Links to stories about Al Franken’s much-delayed victory in the U.S. Senate race in Minnesota.
“What’s So Super about a Super Majority?” Carl Hulse, New York Times at
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/02/us/politics/02cong.html?_r=2&hp
“Franken Declares Vicctory in Minnesota Senate Race,” Al Franken at
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/06/30/franken_declares_victory_in_minnesota_senate_race_97262.html
“What Does 60 Votes Mean?” Jay Cost, RealClearPolitics at
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/horseraceblog/
GOP Pushes Back Against Dem Energy Deal
By Kyle Trygstad
Following an agreement last night with Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-Minn.), House Democrats are poised this week to pass an energy and climate change bill that has stewed in uncertainty since being passed out of committee one month ago.
The bill will now hit the House floor on Friday, with a vote likely to take place by Saturday. The House is in recess next week.
For more: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/06/24/gop_pushes_back_against_dem_energy_deal_97149.html
“The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to pass legislation” today “aimed at reforming massive waste in the Pentagon’s biggest weapons programs, a bill that got a ringing endorsement from the White House on Tuesday,” Reuters reports. “Congressional aides said… passage was likely given widespread concern over chronic cost overruns and schedule delays in major weapons programs.”
Last night, the Senate approved a resolution that added Senator Arlen Specter, the Pennsylvania Republican who recently switched parties, to the Democratic side of the dais on the five committees on which he serves. The action gives Democrats larger margins on key panels such as Judiciary and Appropriations.
But Specter wound up in one of the two most junior slots on each of the five committees for the remainder of this Congress, which goes through December 2010. He had claimed previously that Democrats would honor his seniority–29 years in the Senate.
12:30 PM - HOUSE FLOOR DEBATE: The House meets at 12:30 p.m. for morning hour debate and 2:00 p.m. for legislative business. Suspensions (4 Bills) // 1) H.Res. 230 - Recognizing the historical significance of the Mexican holiday of Cinco de Mayo (Sponsored by Rep. Baca / Foreign Affairs) // 2) H.Con.Res. 111 - Recognizing the 61st anniversary of the independence of the State of Israel (Sponsored by Rep. Garrett / Foreign Affairs) // 3) H.Con.Res. 103 - Supporting the goals and ideals of Malaria Awareness Day (Sponsored by Rep. Payne / Foreign Affairs) // 4) H.Res. 283 - Honoring the life, achievements, and contributions of Rabbi Charles H. Rosenzveig (Sponsored by Rep. Peters / Foreign Affairs) // Special Orders
2:00 PM - SENATE FLOOR DEBATE: The Senate convenes to resume consideration of S.896, the Helping Familes Save Their Homes Act.
• “Congress this week will continue its efforts to rein in the banking industry as Democrats push new consumer protections for credit cards and mortgage lending, putting the powerful lobby on the defensive amid public anger over the role it played in the recession,” CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports. “The bills come after banks had a mixed week on Capitol Hill.”
• “The White House is expected to deliver its detailed budget to Congress this week, lawmakers said, giving Appropriations Committee leaders more guidance on dividing the $1.086 trillion in the resolution for discretionary spending among their 12 subcommittees,” CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports. “Senate Appropriations Chairman Daniel Inouye said he will push to get all 12 spending bills separately through subcommittees and full committee and to President Obama before the end of the fiscal year, Sept. 30.”
• “Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) is set to introduce legislation that would open the door to more agricultural imports to Cuba, taking advantage of” Obama’s “pledge to ’seek a new beginning’ with the island nation,” The Hill reports. “The bill will likely trigger a fight with Democratic proponents of the current Cuba embargo policy, Sen. Robert Menendez (N.J.), chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, and Florida Sen. Bill Nelson.”
“The Senate Wednesday passed the $3.5 trillion FY10 budget conference report, 53-43, after the House cleared the spending plan earlier in the day,” CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports. “No Republicans supported the legislation and Sens. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., Ben Nelson, D-Neb., and Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., opposed the bill.”
Congress Approves Obama’s $3.4 Trillion Spending Blueprint
By Lori Montgomery
Washington Post Staff Writer at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/29/AR2009042901033.html?wpisrc=newsletter
Thursday, April 30, 2009
The Democratically controlled Congress yesterday easily approved a $3.4 trillion spending plan, setting the stage for President Obama to pursue the first major overhaul of the nation’s health-care system in a generation along with other far-reaching domestic initiatives.
