February 28, 2008

As House Approves Tax Bill, Senate Dems Look To Reconcile

Senate Democrats are inching toward including an energy tax plan as part of budget legislation to overcome a Republican-led obstacle there, as the House yesterday reaffirmed its support of repealing billions of dollars in incentives for oil and gas companies in a stand-alone measure.

While House Democrats have pushed through similar proposals this Congress with majority support, Senate Democrats have been unable to get the 60 votes needed to overcome a Republican filibuster.

Senate Democrats have mulled including an energy tax plan that repeals oil and gas company incentives to pay for extending and expanding renewable energy and efficiency incentives as part of a filibuster-proof budget reconciliation bill.

See CongressDaily (subscription) for the full story.

Posted at 9:19 AM
Posted to: Congress, House, Senate
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February 27, 2008

White House Threatens Veto Of Mortgage Reform Measure

The White House yesterday threatened to veto a Senate Democratic housing stimulus package, saying it would cost too much and rewrite bankruptcy rules that would undermine current mortgages.

In a Statement of Administration Policy [PDF], the Bush administration listed many items that it objected to in Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's bill of direct aid and consumer-friendly initiatives designed to help homeowners who cannot afford to pay their mortgages because they took predatory loans. It said many of the provisions are "unnecessary, costly, and counterproductive."

The White House opposed a provision sponsored by Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin, D-Ill., that would allow a judge to change the terms of a primary mortgage that has entered into foreclosure. Durbin reworked his provision to pick up support, such as credit union lobbying groups that received a carve-out for members that made interest-only loans for those with good credit histories.

Continue reading "White House Threatens Veto Of Mortgage Reform Measure"

Posted at 9:12 AM
Posted to: Bush Administration, Congress, Economy, Senate
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February 26, 2008

Obama-McCain Squabble Injected Into Army Readiness Hearing

A controversial anecdote relayed by Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama in last week's Texas debate wended its way into a Senate Armed Forces hearing on Army readiness today.

Obama claimed that he'd "heard from an Army captain who was the head of a rifle platoon" that was sent to Afghanistan grossly undermanned and underequipped. "They were actually capturing Taliban weapons, because it was easier to get Taliban weapons than it was for them to get properly equipped by our current commander in chief," Obama said during Thursday night's debate.

Lindsey Graham, who lately has been stumping hard for Republican John McCain, relayed the story to Army Secretary Peter Geren and Army Chief of Staff William Casey during the hearing. "Has Sen. Obama talked to you or anyone in the department about this?" the South Carolina Republican asked.

"I have not discussed this with Sen. Obama," Geren replied, before handing the baton to Casey.

"As we looked into this, the best we could tell was this incident occurred back in 2003 and 2004," Casey said. "We talked to the brigade commander, looked at readiness reports. The brigade was manned over 100 percent and stayed 100 percent manned when they were there."

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Posted at 12:26 PM
Posted to: Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Bush Administration, Campaigns, Congress, Democrats, Donald Rumsfeld, Iraq, John McCain, Middle East, Military, President Bush, Republicans, Robert Gates, Senate, WH 2008
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FEC Impasse Threatens To Undermine McCain & Obama

A fight over whether Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., can reject federal funds for his presidential campaign has thrown new attention on a stalemate hamstringing the Federal Election Commission and given unexpected attention to the role of McCain's possible election opponent, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., in that impasse.

The situation presents problems for both McCain, whom Democrats are accusing of defying the same campaign finance regulations he has championed, and Obama, who is seeing a hold he placed on an FEC nominee used in a bid to undermine his claims of working in a bipartisan manner.

McCain's problem, meanwhile, is generating calls for the White House or Senate Democrats to blink in their battle over FEC nominees.

"When you talk about the FEC, people's eyes glaze over.... But there will be increasing public pressure to do something as more and more people understand" the situation, said Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. Her group called Friday for Republicans to compromise to end the standoff.

Continue reading "FEC Impasse Threatens To Undermine McCain & Obama"

Posted at 9:14 AM
Posted to: Barack Obama, Campaigns, Congress, Democrats, John McCain, Republicans, Senate, WH 2008
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February 25, 2008

Lawmakers Return With The Economy On Their Minds

After a week away from Washington, lawmakers return to the Capitol today looking to legislation they hope will address the economy, an issue increasingly on their own and their constituents' minds. But members also have to contend with intense negotiations over the farm bill, rewriting the nation's intelligence laws and looking for troop withdrawals in Iraq.

House Democrats this week will renew a floor fight over paying for billions of dollars in renewable energy and efficiency tax breaks by repealing incentives for oil and gas companies. Meanwhile, Senate Democrats will attempt to bring up a housing stimulus package of direct aid and consumer-friendly initiatives to help the struggling industry, though they first want to finish work on an Indian health care bill and revisit Iraq war legislation.

See CongressDaily's comprehensive preview of the Hill's post-recess agenda here.

Posted at 10:30 AM
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February 21, 2008

Delegation Led By Biden Safe After Emergency Landing In Afghanistan

Sens. Joseph Biden, John Kerry and Chuck Hagel are safe and unharmed after the helicopter transporting them made an emergency landing in Afghanistan.

"The helicopters transporting the Senate delegation in Afghanistan made an unscheduled landing this morning due to a snowstorm. There were no injuries and all members of the traveling party were safely transported to their destination at Bagram Air Base," said Biden spokeswoman Elizabeth Alexander.

Biden is the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, on which Kerry and Hagel also sit. The three are in the region visiting Afghanistan, India, Turkey and Pakistan.

Biden is due to report on his trip before the Council on Foreign Relations in New York on Monday.

-JANE ROH

Posted at 3:34 PM
Posted to: Chuck Hagel, Congress, John Kerry, Joseph Biden, Senate
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February 15, 2008

FISA Fight Spills Over Into Recess

President Bush and Republican congressional leaders today charged that House Democratic leaders put the nation at risk by failing to move legislation renewing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

"By blocking this piece of legislation, our country is more in danger of an attack," Bush said following a meeting at the White House with GOP leaders. "By not giving the professionals the tools they need, it's going to be a lot harder to do the job we need to be able to defend America."

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said the president's claims of imminent danger were overblown because Bush would still have authority to allow eavesdropping on suspected terrorists after the law expires at midnight. "A wide range of national security experts has made clear that the president and our intelligence community have all the tools they need to protect our nation," Hoyer said. He called Bush's remarks "wrong, divisive and nothing more than fear-mongering."

Continue reading "FISA Fight Spills Over Into Recess"

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Posted to: Bush Administration, Congress, House, President Bush, Senate, Terrorism
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Senators Grill Chertoff On Grants & FEMA Trailers

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff received brief expressions of praise from the members of the Senate oversight committee for his department's achievements yesterday, and then had to endure prolonged bipartisan grilling and protests over his proposed FY09 budget and a wide array of other issues.

Nearly every member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee protested the budget's proposed "cuts" in state and local homeland security grants.

Chertoff repeatedly noted that the grant levels requested were the same as in the FY08 budget but that Congress had increased them. He said the latest request for $50.5 billion represented "very difficult tradeoffs" among many high-priority needs, but the grants were funded at an appropriate level.

Continue reading "Senators Grill Chertoff On Grants & FEMA Trailers"

Posted at 9:10 AM
Posted to: Bush Administration, Congress, Katrina, Senate
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February 14, 2008

House GOP Walks Out Over Contempt Vote, FISA

UPDATED.

Enraged House Republicans staged a walkout from the floor after Democrats sought a contempt of Congress vote for White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten and former counsel Harriet Miers.

"We will not stand for this and we will not stay for this," said Minority Leader John Boehner, speaking from the House floor. "I would ask my House Republican colleagues and those who believe that we should be here protecting the American people to not vote on this bill. Let's just get up and leave."

And with that, a few dozen House GOP lawmakers got up and left. They convened on the Capitol steps to address the cameras.

Continue reading "House GOP Walks Out Over Contempt Vote, FISA"

Posted at 3:53 PM
Posted to: Attorney Scandal, Bush Administration, Congress, Harriet Miers, Homeland Security, House, President Bush, Senate, Terrorism
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February 13, 2008

Senate To Battle Over Authorization Bill's Torture Provision

Having cleared a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act revision bill yesterday after weeks of skirmishing, the Senate is now expected to battle over legislation that would prohibit the CIA from using coercive interrogation techniques.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he will try today to advance the long-stalled conference agreement on a measure that would authorize intelligence programs and spending for the current fiscal year. Reid is seeking a vote to invoke cloture on the bill, which would cut off debate and set it up for final passage.

But Republicans and the White House oppose a provision in the authorization bill that would prohibit the CIA and all other U.S. intelligence agencies from using interrogation techniques not authorized by the U.S. Army Field Manual.

Continue reading "Senate To Battle Over Authorization Bill's Torture Provision"

Posted at 9:16 AM
Posted to: CIA, Congress, Senate, Terrorism
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February 11, 2008

Mortgage Brokers Feel More Heat

As Congress has attempted to target those responsible for abusive home loans, mortgage brokers have so far escaped the brunt of its wrath.

The brokers face their biggest challenge in coming months as the Senate begins work on legislation to curb predatory lending. Senate Banking Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., and Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., have fingered mortgage brokers as a primary culprit of the crisis, noting that while the industry was responsible for originating as much as 70 percent of subprime loans in recent years, it had little oversight from state regulators -- thus contributing to a marketplace that allowed as many as 2 million borrowers to be placed into loans they could not afford to repay.

See CongressDaily (subscription) for the full story.

Posted at 7:31 AM
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February 07, 2008

Stimulus Bill Heads To The President's Desk

UPDATED.

The House and Senate overwhelmingly passed a $152 billion stimulus package this afternoon, by votes of 380-34 and 81-16, respectively. The bill will provide tax rebates to more than 110 million Americans; the Senate version added senior citizens and disabled veterans to the list of those receiving rebates in the original House bill.

The legislation will likely receive a similar warm reception at the White House. In a statement today after the Senate vote, President Bush indicated his approval. "This plan is robust, broad-based, timely, and it will be effective," Bush said, adding that it was "an example of bipartisan cooperation at a time when the American people most expect it."

Senate Democrats dropped their proposals to add unemployment benefits and home heating assistance to the package after an earlier version was defeated yesterday. As soon as the revised legislation passed in the Senate, the House began an expedited debate this afternoon.

The Washington Post and MarketWatch have more details.

Posted at 7:50 PM
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Senate Blocks Stimulus Bill

The Senate blocked a Finance Committee economic stimulus package, 58-41, Wednesday, just shy of the 60-vote margin needed for approval.

The vote was actually closer, as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., switched to a "no" in a procedural tactic that enables him to revisit the measure.

For now, the chamber is left with the House-passed stimulus bill, which would provide rebate checks and business tax breaks to the tune of $146 billion this year.

The House bill does not make seniors whose main source of income is Social Security eligible for rebates, nor veterans living off disability benefits. It also excludes unemployment insurance and would not allow companies to write off losses over a longer period to recoup taxes paid during profitable years -- of particular benefit to struggling homebuilders.

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February 06, 2008

The Economy: Not So Super

The excitement surrounding yesterday's unprecedented Super Tuesday nominating contests obscured the latest and perhaps most damning news to come out on the troubled economy: Activity in the crucial service sector slowed for the first time in nearly five years last month.

The report from the Institute of Supply Management shows a significant decline in non-manufacturing activity (previously the "firmest pillar of economic expansion") in January. Those numbers, coupled with last week's news that jobs were declining, are heightening concerns that the economy is not only headed for a recession, but is already in one.

"Recession is here," the headline on CNNMoney.com read yesterday. The report quotes several economists who said the ISM report was the tipping point for them.

Continue reading "The Economy: Not So Super"

Posted at 12:20 PM
Posted to: Bush Administration, Campaigns, Congress, Democrats, Economy, Hillary Rodham Clinton, House, John McCain, Mitt Romney, Republicans, Senate, WH 2008
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February 05, 2008

Intel Chiefs Say Waterboarding Used In Interrogations

The intelligence community's annual public report on the threats facing the nation was overtaken during a Senate Select Committee on Intelligence hearing today by the politically charged issues of waterboarding and other "coercive" interrogation techniques, extension of the government's eavesdropping authority and the National Intelligence Estimate on Iran's nuclear weapons program.

Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell and CIA Director Michael Hayden said waterboarding was a legal technique that should be available under certain circumstances if authorized by the nation's legal and political leaders. McConnell said, to his knowledge, only the CIA has used it. Hayden told the committee that the CIA has used the painful technique, which many consider a form of torture, only three times in its history. Those times, three years ago, were against "high value" al-Qaida terror suspects who were thought to have information on an imminent threat to the nation.

The intense discussion was triggered by a question from Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., about proposed legislation that would require all U.S. intelligence agencies to use only the interrogation procedures listed in the recently revised Army field manual.

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Posted at 3:45 PM
Posted to: Bush Administration, CIA, Congress, Detainees, Michael Hayden, Mike McConnell, Senate
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Democrats Blast Bush's Budget Request

When President Bush delivered his final, $3 trillion-plus budget to Congress yesterday, congressional Democrats from both chambers wasted no time laying out their opposition to the proposal.

Senate Democrats quickly attacked the FY09 request, with Majority Leader Harry Reid blasting it as "more of the same," taking specific issue with the budget's proposed cuts in Medicare and Medicaid, its failure to address rising college costs and its neglect of energy issues. "Furthermore, this budget is fiscally irresponsible and highly deceptive, hiding the costs of the war in Iraq while increasing our skyrocketing debt," Reid said. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., said many of those proposed cuts will never get through Congress, particularly a proposed $178 billion cut in Medicare.

On the House side, the budget was met with condemnation from Democratic leaders for continuing "failed" policies and praise from Republican leaders for starting the annual conversation in a fiscally sound manner. The annual rhetorical battle over federal priorities sets up a replay of last year's partisan budget showdown, but with an election-year edge heightened by the economic downturn.

Continue reading "Democrats Blast Bush's Budget Request"

Posted at 10:22 AM
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January 31, 2008

Senate Panel Sends Stimulus Bill To Floor

The Senate Finance Committee voted 14-7 Wednesday to send a roughly $157 billion economic stimulus package to the floor, adding tax breaks for alternative energies and homebuilders and disqualifying upper-income taxpayers -- including members of Congress -- from getting rebate checks. Initially the proposal had no upper-income caps at the behest of Finance Committee ranking member Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and other Republicans who considered such limits an unfair redistribution of wealth.

Under pressure from Democrats, Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., agreed to phase out eligibility for rebates beginning at $150,000 of adjusted gross income per single filer and $300,000 for couples filing jointly. Those limits are twice those in the House version, which costs $117 billion over 10 years.

Unlike the House bill, Baucus' proposal also provides rebate checks to about 20 million low-income retirees dependent on Social Security benefits. "They have worked hard all their lives. They have paid taxes for a lifetime," Baucus said. "The House-passed bill would not give a stimulus check to seniors who were scraping by on Social Security income alone and had no tax liability." Baucus also agreed to a proposal by Sens. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., and Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, making about 250,000 veterans on disability benefits eligible for rebates.

The measure faces an uncertain future as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid as early as today plans to queue the House version. Supporters of the Baucus measure would need to get 60 votes to substitute it for the House version.

Continue reading "Senate Panel Sends Stimulus Bill To Floor"

Posted at 8:53 AM
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January 30, 2008

Fed Watch: There Will Be Cuts

UPDATED.

A Wall Street rally following a 50-basis-points rate cut from the Fed today was not long for this world, as yet another negative economic report sent the Dow back down 37.47 points to close at 12,442.83. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq also pulled back from afternoon bumps.

