Democrats voted for it, and 4 Republicans voted against it.
The House will come back next week with a full schedule (as is typical of the final week of a legislative section). We'll keep you fully in the loop.
THE SENATE: The Senate had an uncharacteristically quiet Thursday. They were supposed to dispose of several amendments to the Credit Card Bill of Rights, but decided to punt on the issue until next Tuesday. On Tuesday morning, the Senate will vote on cloture on the bill. If the bill gets the requisite 60 votes, Senators will consider a few amendments, and then vote on final passage. They would then move on to their version of the war funding bill. The Senate did approve the House changes to the mortgage fraud bill by unanimous consent. The bill now goes to President Obama for his signature. Obama should get a few more pieces of legislation to his desk by the end of next week, including the war funding bill, the military procurement reform bill, and possibly the Credit Card Bill of Rights.
THE WHITE HOUSE: The only major event from the President today was a town hall meeting in Albuquerque to help sell the aforementioned Credit Card Bill of Rights. The President, though, took question on a variety of other topics. On the Employee Free Choice Act, a stalled bill that would make it easier for workers to join a union, the President offered tepid support, saying that "more work needs to be done" in Congress. Not exactly the type of answer I would like to hear. Because of the economic downturn, and the tenacious campaign of the business lobby, I think EFCA (otherwise known as "Card Check") will have a tough time becoming law this year. The President was asked about the prospects for a single-payer health care system. The President again demurred, and said that while such an option would "make sense," the administration is not "starting from scratch." In other words, the President can't wave his magic wand and create a single payer system, given political realities. I hope he can get us the next best thing, a strong public health insurance option. The President took time to attack his fiscal critics, saying that they didn't care about debt under the Bush Administration. On the credit card issue, the President played the populist card, calling some dealings "not honest" and knocking "fine print" in lending practices.
The President tomorrow welcomes the World Series Champion Philadelphia Phillies to the White House, but has nothing else on his public schedule.
That's it for us today. Please join us tomorrow night, where we'll tell you this week's featured comment. You have one more day to enter the contest!
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
The Daily Strike-5/13/09-Torture Photos/Green Public Schools/Credit Cards Etc.
Good evening and welcome to the Daily Strike on this busy Wednesday. Lot's of action from the White House and on the hill, so let's get to it.
THE WHITE HOUSE: The big news today from President Obama was his decision not to release Pentagon photos showing U.S. soldiers torturing (apparently) detainees. Obama said that releasing the photos could be propaganda for America's enemies overseas, and could thus endanger our troops. The photos were ordered to be released by a Federal court, so Obama was forced to have his government lawyers file an objection. On the surface, this seems like a Bush-ian cover-up. I have to say I'm pretty conflicted. On the one hand, I think our government should be fully transparent about what went on during the past 8 years. The public should be aware of the full extent to which the Bush administration went to in the name of protecting the country. On the other hand, I find myself agreeing with Obama that this may be fodder for our enemies. It's not like they are withholding the information about what happened, they are just not showing the sensational pictures. What value would the country REALLY get from seeing those photos? I'm not sure. As Bill O'Reilly would say, "you make the call." At least President Obama finally did something for which Republicans like John Boehner and Mitch McConnell were supportive.
President Obama also received the first report from Vice President Biden on the progress of the stimulus package. So far, only 6% of the $787 billion has been spent. There have been some administrative hang ups, especially in getting money to the states. If I was Obama, I would tell Biden to get the money out there more quickly. With state governments continuing to slash jobs, and unemployment still steadily rising, we have no time to waste.
The President travels tonight to Arizona State to give a commencement speech in front of an expected crowd of 70,000. We'll have full coverage of that tomorrow.
THE SENATE: The Senate had a busy day today. First, Senate Republicans succesfully filibustered the nomination of David Hayes to be Deputy Secretary of the Interior. The objection, led by Senators Bennett (R-UT) and Murkowski (R-AK) had nothing to do with Hayes' qualifications, but instead to protest the Interior Department's decision to closs off public lands for oil drilling in the West. It's unfortunate that Republicans are holding a qualified nominee hostage for something that he had nothing to do with. The motion to invoke cloture on his nomination failed to get the requisite 60 votes. The final tally was 57-39. Doing the math here, it would seem like with the support they got from Republican Olympia Snowe (ME), the Democrats SHOULD have been able to block the filibuster. The problem was that 3 Democrats, Senators Kennedy and Kerry (MA) and Mikulski (MD) were inexplicably absent, meaning Democrats were stuck on 57 votes. Inexplicably, arch conservative Jon Kyl actually voted FOR the nomination (maybe because he had sympathy for the ailing Kennedy?). Harry Reid voted no for procedural reasons (a Senator can not call up another cloture vote unless they voted against it the first time).
The Senate also took some votes on amendments to the Credit Card Bill of Rights . The first amendment voted on today was from Senator Clown. This was your standard anti-immigrant amendment we've come to expect from the clown. The amendment would have required certain types of identification to apply for a credit card. The vote failed 28-65. No Democrats voted with the clown.
The next amendment from Senator Sanders (Socialist-VT), sought to cap interest rates on credit cards. This would have put actual teeth into this bill by putting serious restrictions on usury rates. I guess it was too mean to the credit card industry for the 60 Senators who voted no. 33 voted in the affirmative. As you would expect, only Democrats voted for the bill.
The final amendment was offered by Senator Gregg (R-NH). The purpose of the amendment would be to increase public knowledge about the national debt (Senator Gregg's pet cause). It would have required the publication of facts about the debts on IRS forms, federal websites, and federal legislation. Because Gregg's amendment violated Senate budget rules, it required 60 votes to pass. It failed by a single vote. The final tally was 59-35. I don't have many problems with this amendment in principle, but it was clearly a political ploy by Gregg to highlight the national debt. Democrats Bayh (IN), Bennet (CO), Boxer (CA), Cardin (MD), Conrad (ND), Dorgan (ND), Feingold (WI), Feinstein (CA), Gillibrand (NY), Hagan (NC), Klobuchar (MN), Kohl (WI), Lincoln (AR), McCaskill (MO), Nelson (NE), Pryor (AR), Shaheen (NH), Specter (PA) and Udall (CO) couldn't resist.
