Senate

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'Too Old' Byrd to Critics: Shut Up!

Senator, 90, flexes muscle at hearing

(Newser) - History's longest-serving senator has two words for people who think he's no longer up to the job of chairing the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee: "Shut up." Democrat Robert Byrd, 90, has been hospitalized twice this year but his management of a two-hour hearing on Iraq war spending yesterday...

Senate Hopeful Hyped Notorious Worker Policy

Schaffer pegs support for program to '99 Abramoff junket

(Newser) - A Republican vying for Colorado's open Senate seat has said the Mariana Islands’ guest worker program—infamous for reports of forced abortion, slavery and child prostitution—should be a “model” for national immigration overhaul. Bob Schaffer’s support dates from a 1999 trip arranged by disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff,...

Senate Passes Housing Aid Bill
 Senate Passes Housing Aid Bill 
Apr 10, 2008 3:02 PM CDT

Senate Passes Housing Aid Bill

Wins approval by wide margin, but House, Bush opposition leave fate uncertain

(Newser) - The Senate approved a $15 billion measure to address the housing slump today, including $6 billion in total tax breaks to homebuilding firms and a $7,000 tax credit for buyers of foreclosed homes. Though it passed by an 84-12 margin, opposition from President Bush and the House could yet...

Housing Bill Clears Key Senate Hurdle

Package of relief measures garners bipartisan support

(Newser) - The Senate voted 94-1 to move a housing legislation package into formal consideration today, reports the New York Times. Banking committee chair Chris Dodd and ranking Republican Richard Shelby now have until noon tomorrow to work out a compromise acceptable to both parties. “Inaction is not an option,"...

Will the Losers Rebound, Try Again, or Retire?

Clinton seen as Senate heavyweight, Obama a future contender, Mac a retiree

(Newser) - Very different futures await the two candidates who don't reach the White House, watchers say, with Barack Obama viewed as a future White House candidate, Hillary Clinton seen as a likely party leader in the Senate, and John McCain expected to retire in 2010. If Hillary doesn’t win, and...

Clinton, Obama Both Inflate Senate Records

From laws to peace deals, candidates' roles appear to grow in hindsight

(Newser) - Barack Obama didn’t take part in meetings on immigration legislation in 2006, recalls Arlen Specter, one of the handful of senators who did, but Specter just shrugs when the Illinois Democrat says he did. “It’s not an unusual matter for senators to take a little extra credit,...

Mukasey Open to Spy Bill Deal
Mukasey Open to Spy Bill Deal
Mar 21, 2008 8:18 PM CDT

Mukasey Open to Spy Bill Deal

AG calls for 'creative' solution to debate on phone company lawsuits

(Newser) - The nation's top lawman welcomed a deal today on a stalled federal spy bill, Reuters reports. “If somebody has some brilliantly creative compromise, I'm happy to hear that,” Attorney General Michael Mukasey said. A recent House bill would allow lawsuits against phone companies that gave records to Washington,...

Va. Senator Not the Firebrand Many Expected

Mr. Webb goes to Washington and plays nice

(Newser) - Virginia Sen. James Webb hasn’t played the part of hot-tempered agitator many expected in his freshman term, the Washington Post reports. Making friends and taking legislative strides, Webb “has vaulted to a position of influence,” said one colleague. But "the job of getting out and speaking...

Senate Rejects Temporary Ban on Pork

Congress passes budget plans to roll back tax cuts

(Newser) - The Senate soundly rejected a bid to ban pork barrel spending for a year last night, despite the support of all three presidential candidates who returned to DC for a day of heavy voting, CNN reports. Both the House and Senate also passed budget plans—largely symbolic moves in an...

Ohio's 'Senator No' Metzenbaum Dead at 90
Ohio's 'Senator No' Metzenbaum Dead at 90 
OBIT
Mar 13, 2008 3:20 AM CDT

Ohio's 'Senator No' Metzenbaum Dead at 90

Crusading Democrat took on big business in long Senate career

(Newser) - Former Ohio senator Howard Metzenbaum has died at home at the age of 90, reports the Cleveland Plain Dealer. The Democrat, his views shaped by the Great Depression and FDR's policies, fought hard for the rights of workers during a political career that began in 1943. Colleagues nicknamed the self-made...

