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By Charles Emmerson
$19.11
$23
$18
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The New York Times / Doug Mills
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On Friday the House approved, after initially rejecting, the $700-billion bailout package for the financial industry in what is likely to be the most expensive government intervention in the nation’s history. This, of course, only slightly surpasses another notable “government intervention”—the nearly $600 billion spent in the war in Iraq.
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By David Sirota — The marriage of American capitalism and democracy has always been a Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee affair—stormy and erratic since its hasty wedding. But during the debate over a Wall Street bailout this week, we watched that matrimonial knot unwind into a tangled tale of terror.
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By Eugene Robinson — We all owe a debt of thanks to the skeptics who refused to be steamrollered by the Bush administration’s $700-billion financial bailout plan until we at least had some understanding of what we were doing and why.
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commons.wikimedia.org
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The Bloomberg news service counts 10 lawmakers who may be ready to switch their votes when the bailout proposal takes another run at the House of Representatives. The original measure failed by only 23 votes and has since been substantially fattened by the Senate.
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By Joe Conason — The initial failure to pass bailout legislation reflected a political system as bereft of confidence as the financial markets.
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Flickr / Qfamily
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Well, that was easy: While the House had to contend with round-the-clock negotiations and a last-minute revolt, the Senate just threw more money at the problem. That was enough for 74 lawmakers to say yes to the $810-billion package. The House will take another crack at it on Friday.
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White House / Susan Sterner
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The House couldn’t swallow the $700-billion bailout proposal, so the Senate added about $100 billion of incentives—mostly in the form of tax cuts. The Senate will vote on the proposal tonight and the House could decide as early as Friday whether $700 billion is too much, but $800 billion is just about right.
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youtube.com
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Despite House Minority Leader John Boehner’s claim, backed up by other Republicans in Congress, that the bailout bill might have passed were it not for meddling House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s bombastic speech on Monday, others from within GOP ranks beg to differ.
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montage: White House / Wikimedia Commons
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The Dow dropped more than 777 points on the news that the House had voted down the $700-billion bailout proposal, so why does our editor think it’s “a great moment for American democracy”?
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Did Nancy Pelosi’s speech just before the House vote on the proposed bailout on Monday lead to the bill’s demise? Let’s hope our legislators aren’t so susceptible that an 11th-hour speech would reverse their positions vis-à-vis a $700-billion measure. Here’s a clip of the House speaker’s comments on the floor.
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White House / Eric Draper
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When it came to a showdown in the House, the $700-billion bailout scheme was considered to be as toxic as the securities it was supposed to save us from. Democrats and Republicans broke ranks Monday to vote down the measure, 228-205, against the wishes of both parties’ leaders.
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house.gov
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Just a day after negotiations seemed to break down, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi struck a confident tone. So did Rep. Barney Frank, who threw in some of his patented sass: “Now that Sen. McCain is safely in Mississippi, we can get to serious work.”
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — John McCain’s sudden intervention in Washington’s deliberations over the Wall Street bailout could not have been more out of sync with what was actually happening.
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — Unless something very strange happens, Congress will pass a massive bailout of the financial system by the end of this week simply because every other option is worse. But the content of the bailout package matters enormously.
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White House / David Bohrer
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How far was Dick Cheney (above) willing to go to get his war in Iraq? Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, quoted in Washington Post reporter Barton Gellman’s new book, says the vice president hoodwinked him during a one-on-one meeting in the Capitol.
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Flickr / smellyknee
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As the most powerful woman in government, Nancy Pelosi is used to confronting political rivals, but the House speaker has trouble on her flank. Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan (above), displeased with the Democrats’ lack of progress against the war, has gathered enough signatures to challenge Pelosi as an independent.
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White House / David Bohrer
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Once again, the Republicans have managed to take a nonsense issue and make rain. Nancy Pelosi wants to save the planet, and she knows offshore drilling is a “hoax,” but the House speaker is under fire and she’s starting to budge.
