Libertarian Party of Georgia Asks Republican Senators, Why So Much Pork?

Begich: Sorry about those earmarks, Alaska
From Erika Bolstad in Washington D.C. -- Earmarks have taken a hit in recent weeks, and only in Alaska would a senator apologize for not being able to deliver them. Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaksa, did just that, though, in a letter to Alaska organizations that had earmarks in an omnibus spending bill that fell apart last night. "I am disappointed, plain and simple, since we have worked in a Bipartisan manner to create a bill that contains projects as requested by nearly every Senator," he wrote. "M...

Oops! How the Food Safety Bill Passed Congress, But Really Didn't
ABC News’ Matthew Jaffe reports: Congress has a lot of odd rules, but one of the more basic ones is that revenue measures must originate in the House of Representatives, not the Senate. That rule now appears to have caused the demise of the Food Safety bill. Yes, the Food Safety bill that passed the House and then passed the Senate now looks unlikely to pass Congress this year. How? It’s a long story, but it starts well over a year ago. In July 2009 the House passed a sweeping food safety...

Congress rushes to finish bills before holidays
WASHINGTON — Rushing to finish by Christmas, congressional Democrats worked Friday to secure Senate ratification of a new Arms Control treaty and to end the Military’s ban on Openly Gay service members as they neared the end of two tumultuous years of single-party government. Legislation to keep the Federal Government running until mid- to late February was also on the agenda, a matter for negotiations with emboldened Republicans who will take control of the House and add to their nu...

Republican Earmark Hypocrisy [Now WHO Could Have Predicted THIS?]
Who knew that Republicans would abandon their election promises so quickly? This entry was posted in Earmarks, National Politics, US Senate and tagged broken promises, Congress, conservative, earmarks, hypocrisy, John Cornyn, John Thune, politics, republican party, Tea Party. Bookmark the permalink. » Get Skype, call free! ...

GOP senators ready to vote against 'don't ask, don't tell,' aides say
Washington (CNN) -- Four key GOP senators who have announced their support for a "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Repeal are prepared to join Democrats in voting to let the bill proceed, as long as Congress first deals with a measure to fund the government, aides to the four said Friday. The aides said Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe, Lisa Murkowski and Scott Brown will vote Saturday to end debate on the ban on Openly Gay and Lesbian people in the Military if the Senate passes a stopgap spending b...

Jon Stewart gives GOP senators the skewering their hypocrisy on 9/11 deserves
Led by the redoubtable John Feal, 9/11 rescue and recovery workers may be making headway among some of the Republican U.S. senators who last week voted down Legislation to provide Health Care and compensation to the sick among them. Feal yesterday marched the Senate hallways hoping to get up close and personal with GOPers who turned their backs on Ground Zero responders without so much as a word of explanation. For his troubles in petitioning government, Feal was escorted by Capitol cops calle...

Dont Make 9/11 First Responders Dead Ducks
If the Senate passes the 9/11 First Responders bill in this Lame Duck session of Congress, it proves several things. One, Republicans can be shamed into doing the right thing, and two, Jon Stewart deserves Emmy, Peabody and Pulitzer awards. First, read this account of a successful Republican attempt to block the necessary Legislation last week. Now read and view Stewart’s epic Thursday night. If the Republicans are going to draw the line at funding 9/11 First Responders Victims as too exp...

Congress Rushes to Finish Bills before Holidays
Friday, December 17, 2010 By Donna Cassata, Andrew Taylor, Associated Press Washington (AP) - Rushing to finish by Christmas, congressional Democrats worked Friday to secure Senate ratification of a new Arms Control treaty and to end the Military's ban on Openly Gay service members as they neared the end of two tumultuous years of single-party government. Legislation to keep the Federal Government running until mid- to late February was also on the agenda, a matter for negotiations with emb...

House funds govt for 3 days
Published: Dec. 17, 2010 at 5:47 PM WASHINGTON, Dec. 17 (UPI) -- The U.S. House Friday decided to fund the government only for three more days, meaning members will have to stay in Washington next week. House and Senate negotiators have been working on a Budget bill and House leaders had hoped an agreement could be worked out to allow for adjournment. But without an agreement in sight, House leaders decided to fund the government for just 72 hours and reconvene Tuesday, The Hill reported. "There...

Chambliss, others in Senate give rocky start to START treaty debate
WASHINGTON -- Sen. Saxby Chambliss and other Republicans on Wednesday blasted Democrats' plans to push through a key nuclear arms treaty with Russia in the waning hours of this Congress, calling Majority Leader Harry Reid's plans to do so "amateurish." Ga. Politics news, helpful links PolitiFact Georgia » Jane Kidd: "[State Rep. Doug McKillip’s] Donors deserve a refund." "He's trying to jam through a ... treaty he knows needs to have at least 10 days to two weeks from a l...

Foxs Brian Kilmeade Comments On Sen. Claire McCaskills Senate Speech: That Voice Goes Right Through Me
At least one of the gang at Fox & Friends wasn’t so friendly to Sen. Claire McCaskill this morning, as co-host Brian Kilmeade made it clear he just can’t stand listening to the voice of the Democrat from Missouri. McCaskill, who spoke witheringly about Republican criticisms of Earmarks in the Legislation, had part of her remarks played on F&F Friday morning, and the short clip was more than enough to apparently give Kilmeade the fingernails-on-the-chalkboard willies: “...

How They Learned to Start Worrying and Stop Appropriating
The omnibus spending bill died in the Senate last night, and the death was a long time coming. It started to bleed in 2006, when a series of rule changes and the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act were passed, opening up the process by which bills were marked up to public scrutiny. It got a good hard kick in December 2009, when President Obama signed that year's omnibus, but only after an angry Speech declaring that the bill had to "mark an end to the old way of doing business a...

