Addendum: Most Votes Ever

I wanted to add to the last entry by telling you that the House of Representatives broke the record for most roll call votes in a single-day. The House voted 52 times today, due to Republican obstruction, shattering the previous record of 40 in 1988.

The Daily Strike-6/18/09-Congress and Health Reform in Shambles

Good evening and welcome to the Daily Strike. Things got ugly today in the United States Congress, and the prospects of meeting health reform and energy time lines are looking uglier still. We should all be worried, and we need to kick things into gear. Let's get to the day in politics.

THE (MAD) HOUSE: The President had no public events today, so our attention unfortunately centered on the increasingly dysfunctional United States Congress. A few minutes ago, the House took the last of 52 votes today over a span of 8 hours. The bill under consideration is the first of the annual appropriations bills, funding the Departments of Commerce, Justice and various science-related agencies. For those of you who didn't catch yesterday's entry, House Republicans are 2nd Graders. Under normal "order," members can offer any amendment to appropriations bills. Democrats this year insisted that all bills be pre-printed to be considered on the House floor. The Republican weren't happy about this, so they made their smart-a$$ gesture of offering almost 200 amendments. Democrats, realizing that allowing that many amendments would slow down important legislative business, were forced to limit amendments to about 40 or so. Republicans were so outraged at this injustice, that they made the House take vote after vote today in "protest." How oppressed they are! They first made the House take a recorded vote on every single amendment (which almost never happens). This accounted for the first few hours of votes. Then, Republicans forced re-votes on amendments, because they have the right to do this for some god foresaken reason. Then, they forced re-votes on the re-votes. As a result of their infantile antics, House committees were unable to hold key meetings. I didn't follow the House closely enough when the Democrats were in the minority, but I don't think they did anything like this. It's just more proof that Republicans will do whatever they can, including arcane parliamentary tactics, to see the Democrats' agenda fail.

Amidst the lunacy, there were actually a few important votes. The bill itself FINALLY passed this evening by a vote of 259-157. 24 Republicans voted with all but 8 Democrats for the bill. The bill increases funding for various law enforcement programs, and appropriates $2 billion for research on climate change science. The bill spends about 12% more than last year's version. I expect that number to come down when the Senate takes up the bill later this summer.

Most of the amendments were silly Republican motions to strike funny-sounding (but actually worthwhile) earmarks from the bill. Democrats were successful in defeating these efforts. They were also successful on the most important vote of the day. Republican Rep. Jerry Lewis (not that one) of California proposed an amendment forbidding any funding to be used to close Guantanamo Bay. If this had made it into the final version of the bill, Obama would not be able to fulfill the promise he made to close the prison on January 22nd. Centrist Democrats were fearful of ads saying that they "voted to move terrorists into our communities." 39 of them joined Republicans in voting for the amendment. That wasn't quite enough to ensure passage. The amendment failed by a single vote, 212-213. (They actually voted on it twice, and the first vote was 212-216.). Ironically, the margin of defeat was provided by the two Republican defectors, Ron Paul (TX) and Johnson (IL). It seems like the Democratic whips were on the ball.

So to sum up, we the taxpayers paid for the House voted 51 times, and about two of them were important votes.

THE SENATE: The Senate had a close call of their own today. The war funding bill conference report, which narrowly passed the House on Tuesday, came to the Senate floor this afternoon. Republican Senator Judd Gregg raised a point of order because the bill included an item that was not in the original House or Senate bill. That item was "cash for clunkers," a program where consumers can get a rebate for turning in old gas-guzzling cars. In order to waive this point of order and save the bill, Democrats needed to muster 60 votes. Senators Byrd (WV) and Kennedy (MA) are both out sick, meaning Democrats have 57 voting members. One of their members, Senator Nelson of Nebraska, wanted to prove his fiscal-conservative bona fides by voting against his own party. Therefore, Majority Leader Reid had to pluck 4 Republican votes. It was a squeaker, but he pulled it off. Senators Bond (MO), Cochran (MS), Collins (ME) and Voinovich (OH) joined Democrats in making sure the bill could advance. The bill itself was then approved 90-5. Republicans Coburn (OK), DeMint (SC) and Enzi (WY) voted no because of spending. Democrat Feingold (WI) and Socialist Sanders (VT) voted against the war funding as a moral objection to the war.