The Senate will vote on a few more amendments tomorrow, before a possible final vote in the afternoon. If the bill passes as expected, I expect the House and Senate to reconcile the bills in a conference committee.
THE HOUSE: The House today began consideration of a bill to authorize money to be spent on making public schools energy efficient. The House voted on a few amendments today, and will vote on more amendments and final passage tomorrow. A few other amendments were approved by unanimous consent. Here's a quick summary of amendment votes:
1. The first vote was on an amendment offered by Rep. Titus (D-NV) would require the Department of Education to establish a advisory council to the secretary on green high-performing schools. The amendment was agreed to 270-160. 19 Republicans joined all but two Democrats in voting yes.
2. Next was an amendment by Rep. Phil Roe (R-TN) would have established an advisory commission to see what impact the legislation was having on student achievement. This seems pretty stupid to me, since obviously the purpose of the bill is NOT necessarily to improve student achievement, but to improve energy efficiency in places were 20% of the United States population spends its weekdays. Maybe I'm missing something, because the amendment was agreed to by a vote of 432-2. I guess Democrats are fine picking their battles. Reps. Honda (D-CA) and Walden (R-OR) voted no.
3. Finally, the House voted on an amendment by Rep. Ellsworth (D-IN). The amendment sought to ensure that nothing in the bill would restrict schools from using hardwood lumber for school reconstruction. I guess that's a big thing in Indiana, maybe? The final vote was 425-7. All no votes were from Republicans.
The House also unanimously passed its version of a bill that reforms military contracting policy. The House and Senate will be going to conference sometime in the next week to produce a final product for the President, who has pledged to sign it into law.
The House, after it's done with the green public schools bill, will move onto the war funding measure.
That's it for quite a long day. I could really use some comments.
THE WHITE HOUSE: The big news today from President Obama was his decision not to release Pentagon photos showing U.S. soldiers torturing (apparently) detainees. Obama said that releasing the photos could be propaganda for America's enemies overseas, and could thus endanger our troops. The photos were ordered to be released by a Federal court, so Obama was forced to have his government lawyers file an objection. On the surface, this seems like a Bush-ian cover-up. I have to say I'm pretty conflicted. On the one hand, I think our government should be fully transparent about what went on during the past 8 years. The public should be aware of the full extent to which the Bush administration went to in the name of protecting the country. On the other hand, I find myself agreeing with Obama that this may be fodder for our enemies. It's not like they are withholding the information about what happened, they are just not showing the sensational pictures. What value would the country REALLY get from seeing those photos? I'm not sure. As Bill O'Reilly would say, "you make the call." At least President Obama finally did something for which Republicans like John Boehner and Mitch McConnell were supportive.
President Obama also received the first report from Vice President Biden on the progress of the stimulus package. So far, only 6% of the $787 billion has been spent. There have been some administrative hang ups, especially in getting money to the states. If I was Obama, I would tell Biden to get the money out there more quickly. With state governments continuing to slash jobs, and unemployment still steadily rising, we have no time to waste.
The President travels tonight to Arizona State to give a commencement speech in front of an expected crowd of 70,000. We'll have full coverage of that tomorrow.
THE SENATE: The Senate had a busy day today. First, Senate Republicans succesfully filibustered the nomination of David Hayes to be Deputy Secretary of the Interior. The objection, led by Senators Bennett (R-UT) and Murkowski (R-AK) had nothing to do with Hayes' qualifications, but instead to protest the Interior Department's decision to closs off public lands for oil drilling in the West. It's unfortunate that Republicans are holding a qualified nominee hostage for something that he had nothing to do with. The motion to invoke cloture on his nomination failed to get the requisite 60 votes. The final tally was 57-39. Doing the math here, it would seem like with the support they got from Republican Olympia Snowe (ME), the Democrats SHOULD have been able to block the filibuster. The problem was that 3 Democrats, Senators Kennedy and Kerry (MA) and Mikulski (MD) were inexplicably absent, meaning Democrats were stuck on 57 votes. Inexplicably, arch conservative Jon Kyl actually voted FOR the nomination (maybe because he had sympathy for the ailing Kennedy?). Harry Reid voted no for procedural reasons (a Senator can not call up another cloture vote unless they voted against it the first time).
The Senate also took some votes on amendments to the Credit Card Bill of Rights . The first amendment voted on today was from Senator Clown. This was your standard anti-immigrant amendment we've come to expect from the clown. The amendment would have required certain types of identification to apply for a credit card. The vote failed 28-65. No Democrats voted with the clown.
The next amendment from Senator Sanders (Socialist-VT), sought to cap interest rates on credit cards. This would have put actual teeth into this bill by putting serious restrictions on usury rates. I guess it was too mean to the credit card industry for the 60 Senators who voted no. 33 voted in the affirmative. As you would expect, only Democrats voted for the bill.
The final amendment was offered by Senator Gregg (R-NH). The purpose of the amendment would be to increase public knowledge about the national debt (Senator Gregg's pet cause). It would have required the publication of facts about the debts on IRS forms, federal websites, and federal legislation. Because Gregg's amendment violated Senate budget rules, it required 60 votes to pass. It failed by a single vote. The final tally was 59-35. I don't have many problems with this amendment in principle, but it was clearly a political ploy by Gregg to highlight the national debt. Democrats Bayh (IN), Bennet (CO), Boxer (CA), Cardin (MD), Conrad (ND), Dorgan (ND), Feingold (WI), Feinstein (CA), Gillibrand (NY), Hagan (NC), Klobuchar (MN), Kohl (WI), Lincoln (AR), McCaskill (MO), Nelson (NE), Pryor (AR), Shaheen (NH), Specter (PA) and Udall (CO) couldn't resist.
The Senate will vote on a few more amendments tomorrow, before a possible final vote in the afternoon. If the bill passes as expected, I expect the House and Senate to reconcile the bills in a conference committee.
