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By Francis Robinson
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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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CBS continues to ration out the Sarah Palin morsels to a nation eager to know and see more. In this clip, the Alaska governor defends her joke about Joe Biden’s age by saying, “You know, I’m the new energy, the new face, the new ideas and he’s got the experience based on many, many years in the Senate. ...”
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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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Flickr / soggydan
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Citing the financial crisis, John McCain announced Wednesday that he’d like to skip Friday’s debate so he can put on his senator hat and get back to work in Washington. Unimpressed, Rep. Barney Frank called the idea “the longest Hail Mary pass in the history of either football or Marys.” Update
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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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A new advocacy organization with strong ties to the oil industry is funding pro-drilling radio ads, including one criticizing the energy votes of Rep. Mark Udall, a Colorado Democrat running for the U.S. Senate.
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biden.senate.gov
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Either Joe Biden is practicing a kinder, gentler form of campaign-trail politics or Karl Rove’s got another thing coming ... just not right this very moment. On Tuesday, after hearing that Karl Rove called him a “big blowhard doofus” at the RNC the previous day, Biden just had a smile and a patriotic compliment for Bush’s one-time sidekick.
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biden.senate.gov
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By the time Barack Obama officially confirmed that Joe Biden was to be his running mate, John McCain’s campaign had prepped its response—as Obama’s own camp has no doubt done for McCain’s pick from the Republican VP pool. Two candidates = double the attack-ad fodder!
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By David Sirota — If you believe the chatter, Barack Obama is desperately seeking a white guy—any white guy—to be his running mate. Hopefully, he doesn’t choose Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh, whose only major accomplishment is helping to bend his party to the will of corporations.
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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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AP photo / Lauren Victoria Burke
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Just when it seemed they wouldn’t have enough votes to pass a key Medicare bill, Democratic senators staged a dramatic coup by secretly whisking Sen. Edward Kennedy into the Capitol on Wednesday to cast his vote and make his first congressional appearance since he was diagnosed with brain cancer in May.
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Executive Office of the President of the United States
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You know a legislative compromise is one-sided when the AP headline announcing its passage reads “Senate Bows to Bush.” Democratic advocates of the new FISA bill, passed by the Senate on Wednesday, are still trying to explain what they got in exchange for rolling back a few civil liberties and burying some of the president’s abuses. When they figure it out, someone, somewhere, will surely be listening.
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By Amy Goodman — I was on a panel at the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado this week when Newsweek’s Jonathan Alter asked me, “Is Obama a sellout?”
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jumpcut.com / anselpixel2
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After doing everything but follow the overwhelming anti-war mandate given by voters in the 2006 congressional elections, the Democratic-controlled Congress accepted a war bill late Thursday that will keep U.S. troops in Iraq until at least Jan. 20.
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Flickr / seiu_international
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Hillary Clinton went back to work Tuesday “with an even greater depth and awareness of what we have to do here in Washington,” she said. The senator was greeted at the Capitol by a cheering crowd on her first return since losing the nomination.
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commons.wikimedia.org
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With statements such as “if the detainee dies, you’re doing it wrong” guiding our government’s thinking during the formation and implementation of interrogation techniques, it’s no wonder Carl Levin and others were outraged in the Senate on Tuesday.
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By David Sirota — Some say Hillary Clinton’s defeat was the victory of sexism—but Obama faced at least as much racism. No, this resounding defeat goes beyond pernicious isms and beyond one candidate—it is a fist-pounding rejection of a corrupt ideology.
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Flickr / XcBiker
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Forty-one Senate Republicans stayed in lock step with the oil industry Tuesday as record gas prices have big oil rolling in profits at consumers’ expense. Even as they face another tough election, Republicans in Congress refused to allow a tax on oil companies’ “unreasonable” revenue.
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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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AP photo / Jim Mone
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Al Franken’s career arc has taken an unconventional turn: The comedian has nailed down the Minnesota Democrats’ endorsement for the U.S. Senate, following in former Gov. Jesse Ventura’s footsteps as a performer-turned-politician in the Midwestern state. Starting out in comedy may serve Franken well in Congress, where knowing how to work a tough crowd just might come in handy.
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AP photo / Jeff Chiu
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By Robert Scheer — Will the real John McCain stand up? Actually, I don’t expect him to, now that he is the Republican presidential candidate, pandering to the irrationalities that drive his party. Nor is it likely that the fawning mass media will pressure him to the point of clarity. But I remain genuinely confused as to what makes him tick.
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boston.com
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Gen. David Petraeus announced on Thursday the prospect of additional U.S. troop withdrawals from Iraq beginning in the fall, a move that contradicts his recommendation last month to halt withdrawals due to security concerns. The turnaround suggests political motivations, as conditions in Iraq remain chaotic and the U.S. presidential race looms in the distance.
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senate.gov
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The New York Daily News is reporting that Ted Kennedy wants his wife, Vicki, to succeed him in Congress. Although the lion of the Senate retains his post, his recent cancer diagnosis has many speculating as to who will eventually take the seat once held by John F. Kennedy. Ted, it seems, has an answer.
