The Minnesota Supreme Court issued a judgment in favor of Al Franken this afternoon. Norm Coleman has conceded. The Democrats now have a filibuster proof majority in the Senate. Will they use it?

1) Lower the medicaid coverage rate from 150% to 100% of the Federal poverty line, 133% for kids and pregnant women (once you have the baby, too bad for you)
2) Subsidies stop at 300% of the poverty line (was 400%)
3) No Public Option mentioned
4) Insurance exchanges at the State level
5) Must buy insurance unless it costs more than 15% of your income
6) A fine if you don’t buy insurance unless you’re below the Federal poverty line

For the most part, as Walker discusses, this is about the same as or worse than the plan put forward by America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP). Yes, worse than the insurance industry's plan. Remarkable. Baucus is really earning his campaign donations these days.

read the rest at Ian's

June 16

Raw Story - One week after declaring that the United States “cannot afford” the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq “financially or spiritually,” Ohio’s Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich, a staunch anti-war crusader, took aim at Congress for not taking a more active role in any of the war on terror fronts.

“We are destroying our nation’s moral and fiscal integrity with this war supplemental,” Kucinich argued on the House floor Tuesday. “Instead of ending wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan now by appropriating only enough money to bring our troops home, Congress abdicates its constitutional authority, defers to the president, and asks for a report. That’s right, all we are asking for is a report on when the president will end the war.”

Kucinich continued, “There is also money for the IMF, presumably to bail out private European banks. Billions for the IMF so they can force low and middle income nations to cut jobs, wages, health care and retirement security, just like corporate America does to our constituents. And there’s money to incentivize the purchase of more cars, not necessarily from U.S. manufacturers because a ‘Buy America’ mandate was not allowed.”

“Another $106 billion dollars and all we get is a lousy war,” Kucinich said. “Pretty soon that is going to be about the only thing made in America – war.”

** US House clears $106 bln war funding, Senate next

So not only do we not have an end of war plan for Afghanistan, we still don't even have a way forward yet. Benchmarks anyone?

Janet Hook | Washington | June 12

LA Times - The bill, passed in a 79-17 vote, would give the agency control over ingredients in tobacco products and restrict ads. The House is expected to follow.

Capping a half-century battle with the tobacco industry, the Senate overwhelmingly approved landmark legislation Thursday that would for the first time give the government far-reaching power to regulate the manufacturing and marketing of cigarettes and other tobacco products.

The House was expected to follow today. The legislation, approved by the Senate 79 to 17, would allow the Food and Drug Administration to regulate ingredients in tobacco products and ban the marketing of "light" cigarettes.

In a bid to deter new smokers, the bill also imposes strict limits on full-color advertising for cigarettes, bans billboards close to schools and requires packages to carry larger warning labels.

"Joe Camel has been sentenced and put away forever," said Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.), referring to a youth-oriented cartoon figure long used to promote Camel cigarettes.

President Obama is expected to sign the bill into law as early as next week.

Fredreka Schouten & Paul Overberg | Washington | June 8

USA TODAY - On a mild evening last September, Citigroup lobbyists mingled with South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn at a rooftop reception — complete with miniature putting greens — as the company hosted a party to honor the third most powerful Democrat in the House and raise money for one of his favorite golf charities.

Health insurers and hospitals, meanwhile, are donating millions to help build an institute in Boston to celebrate the career of Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., who is attempting to overhaul the nation's health care system.

Despite a ban on gifts to lawmakers and limits on campaign contributions, lobbyists and groups that employ them can spend unlimited money to honor members of Congress or donate to non-profits connected to them or their relatives. The public — until now — had little insight into the scope of this largely hidden world of special-interest influence.

Under ethics rules passed in 2007, lobbyists for the first time last year had to report any payment made for an event or to a group connected to a lawmaker and other top federal officials.