Earlier in the afternoon, the Fed slashed interest rates to 3 percent, as was widely anticipated. The confirmation sent the Dow Jones industrial average and the S&P 500 ticking back up. But bad news from the bond sector sent those indexes sinking back down.

The brief rally may just have been a sigh of relief that the Fed had delivered as projected. New data released today show economic growth is grinding down, heightening fears of a recession this year.

"Financial markets remain under considerable stress, and credit has tightened further for some businesses and households. Moreover, recent information indicates a deepening of the housing contraction as well as some softening in labor markets," the Federal Open Market Committee said in a statement. "The committee expects inflation to moderate in coming quarters, but it will be necessary to continue to monitor inflation developments carefully."

Chairman Ben Bernanke joined in the near-unanimous decision. Voting against the cut was Richard Fisher, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. The Board left the door open to future reductions.

"It's great that they did it now. I wish they had done it earlier," said CNBC's Jim Cramer, who has been screaming -- sometimes literally -- about the Fed's slowness to act on the housing bust and credit crunch.

Continue reading "Fed Watch: There Will Be Cuts"

Posted at 5:04 PM
Posted to: Bush Administration, Congress, Economy, Federal Reserve, House, President Bush, Senate
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Both Houses Approve Short FISA Extension

The House and Senate approved legislation yesterday to extend a law authorizing electronic surveillance activities for 15 days beyond Friday's scheduled expiration.

The extension, which passed the House by voice vote and the Senate by unanimous consent, is intended to buy time for lawmakers to craft permanent legislation that would overhaul and reauthorize the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

In the Senate, Democrats and Republicans were still arguing over how to deal with amendments to the Senate Intelligence Committee's FISA reauthorization bill.

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Posted at 7:47 AM
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January 29, 2008

House Passes Stimulus Package

The House approved a $146 billion economic stimulus package today on an overwhelming 385-35 vote. The package now heads to the Senate, where tinkering with the bill is being criticized by lawmakers who reached a deal with President Bush.

"I would hope that the timely aspect of this is recognized by my colleagues in the Senate," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said. "We have to have a stimulus. There's just no question. Once you understand that, then you have a responsibility to work back to that and find common ground. I would hope that what the Senate does is respectful of the focus that we have on middle-class and lower-income people."

The House measure would send rebate checks worth $600 to individuals and $1,200 for families, plus $300 per child, while providing tax breaks to businesses. Most of the revenue loss associated with the bill takes place in FY08.

See CongressDaily (subscription) and The Gate's previous coverage of the House-negotiated bill for more details.

-Peter Cohn, CongressDaily

Posted at 3:37 PM
Posted to: Bush Administration, Congress, Economy, House, President Bush, Senate
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Baucus Stimulus Bill Has Key Add-Ons

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., unveiled a roughly $156 billion economic stimulus package yesterday, adding low-income seniors and laid-off workers to those who would benefit from a previously agreed-upon House proposal. Business incentives would also be expanded to let companies write off losses going back five years, offsetting earlier gains and earning them refunds on previous tax bills.

"Rebates for seniors and payroll taxpayers, extended unemployment insurance, and tax relief for struggling businesses will put more cash into the American economy right away," Baucus said in a statement.

In the most significant departure from the House proposal, the Finance bill would extend jobless benefits through the end of 2008, making 13 additional weeks of unemployment insurance available. For states where unemployment rates are 6 percent or higher, an additional 13 weeks would be available.

Continue reading "Baucus Stimulus Bill Has Key Add-Ons"

Posted at 9:26 AM
Posted to: Bush Administration, Congress, Economy, House, President Bush, Senate
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January 28, 2008

Liveblogging President Bush's Final State Of The Union Address

End note. SOTU affairs are always a laundry list, and few expect them to deliver poetry. This year's address (full text) did lack the rhetorical punch of previous years, particularly Bush's first SOTU address following 9/11, which received very high marks.

If there is one character trait that describes this president, it is determination-bordering-on-
stubbornness. He has largely ignored polls and the punditry, and he only changed tacks in Iraq when the calls for a change in course permeated his own administration. Plenty of Americans didn't tune in to this speech tonight, on the assumption Bush is a lame duck. That is probably not the case, at least as far as the legislature is concerned.

With his veto threat and the executive order coming Tuesday, Bush is asserting himself in a dramatic way. The rate of federal spending under Bush's watch is triple that of the Clinton administration. That Bush is positioning himself to put a foot down on pork-barrel spending was pretty unexpected in his final year in office. We'll be watching to see how it pans out.

As for Bush's various claims in tonight's speech, NPR's reporters have been posting fact checks all evening. See their corrections on the tax cuts, FISA, Iraq and entitlement reform. Good night.

10:27. A somewhat unexpected criticism of the president here: "In spite of the attempts to convince us that we are divided as a people, a new American majority has come together. We are tired of leaders who rather than asking what we can do for our country, ask nothing of us at all.

"We are Americans sharing a belief in something greater than ourselves, a nation coming together to meet challenges and find solutions; to share sacrifices and share prosperity; and focus, once again, not only on the individual good but on the common good."

It should come as little surprise that Sebelius has endorsed Barack Obama. This speech reflects Democrats' palpable eagerness to move the country well away from the Bush era.

Continue reading "Liveblogging President Bush's Final State Of The Union Address"

Posted at 10:47 PM
Posted to: Barack Obama, Bush Administration, Campaigns, Climate Change, Congress, Democrats, Economy, Hillary Rodham Clinton, House, Iraq, Middle East, Military, President Bush, Senate, Taxes, Terrorism, Trade, Veterans, WH 2008
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Congress: WH Race Threatens To Hamstring Dem Majority

With Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois likely fighting for the Democratic presidential nomination well into February, and one of them virtually assured of being the nominee, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid might be doomed to spend 2008 much the same way he spent 2007 -- hamstrung by a slim majority.

With lawmakers eager to sidestep controversial votes and spend as much time as possible campaigning for their own re-elections, the track record for legislative accomplishments is already unremarkable.

This year, with Democrats holding a razor-thin majority and three senators still in the thick of the presidential race -- Clinton, Obama and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. -- some aides foresee an even lighter-than-usual workload.

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January 25, 2008

Senators: WH Plans To Eliminate FOIA Office

Less than a month after President Bush signed legislation overhauling the Freedom of Information Act, the measure's main Senate backers are accusing the White House of planning to scuttle a special FOIA office in violation of the law.

An aide to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said Office of Management and Budget officials have told committee staff that they plan in the president's FY09 budget to park within the Justice Department all the funding authorized by the new law for a Government Information Services Office within the National Archives and Records Administration.

The office would include an ombudsman to oversee FOIA disputes across government. It is intended to push agencies to comply with the law, address FOIA backlogs and speed up resolution of FOIA requests. The office has not received any appropriations and its budget has not been set.

But by shifting the funding to the Justice Department, OMB would effectively eliminate the office, because it appears no similar operation would be created there, Leahy's aide said. Instead, the funds apparently would go to the department's Information Policy Office, which now oversees government FOIA compliance.

Continue reading "Senators: WH Plans To Eliminate FOIA Office"

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Posted to: Bush Administration, Congress, President Bush, Senate
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January 24, 2008

House Leaders: Stimulus Not Perfect But Will Do The Trick

UPDATED.

In a rare display of bipartisan camaraderie, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Minority Leader John Boehner urged colleagues to get their $145 billion compromise stimulus package to the White House ASAP.

"We will bring it to the floor at the earliest date so those rebate checks can be in the mail," Pelosi said during a joint press conference with her Republican counterpart and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, who represented the Bush administration during the late-night negotiations yesterday.

The legislation includes tax rebates from $300 to $1,200, with low-wage earners at one end and middle-income joint filers on the other. Recipients will also receive a $300-per-child bonus on top of what they get in rebates.

Those figures are lower than the expected $800-$1,600 range, but in exchange for lowering the disbursements, congressional Republicans agreed to extend the rebates to workers who don't earn enough to pay income taxes. Individuals who earned at least $3,000 in 2007 will get a check for $300, while mid-level earners would receive at least $600. Individuals earning more than $87,000 and families earning more than $187,000 won't get a check. Individuals who fall in the $75,000-$87,000 range and households in the $150,000-$187,000 would receive reduced checks.

"This is an initiative to strengthen the middle class and those who aspire to be in the middle class," Pelosi said, adding that the rebates were going to those who will "spend it right away to inject demand into the economy to help create jobs and to help turn around the economy."

Calling the deal "a big win for the American people," Boehner seconded Pelosi's assessment of the package. "It will stimulate our economy in the most direct and effective way possible, by putting money in the hands of middle-income families and giving businesses incentives to create and keep new jobs in the economy," he said

Both sides were forced to make concessions in order to reach speedy agreement on the package. Pelosi and her caucus gave up on an expansion of food stamps and unemployment benefits, and also consented to as much as $50 billion in tax breaks for businesses. In return, Republicans agreed to extend the rebates to the 35 million-plus workers who don't earn enough to owe income taxes and would have been ineligible for the rebates under President Bush's original plan.

"The Speaker gave some, we gave some. This was not easy, as most of you know, for the two of us and our respective caucuses... to have to come together and work in a bipartisan way and reach a compromise that I think is in the interest of the American people," Boehner said.

"I can't say that I'm totally pleased with the package, but I can say it will help the economy. And if it does not, there will be more legislation to come," Pelosi vowed.

Continue reading "House Leaders: Stimulus Not Perfect But Will Do The Trick"

Posted at 3:40 PM
Posted to: Bush Administration, Congress, Economy, Federal Reserve, House, President Bush, Senate, Taxes
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Bush Stands Firm On DOJ Nominee

Watching President Bush's congenial interaction with Democratic congressional leaders as they hammer out the details of an economic stimulus package, one may be tempted to see a promising sign of bipartisan cooperation during Bush's final year in office. But don't let the photo opportunities fool you. On other issues, particularly those pertaining to law and national security, the White House and Capitol Hill remain worlds apart.

In the latest example of the continuing partisan rifts over CIA interrogation techniques, Bush renominated lawyer Steven Bradbury to a senior post at the Department of Justice yesterday, despite years of Democratic resistance to his nomination.

Bradbury, who has been the acting head of DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel for more than two years without being confirmed by the Senate, has run into opposition from Democrats because he signed several classified memos in 2005 authorizing harsh interrogations of terrorism suspects.

Continue reading "Bush Stands Firm On DOJ Nominee"

Posted at 8:15 AM
Posted to: Bush Administration, CIA, Congress, Michael Mukasey, President Bush, Senate
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January 23, 2008

Senate Resumes Sparring Over FISA; Cheney Pushes For Renewal

UPDATED.

Vice President Dick Cheney today urged Congress to pass legislation that permanently addresses the nation's surveillance law and shields telecommunications companies from lawsuits for helping the Bush administration spy on U.S. citizens without court warrants. Cheney made his remarks in a short speech at the conservative Heritage Foundation, just as the Senate was moving toward resuming debate on Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act legislation. CongressDailyPM (subscription) has details on Cheney's remarks.

The opening salvo over FISA renewal was fired yesterday in the Senate, as Democratic leaders sought more time to craft legislation while the White House and Republicans ramped up pressure for immediate action.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid asked Republicans late yesterday for another month to craft permanent legislation to overhaul FISA; a temporary law making changes to the bill expires Feb. 1. Reid said more time was needed for lawmakers to work out their differences and to conference with the House. "It's not fair to the House to jam them so that they have one day to act on this," Reid said.

Continue reading "Senate Resumes Sparring Over FISA; Cheney Pushes For Renewal"

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Posted to: Bush Administration, Congress, Senate, Terrorism
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January 17, 2008

House Approves Revised FY08 Defense Authorization Bill

The House yesterday quickly approved a revised version of the FY08 defense authorization bill that addresses objections raised by the White House last month when President Bush unexpectedly vetoed the measure.

The Pentagon policy bill, which passed 369-46 on the suspension calendar, now heads to the Senate, where it is expected to encounter little opposition. That chamber, which is in recess until next week, has been closely involved in negotiations over the changes to the bill, lawmakers and congressional aides said. They hope that the Senate will take up the bill shortly after returning to Capitol Hill and quickly send it to the president's desk for his signature.

Continue reading "House Approves Revised FY08 Defense Authorization Bill"

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Posted to: Bush Administration, Congress, House, Iraq, Military, President Bush, Senate
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January 14, 2008

Democrats Seeking Broad Backing For Stimulus Package

As part of an effort to seek bipartisan agreement on an economic stimulus package, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi met today with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, and other Democrats laid out their ideas for an aid proposal.

"We hope to work in a bipartisan way for an initiative that is timely, targeted and temporary," Pelosi said before this afternoon's closed-door meeting. Quick action on a stimulus package has become the top issue for the White House and Democratic congressional leaders, although neither side has offered details. House Democratic leaders are expected to meet Tuesday, when that chamber returns to Washington after the long holiday recess, to discuss the legislative possibilities.

Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid have requested meetings with President Bush after he returns Wednesday from a visit to the Middle East. The Senate returns to work next week.

Continue reading "Democrats Seeking Broad Backing For Stimulus Package"

Posted at 4:20 PM
Posted to: Bush Administration, Campaigns, Congress, Economy, House, President Bush, Senate, WH 2008
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January 10, 2008

Rule Change To Allow FEC Meeting Despite Hill Standoff

The Federal Election Commission is moving to conduct some business despite a political standoff that leaves it unable to issue formal opinions.

After tweaking its rules in December, the agency announced Tuesday it will convene a Jan. 24 public meeting where the commission's two members, Republican David Mason and Democrat Ellen Weintraub, will discuss reports drafted by staff in response to requests for opinions. Without a quorum, the commissioners cannot approve binding opinions, but the discussions and staff recommendations should guide the requesters' actions, according to an FEC spokesman.

"The idea is that maybe the discussion will help the requesters get a sense of where the commission stands," the spokesman said. The guidance will be particularly clear if Weintraub and Mason take similar positions.

The FEC usually has three Republican and three Democratic members but has been left short by a clash between President Bush and Senate Democrats.

Continue reading "Rule Change To Allow FEC Meeting Despite Hill Standoff"

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Posted to: Bush Administration, Campaigns, Congress, Senate
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January 08, 2008

Dems Weigh Response In Defense Authorization Showdown

Congressional Democrats are grappling with how to respond to President Bush's unexpected veto of the FY08 defense authorization bill late last month because of a provision that would allow victims of state-sponsored terrorism to sue foreign governments in U.S. courts.

One response would be to hold a veto override vote in the House as early as next week, despite White House claims that the president's action constituted a pocket veto and is not subject to a challenge. House Republican leaders have urged their Democratic counterparts to fix the provision and are expected to vote to uphold the veto. While no formal vote count has yet been taken, a House GOP aide predicted Monday that a "large majority of House Republicans" would vote with the president. Should Democrats succeed, the White House could challenge the override vote -- a move that could tie up the defense bill in a murky constitutional dispute over the definition of a pocket veto, another House aide said.

Continue reading "Dems Weigh Response In Defense Authorization Showdown"

Posted at 11:13 AM
Posted to: Bush Administration, Congress, Constitution, House, Michael Mukasey, Military, President Bush, Senate
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January 02, 2008

Barbour Names Rep. Wicker To Fill Lott's Senate Seat

GOP Rep. Roger Wicker was named Monday by Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R) to occupy the Senate seat vacated earlier this month by the resignation of former Senate Minority Whip Trent Lott. Wicker, 56, will serve until a special election is held to fill the remainder of Lott's term. Barbour has scheduled that contest for next Nov. 4, but that date is likely to be challenged in court by Democrats who contend that state law requires an earlier vote.