House Passes Mental Health 'Parity' Bill

Requires comparable insurance coverage for illnesses of body, mind

(Newser) - The House has passed a bill requiring most group health insurers to provide comparable coverage for treatment of mental illness and addiction as they do for physical illness, the New York Times reports. "Illness of the brain must be treated just like illness anywhere else in the body,"...

10 Senate Seats Likely to Flip
10 Senate Seats Likely to Flip
Feb 29, 2008 3:55 PM CST

10 Senate Seats Likely to Flip

Blogger runs down races to watch

(Newser) - The presidency isn’t the only job up for grabs this November. The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza runs down (in order) the Senate seats most likely to flip parties:
  1. Ex-Virginia governor Mark Warner (D) is mounting a “sure-thing bid.”
  2. The survivor of the New Mexico GOP primary
...

Bush Spars With Senators Over Housing Fixes

Democrats and Republicans push to go further; feds don't want 'bailout'

(Newser) - Congressional Democrats are pushing for new bankruptcy rules to help homeowners suffering from the mortgage crisis, the Washington Post reports—though the White House says it will veto any plan that could hurt lenders and send mortgage rates upward. Democrats say enough Republicans from hard-hit states could join them in...

Mortgage Crisis: Judges to the Rescue?

Democrats back plan to let jurists change loan terms

(Newser) - Over the loud objections of lenders, Senate Democrats are lining up behind a plan to give bankruptcy judges the power to alter mortgages, the LA Times reports. The proposals could go to the floor as early as today. “This bill will have more impact… than any other option currently...

Clinton and Obama: A Tale of Two Senators

Brief legislative careers reveal much about candidates

(Newser) - The Senate isn’t a powerful presidential launching pad, but Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama arrived there amidst whispers of executive ambitions, and each charted a very different course, the LA Times reports. Clinton swiftly established herself as an inside operator, forging alliances and focusing on her state, while Obama...

Bush Predicts GOP Victory
Bush Predicts GOP Victory
Feb 26, 2008 3:15 AM CST

Bush Predicts GOP Victory

Boasts Republicans will keep White House, regain House, Senate, governor majority

(Newser) - President Bush insisted yesterday to the Republican Governors Association that Americans will elect another Republican to fill his shoes in November, AP reports. "And I don't want the next Republican president to be lonely," Bush said. "And that's why we got to take the House, retake the...

Candidates Run the Gamut on Earmarks

Clinton in top 10; Obama near bottom; McCain has none

(Newser) - This year’s presidential frontrunners represent a wide array of stances on congressional earmarking—a term for garnering funds for home-state pork, reports the Washington Post. Hillary Clinton is one of the Senate’s biggest earmark recipients, Barack Obama is in the bottom quarter, and John McCain is one of...

Waterboarding Is Illegal: Justice Dept.

Legal expert to tell House committee it's no longer acceptable

(Newser) - A top Justice Department official will declare to a House subcommittee today that waterboarding is no longer legal—a day after Congress defied President Bush's veto threat to explicitly outlaw the controversial interrogation tactic. "The set of interrogation methods authorized for current use is narrower than before, and it...

Senate Yields to White House on Eavesdropping
Senate Yields to White House on Eavesdropping
UPDATED
Feb 12, 2008 6:41 PM CST

Senate Yields to White House on Eavesdropping

Agrees to widen powers, give phone companies immunity

(Newser) - The Senate passed a bill today to expand the government's wiretapping powers and to grant immunity to phone companies that aided the government in post-9/11 investigations, the Washington Post reports. That translates into a big victory for the White House, notes the New York Times. The bill now goes to...

GOP Senators Block Dems' Stimulus Plan

Bill to give Americans tax rebates is now in legislative limbo

(Newser) - Democrats' efforts to expand a financial relief plan for Americans hit a roadblock in the Senate today, the AP reports. Republicans were able to stymie the bill, which they say is too expensive. Democrats hoped to add $40 billion to the plan that passed the House last week; it's now...

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