USA TODAY undertook the first comprehensive analysis of the lobbying reports and found 2,759 payments, totaling $35.8 million, were made in 2008. The money went to honor 534 current and former lawmakers, almost 250 other federal officials and more than 100 groups, many of which count lawmakers among their members. h/t Susie at Crooks & Liars

David Lightman & Barbara Barrett | Washington | June 8

McClatchy - Sweeping changes in how the government controls tobacco content and marketing are likely to be approved by the U.S. Senate this week, despite a strong last-ditch effort by tobacco interests and skepticism from some experts that smokers won't kick their habit.

The bill, passed overwhelmingly by the House of Representatives in April and due for a Senate vote as early as Tuesday, would give the Food and Drug Administration broad new authority over tobacco.

"It's a massive move in public policy," said Andrew Taylor, a political science professor at North Carolina State University.

The bill would permit the FDA to limit the amount of nicotine in a product, bar advertising and marketing aimed at children and prevent companies from making unsubstantiated claims about "reduced risk" items.

Let me guess, the subsidies will increase..

Beth Reinhard & Adam C. Smith | Tallahassee, FL | May 12

Miami Herald - Gov. Charlie Crist's expected announcement Tuesday that he's running for U.S. Senate could lead to many state leaders running for higher office.

For the next 18 months, as the state battles its worst financial crisis in at least half a century, Florida will be led by a bunch of lame ducks.

Virtually every statewide leader in Tallahassee, beginning with Gov. Charlie Crist, is expected to be seeking higher office. Crist's anticipated announcement Tuesday morning that he's running for the U.S. Senate, rather than reelection as governor, will trigger one of the most chaotic and wide open election seasons ever in Florida.

With several print newspapers already dead in recent months, others failing or under financial threat and a crass crowd of brash, disrespectful online journalists attracting millions of readers, the jut-jawed senator from Massachusetts John Kerry is worried about the future of said journalism.

Why is it his business? some might ask.

Well, for one thing, as a youngster Kerry delivered the Washington Star. That newspaper died. As an adult Democratic candidate for president five years ago, Kerry got some rough treatment from opponents and journalists both on- and offline. His campaign died. Does anyone see a pattern here?

But the contemporary reason for Kerry's journalism concern is that he chairs the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet (SCSOCTATI). Which is probably a big deal somewhere. (See below Kerry talking with an apparent politics blogger.)

Except for celebrity nudity and public confessions of marital infidelity by elected people, few things are guaranteed to attract media attention more than discussions about itself. It's self-fulfilling. The press corps must be important if it's getting so much coverage from itself. more :) at LA Times

I wonder if the Republicans in Congress will take heed of their own polling data, which basically says the public, even self-described conservative independents (I know that's an oxymoron, but that's what they call themselves). Obama has a definitive lead in education, health care and energy. I wonder if he'll use it?

Thank You Arlen Specter!

Now We're Sure to Get the Following

Michael Collins

We're just about there, the magic 60 figure in the United States Senate. It's being called a filibuster proof majority for the Democratic Party. All we need is a belated recognition of the United States Constitution and the rules of the Senate in the form of an official Senator Al Franken (D-MN) and we're ready to rock.

Here's what we can expect:

Surely habeas corpus will be restored in an unashamed expression of support for that centuries old protection of civil liberties.

No doubt, we'll see a repeal of the Patriot Act. That step back to some degree of civilization is sure to come.

There will be a long overdue recognition that the first people in line for help from the government are the citizens of this great country who work overtime to just keep their heads above water.

That will happen at the same time that trillions in Wall Street welfare are stopped and replaced by actions that allow people to stay in their homes, pay for their health care, and send their children to college. No doubt about it.

We won't be forced into mindless wars that obligate us to more deaths and the inevitable blowback from overseas adventures. Let the word go forth from Washington. The troops are coming home.

The Glass-Steagall Act will be restored and the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 will be repealed ending the enabling acts for an era of greed.

No more talk about having too many "big picture" items on the agenda to allow working men and women to organize and fight for their rights in unions.

We'll surely mount a massive program to save us all from the looming eco catastrophes due to climate change and pollution.

Elections will be transparent, open to all, and subject to public review and verification.

We will no longer countenance wire tapping, Internet snooping, and other forms of illegal surveillance by the government.