Wicker, first elected to the House in 1994 from what is now a reliably Republican House district in the northern section of the state, has accumulated a strongly conservative voting record during his years on Capitol Hill. His appointment to the Senate also opens up a prized seat on the House Appropriations Committee.

See the full story (subscription) for more details on Wicker's appointment and the partisan wrangling over the special election date. The Almanac of American Politics has a profile of Wicker (subscription).

-Louis Peck, CongressDaily

Posted at 7:54 AM
Posted to: Campaigns, Congress, Senate
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December 20, 2007

Tancredo Drops Out: The Exit Interview

UPDATED.

Neither FOX nor MSNBC bothered to cover Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo's announcement earlier today that he was dropping out of the race for the White House. CNN went to it at first, then cut away so the anchor could discuss the pronunciation of the congressman's surname. This, despite the pivotal role he has played in this cycle's Republican nomination battle.

Reached by phone at his Des Moines hotel room, Tancredo sounded relaxed and content with his decision to close shop. His candidacy, after all, was from the beginning about holding the big-name guys to account on illegal immigration.

"I have dedicated 10 years of my public life to warning the nation of the perilous consequences of massive, uncontrolled illegal immigration," Tancredo told supporters at a press conference this afternoon. "This message unfortunately has fallen on deaf ears in the highest office in the land. Without a president who is committed to securing the nation, we will always remain in jeopardy."

Tancredo's announcement had been expected since yesterday. He said the urgency he felt on illegal immigration compelled him to launch his bid despite what "we knew at the time were incredibly long odds." A nationally obscure figure best known among anti-immigration hardliners, Tancredo said in April that he was entering the race because of "the field, the field."

More on what he told us about Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson after the jump.

Continue reading "Tancredo Drops Out: The Exit Interview"

Posted at 6:10 PM
Posted to: Campaigns, Congress, Fred Thompson, House, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, Republicans, Rudy Giuliani, Senate, Tom Tancredo, WH 2008
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December 19, 2007

Senate OKs Unfettered Iraq War Funds

The Senate approved $70 billion more for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan yesterday, paving the way for President Bush's signature on a roughly $560 billion omnibus spending package.

The omnibus measure was headed for final passage in the Senate and will make a final stop in the House today before going to Bush's desk. The president's aides say Bush will sign the bill, as the addition of Iraq war funds without conditions was the final hurdle.

The war-funding amendment by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., passed 70-25. It adds roughly $39 billion to the House-approved package, which contained $31 billion only for Afghanistan operations, with some funding for protective equipment.

Based on a spending rate of about $6.6 billion per month, the cash infusion would appear to give the Army breathing room until around June before another supplemental is needed.

See CongressDaily (subscription) for the full story.

Posted at 7:42 AM
Posted to: Congress, Senate
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December 18, 2007

FISA Bill Pulled From Floor Until Next Year

After a day of debate on legislation to limit the administration's warrantless surveillance activities, Senate leaders pulled the bill from the floor yesterday and will return to consideration of it when Congress reconvenes in 2008.

Earlier in the day, the Senate had voted 76-10 to begin debate on the bill but had made little headway in resolving issues. Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., who left the presidential campaign trail for the debate, and Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis., led the opposition to the intelligence committee-passed bill under consideration.

The intelligence bill would give telecommunications companies retroactive legal immunity for helping the administration engage in electronic surveillance of U.S. citizens without warrants dating back to September 2001. A rival bill by the Judiciary Committee does not include any protections for phone carriers, who face about 40 civil lawsuits.

-- CongressDaily

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December 17, 2007

Senate Takes Up FISA Revisions Without Immunity Deal

The Senate today voted 76-10 today to begin debate on legislation that would limit the Bush administration's warrantless surveillance activities, as lawmakers and aides scrambled behind the scenes to prepare amendments and find common ground on several controversial issues.

The Senate agreed to take up a bill approved by the Senate Intelligence Committee that would overhaul the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, with plans to consider a competing bill backed by the Senate Judiciary Committee as a floor amendment. Significantly, the Intelligence panel's measure would give telecommunications companies retroactive legal immunity for helping the Bush administration engage in electronic surveillance of U.S. citizens without warrants dating back to September 2001. The Judiciary bill does not include any protections for the phone carriers, who face about 40 civil lawsuits.

The unsuccessful effort to prevent the Senate from beginning debate on the Intelligence Committee's version came primarily from Sens. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., and Russell Feingold, D-Wis.

Continue reading "Senate Takes Up FISA Revisions Without Immunity Deal"

Posted at 3:50 PM
Posted to: Congress, Senate, Terrorism
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December 14, 2007

Happy Holidays! Now Send Me Some Bills.

Flanked by the vice president and the rest of his Cabinet-level officials, President Bush cheerfully reminded Congress of the mountain of legislative work they must tackle before departing for the holidays.

"I thank the Senate and congratulate the Senate for passing a good energy bill," Bush said at a press conference on the White House lawn. "Now the House must act."

Bush emerged to speak with reporters this morning following his weekly Cabinet meeting. He scored a victory yesterday when the Senate overwhelmingly passed an energy package minus a Democratic-sponsored $21.8 billion provision that would have reduced tax breaks for oil companies. The overall bill remains tough on automakers, however, and is expected to make it through the House next Tuesday with relative ease.

Continue reading "Happy Holidays! Now Send Me Some Bills."

Posted at 11:44 AM
Posted to: Asia, Bush Administration, Congress, Dick Cheney, House, Iraq, Middle East, North Korea, President Bush, Senate, Taxes
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December 13, 2007

Senate Panel Holds Rove, Bolten In Contempt

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 12-7 today to hold former White House political adviser Karl Rove and White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten in contempt of Congress for non-compliance with subpoenas in the investigation of the U.S. attorney firings scandal.

"This is not a step I have wanted to take," Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said in a statement. But, he went on: "White House stonewalling is unilateralism at its worst, and it thwarts accountability. Executive privilege should not be invoked to prevent investigations into wrongdoing, and abusing it should have remedies and consequences."

Sens. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Arlen Specter, R-Pa., crossed party lines to vote with the committee's 10 Democrats in favor of the citations, though Specter acknowledged that the vote was "highly likely to be a meaningless act."

Continue reading "Senate Panel Holds Rove, Bolten In Contempt"

Posted at 7:10 PM
Posted to: Alberto Gonzales, Attorney Scandal, Bush Administration, Congress, Karl Rove, Patrick Leahy, Senate
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Energy Bill Fails Key Test

Senate Democratic leaders failed again this morning to get cloture on a House-passed energy bill, falling one vote short on a 59-40 roll call.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the bill would be brought back later today after tax provisions are stripped from the bill. Democrats had already modified the House-passed bill by dropping a renewable electricity mandate on investor-owned utilities.

More details will be available in this afternoon's CongressDailyPM.

Posted at 10:24 AM
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December 12, 2007

White House Open To Emergency Spending, Omnibus Bill

House and Senate Democrats remained deadlocked today over how to complete the FY08 appropriations process, as the White House appeared to open the door to emergency spending increases and to soften its opposition to an omnibus bill.

Senate Democrats as recently as this morning thought they had an agreement to bring up the original bill they negotiated with the House, which splits the difference with President Bush's budget by adding $11 billion to his request. That would have come up Thursday, but sources later said the Senate plans to see what the House is able to pass.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey today instructed the 11 subcommittee cardinals who oversee the remaining spending bills to trim them back to Bush's $933 billion request. Emergency spending could be added, along with additional funds designated as "contingent emergencies" that would require Bush to agree to release the money. It would be up to individual subcommittee chairmen to decide how to implement the cuts. Earmarks will remain, despite an earlier Obey pledge, although at significantly reduced levels.

House Minority Leader John Boehner has raised the prospect of emergency spending, and at the White House today, press secretary Dana Perino said Bush might be open to the idea. "I think that we would consider emergency spending if we needed to at the end of the day," she said. She also indicated, for the first time, that an omnibus bill might be acceptable.

Continue reading "White House Open To Emergency Spending, Omnibus Bill"

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Probes Into Destruction Of CIA Tapes Expand & Multiply

Congressional investigators are expanding their inquiries into the circumstances surrounding the destruction of the CIA's videotaped interrogations, as members of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence complained about not getting enough answers during a closed briefing yesterday with CIA Director Michael Hayden.

Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said after the briefing that he plans to call CIA Inspector General John Helgerson and John Rizzo, the agency's top lawyer, to testify by next week "at the latest" on the circumstances surrounding the destruction of the tapes in 2005.

Rockefeller said it is possible he will also call Jose Rodriguez Jr. to testify. Rodriguez has been identified as the official who, as head of the spy agency's national clandestine service, ordered the videotapes destroyed. "This is a beginning," Rockefeller said.

The House intelligence committee is scheduled to hear from Hayden during a closed session today.

Continue reading "Probes Into Destruction Of CIA Tapes Expand & Multiply"

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December 11, 2007

Senate Lunch Chatter: All Eyes On Baucus, Lott

Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., was the man of the hour in the press scrum before the Senate's Tuesday party luncheons. With a key part of the energy bill related to taxes headed to a vote and the fate of an alternative minimum tax fix and a measure blocking cuts for doctors in his hands, the Finance Committee chairman found himself surrounded by reporters three deep. Baucus expressed confidence that he could get the necessary 60 votes for the energy tax measure that would cut subsidies to energy companies. Democrats campaigned on the issue in 2006.

After the lunches, reporters crowded around Minority Whip Trent Lott, R-Miss., who is retiring by the end of the month. In one of his last tête-à-têtes with the press as a senator, Lott trumpeted the value of dealmaking, which has been in short supply on Capitol Hill this year.

Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he would push the Senate to accept President Bush's domestic spending total and $70 billion for the wars, reflecting Republican confidence that Bush and the GOP hold the upper hand in the appropriations fight. Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he would wait to see what the House approved for the appropriations endgame before weighing in on the GOP plan. Most senators said there was no appetite for a continuing resolution into next year, meaning a final deal likely will be cut.

-BRIAN FRIEL

Posted at 3:05 PM
Posted to: Congress, Senate
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December 07, 2007

What Did McConnell Mean?

TPM wants to know what Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell meant when he said the following during a re-election campaign stop in Grayson County, Ky., last week.

Unfortunately, most of our friends on the other aisle are having a hard time admitting things are getting better; some days I almost think the critics of this war don't want us to win. Nobody is happy about losing lives but remember these are not draftees, these are full-time professional soldiers.

Emphasis ours. Was McConnell really shrugging off the deaths of nearly 3,890 American soldiers since the Iraq war began four-and-a-half years ago, as TPM implies? It depends on where you are on the war.

Continue reading "What Did McConnell Mean?"

Posted at 3:04 PM
Posted to: Campaigns, Congress, Iraq, Middle East, Military, Senate
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Senate Vote On Energy Bill Fails

The Senate has voted 53-42 to end debate on an energy package that President Bush has threatened to veto because of its tax provisions. That's short of the 60 votes required, and forces lawmakers back to the drawing board with just a week or so to go before the holiday break.

The House bill is geared toward reducing consumption and raising efficiency standards, but also nixes a $13.5 billion tax break for the oil and gas industry. It passed yesterday 235-181. But the White House said it would veto the bill because of the industry tax hike, which "single[s] out specific industries for punitive treatment."

The Senate in particular has a mound of appropriations legislation that has stalled, prompting Majority Leader Harry Reid to threaten to keep lawmakers in Washington during Christmas week. Bush has taken to scolding lawmakers loudly and often in recent weeks, and the appearance of stagnation has led to approval ratings for Congress lower than the highly unpopular president's.

CongressDaily (subscription) has a report on yesterday's House vote. Check back this afternoon for its report on today's Senate vote.

Posted at 10:44 AM
Posted to: Bush Administration, Congress, House, President Bush, Senate
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Senate Passes AMT Patch Without $50 Billion In Offsets

The Senate yesterday passed a one-year fix to the alternative minimum tax by an 88-5 vote after Democrats dropped demands that the $50 billion cost of the provision be offset to meet the pay-as-you-go budget requirements.

The action sets up a confrontation with the House, where Democratic leaders have continued on a fully offset AMT provision, so as not to run afoul of PAYGO rules. The House is expected to add offsets to the Senate package and send it back early next week, according to a House Democratic aide.

Such a move would further delay a final resolution of the AMT, which the IRS has estimated will affect 25 million taxpayers in 2007 unless Congress enacts a patch.

Continue reading "Senate Passes AMT Patch Without $50 Billion In Offsets"

Posted at 7:34 AM
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December 06, 2007

Bush Lays Help For Homeowners At Senate's Feet

UPDATED.

President Bush told worried homeowners today that help would be on the way -- once the Senate stopped sleeping on the housing foreclosure threat.

"The federal government is taking several regulatory actions to make the mortgage industry more transparent, reliable and fair," Bush said, as he announced a plan to stop the housing market implosion struck by his administration and the mortgage lending and services industries. "The U.S. Congress has the potential to help even more. It's been three months since I made proposals... and Congress hasn't sent me a single bill to help homeowners."

"If members are serious about helping" struggling homeowners, Bush continued, they will pass legislation as soon as possible.

The House has passed two housing fixes, both of which have stalled in the Senate. Democratic Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, seemed to rail against the leadership in his own party when he recently complained that "the increasing inability of the United States Senate to function is becoming a threat to governance."

In a second press conference shortly after the president spoke, HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson echoed calls for Senate action.

"We've done our part. We need a bill now, as do hundreds of thousands of Americans," Jackson said. "Combining our administration's action and passage of this bill could help 800,000 families in fiscal year 2008."

Continue reading "Bush Lays Help For Homeowners At Senate's Feet"

Posted at 3:20 PM
Posted to: Bush Administration, Congress, Economy, House, President Bush, Senate
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Reid Drops Offsets On AMT Patch

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid today sought unanimous consent to pass a one-year patch for the alternative minimum tax without offsets, after failing to get cloture to proceed to a House-passed bill that would have offset the $50 billion cost of the AMT fix.

The Reid offer, which Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., called a "huge concession" to Republicans, drew an immediate GOP objection on the Senate floor. A GOP aide said Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is "running the traps" and Republicans will likely sign off on the offer by the end of the day. The only question is whether senators who had sought to offer amendments to the AMT package -- including Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C. -- will go along with the consent request.

The cloture motion failed 46-48 on a straight party-line vote, with the exception of Reid, who changed his vote to preserve his right to ask that the bill be reconsidered.

-Martin Vaughan, CongressDaily, with Christian Bourge contributing

See today's CongressDailyPM (subscription) for the full story. National Journal profiled the Democrats' tax reform efforts in a cover story last month.

Posted at 3:19 PM
Posted to: Congress, Senate, Taxes
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Alexander, Kyl Elected In Senate GOP Leadership Shuffle

Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee was elected Republican Conference chairman today, replacing Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona, who moved up to minority whip, aides and lawmakers said.

Alexander defeated Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina 31-16; Kyl was elected unanimously. The shuffle was prompted by Minority Whip Trent Lott's announcement that he would resign from his Mississippi Senate seat by the end of the year.

See CongressDailyPM (subscription) later this afternoon for more details.

Posted at 12:30 PM
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December 05, 2007

Details On Mortgage Rescue Plan Tomorrow

It looks like President Bush will also participate in tomorrow's joint press conference at the Treasury Department. Secretary Henry Paulson and HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson are scheduled to speak at 1:45. A source told the Wall Street Journal (subscription) that the plan will apply to "certain loans originated between Jan. 1, 2005, and July 31, 2007, that will reset between Jan. 1, 2008, and July 31, 2010." Those borrowers, presumably, will be allowed to pay back their loans at their current interest rates. We'll report on the confirmed details of the plan after tomorrow's presser.

