As of October 2024, Democrats have a 51-49 edge in the U.S. Senate, counting the 4 nominally “independent” senators who caucus with them. They are Joe Manchin (WV), Kyrsten Sinema (AZ), Bernie Sanders (VT), and Angus King (ME), of whom Sanders and King are reliable Democratic votes, and [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Congress’
September 23rd, 2024 - 1:05 pm § in Donald Trump, Politics
How two assault rifles cost taxpayers $231 million
The just-agreed-upon stopgap funding bill includes a $231 million budget increase for the Secret Service. That agency justifiably needs more personnel, and has been pressing Congress for more funding, but the impetus for getting Republicans to go along is the two assassination attempts against Trump[...]
Stupid ideas department
That could be a running feature of any blog featuring politics, but I’ll start with this. There was a House Oversight and Accountability Committee hearing last week that degenerated into a circus. Chair Rep. James Comer (R-KY), the ringmaster, apparently expects committee members to be somethi[...]
Don’t give GOP speaker holdouts what they want
What they want is to dismantle the federal government. In the 2023 Congress, the GOP has 222 House seats, and needs 218 to elect a speaker. Because of intraparty divisions, it isn’t enough. At this writing (Wednesday, January 4, 2023), five roll calls have fallen short of producing a majority [...]
December 31st, 2022 - 5:44 pm § in Politics
What do Congress employees earn?
Being a congressional aide can be grueling, with long hours and possibly frequent travel required. And it doesn’t pay all that well. Some are employed by the House or Senate, others by committees, and many by individual members. Duties vary by position, and range from managing a member’s[...]
How 3 Republicans could elect a Speaker
Assuming a 220-215 GOP House majority, as NBC News has projected, it would take only 3 GOP votes to elect Justin Amash as speaker if Democrats cooperated. And on Friday, November 18, 2022, Democratic Gov. Jared Polis of Colorado endorsed Amash, which could bring along other Democrats (read story her[...]
Steve Bannon isn’t in jail yet
Hooray for rule of law! It’s what stands between us and the jungle. But the wheels of justice grind slowly, and Steve Bannon — domestic abuser, thief, and seditionist — has yet to answer for a criminal career that began 26 years ago. Bannon was charged in 1996 with domestic violenc[...]
July 30th, 2020 - 2:54 pm § in Politics
Relief bill stalls in Congress; who will get blamed?
$600 extra weekly benefits, evictions on the brink The extra $600 a week of unemployment benefits and eviction moratorium that have kept millions of households afloat and in their homes while shut out of their livelihoods by Covid-19 are ending on July 31, and Congress has failed to extend them. Eve[...]
November 7th, 2018 - 4:53 pm § in Science
Science Matters: 9 New Congress Reps Have Science Credentials.
All but one replaced a Republican: Edited from article in Business Insider When the 116th Congress heads to Washington in January, there will be more scientists in the Congress, one senator and eight members of the House. The members of the 115th Congress include one physicist, one microbiologist,[...]
July 25th, 2017 - 9:24 pm § in Politics
Renewed GOP Push To Repeal Obamacare Crashes Spectacularly
Emboldened by winning a procedural vote Tuesday afternoon, the GOP Senate leadership pushed Obamacare repeal to a vote Tuesday night, and the maneuver crashed spectacularly. Needing 60 votes to pass, it got only 43, with all Democrats and 9 Republicans voting “nay.” Read story here and h[...]