I'm disapproving of Obama's efforts to up the ante in Afghanistan, and I think he should be withdrawing more swiftly from Iraq. Having said that, I'm glad this bill is over with. It's one of those rare bills that NEEDS to pass, even though a member of any ideology could come up with several good reasons to vote against it. Because President Obama is including war funding in the regular budget process now, we won't have to deal with any more of these supplemental war funding bills.

HEALTH CARE: The most important policy fight of Obama's presidency is floundering in muck and mire. The Senate HELP committee, led by it's temporary chairman Christopher Dodd (CT), spent it's second day considering the still unfinished health care reform bill. The first day was full of partisan griping and political gamesmanship. Today, Senators were supposed to be debating the non-controversial portions of the bill, like ways to increase health care quality. These discussions quickly devolved into partisan discussions on how to pay for the bill, and why the full bill hasn't been released.

Meanwhile, President Obama's first nominee for Health and Human Services Secretary, former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, pretty much epitomized the deficiency of the Democratic party right now as it relates to health reform. Daschle had teamed up with former Republican Majority Leaders Bob Dole and Howard Baker to come up with a "bipartisan proposal for health reform." The bill did not include the public option. Daschle explained that Democrats need to abandon their push for the public option because it will "jeopardize all of the progress we've made."

What progress?? The idea of health care reform is to get everybody health insurance. We've already ruled out a single-payer system, and now we're supposed to cave in to the Republican party by abandoning the public option? Something that, according to yesterday's NBC poll, has the support of 76% of the country? Democrats control the White House, the House of Representatives and 59 votes in the Senate. If we can't get this done now, we'll never be able to do it. People like Daschle are too concerned about being on good terms with Republicans and not concerned enough about our nation's failing health care system. As the great Ezra Klein asked today, how many people have to lose health insurance because we want to make (Republican Senator) Chuck Grassley happy?

I will hammer home this point everyday, if I have to. Democrats need to understand the stakes of this fight, and not cower in the fetal position. Why aren't there Democratic Senators going on cable TV 24 hours a day explaining why we need the public option? Why aren't they, at the very least, standing by their principles?

Furthermore, it's not good enough for Barack Obama to have only one health care event this week. I know he has a lot on his plate, but his country needs him. We need his bully pulpit to make the case to the American people that we need strong, comprehensive reform. He should be holding a rally for health care reform every day until the bill is passed.

Hopefully soon we'll be able to report an end to this run of discouraging developments. In the meantime, enjoy your Friday! Leave some comments.

The Daily Strike-6/17/09-Grinding and Sputtering

Good evening and welcome to the Daily Strike. According to a WSJ/NBC News poll out tonight, 61% of Americans thinks that the President isn't trying to do too much, and that he should continue to try and solve the country's problems. More work for us!

FINANCIAL REGULATION: The President today announced a new program of regulations on financial markets. The regulations were billed as "new rules for the road" to curb the "culture of irresponsibility" we've seen in the last several years. The President is saying that this is the biggest step in regulatory reform since the Great Depression. The plan has 5 essential components (per the Washington Post):

1. Increases the power of of the Federal Reserve, creating stronger and more consistent oversight of the largest financial firms.

2. Asks Congress to authorize the government for the first time to dismantle large firms that fall into trouble, avoiding a chaotic collapse that could disrupt the economy.

3. Extends federal oversight and imposes new rules in trading complex derivatives and securities built from mortgage loans.

4. Creates a new agency to protect consumer mortgages, credit cards, and other financial products.

5. Increases the administration's coordination with other nations to prevent businesses from migrating to less regulated venues.

These all sound good. I haven't seen the opinions of the people I would really trust to see if it goes far enough, like Paul Krugman and Robert Reich. The chairmen of the House and Senate Financial Services Committees, Barney Frank and Christopher Dodd, expressed tepid approval, saying that some of the proposals won't make it through Congress. That is starting to sound like a broken record. I'm worried that once the proposal goes to Congress, it will be torpedoed by people who get billions of dollars from the financial industry. For what it's worth, Frank and Dodd pledged to act by the end of the year. Add it to the pile.