In related news, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton called for a 90-day freeze on foreclosures and a voluntary five-year freeze on interest rates to help borrowers hang on to their homes. In an interview on CNBC, she said she would also consider legislation that would force the mortgage industry to work with borrowers at risk of foreclosure.

Posted at 4:31 PM
Posted to: Bush Administration, Congress, Economy, President Bush, Senate
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December 03, 2007

FISA Bills Face Dissension & Tight Schedule

The Senate plans to take up legislation as early as this week to rein in the Bush administration's spying powers, even though major differences remain between members, and at least two Democrats are vowing to put up procedural roadblocks.

But any floor action on the legislation is expected to be crammed into an already-tight schedule before the end of the year.

"I think it is extremely unlikely that it will be pushed off until January," one aide said. "We fully expect to deal with this in the coming work period."

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., plans to bring to the floor a bill approved by the Senate Intelligence Committee to revamp the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, his spokesman said, and a second bill approved by the Judiciary Committee will be offered on the floor as a substitute amendment.

See CongressDaily (subscription) for the full story.

Posted at 8:05 AM
Posted to: Congress, Senate
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November 26, 2007

Lott: 'I Took A Few Licks, I Made Some Mistakes'

UPDATED.

Mississippi Sen. Trent Lott, longtime Senate majority leader and current minority whip, said he had no health problems when announcing his early retirement today.

"It is time for us to do something else," he said at a press conference in his hometown of Pascagoula.

The 66-year-old senator denied that he was stepping down early to get a jump on a lobbying career, a lucrative next step for many who leave Congress. Lott handily won re-election last November after previously stating he would not run; he attributed his change of heart to Hurricane Katrina. Today, Lott said that he had accomplished much in that regard but acknowledged that there was more work to do. He expressed confidence that his eventual successor would "pick up the flag and carry on."

"The legislation that we needed for the most part to be put on the books has been completed," Lott said, speaking of post-Katrina reforms. "We feel like it is time now, an opportunity to make this move," he said, speaking for himself and his wife, Tricia.

Continue reading "Lott: 'I Took A Few Licks, I Made Some Mistakes'"

Posted at 2:42 PM
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November 20, 2007

Not So Fast On That Recess...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is making sure the White House won't have anything to be thankful for these next couple of weeks.

The House has adjourned until Dec. 3, but Reid announced that he will keep the Senate in a "pro forma" session throughout the scheduled two-week Thanksgiving break after being informed that several recess appointments by the Bush administration were likely.

So, who are the lucky senators charged with trudging back up to the Hill while their colleagues are back home enjoying turkey and the fixins?

Continue reading "Not So Fast On That Recess..."

Posted at 12:10 PM
Posted to: Bush Administration, Congress, Senate
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November 19, 2007

Gilmore Running For Va. Senate

Former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore confirmed today that he will run for the Senate seat being vacated by retiring Sen. John Warner.

"America has a lot of work to do, and doesn't have the right leaders to do it," the conservative Republican said in his announcement video. "I'm running for the United States Senate from Virginia, because I want to be one of those leaders who call on the spirit that's common in all of us, and use it to restore our country for the benefit of our people and in the eyes of the world."

Gilmore's entry in what is expected to be one of the hotter Senate races next year comes four months after he ended his bid for the White House. Gilmore had little name recognition in the crowded field for the Republican nomination, and made barely a fingernail scrape on that contest.

Continue reading "Gilmore Running For Va. Senate"

Posted at 11:48 AM
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Congress Adjourns With Farm Bill & Bridge Fund Still Outstanding

Some legislators left frustrated for the Thanksgiving recess after a cloture vote on the farm bill failed on Friday afternoon. Democrats fell five votes short of the 60 needed to end discussion, which Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid tried to cut off after he and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell could not come to an agreement on amendments.

A failed cloture vote also left up in the air the fate of the $50 billion bridge fund that would continue military operations in Iraq. Again, Senate Democrats fell short of the 60 votes needed. But Reid sounded the death knell for the bridge fund -- unlike the farm bill, which could still come up when legislators return from recess -- and said that no money would be forthcoming this year.

This iteration of the Democrats' supplemental funding bill tied money for the war to a withdrawal timeline. Now, the Pentagon will continue to cover war costs out of its base budget, a move that officials have threatened to translate into layoffs and furloughs for Defense Department employees. Lawmakers did OK the Pentagon's $470 billion base budget before they left town.

Reid said Friday that senators will focus on FY08 appropriations bills and legislation addressing the alternative minimum tax when they return on Dec. 3.

CongressDaily (subscription) has details, as well as a full roundup of developments in the appropriations process.

Posted at 7:41 AM
Posted to: Congress, House, Senate
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November 16, 2007

No End In Sight For Partisan Gridlock Over Iraq

The Senate this morning defeated both Republican and Democratic attempts to consider supplemental funding for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, CongressDaily reports (subscription). The Republican motion to invoke cloture on a $70 billion bill without restrictions failed 45-53, while the Democratic cloture motion on the House-passed $50 billion bridge fund with restrictions, including a plan to withdraw troops from Iraq, failed 53-45.

CongressDailyPM (subscription) has more on this story.

The Democrats' continued inability to pass legislation forcing a change in President Bush's war policies one year after their victory in the 2006 midterm elections may be frustrating to lawmakers and voters who had high hopes for the Democratic majority. But two new surveys show that the troop surge instituted last winter and Gen. David Petraeus' testimony earlier this fall have done little to change the country's deep partisan divides over the war.

National Journal's latest survey [PDF] of congressional insiders shows Republican lawmakers nearly united in their belief that the "outlook for a stable, democratic Iraq" has improved over the past year, while a majority of Democrats said it has either deteriorated or remained static. Meanwhile, a new FOX News/Opinion Dynamics poll shows an American public similarly divided along party lines on whether the surge has had an impact. See today's Poll Track (subscription) for more on these polls, plus the latest numbers from the White House race.

DOD photo by Cpl. Shane S. Keller, U.S. Marine Corps

Posted at 3:10 PM
Posted to: Congress, Iraq, Senate
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November 15, 2007

SCHIP Negotiators Exchange Final Offers

It's do or die for the children's health bill -- again.

House Republicans seeking changes to the bill will present Senate sponsors with their final proposal today.

"There's a consensus that we get this done tomorrow or we just kind of confide to each other that we can't," Senate Finance ranking member Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said after a meeting yesterday. "We're getting finality, one way or the other."

See CongressDaily (subscription) for the full story.

Posted at 7:49 AM
Posted to: Congress, Health, House, Senate
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November 14, 2007

Bush Takes Swipe Over Gonzales Again As Mukasey Sworn In

President Bush could not resist expressing his anger at the unceremonious way in which longtime confidante Alberto Gonzales was disposed from his job -- even as the man who replaced him as U.S. attorney general, Michael Mukasey, was just feet away for his own formal swearing-in.

"Our new attorney general, Michael Mukasey, follows in the footsteps of a fine man and fine American, Al Gonzales," Bush said, as Mukasey and Chief Justice John Roberts stood by for the ceremony. "As White House counsel and attorney general in my administration, Al Gonzales worked tirelessly to make this country safer and to ensure all Americans receive equal justice in the eyes of the law," the president continued, thanking Gonzales and his family for their "service to our nation."

Few in Washington share Bush's high opinion of Gonzales, however, which is the reason why the former AG resigned in late August after months of bipartisan calls for his ouster. Bush has apparently not gotten over the slight to his longtime friend and to his own judgment. When he announced Mukasey's nomination in September, he also took time from praising his pick to indirectly chide critics over Gonzales.

Continue reading "Bush Takes Swipe Over Gonzales Again As Mukasey Sworn In"

Posted at 11:38 AM
Posted to: Alberto Gonzales, Attorney Scandal, Bush Administration, Congress, Michael Mukasey, President Bush, Senate
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November 09, 2007

Few Defections As Dems Pass AMT Fix

The House today passed 216-193 an $81 billion tax extenders package, including a one-year patch to protect 21 million taxpayers from the alternative minimum tax.

Eight Democrats voted against the bill, including several who had voiced opposition to offsets used to pay for the package. Democrats voting no were Reps. Tim Mahoney (Fla.), Jim Cooper (Tenn.), John Barrow (Ga.), Melissa Bean (Ill.), Nick Lampson (Texas), Jim Matheson (Utah), Harry Mitchell (Ariz.), and Gene Taylor (Miss.). No Republicans voted for the bill.

The largely united Democratic vote belied more widespread concern in the Caucus about the offsets, though leaders managed to persuade them to support the bill despite misgivings. To offset the AMT patch, House tax writers included a $26 billion provision to tax the profits of private equity, hedge fund and other investment partnerships at 35 percent instead of the 15 percent capital gains rate as under current law. The bill would also delay implementation of tax cuts for multinationals and yank tax benefits that hedge fund managers enjoy by deferring compensation on offshore income.

Continue reading "Few Defections As Dems Pass AMT Fix"

Posted at 5:44 PM
Posted to: Congress, Economy, House, Senate, Taxes
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WH '08: Don't Quit Your Day Jobs! No, Seriously. Don't.

Many of the candidates for president say that the campaign finance system is in urgent need of repair, yet they are shelving the issue precisely because of said system. As a result, we've got the longest, most expensive and most annoying presidential election maybe ever.

Meanwhile, here inside the Beltway, Congress is still mostly deadlocked on such pressing concerns as the war and health care for disadvantaged children. Hence, disapproval ratings that have managed to exceed those of the pariah in chief, President Bush.

Coincidence?

An astonishing number of sitting lawmakers -- nine as of today -- are crisscrossing the country in their bids for the White House. They certainly can't make every roll call or floor debate, not when there are babies to manhandle, cows made out of butter to admire and Hooters girls to embrace. (Lord knows what's going on here.)

Might all this playing hooky in order to chase a dream that for some is very (very, very) distant explain why Congress doesn't seem to be accomplishing very much?

Continue reading "WH '08: Don't Quit Your Day Jobs! No, Seriously. Don't."

Posted at 1:09 PM
Posted to: Barack Obama, Campaigns, Christopher Dodd, Congress, Democrats, Hillary Rodham Clinton, John Edwards, John McCain, Joseph Biden, Republicans, Senate, WH 2008
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Mukasey Confirmed As Attorney General

The Senate approved former federal Judge Michael Mukasey's nomination to be the 81st attorney general last night by a tight, mainly party-line vote of 53 to 40. Seven Democrats, including independent Democrat Joe Lieberman, crossed over to vote for President Bush's nominee, who over the course of several weeks of debate went from being assumed likely to sail through the confirmation process to catching fire from many top Democrats for his refusal to solidly denounce waterboarding as torture.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid came out firmly against Mukasey, saying his answer to the waterboarding questions raised "serious doubts about whether he is prepared to be the truly independent voice that the Justice Department so desperately needs." His sentiments were echoed by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy. But another powerful member of the Democratic leadership, New York Sen. Charles Schumer, backed Mukasey throughout the process.

Bloomberg News reports that the Mukasey outcome has "aggravated a rift" between Schumer and Leahy, "raising the question of who's running the Judiciary Committee."

Continue reading "Mukasey Confirmed As Attorney General"

Posted at 9:00 AM
Posted to: Bush Administration, Charles Schumer, Congress, Michael Mukasey, Patrick Leahy, President Bush, Senate
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November 08, 2007

House May Take Up War Funding Tomorrow

The House could vote as early as tomorrow on a measure providing a $50 billion bridge fund to continue military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan for about four months, on the condition that troops be withdrawn from combat zones in Iraq by Christmas 2008.

"This is not a blank check for the president," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The funding is a little more than one-quarter of President Bush's $189.3 billion FY08 request, and Democratic leaders hesitated to approve that much given heavy opposition to the Iraq war. But Democrats changed course under pressure from the Pentagon, which fears a significant funding shortfall in January, and from Republicans ready to pounce at any sign of "shortchanging" the troops.

The measure's target date of Dec. 15, 2008, is nonbinding, meaning it could lose support from die-hard Iraq war opponents in the House. It also faces a steep hurdle in clearing the Senate, where the measure would be open to amendment and would need 60 votes to overcome a filibuster.

"I think we should take it a step at a time," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who said the Senate probably would take up the bill next week. He declined to comment on whether he expected more support from Republicans.

"I have in the past thought that we would have more Republicans than... we did. I hope so," Reid said.

Continue reading "House May Take Up War Funding Tomorrow"

Posted at 6:08 PM
Posted to: Afghanistan, Asia, Congress, House, Iraq, Middle East, Senate
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Bush Handed First Veto Override

By a 79-14 vote, the Senate today completed the first override of a veto by President Bush, enacting the $23 billion Water Resources Development Act into law over his objections. The override had long been expected, since the Senate approved the conference report on the bill by an 81-12 vote in late September. The House Tuesday voted 361-54 to override the veto, setting the stage for today's Senate vote.

-CongressDaily staff

Posted at 1:56 PM
Posted to: Bush Administration, Congress, President Bush, Senate
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November 06, 2007

Mukasey To Be Confirmed As AG By Next Week

Former federal Judge Michael Mukasey cleared a key hurdle today when the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 11-8 to confirm him as the next attorney general. Mukasey is expected to easily survive a floor vote by next week, upon which he will be forced to dive into the formidable task of stabilizing the Justice Department.

Democrats Dianne Feinstein and Charles Schumer expressed doubts about Mukasey's stand on detainee treatment but decided to cast their votes for him anyway. Mukasey had refused to say definitively whether waterboarding qualified as illegal treatment of terrorism suspects.

A CNN/ORC survey (subscription) released today finds that a majority of a half-sample of Americans, 69 percent, believe waterboarding is a form of torture. But when a different half-sample was asked if the use of waterboarding, or simulated drowning, should be allowed in an "attempt to get information from suspected terrorists," 40 percent said yes, compared with the 29 percent who asserted that waterboarding was not torture.

Continue reading "Mukasey To Be Confirmed As AG By Next Week"

Posted at 11:53 AM
Posted to: Alberto Gonzales, Bush Administration, Congress, Michael Mukasey, Senate
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November 02, 2007

Mukasey Confirmation Appears Certain

UPDATED.

Following Chairman Patrick Leahy's announcement earlier today that he would vote against confirmation of Michael Mukasey, fellow Democrats Charles Schumer and Dianne Feinstein announced their intention to support the nominee for attorney general. With GOP members of the Senate Judiciary Committee expected to line up behind President Bush's pick to replace Alberto Gonzales, Mukasey is all but guaranteed clearance to the floor, where he is expected to win confirmation by a comfortable margin.

In making his announcement this afternoon, Leahy joined Edward Kennedy, Sheldon Whitehouse, Joseph Biden and Richard Durbin in vowing to oppose Mukasey unless he states clearly that waterboarding is torture.

"There may be interrogation techniques that require close examination and extensive briefings. Waterboarding is not among them. No American should need a classified briefing to determine whether waterboarding is torture," Leahy said from his home state of Vermont.

Feinstein's vote had been thrown into doubt by Leahy's decision. In a statement earlier this week, she said, "The Justice Department is in desperate need of effective leadership.... I believe that Judge Mukasey is the best we will get and voting him down would only perpetuate acting and recess appointments, allowing the administration to avoid the transparency that confirmation hearings provide and diminish effective oversight by Congress."

With Feinstein and Schumer now solidly on board, there is little doubt that Mukasey will be the next attorney general of the United States.