Don Siegelman's conviction will be overturned while Susan Lindauer and all the other victims of Bush fascism will receive apologies for the vicious government harassment visited on them.

All it takes is Arlen on board and Al ready to hop the freedom train to the promised land of a government that serves the people and public servants that know the meaning of the word servant.

There can be no doubt that those who have erred and sinned against the people will be reborn into a new life as representatives of the nation that they serve. They will cast away their Money Party sympathies and hop on board.

Senators Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) and Mark Pryor (D-AR) will start voting for the working people that they represent. The 21 FISA supporting Democratic senators will take the time to read the Constitution and change their ways. The Senate Committee on Finance headed by Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) will actually investigate that $140 billion gift to banks allowed by the likely illegal Bush White House authored tax code changes. The Nelsons, Ben and Bill, along with 16 other Democratic senators will repent for their vote on that horrid bankruptcy bill.

And all of them will join in unison and say no more funding for illegal wars.

Happy days are here again. Pop the cork!

END

Holy fuck. This is huge. This gives the Democrats in the Senate 60 votes. That's filibuster proof. The Republicans are so screwed now. Let's hope the Democrats put this to good use.

Carl Hulse | Washington | April 28

NYT - Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania said he would switch to the Democratic party Tuesday, potentially presenting Democrats with a possible 60th vote and the power to break Senate filibusters as they try to advance the Obama administration’s new agenda.

Congressional aides and others close to the long-time Republican party maverick said Mr. Specter, who faced a difficult re-election next year, was going to announce he would become a Democrat.

Staff Reports | Albany, NY | April 24, 2009

Albany Times Union - The race in the 20th Congressional District has ended: Republican Jim Tedisco has conceded the contest more than three weeks after election day.

Just before 4 p.m., Tedisco called Democrat Scott Murphy to concede, and Murphy has declared victory.

"This was a closely contested election that perhaps lasted a little longer than anyone may have expected or wanted," Tedisco said in a just-released press statement. "But it was important for our electoral process and for the hard-working people of upstate New York that it be resolved fairly and decisively."

Hillary came out swinging in her testimony to Congress today. The headline over at Bloomberg reads: "Clinton Says ‘Crippling’ Iran Sanctions Part of Plan"

It'd be easy for me to not post about this, but it's really important to get the full picture, positive and negative, on our evolving Iran policy:

“It is our expectation that we will be able to put together such a comprehensive sanctions regime in the event that we need it,” Clinton told the House Foreign Affairs Committee in Washington. “It is our commitment that we will pursue that if we are either unsuccessful or stonewalled in our other approach.”

GoogleNews has links to several other stories, here, and the Washington Post has a live link to her testimony.

I'll post more after I've digested it all. In the interim, informed speculation in the comments is always welcomed.

Dan Eggen | Apr 22

WaPo - Top recipients of federal bailout money spent more than $10 million on political lobbying in the first three months of this year, including aggressive efforts aimed at blocking executive pay limits and tougher financial regulations, according to newly filed disclosure records.

The biggest spenders among major firms in the group included General Motors, which spent nearly $1 million a month on lobbying, and Citigroup and J.P. Morgan Chase, which together spent more than $2.5 million in their efforts to sway lawmakers and Obama administration officials on a wide range of financial issues. In all, major bailout recipients have spent more than $22 million on lobbying in the six months since the government began doling out rescue funds, Senate disclosure records show.

Greg Miller | Washington | Apr 21

(Oops I missed Sean Paul's post: As If We Needed Any More Evidence That Congress Is Beyond Corrupt?)

LA Times - Rep. Jane Harman denied Monday that she had contacted the Justice Department to seek leniency for employees of a pro-Israeli lobbying organization under investigation for espionage.

The Venice Democrat also said that she has never been told that she was involved in the FBI's probe of former officials of the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee.

Harman's statement came in response to a report in Congressional Quarterly that she had been recorded on a federal wiretap offering to lobby the Justice Department to reduce espionage-related charges against AIPAC officials. Today, the New York Times reported on its website that three anonymous sources had confirmed the existence of the recording. One source told the Times that she appeared to agree in exchange for help becoming chairwoman of the House Intelligence Committee.

