President Obama’s jobs bill, as written, died a predictable death in the Senate last night. Democrats were able to muster fifty-one votes for passage, but that’s well short of the sixty needed to overcome a Republican filibuster. The New York Times called the vote both a “major” and “significant” setback for Obama in this morning’s…
Category: Congress
Millionaire tax would pay for Obama jobs bill, CBO says – Oct. 7, 2011
The Democrats’ proposed tax on millionaires would raise an estimated $453 billion, more than enough to pay for President Obama’s jobs bill. That’s the latest from the Congressional Budget Office, which on Friday released its cost and revenue estimates for the American Jobs Act of 2011. The bill calls for $447 billion in new and…
Harry Reid Busts Up Senate Precedent
McConnell moved to suspend the rules and shift debate over to the American Jobs Act. Reid argued that doing so amounted to another filibuster, because it required 60 votes to move back to the original bill, and so therefore was out of order. Sen. Mark Begich D-Alaska, who happened to be the presiding…
Stearns: Oops, The White House Did Deliver Those E-Mails To Us After All
The chairman of the House subcommittee investigating a federal loan guarantee to the bankrupt solar panel company Solyndra admitted on Wednesday that the White House had delivered documents to committee Republicans in a timely fashion. On Tuesday Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL) had accused the White House of providing the documents the panel was…
House Republican: Grover Norquist ‘is paralyzing Congress’
Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) is one of just six Republican in Congress who haven’t signed Grover Norquist’s anti-tax pledge. On the House floor Tuesday, he attacked Norquist for single-handedly enforcing this hard line within the GOP, creating a destructive impasse in the legislative process. “Everything must be on the table and I believe how the…
Sen. Rand Paul Blocks $36 Million For Disabled And Elderly Refugees, Including Those Who Aided American Troops
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), the bill’s sponsor, pointed out the life-threatening consequences of Paul’s actions. “The bill ensures that refugees will not lose critical life-sustaining benefits that are their only safety net protecting them from homelessness, illness and other effects of extreme poverty,” he said, noting that “some of the disabled refugees this bill helps…
Obama signs temporary spending bill
President Barack Obama signed legislation into law early Wednesday that will keep the federal government funded through November 18, the White House said. The measure, called the “Continuing Resolution Act, 2012,” ends the latest threat of a government shutdown. The new legislation is part of a deal to extend an additional $2.65 billion in…
Obama Jobs Bill: President Challenges Republicans On $447 Billion Plan
On the Texas leg of his “pass this bill” tour, Obama chided Eric Cantor, Republican leader in the House of Representatives, for saying he would not allow a vote on the measure. The White House said the plan could save or create about 400,000 education jobs, including 39,500 in Texas. “I’d like Mr….
11 of 12 Pennsylvania GOP Members of Congress Rebel Against Gov. Corbett’s Election Rigging Plan
Earlier this month, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett (R) proposed rigging the 2012 presidential election for the Republican candidate by effectively giving away as many as a dozen of the blue state’s electoral votes to that candidate. Under Corbett’s scheme, each of the state’s 18 congressional districts will allocate one electoral vote during the…
Business Owners, Investors Say Tax Changes Make ‘Zero Difference’ In Hiring: ‘I’m Not Sure What The Connection Is’
But a surprising group of people find that to be entirely untrue: the “job creators” themselves. As the billionaire behind the Buffett Rule, Warren Buffett, explained, “I have worked with investors for 60 years and I have yet to see anyone — not even when capital gains rates were 39.9 percent in 1976-77…
Organized Climate Change Denial “Played a Crucial Role in Blocking Domestic Legislation,” Top Scholars Conclude
Some try to downplay the central role of the denial machine in U.S. politics, but the fact is that what the deniers have accomplished in this country is unique in the world, going far beyond the spread of disinformation. They have allowed fossil fuel interests to “capture” almost an entire political party —…
Majority Leader Cantor Says Obama Jobs Plan Won’t Receive A Vote On The House Floor
Several news outlets are reporting that House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) said that the GOP will not bring President Obama’s $447 billion jobs plan to a vote on the House floor. The administration has been asking for a vote on the bill this month. Last week, economists surveyed by Bloomberg News said that the…
Eric Cantor’s America
The first thing he did was commission a national poll to show fellow Republican congressmen that while Obama was personally popular, his policies were not. Then he assembled what he called the House Republican Economic Recovery Working Group to come up with an alternative stimulus package. The group’s plan was larded with tax cuts that…
Debt Committees Fail-Safe Might Already Be Undone
Kyl now sits on the supercommittee, and his fellow Arizona Republican, Sen. John McCain, plans to block any automatic defense cuts resulting from a failure to agree on a plan.”Its all hypothetical, but if a trigger were in effect, you would see an immediate action on the floor of both houses by those…
Boehner’s District Suffers From E. Coli Outbreak As House Republicans Try To Gut Food Safety
As ThinkProgress reported yesterday, despite yet another outbreak of food-borne illness — this time stemming from listeria infected cantaloupes — congressional Republicans are still trying to cut back on the nation’s food safety regulations. The tainted melons have caused 16 deaths so far, making this the deadliest outbreak in more than a decade,…
GAO Cuts: Tom Coburn Hammers Senate For Money-Losing Proposal
The Huffington Post reported recently that the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee for the Legislative Branch has drawn up plans to reduce the GAO budget by more than 7 percent, cutting more than $40 million even as it also proposed rules requiring the agency to do more paperwork. And yet the GAO saved the federal…
Regulatory uncertainty: A phony explanation for our jobs problem
An examination of current economic trends, and especially what employers are doing in terms of hiring and investment, debunks this story about regulatory uncertainty as the cause of our dismal job growth. An examination of what employers and their economists are saying again and again in private surveys (cited later in this paper) makes it…
73 Percent Of Americans Support The ‘Buffett Rule,’ Including Two-Thirds Of Republicans
Overall, the Buffett Rule receives 73 percent approval, according to a new Daily Kos/SEIU “State of the Nation” poll conducted by Public Policy Polling and released today. Republicans have labeled the increase as “class warfare,” despite the fact that the richest Americans continue to see their incomes rise and their tax rates plummet. via 73…
Senators pass bill to avert government shutdown
The agreement ensured there would be no interruption in assistance to areas battered by disasters such as Hurricane Irene and last summer’s tornados in Joplin, Mo., and also that the government would be able to run normally when the new budget year begins on Saturday. The Senate approved the resolution after a day…
Elizabeth Warren on Debt Crisis, Fair Taxation
via Elizabeth Warren on Debt Crisis, Fair Taxation – YouTube.