Continue reading "Mukasey Confirmation Appears Certain"

Posted at 5:45 PM
Posted to: Alberto Gonzales, Bush Administration, Charles Schumer, Congress, Michael Mukasey, Patrick Leahy, President Bush, Senate
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November 01, 2007

Senate Dems OK SCHIP... Again

The Senate today approved a children's health insurance bill that in a slightly different incarnation was vetoed by President Bush earlier this fall. Bush has also threatened to veto the current bill because it includes a tax hike on cigarettes that is meant to help pay for the $35 billion program.

The bill passed 64-30. Last week, House Democrats also passed the bill but without a veto-proof majority.

Republicans forced a vote on the bill sooner than Democrats would have liked. GOP lawmakers appear to have come around on the $35 billion expansion of SCHIP, but remain reluctant to sign on to the cigarette tax increase. Bush has promised not to budge on SCHIP so long as it contains a tax increase of any kind.

Posted at 6:10 PM
Posted to: Bush Administration, Congress, House, President Bush, Senate
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Bush Seeks To Head Off Fight On AG Nominee

President Bush delivered yet another harsh reprimand of the 110th Congress today, this time with a warning against holding up the nomination of former federal Judge Michael Mukasey for attorney general.

"Judge Mukasey has been praised by Republicans and Democrats alike as a man of honesty, intellect, fairness and independence," Bush said in remarks before the Heritage Foundation. "Judge Mukasey provided nearly six hours of testimony, patiently answered more than 200 questions at his hearing and responded to nearly 500 questions less than a week after his hearing. Yet the Senate Judiciary Committee is holding up his nomination."

Earlier today, the president called reporters to the Oval Office to air his frustration over criticisms of Mukasey. The New York Times described the unusual meeting as "a strong signal that Mr. Bush thinks the nomination of Mr. Mukasey, once seen as a sure thing, is in trouble over his responses to questions about what constitutes illegal torture." That may be, but there's still no indication that the nomination is in any real trouble. What's more likely the case is the president wants the torture debate to end as quickly as possible.

Continue reading "Bush Seeks To Head Off Fight On AG Nominee"

Posted at 3:45 PM
Posted to: Alberto Gonzales, Bush Administration, Congress, Michael Mukasey, President Bush, Senate
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October 29, 2007

House Returns To Negotiating Table On SCHIP

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel were to meet today with a group of Republicans to discuss the possibility for compromise on a children's health care bill. House Republicans said it appears unlikely the bill's sponsors will be able to amend the measure enough to change the minds of at least a dozen GOP members needed to override a presidential veto.

"The Democratic leadership appears wedded to a significant expansion of government-run health care," said Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga. "It doesn't appear that they're interested in a positive solution."

Further tinkering on the proposal to add $35 billion to the State Children's Health Insurance Program could be done during the Senate debate this week. Price was one of 36 House Republicans who sent a letter on Friday to Hoyer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that said the version passed last week "does not reflect the spirit of bipartisan negotiations and instead disrupts a process that had the potential to create a good, bipartisan bill."

Continue reading "House Returns To Negotiating Table On SCHIP"

Posted at 5:31 PM
Posted to: Bush Administration, Congress, Health, House, President Bush, Senate
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October 26, 2007

Senate Extends Internet Tax Moratorium

The Senate passed legislation by unanimous consent late yesterday to extend the federal Internet tax moratorium by seven years. Extended twice since its adoption in 1998, the moratorium prevents states and localities from imposing taxes on Internet service.

The chamber had been scheduled to vote today on a cloture motion on an amendment by Sen. John Sununu, R-N.H., to make the moratorium permanent. Sununu had offered that proposal to Amtrak reauthorization legislation currently on the floor.

Sen. Thomas Carper, D-Del., an opponent of a permanent ban, had filed a second-degree amendment to grant a four-year extension. The House last week passed a four-year extension. During floor debate yesterday, Carper went further and endorsed a six-year continuation. "I'd be happy to talk about alternatives," Sununu said during a colloquy with Carper, presaging the eventual compromise.

Continue reading " Senate Extends Internet Tax Moratorium"

Posted at 7:50 AM
Posted to: Congress, Senate, Taxes
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October 24, 2007

House Dems Tweaking Immigration, Income Eligibility On New SCHIP Bill

House Democrats are crafting a children's health care bill that would tighten language on immigration, deny states the opportunity to cover children above 300 percent of poverty and move childless adults out of the program within one year, lawmakers and aides said.

The State Children's Health Insurance Program bill is expected to be on the floor tomorrow, but Democratic leadership aides stressed that the vote timing is not definite. Moderate Republicans who asked for the changes to woo more GOP members are asking for more time to allow them to review the bill. President Bush vetoed the bill on Oct. 3.

Continue reading " House Dems Tweaking Immigration, Income Eligibility On New SCHIP Bill"

Posted at 9:30 AM
Posted to: Congress, Health, House, Senate
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October 19, 2007

The Comedic Stylings Of Your Elected Officials

Even in the grimmest of times there's plenty to laugh about in Washington, and a number of lawmakers proved that the case this week at the Funniest Celebrity in Washington contest.

Politicians and the reporters who cover them get to be funny on purpose for one night a year with proceeds going to a worthy cause. This year's beneficiaries were VH1's Save The Music Foundation and the Institute of Musical Traditions, and contestants included The Nation's David Corn, the Washington Post's Eugene Robinson and Rep. Loretta Sanchez, sister of 2006 champion Rep. Linda Sanchez.

Wednesday night's winner was Joseph Randazzo of The Onion. No fair, we say, because -- hello -- The Onion. (Also, he lives in New York!) We prefer to think of the first runner-up as the rightful champion: the senior senator from Pennsylvania, Arlen Specter.

Continue reading "The Comedic Stylings Of Your Elected Officials"

Posted at 5:00 PM
Posted to: Arlen Specter, Barack Obama, Bush Administration, Campaigns, Congress, Democrats, Dick Cheney, John Kerry, Senate, WH 2008
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October 18, 2007

FISA: House Pulls Bill; Senate Strikes Deal

While the Senate Judiciary Committee was grilling President Bush's nominee for attorney general yesterday about some of the most controversial counterterrorism policies supported by his predecessor, leaders of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence were working with members of the Bush administration to find common ground on one of those policies: the National Security Agency's domestic surveillance program.

Senators reportedly reached a deal with the administration yesterday that would grant immunity to telecommunications companies who cooperate with the NSA's efforts under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Bush, who in a press conference yesterday urged Congress to expedite the renewal of the surveillance law temporarily approved in August, had made the lack of protections for telecoms a deal-breaker. Earlier this week the White House issued a veto threat if Congress failed to make that concession.

But while there was progress on the Senate side of negotiations yesterday, the House was thrown into tumult when its version of the bill [PDF] was brought to the floor of that chamber. After initially reporting that Democrats were optimistic about their chances of passing the bill without the concessions Bush had asked for, CongressDaily (subscription) reports this morning that "Republicans made a last-minute procedural move that appeared to split Democrats," forcing the Democratic leadership to pull the bill from the floor.

Pete Hoekstra, the ranking Republican on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, predicted earlier in the day that Congress would eventually yield to the president and grant immunity for telecom companies. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer made a similar prediction last week.

Posted at 7:38 AM
Posted to: Bush Administration, Congress, House, President Bush, Senate, Terrorism
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October 17, 2007

Liveblogging The Michael Mukasey Confirmation Hearing: Part II

[Liveblogging The Michael Mukasey Confirmation Hearing: Part I]

End note. Thanks to the schedule provided by the Judiciary Committee, we were under the impression that the witness round was today. It is tomorrow, and about that we have no complaints.

Patrick Leahy didn't yell at anyone today. That hasn't happened in a long time. He expressed hope this morning and in closing that Mukasey's confirmation will signal the beginning of a healing process at DOJ. The Democrats on this panel have been accused of partisan bloodlust in this saga, but you have to believe Leahy wants this chapter closed. It's been an exhausting nine months for the committee, and the tug of war with the White House is far from over. A new attorney general that has the confidence of Congress means one fewer battlefront.

C-SPAN3 is replaying the hearing throughout the day; watch it here.

4:32. Cardin, who is intimately familiar with Election Day shenanigans, doesn't give up. He asks about a Georgia voter ID law that was overturned two years ago after a federal judge likened it to the Jim Crow-era poll tax. Cardin is undoubtedly aware that the issue goes before the Supreme Court next year.

"I think if identification is made available and... every step is taken that allows everyone who is allowed to vote to" have access to the polls, "it seems to me that the comparison to the poll tax would be over the top," Mukasey responds.

But is it right when the "energy committed to weeding out the few" outweighs that used to ensure greater numbers to the polls, Cardin asks, conjuring Democrats' impression of the Republican Justice Department. "That shouldn't be what the Justice Department is doing, I hope you agree with that."

"I certainly do," Mukasey responds.

By the way, whatever party was responsible for the deceptive fliers and phone calls that threatened Cardin's Senate bid last year: Mukasey considers the tactics "flat-out fraud and pernicious fraud."

Continue reading "Liveblogging The Michael Mukasey Confirmation Hearing: Part II"

Posted at 5:00 PM
Posted to: Alberto Gonzales, Attorney Scandal, Bush Administration, Congress, Michael Mukasey, President Bush, Senate
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Liveblogging The Michael Mukasey Confirmation Hearing: Part I

[Liveblogging The Michael Mukasey Confirmation Hearing: Part II]

12:20. Recess. So far, no big surprises, but plenty to reassure those who anguish over DOJ's loss of credibility under Gonzales. We'll resume with testimony from the witness panel -- fomer AG Dick Thornburgh among them -- later this afternoon in a new post.

12:11. "More recently, a statute called the USA Patriot Act has become the focus of a good deal of hysteria, some of it reflexive, much of it recreational," Mukasey wrote in an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal in 2004.

Russ Feingold somewhat ridiculously asks if Mukasey believes that all critics of the Patriot Act engage in "recreational hysteria." He doesn't, of course, and acknowledges parts of it can be improved. Like most non-partisans on the act, Mukasey sees good and bad there. The point of the op-ed is best summarized in the second half of its title: "Before attacking the Patriot Act, try reading it."

12:02. "I'm going to assure you there isn't going to be any stonewalling," Mukasey says when Charles Grassley asks about the load of documents and testimony his panel has been denied by the administration. "I'm certainly going to review the clearance process simply to make sure that it is a clearance process and not just a black hole."

Continue reading "Liveblogging The Michael Mukasey Confirmation Hearing: Part I"

Posted at 12:22 PM
Posted to: Alberto Gonzales, Attorney Scandal, Bush Administration, Congress, Michael Mukasey, President Bush, Senate
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October 15, 2007

Larry Craig Appeals Decision On Guilty Plea

UPDATED.

Despite his ongoing legal troubles and calls for his resignation by members of his own party, Sen. Larry Craig refuses to go quietly. The Idaho Republican filed a motion with the Minnesota Court of Appeals today asking the judge to overrule a lower court's decision refusing to allow Craig to withdraw his guilty plea stemming from a sex sting operation in a Minneapolis airport bathroom.

"From the outset Senator Craig has maintained that he is innocent of any illegal conduct at the Minneapolis airport. Senator Craig has a right to appeal and we believe that it was a manifest injustice not to allow Senator Craig to withdraw his guilty plea entered in August," said Billy Martin, Craig's high-powered attorney. "Like every other citizen, Senator Craig has the constitutional right to make every effort to clear his name."

Hennepin County Judge Charles Porter ruled two weeks ago that Craig "knew what he was saying, reading and signing," when he agreed to plead guilty to those charges in June and therefore should not be able to withdraw the plea now.

The motion does not detail the grounds for Craig's appeal. In an interview with a Boise TV station on Sunday, Craig said, "It is my right to do what I'm doing. I've already provided for Idaho certainty that Idaho needed. I'm not running for re-election. I'm no longer in the way. I am pursuing my constitutional rights." He reiterated that he does not intend to resign his Senate seat and will complete the last year of his current term.

Continue reading "Larry Craig Appeals Decision On Guilty Plea"

Posted at 4:15 PM
Posted to: Larry Craig, Senate
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October 10, 2007

The Armenian Genocide: When Purity Meets Pragmatism

Let's get this detail out of the way: The United States does not brook genocide. Maybe this country does not always go far enough to stop genocide where it occurs (Rwanda, Sudan), but it has not ignored, let alone denied, the mass extermination of an ethnic group since World War II. What the U.S. always does do in reaction to genocide is condemn the killing wherever it occurs.

So why the opposition to a nonbinding House resolution that compels the U.S. government to formally recognize the 1915-17 mass killings of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire as genocide -- something George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush did not do as commander in chief?

The answer, of course, is Turkey's resistance to the resolution. Almost anywhere else in the world, official government condemnation of genocide is an easy position for Washington to take. Not so with the Armenian genocide, because Turkey holds many cards, and the U.S. is in no position to strong-arm anyone it might still count as an ally in the war on terror.

Continue reading "The Armenian Genocide: When Purity Meets Pragmatism"

Posted at 3:50 PM
Posted to: Bill Clinton, Bush Administration, Condoleezza Rice, Congress, EU, Europe, France, George H.W. Bush, House, Iraq, Israel, Kurds, Middle East, President Bush, Robert Gates, Senate, Turkey
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October 05, 2007

New Mexico Senate: Wilson's In, Udall's Out

Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., will announce her candidacy this afternoon for the Senate seat being vacated by GOP Sen. Pete Domenici. One senior Republican aide said Wilson will make her announcement at 4 p.m. MDT in New Mexico.

Earlier today, Democratic Rep. Tom Udall ended speculation about his candidacy by announcing he will seek re-election in the House so he can keep his newly won seat on the Appropriations Committee. "The election to replace Sen. Domenici in 2008 will be a tough one, but I have every reason to believe I could win it," Udall said. But he added that the new post allows him to pursue important legislation, including renewable energy. "I am in the right place to serve New Mexico and the country," he said.

See CongressDaily (subscription) for the full story.

Posted at 2:37 PM
Posted to: Congress, Senate
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October 04, 2007

Larry Craig Not Resigning After Judge Rejects Motion

UPDATED.

Idaho Sen. Larry Craig has announced that he will remain in office, despite having had his motion to withdraw his guilty plea to disorderly conduct rejected earlier today.

"I am extremely disappointed with the ruling issued today. I am innocent of the charges against me. I continue to work with my legal team to explore my additional legal options," the Republican lawmaker said in a written statement.

Craig had gone back and forth on whether to resign following revelations in August that he had been arrested in a gay-cruising sting in June. After pressure from the GOP, Craig announced that he would step down on Sept. 30, but backed away from that commitment after he decided to challenge his guilty plea. After an appearance in a Minnesota court last week, he appeared to hang his resignation on the outcome of his motion to withdraw.

Craig was clearly hoping to be one of a small minority who are able to persuade a judge to clear their guilty pleas. The married senator has vehemently denied that he was seeking sexual relations in the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on June 11, and he also denies he is gay.

Continue reading "Larry Craig Not Resigning After Judge Rejects Motion"

Posted at 6:21 PM
Posted to: Campaigns, Congress, Larry Craig, Senate
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CIA Interrogations To Take Center Stage In Mukasey Hearings

UPDATED.

Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee are incensed at the revelations in this morning's New York Times report outlining secret legal opinions the Bush administration has used to justify harsh interrogations techniques for terrorism suspects.

"It would be bad enough if this administration had disgraced itself and this country by engaging in cruel and degrading treatment of detainees. It is worse still that it enlisted the Justice Department in the effort to justify and cover up its activities," said Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy, speaking on the floor of the Senate today.

Kennedy is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which yesterday announced that confirmation hearings for attorney general nominee Michael Mukasey would begin as early as two weeks from now. Chairman Patrick Leahy appeared to be signaling that he would not hold up Mukasey's hearings despite an ongoing confrontation with the White House over the NSA surveillance program and U.S. attorney firings scandal. While the revelations about DOJ possibly signing off on torture will probably not affect the hearing timeline, they will almost certainly have a huge impact on Mukasey's confirmation.