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Flickr / ccgd
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According to the Politico, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has given her blessing to vulnerable Democrats to rebel against the party’s position on offshore drilling. The strategy goes something like this: Pelosi plays the liberal from San Francisco while representatives of more conservative districts berate her. With a majority intact, the Democrats push through a comprehensive energy policy sometime in 2009.
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twitter.com
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House Republicans are camping out in the Capitol, trying to pressure an up-or-down vote on offshore drilling. The lights and the C-SPAN cameras are off, but a number of lawmakers have turned to new media sites such as YouTube and even Twitter to microblog their dissent.
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White House / Eric Draper
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The House Judiciary Committee cited former presidential adviser Karl Rove for contempt of Congress because of his refusal to testify on the politicization of the Justice Department. There’s still plenty of red tape keeping Bush’s Brain from a day of reckoning. A full vote on the citation won’t happen—if it happens at all—until September, and by the time the lawyers get involved, George W. Bush will be back in Crawford whacking brush.
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With the caveat that the House of Representatives is not to blame, Nancy Pelosi tells Jon Stewart that “in terms of Congress’ performance on the war, I’m with the public on that. I’m disappointed.” But she doesn’t blame her Democratic colleagues in the Senate, either. It’s those pesky Republicans in all their untamed minority.
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commons.wikimedia.org
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There’s a lot the president doesn’t like about the new housing bill, just passed by the House, but he’ll hold his nose and sign it. The package includes huge guarantees for Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae—the national debt ceiling had to be lifted by about $800 billion, just in case—but also rescue for hundreds of thousands of homeowners at risk of foreclosure.
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In this clip from “The O’Reilly Factor,” Karl Rove briefly defends his decision to ignore a House subcommittee subpoena before Bill O’Reilly seizes the opportunity to suggest that the left-wing media hate him because his show is entertaining and successful.
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White House / Eric Draper
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One of the benefits of saturating the American people with scandal is that folks eventually stop paying attention. That’s certainly the case with Plamegate, which is still being investigated despite the president’s best efforts to the contrary and a public that has generally moved on.
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itpsites.com
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If there was one word that summed up the political tenor of the Bush II presidency, it definitely wouldn’t be accountability. On Friday, this was once again made clear as the House of Representatives passed a bill granting retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies that allowed their networks to be used by the government to eavesdrop on Americans following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
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By Marie Cocco — In 225 days, at least one high-ranking politician will become unemployed. How many will join President Bush in retirement?
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EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson got the oversight chairman’s blood going by refusing to answer a straightforward question, but it was fellow Congressman Darrell Issa who sent Waxman’s gavel flying. The best part about being chairman is you get to say: “I will have you physically removed from this meeting if you don’t stop.”
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Flickr / alforque
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A former EPA official, Jason Burnett, told congressional investigators that the White House interfered in a decision regarding California’s regulation of carbon emissions. EPA staff members were unanimous in supporting California’s right to tougher restrictions, Burnett said, but after the agency spoke with the White House and got “input into the rationale” from Bush aides, the state’s request was denied.
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Flickr / sfadden
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Leading senators think they have made a bipartisan breakthrough on legislation aimed at the mortgage crisis. A parallel effort in the House met with Republican opposition, and it’s not entirely clear where President Bush and his veto pen stand on the matter.
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AP photo / Anja Niedringhaus
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By Anna Badkhen — Sectarian violence has driven millions of Iraqis from their homes. Now that the violence has abated in one formerly upscale Baghdad neighborhood, residents are returning to find squatters who refuse to leave and a government and occupying army unwilling to kick them out.
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — The first important election result for the senator in May—coming before his North Carolina victory—was the outcome of a little-noticed U.S. House contest in Louisiana.
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By Marie Cocco — Senate Republicans are determined to join with the Supreme Court to keep women on the losing end of discriminatory pay.
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Flickr / Kiwi NZ
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From the L.A. Times: “In what appears to be the latest symptom of the nation’s mortgage meltdown and credit crisis, insurers, law enforcement officials and state agencies nationwide report a jump in home and automobile fires in the last year believed to have been set by owners unable to pay their debts.”