THE HOUSE: The House today began consideration of a bill to authorize money to be spent on making public schools energy efficient. The House voted on a few amendments today, and will vote on more amendments and final passage tomorrow. A few other amendments were approved by unanimous consent. Here's a quick summary of amendment votes:
1. The first vote was on an amendment offered by Rep. Titus (D-NV) would require the Department of Education to establish a advisory council to the secretary on green high-performing schools. The amendment was agreed to 270-160. 19 Republicans joined all but two Democrats in voting yes.
2. Next was an amendment by Rep. Phil Roe (R-TN) would have established an advisory commission to see what impact the legislation was having on student achievement. This seems pretty stupid to me, since obviously the purpose of the bill is NOT necessarily to improve student achievement, but to improve energy efficiency in places were 20% of the United States population spends its weekdays. Maybe I'm missing something, because the amendment was agreed to by a vote of 432-2. I guess Democrats are fine picking their battles. Reps. Honda (D-CA) and Walden (R-OR) voted no.
3. Finally, the House voted on an amendment by Rep. Ellsworth (D-IN). The amendment sought to ensure that nothing in the bill would restrict schools from using hardwood lumber for school reconstruction. I guess that's a big thing in Indiana, maybe? The final vote was 425-7. All no votes were from Republicans.
The House also unanimously passed its version of a bill that reforms military contracting policy. The House and Senate will be going to conference sometime in the next week to produce a final product for the President, who has pledged to sign it into law.
The House, after it's done with the green public schools bill, will move onto the war funding measure.
That's it for quite a long day. I could really use some comments.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
The Daily Strike-5/12/09-Crist-Crossed
Good evening and welcome to the Daily Strike. It is my preference (especially during a non-election year) to talk about what's going on NOW and not what might happen in 2010, but today I can't resist the urge.
CRIST: Today, Florida Governor Charlie Crist announced that he will run for the open Senate Seat vacated by Senator Mel Martinez. Crist would appear to be the overwhelming favorite to win this election, given his enormous name recognition and sky-high approval ratings.
I want to dissect the implications of this decision by looking at the political ripple effects. The National Republican Senatorial Committee recruited Crist hard, seeing him as their best chance of keeping the Florida Senate seat. The Washington establishment, led by NRSC Chairman John Cornyn, will certainly be willing to give Crist some money. Crist, though, will face a serious challenge in winning over Florida Republicans. Former Speaker of the Florida House Marco Rubio, a staunch conservative, has already announced that he will challenge Crist in the primary (which is only opened to registered Republicans). This is going to be a great test for the Republican party. I'm interested to see if they'll be ok voting for the likeable, electable moderate Governor or apply a strict litmus test on Crist's support for the stimulus. Rubio already released an ad with scary music highlighting Crists' connection with Obama. Republican's stubborn insistence on only accepting candidates who agree with them on every issue could hand this seat over to the Democrats. I would enjoy nothing more than watching Republicans continue to shoot themselves in the foot by continually narrowing their party's tent.
As for that aforementioned Governor's race, the biggest Democratic prospect is state Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink. Sink declined to enter the Senate race earlier this year, and probably didn't want to go up against Crist in a Governor's race. Now that Crist is out of the race, Sink will almost certainly test the waters. No word on who might jump in on the Republican side. We'll keep an eye on what happens in The Sunshine State.
The President also sent a reply letter to the group of health care stakeholders he met with yesterday. Obama talked tough with these folks, saying that he expects them to follow through on their promise to propose specific cost-cutting proposals. It's almost as if the President read criticism that the meeting didn't mean anything because the stakeholders didn't pledge to do anything specific.
THE SENATE: The Senate resumed consideration of the Credit Card Bill of Rights today, after Senators Shelby and Dodd agreed on a compromise last night. The Senate took one record vote on a Coburn (R-OK) amendment that would allow guns in public parks. How this relates to credit cards, I have no idea. Don't you just love the Senate's rule allowing non-germane amendments? Fortunately for Coburn, there are some Democrats who care more about their perfect NRA ratings than public safety. The amendment passed by a vote of 67-29. All no votes were from Democrats, including the newly anti-gun Kirsten Gillibrand (NY), who had received an 100% NRA rating when she was in the House. Gun-toting, spineless Democrats are Baucus (MT), Bayh (IN), Begich (AK), Bennet (CO), Byrd (WV), Casey (PA), Conrad (ND), Dorgan (ND), Feingold (WI), Hagan (NC), Kohl (WI), Landrieu (LA), Leahy (VT), Lincoln (AR), Merkley (OR), Nelson (NE), Nelson (FL), Pryor (AR), Reid (NV), Sanders (VT) (the socialist? really?), Shaheen (NH), Specter (PA), Tester (MT), Udall (CO), Warner (VA), Webb (VA) and Wyden (OR). I included this long list for dramatic effect.
Also coming to the floor will be Harold Koh, the nominee to be general counsel to the State Department. The only Republican to support him on the Foreign Relations Committee was ranking member Richard Lugar (R-IN). Koh's nomination has faced strong opposition from conservatives for a reason unknown to me. His name has also come up in conversations about potential Supreme Court nominees.
That's it for tonight. Please leave some comments!!
Monday, May 11, 2009
The Weekly Strike-5/11-5/17
Good morning and welcome to the Weekly Strike, where we preview another busy week in politics. Make sure you leave your comments this week! We will post the most insightful one in Friday's Daily Strike.
THE WHITE HOUSE: The President has a meeting this morning on a topic dear to my heart, health care reform. A group of health care stakeholders, ranging from doctors and nurses, to suppliers and insurance companies, have unveiled a proposal to cut health care costs by $2 trillion over ten years. Were they to accomplish these cuts, it would make a big dent in our budget deficit. The proposal, which the group will present to the President, outlines several areas of potential cost savings:
1. Administrative simplification and standardization.
2. Reducing overuse and underuse in health care by incentivizing high quality and efficiency. This would include payment reform in which doctors would receive a "bundled" payment to treat a chronic disease, instead of a traditional fee-for-service payment system, which incentivizes unnecessary care.
