Senate

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Senator Franken Is Finally Being Funny Again

He now seems more comfortable cracking jokes

(Newser) - Senate colleagues expecting humor from funnyman and freshman lawmaker Al Franken have gotten just the opposite, though insiders say the Minnesota senator is getting into the groove and loosening up a bit. Since taking office last year, Franken has snapped at administration officials , Joe Lieberman , and Republican legislators. Now, he’...

Not So Fast: Rushing Health Bill Is 'Idiotic'

Rather than deem and pass, let's slow down

(Newser) - Now that Democrats are considering “shoving” health care reform through with deem and pass, it’s time to ask: “Is this sane?” One thing is certain: “Rushing to do the wrong thing is, in a word, idiotic,” writes Kathleen Parker, and it’s high past time...

Senate Passes $18B Jobs Bill
 Senate Passes $18B Jobs Bill 
Mar 17, 2010 1:24 PM CDT

Senate Passes $18B Jobs Bill

Proponents hope measure will create 250K jobs

(Newser) - US companies that hire unemployed workers will get a temporary payroll tax holiday under a bill that easily won final congressional approval today. The 68-29 Senate vote sends the legislation to the White House, where President Obama has promised to sign it into law. Optimistic estimates predict the tax break...

Senators Fight to Keep Sending Pork Home

Upper chamber unlikely to follow House's lead on earmarks

(Newser) - House members may be pushing earmark reform, but many of their Senate colleagues refuse to let go without a fight—in fact, Politico notes, it may be the one issue on which senators from both parties can agree on. Lawmakers from both sides argue that the money would be spent...

Reconciliation Will Make Senate Less Human
 Reconciliation Will Make Senate Less Human
DAVID BROOKS
Mar 16, 2010 4:50 AM CDT

Reconciliation Will Make Senate Less Human

Partisan reconciliation will turn Senate into House, predicts David Brooks

(Newser) - Using reconciliation to push health care through will turn the Senate into a crude, partisan arena much like the House, argues David Brooks. Once a place where alliances were formed between individual lawmakers, the Senate used to reflect the human sympathy seen in one-on-one relationships; a party-line vote will reduce...

Democrats: Health Vote Next Week

Pelosi 'delighted' Obama will be present for 'historic' passage

(Newser) - Democrats got ready for a health care rumble today, with Nancy Pelosi telling her troops to clear their schedules, be ready to stay in session, and expect a vote next week. Pelosi will move to pass the Senate's December bill as soon as Thursday or Friday, and though Politico...

Schumer May Try to Rewrite Filibuster Rules

Hearings could be a sign he wants Harry Reid's job

(Newser) - Chuck Schumer plans to hold a series of Senate Rules Committee hearings to examine possible reforms to the filibuster rules so frustrating Democrats. Schumer, the committee’s chair, hatched the plan with senators Tom Udall and Carl Levin. In the first hearing, Senate historians will testify as to how the...

GOP Hopes Blue Dogs Can Kill Health Bill

Republicans see Democratic split in House as last chance

(Newser) - Republicans’ latest strategy in their war against health care reform: Get the Blue Dogs to kill the bill for them. With the public increasingly weary of congressional gridlock, the Republicans would rather the bill die “without their fingerprints on the body,” writes David Rogers of Politico . They also...

Scott Brown Stumps for John McCain in Arizona

(Newser) - New GOP golden child Scott Brown campaigns in Arizona today for John McCain. With McCain fighting to save his seat, the visit will be the first test of Brown's ability to reel in support on the right. Of course, given Brown's vote in favor of the Democrats' jobs bill, this...

Post-Partisan? Obamacare Push Proves the Lie
Post-Partisan? Obamacare
Push Proves the Lie
charles krauthammer
Mar 5, 2010 9:21 AM CST

Post-Partisan? Obamacare Push Proves the Lie

Health care reform is too big for a party-line vote

(Newser) - Barack Obama came to office on the promise of a post-partisan world, but he's about to jam through a monumental health care bill in the most partisan way imaginable, writes Charles Krauthammer. The president insists reform is popular because people support individual items in principle. Of course they do, writes...

