Senate

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Clinton and Obama: A Tale of Two Senators

Brief legislative careers reveal much about candidates

(Newser) - The Senate isn’t a powerful presidential launching pad, but Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama arrived there amidst whispers of executive ambitions, and each charted a very different course, the LA Times reports. Clinton swiftly established herself as an inside operator, forging alliances and focusing on her state, while Obama...

Bush Predicts GOP Victory
Bush Predicts GOP Victory
Feb 26, 2008 3:15 AM CST

Bush Predicts GOP Victory

Boasts Republicans will keep White House, regain House, Senate, governor majority

(Newser) - President Bush insisted yesterday to the Republican Governors Association that Americans will elect another Republican to fill his shoes in November, AP reports. "And I don't want the next Republican president to be lonely," Bush said. "And that's why we got to take the House, retake the...

Candidates Run the Gamut on Earmarks

Clinton in top 10; Obama near bottom; McCain has none

(Newser) - This year’s presidential frontrunners represent a wide array of stances on congressional earmarking—a term for garnering funds for home-state pork, reports the Washington Post. Hillary Clinton is one of the Senate’s biggest earmark recipients, Barack Obama is in the bottom quarter, and John McCain is one of...

Waterboarding Is Illegal: Justice Dept.

Legal expert to tell House committee it's no longer acceptable

(Newser) - A top Justice Department official will declare to a House subcommittee today that waterboarding is no longer legal—a day after Congress defied President Bush's veto threat to explicitly outlaw the controversial interrogation tactic. "The set of interrogation methods authorized for current use is narrower than before, and it...

Senate Yields to White House on Eavesdropping
Senate Yields to White House on Eavesdropping
UPDATED
Feb 12, 2008 6:41 PM CST

Senate Yields to White House on Eavesdropping

Agrees to widen powers, give phone companies immunity

(Newser) - The Senate passed a bill today to expand the government's wiretapping powers and to grant immunity to phone companies that aided the government in post-9/11 investigations, the Washington Post reports. That translates into a big victory for the White House, notes the New York Times. The bill now goes to...

GOP Senators Block Dems' Stimulus Plan

Bill to give Americans tax rebates is now in legislative limbo

(Newser) - Democrats' efforts to expand a financial relief plan for Americans hit a roadblock in the Senate today, the AP reports. Republicans were able to stymie the bill, which they say is too expensive. Democrats hoped to add $40 billion to the plan that passed the House last week; it's now...

House OKs Stimulus Package
House OKs Stimulus Package
Jan 29, 2008 4:57 PM CST

House OKs Stimulus Package

Pelosi warns Senate to move quickly

(Newser) - The House approved a $146 billion economic stimulus package today with overwhelming bipartisan support. The bill, which would give most Americans rebates of $600, passed by a vote of 385-35 and now heads to the Senate, reports the Washington Post. Speaker Nancy Pelosi asked the Senate to approve its version...

Deal on Stimulus Package Puts Heat on Senate

Bush, Congress bask in the brief glow of cooperation, but can it last?

(Newser) - The $150 billion package of tax breaks for consumers and businesses rolled out yesterday was the first show of bipartisan cooperation sans bloodletting since the  Democrats won control of Congress a year ago, the Washington Post observes. It took panic over a looming recession to make it happen, and it...

US Seeks Iraqi Authority to Continue War

Agreement would not need ratification

(Newser) - The White House is negotiating with Iraq what critics say is a treaty in all but name and could tie the hands of a future administration, reports the New York Times. The US is insisting on being granted continued authority to conduct the war and calling for legal protection for...

Wicker Will Step Into Lott's Shoes
Wicker Will
Step Into
Lott's Shoes
Jan 1, 2008 4:00 AM CST

Wicker Will Step Into Lott's Shoes

Mississippi governor picks conservative Republican

(Newser) - Mississippi's governor has chosen Rep. Roger Wicker, a conservative Republican, to take Trent Lott's vacant seat in the US Senate until a special election can be called, the Jackson Clarion-Ledger reports. After 35 years, Lott quit this month, a year into his 6-year term. The timing of the special election...

Congress Approves War Funds
Congress Approves War Funds
Dec 19, 2007 6:19 PM CST

Congress Approves War Funds

House passes budget that includes money for Iraq

(Newser) - The House today approved a $556 billion spending bill that grants President Bush his wish for $70 billion in additional funds for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Reuters reports. The measure, which also funds most of the federal government through next September, marks another setback for Democrats looking to...

