Senate

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House, Senate Override Bush Veto on Medicare

Move means payments to doctors won't be cut by nearly 11%

(Newser) - Congress today overrode President Bush's veto of legislation on Medicare, ensuring that payments to doctors won't be cut by nearly 11%, CNN reports. The House voted 383-41, and the Senate followed 70-26 to override the president for only the fourth time during his presidency. Bush says the legislation doesn't address...

Lieberman a Sore Subject With Dems

Stumping for McCain moves onetime veep nominee further from former party

(Newser) - Joe Lieberman, long at odds with his party over his outspoken support for the war in Iraq, has become so estranged from his Democratic colleagues since he began campaigning for John McCain that the New York Times wonders if the strained relationship is heading for a divorce. While, for example,...

Senate OKs Foreclosure Relief Bill
Senate OKs Foreclosure Relief Bill
Jul 11, 2008 8:35 PM CDT

Senate OKs Foreclosure Relief Bill

House outcome uncertain; Bush will veto unless changed

(Newser) - By a huge margin, the Senate today passed a $300 billion bill to help homeowners avoid foreclosure—but the White House vows to veto it unless the House makes changes, the AP reports. The bill will let struggling homeowners reinsure at cheaper rates backed by the government, but President President...

Kennedy Returns to Senate
 Kennedy Returns to Senate 
Jul 9, 2008 4:01 PM CDT

Kennedy Returns to Senate

Ailing senator makes his first trip back since brain surgery

(Newser) - Edward Kennedy returned to the Senate today for the first time since his surgery for brain cancer to cast a vote on Medicare legislation, CNN reports. Fellow senators greeted him with a long standing ovation. Kennedy, 76, made a thumbs-up gesture after casting his vote with a loud "aye....

Senate passes FISA, 69-28
 Senate passes FISA, 69-28 
Jul 9, 2008 2:50 PM CDT

Senate passes FISA, 69-28

Amendments fail

(Newser) - The Senate approved a bill today overhauling the rules on secret US government eavesdropping and granting immunity to telephone companies that helped it listen in after 9/11. The so-called FISA bill passed by a large margin of 69-28. The upper house also voted against three amendments that would have watered...

Dems Ready to Slap McCain on Medicare Bill

GOP senator absent with 1 vote needed to save doctor payments

(Newser) - Democrats are preparing to attack John McCain for hurting doctors, the elderly, and veterans—all by not showing up, The Hill reports. Medicare legislation to stave off a 10.6% cut in physician payments is one vote short in the Senate, and the presumptive GOP nominee, repeatedly absent when it...

Lefties Deliver 'Joe Must Go' Petition to Dems

Activists say backer of McCain, war shouldn't hold key Senate spots

(Newser) - Online activists are bringing a petition with 43,000 signatures to Democratic senators today, demanding Joe Lieberman be stripped of key committee roles. The group states, “We CANNOT tolerate a leader of the Senate Democratic Caucus who supports George Bush and McCain's War in Iraq … and endorses and...

GOP Charts Offshore Drilling Compromise

Rising energy costs may sway moderate Dems to cross lines

(Newser) - Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is trying to forge a bipartisan coalition on domestic oil drilling, Politico reports. Republican senators believe they can sway enough moderate Democrats on an amendment to end a federal ban on coastline drilling—allowing a dramatic shift in US energy policy, and reaping a big...

The Real Joke May Be on Minn. Voters
The Real Joke
May Be on
Minn. Voters
Opinion
Jul 7, 2008 11:03 AM CDT

The Real Joke May Be on Minn. Voters

If they don't learn to laugh, they'll reelect the inoffensive hack

(Newser) - Voters always say they’d rather support “real people” than “professional politicians.” But Al Franken is having trouble in Minnesota precisely because he hasn’t spent his life reading a political script, Michael Kinsley writes in the Washington Post. Instead, he told jokes for a living—jokes...

Congress Passes $162B Measure to Fund Wars

Senate sends legislation to Bush, who is expected to sign

(Newser) - The Senate tonight passed a $162 billion war spending plan, sending to President Bush legislation that will pay for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan until the next president takes office. The package, approved 92-6, includes a doubling of GI Bill college benefits. It also provides a 13-week extension of unemployment...