3. Promote care coordination to help reduce preventable hospitalizations.
4. Reduce the cost of doing business by addressing "cost drivers."
Not specifically mentioned in the letter, but implied by sources close to the group, is that these stakeholders will also accept changes to Medicare that would do away with "advantage" payments to private companies, an unnecessary expenditure that costs taxpayers billions of dollars each year.
I would say that I’m cautiously optimistic about these proposals. Two things make me extremely encouraged. One, the proposals themselves are VERY good. Trying to cut down on hospital readmission is a great way to save money, because you are using less services, and you are giving doctors and other providers incentive to do things right the first time. Also, I’m very encouraged that they’re talking about bundled payments. At the hospital systems that have adopted this type of payment reform (where you pay a set fee to treat a chronic disease, instead of paying for each procedure) has drastically improved quality scores and has saved providers large sums of money. Also, getting industry representatives to agree to cut private payments to Medicare is a HUGE accomplishment. In the course of a few months, we’ve gotten industry and Big Pharma companies to make enormous concessions on preexisting conditions and Medicare Advantage. The big negative I see at this point is that they are agreeing to broad principles but haven’t made any firm commitments. They can back out at any time and try and sabotage the whole plan. As Paul Krugman wrote, though, the pressure is working! Keep applying it! The more health care stakeholders see that their power might be threatened, the more they might be willing to make some key concessions. That’s why it might have made sense to at least suggest the possibility of a single-payer system early, so that industry people would come crawling back and offer to “just” have a public option, not a full government-run program.
Later today, the President meetings with the 2009 NCAA Basketball Champion North Carolina Tar Heels. Obama will be pleased with this crew, because he picked them to go all the way in his tournament bracket. He also practiced with the team during a campaign stop in North Carolina last spring.
Tomorrow, President Obama hosts a poetry slam at the White House. I can't say I could have seen that happening when Bush was in office. Wednesday, the President heads west to give the commencement address at Arizona State University. As you might remember, the school caused some controversy by refusing to give the President an honorary degree because he hadn't "accomplished" anything yet. With intense public pressure to not be a bunch stubborn idiots, they decided that the first African American President at the very least had done enough to have a scholarship named after him. Thursday, the President travels to New Mexico for a town meeting.
THE SENATE: This week will be another very busy one on Capitol Hill. There are two weeks left until the one week Memorial Day recess. The Senate will take up the Credit Card Bill of Rights this week, a measure endorsed by President Obama in his weekly address. The bill, which enacts new regulations protecting consumers from credit card companies, passed the House a couple of weeks ago. I expect the Senate to debate and vote on a slew of amendments before getting to final passage Thursday or so. Despite opposition from Republicans, I expect the Credit Card Bill of Rights to pass pretty comfortably. It will presumably then go to a House-Senate conference.
THE HOUSE: The House also has a packed schedule. Tomorrow and Wednesday, the House will consider various bills under suspension of the rules. One of those bills is a version of the Senate-passed military procurement reform proposal, which applies new regulations to military contracting. The Senate passed the bill unanimously, so House leaders probably decided it wasn't worth taking too much time to debate.
Next, the House moves to consider a bill to make public schools energy efficient. While this bill makes a lot of sense to most reasonable people, I expect Republicans to object for a variety of reasons. One, the proposal probably authorizes a good deal of money to be spent (which would of course be offset by savings in the long-run from decreased electricity usage). Second, Republicans usually reactively oppose anything having to do with green energy or public schools. This bill is the double whammy!
Finally, the House will consider a bill to fund wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through the end of September. I expect the bill to pass pretty easily, with support from moderate Democrats and most Republicans. So far, Democratic leaders have not added additional non-defense spending to the bill (as they have with supplemental funding bills in the past). Nor have they sought to restrict the President's policies in the two countries. House Appropriations David Obey, an critic of the administration's policy in Afghanistan, wants to condition funding after one year on progress on various benchmarks. I'm not sure whether those benchmarks will make it into the final version for the bill. If the House Rules Committee allows for amendments, I expect one of the liberal members, like Rep. Barbara Lee of California, will propose bringing troops home immediately.
That's it for now. Track the progress on these important pieces of legislation by reading our Daily Strike! See you tonight!
THE WHITE HOUSE: The President has a meeting this morning on a topic dear to my heart, health care reform. A group of health care stakeholders, ranging from doctors and nurses, to suppliers and insurance companies, have unveiled a proposal to cut health care costs by $2 trillion over ten years. Were they to accomplish these cuts, it would make a big dent in our budget deficit. The proposal, which the group will present to the President, outlines several areas of potential cost savings:
1. Administrative simplification and standardization.
2. Reducing overuse and underuse in health care by incentivizing high quality and efficiency. This would include payment reform in which doctors would receive a "bundled" payment to treat a chronic disease, instead of a traditional fee-for-service payment system, which incentivizes unnecessary care.
3. Promote care coordination to help reduce preventable hospitalizations.
4. Reduce the cost of doing business by addressing "cost drivers."
Not specifically mentioned in the letter, but implied by sources close to the group, is that these stakeholders will also accept changes to Medicare that would do away with "advantage" payments to private companies, an unnecessary expenditure that costs taxpayers billions of dollars each year.
I would say that I’m cautiously optimistic about these proposals. Two things make me extremely encouraged. One, the proposals themselves are VERY good. Trying to cut down on hospital readmission is a great way to save money, because you are using less services, and you are giving doctors and other providers incentive to do things right the first time. Also, I’m very encouraged that they’re talking about bundled payments. At the hospital systems that have adopted this type of payment reform (where you pay a set fee to treat a chronic disease, instead of paying for each procedure) has drastically improved quality scores and has saved providers large sums of money. Also, getting industry representatives to agree to cut private payments to Medicare is a HUGE accomplishment. In the course of a few months, we’ve gotten industry and Big Pharma companies to make enormous concessions on preexisting conditions and Medicare Advantage. The big negative I see at this point is that they are agreeing to broad principles but haven’t made any firm commitments. They can back out at any time and try and sabotage the whole plan. As Paul Krugman wrote, though, the pressure is working! Keep applying it! The more health care stakeholders see that their power might be threatened, the more they might be willing to make some key concessions. That’s why it might have made sense to at least suggest the possibility of a single-payer system early, so that industry people would come crawling back and offer to “just” have a public option, not a full government-run program.
