Senate

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Maine's Other Senator Could Swing Health Reform

Eyes turn to Susan Collins as Dems ramp up courtship

(Newser) - Last week Sen. Olympia Snowe was the center of attention of Capitol Hill as she bucked the GOP line to support health care reform, but now Maine's other Republican senator, Susan Collins, is the one to watch. Both women voted for President Obama's stimulus package in February, and Democrats and...

Dems, GOP Fight Over Medicare Rates
Dems, GOP
Fight Over Medicare Rates
Oct 21, 2009 12:33 PM CDT

Dems, GOP Fight Over Medicare Rates

Republicans say foes are trying to hide true cost

(Newser) - A new health care-related bill is in the spotlight on Capitol Hill, as senators battle over a Democratic proposal to freeze Medicare rates for doctors at the current rate for 10 years—overriding a 21% cut scheduled for January. Democrats say the bill, which is backed by lobbyists from the...

Senate OKs US Trials for Gitmo Prisoners

Obama expected to sign measure aimed at speeding jail's closure

(Newser) - President Obama won a modest victory today in his continuing effort to close the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba and allowing the government to continue to transfer detainees to the US for prosecution. The plan to permit terror suspects to be shipped to U.S. soil to face trial passed...

Reid to 'Vaporize' GOP Challengers: Aide
 Reid to 'Vaporize' 
 GOP Challengers: Aide 
ELECTION 2010
Oct 20, 2009 1:25 PM CDT

Reid to 'Vaporize' GOP Challengers: Aide

Senate majority leader studying Corzine for cues to effective negative campaign

(Newser) - Harry Reid, his re-election campaign wilting in the polls, is getting ready to rumble: The Senate majority leader is promising an intensely negative campaign against the 2010 GOP challenger for his Senate seat. With his $8.7 million war chest—the largest ever for a Nevada statewide race—Reid will...

Defense Dept. Opposed Anti-Rape Rule for Contractors

But lefties ripped GOP senators for nay votes

(Newser) - When 30 Republicans voted against an Al Franken amendment prohibiting defense contractors from forcing their employees to agree not to sue if they’re raped, Jon Stewart and liberals everywhere went ballistic. But those 30 Republicans weren’t alone, the Huffington Post reports; the Defense Department opposed the amendment as...

Public Option Now Has Legs in Senate
 Public Option Now 
 Has Legs in Senate 

so much for baucus bill
Oct 20, 2009 8:58 AM CDT

Public Option Now Has Legs in Senate

Hostile insurance industry pushes Dems to consider grab-bag of proposals

(Newser) - The public option, left for dead by the Max Baucus bill that passed the Finance Committee just weeks ago, has a new lease on life in the Senate. Credit goes to a CBO report underwhelmed by that bill's efforts to encourage competition, and a big power play by the insurance...

Energy Lobby Split on Climate, Thrilling Greens

Natural gas companies squabble with Big Oil as Senate negotiates

(Newser) - With the Senate set to consider legislation to tax carbon and rein in global warming, a split has emerged among the energy lobby that may make it easier to pass a clean-energy law. Natural gas producers favor a bill, while their colleagues in the oil industry oppose it; electric companies...

Six Senate Swing Votes


 Six Senate 
 Swing Votes 
HEALTH REFORM
Oct 14, 2009 12:55 PM CDT

Six Senate Swing Votes

From Dems who swing right to left-leaning GOPers, debate promises suspense

(Newser) - As health care reform bills merge and change on the Senate floor, the pool of legislators to watch has grown. The Wall Street Journal takes a look:
  • Olympia Snowe, R-Maine: Her vote for the Finance Committee bill was clutch, but "doesn't forecast what my vote will be tomorrow,"
...

Obama Praises 'Critical Milestone' of Baucus Bill

Instead of celebrating, 'now is time to dig in'

(Newser) - President Obama called today's passage of legislation by a key Senate committee "a critical milestone" toward getting a health care overhaul this year, but said "now is not the time to pat ourselves on the back." Obama spoke in the Rose Garden about two hours after the...

Jay Rockefeller Is the New Teddy
 Jay Rockefeller 
 Is the New Teddy 
analysis
Oct 7, 2009 1:10 PM CDT

Jay Rockefeller Is the New Teddy

Senator inherits Kennedy's cause of health care reform

(Newser) - Jay Rockefeller shares little of the temperament of the late Ted Kennedy, but what they do share is essential. “Massive wealth and a virtual lock on his Senate seat frees a man to do what he believes in,” writes Margaret Carlson. And for both men—the West Virginia...

