Washington DC | November 3

AP - Republicans boycotted the start of committee debate Tuesday on a bill to curb greenhouse gases, protesting that the bill's costs have not been fully examined. The action put a spotlight on the difficulties Democratic leaders face in moving climate legislation this year.

Republican Sen. George Voinovich of Ohio attended the session for 15 minutes to explain the GOP's argument for staying away. He insisted the tactic ''is not a ruse'' to block the bill, but concern that its widespread impact on the country has not been made clear.

But Sen. Barbara Boxer of California, the panel's chairman, argued the EPA already has provided ''a full blown economic analysis'' and that Majority Leader Harry Reid has promised further studies when the bill is merged with other legislation. She insisted ''we're not rushing we are taking our time.''

The partisan rift in the Environment and Public Works Committee, which delayed votes on amendments to the legislation, exposed the sharp divisions in the Senate over how to address global warming. Democrats also have been split on the issue. Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., who said he had deep reservations about the bill also was absent.

New from Politico is that Sen. Lieberman will filibuster the Reid plan if it contains the public option:

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) said Tuesday that he’d back a GOP filibuster of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s health care reform bill.

Lieberman, who caucuses with Democrats and is positioning himself as a fiscal hawk on the issue, said he opposes any health care bill that includes a government-run insurance program — even if it includes a provision allowing states to opt out of the program, as Reid’s has said the Senate bill will.

If I were Reid I would tell Lieberman this: "if you join the Republicans on this your committee assignments and all privileges with the Democrats are done. You are toast."

It won't, however, happen.

Still: dude's not a Democrat. Time to kick his ass out of the party.

Harry Reid is expected to announce that the "public option" in current healthcare reform legislation will have a state by state opt out clause. From the Times:

The Senate health care legislation will include a government-run insurance plan, but states would be allowed to “opt out” of it, the majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, will announce officially on Monday afternoon, Senate Democratic aides said.

How would states do this?

Mr. Reid’s office has not released any details. In theory, states that wish to opt out of the public plan would have to adopt a law to do so, which would require agreement between the state legislature and the governor.

I think that is a reasonable hurdle, or to put it another way, an acceptable compromise, because it is a hurdle. It puts the burden on state legislators to justify why they think their state shouldn't be a part of the plan.

That being said, I don't like The National Journal's take on it:

Reid's apparent intent to move ahead with a public option, including an opt-out, has led some Senate aides to suggest Reid is readying a strategy in which he might lose the cloture vote but then quickly bring to the floor a bill with a compromise public option designed to attract more centrists.
That approach would reduce the chance of attacks from liberals by proving that the votes are not there for a more robust public option, an aide to a centrist senator said.

That, on the other hand, doesn't surprise me and would be very typically of the Senator from Nevada. Is it an attempt to water the bill down and sell out progressives? Might very well be.

In response to the question of whether support for any non-laughable health reform bill from "moderate" Republicans like Chuck Grassley was ever a possibility, Lindsay Beyerstein nails it:

"Simple answers to simple questions: No, there was never any realistic prospect of getting Chuck Grassley to support healthcare reform. Grassley is a Republican and, unlike Democrats, Republicans have party discipline. Scuttling health reform is the GOP's number one priority. It should have been clear from the outset that any plan that depended on the cooperation of Republicans was doomed."

When you get beyond the by-now reflexive timidity of most Democrats on hot issues, the Dems' second-biggest mistake is their having confused party discipline with goose-stepping anti-democracy. The two are not the same, and although they sometimes go together, they don't have to.

For instance: ironclad party discipline in the service of a dishonest war or the smearing of a popular idea such as a public health care option is indeed anti-democratic discipline. It is the closing of ranks to sabotage the public will or the public interest. But ironclad party discipline to hold together the votes needed for a bill that will give a majority of Americans the choice they want in health care is pro-democratic discipline. It is the force required to fend off reactionary opposition to giving non-wealthy Americans a slightly fairer shake. Stern party unity for the sake of greater social or economic equality is not a vice. It is a virtue.

As I wrote a few days ago. It was only a matter of time until the Republicans politicize the death of Senator Kennedy. They are nothing if not predictable. As Ian has noted ad nauseum: they know how to be an opposition party.

First from the Times of London:

Democrats were accused of exploiting the death of Senator Edward Kennedy yesterday after immediately trying to use his name to revive President Obama’s flagging attempt to overhaul the US healthcare system.

Ed Feulner, the president of the conservative Heritage Foundation, chastised Democrats for invoking Mr Kennedy in their push for healthcare reform.

He said: “It is wrong and tactless to use Senator Kennedy’s death, or anyone’s, simply to advance a particular policy agenda. This is a time for genuine tribute, not crass politics.”

More after the jump.

This news, only a little earlier than anticipated, still shocks me and greatly saddens me.

Now and then I start to write posts in which I would grapple with and, mostly for my own sake, try to account for my own transformation from a rather uninformed conservative youth to a self identified liberal. I usually gave up and never posted.

Dammit, I am actually sobbing as I read the obits.

But I can't say why I will miss Ted Kennedy without describing how my attitude toward his politics and his political skills changed over the years.

Several years and a lifetime ago I read the first three books of Colleen McCullough's 'Master's Of Rome' series. She documents the rise (and fall) of Marius in books one and two and Sulla's march on Rome and the subsequent proscriptions of his enemies and his installation of Pompey as a cat's paw of sorts and his restoration of Caesar, whom Marius had banished to a life of sacerdotal restriction when he appointed him Flamen Dialis. So much for the plot-line of the three historical novels.