Despite a persistent recession and soaring budget deficits, Democrats overwhelmingly endorsed the president’s request for hundreds of billions of dollars in new spending over the next decade for college loans, early childhood education programs, veterans’ benefits and investments in renewable energy aimed at reducing the nation’s dependence on foreign oil.
Lawmakers also agreed to use a powerful procedural tool known as reconciliation to advance the president’s proposal to expand health coverage for the uninsured — a move that ensures Republicans would not be able to filibuster the legislation. Unlike in 1993, when then-President Bill Clinton unveiled a universal coverage plan that went nowhere on Capitol Hill, Obama has a strong mandate for change from both chambers of Congress and a mid-October deadline for key congressional committees to send legislation to the full House and Senate.
“This is very exciting,” said DeAnn Friedholm, health reform director for Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports. “Some of us have spent our entire careers trying to make sure we have a decent health-care system, and I think we’re on the precipice of being able to get that this time.”
The budget resolution didn’t win a single vote from Republican lawmakers, who were enraged that the deficit is projected to exceed $1.2 trillion next year. House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) called it an “audacious move to a big socialist government” that piles “debt on the backs of our kids and our grandkids.”
Still, the measure passed the House by a vote of 233 to 193 and the Senate 53 to 43. Only 17 Democrats in the House and three in the Senate voted against it, as did Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, who announced Tuesday that he would leave the Republican Party.
Approval of the budget blueprint marked a huge victory for Obama on his 100th day in office, but it was not a slam-dunk for him. Lawmakers trimmed his tax-cutting plans, refusing to extend his signature tax credit for working families past 2010 unless it is paid for. They sliced $10 billion from his spending request for non-defense programs in the fiscal year that begins in October and jettisoned his suggestion that another $250 billion would be needed to stabilize the banking system. They also refused to authorize the use of reconciliation for his plan to cap greenhouse gas emissions.
Meanwhile, huge questions remain on the shape of proposed initiatives, particularly on health care.
“We are clearly as close as we’ve ever been, but it’s still a long journey,” said Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), a member of the Senate Finance Committee, which is taking the lead on health legislation. “This is one of the steepest ascents in politics. We have momentum. We have the right gear, shall we say. But reaching the peak is a hard thing.”
The budget resolution is a nonbinding document that does not enact policy, but establishes rules for much of the legislation that will be considered in the coming months. It sets limits for spending on most existing government programs and permits lawmakers to pursue certain additional initiatives so long as they do not increase the deficit.
The resolution also creates a reconciliation process for health care and Obama’s plan to dramatically expand the federal college loan program. Under the resolution, if key committees produce health and education legislation by Oct. 15, those measures could pass the Senate with only 51 votes instead of the usual 60.
Republicans and some key Democrats have complained bitterly about using reconciliation for health care, arguing that it robs the minority of influence on major legislation related to one of the biggest sectors of the U.S. economy. Specter and Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.) both cited reconciliation as the reason they opposed the budget resolution, and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) has vowed to produce a bipartisan bill well before the October deadline.
Even with the advantages of reconciliation, Baucus faces a host of competing demands. Many Senate Republicans have vowed to oppose any measure that creates a government-run health program for the uninsured; many liberal Democrats have vowed to oppose any measure without one. Conservative Democrats, meanwhile, say they want the administration to deliver on its assurances that changing the health-care system will rein in rising costs for federal health programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, not simply expand coverage.
The administration’s challenge is “to convince enough of us that their proposal will actually contain costs over the long term,” said Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-S.D.), a leader of the Blue Dog Democrats, who temporarily blocked progress on the budget resolution earlier this week amid concern about deficits.
Then there’s the matter of paying for expanded coverage, which is expected to cost more than $1 trillion over the next decade. Asked yesterday how Congress might find the money, Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, laughed. “With great difficulty,” he said.
Specter Leaves GOP, Shifting Senate Balance
Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania provided a boost to President Obama’s ambitious legislative agenda yesterday by abandoning the Republican Party in the face of shifting political realities at home and an aggressive courtship by the White House and party leaders.
(By Paul Kane, Chris Cillizza and Shailagh Murray, The Washington Post)
Specter’s Return to the Democratic Party
Sen. Arlen Specter’s announcement that he is switching parties isn’t his first time. Specter actually began his political career as a Democrat and switched to the Republicans in 1966 when running for district attorney in Philadelphia.
He wrote about it in a his autobiography, Passion for the Truth: “Changing parties involved a high level of trauma. It wasn’t like changing religions, but there were elements of arguable disloyalty and opportunism that rubbed me the wrong way.”
A Filibuster-Proof Majority?
