Senate Democrats

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NJ's Menendez Will Head Key Dem Committee

First Latino in Senate campaign post takes over for Schumer

(Newser) - Robert Menendez will replace Charles Schumer atop the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the Hill reports today, giving the committee its first Hispanic leader. New Jersey’s Menendez has a tough act to follow in New York’s Schumer, who helped Democrats pick up six seats to take the majority in...

Lieberman Keeps Chairmanship
 Lieberman Keeps 
 Chairmanship 

Lieberman Keeps Chairmanship

Will lose some meaningless subcommittee job instead

(Newser) - Senate Democrats voted 42-13 today to let Joe Lieberman keep his perch atop the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, hoping to prevent the Connecticut Independent from becoming a full-fledged Republican, the Hill reports, The former Dem, who actively supported John McCain's presidential bid, will instead lose his chairmanship of...

Byrd, 90, Resigns as Appropriations Chairman

Senator, rumored to be under pressure from Reid, will be replaced by Hawaii's Inoyue

(Newser) - Robert Byrd resigned today as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, acquiescing to Democratic leaders who reportedly wanted him out of the job, the Hill reports. Byrd, 90, has been hospitalized three times in the past year, and said he was willing to leave the committee in younger hands—namely,...

Dems Let Lieberman Keep Chairmanship ... for Now

Connecticut Democrats submit censure resolution to state committee

(Newser) - Joe Lieberman will hold onto his chairmanship of the Senate Homeland Security committee for now, but his future is still unclear following a meeting with Majority Leader Harry Reid, the Hill reports. “While I understand that Senator Lieberman has voted with Democrats a majority of the time, his comments...

Dem Wins Oregon Senate Race
 Dem Wins Oregon Senate Race 

Dem Wins Oregon Senate Race

Incumbent Smith concedes in early-morning call to Merkley

(Newser) - Oregon Republican Gordon Smith has privately conceded the US Senate race this morning to his opponent, Democrat Jeff Merkley, the Oregonian reports after an excruciatingly sluggish ballot count. The final margin was within thousands of votes. Late counting of ballots from the Portland area, which is overwhelmingly liberal, put Merkley...

10 Senate Races to Watch
 10 Senate Races to Watch 
OPINION

10 Senate Races to Watch

Dems could pick up 8 seats; GOP could oust Landrieu in La.

(Newser) - With 35 Senate seats up for grabs Tuesday, Chris Cillizza, in the Washington Post, predicts Democrats will flip eight. Two more are close calls for the Dems, while the GOP has one hope for a pickup. Starting with the most likely:
  1. Virginia is in the bag for Mark Warner; he
...

Dems Loath to Punish Traitor Joe

The party is ticked, but this might not be the time for vengeance

(Newser) - Joe Lieberman has crossed nearly every line there is in supporting John McCain—on Sunday he even praised Sarah Palin—and many liberals want him ousted from the Democratic caucus. But Harry Reid and company show no signs of moving against Lieberman, Salon reports. “We're going to have to...

Dems Wield Cash in Battle for Southern Senate Seats

Unseating McConnell, Dole, others possible with funds high, GOP popularity low

(Newser) - With a huge fund-raising edge allowing for wide advertising blitzes, Democrats are pushing hard for Senate seats in red states even recently thought unwinnable, Alexander Bolton writes in the Hill. In North Carolina, Dems see a chance to unseat Elizabeth Dole; in Georgia, Saxby Chambliss; in Mississippi, Roger Wicker; and...

Senate Version of Bailout Grows Sweeter, Fatter

(Newser) - The Senate version of the bailout bill has ballooned to more than 400 pages as legislators flesh out details in hopes of gaining passage as soon as tonight, Politico reports. The marquee measure boosts FDIC coverage of individual accounts from $100,000 to $250,000, with numerous lower-profile provisions intended...

Obama Won't Share Funds With Senate Dems

Party sees chance to boost majority, but nominee feels pressure to stuff war chest

(Newser) - Barack Obama has rejected an appeal from the Senate Democrats to kick some campaign money their way, Politico reports. Obama raised a record $66 million in August, but is currently outmatched by the combination of John McCain and the Republican National Committee. With 23 GOP-held seats being contested, Senate Dems...