WSJ/NBC POLL: The aforementioned poll out tonight has some revealing numbers. The President remains popular, enjoying a 56% approval rating. There are some other troubling numbers in the poll, however. Most the country, by a pretty significant majority, would rather the government deal with the deficit even if it slows economic recovery. This is bad news, because it goes against practically every policy proposal the President has presented. I think that Obama did himself a disservice by making token speeches about lowering the deficit, and making the government "live within it's means." Economic recovery requires high levels of government spending, and the President should explain that to the American people. He doesn't have to conform to this conventional mainstream media wisdom that the deficit is the worst thing in the world. The main concern about deficits, that they will lead to high inflation, seems unlikely according to recent economic data. In order to enact progressive policies, we have to change perceptions about the federal deficit.

The good news? The public likes Sonia Sotomayor, Obama's Supreme Court nominee, and disapproves of the Republican party at historic levels.

HEALTH CARE: I'm becoming increasingly discouraged about what's happening with health reform in Congress. Today, the Senate HELP committee began marking-up their version of the health care bill. The bill they released last week turns out to have been a piece of work. For one, it was incomplete. It didn't include language on the two most important parts of reform, the public insurance option or how to pay for it. Second, it was given a $1 trillion price tag by the Congressional Budget Office. The CBO said that the bill would only cover 1/3rd of the nation's uninsured. If you're going to release a bill, either release the whole thing, or release something that makes it seem cheaper.

The hearing today was more like a circus than a mark-up. Senators didn't actually do anything today. They each made long opening statements outlining their perspectives on the legislation. The hearings are expected to continue for the next two weeks, as Senators consider a plethora of amendments, most of them proposed only to make a political statement. The HELP committee is supposed to be the committee that makes the bill more liberal. It's members are generally further to the left than the Senate Finance Committee. So their diligent work is that much more important.

The other Senate committee with jurisdiction, the Senate Finance Committee, is also not getting their act together either. Their proposed bill, which has yet to be released to the public, was given a cost of a whopping $1.6 trillion by the CBO. That number will scare away a lot of members of Congress. The chairman of the committee, Max Baucus, is delaying his committee's markup of the bill until they can cut about $600 billion in costs. This will probably take a few weeks.

It's bad enough that Democratic Senators regularly undermine the President's plan by insisting that it's too ambitious, or that it can't pass Congress. Now, they can't even muster up enough competence to write a complete bill and hold a responsible hearing? Every misstep adds to the perception that a) Democrats are unsure of their own proposals, and b) Democrats don't know what they're doing and should not be in the business of drafting a major bill like this. This is just pathetic. They need to get their acts together immediately. All of the stars have to align perfectly in order to get comprehensive reform passed this year. If Senate Democrats continue to drop the ball, we'll be in a lot of trouble.

THE HOUSE: I wish I could tell you that our other legislative body functions more effectively, but watching the House today, I couldn't possibly make that case. The House is considering the first of it's annual appropriations, which would fund the Departments of Commerce, Justice and Science. The bill adds about $12 billion in funding over last year's request, mostly for increased law enforcement provisions and a few new programs. Appropriations bills, unlike most other bills, are usually considered under open rules, meaning that any member can offer amendments as long as they are germane to the matter at hand. Democrats simply required Republicans to submit their amendments in writing before the bill came to the floor. Of course, Republicans, being the children that they are, filed like 175 amendments, which would have slowed the bill (and other legislative action) down. Democrats reacted to this by passing a new rule, limiting consideration to 44 pre-determined amendments. Now, Republicans are "getting back" at the Democrats by forcing record votes on all of these amendments, even ones that have unanimous support. So basically, they're upset about a slight modification in House rules, so they are going to make the House work on the bill for two days longer than it otherwise would have. Do they realize that no one cares about House rules? People want their Congress to get things done! House Republicans are such brats.

Anyways, the House has so far considered 19 of the amendments, and has voted on 3 of them. That means they'll probably take 10 or so more votes tonight, and about 30 tomorrow, wasting time on what otherwise is a pretty non-controversial bill. It's gonna be a long couple of nights. Meanwhile, people are still losing their jobs and their health care. I just can't believe how petty these people are.

THE SENATE: Not to be outdone, Senate Republicans are playing their own game of delay and obstruct. A few Senate Republicans filibustered a motion to proceed to a bill enhancing foreign travel into the United States, because it might contain anti-hate crimes amendment (as we talked about yesterday.) Senators voted 90-3 to cut off debate on this motion, but the filibustering Senators can still hold up the bill for another 30 hours under Senate rules, which is exactly what they did. The 30 hours expired this evening, and the Senate has begun general debate on the billl. Mind you, this is just a motion to PROCEED. We're not even talking about the bill itself.

