Three Senate Democrats have introduced new legislation that would provide about twice the financial aid to state and local governments than called for by President Obama to help communities nationwide prevent further cuts in services and avoid more layoffs of firefighters, police officers, and others. The Local Jobs for America Act would prevent planned cuts and hire back critical public safety, education and service workers who have been laid-off because of tight budgets. The bill comes just days after...
Monthly Archives: June 2010
22 Dems Join GOP To Save Big Oil’s Federal Tax Breaks
Despite the political fallout from the continuing Gulf Coast oil disaster, and rhetoric about accountability for oil companies, 22 Senate Democrats crossed over to join a united GOP to defeat a measure aimed at stripping big oil companies of their generous federal tax breaks. Sen. Bernie Sanders’ amendment died Tuesday on a lopsided 35-61 vote. The Vermont independent’s proposal would have repealed $35 billion in oil and gas industry tax breaks. Sanders argued such taxpayer-funded giveaways to the oil...
Alleging Favoritism, House Conservative Targets President Obama’s Aunt For Investigation
A conservative House Republican is seeking an investigation of the immigration case of a woman who is related to President Obama. Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) wants Obama’s aunt, Zeituni Onyango, to testify at a Thursday hearing regarding the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review In a letter to Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), chairwoman of the House Judiciary Committee subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security and International Law, King says he wants to invite Onyango to testify as...
Gun Control Group Slams Deal To Exempt NRA From New Campaign Spending Disclosures
A prominent gun-control organization is sharply taking issue with a reported Democratic deal that would exempt one of the nation’s largest, and most influential, pressure groups from new campaign-spending disclosures. The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence is attacking a move by the House leadership to potentially shield the National Rifle Association (NRA) from the DISCLOSE Act, legislation designed to counter the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling. As first reported by Politico, the House Democratic leadership is considering an...
Leahy: Senators Have More Documents For Kagan Than They Had For Bush Nominees
The National Archives is producing more documentation, and producing it faster, for the nomination of Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court than it did for either of George W. Bush’s nominees to the high court, according to the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The National Archives and Records Administration has produced more than 87,000 pages of documents from the Clinton administration related to Kagan’s work both on the Domestic Policy Committee and in the White House Counsel’s office,...
A Gusher of Light Sweet Terror
Originally posted at my site Bob Higgins “We need to be realistic about operating in a mile of water” Tony Hayward, the cherubic little weasel who serves as the front man for British Petroleum, BP, Beyond Pathetic or whatever they are calling their ‘brand’ this week, made the statement above, on camera to reporters while standing on an oil fouled Louisiana beach a couple of weeks ago. Earlier that day I had a fairly heated argument with an elderly...
‘R’Oil Indignation
The British are upset with the United States. That’s not too unusual. There was this revolution thing a couple of centuries ago. But America’s Number 1 ally is upset that Americans are blaming BP for that nasty little oil spill in the Gulf. You know, the one where as much as 1.7 million gallons of crude oil a day has given us new species of no-flight pelicans and black-skinned dolphins. The Brits’ FaceBook pages, blogs, radio comments, and letters...
Senate ‘Political Gamesmanship’ Killed In Close Vote, Pressure On To Pass Climate Bill
Having beaten back an attempt to derail new climate regulation in what became a surprisingly close vote, advocates of such regulation are now calling for the Senate to approve comprehensive energy and climate legislation. The Senate Thursday defeated a Republican-led proposal to bar the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from moving forward with its plans to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act. Although Democrats continue to hold a lopsided majority in the Senate, six of their ranks...
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