A congressional source with close knowledge of the committee said that "a lot of people are really, really angry" about the secret opinions. According to the Times report, the White House took backdoor measures to keep CIA interrogation techniques like "head-slapping, simulated drowning and frigid temperatures" in play by way of secret DOJ memos asserting their legality -- even as it publicly bowed to demands by Congress and the Supreme Court to outlaw them.

Continue reading "CIA Interrogations To Take Center Stage In Mukasey Hearings"

Posted at 6:15 PM
Posted to: Alberto Gonzales, Attorney Scandal, Bush Administration, CIA, Congress, Constitution, Detainees, House, Michael Mukasey, Patrick Leahy, President Bush, Senate
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Wilson, Possibly Udall To Seek Domenici's Senate Seat

UPDATED.

After 35 years of service, Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., is announcing that he will retire when his term is up next year.

None of the networks are airing it, but according to an earlier draft of his announcement obtained by AP, the senator is revealing that he has "a progressive disease that can cause dysfunction in the parts of the brain important for organization, decision-making and control of mood and behavior." The statement said that the progression of the disease is unpredictable, but Domenici is "not willing to take a chance that the people who have so honored me with their trust for 40 years might not be served as well as they deserve in the United States Senate." (AP has more details on the condition, known as frontotemporal lobar degeneration, or FTLD.)

Speculation about who would replace him was well under way even before Domenici made it official. Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., made known her intention to replace the aging senator earlier today. Now it looks as if Democratic Rep. Tom Udall could be her opponent.

Continue reading "Wilson, Possibly Udall To Seek Domenici's Senate Seat"

Posted at 6:10 PM
Posted to: Attorney Scandal, Senate
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Senate OKs Defense Bill With $794M For Border Patrols

The Senate last night passed the FY08 Defense appropriations bill by voice vote after unanimously approving an amendment that would provide $794 million in emergency spending for the National Guard's mission on the southwest border -- more than double what the Guard requested for "Operation Jump Start."

See CongressDaily (subscription) for the full story.

Posted at 7:43 AM
Posted to: Congress, Immigration, Senate
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October 03, 2007

New Mexico Republican Pete Domenici Retiring

New Mexico Sen. Pete Domenici will announce tomorrow that he will not seek re-election next year, the Albuquerque Journal reports.

It was rumored that the 75-year-old Republican would step down because of health issues, and that looks to be the case. Republicans now have five vacated seats to defend, as Domenici joins Sens. John Warner (Va.), Chuck Hagel (Neb.), Larry Craig (Idaho) and Wayne Allard (Colo.) in walking away from the Hill next year. Alaska's Ted Stevens has said he intends to run again, but he is currently the subject of a federal corruption probe that has netted one guilty plea and one conviction so far.

Earlier this year, Domenici was in the spotlight for his role in the U.S. attorney firings scandal. The flap surrounding him appears to have died down, though. AP has details on Domenici's health woes.

Posted at 6:20 PM
Posted to: Campaigns, Congress, Senate
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Bush Vetoes SCHIP Expansion

As promised, President Bush has quietly vetoed a bill vastly expanding a children's health insurance program. Otherwise known as SCHIP, the program is funded by both state and federal governments to cover medical care for children too rich to qualify for Medicare but too poor to afford private insurance.

The bipartisan bill would add $35 billion over five years to the popular program. The uninsured rate has boomed during Bush's presidency, even as the economy has rebounded from near-recession in 2002. According to the federal government, more than 6 million children lack health insurance, and 45 percent of all children get some kind of publicly funded medical care.

The Senate version passed 68-31, enough to override a presidential veto. The House is about a dozen votes short; Iowa Republican Sen. Charles Grassley is among the bill's supporters courting those Republicans to join the majority.

The politically hypercharged issue stands to come back to haunt members during their re-election campaigns next year.

Continue reading "Bush Vetoes SCHIP Expansion"

Posted at 11:05 AM
Posted to: Bush Administration, Congress, Health, House, President Bush, Senate, Taxes
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September 28, 2007

Senate OKs SCHIP; Post-Veto Strategies Kick In

The Senate's 67-29 vote yesterday on a bill to add $35 billion to the State Children's Health Insurance Program will officially allow it to be lobbed down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House, only to have it bounce back with a veto stamp.

But that volley will probably wait until next week. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said Congress might hold onto the bill over the weekend. White House spokesman Tony Fratto said yesterday that President Bush will veto the bill with little fanfare once he receives it.

Depending on the timing of those two actions, Hoyer said the House could hold a veto override vote later in the week. The Senate's 67 yes votes are enough to stave off a veto, but the House's 265-159 vote on Wednesday fell short of a veto-proof margin.

Continue reading "Senate OKs SCHIP; Post-Veto Strategies Kick In"

Posted at 7:50 AM
Posted to: Bush Administration, Congress, House, President Bush, Senate
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September 26, 2007

Craig Changes Mind Again About Resigning

Idaho Sen. Larry Craig is apparently backtracking on his decision to resign on Sept. 30. In a statement from his office, he said, "Today was a major step in the legal effort to clear my name. The court has not issued a ruling on my motion to withdraw my guilty plea. For now, I will continue my work in the United States Senate for Idaho."

Craig appeared before a Minnesota court today to request judicial review of his guilty plea to disorderly conduct following a sex sting in an airport restroom. The judge adjourned the case until at least next week, citing his caseload.

See The Gate's previous posts on why Craig may win his bid to reverse his plea here and here.

Posted at 5:01 PM
Posted to: Congress, Larry Craig, Senate
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September 21, 2007

Alaska Back In Play Thanks To Stevens & Young

And the hits just keep on coming for the Republican Party.

The FBI has tapes of telephone conversations between Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens and a businessman convicted of bribing lawmakers, AP reports. Bill Allen, a longtime friend and political supporter of Stevens, agreed to record his phone calls to the senator after pleading guilty to bribery and agreeing to cooperate with the feds in this sprawling political corruption scandal.

Allen is the founder of VECO, an Alaskan energy firm. In an ongoing bribery trial of another politician, former Alaska House Speaker Pete Kott, Allen testified that his company paid to renovate Stevens' home and that his employees did the work. Stevens insists that he and his wife paid for the renovation themselves. A former employee also testified that VECO employees were paid by the company to work on Stevens' campaigns -- a possible violation of election law.

Details of the phone conversations haven't been made public, so there's no evidence yet to indicate how snugly Stevens and Allen were in bed together. Even so, the bribery trial and FBI investigation of both Stevens and his son, Ben, are casting a shadow on the GOP, so much so that the state's Republican governor, Sarah Palin, is calling for Ben Stevens to resign from his post as Alaska representative on the Republican National Committee.

According to Allen, VECO paid off the younger Stevens while he was a state senator. The elder Stevens, meanwhile, has a reputation for intimidating Senate colleagues and directing a flood of federal dollars for projects in his sparsely populated state. Stevens is already a favorite target of fiscal conservative critics like John McCain. Looks like he'll soon be a target of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee as well.

Continue reading "Alaska Back In Play Thanks To Stevens & Young"

Posted at 4:20 PM
Posted to: Campaigns, Congress, House, Senate
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Senate Soundly Rejects Iraq Troop Pullout, Funding Cutoff

Senate Democrats lost a long-shot bid yesterday to end the Iraq war, when the first of two amendments to the FY08 defense authorization bill setting deadlines for troop withdrawal fell far short of the 60 votes necessary for passage.

The amendment, sponsored by Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis., received support from only 28 senators -- one fewer vote than a similar measure attracted in May.

The language, which appealed to the Senate's most avid anti-war Democrats, would have required the Bush administration to withdraw all but a small number of U.S. troops from Iraq by June 30.

Continue reading " Senate Soundly Rejects Iraq Troop Pullout, Funding Cutoff"

Posted at 8:32 AM
Posted to: Congress, Senate
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September 19, 2007

Webb Amendment Restricting Length Of Deployments Defeated

UPDATED.

A bill sponsored by Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., that would have put strict limits on the duration of troop deployments garnered 56 votes in a voice vote this afternoon, four short of the 60 needed to reach cloture.

The legislation, an amendment to the defense authorization bill, had provided a glimmer of hope for war opponents one day after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, citing Republican intransigence, nixed a bipartisan effort to begin withdrawing troops from Iraq.

The legislation would have given troops serving in Iraq at least as much time stateside as they spend on their combat tours. It was defeated in a cloture vote in July but had since resurfaced as the Democrats' last hope of changing course in Iraq -- and ducking the anger of anti-war voters.

Continue reading "Webb Amendment Restricting Length Of Deployments Defeated"

Posted at 6:23 PM
Posted to: Congress, Iraq, Military, President Bush, Robert Gates, Senate
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Bring Us The Body... Of Case Law

A bloc of 42 Republicans -- and Joe Lieberman -- have rejected a vote on an amendment that would restore habeas corpus rights to terrorism suspects. (See reports on how the vote went down here, here and here.)

The Senate rejection leaves the question of constitutionality to the Supreme Court, which is scheduled to weigh this matter in the coming term anyway. Several of the justices -- quite possibly a majority -- are disturbed that the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 strips terror suspects of the right to appeal their detention.

This most fundamental of rights may only be suspended during invasion or insurrection, per the U.S. Constitution, no matter if the accused is a foreigner or a citizen. The further we get away from the 9/11 attacks -- the very reason for this shadowy system of justice -- the more uncomfortable the justices seem about the entire military detention process. Several have struggled with the squishy boundaries of what the "war on terror" even means. This may explain the court's unprecedented June reversal of its own decision not to hear the petitions of two prisoners challenging their detentions.

Continue reading "Bring Us The Body... Of Case Law"

Posted at 4:11 PM
Posted to: Arlen Specter, Bush Administration, Congress, Constitution, Detainees, President Bush, Senate, Supreme Court, Terrorism
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Report: Johanns To Quit For Senate Run

Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns will resign and run for the U.S. Senate in Nebraska, the Lincoln Journal Star reported today. Johanns, a former governor of that state, will seek the Republican nomination for the seat now held by Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., who is retiring at the end of the session. A formal announcement of Johanns' Senate run is expected next week, the newspaper reported, citing a source close to Johanns.

Less than two weeks after Hagel announced his decision to retire, the GOP race for his seat is already getting crowded. Former Omaha Mayor and U.S. Rep. Hal Daub, state Attorney General Jon Bruning and businessman Pat Flynn have also thrown their hats in the ring.

See this afternoon's CongressDailyPM (subscription) for more details on Johanns' plans.

-CongressDaily

Posted at 11:35 AM
Posted to: Campaigns, Congress, Senate
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Negotiators Reach Deal On SCHIP Bill

Negotiators are putting the finishing touches on children's healthcare legislation, with lawmakers agreeing to a slightly modified version of the Senate's more modest State Children's Health Insurance Program bill.

Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., predicted Tuesday that the Senate would be required to take a second vote on its package because of changes that the House will make when it votes on an SCHIP reauthorization next week.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller IV, D-W.Va., who helped write the Senate package, said Senate negotiators have agreed to "a couple of minor" changes to the Senate bill sought by House members, "but nothing that gets away from the basic principles."

Senate negotiators have rejected House requests to cover young adults up to 21 years old and legal immigrants, Rockefeller said.

Continue reading "Negotiators Reach Deal On SCHIP Bill"

Posted at 10:17 AM
Posted to: Bush Administration, Congress, Health, House, President Bush, Senate
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D.C. Voting Rights Bill Defeated

UPDATED.

A death knell sounded for the D.C. voting rights bill yesterday in the Senate, when the cloture motion that would have moved the bill forward failed to pass by three votes.

The bill is unlikely to come up for a vote again this year or next year. Yesterday marked the first time that D.C. voting rights had been considered by the full Senate since 1978, when a constitutional amendment was passed only to be defeated seven years later when just 16 states approved its ratification.

Another shot at an amendment may be the next step for voting rights advocates. Virginia Sen. John Warner, who voted against yesterday's measure, said he did so because he is drafting a new amendment that would overcome objections from the current legislation's detractors -- including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and the White House -- who claim D.C. residents aren't entitled to vote because the Constitution specifies that "People of the several States" should elect House members, and the District is not technically a state.

Continue reading "D.C. Voting Rights Bill Defeated"

Posted at 7:30 AM
Posted to: Congress, Senate
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September 18, 2007

Craig Returns To The Capitol

Sen. Larry Craig is back on the job today for the first time since news of his bathroom sex sting broke, leading to a back-and-forth struggle over whether he will retire next year. For now, Craig is attempting to withdraw his guilty plea to disorderly conduct charges in a Minnesota court. He's already resigned from his committee posts, and says he will stick to his original plan to retire on Sept. 30.

Late-night talk show hosts and political pundits are having fun [fast-forward to 1:48] at the Idaho Republican's expense. But, today Craig reminded reporters that "I'm a serving United States senator from Idaho" who is back to do his job.

Following news of Craig's guilty plea, his GOP colleagues quickly distanced themselves from the accused philanderer. Today, most ducked questions about the prodigal senator, although one, John Thune, remarked that Craig was showing "moxie." Craig attended the GOP lunch today, putting to bed earlier reports indicating he might be shut out.

Continue reading "Craig Returns To The Capitol"

Posted at 4:11 PM
Posted to: Congress, Crime, Larry Craig, Senate
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McConnell Moves To Block D.C. Vote Bill

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell set himself firmly in the path of the D.C. Voting Rights Act yesterday, calling the measure unconstitutional and paving the way for a long battle ahead. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid scheduled a cloture motion for the bill, which would grant the District of Columbia a full voting member of the House, for this afternoon.

On the Senate floor yesterday, McConnell said that "every resident of a state... is entitled under the Constitution to congressional representation. Yet no similar representation is accorded to the residents of areas that are not so designated," CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports.

The cloture measure needs 60 votes to pass. A Washington Post editorial tallied up the numbers yesterday, coming up with definite yeas from five Republican senators as well as all 51 Democrats and independents. High-profile Sens. Orrin Hatch of Utah and Susan Collins of Maine are among the Republicans supporting the measure, but McConnell's hard-line stance against the bill could dissuade other members of the GOP from joining them.

Continue reading "McConnell Moves To Block D.C. Vote Bill"

Posted at 9:43 AM
Posted to: Congress, Senate
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September 17, 2007

Bush Nominates Mukasey For Attorney General, Still Sore Over Gonzales

UPDATED.

As expected, President Bush formally announced his nomination of retired federal judge Michael Mukasey to take the helm at the Department of Justice -- but not without an indirect jab at his critics over the resignation of the previous attorney general, Alberto Gonzales.

Speaking to reporters on the White House lawn this morning, Bush said, "When [Mukasey] takes his place at the Justice Department, he will succeed another fine judge." Recalling Gonzales' resume as a Texas Supreme Court judge, White House counsel and AG, Bush continued, "This honorable and decent man has served with distinction."

If that was a message to Gonzales' many critics in the Beltway, the president then narrowed his remarks to critics on Capitol Hill. "The attorney general takes on an important responsibility for the country. It is vital that the position be confirmed quickly. I urge the Senate to confirm Judge Mukasey promptly," he said.

Continue reading "Bush Nominates Mukasey For Attorney General, Still Sore Over Gonzales"

Posted at 12:48 PM
Posted to: Alberto Gonzales, Arlen Specter, Attorney Scandal, Bush Administration, Congress, President Bush, Senate, Terrorism
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September 14, 2007

Shaheen Announces Bid For Rematch With Sununu In N.H.