The New York Times reported the caller told Harman that Californian Haim Saban would threaten to withhold campaign contributions from Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) unless Harman became committee chairwoman. Pelosi had no comment, the Times said, and Saban did not return phone calls.

In her written statement, Harman said the claims "have no basis in fact. I never engaged in any such activity."

** Wiretap Recorded Rep. Harman Promising to Intervene for AIPAC ~ Congressional Quarterly
** Harman is more than a bad Democrat - She's a criminal ~ Newshoggers

This is explosive news:

Rep. Jane Harman , the California Democrat with a longtime involvement in intelligence issues, was overheard on an NSA wiretap telling a suspected Israeli agent that she would lobby the Justice Department reduce espionage-related charges against two officials of the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee, the most powerful pro-Israel organization in Washington.

Harman was recorded saying she would “waddle into” the AIPAC case “if you think it’ll make a difference,” according to two former senior national security officials familiar with the NSA transcript.

In exchange for Harman’s help, the sources said, the suspected Israeli agent pledged to help lobby Nancy Pelosi , D-Calif., then-House minority leader, to appoint Harman chair of the Intelligence Committee after the 2006 elections, which the Democrats were heavily favored to win.

Read the entire article. It's beyond sordid. And then ask yourself if you feel this is appropriate behavior from a nation we call 'an Ally.'

I would also add that there seems to be a lot of anti-AIPAC/Israel news coming out lately as well. First the leak about Rahm's conversations, then the note from Mitchel that Israel's demands were unacceptable and now this? Seems like a trend to me. It also looks like there is a lot of pressure being put on AIPAC and its supporters to fall in line behind and support Obama for the already pre-ordained confrontation between Obama and Bibi.

Nota bene: The always readable and excellent Cheryl Rofer at WhirledView is coming to the same conclusions as well.

Talk about burying the lede:

While the N.S.A.’s operations in recent months have come under examination, new details are also emerging about earlier domestic-surveillance activities, including the agency’s attempt to wiretap a member of Congress, without court approval, on an overseas trip, current and former intelligence officials said.

If anything will get Congress of its lazy ass on this issue and get them to do the right thing maybe it'll be this.

Pat Doyle | Minneapolis | Apr 14

Star Tribune - Three judges soundly rejected Norm Coleman's attempt to reverse Al Franken's lead in the U.S. Senate election late Monday, sweeping away the Republican's claims in a blunt ruling Coleman promised to appeal.

After a trial spanning nearly three months, the judicial panel dismissed Coleman's central argument that the election and its aftermath were fraught with systemic errors that made the results invalid.

"The overwhelming weight of the evidence indicates that the Nov. 4, 2008, election was conducted fairly, impartially and accurately," the panel said in its unanimous decision.

The panel concluded that Franken, a DFLer, "received the highest number of votes legally cast" in the election. Franken emerged from the trial with a 312-vote lead, the court ruled, and "is therefore entitled to receive the certificate of election."

If the president releases the Bush torture memos, Republicans are promising to “go nuclear” and filibuster his legal appointments. Scott Horton reports on a serious threat to Obama’s transparency.

Senate Republicans are now privately threatening to derail the confirmation of key Obama administration nominees for top legal positions by linking the votes to suppressing critical torture memos from the Bush era. A reliable Justice Department source advises me that Senate Republicans are planning to “go nuclear” over the nominations of Dawn Johnsen as chief of the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) in the Department of Justice and Yale Law School Dean Harold Koh as State Department legal counsel if the torture documents are made public. The source says these threats are the principal reason for the Obama administration’s abrupt pull back last week from a commitment to release some of the documents. A Republican Senate source confirms the strategy. It now appears that Republicans are seeking an Obama commitment to safeguard the Bush administration’s darkest secrets in exchange for letting these nominations go forward.

David Lightman | Washington | Apr 1

McClatchy Newspapers - The nation's volunteer corps will expand dramatically to aid the country's poor people, spruce up its parks, help veterans and military families, and provide new programs for seniors and students under legislation the House of Representatives approved on Tuesday.

