Congress

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Who Wins the Midterms? Obama's Ratings Will Tell All

(Newser) - Forget the old saw that the state of the economy dictates who wins in midterm elections. There are too many exceptions. The better predictor is presidential popularity, writes Nate Silver in Esquire. The correlation between a president's Gallup rating immediately before the midterms and his party's performance is "very...

Ruling Gives Franken Big Lift in Senate Race

(Newser) - Al Franken may have moved a decisive step closer to the Senate today, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports. A three-judge panel ruled that only 400 disputed absentee ballots will be reviewed, making it highly unlikely that Norm Coleman will be able to erase Franken's 225-seat margin in the Minnesota race....

Senate Dems Are Tanking the Party... Again
Senate Dems Are Tanking
the Party... Again
OPINION
Mar 30, 2009 1:06 PM CDT

Senate Dems Are Tanking the Party... Again

Why the left can't seem to govern

(Newser) - Congressional Democrats killed Bill Clinton’s agenda, and Jimmy Carter’s agenda, and it looks like they’re gunning for Barack Obama’s, too, writes Jonathan Chait in the New Republic. George Bush didn’t win the popular vote and had just 50 GOP Senators, but was still able to...

GOP's Bachmann Not Exactly Lying Low

Bachmann strays off message with new round of bizarre attacks

(Newser) - Controversial Congresswoman Michele Bachmann is making headlines again, despite promises to keep a low profile and stay on message. The Minnesota Republican infamously endangered her reelection last year by demanding an investigation of "anti-American" members of Congress. Now, she's drawing attention for warning of "nefarious activities" in...

Navy Award for Murtha Sparks Marine Furor

40K sign petition against rep who cried murder in Haditha

(Newser) - Sailors and Marines are up in arms over a Navy commendation to Rep. John Murtha, who has accused servicemen of murdering Iraqi civilians, the Navy Times reports. Outgoing Navy Secretary Donald Winter awarded Murtha the Distinguished Public Service Award earlier this month for his work on a House subcommittee. The...

Liberal Groups' Attack Ads on Moderate Dems Not Helpful: Reid

MoveOn should back off, majority leader says

(Newser) - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says left-wing groups shouldn’t run ads pressuring moderate Democrats into backing President Obama’s budget, Politico reports. “I think it’s very unwise and not helpful,” Reid said today of the efforts by Moveon.org and Americans United for Change to convert...

Senate Panel Clears $3.6T Budget Plan

Spending blueprint leaves president's agenda mostly intact

(Newser) - President Obama's spending plans have passed a major hurdle in the Senate, the Wall Street Journal reports. The Senate Budget Committee passed a plan largely similar to Obama's  $3.6 trillion request in a 13-10 vote split along party lines. The House committee passed its version Wednesday, clearing the way...

Budget Debate Devolves Into Verbal Slugfest

(Newser) - The White House today ridiculed a budget proposal laid out by House Republicans, but the GOP gave as good as it got, the Hill reports. Spokesman Robert Gibbs said the GOP document included a “picture of a windmill” but no substantive numbers. “It took me several minutes to...

Dems to GOP: Draft Your Own Budget

(Newser) - Frustrated Senate Democrats today urged their GOP counterparts to stop criticizing President Obama’s proposed budget and provide an alternative, the Hill reports. “If it were easy to write a budget, then the Republicans would be writing one,” Dick Durbin said. Republicans responded that as the minority, that...

GOP Targets Critics With Own Economic Plans

Budget proposals seek to douse 'Party of No' label

(Newser) - “The Party of No” is rejecting that label by introducing alternatives to President Obama’s policies rooted in GOP ideology, Politico reports. The Republican Road to Recovery is a weighty fiscal counterpart to the Democrats’ economic agenda, and marks a new strategy in the minority’s response. Republicans laud...

Cantor Skips Obama for Britney Concert

(Newser) - The political blogosphere is having some fun tonight with the fact that House Minority Whip Eric Cantor attended the Britney Spears concert last night instead of dutifully tuning in to President Obama's press conference. Cantor's office confirmed to Wonkette that he took in the show, adding that he did so...

Obama Meets With Dems to Push Budget

(Newser) - President Obama visited Capitol Hill today for a closed-door meeting with Senate Democrats to push for his budget plan. As Senate and House panels began debating their own versions, Obama urged Democrats to retain his budget's core principles on health care, energy, education, and deficit reduction. He also asked them...

'Wait Until She's Sober': Pentagon Rep on Sex Crimes

(Newser) - A House member is incensed that a Pentagon official, reporting a 25% increase in combat-zone sexual assault against women, said servicemen should “wait until she's sober,” the New York Daily News reports. “This woman is not in the right line of work,” Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-NY,...

Post Office Begs for Congress' Help

We can't pay all the bills this year: chief

(Newser) - The Postal Service can’t pay all of this year’s bills, the postmaster general warned Congress today as he proposed shedding $6 billion in costs and Saturday service. He clarified that the agency—which doesn’t get taxpayer subsidies—wants Washington’s help, not a bailout. Due to declining...

Insurers Offer to Stop Charging Sick People More

(Newser) - The push for health care reform got a significant boost today: Big insurers say they are willing to stop charging higher premiums to people with pre-existing medical conditions, the New York Times reports. In the surprise move, industry leaders say they are willing to give up the practice if Congress...

Specter's Shift May Doom Bill on Union Organizing

It's a major blow to EFCA hopes

(Newser) - Sen. Arlen Specter said today he won't support the Employee Free Choice Act, delivering a serious setback to the much-watched labor initiative, the Wall Street Journal reports. The bill would allow unions to organize more easily, using card signatures instead of secret ballots. The Republican's support of the measure was...

AIG Bonus Tax Is Stalled, Likely to Die in Senate

Lawmakers likely to let special tax die, with the nod from Obama

(Newser) - With populist outrage cooling and the White House even cooler, the 90% AIG bonus tax that sailed through the House last week is stalled in the Senate, where it's likely to die, reports Bloomberg. Majority Leader Harry Reid said yesterday this week will be devoted to debating national service and...

New York's Schumer Flips, Backs Gay Marriage

(Newser) - Sen. Charles Schumer now supports full marriage rights for same-sex couples, the New York Daily News reports. The New York Democrat, who was on the record as a proponent of civil unions, also wants to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, which he himself voted for. “It’s time,...

Health Care Debate Turns Nastier
 Health Care 
 Debate Turns 
 Nastier 
ANALYSIS
Mar 21, 2009 12:45 PM CDT

Health Care Debate Turns Nastier

(Newser) - The claws have come out in the Capitol Hill debate on whether the government should create a public insurance plan to compete with private insurers, Politico reports. One of the first tangible signs begins today with an advocacy group's TV ad campaign against Sen. Charles Grassley in his home state...

If I Knew, I Would Have 'Rejected' Legislation: Dodd

(Newser) - Sen. Chris Dodd says that if he had known the purpose of changes to legislation he drafted for the stimulus package, he “would have flatly rejected it,” CNN reports. Dodd’s rewrite, at the behest of unnamed Treasury officials, allowed AIG and others receiving federal assistance to dole...

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