A Democratic Senator wants to raise $200 billion over ten years by closing corporate tax loopholes, according to Bloomberg News. Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) wants to ditch a slew of goodies for corporations, as well as a loophole that allows wealthy money managers to pay far less in taxes than middle-class families: Senator Carl Levin’s…
Category: Congress
Clinton angrily defends handling of Benghazi attack
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday angrily defended her handling of the September 11 attack on the U.S. mission in the Libyan city of Benghazi and denied any effort to mislead people. The attack by armed militants that killed U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans threatens to stain Clintons legacy as secretary…
SHOCKING MAP: In These 22 States, Every House Republican Voted Against Sandy Aid
Almost three months after Hurricane Sandy ravaged the East Coast, the GOP-controlled House approved a bill that provides $50.7 billion in disaster relief for the storm’s victims. While passage of the bill is being hailed as a bipartisan success by some (the vote was 241-180), a closer look at how the parties voted by state lines…
Republicans Brag They Won House Majority Because Of Gerrymandering
In a classic Kinsley gaffe, the Republican State Leadership Committee released a report boasting that the only reason the GOP controls the House of Representatives is because they gerrymandered congressional districts in blue states. The RSLC’s admission came in a shockingly candid report entitled, “How a Strategy of Targeting State Legislative Races in 2010 Led…
Republicans worry they’ll lose House if they botch debt talks
There’s growing angst among Republicans that the party’s House majority could be at risk in 2014 if the deep GOP divisions that emerged during the recent “fiscal cliff” negotiations persist in looming negotiations over a slew of budgetary issues. Even as Republican officials maintain the GOP majority is safe, several lawmakers and longtime activists warn…
Conservative Groups Start New Congress With Dose of Reality
The same conservative activist groups that continue to cause the GOP establishment so much heartburn are approaching the 113th Congress and the 2014 election cycle with what might appear to be a surprising level of sobriety and realism. To varying degrees, these organizations acknowledge the limits of Republican power in Washington, recognizing that the GOP…
So What’s Up with Filibuster Reform?
There’s a core of very strong advocates for changing the filibuster, centered around Sen. Jeff Merkley (D) of Oregon. There are various details. But the gist of his plan is the so-called ‘talking filibuster’. The minority can still hold things up but you really have to talk on the floor to do it. So…
GOP congressman: Akin’s rape comments were ‘partly right’
A Georgia Republican congressman said that former Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin, R, was “partly right” in asserting that victims of “legitimate rape” rarely become pregnant. Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Ga., a former obstetrician-gynecologist, said at a town hall meeting that Akin was “partly right” in his controversial suggestion, which was widely cited as a factor…
Lobbyists Who Profit From Senate Dysfunction Fight Filibuster Reform
Two years ago, I took a screen shot and saved a tidbit from Duffield’s now-deleted consulting website. Duffield’s firm, still lobbying and called Endgame Strategies, was quite candid in it’s pitch to potential corporate clients to use “backbench Senate Republicans” to block legislation (emphasis added): Managing Holds and Filibusters. Your organization has an interest…
Most in U.S. Say Politics in Washington Cause Serious Harm
More than three-quarters of Americans (77%) say the way politics works in Washington these days is causing serious harm to the United States, providing still another indicator of the low esteem in which Americans hold their elected officials and the way the federal government works. These results are from a Dec. 14-17 USA…
Newt Gingrich warns GOP on debt ceiling
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Friday that the upcoming showdown over the debt ceiling isn’t a political winner for House Republicans, but dubbed it a “dead loser.” “They’ve got to find, in the House, a totally new strategy,” Gingrich said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “Everybody’s now talking about, ‘Oh, here comes the debt ceiling.’…
Ten People We Are Grateful Are No Longer Members Of Congress
Under the Twentieth Amendment, “[t]he terms of the President and Vice President shall end at noon on the 20th day of January, and the terms of Senators and Representatives at noon on the 3d day of January.” Accordingly, as of this very moment, many members of 112th Congress are now unemployed. Here are ten that…
Analysis: Republicans start new Congress bruised and divided
In the wake of bruising fights in their own ranks over the “fiscal cliff” and aid for victims of superstorm Sandy – Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives open a new Congress on Thursday more divided than ever. While their leader, Speaker John Boehner, seems in no danger of losing his position because of…
CNN Poll: Are GOP policies too extreme?
Just over half the public says that the GOP should give up more than the Democrats in any bipartisan solution to the countrys problems, according to a new national survey. And a CNN/ORC International poll also indicates that a slight majority of Americans sees the Republican partys policies and views as too extreme, a…
House GOP Committee Chairs Will All Be White Men In Next Congress
House committee chairs are typically chosen based on their seniority on the committee, and most committees dont have Republican women or minorities at senior levels. In addition, there just arent that many House Republican women and minorities to go around. In the 113th Congress, which kicks off in January, House Republicans will have 20…
In U.S., Views of Obama, Democrats Improve After Election
Now that the presidential election is over, Americans look a bit more positively toward both the winner (Barack Obama) and the loser (Mitt Romney) than they did in the final days leading up to the election. Americans’ views of the Democratic Party are up significantly, while their views of the Republican Party are unchanged. MORE: In…
McCain, Graham Promise to Oppose Susan Rice for State
Senators McCain and Graham have promised to do everything they can to block a potential nomination of Susan Rice by President Obama. McCain went so far as to call her “not too bright” for giving the public a report on the killing of U.S. diplomats in Libya that McCain feels was in error. Essentially, these…
Paul Ryan Asked for Tax Math, Offers Gibberish
This last weekend, Paul Ryan repeatedly dodged questions about the mathematical impossibility of the tax plan he and Mitt Romney are running on, and then, having burned through seven repeated questions and two minutes of dodging, insisted he couldn’t answer because the math would take too long. Today Bloomberg News spoke to Ryan and promised…
Testy debate in Massachusetts for key U.S. Senate seat
Brown termed himself an “independent” several times, citing his moderate voting record and saying that Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell “will have to work very hard to earn my vote” in the next Congress. He slammed Warren for not being able to name a Republican senator who she would be able to work with. She…
Angry At Washington Gridlock? You May Want To Look In The Mirror
It’s easy to get upset during a political era in which the leaders of the two major parties seem incapable of putting aside their differences and working together to solve the nation’s problems. But if there’s plenty of blame to go around, some of it belongs to the voters themselves. They are the ones who…