Overall, this day gives me little trust that our country's political institutions (especially Congress) are capable of putting aside their parochial interests and political games to get things done. Hopefully, they'll get their act together soon.

And hopefully I'll be in a more positive mood tomorrow, too.

The Daily Strike-6/16/09-War Supplemental Bill

Good evening and welcome to the Daily Strike. Today's entry ranges from the nitty gritty to the hilarious, so get ready.

WAR SUPPLEMENTAL: What a great politics lesson on display today in the House of Representatives. Basically, we need to allocate funding for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through the end of September. Our President promised funding for the IMF at the G20 summit and April. And there's that whole swine flu thing. Since Congress doesn't have that many opportunities to appropriate money until the annual appropriations bills are finalized in September. Therefore, Democratic leaders tried to put all of this funding in one giant bill. When the original bill passed the House last month, it was only money for military operations. The other funding was added in conference negotiations. The original bill enjoyed bipartisan support. All but 9 Republicans voted for the bill, as did about 200 Democrats. But, Republicans objected to funding for the IMF being included in this bill, calling it a "global bailout." (Just because they call it that, doesn't make it so, by the way). So Republicans decided to oppose the bill en bloc. 50 Democrats voted against the bill last time because they had promised their constituents that they wouldn't fund any more wars. So the leadership had a must-pass bill that was about 20 votes short of passing. That's where the political bargaining begins. Democratic leaders targeted members who voted against the original bill. We don't know for sure, but I bet some threats were involved (like withholding campaign money etc). The vote took place this evening, and I would guess that there was some serious haggling on the floor before the vote took place. Despite the fact that most members hate this bill for one reason or another, it passed by a vote of 226-202. When it became evident that the bill would ultimately pass, 5 Republicans abandoned the orders of their leadership and voted for the bill. 32 anti-war Democrats voted against the bill. That's the advantage of having a large majority, you can lose 32 votes and still pass a bill pretty comfortably. The good news in all of this is that the Democratic leadership in the House seems to have a good whipping operation. You want your members to fall in line when they have to. This will prove very important when health care and energy legislation come to the floor later this summer. Since today's vote was so important, I'll give you the crossover votes.

Republicans voting yes: Cao (LA), King (NY), Kirk (IL), McHugh (NY) and Miller (MI). McHugh has been appointed to be Secretary of the Army in the Obama administration. Probably not a good idea to vote against your future boss. The other four votes were from moderate members from vulnerable districts.

Democrats voting no: Baldwin (WI), Capuano (MA), Conyers (MI), Doggett (TX), Edwards (MD), Ellison (MN), Filner (CA), Grayson (FL), Grijalva (AZ), Honda (CA), Kaptur (OH), Kucinich (OH), Lee (CA), Lofgren (CA), Massa (NY), McGovern (MA), Michaud (ME), Payne (NJ), Pingree (ME), Polis (CA), Serrano (NY), Shea-Porter (NH), Sherman (CA), Speier (CA), Stark (CA), Tierney (MA), Tsongas (MA), Waters (CA), Watson (CA), Welch (VT), and Woolsey (CA).

If you're member wasn't on that list, they voted to fund wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Just thought you should know. The Senate will take up the conference report later this week, and the bill will presumably get to Obama's desk by Friday.

THE SENATE: The upper chamber took one vote today, a cloture vote on a motion to proceed to a bill to encourage foreign travel into the United States. The motion needed 60 votes to pass. It passed by a vote of 90-3, with only Republicans Bunning (KY), Coburn (OK) and DeMint (SC) voting no. Rumor has it that Democrats might try to attach an amendment to this otherwise non-controversial bill that would include the House-passed hate crimes legislation. As you might recall, that bill extended hate crime protection to victims of crimes based on sexual orientation. It's possible that the Senate will vote on this amendment on Thursday. I can't confirm whether they will actually vote on the amendment. This bill is very important to Senator Reid, the Majority Leader, because his home state of Nevada's economy is based largely on tourism. He may not want to risk derailing the bill because of a non-germane amendment. We'll keep you posted.

