David Brooks: GOP Senator Groped Me

Announcement could come today

(NEWSER) - Florida Sen. Mel Martinez will resign, perhaps as soon as today, sources tell the Miami Herald. “It's a deeply personal decision that he will expand on later today. He decided it's time to move to another stage of his life,” one said. The Republican has previously refuted word that he was planning to leave his post. Gov. Charlie Crist, who's already running to replace Martinez, will name a replacement, conceivably himself. More»

(NEWSER) - John Ensign, a Republican senator from Nevada said to be considering a presidential run in 2012, admitted today that he had an extramarital affair with a campaign staffer, reports Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post. "It's absolutely the worst thing I've ever done in my life," he said at a press conference. "I'm very sorry." His wife, Darlene, backed her husband and said their "marriage has become stronger" in a statement. More»

Taxpayer groups criticize Congress for making expense info hard to get hold of

(NEWSER) - No moat-cleaning, but there were cameras, TVs, and fancy cars among the expenses members of Congress have charged to taxpayers recently, a Wall Street Journal investigation inspired by the British expenses scandal finds. House members are given up to $1.9 million a year and senators get up to $4.5 million to spend on job-related expenses, but, the Journal reports, the accounting is often opaque. More»

Obstructionist strategy seems lame

(NEWSER) - The Republican response to the fiscal crisis is “totally misguided,” David Brooks writes in the New York Times. Republicans are opposing everything out of a belated sense of fiscal discipline, “at the one moment in the past 70 years when it is completely inappropriate,” he sighs. “If Republicans wanted to do the country some good, they’d take the economic crisis more seriously than the Democrats.” More»

Watchdog groups slam lawmakers' automatic pay raise amid economic chaos

(NEWSER) - The flatlining economy hasn't stopped Congress from getting a pay raise, the Hill reports. Lawmakers will get an extra $4,700 a year starting in January, amounting to a total of $2.5 million. The 2.8% automatic raise is only half as large as the cost of living adjustment for Social Security recipients, but critics say it's insensitive in light of troubles facing taxpayers—and Congress' own push to limit auto execs' salaries to $1 a year. More»