Congress – News Stories About Congress - Page 48

Dec 2, 2009 6:10 AM CST

Blue Dog Tanner Retiring

NRCC gleeful at Tennessee Democrat's retirement

(Newser) - Blue Dog Coalition co-founder John Tanner will be calling it a day next year after 11 terms in Congress. The Tennessee Democrat hasn't faced serious opposition since first being elected to Congress, but was likely to meet a strong Republican challenger in 2010, Hotline notes. "Rep. Tanner wisely threw...

GOP Base United Vs.
Obama, Little Else

poll

Nov 30, 2009 9:19 AM CST

GOP Base United Vs. Obama, Little Else

For most, leadership is ineffective, or nonexistent

(Newser) - A lot of strong opinions are swirling around the Republican base, but none of them appear to point a way forward for the fractured party. GOP voters and GOP-leaning independents polled are united in their distrust of—even anger at—the Obama administration and Democrats in Congress. But second in...

Hoffman Concedes, Again

deja vu

Nov 24, 2009 4:44 PM CST

Hoffman Concedes, Again

It's all over, finally, in the upstate congressional race

(Newser) - Doug Hoffman conceded the New York congressional election to Democrat Bill Owens yet again today. The Conservative Party candidate said he won't challenge the results, despite the urging of supporters. With the absentee ballots counted, "the results re-affirm the fact that Bill Owens won,” Hoffman said. The muted...

Zip It on
Communion
Ban: Bishop
to Kennedy

ROLLICKING RHODE ISLAND

Nov 23, 2009 1:21 PM CST

Zip It on Communion Ban: Bishop to Kennedy

Tobin thinks Patrick's spiritual matters should be left private

(Newser) - The bishop who had the nerve to tell a Kennedy not to take communion—because he supports abortion rights—is steamed that he blabbed about it. “I am disappointed that the congressman would make public my pastoral and confidential request,” says Bishop Thomas Tobin of Patrick Kennedy. He...

Congress' New
Whipping Boy:
The Fed

Nov 23, 2009 8:54 AM CST

Congress' New Whipping Boy: The Fed

Bernanke & Co. run into populist ire over Wall St bailouts, unemployment

(Newser) - When Fed Chair Ben Bernanke goes before Congress next month seeking a second term, he'll run straight into cantankerous legislators riding a tide of populist rage over the Wall Street bailout and high unemployment. While the Fed acted decisively to bail out the financial markets last year, it's widely viewed...

Hoffman Can't Catch Owens
in NY-23 Race

finally over?

Nov 20, 2009 7:23 AM CST

Hoffman Can't Catch Owens in NY-23 Race

Not enough ballots remain for him to overcome margin

(Newser) - It looks like the NY-23 race is over, again. With 3,072 absentee ballots left to be counted, conservative Doug Hoffman can't catch Democrat Bill Owens, who leads by 3,176 votes. State officials haven't called the race and won't until it's formally wrapped up, but the Watertown Daily Times...

Senators See Upcoming Vote on Obama—Not Health

NATE SILVER & CO.

Nov 19, 2009 10:18 AM CST

Senators See Upcoming Vote on Obama—Not Health

Eye constituents' votes in 2008, not polls on health care

(Newser) - The upcoming Senate debate on health care reform, like the House vote before it, will be more a referendum on President Obama than a reflection of constituents’ concerns, Andrew Gelman, Nate Silver, and Daniel Lee write. What happened in the House is clear: 31 of 39 Democrats who voted no...

GOP Traffic-Jam Ploy
Is Snarling Senate

OPINION

Nov 19, 2009 9:43 AM CST

GOP Traffic-Jam Ploy Is Snarling Senate

Stalling tactics are making Democrats turn on each other

(Newser) - Senate Democrats are starting to turn on each other like angry drivers stuck in rush-hour traffic thanks to Republican obstructionism, writes EJ Dionne. Republican senators are eating every word they once said against filibusterism and are stalling even legislation that they support in a Machiavellian effort to keep the Democrats...

Reid 'Optimistic'
About 60 Votes

Nov 18, 2009 10:00 AM CST

Reid 'Optimistic' About 60 Votes

Majority leader thinks he's got the support to send bill to the floor

(Newser) - Harry Reid is “cautiously optimistic” about the success of his frantic attempts to unite the 60 votes of his caucus behind the Senate health care reform bill. “I think we’re together,” he says. But the majority leader was positively voluble about the bill itself, notes the...

Conservative
Kids' Book
Vilifies Pelosi

Nov 17, 2009 1:42 PM CST

Conservative Kids' Book Vilifies Pelosi

She's a tiara-wearing opponent of free enterprise

(Newser) - Help! Mom! The Radicals Are Ruining My Country! sounds like what it is: A picture book aimed at conservative children—or maybe the children of conservative parents. In any case, a tiara-wearing Nancy Pelosi features prominently, and she ain’t a Santa Claus figure, notes Boing Boing . The book,...

