Congress

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Lawmakers Pushing to Extend Stimulus Tax Breaks

(Newser) - It's like a second, mini-stimulus. Lawmakers from both parties are pushing to extend the life of various tax breaks and benefits included in the original $787 billion stimulus package, the Hill reports. All told, the wish list adds up to about $88 billion. The biggest chunk of that would be...

Judge Orders Gitmo Detainee Returned to Afghanistan

But Mohammed Jawad may still face conventional prosecution

(Newser) - A Guantanamo Bay inmate may be released to Afghanistan next month after successfully challenging his detention under habeas corpus, the Washington Post reports. US District Judge Ellen Huvelle ordered Mohammed Jawad’s release based on the dodgy evidence against him—mainly, a confession allegedly obtained by threatening to kill Jawad...

Anti-Earmark Rep. Scores Earmark for Blimp Research

Sessions' $1.6M went to firm not in his district

(Newser) - Rep. Pete Sessions is a vocal opponent of earmarks, but last year he scored one for a company that's not even in his district. Thanks to Sessions, $1.6 million for airship research went to a firm with no experience in either government contracting or blimp-making, Politico reports. Seems that...

Our Decrepit Democracy Can't Fix Health Care: Klein

(Newser) - Powerful special interests are killing health-care reform, which is par for the course in Congress, writes Joe Klein of Time. “We’ve gotten rusty at legislating,” says one Tennessee Democrat. That’s overly kind, Klein retorts. The only bills that pass these days are essentials like budgets and...

Why Congress Won't Face the Fat Problem
 Why Congress Won't 
 Face the Fat Problem 
analysis
Jul 30, 2009 11:10 AM CDT

Why Congress Won't Face the Fat Problem

Lawmakers fear giving US 'bad news'—especially while munching Doritos

(Newser) - Congress is “in denial” on one key health issue: obesity, writes Lisa Lerer for Politico. Obesity-related illnesses reportedly cost $147 billion, or 10% of medical spending, last year—and lawmakers say they’re focused on cost-cutting. But, experts say, “no one wants to tell Americans the bad news....

House Bill Loaded With $6.5B the Pentagon Doesn't Want
House Bill Loaded With $6.5B the Pentagon Doesn't Want
earmarks showdown
Jul 30, 2009 8:30 AM CDT

House Bill Loaded With $6.5B the Pentagon Doesn't Want

(Newser) - They gave up on the F22, but Congress is still trying to give the Pentagon $6.9 billion in planes, helicopters and ships the Defense secretary doesn’t want, the Washington Post reports. House Democrats have loaded the defense spending bill with earmarks for programs Barack Obama and Robert Gates...

Goldman Sachs Subpoenaed in Fraud Probe

Senate seeks evidence that banks foresaw mortgage meltdown

(Newser) - A Senate committee has subpoenaed Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, and other financial institutions as part of an investigation into mortgage-market fraud, sources tell the Wall Street Journal. The probe appears to focus on emails and other internal communications that may show bankers' doubts about the safety of mortgage-backed securities, which...

Liberals Near Revolt Over Health Care Deal

(Newser) - Blue Dogs had a good day, but now liberals are howling. After the conservative Democrats managed to shift health care legislation to the center, progressive Democrats say they might mount a rebellion of their own, report Politico and the Hill. They're mostly upset that Henry Waxman agreed to water down...

Blue Dogs Stand Firm as Dems Get Panicky

Marathon sessions fail to reach a deal as tempers fray

(Newser) - The Democratic leadership is scrambling to make progress on health care reform before Congress breaks for its August recess, but last night's marathon negotiations failed to break the stalemate—and may even have increased the number of issues up for debate.  "We're making progress," Nancy Pelosi said...

Awash-in-Red USPS 'High-Risk': Fed Watchdog

(Newser) - The Government Accountability Office has put the struggling US Postal Service on its list of “high-risk” federal programs, the Hill reports. The federal watchdog says the USPS will lose $7 billion this year, and that even the end of the recession will not return business that has migrated to...