Senate Homecoming Won't Be Glorious

Power will not fall in losing candidate's lap

(Newser) - If Hillary Clinton does indeed lose the Democratic nomination, her Senate homecoming won’t be a glorious one, the New York Times reports. Clinton is still a junior senator, ranking 36th out of 49 Democrats, and would need to leapfrog a lot of people to become a committee chair—much...

GOP Senators Try to Outflank Dems on Iraq Funding Bill

See chance to show war is succeeding

(Newser) - After months of blocking Democrat-sponsored anti-war bills, Senate Republicans changed course sharply yesterday, agreeing to advance a bill that cuts off funding for combat in Iraq after 120 days. GOP senators made the switch on grounds that a debate over conditions in Iraq allows them time to hail progress in...

Deal on Stimulus Package Puts Heat on Senate

Bush, Congress bask in the brief glow of cooperation, but can it last?

(Newser) - The $150 billion package of tax breaks for consumers and businesses rolled out yesterday was the first show of bipartisan cooperation sans bloodletting since the  Democrats won control of Congress a year ago, the Washington Post observes. It took panic over a looming recession to make it happen, and it...

Mukasey Tells Congress to Back Off CIA Tapes Inquiry

AG won't divulge investigation details

(Newser) - Michael Mukasey isn't about to open up to Democratic lawmakers who want details of the Justice Department’s ongoing investigation into the CIA’s destruction of interrogation tapes, the Washington Post reports. In letters sent today, the new AG also restated his objections to appointing a special prosecutor to investigate,...

Dems Fail to Bring Troop Bill to Senate Vote

Warner defection kills bill to mandate time between deployments

(Newser) - Senate Democrats were unable to muster enough GOP support today to bring to a vote a bill that would have given US troops more down time between overseas deployments. A late defection by Republican John Warner was the death knell for the bill, the Wall Street Journal reports, sponsored by...

Dems Willing to Deal on Troop Pullout

They're easing off deadline after some surge progress

(Newser) - Senate Democrats are signaling they are willing to compromise with Republicans on a timetable for withdrawing troops from Iraq. The Democrats, who pushed before the summer recess for a pullout deadline next spring, have been undercut by some progress in Iraq and the success of the White House in maintaining...

Senator, on the Mend, Returns to SD
Senator,
on the Mend,
Returns to SD

Senator, on the Mend, Returns to SD

Recovering after brain hemorrhage, Johnson to get back to work

(Newser) - Tim Johnson will be back in the Senate next week, and yesterday he returned to South Dakota to declare, "I am back!" What's more, in a series of interviews during his recovery from the brain hemorrhage that threw the control of the Senate into question, he told ABC's...

Maliki Must Go: Senator
Maliki Must
Go: Senator

Maliki Must Go: Senator

Iraq needs 'more unifying' leader, says head of Armed Services Committee

(Newser) - Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki must go, says Senate Armed Services Committee chairman Carl Levin, who yesterday called on the nation's parliament to replace him with a "more unifying" leader if Maliki can't quickly forge political peace among rival factions. Maliki's current talks with Iraqi leaders is the "...

Dems Should Throw Joe Overboard
Dems Should Throw Joe Overboard

Dems Should Throw Joe Overboard

Lieberman does party more harm than good, columnist claims

(Newser) - Senate Democrats wouldn’t be in the majority if Joe Lieberman didn’t caucus with them, but maybe they’d be better off, the New York Observer’s Steve Kornacki argues. Kornacki says the Independent senator embarrasses Dems by siding with the enemy  and accusing them of being terrorist coddlers....

White House Stonewalls on Subpoenas
White House Stonewalls
on Subpoenas

White House Stonewalls on Subpoenas

Bush invokes executive privilege in Senate probe of US attorney firings

(Newser) - The White House shot down attempts to subpoena internal documents concerning the US attorney firings today by invoking executive privilege. Though not a surprise, the refusal moved the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee to accuse the administration of "Nixonian stonewalling." If the committee doesn't back down, the...

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