With Sen. Arlen Specter’s party switch — and Al Franken’s expected seating — President Obama has an opportunity to remove a major procedural roadblock in the Senate that his predecessors would have envied.
Karen Tumulty: “How long has it been? You have to go all the way back to 1937 to find the last American President who enjoyed what was, in practice, a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, according to Senate Associate Historian Donald Ritchie.”
Specter is 21st Senator to Switch Parties
According to the U.S. Senate historian, Sen. Arlen Specter is the 21st senator to switch parties during their Senate service.
“House and Senate Democrats reached a budget deal on Monday night that will allow both chambers to vote on budget resolutions this week,” The Hill reports. “Budget negotiators, after hours of negotiations on Monday, put finishing touches on the resolution, which Democrats hope to approve by President Obama’s 100th day in office Wednesday.”
The Senate and House are in session. The House meets at 10:00 a.m. ET for morning debate then again at noon for legislative business, with possible consideration of the conference report on S.Con.Res. 13, Congress’ final version of the fiscal 2010 budget blueprint. The Senate convenes at 10:00 a.m. and will proceed to consider Kathleen Sebelius to be Secretary of Health and Human Services. At noon, the Senate will vote on passage of S.386, as amended.
Noteworthy Senate Hearings
Senate Armed Services (9 a.m.): Holds a hearing on the nominations of Raymond Mabus to be secretary of the Navy; Robert Work to be undersecretary of the Navy; Elizabeth King to be assistant secretary of Defense for legislative affairs; Donald Remy to be general counsel of the Department of the Army; Michael Nacht to be assistant secretary of Defense for global strategic affairs; Wallace Gregson to be assistant secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific security affairs; Jo-Ellen Darcy to be assistant secretary of the Army for civil works; and Ines Triay to be assistant secretary of Energy for environmental management. The nominees testify. 106 Dirksen.
Joint Economic (10 a.m.): Holds a hearing on “Equal Pay for Equal Work? New Evidence on the Persistence of the Gender Pay Gap.” 2172 Rayburn.
Senate Foreign Relations (10 a.m.): Holds a hearing on “21st Century War Powers.” Former Rep. Lee Hamilton (D-Ind.), president and director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center; and former Secretaries of State James Baker and Warren Christoper, testify. 419 Dirksen.
Senate Environment and Public Works (10 a.m.): Holds a hearing on the nominations of Michelle DePass to be assistance adminstration for solid waste and emergency response; Cynthia Giles, to be assistant administrator for enforcement and compliance assurance; and Mathy Stanislaus to be assistant administrator for international affairs at the Environmental Protection Agency. The nominees testify. 406 Dirksen.
Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs (10 a.m.): Meets to vote on the nominations of: Ronald Sims to be deputy secretary of Housing and Urban Development Department; Peter Kovar to be assistant secretary of Housing and Urban Development Department for Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs; Helen Kanovsky to be general counsel at the Housing and Urban Development Department; David Stevens to be assistant secretary for Housing-Federal Housing Commission, and John Trasvina, to be assistant secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity; David Cohen to be assistant secretary for terrorist financing and the Treasury Department; and Fred Hochberg to be president of the Export-Import Bank of the United States. 538 Dirksen
Senate Foreign Relations (2:15 p.m.): Holds a hearing on the nomination of Harold Koh to be legal adviser to the State Department. The nominee testifies. 419 Dirksen.
Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs (2:30 p.m.): Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services, and International Security Subcommittee holds a hearing on “Government 2.0: Advancing America into the 21st Century and a Digital Future.” 342 Dirksen.
Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation (2:30 p.m.): Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety, and Security Subcommittee holds a hearing on “The Future of National Surface Transportation Policy.” Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood; Anne Canby, president of the Surface Transportation Policy Partnership and others testify. 253 Russell.
Noteworthy House Hearings
Joint Economic (10 a.m.): Holds a hearing on “Equal Pay for Equal Work? New Evidence on the Persistence of the Gender Pay Gap.” 2172 Rayburn.
House Appropriations (10 a.m.): Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Subcommittee holds a hearing on the Commerce Department. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke testifies. 2359 Rayburn.
House Rules (1 p.m.): Meets to formulate a rule on H.R.1913, the “Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009,” to provide Federal assistance to States, local jurisdictions, and Indian tribes to prosecute hate crimes. H-313, U.S. Capitol.
House Transportation and Infrastructure (10 a.m.): Highways and Transit Subcommittee holds a hearing on “High Priority Project Program.” Witnesses TBA. 2167 Rayburn.
House Ways and Means (2 p.m.): Social Security Subcommittee holds a hearing on progress made by the Social Security Administration (SSA) in implementing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. B-318 Rayburn.