Later today, the President meetings with the 2009 NCAA Basketball Champion North Carolina Tar Heels. Obama will be pleased with this crew, because he picked them to go all the way in his tournament bracket. He also practiced with the team during a campaign stop in North Carolina last spring.
Tomorrow, President Obama hosts a poetry slam at the White House. I can't say I could have seen that happening when Bush was in office. Wednesday, the President heads west to give the commencement address at Arizona State University. As you might remember, the school caused some controversy by refusing to give the President an honorary degree because he hadn't "accomplished" anything yet. With intense public pressure to not be a bunch stubborn idiots, they decided that the first African American President at the very least had done enough to have a scholarship named after him. Thursday, the President travels to New Mexico for a town meeting.
THE SENATE: This week will be another very busy one on Capitol Hill. There are two weeks left until the one week Memorial Day recess. The Senate will take up the Credit Card Bill of Rights this week, a measure endorsed by President Obama in his weekly address. The bill, which enacts new regulations protecting consumers from credit card companies, passed the House a couple of weeks ago. I expect the Senate to debate and vote on a slew of amendments before getting to final passage Thursday or so. Despite opposition from Republicans, I expect the Credit Card Bill of Rights to pass pretty comfortably. It will presumably then go to a House-Senate conference.
THE HOUSE: The House also has a packed schedule. Tomorrow and Wednesday, the House will consider various bills under suspension of the rules. One of those bills is a version of the Senate-passed military procurement reform proposal, which applies new regulations to military contracting. The Senate passed the bill unanimously, so House leaders probably decided it wasn't worth taking too much time to debate.
Next, the House moves to consider a bill to make public schools energy efficient. While this bill makes a lot of sense to most reasonable people, I expect Republicans to object for a variety of reasons. One, the proposal probably authorizes a good deal of money to be spent (which would of course be offset by savings in the long-run from decreased electricity usage). Second, Republicans usually reactively oppose anything having to do with green energy or public schools. This bill is the double whammy!
Finally, the House will consider a bill to fund wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through the end of September. I expect the bill to pass pretty easily, with support from moderate Democrats and most Republicans. So far, Democratic leaders have not added additional non-defense spending to the bill (as they have with supplemental funding bills in the past). Nor have they sought to restrict the President's policies in the two countries. House Appropriations David Obey, an critic of the administration's policy in Afghanistan, wants to condition funding after one year on progress on various benchmarks. I'm not sure whether those benchmarks will make it into the final version for the bill. If the House Rules Committee allows for amendments, I expect one of the liberal members, like Rep. Barbara Lee of California, will propose bringing troops home immediately.
That's it for now. Track the progress on these important pieces of legislation by reading our Daily Strike! See you tonight!
Thursday, April 30, 2009
The Daily Strike-4/30/09-Pressers and Gaffes
Good evening and welcome to the Daily Strike on another packed day in Washington. I apologize for not offering my analysis of the press conference yesterday, but don't worry, because here I go!
PRESS CONFERENCE: I think Obama's press conference yesterday was solid. I especially liked his tone. The President was serious, resolved and confident as he addressed the numerous challenges he has to face. There were some definite weak spots. For one, I agree with Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow that he seemed to imply that torture has worked in some circumstances. His point was that even if it does work, we can't do it because it's against our values. I don't think that's a smart argument to make. Nor do I believe, based on numerous interviews with former interrogators, that torture helped protect the country.
The most disappointing effort last night came from the media. The questions were largely about "sexy" issues like torture, Arlen Specter, and state secrets. There were some questions on more pressing topics, like the collapse of the auto industry, the situation in Pakistan and unemployment in the African American community. There were not, however, any questions about economic recovery, jobs, health care, education or energy. Not only are each of these the cornerstones of the President's agenda, but they are far and away the concerns of the American public. For his part, Obama could have geared his answers more towards these themes, so that people knew exactly what progress he intended to make in his next 100 days.
LOOSE LIPS BIDEN: I had to mention the absurdity of Joe Biden this morning saying that he wouldn't want his family on a plane or the subway in light of the swine flu. The administration was forced to quickly "clarify" the statement (read: retract it without saying Biden was wrong). The last thing you want to do during an epidemic is get people to start panicking unnecessarily. The Vice President had done a good job recently keeping his mouth shut, but I guess all good things come to an end.
CHRYSLER: The President announced today that he supported Chrysler's decision to enter a structured bankruptcy. The car company will still be making a deal with European automaker Fiat, which will allow Chrysler to stay in business temporarily. The Associated Press says that "according to the bankruptcy filing, a new company will be formed that will buy the assets of Chrysler - its plants, brands, land, equipment, as well as its contracts with the union, dealers and suppliers, from the bankruptcy court. " Part of the reason Chrysler went into bankruptcy, the President noted, is that creditors working in hedge funds and investment firms weren't willing to accept a deal negotiated with lenders. Apparently, these creditors were counting on getting a better deal if the government decided to step in with another bailout. Obama was right to chastise these speculators. I'm happy to see Obama strike a balance between calling out ridiculous business practices, while coming up with solutions that will (at least in the short term) keep companies afloat.
THE SENATE: The Senate today took up a broad housing bill designed to prevent foreclosures and enhance mortgage credit availability. This is a the twin of the bill passed earlier this week that ramps up enforcement against mortgage fraud. The House passed a similar bill last month with a controversial provision called "cramdown" which allows bankruptcy judges to renegotiate the terms of mortgages. This provision was offered today as an amendment from Senator Durbin. Durbin argued that cramdown was the most important vehicle for limiting the number of foreclosures, because it is the only way to renegotiate mortgages for people who have been screwed over by dishonest lenders (these weren't his exact words). He also argued that too may Senators were cronies of the banking and lending industries. Apparently, he's right. His amendment failed by a vote of 45-51, 15 votes shy of the 60 votes needed to advance the amendment. 12 Democrats voted against the amendment: Baucus (MT), Bennet (CO), Byrd (WV), Carper (DE), Dorgan (ND), Johnson (SD), Landrieu (LA), Lincoln (AR), Nelson (NE), Pryor (AR), Specter (PA) and Tester (MT). You'd think that Specter might actually vote with his new party once in awhile. What a shameful display by these "moderate" Democrats, who caved to pressure from corrupt lenders.