Former New Hampshire Gov. Jeanne Shaheen announced today she will run for the seat held by Republican Sen. John Sununu next year, giving Senate Democrats their second high-profile candidate in as many days.

Effective today, Shaheen said she is resigning as director of Harvard University's Institute of Politics. "I've stepped down from my position at the Kennedy School of Government because we have major problems facing this country, and there is an urgent need for real change in Washington," Shaheen said in a statement. "We've proven in New Hampshire that we can work together to get things done. I want to take that common-sense approach to Washington and help get this country moving in the right direction."

Her husband Bill Shaheen told CongressDaily that the former governor will make a formal announcement at their home in Madbury, N.H., Sunday afternoon. He said the campaign would focus on such issues as the Iraq war, stem cell research and health care.

Continue reading "Shaheen Announces Bid For Rematch With Sununu In N.H."

Posted at 5:25 PM
Posted to: Campaigns, Congress, Senate
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September 13, 2007

The NRSC's Quickie Reaction To Warner

The National Republican Senatorial Committee is already up with the by-now perfunctory oppo Web site and YouTube video in a hurry-up bid to portray former Gov. Mark Warner, D-Va., as a promise-breaking tax lover. Republicans are deeply worried about the seat that is being vacated by Senate lion John Warner, who will retire after five terms.

A Democrat winning Warner's seat would confirm Virginia's conversion from reliably red to purplish blue. That's not the least of the NRSC's troubles, though. The 2008 Senate race is bound to revive memories of the embarrassing flameout of Republican George Allen in 2006. The one-time presidential contender was undone by what we now consider the entrée of the YouTube Moment in electoral politics.

Allen's seat is now occupied by Democrat Jim Webb. Warner is highly popular in his state, and was himself considered White House material once upon a time. The NRSC has been anticipating his announcement for some time, and a committee spokesman confirmed that the oppo Web site had been built and ready to go before Warner's campaign announcement earlier today. Expect to see both parties pour cash upon cash into this race.

(Image from www.dontmarkwarner.com)

Posted at 11:03 AM
Posted to: Campaigns, Congress, Senate
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Mark Warner To Announce Senate Run

Former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner, a Democrat, will announce today that he will run for the Senate in 2008, a source close to the decision planning said yesterday. The source said Warner will declare his candidacy by circulating an e-mail and posting the announcement on the Internet.

Warner, a popular centrist, gives Democrats a top-tier candidate for the seat being vacated by retiring Republican Sen. John Warner. Mark Warner, who is not related to the incumbent, opted not to run for president in 2008 and unsuccessfully challenged Sen. Warner in 1996. He had also been weighing another run for governor in 2009.

Rep. Tom Davis and former Gov. Jim Gilmore are the leading Republican contenders for the seat, but are not expected to declare their intentions until after Virginia's state and local elections in November.

See CongressDaily (subscription) for more details on Warner and two other top Democrats planning possible 2008 Senate bids.

-CongressDaily

Posted at 8:10 AM
Posted to: Campaigns, Senate
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September 12, 2007

Gonzales May Be Out, But Has The Battle Just Begun?

UPDATED.

Remember Alberto Gonzales?

The attorney general hasn't left office yet, but ever since he handed in his resignation to President Bush, the furor over his handling of the attorney-firings scandal and a National Security Agency surveillance program has largely subsided, thanks to more recent news from Larry Craig and David Petraeus.

That doesn't mean congressional Democrats are going to drop their beefs with the Justice Department. On the contrary, Roll Call reported (subscription) earlier this week that "even if Bush nominates an otherwise noncontroversial attorney general," sources from both sides of the aisle "don't expect a speedy confirmation." The Democratic leadership is expected to press the administration for more information regarding ongoing DOJ investigations before considering Bush's nominee.

Today, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid rejected out of hand one of the White House's rumored top choices to replace Gonzales, former Solicitor General Ted Olson. "I intend to do everything I can to prevent him from being confirmed as the next attorney general," Reid said in a statement. "Clearly if you made a list of consensus nominees, Olson wouldn’t appear on that list," Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., told the New York Times yesterday.

Continue reading "Gonzales May Be Out, But Has The Battle Just Begun?"

Posted at 5:33 PM
Posted to: Alberto Gonzales, Attorney Scandal, Bush Administration, Charles Schumer, Congress, President Bush, Senate
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Vitter's Dirty Laundry Airs... Again

Maybe it was his appearance during yesterday's high-profile hearings on Capitol Hill, but all of the sudden Sen. David Vitter's personal woes are back in the spotlight after his initial implication in the D.C. Madam scandal all but faded from the collective Beltway memory.

Hustler publisher Larry Flynt called a press conference yesterday to once again accuse the Louisiana Republican of paying for sex with a New Orleans prostitute in 1999. The former call girl at the center of those allegations, Wendy Ellis, appeared with Flynt at yesterday's briefing.

At the time of their alleged trysts, Ellis went by the name "Leah." She told reporters that Vitter ended their business arrangement when she proposed taking the relationship to a more personal level. "I said, 'My real name is Wendy,' and he said, 'Oh my God.' That was the last time I saw him through the escort service." Vitter's wife's name is also Wendy.

Continue reading "Vitter's Dirty Laundry Airs... Again"

Posted at 2:45 PM
Posted to: Congress, Crime, David Vitter, Senate
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September 11, 2007

Liveblogging The Other Senate Iraq Report Hearing

[Senate Foreign Relations hearing] [Joint House hearing]

End note. March is the new September. Petraeus has made it crystal clear he's not discussing an ultimate drawdown until that month next year. Reid and Pelosi have promised a super-charged challenge to Bush, which he is expected to ignore or squash. For now, it doesn't look like we'll get the GOP insurrection Democrats have been praying for, and we'll know for sure soon enough. Check back tomorrow for reaction from the White House and Hill. Good night.

7:33. Crocker on the spending: "It's something we have to do, because we don't have enough people in the State Department, and they [private contractors] do it very well."

7:28. The former auditor says the amount of U.S. money spent in one month in Iraq could buy health insurance for 800,000 American children. Expect to see more of that stat this election cycle.

7:22. McCaskill also wants to send Tony Soprano to Baghdad. Crocker responds, "We can facilitate. We can pressure to some degree. Ultimately, national reconciliation has to be an Iraqi process." He continues with words that both hurt and help him: "This is a long, slow, hard grind, that could become easier" in the improved security environment.

7:19. Oh thank God. McCaskill's back.

7:17. Oh golly. Missouri Democrat Claire McCaskill, who hasn't gotten to ask questions yet, and Chairman Levin are both away for a vote. The committee is going to wait for them, and in the meantime Warner is asking follow-up questions. This really is starting to get torturous.

7:07. A parachute for fence-sitters, courtesy of Crocker. Frustrated Republicans, including Tennessee's Bob Corker it seems, want to know why U.S. officials don't simply strong-arm Iraqi politicians, Tony Soprano-style. Crocker's testimony indicates he doesn't buy into this approach, which possibly hands certain Republicans looking for a credible way to break with the administration a means to do so.

Continue reading "Liveblogging The Other Senate Iraq Report Hearing"

Posted at 7:50 PM
Posted to: Bush Administration, Campaigns, Congress, David Petraeus, Democrats, Donald Rumsfeld, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Iran, Iraq, John McCain, Middle East, Military, President Bush, Republicans, Senate, WH 2008
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Senate Lunch Chatter: Stances On Iraq Harden

On the anniversary of 9/11, the talk in the halls outside the Senate weekly caucus lunches centered on the future of the war in Iraq. Sandwiched between hearings before the Foreign Relations Committee and Armed Services Committee in which Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker asked for more time for U.S. forces in Iraq, the lunch chatter revealed a general hardening of positions on each side of the aisle.

Democrats stuck to their calls for a timeline for withdrawal, albeit one that could have a goal rather than a deadline for the drawdown of troops to a much lower level for limited purposes. Republicans said they were inclined to stick with Petraeus' plans. A few senators, such as Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, talked up possible bipartisan compromises, but Gordon Smith, R-Ore., said a road to a bipartisan agreement looked rocky.

Continue reading "Senate Lunch Chatter: Stances On Iraq Harden"

Posted at 2:20 PM
Posted to: David Petraeus, Iraq, Senate
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Craig Files To Withdraw Guilty Plea

It's not over until the lawyers say so: Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, will appeal his guilty plea to charges of disorderly conduct during a sex sting in a Minnesota airport restroom. His attorneys turned in the 50-page court filing in Minnesota's Hennepin County District Court yesterday.

According to the papers, Craig says he "panicked" at the thought of the story coming out in the media after he was arrested and "felt compelled to grasp the lifeline offered to him by the police officer, namely that if he were to submit to an interview and plead guilty, then none of the officer's allegations would be made public." Craig was stripped of his committee assignments and, under pressure from the GOP leadership, said he would resign effective Sept. 30.

The Gate has details on Craig's legal options, and the Minneapolis Star Tribune and the New York Times have more on yesterday's court filings.

Posted at 7:49 AM
Posted to: Congress, Larry Craig, Senate
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Senate Votes To Boost Bridge Repairs

The Senate voted yesterday to provide an additional $1 billion for bridge repair and maintenance, part of ongoing efforts to prevent future bridge collapses like the one last month in Minneapolis.

The 60-33 vote to bolster bridge-repair funds came during initial debate on a $104.7 billion FY08 Transportation-HUD spending bill. Twelve Republicans, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., joined Transportation-HUD Appropriations Subcommittee Chairwoman Patty Murray, D-Wash., and the Democrats in supporting it.

"Our bridges are deteriorating far faster than our ability to finance their replacement," said Murray, whose amendment boosted overall bridge repair spending in the bill to 25 percent above the current year.

Continue reading "Senate Votes To Boost Bridge Repairs"

Posted at 7:38 AM
Posted to: Congress, Senate
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September 06, 2007

Winning Back GOP Was Losing Battle For Craig

The Gate doesn't care if Larry Craig is in the closet. But last we checked, being closeted isn't grounds for stripping a senator of his committee assignments or forcing his resignation.

It's become clear that while the Republican leadership may have overreacted -- as Sens. Arlen Specter, Ted Stevens, Jim Bunning and Mike Enzi believe -- there is little desire to reach out to the 27-year congressman. The GOP would pack and ship Craig's belongings back to Idaho themselves if they could, and the threat of total isolation may have compelled Craig to agree yesterday that he would stick by his Sept. 30 resignation date if his legal battle isn't resolved by then.

Spokesman Dan Whiting basically stated the obvious to AP today, that legal cases like the one Craig's about to pursue tend to be lengthy affairs. The cable networks jumped all over Whiting's comments as if they were breaking news, but the prospect that a judge or jury won't decide Craig's legal petition by the end of the month isn't necessarily an admission of guilt. He remains determined to battle a Senate Ethics Committee probe, and his attorneys will challenge his misdemeanor plea before a Minnesota court.

Continue reading "Winning Back GOP Was Losing Battle For Craig"

Posted at 4:49 PM
Posted to: Congress, David Vitter, Larry Craig, Senate
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September 05, 2007

Could Larry Craig Really Reverse His Plea? Jiminy!

After a week of being the target of assorted scatological and sexual jokes, Idaho Republican Larry Craig is embarking on a damage-control offensive to clear his name and keep his job.

The senator appears to have realized -- about a month too late -- that he had a pretty good shot at beating that disorderly conduct charge. Ditto the fact that attorneys are generally good to have around when you're tussling with the police. Under the recently retained advisement of top-flight legal eagles Stanley Brand and Andrew Herman, Craig is fighting a Senate Ethics Committee complaint and reconsidering his announced resignation.

"Stunning" is a word being bandied about a lot today. Even though Pennsylvania Republican Arlen Specter was one of the first to pick up on the bailout clause in Craig's resignation speech, hardly anyone else believed Craig might try to finish out his term. Craig's already suffered enough embarrassment for a lifetime; it may now be his turn to shame the Republicans who abandoned him.

Continue reading "Could Larry Craig Really Reverse His Plea? Jiminy!"

Posted at 4:51 PM
Posted to: Arlen Specter, Congress, Larry Craig, Senate
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Senate Lunch Chatter: Johnson Back At Work

UPDATED.

Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., returned to work this morning after spending nine months recovering from a life-threatening condition affecting his brain that put him in the hospital in December. Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., and Rep. Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin, D-S.D., ceremoniously held open the doors to his office in the Hart Senate Office Building at 10:30 this morning as he arrived by motorized scooter with his wife, Barbara.

In an emotional address on the Senate floor, Johnson thanked his colleagues for their support and concern while he was away, and he said he felt a renewed appreciation for the office.

"I return to work today to this great body with a renewed spirit and a sharper focus," Johnson said, his speech slightly slowed by his condition. "I believe I have been given a second chance at life."

Later, his voice nearly overcome with emotion, he concluded, "It has been the greatest honor in my life to stand for and by the people of South Dakota. I cannot thank them as well as members of this chamber enough for their patience and support.

"Today my work begins anew. I relish this task," he said, as senators rose from their seats in applause.

Continue reading "Senate Lunch Chatter: Johnson Back At Work"

Posted at 2:45 PM
Posted to: Congress, Senate
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Craig Reconsidering Decision To Resign From Senate

Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, is reconsidering his decision to resign after his arrest in a Minnesota airport sex sting and may still fight to keep his Senate seat, a spokesman said yesterday.

"It's not such a foregone conclusion anymore, that the only thing he could do was resign," Sidney Smith, Craig's spokesman in Idaho, was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.

"We're still preparing as if Senator Craig will resign Sept. 30, but the outcome of the legal case in Minnesota and the ethics investigation will have an impact on whether we're able to stay in the fight -- and stay in the Senate," Smith added.

Continue reading "Craig Reconsidering Decision To Resign From Senate"

Posted at 9:00 AM
Posted to: Larry Craig, Senate
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September 04, 2007

While You Were In Nantucket...

Welcome back, Beltway! Summer in the swamp is officially over, and the 2008 campaign season is, well, still under way, it having gone official months ago. It's less than 15 months until Election Day, a little longer than that before President Bush U-Hauls himself back to Texas. There's a lot of work ahead and a fast-diminishing amount of time to get it done. Let's take a quick look at what you missed over the long Labor Day weekend, and what to watch for in the weeks ahead.

Don't be gay, or get out of the way. The Republican Party dispensed with problem senator Larry Craig like so much used Kleenex. On Saturday, the Idaho legislator announced he would step down on Sept. 30. Craig conceded defeat just days after vehemently denying he had solicited sex in a men's bathroom and that he was gay.

The GOP knows that its brand is in trouble, and the last thing it needs is another Mark Foley-type scandal -- lack of evidence notwithstanding. The ever-judicious Arlen Specter is one of the few, if not only, fellow Republicans to point out that there's no proof beyond anonymous accounts that Craig's wide-stance toe-tapping was definitely a come-hither invite to the undercover officer in the stall next door.

Continue reading "While You Were In Nantucket..."

Posted at 1:11 PM
Posted to: Bush Administration, Campaigns, Congress, Iraq, Larry Craig, Middle East, President Bush, Senate
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August 30, 2007

DOJ Inspector General Investigating Gonzales Testimony

The resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, effective Sept. 17, does not mean he will be able to wash his hands of the intense scrutiny he has faced in office.

Department of Justice Inspector General Glenn Fine affirmed today in a letter to Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy that his office was investigating the possibility that Gonzales may have perjured himself multiple times in recent testimony before Leahy's committee and others.

Continue reading "DOJ Inspector General Investigating Gonzales Testimony"

Posted at 3:20 PM
Posted to: Alberto Gonzales, Attorney Scandal, Bush Administration, Congress, Patrick Leahy, Senate
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Bernanke Reassures Investors

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke promised that the Fed is keeping a close eye on financial markets and that it "is prepared to act as needed to mitigate the adverse effects on the economy arising from the disruptions in financial markets."