Dumbest Arguments Against Health Reform
 Dumbest Arguments 
 Against Health Reform 
OPINION
Jul 28, 2009 2:04 PM CDT

Dumbest Arguments Against Health Reform

(Newser) - “The opponents of reform are getting serious now,” Paul Waldman writes of the health care debate for the American Prospect, “and they've turned the volume on their megaphones of mendacity up to 11.” Herewith, some of the most cringe-inducing arguments against:
  • It's not broken: Progressives dismiss
...

Communication Is What Ails Obama on Health Reform
Communication Is What Ails Obama on Health Reform
ANALYSIS
Jul 27, 2009 3:32 PM CDT

Communication Is What Ails Obama on Health Reform

(Newser) - President Obama’s failure to get health-care reform on a faster track, despite early legislative victories, is a personal one, Sam Youngman writes in the Hill. “While it is shocking to consider that Obama is anything less than one of the best communicators in modern political history,” Youngman...

5 Barriers to Obamacare
 5 Barriers to Obamacare 
ANALYSIS
Jul 27, 2009 12:35 PM CDT

5 Barriers to Obamacare

(Newser) - Both chambers of Congress will likely miss President Obama’s August deadline for a health care reform bill, slowing “the momentum behind the president's top priority,” Jay Newton-Small writes in Time. “Why can't a popular president with poll numbers in the 60s and super majorities in both...

GI's Capture Fuels Desertion Controversy

Lawmakers rip Fox analyst; blogger says Bergdahl left unarmed

(Newser) - With some speculating that the US soldier kidnapped by the Taliban deserted his Afghanistan post, conservative media are hot on the trail. Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl “walked off (his base) with a water bottle and (a military ration pack) on some kind of he-man expedition,” a military blogger tells...

Blue Dogs Raking In Campaign Donations

(Newser) - Blue Dog Democrats may be ticking off President Obama and party leaders with their opposition to health care overhaul, but the move is doing wonders for their campaign coffers, reports CQ Politics. The Blue Dog Political Action Committee has pulled in $1.1 million for the 2010 races, more than...

Obama: Delay on Health Bill 'OK,' But Keep Working

(Newser) - President Barack Obama stepped up his pitch for overhauling health care today, saying the American people need it and must overcome resistance from opponents in Washington, whom he described vaguely as naysayers and skeptics. "Reform may be coming too soon for some in Washington," the president told a...

No Vote on Health Care Reform Before Fall: Reid

More time is needed to build support for bill, majority leader says

(Newser) - The Senate will not vote on the health-care bill before the August recess, Majority Leader Harry Reid said today, citing the need to build bipartisan support—or even unified Democratic support—for such comprehensive reform, the AP reports. “Working with Republicans, one of the things that they asked for...

Pelosi: I've Got the Votes on Health Care

(Newser) - Nancy Pelosi says she's got enough votes lined up in the House to pass health care reform by the end of the month, the Hill reports. Republicans and Blue Dog Democrats beg to differ, but Pelosi says there's "no question" she's right. On the chance she's wrong, however, she...

Newt: Obama's Misguided Health Plan Will 'Kill Jobs'

(Newser) - Newt Gingrich lashed out today against President Obama’s health care plan, saying the nation should deal with crushing unemployment first, Politico reports. “America does not work if Americans are not working,” he said. “Getting Americans working should be the number one priority.” Gingrich called for...

Senate Dems Bring Down Concealed-Weapons Measure

Schumer leads effort to quash Thune amendment

(Newser) - Senate Democrats today narrowly defeated a measure that would have let concealed weapons be transported across state lines, the Hill reports. The amendment, which required 60 votes to pass according to a prior, bipartisan agreement, went down 58-39. Sen. Charles Schumer and majority whip Dick Durbin fought hard to drum...

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