Here's a story that claims up to 10% of members of Congress sleep in their offices. So much for the Miller/Schumer/Durbin Animal House (link via my good friend and co-author Michael Ensley).
And that's all for the blogging this semester. Good luck preparing for finals and all of your future endeavors.
Work ahead for Congress
With the big oil spill in the Gulf, Congress is only beginning the process of figuring out an appropriate action. It seems that something will be done, but with so many other things going on in Congress, such as Immigration, Financial Reform, and worrying about reelection, something will have to go to the back burner.
banks tap Washington pipeline for lobbyists
This is a great example of todays lecture: The "K" Street connection
The country's largest banks and trade groups have hired more than 240 former government officials and legislative staffers to lobby on their behalf in Congress
The country's largest banks and trade groups have hired more than 240 former government officials and legislative staffers to lobby on their behalf in Congress
Mid terms and a fight for the supreme court
With mid term election coming up quickly, most of congress wants to get back to the “voters” , now they have to deal with a new supreme court judge. A fight is sure to come, and already the lines are drawn..
Tea anyone?
Tea anyone?
Senator Bennett loses Primary? O.o
What does the primary loss of a powerful conservative like Robert Bennett (Utah) mean? Is the Tea Party that strong? Are all incumbants in trouble? Or is this the first time that a conservative was held accountable, when sitting on the Appropriations Committee, for allowing the deficit to explode?
Indiana Senate Race Begins...
New polling puts Republican Dan Coats at 51% and Democratic rival Brad Ellsworth at 36% in the first Rasmussen survey of the Indiana Senate race for 2010.
Bipartisanship
This really shows the two faces of a senator, the face he puts on for the camera, and the face he used with his fellow senators. I read this and after our class on the two faces this struck me as a prime example.
A different look at the how and why they work the way they do.
A different look at the how and why they work the way they do.
The dems responce to Dave Obey: A Champion for Wisconsin
I thought this was interesting considering the unexpected retirement of Dave Obey. Seems like they are in a quandry.
Wall St. hypocrisy?
In the ongoing Wall St. reform battle between Republicans and Democrats words have been hurled back and forth in the attempt to define the opposition. Recently Senator Reid said something to the effect that Mitch McConnel and his ilk were cozying up to Wall St. Yet as this article shows, Reid has done some cozying of his own. An invitation to a financial firm on Wall St. for a Reid campaign fundraiser was discovered by Politico. Reid says it's not solicitation for campaign contributions from Wall St. PAC's, but doesn't it seem reasonable that someone on his campaign staff would have double checked the mailing list?
The party's control of Congress depends in part on Hispanics, a key constituency, voting Democratic
The Dems concerned about losing seats, not must at least policy court the Hispanics on the immigration reform. If they do not successfully pull this off, they are afraid they will lose control over congress. With many open seats, this is not the time to anger this key voting block.
“Hispanic voters have long been frustrated that Obama's campaign promise to pass immigration reform has not been kept. Some members of the House Hispanic Caucus agreed to vote for his health care overhaul on the understanding that he would push immigration reform through this year.”
Now is the time to belly up to the bar!!!
“Hispanic voters have long been frustrated that Obama's campaign promise to pass immigration reform has not been kept. Some members of the House Hispanic Caucus agreed to vote for his health care overhaul on the understanding that he would push immigration reform through this year.”
Now is the time to belly up to the bar!!!
Republicans Aim at Democrats with a similar strategy
Republicans aim at the Democrats strategy for fundraising, led by Karl Rove.
Obey To Retire
David Obey, the House Appropriations Committee Chairman and a senior member of the congressional Democratic leadership, has announced that he will retire this November. Obey is a representative for WI's 7th congressional district and has been in office since 1969. This will definitely open the eyes of Republicans who will see this as a pivotal moment. Democrats, on the other hand, have to be concerned that this may create a ripple effect and lead to them losing House majority.
Biometric Social Security cards
This article details a plan put forth by D- Chuck Schumer and R-Linsey Graham. The plan would link your social security card through biometrics. This plan they claim would prevent illegal immigrants from getting work through fake I.D.s. This sounds like a great plan however there are problems. Michael Cherry who is president of identification-technology company Cherry biometrics questions several parts. "What study have we done?" "We just have a few assumptions" Cherry states. The article lists potential problems such as the size and scale of the project and the costs of making companies install these card readers. The error rate would be less than 1% however that number comes to 1.5 million people as the article states. Finally this quote makes me the most skeptical of the techonlogy, "Cherry half-jokes that someone could falsify such an ID in 15 minutes, and Khosla says that while current technology makes fingerprints the most feasible biometric marker to use, they're also one of the easiest to steal." Dean Pradeep Khosla is founding director of Carnegie Mellon's cybersecurity lab. I think that before we trust the government with this massive a program we make sure that it can be done correctly.
Sen Nelson convinces Obama to review Off Shore Drilling
In light of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Florida Sen Nelson asked Obama to stop all new offshore drilling until a review of safety can be completed. After spending the day surveying the impact of the spill, it looks like the future of offshore drilling is in jeopardy.
Maybe all those people who want offshore drilling should fly down to Louisianna and clean the oil off the birds with their Drill Baby Drill T-shirts.
Maybe all those people who want offshore drilling should fly down to Louisianna and clean the oil off the birds with their Drill Baby Drill T-shirts.
Seven Questions about the 2010 Election
John Sides of the Monkey Cage posts some thoughts on the kinds of questions he thinks that political journalists should be asking. These would make for more interesting news stories than eating in a diner in every single state, no?
More of the same...
This article is essentially just discussing the fact that this year's mid-terms are looking to be a rough election for democrats, even though there are some optimistic democrats. It is interesting the comment towards the beginning of the article about how even though the republicans were prepared in 2006, they still lost because it was essentially a referendum of the party in power.
"Henry, I agree with you about two things," Pelosi interjected. "The president put out some numbers, and, number two, you don't speak for the House."
"That exchange captures the power that the speaker wields. She — not a committee chairman — is the Democratic decider on almost every major issue, from which bills reach the House floor to key political decisions involving campaigns." – Paul Kane, The Washington Post.
The back door secens of your "madam" Nancy Patricia D'Alesandro Pelosi.
EDITED for poor formating. Odd spellings and word choices remain those of the author.
The back door secens of your "madam" Nancy Patricia D'Alesandro Pelosi.
EDITED for poor formating. Odd spellings and word choices remain those of the author.
A new way to get the minority vote?
Seems a bit unusual to get arrested just to get re-elected, or a new way to introduce legislation!!
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