House of Representatives

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Congressional Screwup May Force Farm Bill Do-Over

Pages missing from bill sent to Bush

(Newser) - A paper-shuffling error may force Congress to repeat its work on the $289-billion farm bill already passed—and vetoed by President Bush. The version of the bill sent to the president was missing a section, Reuters reports. That makes the president’s veto theoretically invalid. House Democrats tried to re-insert...

House Overrides Farm Bill Veto; Senate to Follow

Bush says $300B measure too wasteful

(Newser) - The House today overrode President Bush's veto of the $307 billion farm bill, and the Senate is expected to follow suit tomorrow morning, the Washington Post reports. Bush issued the 10th veto of his presidency this afternoon, complaining that the wide-ranging measure gives too much money to rich farmers and...

House Rejects $162.5B Bill to Fund Wars

Republicans abstain in protest, leading to surprise defeat

(Newser) - The House today shot down a $162.5 billion bill to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan into next year after a surprise tactic by angry Republicans, the Washington Post reports. The bill failed by a vote of 148-141 after 132 members of the GOP abstained. By doing so,...

As Dems Hog Spotlight, GOP Is Under Siege

Republicans are losing seats held for decades

(Newser) - While Democrats sparkle in the media glare, the Republican Party is quietly crumbling off-stage, Politico reports. President Bush’s numbers are lower than Richard Nixon’s before he resigned, and the GOP is losing House seats that it has held for 20 or 30 years. “The anti-Republican mood is...

House OKs Mortgage Rescue Plan, Despite Veto Threat

Plan would allow homeowners to get more stable government loans

(Newser) - The House today shrugged off a veto threat from President Bush and passed a wide-ranging rescue plan for US homeowners, Reuters reports. The centerpiece of the legislation would allow people to trade in risky, fast-rising mortgages for more stable government loans. The $300 billion measure would help an estimated 500,...

House Says No To Genetic Discrimination

Bush has pledged to sign bill; hoorays from docs and scientists

(Newser) - A long-suffering bill outlawing genetic discrimination by health insurers and in the workplace sailed through the House today, and President Bush has pledged to sign it into law, Reuters reports. The bill, forms of which have kicked around Washington for 13 years, forbids insurers from denying coverage based on genetic...

Senate Passes Bill Banning Genetic Bias

Law, approved 95-0, would protect people with hereditary risks

(Newser) - The Senate unanimously approved a bill today banning discrimination by employers and health insurers based on the results of genetic tests, the Los Angeles Times reports. Senators hope the measure will encourage testing for those who have abstained out of fear of professional or financial repercussions. The bill is expected...

CIA to Brief Congress on Syria-North Korea Nuke Pact

Washington moves close to N. Korea agreement

(Newser) - Details of a suspected secret pact between North Korea and Syria to supply Damascus with nuclear weapons technology will be revealed in closed-door CIA briefings of lawmakers, Reuters reports. The pact is apparently linked to an Israeli air raid on a suspected nuclear site in Syria last year. The briefing...

Indiana Pols Avoid Obama/ Clinton Decision

Host of factors makes five House Dems wary of May 6 endorsement

(Newser) - Indiana is poised to become a major battleground in the Democratic presidential race, but Indiana’s Democratic House representatives look like they’re ducking the firefight. Four of the five are in their first terms, seemingly unwilling to risk angering party brass or alienating voters. Indiana’s contest looks incredibly...

Senate Passes Housing Aid Bill
 Senate Passes Housing Aid Bill 

Senate Passes Housing Aid Bill

Wins approval by wide margin, but House, Bush opposition leave fate uncertain

(Newser) - The Senate approved a $15 billion measure to address the housing slump today, including $6 billion in total tax breaks to homebuilding firms and a $7,000 tax credit for buyers of foreclosed homes. Though it passed by an 84-12 margin, opposition from President Bush and the House could yet...

Supreme Court Stands Pat on FBI Raid of Rep's Office

Separation of powers violated, appeals ruled

(Newser) - The Supreme Court declined today to hear an appeal of a ruling that the FBI violated separation-of-powers law in a 2006 raid on the office of Rep. William Jefferson, the New York Times reports. Though the raid itself was not unconstitutional, an appeals court found, the FBI went too far...

Kevorkian Declares Bid for House Seat

Assisted suicide advocate vows to tout individual rights

(Newser) - Euthanasia advocate Jack Kevorkian declared a bid for Congress in Detroit today, the Detroit Free Press reports. In a free-wheeling press conference, he admitted to being apolitical but vowed to trumpet individual rights in his campaign. “You can’t take my innate rights away from me without a fight,...

Reynolds Joins Parade of Departing Republicans

'The last few years have not been fun for him'

(Newser) - New York Rep. Tom Reynolds became the 22nd House Republican to announce his retirement yesterday. Reynolds, a Dennis Hastert protégé once seen as a potential Speaker, was tainted by an embezzlement scandal on his watch as chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee. “The last few years have...

House in Rare Hush-Hush Huddle on Spy Bill

First secret session called in 25 years

(Newser) - The House held its first secret session in 25 years last night to debate a revamped spy bill, Reuters reports. Republicans said they needed the secrecy to give examples of how proposed changes to surveillance laws could endanger national security. The Democrats consented—but some skeptics suspected it was a...

House Sues Bush Aides Over Subpoenas

Lawsuit calls on Miers, Bolton to talk about fired prosecutors

(Newser) - Lawmakers sued two top Bush aides today to make them testify about the sacking of federal prosecutors in 2006. The House Judiciary Committee suit seeks to enforce subpoenas against White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten and former Bush counsel Harriet Miers, who have refused to testify or supply subpoenaed...

Where's Paul? Still Running
Where's Paul? Still Running

Where's Paul? Still Running

And he's got no intention of dropping out of the race

(Newser) - John McCain has knocked out the last of his Republican opponents, right? Ron Paul begs to differ. "I'm still involved, nothing has changed," he told MSNBC after successfully defending his Texas congressional seat in the GOP primary. Paul has no plans to drop out and will resume traveling...

House Passes Mental Health 'Parity' Bill

Requires comparable insurance coverage for illnesses of body, mind

(Newser) - The House has passed a bill requiring most group health insurers to provide comparable coverage for treatment of mental illness and addiction as they do for physical illness, the New York Times reports. "Illness of the brain must be treated just like illness anywhere else in the body,"...

Mukasey Nixes Bush Aides Contempt Case

AG rejects House request, saying no crime was committed

(Newser) - A  showdown over executive privilege got more likely yesterday when Attorney General Michael Mukasey said he wouldn't pursue contempt charges against two Bush aides, Reuters reports. Mukasey rejected the request from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to refer the case to a grand jury, arguing that they had committed no crime...

Bush Predicts GOP Victory
Bush Predicts GOP Victory

Bush Predicts GOP Victory

Boasts Republicans will keep White House, regain House, Senate, governor majority

(Newser) - President Bush insisted yesterday to the Republican Governors Association that Americans will elect another Republican to fill his shoes in November, AP reports. "And I don't want the next Republican president to be lonely," Bush said. "And that's why we got to take the House, retake the...

Renzi Should Step Down, House GOP Leader Says

GOP doesn't want to weather another scandal

(Newser) - House Minority Leader John Boehner is pressuring Rep. Rick Renzi, indicted yesterday for extortion, money laundering, and fraud in connection with an Arizona land deal, to step down, urging his fellow Republican "to seriously consider whether he can continue to effectively represent his constituents under these circumstances.” Boehner...

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