Republican Earmark Hypocrisy
From The Senate Democrats, Republicans are finally taking a little bit of heat in the press for their hypocrisy on Earmarks. Senate Republicans took a lot of heat yesterday for stuffing a bill with millions of their own earmarks, then trying to claim they oppose Earmarks. but Republicans’ earmark hypocrisy is even starker when you compare what they are saying in Washington, DC to what they are saying to their constituents back home. In D.C., DeMint Decries Earmarks: “Americans want ...

Reid Pulls Controversial $1.2 Trillion Spending Bill in Favor of Short-Term Budget Fix
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nev., pauses while speaking with the media, after their Senate Democratic Caucus, Wednesday, Dec. 8, 2010, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP) Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, bowing to Republican opposition to a 1,924-page $1.2 Trillion spending measure packed with Earmarks, withdrew the bill and said he would work with Republican leaders on a smaller, short-term Budget fix to avoid a looming government shutdown. The government already is operating on a te...

Harry Reid Pulls Massive Omnibus Spending Bill; Mitch McConnell Reacts Video 12/16/10
Here is video of GOP Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell reacting to news that Democrat Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid had pulled the massive $1.1 Trillion Omnibus Spending Bill because he did not have the 60-votes for Cloture - which would bring it up for an Up or Down vote. The massive bill was filled with more than 39,000 Earmarks, and was 1,924-pages long . This means some kind of continuing resolution will likely be needed to fund the Government until the new Congress can act in J...

The earmark difference in 2010
Image via Wikipedia Byron York: Press coverage of the Budget frenzy on Capitol Hill has suggested that pork-barrel earmark spending is still a Bipartisan problem, that after months of self-righteous Rhetoric about fiscal discipline, Republicans and Democrats remain equal-opportunity earmarkers. It's not true. A new analysis by a group of federal-spending Watchdogs shows a striking imbalance between the parties when it comes to earmark requests. Democrats remain raging spenders, while Republica...

The fate of the Libertarian Party
Nothing is more troubling to me, and to a great number of Americans, than the current state of politics. With a severely polarized Congress, and a president who seems a tad bit too eager to appease, things are in a state of stale mate. The Democrats don't wish to give anything to the Republicans, and the Republicans have announced time and time again that they will not vote anything a Democrat brings to the table. With the Republicans gaining control of congress, what changes can we expect to se...

Extension Of Bush Tax Cuts Passes; Pork Laden Spending Bill Goes Down
So I’m sure you’ve heard by now. The House of Representatives passed the bill that will extend the Bush Tax Cuts, renew Unemployment Benefits for 13 months, and cut Social Security taxes for one year late last night. The roll call showed it was a total landslide at 277-148. Democrats had 139 yeas and 112 nays while the Republicans has 138-36 Go here to see the roll call and find out how they voted. The Democrats tried to pass a higher estate tax but that went down in flames also at 2...

Senate Republicans oppose net neutrality
Twenty-nine Republican senators wrote to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Julius Genachowski this week to oppose his proposal to regulate Internet lines. The letter is signed by Sens. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) and 27 others. They urged Genachowski to abandon his effort. "This is an unjustified and unnecessary expansion of government control over private enterprise," the letter says. The FCC will vote on proposed Net Neutrality rules on Dec. 21.  Source: ...

Senate Republicans oppose net neutrality
Twenty-nine Republican senators wrote to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Julius Genachowski this week to oppose his proposal to regulate Internet lines. The letter is signed by Sens. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) and 27 others. They urged Genachowski to abandon his effort. "This is an unjustified and unnecessary expansion of government control over private enterprise," the letter says. The FCC will vote on proposed Net Neutrality rules on Dec. 21.  Source: ...

Cite Constitution for Every Bill
From Hot Air House GOP may require constitutional test for all new Legislation Insofar as this sort of thing might encourage the public to think more critically about constitutional limits on government, I like it. Insofar as it’s aimed at reining in Democratic legislative excess … I don’t get it. Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah), the head of the House Rules Working Group, on Thursday said the GOP transition team will recommend the adoption of a rule requiring lawmakers to provide constitutional

Fate of food-safety bill bleak (Politico)
A sweeping Food Safety measure heralded as a rare Senate victory just a few weeks ago looks like it might fall to the cutting room floor, as senators hammer out the details of a resolution to prevent a government shutdown. Aides say Majority Leader Harry Reid must strip down the government funding measure to its bare bones so that the Senate can pass it quickly by unanimous consent and send back to the House, which had attached the food-safety measure to its version of the continuing resolution...

Deficit reduction: Why it may not be dead despite the costly tax cut deal
The Tax Cut deal that President Obama signed Friday costs $858 billion, making the cause of Deficit reduction that much more challenging. But Deficit hawks still see some hopeful signs. President Barack Obama smiles after signing into law a bill extending Bush-era tax cuts at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington Friday. With President Obama's signing of a historic tax-cut agreement Friday, Deficit hawks may be in mourning. The deal costs $858 billion, and it’s all paid fo...

Collapse of the omnibus spending bill: rise of the 'tea party Congress'?
Some see ideals of Tea Party movement at play in Senate, after a huge spending bill loaded with Earmarks is scuttled after GOP lawmakers thought twice about it....

Georgia senators sign a letter against internet regulation
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Julius Genachowski received a letter signed by 29 U.S. Senators, including Georgia Republicans Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson, urgin him to stop Internet Regulation. You recently announced your intent to have the Federal Communications Commission impose new regulations on Broadband access services at the Commission’s meeting later this month. We write today to express our continued opposition to any so-called “Open InternetR...