The other Senate vote today was the confirmation of Strickland to be the Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife. Somehow his nomination was controversial (they really care about THIS position that much?), so 60 votes were required to advance his nomination. Strickland was confirmed by a vote of 89-2. Your defectors were Republicans Bunning (KY) and Wicker (MS).
THE HOUSE: The House of Representatives spent all day today considering the Credit Card Bill of Rights. Among other provisions, the bill prohibits creditors from increasing interest rates on existing balances without meeting certain strict criteria. It also requires creditors to notify consumers 45 days in advance of a change in credit card rates. The bill also prohibits companies from giving credit cards to people under 18 years old unless they have been emancipated from their parents or they are using their parents' or guardian's account. (Thank GOD I've passed that age!). Despite some vocal Republican opposition, the bill passed by a large 357-70 vote. All no votes were from Republicans except for Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, a Democrat from South Dakota. Does it have anything to do with the fact that my credit card bills come form an office in South Dakota? Just asking.
In the course of the debate, 15 amendments were agreed to or rejected by voice vote. I'll spare you the details, but you can find descriptions of them here (if you scroll down a bit). Two amendments required recorded votes. The first was offered by Rep. Slaughter (D-NY), which would "set underwriting standards for students' credit cards, including limiting credit lines to the greater of 20 percent of a student's annual income or $500, without a co-signer and requiring creditors to obtain a proof of income, income history, and credit history from college students before approving credit applications. " In other words, it will now be harder for your little brother or sister to go on a reckless shopping spree. The amendment was agreed to 276-154. The vote was not quite along party lines. 46 Republicans voted for it, while 25 Democrats voted against it.
The second amendment voted upon came from Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), the sponsor of the bill. The amendment would require credit card holders to opt-into receiving over-the-limit spending protection in order for the credit card company to charge an over-the-limit fee. The amendment passed 284-149. 43 Republicans voted with yes with the Democratic majority, while 16 Democrats voted in opposition.
The House was also forced to vote on a motion to recommit, offered by Rep. Roskam (R-IL) that would have required a number of conditions to be met before the bill was triggered into law (aka, a trigger mechanism.) I'm not exactly sure what the conditions were, but it failed anyway by a vote of 164-263. 5 Democrats voted for it, while 16 Republicans voted against it.
Today, I also heard a discussion in both the House and Senate on the agenda for the remaining 3 weeks of the legislative session. Both chambers will take up a supplemental spending bill funding the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The House will work next week on a version of the Senate-passed mortgage fraud bill. The Senate will consider the credit card bill next week, followed by a bill addressing military procurement reform. More details to come when they are available.
That's it for tonight. You have one more day to offer comments if you want them in tomorrow's Daily Strike! Also, look out for a new feature this weekend.
Monday, April 27, 2009
The Weekly Strike-4/27-5/3
Good Monday morning and welcome to the Weekly Strike, where we preview the upcoming week in Washington. A very busy week on Capitol Hill especially, so let's get to it.
THE HOUSE: The House of Representatives has one of its busiest weeks of the year. Today and tomorrow, the House will vote on some suspension bills. Starting Tuesday, and continuing through Thursday, the House will consider three important measures.
First, the House will take up the "Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act." This bill passed the House last Congress, but died under Republican filibuster in the Senate. The bill most notably expands the definition of hate crimes to those motivated by the victim's sexual orientation. The measure also expands enforcement mechanisms and funding to prevent hate crimes. The bill explicitly states that nothing in this measure will be used to prohibit constitutionally-protected free speech. I expect House Republicans to have a gay-bashing field day. Their usual objections to measures like this is that they pose restrictions on the free exercise of religious institutions to discriminate as they choose. I don't really see how that has to relate to hate crimes, but oh well. This could be a good chance for the right wing to score some culture war points with their base. More importantly, the House will pass a long-overdue measure acknowledging that crime committed against LGBT Americans constitutes hate and should be prosecuted as such. I expect the bill to pass with over 300 votes. Republican moderates like Rep. Castle (DE) and Ros-Lehtinen (FL) are co-sponsoring the bill.
Next, the House considers an Obama-backed Credit Card Bill of Rights. This important bill will increase consumer protection against aggressive credit card companies. Among other things, the bill amends the Truth in Lending Act to prohibit increases in annual interest rates on a current balance unless specific conditions are met. It also requires a 45 day notice of credit card rate increases. A good summary of this comprehensive bill can be found here. This bill will almost certainly pass, but not without major objection from free-market enthusiasts. I haven't yet found the talking points against this bill yet, but I expect it to be a Rick Santelli-like diatribe against "protecting the losers" and "expanding the size and scope of government." No Republicans have signed on to sponsor the bill, and I would be surprised if more than a few of them vote for it.
Finally, the House will vote on the conference report accompanying the annual budget resolution. The final version of the bill was apparently agreed upon by House-Senate negotiators on Friday, but the final meeting to hash out the details will be held today or tomorrow. The resolution sets spending targets for each area of discretionary spending, largely reflecting President Obama's budget proposal. The resolution also contains reconciliation instructions that will allow health care reform and education legislation to pass the Senate with 51 votes, instead of the usual 60 needed to cut off debate. Especially because of the reconciliation instructions, this is one of the most important votes of the year. If the budget resolution passes, it's a good bet that we'll have a comprehensive health care bill by the end of the year. I expect the final version to pass with the same margin as the original version. No Republican will vote for it (almost certainly), and 20 or so Democrats will vote against it.