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The senator from West Virginia came undone on the floor of the Senate while honoring his “dear friend” Ted Kennedy. The great orator paused at one point, sobbing, and said simply “I love you.”
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AP photo / Stephan Savoia
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As the sad medical news about Ted Kennedy sinks in, a number of his colleagues and even some of his political enemies have responded. Time’s Mark Halperin has collected the statements of the presidential candidates, the president and others.
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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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porpoiserecords.com
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In an act that may further infuriate reactionaries across the country, the California Senate voted Thursday to remove membership in the Communist Party as a fireable offense for public employees. The measure now goes to the state Assembly.
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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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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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The “Hardball” host seems to tell his satirical counterpart that he’s serious about a run for the Senate in 2010: “Some kids want to be a fireman. I want to be a senator.” Awwww.
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The questions leveled by Senate members at Ambassador Ryan Crocker and Gen. David Petraeus during Tuesday’s update session about Iraq failed to make the grade for Michael Ware, CNN’s “Situation Room” correspondent. Ware declared the session “frighteningly disappointing,” telling host Wolf Blitzer, “I just see a lot of oxygen being wasted here.”
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Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker, President Bush’s preferred spokesmen for his Iraq policy, found themselves in the middle of the presidential campaign Tuesday as they testified before two Senate committees on which candidates sit.
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AP photo / Susan Walsh
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Gen. David Petraeus dug in his heels during a Senate hearing Tuesday, refusing to give specifics about additional U.S. troop withdrawal plans after July, recommending a “pause” instead and taking heat from congressional opponents like Carl Levin and Hillary Clinton in the process. Meanwhile, John McCain spoke of “real hope and optimism” for Iraq’s future.
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By Joe Conason — The most puzzling aspect of John McCain’s political persona is his habitual attraction to George W. Bush’s bad ideas.
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By Marie Cocco — Have you noticed something similar about those Obama campaign surrogates and the media soothsayers who have started a drumbeat to force Clinton out of the campaign? Hint: They tend to share a certain anatomical attribute.
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Flickr / shanda.w
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Documents obtained by The Politico suggest that Barack Obama has moderated his positions on several issues since his early political life, a charge the candidate denies. He has also tried to distance himself from the label of “most liberal senator.” Perhaps the former community organizer doth protest too much?
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wikipedia.org
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In a cryptic conversation with a Las Vegas paper, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the Democratic nomination would be resolved before the convention: “It will be done.” “Magically?” the reporter asked. “No, it will be done,” Reid repeated. “I had a conversation with Governor Dean today. Things are being done.”
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By Amy Goodman — We just passed the grim milestone of 4,000 U.S. military members killed in Iraq since the invasion five years ago. Still, the death toll climbs.
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aoc.gov
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All three presidential candidates are scheduled to be back in Washington, D.C., on Thursday. A Republican senator has proposed a yearlong ban on earmarks and, shocking though it may seem, John McCain, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are apparently on board with the idea. Their colleagues in the Senate, however, are somewhat less enthusiastic.
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weblogs.newsday.com
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Once again the candidates are headed toward what has been billed as a climactic showdown, but which is likely to turn out like the others before it: one more bump in the road.
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It’s unfortunately not unusual anymore to hear about the politicization of American legal and intelligence institutions under the Bush administration, but, even so, this report by The Nation’s Ross Tuttle about how the trials of six key prisoners at Guantanamo Bay have allegedly been rigged from the get-go is disturbing. Updated
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AP photo / Charles Dharapak
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Sen. John McCain’s campaign says he has no plans to resign his Senate seat in order to focus on the presidential race, but no amount of patent-pending straight talk is going to keep potential successors from readying themselves to take his place.
Posted on Feb 15, 2008
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The House of Representatives and Senate have now both signaled their disapproval of the CIA’s use of waterboarding by voting for a ban on any techniques but the 19 officially approved by the Army, but President Bush has already, in turn, signaled his intent to veto any legislation that would rule out harsh interrogation methods.
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nationalsecurity.org
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This might be a moment when Democratic supporters wonder what all the “changing of the guard” fuss was about when Dems took control of Congress in 2006: On Tuesday, the Senate effectively voted in favor of granting telecommunication companies retroactive immunity for their cooperation in the National Security Agency’s warrantless wiretapping program.
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journalism.wlu.edu
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The Senate turned into a bit of a schoolyard Wednesday as the Democratic presidential rivals gathered with their cliques, assembling to vote on the economic stimulus package. It was all in good spirits, though, as Sens. Obama, Kennedy, Feinstein, Clinton and others joked. As Sen. Claire McCaskill explained: “I think they were having fun at Ted’s expense. ... But everyone is good-natured about it.”
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AP photo / Pablo Martinez Monsivais
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By Robert Scheer — Curb your enthusiasm. Even if your favored candidate did well on Super Tuesday, ask yourself if he or she will seriously challenge the bloated military budget that President Bush has proposed for 2009.
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AP photo / Gerald Herbert
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During a visit to Capitol Hill on Wednesday, Attorney General Michael Mukasey irked certain senators by wiggling out of directly stating whether or not he believes that waterboarding is a form of torture, an expected but apparently exasperating dodge in the estimation of Sens. Edward Kennedy and Patrick Leahy, among others.
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