What I'm struck by today is a scene in the first novel, titled, "The First Man in Rome." Marius has yet to be consul more than once. He's agitating for it in the Senate. Customary Roman law at the time was that no man could be consul more than once without an intervening period of about ten years--if memory serves me. All kinds of skullduggery is happening in the Senate but the Senate is ably led by a patrician named Marcus Aemelius Scaurus. And Scaurus is the last great Princeps Senatus. I say the last great princeps senatus, because although he was a patrician and had all the flaws of a patrician, he still ably withstood the emerging divide in the Roman republican consensus, which led to the populares and optimates and the civil wars, and in the end, he always did what was in the republic's best interests. His successors were nothing like him, lackeys of the optimates all.

I am reminded of this man on the day of Ted Kennedy's death. Like Scaurus, Kennedy was a patrician and had all the faults a man from that class would have. The mistakes of his early life are proof. But, in the end, he always rose above his wealthy origins to support the broader interests of the people and our American republic writ large.

I can only hope that his passing does not mark a descent into republican immolation as it did in the Roman republic. If ever there were an American princeps senatus, it was Ted Kennedy.

What kind of utter lamage is this? I mean, seriously, last time I checked the Democrats had 60 votes now in the Senate, right? And how many of Obama's appointees are in place? Less than 50%

Huzzah for unity porn!

On a serious note, Obama, to my mind, has about three or four months, at the most, to figure it out. After that, the Republicans are going to eat him and his brand of bi-partisanship alive. And yes, when the Republicans win back a majority in the House in 2010 I will say I told you so.

Josh Rogin | Washington | August 5

MSNBC - If it takes shutting down the Senate to block the Obama administration from moving prisoners from Guantanamo Bay to U.S. soil, that’s exactly what some Republican senators plan to do.

Following several reports Aug. 3 that the White House was debating two distinct proposals for dealing with more than 250 prisoners still housed at the detention facility at the U.S. military base in Cuba, senators from various parts of the country pledged to fight any attempt to move the terrorism suspects to the United States, severely complicating President Obama’s plan to close the prison by January.

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

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

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.

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."

David E. RePass asks why Harry Reid once again is letting Republicans set the agenda in the Senate (SP asked a similar question in 'Harry Reid in action' in 2008)

NYT - President Obama has decided to spend his political capital now, pushing through an ambitious agenda of health care, education and energy reform. If the Democrats in the Senate want to help him accomplish his goals, they should work to eliminate one of the greatest threats facing effective governance — the phantom filibuster.

The phantom filibuster could be done away with overnight by the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid. All he needs to do is call the minority’s bluff by bringing a challenged measure to the floor and letting the debate begin.

Daniel Luban & Eli Clifton | Washington | Feb 28

IPS - The fiercely anti-Islam Dutch MP Geert Wilders has been traveling through the U.S. this week on a highly-publicised trip to meet with politicians, promote his controversial film ‘Fitna’, and raise money for his legal defence back home.

Although Wilders’s stated goal has been to campaign for free speech, his trip has been sponsored and promoted by an unlikely coalition of groups united primarily by their hostility towards Islam. His backers include neoconservative and right-wing Jewish groups on the one hand and figures with ties to the European far right on the other.

Since he was charged with incitement to hate and discrimination in the Netherlands in January and denied entry to Britain earlier this month on public safety grounds, Wilders has become something of a cause celebre for the U.S. right.

This week, he gave a private viewing of his 17-minute anti-Islam film in the U.S. Senate, where he was hosted by Senator Jon Kyl, an Arizona Republican. He also appeared on Bill O’Reilly’s and Glenn Beck’s popular right-wing TV shows, met privately with the Wall Street Journal editorial board, and hobnobbed with former U.N. ambassador John Bolton at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).

On Friday, he capped his busy week with an appearance at the National Press Club. At the event, he reiterated his calls for a halt to immigration from Muslim countries and pronounced, to raucous applause from the audience, that "our Western culture based on Christianity, Judaism, and humanism is in every aspect better than Islamic culture".

Why was the senate allowed to host this blatent extremism?

Congress is spending nearly a trillion dollars on the stimulus bill. That’s about $3,000 for every man, woman and child in America, $12,000 for a family of four. This is on top of that family’s $126,000 share of the existing federal deficit, a debt of 3 times the median family income. The interest paid on that debt is money that cannot be used to fund college or vocational training, safe streets or a secure retirement. We are told that taking on this new debt will cure the economy, that if people spend their tax reductions on toys and the government spends on roads everything will be good once more. But some time in 2010 the toys will be in the trash and the road builders will be laid off again. What then? Another trillion? For the last decade our economy has been built on debt. Will our government now do anything to stimulate real organic growth, or will it perpetuate policies that stifle demand and maintain our dependence on artificial stimulants?

More after the jump.

Feb 8

CNN - * Story Highlights
* Bipartisan group of senators reaches compromise on stimulus bill
* Items partially cut include funds for FBI construction, federal hybrid cars, EPA
* Items entirely cut include funds for federal prisons, NASA, school construction

A coalition of Democrats and some Republicans reached a compromise that trimmed billions in spending from an earlier version of the Senate economic stimulus bill.

CNN obtained, from a Democratic leadership aide, a list of some programs that have been cut, either entirely or partially: (list after the jump)