Senate Votes to Aid At-Risk Homeowners

Bill, approved 93-1, would allow feds to back refinanced loans

(Newser) - In an attempt to quell the ongoing housing crisis, the Senate approved a bill today that would allow the Federal Housing Administration to back refinanced loans for the thousands in danger of defaulting on mortgages. The bill, which passed 93-1, also repositions the FHA as an attractive alternative to subprime...

Energy Bill Blocked by 1 Vote
Energy Bill Blocked by
1 Vote
Dec 13, 2007 12:42 PM CST

Energy Bill Blocked by 1 Vote

Dems fail to override filibuster; $21B in taxes on oil companies draw GOP's ire

(Newser) - Senate Democrats today failed by one vote to advance a broad energy bill that would have increased mileage standards to 35mpg by 2020. The sticking point for Republicans was  $21 billion in new taxes, mostly on oil companies, the New York Times reports. The vote to invoke cloture scored 59...

Committee Votes to Hold Rove, Bolten in Contempt

Act challenging executive privilege may stall before full Senate

(Newser) - The Senate Judiciary Committee voted to hold Karl Rove and Josh Bolten in contempt today, the AP reports, for ignoring subpoenas on the US attorneys scandal. The White House, however, says the citations will likely die on the Senate floor. “I vote knowing that it’s highly likely to...

CIA Chief Sheds Little Light on Tapes

Hayden grilled by Senate panel, says videos predate him

(Newser) - Senators grilled CIA chief Michael Hayden for 90 minutes today, but his appearance behind closed doors shed little light on the agency's destruction of interrogation videotapes, the AP reports. Hayden's session was "useful and not yet complete," said Sen. Jay Rockefeller of the intelligence panel. Afterward, Hayden said...

Senator Attacks Free-Spending Megachurches

Tax-exempt status at odds with ministers' perks: Grassley

(Newser) - Sen. Charles Grassley thinks big-spending pastors of so-called “megachurches” might be abusing their tax-exempt status, NPR reports. Ministers in these stadium-sized churches preach a gospel of wealth, and practice what they preach—driving Rolls Royces, flying in private jets, living in mansions. “Maybe that's not illegal,” the...

Revisiting Hillary-Rudy, Round 1
Revisiting Hillary-Rudy, Round 1
Nov 29, 2007 11:49 AM CST

Revisiting Hillary-Rudy, Round 1

Clinton faced uphill '00 NY race—until Giuliani showed true colors

(Newser) - Before Rudy Giuliani withdrew from the 2000 US Senate race in New York, Hillary Clinton had become the “arms-folded sighing mother of a forever misbehaving teenager,” the New York Times writes, neutralizing her opponent’s skills and drawing out his temper. And, Salon writes, Rudy’s attempts to...

Lott Likely to Snare Lobby Job
Lott Likely to Snare Lobby Job
Nov 27, 2007 2:50 AM CST

Lott Likely to Snare Lobby Job

Timing of departure suggests he'll return as lobbyist

(Newser) - Republican Minority Whip Trent Lott is quitting the Senate—but he's probably not leaving Washington or politics for very long. The timing of Lott's departure suggests he is planning a lucrative career as a lobbyist, reports MSNBC. A resignation in 2008 would have required a two-year "timeout" before Lott...

GOP Senators Kill Dem Iraq Withdrawal Bill

Timetable remains sticking point; Repub measure also fails

(Newser) - Senate Republicans today blocked a bill that would have funded the Iraq war and set a withdrawal deadline of December 15, 2008. The legislation cleared the House but received only 53 of 60 needed votes in the Senate. "It's telling our soldiers, you're losers, when they're winners. So we're...

Congress Torn on Telecom Immunity
Congress Torn on Telecom Immunity
Nov 16, 2007 7:48 AM CST

Congress Torn on Telecom Immunity

Senate panel sidesteps; House passes bill without it

(Newser) - Congress is conflicted over proposed immunity laws that would retroactively protect telecoms from suits alleging they illegally handed the government information on calls. The Senate Intelligence Committee endorsed immunity 13-2 last month, but the Judiciary Committee left the immunity section out of the document it approved yesterday. The House passed...

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