By washingtonpost.com | April 28, 2009; 7:22 AM ET Today on the Hill
Today on the Hill
The day begins with a joint economic hearing at 9:30 a.m. ET. The Senate convenes at 10 a.m. and will resume consideration of the nomination of Christopher Hill to be Ambassador to Iraq. The House meets at 2 p.m. for legislative business, and a swearing-in ceremony will take place this evening for Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) to replace Rahm Emanuel in the fifth district of Illinois.
Other highlights include the nomination hearing of Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius before the Senate Finance Committee, and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner’s testimony before the Troubled Assets Relief Program Congressional Oversight Panel at 10 a.m.
Noteworthy Senate Hearings
Joint Economic (9:30 a.m.): Holds a hearing on “Too Big to Fail or Too Big to Save? Examining the Systemic Threats of Large Financial Institutions.” Joseph Stiglitz, 2001 Nobel Prize recipient, professor at Columbia University and former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers; Simon Johnson, professor of entrepreneurship at MIT’s Sloan School of Management, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute and former economic counselor at the International Monetary Fund; and Thomas Hoenig, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, testify. 210 Cannon.
Senate Finance (10 a.m.): Holds a hearing on “Reforming America’s Health Care Delivery System.” 216 Hart.
Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation (2 p.m.): Holds a hearing on the nominations of Sherburne Abbott to be associate director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President; Peter Appel to be the administrator of the Transportation Department’s Research and Innovative Technology Administration; April Boyd to be assistant secretary for legislative and intergovernmental affairs at the Commerce Department; Dana Gresham to be the assistant secretary of the Transportation Department’s Office of Government Affairs; Cameron Kerry to be general counsel at the Commerce Department; Roy Kienitz to be the undersecretary for policy at the Transportation Department; Robert Rikvin to be the general counsel at the Transportation Department; and Joseph Szabo to be administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration. The nominees testify. 253 Russell.
Senate Finance: Meets (10 a.m.) to vote on the nomination of Kathleen Sebelius to be secretary of Health and Human Services. 216 Hart.
Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs (2:30 p.m.): Contracting Oversight Subcommittee holds a hearing on “Improving the Ability of Inspectors General to Detect, Prevent, and Prosecute Contracting Fraud.” 342 Dirksen.
Senate Foreign Relations (2:30 p.m.): African Affairs Subcommittee holds a hearing on “Strengthening: U.S. Diplomatic Capacity in Africa.” 419 Dirksen.
Noteworthy House Hearings
Joint Economic (9:30 a.m.): Holds a hearing on “Too Big to Fail or Too Big to Save? Examining the Systemic Threats of Large Financial Institutions.” Joseph Stiglitz, 2001 Nobel Prize recipient, professor at Columbia University and former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers; Simon Johnson, professor of entrepreneurship at MIT’s Sloan School of Management, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute and former economic counselor at the International Monetary Fund; and Thomas Hoenig, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, testify. 210 Cannon.
House Judiciary (2 p.m.): Courts and Competition Policy and the Internet Subcommittee holds a hearing on “A New Age for Newspapers: Diversity of Voices, Competition and the Internet.” Witnesses TBA. 2141 Rayburn.
House Energy and Commerce (3 p.m.): Energy and Environment Subcommittee holds a hearing on “The American Clean Energy Security Act of 2009, Day 1.” Witnesses TBA. 2123 Rayburn.
House (Select) Intelligence (5 p.m.): Closed hearing on “National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) and National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA).” Acting NRO Director Maj. Gen. Ellen Pawlikowski; and NGA Director Adm. Robert Murrett, testify. H-140, U.S. Capitol.
Source: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/capitol-briefing/2009/04/today_on_the_hill_61.html?wprss=capitol-briefing
Obama’s Revenue Plans Hit Resistance in Congress
By Carl Hulse, The New York Times
WASHINGTON — President Obama is running into stiff Congressional resistance to his plans to raise money for his ambitious agenda, and the resulting hole in the budget is threatening a major health care overhaul and other policy initiatives. . . .
For more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/20/us/politics/20tax.html?_r=1&nl=pol&emc=pola1&pagewanted=print
Congress Returns to Tackle the Budget and War Financing
By Carl Hulse, The New York Times
Congress is back for a five-week stretch that will be devoted mainly to striking a budget deal and pushing to provide $83.4 billion sought by President Obama to pay for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. . . .
For more: http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/20/congress-returns-to-tackle-the-budget-and-war-financing/?nl=pol&emc=pola2