A member of the Senate GOP leadership says he and his colleagues could end up backing House Republicans in their efforts to fund the government at levels below those agreed to in the bipartisan debt-limit deal last August, increasing the chances of a government shutdown fight just weeks before the 2012 election. “I think the…
Category: Congress
In Digital Finance Race, Senate Uses Horse And Buggy
Checking a candidate’s contributors has become critical for understanding the candidate’s politics. It’s also easier than ever before with regular deadlines and electronic records — unless the legislator you are tracking is a member of the U.S. Senate. For more than a decade now, the Senate has kept itself exempt from rules other federal candidates…
McConnell to House: Don’t shut down the government
You might remember that, in August 2011, Congress almost defaulted on the national debt. Eventually, the two parties reached a deal — the Budget Control Act — that would, among other things, cut more than $900 billion from the discretionary side of the budget over the next 10 years. This wasn’t exactly a shining moment…
Why Hasn’t the Right Condemned Ted Nugent and Allen West’s Comments?
Mother Jones’ DC bureau chief David Corn and the Washington Post’s Eugene Robinson joined host Chris Matthews on MSNBC’s Hardball to discuss the controversy over incendiary remarks made against the Democrat party by US Rep. Allen West and right-wing rocker Ted Nugent. At a town hall meeting in Florida last week, Rep. West told voters…
Cantor’s ‘Small Business’ Bill is a $46 Billion Loophole for the Rich
The U.S. House of Representatives early next week will hold a vote on H.R. 9, a bill introduced by Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) to provide a one-year, 20 percent tax deduction for business income. The Cantor bill is sadly just another tax windfall for the rich, financed by larger federal budget deficits, which largely…
Economy has grown the most when Democrats have been in power
Earlier today, I linked to a Goldman Sachs research note arguing that the most fiscally conservative outcome in the 2012 election would be an Obama victory and Republican control of Congress. But their analysis was limited to deficit reduction. Last week, JPMorgan looked at this question using a broader lens: what happens to the economy…
Why I don’t stress about deficits
I’m not particularly worried about the budget deficit. In fact, of all the major problems the U.S. faces, I’m least worried about the deficit. That’s not because we don’t have to get the problem under control; it’s because I’m pretty sure we will. Why? The budget deficit is unique: If Congress is unable to agree…
Credo PAC Targets Two More House Republicans
Add Reps. Mike Fitzpatrick (Pa.) and Dan Lungren (Calif.) to the list of Republican lawmakers in the sights of Credo Mobile, the progressive San Francisco phone company-turned-political action committee. The PAC said today that it will set up offices in the lawmakers’ districts as part of efforts to purge the House of tea party-influenced lawmakers….
A Business Bet on the G.O.P. May Be Backfiring
Business groups that worked hard to install a Republican majority in the House equated Republican control with a business-friendly environment. But the majority is first and foremost a conservative political force, and on key issues, its ideology is not always aligned with commercial interests that helped finance election victories. “Free market is not always the…
Senate Republicans vote down measure to end ‘big oil’ tax breaks – CNN.com
Senate Republicans on Thursday blocked a Democratic measure championed by President Barack Obama to end tax breaks for the major oil companies. The procedural vote of 51-47, which failed to reach the needed threshold of 60 in favor, killed the measure, which was given little chance of eventually winning approval in the Republican-controlled House. Four…
House Republican Budget Could Cut Off Food Assistance For Millions Of Low-Income Americans
Ryan’s budget would turn food stamps into a block grant program, sending it back to the states to do with as they see fit. The plan also cuts SNAP by 17 percent, or more than $133 billion. As the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities noted, this proposal could cut millions of low-income people off…
Why the Republican budgets make the poor pay
But now cuts to those programs have to pay for the deficit reduction, the increased defense spending, and the tax cuts. That means the cuts to those programs have to be really, really, really deep. The authors have no other choice. In Ryan’s plan, for instance, revenues are approximately $2 trillion below the levels in…
GOP Budget Plan To Reduce The Debt Actually Makes The Debt Worse
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) released the GOP’s new budget this morning, and in doing so, he touted it as a plan to make America’s level of debt more sustainable. “We’ve shared with Americans a specific plan of action that cuts spending, pays off the debt and gets our economy back on the…
Republican Rep. Walsh Proposes Federal ‘Proof Of Citizenship To Vote’ Law That Could Disenfranchise 15 Million Americans
A Republican congressman from Illinois praised a controversial new voting measure at a town hall last month, calling for a national version of the law that could disenfranchise millions. Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL), who grabbed headlines for owing his ex-wife over $100,000 in child support and defending big banks against irate constituents, lauded the recent…
Mitch McConnell(Senate Republican) Votes Against Highway Bill He Backed
McConnell’s staff claimed, “Senator McConnell has been working to pass the highway bill in the U.S. Senate, which is currently slated for a vote on final passage next week.” A McConnell spokesman also told a Louisville, Kentucky radio station that the minority leader was working with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) to pass the…
For once, the Senate tries to make highway spending less irrational
Wednesday, the Senate passed a two-year, $109 billion transportation bill that tries to change all that — at least in a few modest ways. The bill itself is critical because funding for roads, bridges and transit is set to run out on March 31. But there are a few notable reforms tucked away in the…
McConnell: Im Filibustering Seventeen Judges Because Reid Made Republicans Look Bad
Both Reid and McConnell agree that there is nothing objectionable about these judges — in McConnell’s words, “it is highly unlikely any of these district judges are not going to be confirmed.” Additionally, both men agree that the Senate should vote on the “IPO bill” that Reid refers to, a bill dealing with investments in…
Progressive Chellie Pingree Considers Run for Snowe’s Seat
Rep. Chellie Pingree D-Maine is all but certain to make a bid for the Senate in the wake of Sen. Olympia Snowes R retirement announcement, she told The Huffington Post in an interview Wednesday. “I cant think of anything right now thats holding me back,” Pingree said. “I mean, I love being in the House,…
Senators Take Emergency Oil Reserve Hostage to Force Keystone Approval
The Senate is trying to force a pipeline route through Nebraska that is not yet identified, let alone evaluated to determine whether its impact on air and water quality. Because much of the tar sands oil refined in the U.S. would go overseas, Americans would bear the environmental risks while other nations get the oil….
Congress reaches final payroll tax deal
Congressional negotiators resolved all differences on an agreement to extend the payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits while avoiding a fee cut for Medicare doctors for the rest of the year, leaving only technical issues to sort out. “It’s good for the country. It’s very good for the country,” Montana’s Max Baucus, the Democratic chairman…