House Passes $15B Jobs Bill

More than half of lawmakers holding no town hall meetings

(NEWSER) - Think politicians are just a wee bit spooked by the town hall rebellion of 2009? Leery of facing angry voters, lawmakers are eschewing those events this year, the Christian Science Monitor reports, with half of Republicans and two-thirds of Democrats opting not to hold any during this month's Congressional recess. In their place, leaders of both parties are encouraging a novel alternative: Job fairs. More»

130 former legislators calls for civility on Capitol Hill in letter

(NEWSER) - More than 130 former members of Congress banded together to offer a message to 2010 congressional candidates via letter: Stop the "zero-sum game" partisanship that has paralyzed the legislative branch. So many former lawmakers have never spoken with one voice to all congressional candidates, but they felt prodded by the "sorry state of affairs" on Capitol Hill, in which "the goal often seems to be more to devastate the other side than to find common ground to solve problems,” Politico reports. More»

Americans aren't undecided, and the public option was DOA: Cillizza

(NEWSER) - With health care reform seemingly headed for passage now that Bart Stupak's on board, Chris Cillizza looks back at the debate and finds five persistent arguments with little or no grounding in reality.

• Scott Brown was a game-changer: "Yes and no," Cillizza writes for the Washington Post . Lacking a supermajority, the Democrats have had to tread carefully, "but the meat of the bill—an attempt at broad reform—never really changed"

Proponents hope measure will create 250K jobs

(AP) - US companies that hire unemployed workers will get a temporary payroll tax holiday under a bill that easily won final congressional approval today. The 68-29 Senate vote sends the legislation to the White House, where President Obama has promised to sign it into law. Optimistic estimates predict the tax break could generate 250,000 jobs through the end of the year, a tiny fraction of the 8.4 million jobs lost since the start of the recession. More»

Rhode Island Congressman blasts media for Afghanistan Coverage

(NEWSER) - Patrick Kennedy blasted the media on the floor of the House this afternoon, calling the focus on the likes of Eric Massa rather than the war in Afghanistan "despicable." The lame-duck Rhode Island Democrat was speaking—and eventually shouting—in favor of a Dennis Kucinich-sponsored resolution requiring President Obama to pull American troops out of Afghanistan. More»