Senate Bill Likely to Come Down to Reid, Dodd, Baucus
Senate Bill Likely to Come Down to Reid, Dodd, Baucus
HEALTH NEGOTIATIONS
Oct 7, 2009 11:27 AM CDT

Senate Bill Likely to Come Down to Reid, Dodd, Baucus

Baucus, Dodd the only senators with secure seats at negotiating table

(Newser) - Every senator worth their salt is salivating for a seat at the table when Harry Reid merges the Senate’s two competing health care bills—but the vast majority will instead have their noses pressed to the glass. Reid hopes to speed things up by keeping the group small, Politico...

2010 a Toss-Up as Indies Flee the Dems
 2010 a Toss-Up as 
 Indies Flee the Dems 
gallup poll
Oct 7, 2009 10:03 AM CDT

2010 a Toss-Up as Indies Flee the Dems

But trend and dismal 21% approval of Congress could spell Dem's demise

(Newser) - The sizable lead among registered voters Democrats have maintained since the 2006 midterm elections has eroded to almost nothing. In the latest Gallup poll, Dems have just a 2-point advantage over Republicans going into the 2010 midterms, 46% to 44%, well within the sampling error. That’s down from a...

House Dems Fear Senate, WH Steamroll on Health Care

Moderates don't want to spend risky votes on legless progressive bill

(Newser) - House Democrats on both ends of the spectrum are feeling sorry for themselves as they struggle to shape a final health care reform bill. The bill is widely expected—based in no small part on Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s proclamations—to include a public option, a tax on wealthy Americans,...

GOP to Steele: We Set Policy, Not You

(Newser) - Congressional GOP leaders met with RNC chairman Michael Steele late last month to assert their authority when it comes to policymaking, and while those involved said the get-together in House Minority Leader John Boehner’s office was routine, Politico's sources described it as heated. Of particular concern was Steele’s...

Obama Makes Backstage Push for Public Option

Despite public retreat, president plying Senate moderates

(Newser) - Though Barack Obama has publicly backed off in his support for the public option, behind the scenes he’s campaigning hard to make it happen. He’s spent a lot of time in recent weeks calling moderate senators like Olympia Snowe, Ben Nelson, and Maria Cantwell, armed with polls showing...

Republicans Can Retake House in a 2010 'Landslide'

If trends continue, Republicans could gain 40 seats

(Newser) - Fred Barnes surveys the political landscape and sees the possibility of Republicans gaining up to 40 House seats—and thus regaining control of the chamber—in the 2010 elections. "A landslide of that dimension is quite possible," he writes. Democrats have time to reverse the trend, but they're...

Forget Baucus: Reid Takes Reins on Health Care

Tough issues will be on the table as the majority leader tries to hammer out a bill

(Newser) - In the Senate Finance Committee, it's all over but the voting, and Democratic hopes for health care reform now rest with Harry Reid, who has to pull something cogent (and passable) out of a welter of conflicting proposals from several committees. That puts him the "in the eye of...

I'd Vote for Health Bill: Frist

Obama's reforms are a step in the right direction, former Senate majority leader says

(Newser) - Health care reform legislation has the unexpected support of a prominent physician: former Senate Republican leader Bill Frist. If he were still in politics, “I would end up voting for it," Frist said. The surgeon also blamed some Republicans for not engaging seriously in the health care debate:...

Unbowed by Loss, McCain Fights for Moderate GOP
Unbowed by Loss, McCain Fights for Moderate GOP
ANALYSIS
Oct 2, 2009 7:26 AM CDT

Unbowed by Loss, McCain Fights for Moderate GOP

Senator fills leadership void with donations, endorsements, advice

(Newser) - Less than a year ago John McCain still hoped to be president, but the Arizona senator has a new mission now: reshaping the Republican Party around his own brand of moderate, pragmatic conservatism. While previous unsuccessful candidates for the top job have withdrawn after defeat, McCain is offering endorsements to...

How Edwards' Aide Morphed From Devotee to Sellout

Tell-all author was disturbingly attached to senator, to his wife's dismay

(Newser) - Andrew Young was right there every time John Edwards needed a Diet Coke, dry cleaning, a ride from the airport, and finally a babydaddy for his mistress. The "personal servant" who turned tell-all author—other aides even called him Edward’s “butt boy”—showed a fierce devotion...

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