GOP Vows to Stall Health Care Vote

'We're going to scrub the bill,' McConnell promises

(Newser) - Democrats want to get the health care bill passed by Easter, but that could be impossible given the enormous procedural complexity of the task—and the unyielding Republican opposition. Though the reconciliation process allows the Senate to pass the bill with a simple majority, it still gives Republicans plenty of...

Don't Lie, GOP: Dems Aren't Ramming Through Health Bill

'It's good to see Obama displaying LBJ's wiles'

(Newser) - The Republicans' claim that the Democrats are using reconciliation to ram through a health care bill is a flat-out lie at worst and stunning hypocrisy at best, writes E.J. Dionne Jr. The health-care bill has already passed the Senate with 60 votes, and the only thing that would pass...

Obama to Congress: Vote Health Care 'Up or Down'

Tells Senate to go for 'up or down vote'

(Newser) - Barack Obama gave Congress its marching orders today, telling them to hold a final vote on health care reform within the next few weeks. He essentially told the Senate to pass the bill via reconciliation, though he didn’t use the term, instead demanding an “up or down vote,...

Obama Plans Easter Resurrection for Health Care

But master plan meets resistance as House afraid to vote first

(Newser) - The health care reform bill was, in a sense, born on Christmas Eve, and now Barack Obama’s hoping to resurrect it just in time for Easter, writes John Dickerson. According to the plan Obama sent congressional leadership, the Senate would vote through changes to its bill using reconciliation, holding...

Bunning Cuts Deal, Ends Jobless Filibuster
Bunning Cuts Deal, Ends Jobless Filibuster
UPDATED
Mar 2, 2010 8:54 PM CST

Bunning Cuts Deal, Ends Jobless Filibuster

Benefits will be extended a month; senator can offer amendment

(Newser) - Republican Jim Bunning has agreed to end the one-man filibuster that’s cut unemployment and other benefits to thousands of workers, making a deal with the Senate leaders of both parties tonight. Roll Call reports that Bunning will support a one-month extension of the benefits in return for the Senate...

Obama Embraces Four GOP Health Care Proposals

White House says reform effort is entering its 'final act'

(Newser) - President Obama expressed his support for four Republican proposals on health care reform today, but the items don't address core GOP complaints and are unlikely to be game-changers. In a letter to congressional leaders, the president said he supported investments in malpractice tort reform, increasing Medicaid reimbursements for physicians, efforts...

Sen. Kyl: Jobless Benefits a 'Disincentive' to Find Work

If people are getting aid, they won't look for new job, he says

(Newser) - Federal unemployment benefits that expired over the weekend because of Republican objections in the Senate should maybe stay that way, says Sen. Jon Kyl, the minority whip. They don't “create new jobs,” he argues. “If anything, continuing to pay people unemployment compensation is a disincentive for them...

Bunning Filibuster Puts 2,000 Fed Workers on Furlough

Dept of Transportation workers placed on unpaid furlough

(Newser) - The Department of Transportation furloughed 2,000 workers without pay today, thanks to a filibuster from Republican Sen. Jim Bunning. Democrat and Republican leaders had agreed to pass a one-month extension of several standard federal programs, such as unemployment benefits, by unanimous consent, a process that makes voting unnecessary. Bunning’...

Cap-and-Trade Gets 'Radical' Overhaul in Senate

Kerry, Lieberman, and Graham are crafting an alternative

(Newser) - So long, cap-and-trade. The idea is all but dead in the Senate, with Joe Lieberman, John Kerry, and Lindsey Graham working on what the Washington Post calls a "radical, behind-the-scenes overhaul" of the bill to curb greenhouse gases. It's expected to be unveiled next month. Though cap-and-trade has passed...

Bunning Hijacks Senate With Jobless Filibuster

'I'm trying to make a point to the people of the United States'

(Newser) - Jim Bunning held the Senate hostage last night, filibustering a move to extend federal unemployment benefits, which will otherwise expire on Sunday, for 30 days. The clash lasted until just before midnight, with Bunning complaining that Democrats had forced him to miss the Kentucky-South Carolina basketball game. But “I'll...

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