Congress

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CBO: Baucus Bill Would Cut Deficit by $81B

Projection is good news for Democrats

(Newser) - Good news for Democrats and Max Baucus: The Congressional Budget Office says the Senate finance panel's health care bill won't add to the deficit. In fact, the CBO says the bill would reduce it by $81 billion over 10 years. That should make it easier for Baucus to push his...

Jay Rockefeller Is the New Teddy
 Jay Rockefeller 
 Is the New Teddy 
analysis
Oct 7, 2009 1:10 PM CDT

Jay Rockefeller Is the New Teddy

Senator inherits Kennedy's cause of health care reform

(Newser) - Jay Rockefeller shares little of the temperament of the late Ted Kennedy, but what they do share is essential. “Massive wealth and a virtual lock on his Senate seat frees a man to do what he believes in,” writes Margaret Carlson. And for both men—the West Virginia...

2010 a Toss-Up as Indies Flee the Dems
 2010 a Toss-Up as 
 Indies Flee the Dems 
gallup poll
Oct 7, 2009 10:03 AM CDT

2010 a Toss-Up as Indies Flee the Dems

But trend and dismal 21% approval of Congress could spell Dem's demise

(Newser) - The sizable lead among registered voters Democrats have maintained since the 2006 midterm elections has eroded to almost nothing. In the latest Gallup poll, Dems have just a 2-point advantage over Republicans going into the 2010 midterms, 46% to 44%, well within the sampling error. That’s down from a...

Schwarzenegger Latest in GOP to Back Reform

Calls for health bill this year in opposition to congressional GOP's wish for do-over

(Newser) - Arnold Schwarzenegger today became the highest-ranking elected Republican to back President Obama's push for health care reform. California's governor urged lawmakers "on both sides of the political aisle at the national level to move forward." He spoke after New York City's Mike Bloomberg, a Republican-turned-independent, also endorsed reform....

House Dems Fear Senate, WH Steamroll on Health Care

Moderates don't want to spend risky votes on legless progressive bill

(Newser) - House Democrats on both ends of the spectrum are feeling sorry for themselves as they struggle to shape a final health care reform bill. The bill is widely expected—based in no small part on Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s proclamations—to include a public option, a tax on wealthy Americans,...

GOP to Steele: We Set Policy, Not You

(Newser) - Congressional GOP leaders met with RNC chairman Michael Steele late last month to assert their authority when it comes to policymaking, and while those involved said the get-together in House Minority Leader John Boehner’s office was routine, Politico's sources described it as heated. Of particular concern was Steele’s...

Republicans Can Retake House in a 2010 'Landslide'

If trends continue, Republicans could gain 40 seats

(Newser) - Fred Barnes surveys the political landscape and sees the possibility of Republicans gaining up to 40 House seats—and thus regaining control of the chamber—in the 2010 elections. "A landslide of that dimension is quite possible," he writes. Democrats have time to reverse the trend, but they're...

GOP Indulges in Health Amendment Free-for-All

(Newser) - Reasoned debate is all well and good, but the more than 300 amendments offered to the health care reform bill by finance committee Republicans are “dangerously close to a parody,” Dana Milbank writes. Or maybe they’re already there. Take Orrin Hatch’s request for “transition relief...

Congressman Defiant Over 'Die Quickly' Jab

Apologizes to the dead, not GOP, cites US health care 'holocaust'

(Newser) - The Democratic congressman who belittled Republicans for promoting a health care plan that wants the ill to "die quickly" ratcheted up his rhetoric even more today. Noting that some Republicans had demanded he apologize, Florida's Alan Grayson took to the House floor with an apology of a different sort:...

Leadership PACs Make 'Mockery' of Election Rules
Leadership PACs Make 'Mockery' of Election Rules
investigation
Sep 30, 2009 4:30 PM CDT

Leadership PACs Make 'Mockery' of Election Rules

(Newser) - Meet the new villain of campaign fundraising: the leadership PAC. These once-obscure fundraising tools used to be reserved for rising political stars. Now, 70% of lawmakers in Congress have them—and the lax scrutiny that goes along with how the money gets spent. Most of the cash is supposed to...