THE SENATE: Not to be outdone, the deliberative chamber also has a busy week. Tonight, the Senate votes to invoke cloture on a bill to protect consumers against mortgage fraud. The bill was debated last week, and a number of amendments were adopted. I expect cloture to be invoked with about 65 votes or so. The ranking Republican on the Finance Committee, Chuck Grassley, is a cosponsor of the bill. If cloture is invoked, a final passage vote will occur at noon tomorrow. Also tomorrow, the Senate considers the nomination of HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. Her appointment carries more urgency due to the outbreak of the swine flu. The agency needs leadership to oversee this public health emergency. Sebelius' nomination has been held up by Republicans mostly due to her association with a Kansas abortion doctor. Per an agreement between the two leaders, her nomination will require 60 votes. I expect her to be confirmed with 65-70 votes, and take office later this week. If she is confirmed, Obama's cabinet will finally be filled.
The Senate will most likely take up the conference report on the budget resolution Wednesday or Thursday.
THE WHITE HOUSE: The President has a busy week, and he'll have to keep a close eye on what's happening with the swine flu outbreak. The President starts his week with a speech at the National Science Academy in Washington DC. He has an otherwise quiet day today, with a series of meetings and a White House event with the NCAA Women's Basketball Champion UCONN Huskies. Tomorrow, the President presents the "Teacher of the Year" award. How cool would it be to be that teacher right now?
Obama's busiest day is Wednesday, when he marks the 100th day of his Presidency. He will hold a town hall meeting in Missouri that morning to discuss the economy. He has thrived in the town hall setting both on the campaign trail and during his Presidency. He then will hold his 3rd prime time press conference at the White House on Wednesday night. I expect most of the questions will center around the President's first 100 days, but I expect a few on the torture memos controversy, the economy, health care etc. Let's hope the press corps can do a better job of asking relevant questions than they've done in the past.
That's pretty much it for this week. We will give you comprehensive coverage of events as they happen. Please leave us your comments! Our best one will be featured in Friday's Daily Strike.
THE HOUSE: The House of Representatives has one of its busiest weeks of the year. Today and tomorrow, the House will vote on some suspension bills. Starting Tuesday, and continuing through Thursday, the House will consider three important measures.
First, the House will take up the "Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act." This bill passed the House last Congress, but died under Republican filibuster in the Senate. The bill most notably expands the definition of hate crimes to those motivated by the victim's sexual orientation. The measure also expands enforcement mechanisms and funding to prevent hate crimes. The bill explicitly states that nothing in this measure will be used to prohibit constitutionally-protected free speech. I expect House Republicans to have a gay-bashing field day. Their usual objections to measures like this is that they pose restrictions on the free exercise of religious institutions to discriminate as they choose. I don't really see how that has to relate to hate crimes, but oh well. This could be a good chance for the right wing to score some culture war points with their base. More importantly, the House will pass a long-overdue measure acknowledging that crime committed against LGBT Americans constitutes hate and should be prosecuted as such. I expect the bill to pass with over 300 votes. Republican moderates like Rep. Castle (DE) and Ros-Lehtinen (FL) are co-sponsoring the bill.
Next, the House considers an Obama-backed Credit Card Bill of Rights. This important bill will increase consumer protection against aggressive credit card companies. Among other things, the bill amends the Truth in Lending Act to prohibit increases in annual interest rates on a current balance unless specific conditions are met. It also requires a 45 day notice of credit card rate increases. A good summary of this comprehensive bill can be found here. This bill will almost certainly pass, but not without major objection from free-market enthusiasts. I haven't yet found the talking points against this bill yet, but I expect it to be a Rick Santelli-like diatribe against "protecting the losers" and "expanding the size and scope of government." No Republicans have signed on to sponsor the bill, and I would be surprised if more than a few of them vote for it.
Finally, the House will vote on the conference report accompanying the annual budget resolution. The final version of the bill was apparently agreed upon by House-Senate negotiators on Friday, but the final meeting to hash out the details will be held today or tomorrow. The resolution sets spending targets for each area of discretionary spending, largely reflecting President Obama's budget proposal. The resolution also contains reconciliation instructions that will allow health care reform and education legislation to pass the Senate with 51 votes, instead of the usual 60 needed to cut off debate. Especially because of the reconciliation instructions, this is one of the most important votes of the year. If the budget resolution passes, it's a good bet that we'll have a comprehensive health care bill by the end of the year. I expect the final version to pass with the same margin as the original version. No Republican will vote for it (almost certainly), and 20 or so Democrats will vote against it.
THE SENATE: Not to be outdone, the deliberative chamber also has a busy week. Tonight, the Senate votes to invoke cloture on a bill to protect consumers against mortgage fraud. The bill was debated last week, and a number of amendments were adopted. I expect cloture to be invoked with about 65 votes or so. The ranking Republican on the Finance Committee, Chuck Grassley, is a cosponsor of the bill. If cloture is invoked, a final passage vote will occur at noon tomorrow. Also tomorrow, the Senate considers the nomination of HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. Her appointment carries more urgency due to the outbreak of the swine flu. The agency needs leadership to oversee this public health emergency. Sebelius' nomination has been held up by Republicans mostly due to her association with a Kansas abortion doctor. Per an agreement between the two leaders, her nomination will require 60 votes. I expect her to be confirmed with 65-70 votes, and take office later this week. If she is confirmed, Obama's cabinet will finally be filled.
The Senate will most likely take up the conference report on the budget resolution Wednesday or Thursday.
THE WHITE HOUSE: The President has a busy week, and he'll have to keep a close eye on what's happening with the swine flu outbreak. The President starts his week with a speech at the National Science Academy in Washington DC. He has an otherwise quiet day today, with a series of meetings and a White House event with the NCAA Women's Basketball Champion UCONN Huskies. Tomorrow, the President presents the "Teacher of the Year" award. How cool would it be to be that teacher right now?
Obama's busiest day is Wednesday, when he marks the 100th day of his Presidency. He will hold a town hall meeting in Missouri that morning to discuss the economy. He has thrived in the town hall setting both on the campaign trail and during his Presidency. He then will hold his 3rd prime time press conference at the White House on Wednesday night. I expect most of the questions will center around the President's first 100 days, but I expect a few on the torture memos controversy, the economy, health care etc. Let's hope the press corps can do a better job of asking relevant questions than they've done in the past.