Stupak Is the Last Straw—No More Caving!

KATHA POLLITT

Nov 16, 2009 11:12 AM CST

Stupak Is the Last Straw—No More Caving!

Women should not 'take one for the team' on abortion coverage

(Newser) - Painting the Stupak-Pitts amendment as a necessary evil—a concession women should make for the “greater good” of health care reform—is ridiculous, Katha Pollitt writes. Women have been consistently sidelined by the “theocrats and male chauvinists” throwing their weight around in the Democratic Party. “Why don't...

Goldman to Insurers:
Health Reform Will Hurt

best plan is no plan

Nov 13, 2009 9:48 AM CST

Goldman to Insurers: Health Reform Will Hurt

Who knew Wall Street and teabaggers could agree?

(Newser) - Here's a reason for Goldman Sachs to be even more popular with the public: The investment bank has issued research on private health insurers advising that fighting off reform would best for their bottom line. Goldman takes as the “base” case passage of the bill that exited the Senate...

Should Democrats Panic? Yes, but Only 'a Little'

nate silver

Nov 13, 2009 8:44 AM CST

Should Democrats Panic? Yes, but Only 'a Little'

Party's in 'fairly bad shape,' but there's time to rebound

(Newser) - A new Gallup poll shows Republicans ahead of Democrats in a generic House ballot, a reversal of political fortune from October. Is it time for the party to panic? "Maybe a little," writes Nate Silver . "My 30,000-foot view is that between the pressures of the jobs...

NY-23 Race Isn't Over Yet: Hoffman Narrowing Gap

still counting ballots

Nov 12, 2009 3:48 PM CST

NY-23 Race Isn't Over Yet: Hoffman Narrowing Gap

Democrat Owens is already sworn in, but absentee ballots remain

(Newser) - An odd twist in that closely watched congressional race from upstate New York: Even though Democrat Bill Owens is already sworn into office to represent NY-23, the state is still counting the ballots—and the margin between him and Conservative Doug Hoffman is shrinking. At last count, Owens led by...

Disaffected Right, Left Close Purse Strings to Parties

Nov 12, 2009 9:42 AM CST

Disaffected Right, Left Close Purse Strings to Parties

Miffed at election behavior, partisans boycott DCCC, NRCC, etc.

(Newser) - Frustrated voters are letting Congressional Democrats and Republicans know how they feel—by opening their mouths and closing their pocketbooks. One Dem blogger, miffed at the DNC for perceived inaction in the Maine gay marriage fight, has proposed a boycott on donations to the national committee: “Clearly, money talks....

Abortion Activists Mobilize
Against Stupak-Pitts

Nov 12, 2009 9:30 AM CST

Abortion Activists Mobilize Against Stupak-Pitts

Aim is to kill bill in Senate, or back in House, at any cost

(Newser) - Abortion rights activists are organizing a massive grassroots effort and targeting lawmakers to ensure the hated Stupak-Pitts Amendment never reaches the president’s desk. The coalition of groups is first meeting with senators and organizing a phone drive and petition to keep the House language out of the Senate's bill....

Obama:
Forget
Bush's
Playbook

KARL ROVE

Nov 12, 2009 3:31 AM CST

Obama: Forget Bush's Playbook

Making 2010 a referendum on prez won't work for Dems

(Newser) - Karl Rove is flattered that President Obama appears to be borrowing the strategy he devised for President Bush in the 2002 midterm elections, but he warns it won't work for the Democrats next year. Making the midterms a referendum on the White House worked in 2002 because national security...

'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'
Gone in 2010: Frank

Nov 11, 2009 2:13 PM CST

'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Gone in 2010: Frank

Repeal will be part of next year's defense authorization bill

(Newser) - A provision repealing the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy will be included in the 2010 defense authorization bill, Rep. Barney Frank says. The authorization would see debate and a vote in spring and summer, and go into effect in October. “'Don’t ask, don’...

Dems Should Embrace a Health Care Filibuster

Steven Pearlstein

Nov 11, 2009 1:07 PM CST

Dems Should Embrace a Health Care Filibuster

Open, Senate debate is preferable to backroom negotiations

(Newser) - The Senate is broken, writes Steven Pearlstein , its members so mired in dysfunction they don’t even realize how undemocratic current legislative practice is. The mere threat of a filibuster is enough to kill a bill, a fact that "violates the letter and spirit of the US Constitution."...

Dem Agenda Hijacked by Christian Conservatives

analysis

Nov 11, 2009 11:59 AM CST

Dem Agenda Hijacked by Christian Conservatives

Shadowy 'Family' behind Stupak-Pitts abortion amendment

(Newser) - The US Council of Catholic Bishops is getting credit for the 11th-hour inclusion of the Stupak-Pitts Amendment in the House health bill last weekend, but the real force is the shadowy alliance of evangelicals and Democratic lawmakers called the Family, Jeff Sharlet writes on Salon. Though Stupak—a Dem and...