Congress Votes to Boost Own Budget

Capitol Hill scoffs at belt-tightening, jacks funding 5.8%

(Newser) - With local governments around the country tightening their belts, Congress is loosening theirs. The House last week approved a 5.8% bump in the legislative budget, and the Senate is poised to do so as well. That’ll bring Capitol Hill’s annual budget to $4.7 billion, Politico reports....

2010 Won't See Another Republican Revolution
2010 Won't See Another Republican Revolution
OPINION
Sep 29, 2009 9:38 AM CDT

2010 Won't See Another Republican Revolution

Parallels with 1994 are exaggerated

(Newser) - Hopeful Republicans are starting to play up the similarities between 1994 and 2010 but any talk of a second Republican Revolution is probably just wishful thinking, writes Ed Kilgore in the New Republic. The Republican capture of the House in '94 was made possible by retiring Democrats—some 22 of...

Swine Flu Highlights Debate Over Paid Sick Leave

Half of US doesn't get sick pay; businesses defend policy

(Newser) - The second coming of swine flu has reignited the debate over paid sick leave. “You have all of our top officials saying, ‘Do the responsible thing. If you're sick, stay home,’” an advocate tells CNNMoney. “And at the same time, we have a country where...

Public Option Lives—If the Left Pushes Hard Enough

Nancy Pelosi still wants it in House-Senate compromise

(Newser) - As health care reform chugs through the Senate Finance Committee, Mike Madden checks in on the prospects for a public option and finds it's not quite dead yet. A big test comes today when the committee votes on amendments from supporters of the public option, such as Jay Rockefeller. "...

Baucus Leaning Left Again
 Baucus Leaning Left Again 
ANALYSIS
Sep 23, 2009 12:22 PM CDT

Baucus Leaning Left Again

As interminable mark-up on health bill continues, chair moves on from bipartisan dream

(Newser) - With his health care reform bill finally in committee, finance chair Max Baucus appears to have given up on a truly bipartisan bill. On day one yesterday, "he seemed to be moving back to the left again," writes Mike Madden in Salon. He agreed to a host of...

Congress Wants McChrystal in Hot Seat

Members of both parties want testimony, but Pentagon is not forthcoming

(Newser) - With the White House beset by classified leaks and agonizing over a new Afghan strategy, lawmakers from both parties in both Houses of Congress are calling for a sitdown with Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the Wall Street Journal reports. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has refused requests for testimony from McChrystal until...

Black Caucus Worries About Resurgent Racism

Anti-Obama anger troubles CBC ahead of triumphant annual conferences

(Newser) - The Congressional Black Caucus is enjoying unprecedented power, with more of their members in leadership roles than ever before, not to speak of one of their number in the White House, but many are disturbed by changes in the political atmosphere, Politico reports. As the 42-member group holds its annual...

Mass. Senate Clears Way for Kennedy Successor

(Newser) - Gov. Deval Patrick should be able to name a Democratic replacement for Ted Kennedy's Senate seat before the end of the week, the Boston Globe reports. Legislation giving hm the authority to do so cleared the state Senate today, a week after the House passed it. The measure still needs...

Fall Sends Byrd to Hospital
 Fall Sends Byrd to Hospital 
Sep 22, 2009 11:27 AM CDT

Fall Sends Byrd to Hospital

Spokesman says Democratic senator will likely not be admitted

(Newser) - Sen. Robert Byrd is at the hospital after a fall at his Northern Virginia home, the Washington Post reports. The 91-year-old West Virginia Democrat has been scarce at the Capitol recently after a previous hospitalization that ended in June. The longest-serving US senator ever “apparently stood up too fast...

Pols-Turned-Lobbyists Use Campaign Cash to Curry Favor

Turn donations into 'political slush fund'

(Newser) - When congressmen leave Capitol Hill for lobbying jobs, they take their unused campaign funds with them, then dole them out to other lawmakers to influence policy, USA Today reports. Such donations are legal—federal law permits ex-congressmen to keep campaign accounts active, donating the money to candidates, parties, and charities—...

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