That's pretty much it for this week. We will give you comprehensive coverage of events as they happen. Please leave us your comments! Our best one will be featured in Friday's Daily Strike.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
The Daily Strike-4/23/09-On All Fronts
The President and Congress were both extremely busy today dealing with problems and political controversies on all fronts. Welcome to the Daily Strike and good Thursday afternoon. This is your last chance to leave comments if you want them included in tomorrow's entry! Also, please read a GREAT entry below from Small Town Roots. So happy to have him writing!
THE WHITE HOUSE: The President spent his day in a variety of interesting venues. After receiving his daily briefings, he left for a commemoration ceremony at the Capitol of the Holocaust. The President gave a nice talk, building on the "never again" theme so frequently used in commemoration of the Holocaust. He said that we have to make sure that this is not just a slogan, but a call to action. The first step, he said, is bearing witness. The President's remarks were preceded by a slew of speakers who gave implicit warnings to Obama about the dangers of Iran. Israeli ambassador Sallai Meridor alluded to the Iranian regime by saying “When a regime is again ... terrorizing its neighbors, threatening to destroy the Jewish people, how will we meet this challenge before it’s too late?” Joel Geiderman, the vice chairman of the Holocaust Memorial Museum, directly compared the Nazis to the current regime in Iran. The great Elie Wiesel, holocaust survivor and nobel laureate, praised Obama's decision to boycott the UN conference on racism, during which Iranian President Ahmadenijad made disparaging comments toward Israel. I certainly agree that Iran is a threat, but I hope these warnings don't in any way sway the Obama administration away from using strong diplomacy. There's a difference between appeasing an enemy (like Chamberlain did by giving the Nazi's half of Czechoslovakia) and talking to them. Too bad some people just can't see that.
Then Obama came back to the White House to hold a meeting with credit card executives. He got his populism groove on big time. According to White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, the company executives told Obama that current Federal Reserve regulatory policies are sufficient. Obama disagreed, and said that new restrictions need to be put in place to help consumers. I expect some sort of credit card bill of rights to be part of the regulatory measures considered by Congress in the coming weeks. Apparently, the meeting wasn't interesting to all of those who attended.
Gibbs also announced that the President will give a prime time press conference next week to commemorate his first 100 days in office. We'll evaluate these 100 days more this weekend, but a Pew poll released to today shows that after 100 days, Americans still approve of the President's performance by over a two-to-one margin. His favorability ratings are even higher. Perhaps more encouraging for the President was an AP poll out today that showed America's feeling more positive about the direction of the country than they have since 2004. That, to me, is pretty amazing given the dire economic conditions.
THE HOUSE: The House dealt today with a bill to, among other things, direct the President to implement a National Water Research and Development initiative to "improve the federal government's role in designing and implementing federal water research, development, demonstration, data collection and dissemination, education, and technology transfer activities to address changes in U.S. water use, supply, and demand; and (2) establish or designate an interagency committee to implement the Initiative. " Water use and distribution is one of those incredibly important issues that's never talked about. It is certainly a finite resource that we should be concerned about as much, if not moreso, than oil. The bill passed overwhelmingly by a vote of 413-10. The no votes were from Republicans Broun (GA), Culberson (TX), Flake (AZ), Foxx (NC), Franks (AZ), Garrett (NJ), Hensarling (TX), Miller (MI), Poe (TX) and Shaddegg (AZ). Besides Miller, this is a very good list of the most extreme fiscal conservatives in Congress. Ron Paul surely would have been on that list had he not been absent today.
Prior to a vote on final passage, the House voted on five amendments and a Republican motion to recommit. The House also approved several amendments by voice vote. Here's a quick run-down on the ones that were voted on:
-The first amendment, offered by freshman Rep. Suzanne Kosmas (D-FL) would direct the appropriate agencies to assess the impact of natural disasters on water resources. It passed 424-0. I guess she can brag about it to her most likely hurricane-scarred constituents!
-Next was an amendment by Rep. Harry Teague of New Mexico that would require "that the plan's analysis of the energy required to provide reliable water supplies and the water required for the production of alternative and renewable energy resources. " Fair enough. It passed 423-1. Screw you Rep. McClintock (R-CA)!
-Third was an amendment by Rep. Roskam (R-IL) that would require the Government Accountabiliy Office to determine whether any program authorized by the bill is duplicative of other programs. The Democrats were opposed to the amendment because it could result in the elmination of some of the bill's important new programs. The amendment failed 194-236. 19 Democrats joined all Republicans in voting for it.
-Fourth was a simillar amendment offered by Rep. Shaddegg (R-AZ). The difference is that his amendment would direct the new interagency organization authorized under the bill (not the GAO) to identify duplicative programs. The amendment failed 271-160. 19 Republicans joined all but 6 Democrats in opposition.
The motion to recommit was offered by Rep. Nunes of California. It required the bill to include some funding related to the water shortage in the San Joaquin Valley in California (where Nunes is from). The motion passed 392-28, with almost all opposition from liberal Democrats (not sure why). Nunes must have been quite pleased. Motions to recommit are rarely agreed to, since they are almost always offered by the minority.
The House is done for the week. No word yet as to what's on tap for next week. My guess is that they'll vote on a conference report on the budget resolution.
THE SENATE: The Senate had another marathon day today. Is it just me or do they always procrastinate in the world's most deliberative body? The Senate was slated to vote on a slew of amendments to the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act (a bill to increase liability for mortgage companies who commit fraud). The only amendment voted on during the day was offered by Senator Kyl (R-AZ) that would limit compensation for whistleblowers to $50,000,000 or 300 percent of their costs. This sounds like a lot of money to me, but I assume since they are assuming high risk by exposing fraud, they should get compensated well. There might be some other problem with this cap that I don't know about. The amendment failed 31-61. All yes votes were from Republicans.
The rest of the amendments had not been voted on at "press" time. I'll make sure to give you a full run-down tomorrow. I'm not sure whether the vote on final passage will be this evening or tomorrow morning.
That's it for us today. You know the drill: COMMENTS, BABY, COMMENTS!
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