Senate

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Fix America: Reform the Senate
Fix America:
Reform the Senate
EJ Dionne
Jul 29, 2010 1:48 PM CDT

Fix America: Reform the Senate

'Irrational ideas' and 'undemocratic' Senate are killing us

(Newser) - EJ Dionne warns that the US won't be a superpower much longer if it doesn't reform its "incorrigibly stupid" political system. Among other things, he rails against distorted debates on taxes ("the fairy tale of supply-side economics insists that taxes are always too high, especially on the rich"...

How to Kill the Filibuster With 51 Votes

By using, or almost using, the 'constitutional option'

(Newser) - The 59 or so senators growing weary of the GOP's current penchant for filibustering are increasingly looking to an option that would allow them to revamp the chamber's filibuster rules with only 51 votes—which Democrats have—rather than 67, which they most certainly don't. The "constitutional option" would...

Harry Reid Delays Climate Change Bill

Will pursue more modest legislation on energy

(Newser) - Harry Reid has decided to put sweeping climate change legislation on the back burner, and instead bring a more limited package of oil spill response measures to the floor next week, senior Democratic aides tell the Hill . Aides insist that Reid hasn’t given up on passing the legislation this...

Senate Passes Extension of Jobless Benefits

After House vote tomorrow, it goes to President Obama

(Newser) - The Senate this evening passed a bill restoring unemployment benefits to millions of Americans who have been out of work for 6 months or more. It passed 59-39. President Obama is poised to sign the measure into law after a final House vote tomorrow. providing a welcome relief to 2....

Republicans Won't Retake Senate
Republicans Won't Retake Senate
Analysis
Jul 21, 2010 2:37 PM CDT

Republicans Won't Retake Senate

GOP would need to stage three or four massive upsets

(Newser) - Republicans are hoping to clean up this November, but they can pretty much forget about taking over the upper chamber, David Catanese writes for Politico . The GOP needs to gain 10 seats to take over, and they have decent odds in six or seven contests. But to pick up those...

7 GOP Senators Can Change the World

 7 GOP Senators Can 
 Change the World 
thomas friedman
Jul 21, 2010 1:10 PM CDT

7 GOP Senators Can Change the World

We need an energy bill, quickly

(Newser) - Thomas Friedman is getting antsy about the energy bill languishing in the Senate. He blames Republicans for reducing the debate to insults about "climate change" and "carbon taxers" and Democrats for not fighting back. To get things moving, President Obama has to get serious about rustling up the...

New Senator Helps Advance Jobless Benefits

Goodwin provides 60th vote to block GOP delay tactic

(Newser) - A bill to restore unemployment benefits to millions of Americans who have been out of work for more than 6 months has cleared a Senate hurdle. The 60-40 vote came moments after Carte Goodwin, a successor to West Virginia's Robert Byrd, was sworn in. Goodwin was the crucial 60th senator...

GOP Lays Out Strategy to Retake Senate

(Newser) - With all the focus on the House, the GOP has been quietly laying the groundwork to take back the Senate and stun the Democrats. The GOP needs to win 10 Democratic Senate seats while not losing any of their own. A tall order in anybody's book, but tossup races in...

Senate Passes Landmark Financial Reform

Measure goes to President Obama for his signature

(Newser) - Congress sent legislation to President Obama today that imposes sweeping new regulations on Wall Street and creates new protections for millions of US consumers. The Senate's 60-39 vote came nearly two years after a financial crisis knocked the US economy to its knees. At a whopping 2,300 pages, the...

Senate to Unemployed: Have a Nice Holiday
Senate to Unemployed: Have a Nice Holiday
another gop filibuster
Jul 1, 2010 7:16 AM CDT

Senate to Unemployed: Have a Nice Holiday

Without extended jobless benefits, that is

(Newser) - More than 1.3 million laid-off workers won't get their unemployment benefits reinstated before Congress goes on a weeklong vacation for Independence Day. For the third time in as many weeks, Senate Republicans last night successfully filibustered a bill to continue providing unemployment checks to people who have been laid...

