Senate

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GOP Indulges in Health Amendment Free-for-All

(Newser) - Reasoned debate is all well and good, but the more than 300 amendments offered to the health care reform bill by finance committee Republicans are “dangerously close to a parody,” Dana Milbank writes. Or maybe they’re already there. Take Orrin Hatch’s request for “transition relief...

Harkin: I've Got Votes to Pass Public Option

Democrats have votes to break filibuster, pass bill, he says

(Newser) - Sen. Tom Harkin sees no good reason Democrats can’t pass a health care bill that includes a public option. “I have polled senators, and the vast majority of Democrats—maybe approaching 50—support a public option,” the newly minted Health, Education, Labor and Pensions chairman said today....

2010 Won't See Another Republican Revolution
2010 Won't See Another Republican Revolution
OPINION

2010 Won't See Another Republican Revolution

Parallels with 1994 are exaggerated

(Newser) - Hopeful Republicans are starting to play up the similarities between 1994 and 2010 but any talk of a second Republican Revolution is probably just wishful thinking, writes Ed Kilgore in the New Republic. The Republican capture of the House in '94 was made possible by retiring Democrats—some 22 of...

Dukakis Is Gracious on Senate Snub
Dukakis Is Gracious on Senate Snub

Dukakis Is Gracious on Senate Snub

But allies say he was passed over due to Kennedy pressure

(Newser) - For a while it looked as if Michael Dukakis would be headed to the Senate to fill Ted Kennedy's seat, but the former Massachusetts governor says he's fine with being passed over. "Hey, after you've run for the presidency of the United States..." the 1988 candidate told the...

Ex-DNC Chair Kirk to Replace Kennedy

Family friend, former staffer was emcee at Teddy's memorial

(Newser) - Deval Patrick has chosen former Democratic Party national chairman Paul Kirk to replace Ted Kennedy in the Senate, giving Barack Obama the 60th vote he needs to pass health care reform. The 71-year-old Kirk is a former Kennedy staffer, and was such close friends with the senator that he served...

Former DNC Chief Kirk to Get Kennedy's Seat

(Newser) - Former DNC chairman Paul Kirk will get Ted Kennedy's Senate seat, sources tell Fox News. Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick is expected to make the formal pick tomorrow, assuming the state legislature irons out the logistics today. Kennedy's sons called Patrick to push for Kirk, 71, a Boston attorney who served...

Curt Schilling Nixes Run for Kennedy Seat

Former Red Sox star says Mass. effort 'just did not make sense'

(Newser) - Curt Schilling won’t be jumping into the political ring after all. The Red Sox legend ruled out a run for Ted Kennedy’s senate seat last night on Joe Buck Live, saying it “just did not make sense.” Schilling, an outspoken conservative, had publicly considered running, and...

Congress Wants McChrystal in Hot Seat

Members of both parties want testimony, but Pentagon is not forthcoming

(Newser) - With the White House beset by classified leaks and agonizing over a new Afghan strategy, lawmakers from both parties in both Houses of Congress are calling for a sitdown with Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the Wall Street Journal reports. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has refused requests for testimony from McChrystal until...

Mass. Senate Clears Way for Kennedy Successor

(Newser) - Gov. Deval Patrick should be able to name a Democratic replacement for Ted Kennedy's Senate seat before the end of the week, the Boston Globe reports. Legislation giving hm the authority to do so cleared the state Senate today, a week after the House passed it. The measure still needs...

Fall Sends Byrd to Hospital
 Fall Sends Byrd to Hospital 

Fall Sends Byrd to Hospital

Spokesman says Democratic senator will likely not be admitted

(Newser) - Sen. Robert Byrd is at the hospital after a fall at his Northern Virginia home, the Washington Post reports. The 91-year-old West Virginia Democrat has been scarce at the Capitol recently after a previous hospitalization that ended in June. The longest-serving US senator ever “apparently stood up too fast...

Will Real Senate Leaders Please Stand Up?