Huge Homeowner Aid Bill Nears Approval

Bipartisan support for action, despite veto threat

(Newser) - With 8,000 foreclosures daily and looming elections, Congress is close to approving the most sweeping changes to mortgage financing since the New Deal, reports the New York Times. The pricey aid bill aimed at helping hundreds of thousands of homeowners facing foreclosure has bipartisan support, despite the threat of...

In Senate, Pranks Mix With Politics
In Senate, Pranks Mix
With Politics
Jun 23, 2008 12:13 PM CDT

In Senate, Pranks Mix With Politics

Democrats Nelson, McCaskill channel Ashton Kutcher

(Newser) - The prank war started when Ben Nelson took advantage of Claire McCaskill's inexperience and got his fellow Democrat even more nervous about her 2007 Senate swearing-in than she already was. The action since then has been sporadic but inventive. McClatchy returns from Capitol Hill with tales of the lawmakers' dueling...

Hollywood Women Work on Senate Majority

Deep-pocketed stars are raising money for Dem candidates

(Newser) - Powerful Hollywood women are reorganizing after Hillary Clinton's failed presidential bid, turning their attention toward increasing the Democratic majority in the Senate. A fundraiser Sept. 27 could raise more than $1 million for candidates, and is being put together by the likes of Jane Fonda, Kate Capshaw, Penny Marshall, Daryl...

Is Franken Too Vulgar for Politics?
 Is Franken 
 Too Vulgar 
 for Politics? 
OPINION
Jun 18, 2008 6:51 AM CDT

Is Franken Too Vulgar for Politics?

Pundit thinks funnyman-turned-politician's 'satire' reinforces system's failures

(Newser) - Al Franken was cracking tasteless jokes for decades before entering politics, but it may be his opponent in the Minnesota Senate race who'll be accused of coarsening debate if he dares to brings them up, Michael Gerson writes in the Washington Post. Franken calls his work "provocative, touching, and...

Senate Seats Most Likely to Flip (Only 1 to GOP)
Senate Seats Most Likely to Flip (Only 1 to GOP)
ANALYSIS
Jun 13, 2008 1:51 PM CDT

Senate Seats Most Likely to Flip (Only 1 to GOP)

New Dems from VA, NM, CO likely

(Newser) - The GOP's best case-scenario sees the party losing only three Senate seats this fall. Washington Post blogger Chris Cillizza runs down the races most likely to flip a vote:
  1. Mississippi: Trent Lott replacement Roger Wicker has never been elected statewide, and Barack Obama's coattails should draw in the large black
...

After Decline, Congress' Earmarking is Back

Legislators pledged to shrink such spending last year

(Newser) - Though Congress vowed last year to reduce earmarking—the process of directing funds to projects at home with little scrutiny—recently there’s been a jump in such spending, the Washington Post reports. A House defense bill’s earmarked funds rose 29% last month, and the Senate bill looks as...

GOP Blocks Profit Tax on Oil Companies

Senators favor new US drilling over Dems' plan for 'energy relief'

(Newser) - Senate Republicans today fended off a Democrat-sponsored bill that would have heaped a 25% tax on the five biggest US oil companies and rolled back other tax breaks for the industry, the Houston Chronicle reports. President Bush had threatened to veto the measure, hailed by Dems as "energy price...

Sex Robots Haunt Franken's Senate Bid

Comedian's past continues to plague Dem run in Minnesota

(Newser) - It’s not easy being a comedian-turned-Senate candidate. Al Franken’s bid to replace first-term Minnesota Republican Norm Coleman has hit some speed bumps lately, Bloomberg reports. Though Franken has nabbed the party’s endorsement, he’s been dogged by bits from his past—like a 2000 Playboy article entitled...

Kennedy Back Home in Mass. After Surgery

Dem's focus now on healthcare bill, Obama campaign, son says

(Newser) - Sen. Ted Kennedy returned to his Massachusetts home today, a week after undergoing a chancy surgery to remove part of a malignant brain tumor, WBZ-TV reports. The Democrat's plane landed at a Cape Cod airport around 11:30 this morning, the Boston Globe adds; Kennedy, 76, told reporters it was...

Senate Moves to Privatize Anemic Restaurants

Move takes money- losing subpar eateries off the taxpayer dime

(Newser) - The Senate has voted to privatize its restaurants after decades of losing money, the Washington Post reports. The decision comes after much wrangling among Democrats, split between the $250,000 taxpayer subsidy that keeps the restaurants afloat and the lower wages workers would receive. “You cannot stand on the...

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