His statements were made in a letter written to Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., released Wednesday. Bernanke has come under criticism for refusing to cut the federal interest rate or to loosen regulations on mortgage funding companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during a recent financial shake-up that sent stock markets worldwide tumbling.

Continue reading "Bernanke Reassures Investors"

Posted at 12:52 PM
Posted to: Charles Schumer, Congress, Economy, Senate
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August 29, 2007

Craig Steps Down From Committees As Colleagues Scatter

UPDATED.

Idaho Sen. Larry Craig has agreed to temporarily step down from his committee posts in the wake of revelations about his recent arrest and guilty plea to charges of lewd conduct.

The move comes as an ever-growing chorus of Craig's GOP colleagues demands his resignation. This afternoon, Rep. Pete Hoekstra of Michigan became the first Republican member of Congress to suggest Craig should resign, a call that was soon echoed by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Norm Coleman, R-Minn.

The White House did not join the resignation bandwagon, but spokesman Scott Stanzel told reporters following the president in Mississippi today, "We are disappointed in the matter."

Just before Craig's press conference yesterday, during which he denied any wrongdoing, the Republican leadership in the Senate requested an ethics committee investigation into the three-term senator's arrest in June. Craig pleaded guilty (a move he now says he regrets) to a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct after a plainclothes officer accused him of soliciting sex in the men's bathroom of the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Craig didn't tell anyone, including the Senate GOP leadership, about his arrest.

Continue reading "Craig Steps Down From Committees As Colleagues Scatter"

Posted at 4:31 PM
Posted to: Congress, Larry Craig, Senate
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Tim Johnson's Return Raises Questions About '08

Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., spoke before a cheering crowd of supporters in Sioux Falls yesterday, his first public appearance since a severe brain hemorrhage incapacitated him last December. The event was described by the AP as "a carefully choreographed gathering that took on the appearance of a campaign event" and by others in attendance as a moving experience.

The senator was brought onstage in a wheelchair but was able to stand up at the podium and speak for about 15 minutes, impressing supporters with the extent of his recovery. Johnson has spent the past eight months recuperating with his family near Washington and going through a demanding regime of speech and physical therapy.

This week, Johnson told ABC News reporter Bob Woodruff, "I expect to run and to win" re-election in 2008, but his staff later clarified that he is still considering the matter. Adding to the speculation, a national political firm working to re-elect Democratic lawmakers recently launched a Web site welcoming back the senator, which some have read as an attempt to lay the groundwork for a campaign next year. Johnson won the state in 2002 by a precarious 524-vote margin, and Republicans have already announced their intention to target his seat in '08.

Posted at 11:10 AM
Posted to: Congress, Senate
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August 28, 2007

Sen. Larry Craig: I Did Nothing Wrong, And I Am Not Gay

UPDATED.

In a brief but fiery press conference, Sen. Larry Craig sought to put to rest rumors that he is gay.

"Let me be clear: I am not gay. I have never been gay," the Idaho Republican said with his wife at his side.

Craig called reporters to the outdoor plaza in Boise to explain why he pleaded guilty earlier this month to a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge after a plainclothes officer accused him of soliciting sex in a men's restroom at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Roll Call broke the news of Craig's June arrest and plea yesterday.

"I did nothing wrong at the Minneapolis airport," Craig said. "I did nothing wrong, and I regret the decision to plead guilty."

Continue reading "Sen. Larry Craig: I Did Nothing Wrong, And I Am Not Gay"

Posted at 5:37 PM
Posted to: Congress, Crime, Larry Craig, Senate
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August 27, 2007

GOP Senator Craig Arrested For 'Lewd Conduct' In Bathroom

UPDATED.

Idaho Republican Sen. Larry Craig, one of the Senate's most conservative members and an opponent of gay rights, was arrested in June for an incident involving lewd conduct in a public men's room, Roll Call reports.

According to the report, Craig was arrested June 11 following a complaint of lewd conduct in a restroom at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. TPM has obtained the incident report, and so far the details appear to be tame.

"At 1216 hours, Craig tapped his right foot. I recognized this as a signal used by persons wishing to engage in lewd conduct. Craig tapped his toes several times and moves his foot closer to my foot," the officer states. After Craig "proceeded to swipe his hand under the stall divider several times," the officer flashed his identification card and informed the senator he was under arrest.

Continue reading "GOP Senator Craig Arrested For 'Lewd Conduct' In Bathroom"

Posted at 6:40 PM
Posted to: Congress, Crime, Gay Rights, Senate
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August 23, 2007

Lawmakers Ready New Probes After Utah Mining Tragedy

Many Americans may still remember the January 2006 Sago tragedy in West Virginia, particularly wrenching because the media had erroneously reported that the trapped miners were found alive, only to present the country hours later with the somber news that all but one had perished. That saga moved Congress to pass an overhaul of mining safety regulations, which President Bush signed into law the following June.

This week, the apparent deaths of six Utah miners and the confirmed deaths of three rescue workers who tried to find them is once again putting lawmakers in an investigative posture. The Senate Subcommittee on Workplace and Employment Safety has scheduled a Sept. 5 hearing in which it's seeking testimony from Mine Safety and Health Administration head Richard Stickler, mine co-owner Bob Murray and Cecil Roberts, head of the United Mine Workers of America. Last week, The Gate looked at Stickler, a former mining exec whom Bush installed through a recess appointment after criticism from a Congress then dominated by Republicans.

Continue reading "Lawmakers Ready New Probes After Utah Mining Tragedy"

Posted at 5:00 PM
Posted to: Bush Administration, Congress, President Bush, Senate
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August 21, 2007

Cheney Removes Himself -- Again -- From Executive Branch

CORRECTED.

Less than two months after Dick Cheney reversed course on the claim under a congressional threat and much ridicule, the vice president is once again severing himself from the executive branch of government -- this time to defy a subpoena.

In June, Cheney's lawyers whipped out a novel -- and almost certainly wrong -- claim that as the Senate's tiebreaker, his office actually belongs in the legislative branch. At the time, he was resisting an executive order renewed by President Bush that their offices hand over reports on classified data to the National Archives. Red-faced officials eventually said they would back off of the bizarre claim.

But yesterday it resurfaced, in a letter [PDF] to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy.

Continue reading "Cheney Removes Himself -- Again -- From Executive Branch"

Posted at 5:40 PM
Posted to: Arlen Specter, Attorney Scandal, Bush Administration, Congress, Dick Cheney, Patrick Leahy, President Bush, Senate
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August 08, 2007

Dems Roll Out 'Rapid Response' Plan

August is typically a time when the president has free rein to shape the political debate without lawmakers around to oppose him, but Senate Democratic leaders aim to change that this year.

Under a "rapid response" plan, the four top Democrats in the Senate are each spending a week on call to respond to developments regarding the war in Iraq or any other issue that comes up during the August recess, said Rodell Mollineau, communications director for Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

"We're coordinating more to make sure the message is amplified," Mollineau said. "With rapid response, President Bush does not have the stage to himself in August."

Continue reading "Dems Roll Out 'Rapid Response' Plan"

Posted at 10:21 AM
Posted to: Congress, Senate
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August 03, 2007

Senate Passes SCHIP Bill With Veto-Proof Majority

The Senate late last night passed a bill, 68-31, to add $35 billion to the State Children's Health Insurance Program, showing enough support for the measure to override a presidential veto.

Senate Minority Whip Trent Lott, R-Miss., predicted, however, that the Senate would be able to sustain a presidential veto of a conference report with the House.

"If it goes one iota beyond what was in this bill, we will be able to sustain the veto," he said.

Lott also said Republicans would object to a conference committee with the House.

"They're not going to get this bill in conference until we get an agreement on what's going to be in it. We're not going to let it go" he said, adding that Finance ranking member Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, "is going to hold the line pretty strongly on this." Grassley helped write the compromise Senate bill.

See CongressDailyAM (subscription) for more on SCHIP.

Posted at 8:13 AM
Posted to: Congress, Health, Senate
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August 02, 2007

Senate Sends Lobbying Bill To Bush

The Senate this afternoon voted 83-14 to approve a comprehensive lobbying and disclosure bill, overcoming criticism that new curbs on earmarks had been watered down.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., called the bill "the most significant change in lobbying and ethics in the history of our country."

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., supported the final bill reluctantly.

"This bill isn't nearly as tough as it would have been on earmarks if Republicans had been involved in writing it," McConnell said. "But weighing the good and the bad, many provisions are stronger than current law."

Continue reading " Senate Sends Lobbying Bill To Bush"

Posted at 3:12 PM
Posted to: Congress, Senate
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August 01, 2007

McConnell Admits Spy Program Is Part Of Broader Effort

President Bush's critics have long insisted there is more to the administration's NSA spying program than anyone admitted, and new revelations from the country's top intelligence official now confirms some of those suspicions.

Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell said yesterday that the scope of the NSA's surveillance activities extended beyond the warrantless phone taps and e-mail monitoring that Bush described in December 2005.

In a letter sent yesterday to Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., the Washington Post reports, McConnell wrote that the executive order Bush gave after the 9/11 attacks covered "a number of... intelligence activities" -- not just the wiretap program.

"This is the only aspect of the NSA activities that can be discussed publicly, because it is the only aspect of those various activities whose existence has been officially acknowledged," McConnell said.

Continue reading "McConnell Admits Spy Program Is Part Of Broader Effort"

Posted at 10:21 AM
Posted to: Arlen Specter, Congress, Mike McConnell, President Bush, Senate, Terrorism
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July 31, 2007

House Dems Push Gonzales Impeachment; Specter Unhappy With WH Response

UPDATED.

Democratic Rep. Jay Inslee today laid out a case for forcibly removing Attorney General Alberto Gonzales from office, after filing a resolution [PDF] that would kick off preliminary impeachment proceedings.

"Americans of all stripes believe that we deserve an attorney general who will not allow the politicization of the judicial system," said the former prosecutor, flanked by other former officers of the law turned legislators. The attorney general should "respect the laws of privacy" and "be forthright with the American people and U.S. Congress," Inslee added.

If the resolution receives a simple majority, the House Judiciary Committee will conduct an investigation into whether Gonzales has committed any impeachable offenses, such as perjury.

The months-long investigation into the politically tinged firings of U.S. attorneys last year, and a related one into a secret surveillance program considered by many in DOJ to be illegal, has cast Gonzales in an unflattering light. He was elevated to the job from White House counsel in February 2005.

Democrats and Republicans alike have pushed for Gonzales to be fired or resign, but both the attorney general and President Bush, a longtime friend and career benefactor, have refused to give in. The White House has also ignored congressional subpoenas in the ongoing investigations.

Calling impeachment a "last resort," Inslee said that Congress' and the public's loss of faith in Gonzales was harmful to the judicial system and therefore to democracy. "Accordingly, I am here today with a number of colleagues to call on the Judiciary Committee in the House of Representatives to conduct a thorough investigation to determine whether articles of impeachment are appropriately lodged against the attorney general," the Washington lawmaker said.

Continue reading "House Dems Push Gonzales Impeachment; Specter Unhappy With WH Response"

Posted at 6:52 PM
Posted to: Alberto Gonzales, Arlen Specter, Attorney Scandal, Bush Administration, Congress, House, James Comey, John Ashcroft, Patrick Leahy, President Bush, Robert Mueller, Senate
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FBI, IRS Search Ted Stevens' Home

UPDATED.

Two watchdog groups are calling for Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens (R) to step down, at least temporarily, from any appropriations-related committee posts after FBI and IRS agents searched his home in Girdwood, Alaska, yesterday. The groups, Taxpayers for Common and Sense and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, asked Republican Senate leaders to suspend any appropriations-oversight duties Stevens may be responsible for as long as the federal investigation is ongoing.

Stevens is the second-highest ranking GOP member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and also serves on six appropriations subcommittees.

Meanwhile, the Anchorage Daily News reports that GOP Sens. Trent Lott, the minority whip, and Lisa Murkowski, a fellow Alaskan, spoke out in Stevens' defense today.

This afternoon, AP reported that a Senate Commerce Committee financial clerk who works for Stevens recently testified before a federal grand jury and provided documents in a public corruption investigation involving the senator.

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Posted at 3:25 PM
Posted to: Senate, Ted Stevens
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House Sends Ethics Bill To Senate

The House voted nearly unanimously in favor of an ethics reform bill this morning, sending the measure to the Senate, where it faces opposition from some Republicans.

By a vote of 411 to 8, lawmakers approved new disclosure rules for earmarks and donations from lobbyists. Democrats are hoping to secure the bill's passage through both houses of Congress before they depart for the August recess at the end of the week. Lobbying reform was a key element of the Democratic leadership's promise to root out the "culture of corruption" -- personified by disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff -- in the 2006 midterm elections.

AP has a breakdown of the bill's key provisions, The Hill delves into the complicated drafting process that led to the version lawmakers approved today, and CongressDailyAM (subscription) reported this morning on the hurdles the package faces in the Senate.

The bill's movement through Congress comes at an awkward time for at least one senator. Alaska Republican Ted Stevens will be casting his vote amid a federal investigation into his dealings with a housing contractor ensnared in a state bribing scandal.

Posted at 1:48 PM
Posted to: Congress, Crime, Jack Abramoff, Senate, Ted Stevens
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July 27, 2007

Mueller Contradicts Gonzales Over Spy Program

FBI Director Robert Mueller, in testimony yesterday before the House Judiciary Committee, contradicted statements by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales that there was no internal dispute within the administration about the legality of a warrantless eavedropping program.

The dispute revolves around a late-night visit in 2004 that Gonzales, as a White House counsel, and former White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card made to then-Attorney General John Ashcroft's hospital room, supposedly in an attempt to persuade Ashcroft to sign off on the terrorist surveillance program. The ailing Ashcroft refused because of concerns about its legality, according to testimony by former Deputy Attorney General James Comey.

Gonzales told the Senate Judiciary Committee this week that the visit was not related to the wiretapping program and there was no disagreement within the administration about it.

Mueller strongly suggested otherwise when asked about the meeting by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas.

Continue reading "Mueller Contradicts Gonzales Over Spy Program"

Posted at 10:29 AM
Posted to: Alberto Gonzales, Bush Administration, James Comey, John Ashcroft, Robert Mueller, Senate
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July 26, 2007

Rove Subpoenaed As Specter Slams Dems' Special Prosecutor Request

UPDATED.

The Senate Judiciary Committee has ordered President Bush's chief political aide, Karl Rove, to testify in the U.S. attorney firings investigation. One of Rove's aides, Deputy Political Director J. Scott Jennings, was subpoenaed as well.

It is doubtful the White House will allow Rove and Jennings to testify under oath before the panel. The administration has used an executive privilege claim to rebuff Congress' demands for access to testimony and documents related to the firings.

But the evidence gathered so far by the committee has convinced a great many observers that the firings were politically motivated. Several longtime Bush allies have joined the chorus calling for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' ouster.

The Senate panel has yet to join its counterpart in the House in citing uncooperative White House or DOJ officials for contempt. To move past the executive privilege claim that will undoubtedly come in response to Rove's subpoena, the Senate committee will have to do so.

Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy said that the White House's refusal to accommodate Congress was an indictment in itself.

"It is obvious that the reasons given for these firings were contrived as part of a cover-up and that the stonewalling by the White House is part and parcel of that same effort," the Vermont Democrat said in a statement. "This stonewalling is a dramatic break from the practices of every administration since World War II in responding to congressional oversight."

The White House, as per usual, dismissed the subpoenas as a meaningless political stunt.