Kennedy's death left a void—and no one is stepping up to fill it

(Newser) - As Democrats fight among themselves over health care, it’s becoming painfully clear that they lack a clear public leader on the issue, writes Manu Raju for Politico. In part it’s because, with a number of House and Senate committees involved, there are too many cooks stirring the pot,...

Senate OKs Passenger Guns on Amtrak
Senate OKs Passenger
Guns on Amtrak

Senate OKs Passenger Guns on Amtrak

Refusal to allow firearms would cost system fed funds under bill

(Newser) - Amtrak passengers would be allowed to carry unloaded guns in locked containers in their checked baggage under a measure passed by the Senate yesterday, reports the New York Times. The rail corporation banned guns from checked baggage after the 9/11 attacks. The measure won the backing of all Senate Republicans...

Kennedy Successor May Come Soon
Kennedy Successor May Come Soon

Kennedy Successor May Come Soon

Massachusetts Dems say they've got the votes in both houses

(Newser) - It's possible that Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick will be able to name a senator to fill Ted Kennedy's seat sometime next week, the Boston Globe reports. Proponents of the plan say they've now got enough votes, barely, in both state chambers to pull it off. The situation is diciest in...

Wrestling CEO Linda McMahon to Run for Senate

Says Chris Dodd has 'lost his way and our trust'

(Newser) - In an announcement sure to inspire a barrage of “stepping into the ring” cracks, Linda McMahon, wife of Vince McMahon and until now CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, is seeking the Republican nomination to take on Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd, the Hartford Courant reports. McMahon promised to be “...

Wilson's Outburst May Put Dukakis in Kennedy's Seat

Anger at lawmaker's 'you lie!' could prompt change in Mass. law

(Newser) - Anger at Joe Wilson’s “You lie!” attack may have provided the spark Massachusetts’ Democratic lawmakers needed to honor Ted Kennedy’s wish: that the state’s governor be given the power to appoint a temporary replacement for Kennedy, writes Dan Payne for the Daily Beast. The top...

Economy Wallops Lawmakers' Fortunes

Combined, members of Congress sough off hundreds of millions

(Newser) - The 50 richest members of Congress are still rich, but their personal finances show they’re not immune to the economic downturn, Roll Call reports. Together, the pols on the list have lost $275 million in personal wealth since 2007. In 2008, the legislators' combined assets of $1.3 billion...

Franken Gets Funny Again
 Franken Gets 
 Funny Again 



Franken Gets Funny Again

Senator has crowd chuckling at Iowa fundraiser

(Newser) - As a latecomer to the Senate this year, Al Franken’s been playing it straight—but he loosened up enough to venture a few jokes at an Iowa fundraiser yesterday, CNN reports. Discussing Sen. Tom Harkin’s new post as head of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee,...

Obama Skirts Accountability With Policy Czars: Hutchison

Rules are being bent to expand executive power, senator writes

(Newser) - The Obama administration is using its many policy “czars” to skirt the accountability and transparency established by the founding fathers, writes Kay Bailey Hutchison in the Washington Post. The administration has an “unprecedented” 32 czar positions, and “unfortunately,” the senator from Texas writes, “virtually no...

Sorry, Glenn Beck: Senate Confirms Sunstein

57-40 vote goes mostly along party lines

(Newser) - Cass Sunstein, President Obama’s nominee for a bureaucratic White House post, has been confirmed in a 57-40 Senate vote largely along party lines, Politico reports. Sunstein, who will monitor federal regulations as director of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, has been under attack by conservatives...

'You Lie' Rep Essentially Right
 'You Lie' Rep 
 Essentially Right 



OPINION

'You Lie' Rep Essentially Right

Joe Wilson not wrong about Obama wanting to insure illegals

(Newser) - Give Joe Wilson a break. It’s hard to fit the complexities of policy into an outburst during a presidential address, but the South Carolina congressman has a point: If you connect two of President Obama’s top policy priorities, he does want to give insurance to illegal immigrants. It’...

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