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publicradio.org
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With a mind-set reminiscent of the Bush administration’s recent bailout of mortgage lenders, the Senate last week approved the Foreclosure Prevention Act, a bill that provides billions of dollars in tax breaks to big businesses like Ford and General Motors but takes only modest steps in addressing the plight of homeowners.
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AP photo / Charles Dharapak
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Nancy Pelosi in recent weeks has been living up to her reputation as a critic of China. In an interview airing Tuesday, the House speaker tells “Good Morning America” that President Bush should consider skipping the opening ceremonies. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has already said “nein” to the affair.
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The New York Times / James Hill
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By Patrick Cockburn — All governments lie in wartime, but American and British propaganda in Iraq over the past five years has been more untruthful than in any other conflict since the First World War.
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By Marie Cocco — Elections do matter. Some people who win office really do keep campaign promises. And legislation the public wants—but which the politicians, by and large, don’t—actually can be enacted, even if the kicking and screaming can practically be heard coming from behind those infamously closed doors.
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boston.com
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At the request of House Republicans, Congress on Thursday held a closed-door session to debate the FISA warrantless eavesdropping bill. The last time a closed-door session occurred was in 1983, when lawmakers convened in secret to discuss clandestine U.S. support of Contra paramilitaries in Nicaragua.
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Flickr / Abstract Plain
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Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama weren’t the only ones toughing it out Tuesday night. Rep. Dennis Kucinich managed to fight off no fewer than four primary challengers to hold on to his party’s nomination and, in all likelihood, his seat in the House of Representatives. It appears that the Democrats of Ohio’s 10th District are happy with his service: He won by almost 20 points.
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international.wi.gov
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What has the power to unite progressive Democrats and conservative Republicans? According to a compelling article in the San Francisco Chronicle, agribusiness is having its way in Congress, even getting Democrats to cut food stamps to make room for subsidies.
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By Andy Borowitz — Of all the voices in Washington recently, who could be better equipped to speak for this president than Roger Clemens?
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duchessjournal.blogspot.com
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Steve Cobble argues in The Nation that Dennis Kucinich, unlike John Edwards, never got proper credit for moving the other candidates leftward. Instead, “the snark and abuse offered Kucinich” when he dropped out was undeserved for a congressman from a tough district who has taken admirable and consistent positions on the issues.
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By Marie Cocco — House Republicans were able to keep an extension of unemployment benefits out of the recently announced stimulus package, which is too bad, since it’s one measure that would actually help the ailing economy.
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flcikr / abstract plain
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Dennis Kucinich is expected to announce Friday that he is dropping out of the race for the White House. The Ohio congressman faces four challengers in the primary for his seat in the House. Kucinich’s congressional campaign sent out an “urgent personal appeal” to supporters for donations on Wednesday.
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By David Sirota — It is state legislators—not those celebrities of Capitol Hill—who are the innovators in seeking remedies to problems such as the health care mess.
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Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., responding to closed testimony from the CIA’s acting general counsel, John Rizzo, said it appeared that the officer who destroyed evidence of “enhanced” interrogations was acting against orders. Jose Rodriguez, the official in question, is asking for immunity before he tells his side of the story to Congress.
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cnn.com
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The House has followed in the wake of the Senate, saying yes to $70 billion in funds for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Anti-war Democrats have had little success overcoming Republican filibusters and a publicity blitz meant to sell the “surge.”
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By Marie Cocco — After a generation of self-indulgence, America is very close to taking a big step away from foreign oil and all of the environmental and security problems we’ve come to associate with that phrase. Now, if we can just keep the energy industry at bay… .
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — With respect to Latino voters, politicians find themselves between a surge and a backlash. While popular anti-immigrant rhetoric could help Republicans take back House seats, it could well cost them the presidency.
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CIA Director General Michael Hayden has been summoned by Congress and will appear Tuesday and Wednesday before the Senate and House Intelligence committees to answer questions about the destruction of secret CIA videotapes that documented the abuse of detainees. The White House counsel, meanwhile, has ordered press secretary Dana Perino to keep quiet on the matter.
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