House Passes Wall St. Reform; Senate Delays Its Vote

Harry Reid needs time to corral votes

(Newser) - The easy vote is over for financial reform: The sweeping measure that, among many other things, creates a consumer protection agency and puts limits on derivatives trading breezed through the House 237-192. But it won't reach President Obama's desk by July 4 as planned because the Senate has postponed its...

Specter Chides Kagan on Dodging, May Vote No

But her confirmation appears certain

(Newser) - Elena Kagan has demonstrated a winning sense of humor during her confirmation hearings, but count Democrat Arlen Specter among those unamused. When she refused (as she has throughout the hearings) to provide a detailed response to a legal question, he cut her short to criticize her evasion and warned that...

Byrd's Death Sets Back Financial Reform

Scott Brown and Susan Collins wavering

(Newser) - Robert Byrd is dead, and the financial reform bill might not be far behind. Byrd’s demise comes just days after the Senate and House had hammered out a final version of the legislation, and dashes hopes that it could be voted on this week. West Virginia’s Democratic governor...

Sen. Robert Byrd Dead at 92
 Sen. Robert Byrd Dead at 92 
Jun 28, 2010 7:52 AM CDT

Sen. Robert Byrd Dead at 92

West Virginian served in Congress since 1952

(Newser) - West Virginia Sen. Robert Byrd died early this morning at the age of 92. The longest-serving senator in US history, Byrd was a conservative Democrat known for his fiery oratory and his skill at steering federal funds to battle poverty in his home state. Byrd was first elected to the...

Senate GOP Blocks Extension of Jobless Benefits

Democrats falls 3 votes short

(Newser) - Senate Republicans defeated Democrats' election-year jobs bill, including an extension of weekly unemployment benefits for more than a million people out of work more than 6 months. The 57-41 vote fell three votes short of the 60 required to crack a GOP filibuster, delivering a major blow to President Obama...

Nikki Haley Has Big Lead
 Nikki Haley Race 
 Heads to Runoff 
primary night
Jun 8, 2010 9:00 PM CDT

Nikki Haley Race Heads to Runoff

She's the top vote-getter in SC governor's primary

(Newser) - Nikki Haley easily survived the whiff of scandal tonight in her first step toward becoming South Carolina's first female governor. With nearly all the votes counted, Haley held a double-digit lead over her Republican primary opponents, though she is just short of the 50% mark needed to avoid a runoff,...

Daily Show Tricks Larry Craig
 Daily Show Tricks Larry Craig 
Jun 3, 2010 6:21 AM CDT

Daily Show Tricks Larry Craig

Ex-senator goes on and on about 'perks' of the job

(Newser) - Larry Craig was so convinced he wouldn’t be discussing “the past” during his appearance on last night’s Daily Show, he had a former member of his staff send around an email saying just that. The appearance, part of a segment on retired senators, was supposed to be...

Jobless Man Sends Senator Angry Emails, Gets Arrested

Faces felony charges over notes to Bunning

(Newser) - When Sen. Jim Bunning single-handedly blocked an expansion of unemployment benefits—and complained that he'd had to miss a Kentucky-South Carolina basketball game to do it—unemployed Philadelphia man Bruce Shore did what any furious voter would do: he sent Bunning an email. “ARE you'all insane?” it read. “...

Why I'll Miss Arlen Specter, Warts and All

He regularly thumbed his nose at party-line automatons

(Newser) - It's so easy to dislike Arlen Specter, writes Dana Milbank. Let us count the ways: "Ornery, vain, disloyal, and a brazen opportunist." And let's not forget the infamous quote that brings all those characteristics into play: "My change in party will enable me to be reelected."...

Senate Passes Wall Street Reform
 Senate Passes 
 Wall Street Reform 
UPDATED
May 21, 2010 5:43 AM CDT

Senate Passes Wall Street Reform

Measure must now be reconciled with House version

(Newser) - Prodded by national anger at Wall Street, the Senate tonight passed the most far-reaching restraints on big banks since the Great Depression. The massive bill would touch Wall Street CEOs and first-time home buyers, high-flying traders, and small-town lenders. The 59-39 vote represents an important achievement for President Obama. The...

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