The big (and frankly, hilarious) news in the Senate today is that Nevada Republican John Ensign admitted having an extra-marital affair with a family friend and campaign staffer. Apparently, he was black-mailed into telling the truth. Once again, we have a born-again conservative, someone who supported a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, being caught in an affair. At the Strike, we try to stick to serious issues, but this is just too good to pass up. Ensign's political ambitions (he gave a speech in Iowa a few weeks ago) have been permanently dashed.

THE WHITE HOUSE: The President had a mostly quiet day. He met this morning with the Prime Minister of South Korea. The two leaders pledged a strong partnership in fighting the increasingly aggressive North Koreans. He also sat down for interviews with CNBC and Bloomberg news, ahead of what is expected to be a major announcement on new regulatory policies. We will have full coverage of that announcement tomorrow. The President took time to bash Fox News, saying that they "are devoting to attacking my administration." I can't wait to see the crazies react on Fox tonight.

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

The Daily Strike-6/15/09-AMA

Good evening and welcome to the Daily Strike. If you're joining us for the first time in awhile, make sure you catch up on some interesting entries from The Big Picture and myself. Also, keep those comments coming!

AMA: The President today spoke about health reform at the American Medical Association in Chicago. The AMA is a powerful interest group that has expressed skepticism about Obama's health plan, specifically the public option. The AMA is one of the main reasons, quite frankly, that we don't have comprehensive health reform already. They hired some young actor named Ronald Reagan in 1961 to rail against Medicare, saying it would lead us down the path to socialism. They were part of a large cadre of advocacy groups that torpedoed the Clinton plan in 1994.

Obama's task today was to go into hostile territory and make the case that inaction is not an option, and that his plan will make our health care system better. Overall, Obama accomplished these goals effectively. He reiterated the key themes he's been trying to drill into the American people's heads for weeks:

1. The system now is not effective. We pay a lot of money, and we're not getting quality care.
2. If you like your health insurance now, you can keep it.
3. If you don't, you'll have choices of insurance through regional health care exchange markets, which will include a public government-funded option.

In each of these speeches, he's been careful to mention that second point several times. It's easy to make people fearful if they sense that something they want is being taken away. That's part of why this reform effort is so difficult. I don't think I've ever seen the President give such a forceful defense of the public option. He railed against critics who said this would lead to government-run care or rationing, and explained that the public option will help lower prices and keep private companies honest. He told the AMA that "the public option is your friend, not your enemy." He also sent a good subliminal message to Congress. People, Obama said, are skeptical that reform can't get done, that people think the devil they know is better than the devil they don't. He is recognizing the complicated political situation lawmakers find themselves in, but he wants them to get with the program.

He also was very effective in making the stakes of this fight clear. He called our current system a "ticking time bomb" that will bring down our economy in the long-run. He called health reform the single biggest step we can take to put our fiscal house back in order.

The biggest applause line came when Obama suggested that he's open to some sort of medical malpractice reform. The hot shot doctors apparently get most animated about not being sued! Obama assured them that he will not go as far as capping malpractice awards.

Obama, as usual, was personally appealing and convincing in his arguments. Even in front of this tough crowd, he stayed true to his positions and unlike his Congressional allies, was uncompromising. As The Big Picture said, let's hope he does this every day for the next six week. I think we can safely say that if Obama is out there making the case, it's a good day for advocates of reform.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS: The President today met with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. The scandal-tarred leader was at the White House to discuss a variety of topics, including Guantanamo detainees. In a minor victory for the President, Italy has agreed to take three Guantanamo prisoners. Hopefully more countries will follow suit.

The big news this afternoon was Obama's statement on the disputed Iranian election. Obama said that he is deeply troubled by the violence in the streets in Iran, and said that the American people won't accept violence against those who dissent peacefully. He told the Iranian people that the world is watching. Conservatives have been lambasting Obama for not getting more directly involved in assisting the moderate candidate Moussavi. The truth is, there is not much Obama can do at this point besides condemn the violence. The international politics are just too complicated.

CONGRESS: No votes today in the Senate; they get started on the foreign travel bill tomorrow. (see our Weekly Strike for details!). The House considered a bunch of suspension bills today, including one to help keep students safe on school-sponsored field trips. 60 Republicans voted AGAINST this. The House moves on to legislative business tomorrow, and we will have full coverage of it for you!

That's it for today. See you tomorrow evening!