President Barack Obama, a onetime community organizer in Chicago, pushed hard for the bill, which will allow the 16-year-old AmeriCorps and other government-backed service programs to expand from 75,000 positions to 250,000.

"This is legislation that will usher in a new era of service in America, and I look forward to signing it into law when I return to Washington,” said Obama, who's in Europe this week.

The measure authorizes government spending of $5.7 billion on service programs over the next five years. Obama is seeking $1.1 billion for fiscal 2010.

The bill met little opposition, winning House approval by 275 to 149 after passing the Senate last week by 79 to 19.

The bill's progress was stalled briefly when the conservative Republican Study Committee issued a "legislative bulletin" Monday charging that the bill is "part of a Democrat agenda to force taxpayers to fund liberal service organizations," and would expand programs that in the past have funded abortion-rights and gay-rights groups.

Gail Russell Chaddock & Mark Clayton | Washington & Boston | Apr 1

CSM - Congressional Democrats have launched a bid to shift the United States into greener energy technologies, while protecting US consumers and jobs during a difficult transition.

The draft plan, released Tuesday by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, moves one of President Obama’s key campaign pledges onto a fast track on Capitol Hill. It also opens a debate over how America powers its economy – one that crosses party and regional lines – at a time of deep economic stress.

“This legislation will create millions of clean-energy jobs, put America on the path to energy independence, and cut global warming pollution,” said Rep. Henry Waxman (D) of California in a statement.

The bill has three main elements: developing clean energy sources, dramatically boosting energy efficiency, and capping and reducing greenhouse-gas emissions. The bill also aims to protect US consumers and industry during the transition to a clean energy economy.

Peter Slevin & Michael Laris | Evanston, Ill. | Mar 22

WaPo - Obama's Campaign Army on Road Again - Volunteers Rally Support for Budget Plan

As she headed into the morning sunshine to talk up President Obama's $3.6 trillion budget proposal, Althea Thomas counted herself a citizen and a partisan picking up where she left off Nov. 4, backing the president she helped elect.

"It's the change we all voted on," said Thomas, one of about 40 volunteers who fanned out from the Democratic Party headquarters here with clipboards, pledge cards and a sense of mission that flowed from their support of Obama when he was a candidate.

The Obama administration and the Democratic National Committee opened a new chapter Saturday in their ambitious project to convert the energy from last year's campaign into a force for legislative reform on health care, climate change, education and taxes.

Seeking to create a grass-roots force on a scale never seen before, Obama called the volunteers into action in a video message reminiscent of the 2008 contest. In defense of his budget, under attack from many quarters, he asked his supporters to go "block by block and door by door."

In his Saturday radio address, Obama called his budget "an economic blueprint for our future." He said, "I didn't come here to pass on our problems to the next president or the next generation. I came here to solve them."

Oliver Burkeman | Washington | Mar 18

The Guardian - Nancy Pelosi argues US anti-trust laws should be relaxed to keep news organisations viable

Ailing American newspapers should be given leniency under competition laws so that they can find ways to remain viable and pursue their vital democratic role, the speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, has argued.

In a letter to Eric Holder, the US attorney general, Pelosi argues that anti-trust laws should not prevent rival regional newspapers from exploring mergers and consolidations - a move that might also help clear the path to allowing national news organisations to collaborate on charging for their online content.

"We must ensure that our policies enable news organisations to survive and to engage in the newsgathering and analysis that the American people expect," writes Pelosi, a San Francisco Democrat whose letter focuses on the fate of the San Francisco Chronicle. Its owner Hearst, which announced the closure of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer's print version this week, has said it will be forced to sell or close the loss-making Chronicle if major savings cannot be rapidly achieved.

Supporters of a paid model for online news content argue that a relaxation of anti-trust laws could be the industry's saving grace. It would enable organisations such as the New York Times, CNN.com and the Associated Press to collaborate, imposing a uniform pricing system simultaneously and acting as one to demand fees from aggregators such as Google News and Yahoo, which profit from their journalism.

Another bailout coming? Just what we need more consolidation of the news...