Day: May 14, 2010
Obama Signs Bill to Freeze Congressional Pay Raises
President Barack Obama signed legislation May 14 to freeze the automatic pay increases for members of Congress…
“To raise Congressional pay at a time when so many families are still struggling to make ends meet would be unconscionable and glaringly out of touch,” said U.S. Rep. Harry Mitchell, a Democrat representing Arizona’s Fifth Congressional District. Mitchell co-sponsored the measure with Rep. Jim Matheson of Utah.
U.S. Sen. Russell Feingold offered companion legislation in the Senate.
HR5146, which stops a $1,600-pay hike in fiscal 2011, received bi-partisan approval in the House and Senate last month.
Verbatim
Alan caters to them. He’s the darling of the left in this country. He doesn’t play well with others.
– Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, head of the National Republican Congressional Committee, in Orlando, Fla., for a fundraiser to oust the local congressman, Rep. Alan Grayson, a Democrat.
According to Citizens For Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, Pete Sessions is one of the most corrupt members of Congress. He fits in well with the Republican culture of corruption here in Florida. A year ago, he got a $1.6 million earmark for a blimp company. He should take all his hot air and go back to Texas.
– Rep. Grayson responds.
– Rep. Grayson responds.
It’s Possible That Obama Could Create More Jobs in 2010 Than Bush Did in Eight Years
If the economy produces jobs over the next eight months at the same pace as it did over the past four months, the nation will have created more jobs in 2010 alone than it did over the entire eight years of George W. Bush’s presidency.
That comparison comes with many footnotes and asterisks. But it shows how the economic debate between the parties could look very different over time — perhaps by November, more likely by 2012. More important, the comparison underscores the urgency of repairing an American job-creation machine that was sputtering long before the 2008 financial meltdown.
Verbatim
I’m very happy. I really am. Listen, I don’t know if I’ve ever enjoyed being a public servant as much as I have the past few weeks because I feel really in touch with where the people are … It sickens me to watch cable TV and see these people argue all day long. I think to myself, what in the world are they doing? Do they care so much about their party first that they’ve forgotten about their country and our people?
— Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (NPA), sharing the bliss of not having a political party affiliation.
You Cut: House GOP Lets Tea Baggers Vote for Budget Cuts à La ‘American Idol’
David Weigel at WaPo’s “Right Now” blog says Republicans came up with the idea after Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, lost his bid for a fourth term when tea baggers at the Utah GOP state convention drubbed him out of office because he voted for George Bush’s bailout bill:
Polls: Obama’s Approval Holds around 50%, Higher Than Reagan’s 45% in May ’82
Obama’s 50 percent approval average among all Americans for the week ending May 9 continues an extended run of stable ratings for him. Since mid-November, Obama’s approval ratings have narrowly ranged between 47 percent and 51 percent …
Although his second-year ratings have been highly stable, he is on pace to follow most other presidents in seeing a significant drop from his first-year to his second-year average. Obama averaged 57 percent approval his first year in office — mainly because his job approval scores during the initial months of his presidency were in the 60 percent range — and has averaged 49 percent thus far in his second year.
By comparison, at this same point in Ronald Reagan’s presidency, May 1982, Reagan’s approval rating was 45 percent, according to Gallup. Pres. Clinton’s equivalent rating, in May 1994, was 51 percent. (In May 2002, George W. Bush had a whopping 76 percent approval, which was an artifact from the “rally around the flag” effect of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. He went on to break all previous records for low approval ratings in his second term.)
A new survey from Public Policy Polling produced similar results:
