Tag: Congress
Lawmakers Agree on $8.3 Billion Coronavirus Package
$8.3 billion
Congressional negotiators on Wednesday clinched a bipartisan emergency $8.3 billion funding package to combat coronavirus, which both chambers are expected to pass by the end of the week, Politico reports.
Forget the Presidential Race. This One is Way More Important
“We’ve already seen how he did, how he acted, the week after impeachment. Can you imagine this man after re-election?”
— Ben Rhodes, deputy national security advisor to Pres. Obama and author
If impeachment taught us one thing, it has to be the importance of flipping the Senate from Republican majority to Democratic majority. Had Democrats controlled the Senate during the trial, evidence would have been pursued, witnesses would have been both called and believed, and Donald Trump would have been held accountable for his naked power grabbing.
Likewise, even if Donald Trump wins in November, with a Democratically-controlled Senate joining the Democratically-controlled House, he will get nothing done. He will be rendered the ineffectual red-faced crybaby that he is if he has no enablers to make his dreams reality.
Not convinced that the Senate races are more important in 2020 than the presidential contest? The next president will almost certainly get to nominate two Supreme Court justices — but those people will have to be approved by the Senate. We’ve already seen who Republicans approve. Having two more justices like the first two will change life as Americans, particularly progressive Americans, know it. […]
If They Had Evidence Trump Was Innocent, They’d Be Demanding to Testify
“If Mr. Mulvaney had information that contradicts the consistent and incriminating testimony of numerous public servants, Mr. Mulvaney would be eager to testify, instead of hiding behind the President’s ongoing efforts to conceal the truth.”
— CNN, quoting a statement from an official involved in the impeachment inquiry.
Why Congress Is So Dumb
“Our decay as an institution began in 1995, when conservatives, led by Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA), carried out a full-scale war on government. Gingrich began by slashing the congressional workforce by one-third. He aimed particular ire at Congress’s brain, firing 1 of every 3 staffers at the Government Accountability Office, the Congressional Research Service and the Congressional Budget Office. He defunded the Office of Technology Assessment, a tech-focused think tank. Social scientists have called those moves Congress’s self-lobotomy, and the cuts remain largely unreversed.”
— Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ), writing in the Washington Post
A Tale of Two Lifestyles
As federal workers borrow from their kids, max out their credit cards, sign up as dog sitters, and even write paid online makeup reviews, federal elected officials are enjoying a very different lifestyle.
Donors/clients/customers/johns who attend at the “platinum level” will pay $100,000 but in return they’ll get ten tickets plus a photo opportunity, presumably with Voldemort himself.*
Not only that, but attendees will enjoy the rarefied atmosphere of the Mellon Auditorium. A D.C. venue review site describes the circa-1934 building’s, “dramatic roman doric columns, marble floors inlaid with gold, and spectacular auditorium standing more than 60 feet in height and embellished with limestone pilasters, gilded relief carvings, and polished oak where colossal luminaries, made of brass and burnished aluminum, are suspended from the ceiling.”
How Bad Ballot Design Likely Killed Bill Nelson’s Senate Career
If you’re still mad at Florida for denying Vice Pres. Al Gore the presidency in 2000, you’re probably not any happier with us for denying the Senate another Democrat, in the form of Bill Nelson.
There’s a tragically simple explanation for why the Senate vote went off the rails in the county where Fort Lauderdale is:
Bad ballot design. Like, spectacularly bad design.
In civilized counties like mine, here’s how the ballot looked:
Nearly 400 Women Set to Run for Congress
369
“As of December 7 there were 369 women running or planning to run for Congress in 2018, according to Rutgers University’s Center for American Women and Politics, which would be the most women House candidates ever,” Axios reports. “The number is subject to change, as the filing deadlines for most states are months away.”
Meet U.S. Rep. John Delaney, Our Next President?
Dog years, short as they are, are longer than election years in the American system. And since the 2020 presidential race is just around the corner in “election years,” it’s time to start getting to know our candidates. Here is U.S. Rep. John Delaney (D – Md.), who is emerging as a pretty strong voice.
Check out this “Why I’m Running” video, and if you like what you see, find out more. Visit his campaign website, where you’ll discover that Delaney is not afraid to name his favorite Springsteen song. You can also follow his Congressional feed or his presidential candidate feed on Twitter.
