Senate

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Dems in a Snit Over Specter's Cozy Deal

Senate honchos fume as newbie prepares to leapfrog to top jobs

(Newser) - Some top Democratic senators are rebelling against the deal that brought Arlen Specter into the fold, the Hill reports. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told the aisle-crosser he could keep the 28 years of seniority he gained as a GOP senator, infuriating long-serving Democrats whom Specter will now likely leapfrog...

Congress OKs Budget Plan, Advances Health Reform

(Newser) - President Obama's plan to overhaul the nation's health care system got a big boost today as the Senate followed the lead of the House and approved a $3.4 trillion budget plan, the Washington Post reports. The approval sets the stage for lawmakers to hammer out legislation over the summer...

Rendell Gets Machiavellian in Specter Switch
Rendell Gets Machiavellian in Specter Switch
Analysis
Apr 29, 2009 10:09 AM CDT

Rendell Gets Machiavellian in Specter Switch

Senate ambitions may have played role in governor's courtship

(Newser) - Arlen Specter’s party switch was a "seriously Machiavellian" move by Joe Biden and, particularly, Gov. Ed Rendell, writes Eleanor Clift of Newsweek. Biden’s self-interest in the matter is obvious: Specter represents the all-important 60th Senate vote. But the "gregarious, ambitious" Rendell, an even closer friend of...

Silver: Specter Will Shift Left, But Not Too Far
Silver: Specter Will Shift Left, But Not Too Far
analysis
Apr 28, 2009 9:46 PM CDT

Silver: Specter Will Shift Left, But Not Too Far

(Newser) - Now that Arlen Specter is flying the Democratic colors, his new party can expect a tangible—if modest—change in his voting behavior, writes Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight.com. "Democrats have ample reason to be pleased," writes Silver, who crunched the numbers of all previous congressional party-switchers. "...

Limbaugh to Specter: Take McCain Family, Too

(Newser) - Rush Limbaugh thinks erstwhile Republican Arlen Specter should take some “other people who aren't really Republicans” to the other side of the aisle, CNN reports. “Take McCain and his daughter with you,” a laughing Limbaugh said today. Though he said Specter's party switch was “ultimately good”...

Specter: I'm Not 'Automatic 60th Vote' for Dems

GOP colleagues 'stunned,' angered by senator's party switch

(Newser) - Newly minted Democrat Arlen Specter said he will not blindly toe the party line, Politico reports. “I will not be an automatic 60th vote,” the veteran Pennsylvania senator said, pointing out recent opposition to a unionization bill. “If the Democratic Party asks too much, I will not...

Specter Defects to Democrats
 Specter Defects to Democrats 
Apr 28, 2009 11:38 AM CDT

Specter Defects to Democrats

(Newser) - Arlen Specter is jumping to the Democrats, leaving the party excruciatingly close to a filibuster-proof Senate majority, reports Politico. Sources say VP Joe Biden was key to the effort to recruit the Pennsylvania senator. “Since my election in 1980, as part of the Reagan Big Tent, the Republican Party...

Dems Fast-Track Health Care Overhaul

Filibuster-proof tactic likely to enrage GOP

(Newser) - Democratic leaders in Congress have agreed to adopt a filibuster-proof tactic to get President Obama's health care bill passed before the year is out, reports the New York Times. The tactic—known as "budget reconciliation"—will let the bill pass the Senate with a simple majority instead of...

Franken-Coleman Appeal Slated for June

(Newser) - The Minnesota Supreme Court agreed today to hear oral arguments in the Al Franken-Norm Coleman legal battle starting June 1, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports. The appeal date is closer to a schedule proposed by Coleman, who appears to face an uphill battle in the Senate seat contest and sought...

GOP Blocks Sebelius' Confirmation
GOP Blocks Sebelius' Confirmation
Apr 24, 2009 3:47 AM CDT

GOP Blocks Sebelius' Confirmation

She's pressed to answer more questions on abortion

(Newser) - President Obama will have to wait until at least next week to have a complete Cabinet after Senate Republicans blocked the immediate confirmation of Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius yesterday, AP reports. A vote on the Health and Human Services Secretary nominee—whose appointment is fiercely opposed by anti-abortion groups—will...

Senate Panel Clears Sebelius for HHS Post

Vote means Obama is likely to have a full Cabinet soon

(Newser) - It looks like President Obama will finally get his full Cabinet. A Senate panel today approved his pick of Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius to be director of Health and Human Services, the Hill reports. The vote, largely along party lines, all but assures that Sebelius will be approved by the...

Burris, Unsure on '10 Election Run, Faces Cash Crunch

Senator collected only $845 in first quarter

(Newser) - Roland Burris says he hasn’t decided if he’ll run for election to his Senate seat in February 2010, but an aide says he has begun fundraising efforts, the Chicago Tribune reports. The “very aggressive” push to raise money “as quickly as possible” can’t come soon...

Senators Rank Bipartisan Colleagues

Kennedy, Collins named most bipartisan

(Newser) - If you want to reach across the aisle in the Senate, chances are you're stretching toward Ted Kennedy or Susan Collins, according to a Hill survey of the upper chamber. “I’d love to co-sponsor every piece of legislation with Ted Kennedy,” says Sen. Richard Burr. The most...

Coleman Takes Vote Battle to Top State Court

Franken picks Senate staffers as rival refuses to concede

(Newser) - Embattled former senator Norm Coleman is keeping alive the last fight of Election 2008 with an appeal to Minnesota's Supreme Court, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports. Coleman is arguing that a lower court that awarded Al Franken a 312-vote victory denied constituents their constitutional rights by rejecting some absentee ballots....

Obama to Push for Treaty on Arms Trafficking

(Newser) - President Obama wants to add muscle to America’s promise to curb the flow of weapons to Mexico’s drug cartels. After meeting with Mexican leader Felipe Calderon today, Obama said he would push the Senate to ratify a decade-old treaty on the matter, the Washington Post reports. President Clinton...

Dems to Coleman: Concede Already

(Newser) - Democrats have widened their campaign against Norm Coleman to include a radio ad urging him to concede to Al Franken, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports. “Minnesota deserves two senators and voters deserve to have their verdict stand,” says the ad, produced by the DNC. “Call Norm Coleman,...

2004 Foe Will Challenge Specter for Nomination

(Newser) - Riding a wave of dissatisfaction with Arlen Specter's vote on the federal stimulus, conservative Pat Toomey will again campaign to be the GOP's Senate nominee in Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. Although Toomey didn't announce until today, the two have been arguing publicly in the last few weeks. Specter, who...

How Much Is Senate Fight Worth to Coleman?
How Much Is Senate Fight Worth to Coleman?
Analysis
Apr 14, 2009 12:00 PM CDT

How Much Is Senate Fight Worth to Coleman?

Numbers don't add up in improbable challenge: Silver

(Newser) - Norm Coleman’s chances of victory are so thin they’ve entered “Calista Flockhart territory,” yet he shows no sign of winding down his expensive legal battle, writes Nate Silver, the stat guru behind FiveThirtyEight.com. Just how expensive? Silver estimates that Coleman’s spending about $20,740...

Court Calls Franken Winner; Coleman Vows to Appeal

(Newser) - A Minnesota court ruled today that Al Franken won more votes than rival Norm Coleman in their contested 2008 Senate race, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports. Dismissing Coleman's argument that systemic errors nullified the outcome, the 3-judge panel said Franken's 312-vote lead stands. Coleman vowed to appeal the decision.

Jackson Jr. Says He's Clean of Blago's Dirt

Congressman cooperating with House ethics probe

(Newser) - Jesse Jackson Jr. said today he is fully cooperating with a probe by a House ethics panel into his relationship with Rod Blagojevich, the Hill reports. "As I said when the Blagojevich scandal first broke back in December, I have done nothing wrong and reject pay-to-play politics," the...

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