Remember 12-10: A message to Democrat voters

Constitutional cites, NYT and fundamentalism
The New York Times editorial board wasted little time in attempting to attack the new Republican led House in the way smug elitists usually do … by invoking “Fundamentalism”.   In this case the fundamentalism is an apparent attempt by a party to refocus the Legislation it plans on debating and passing on the “fundamental” legal document of the land. That just won’t do: In any case, it is a presumptuous and self-righteous act, suggesting that they alone understan

Earmarks aren't gone for good
It was one of the first messages delivered privately from incoming Speaker John Boehner to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid: Spending bills with Earmarks won’t see the light of day in the House. But a poll of the Senate would reveal that hardly anyone thinks Earmarks are gone for good — including Republican leaders who adopted a two-year earmark Moratorium and helped kill an earmark-laden omnibus spending bill last month. Continue Reading Text Size - + reset Politico 44 “...

Filibuster rules reform: Here's the package. Now the clock starts ticking
Filibuster rules reform: Here's the package. Now the clock starts ticking Well, as we observed this morning, the Republicans are out in force whining about Democrats' plans to reform the Senate's Filibuster rules. This morning on Fox & Friends, the usual Doocy-Carlson-Kilmeade trio gave a cursory report -- complete with a chryon describing it as a "power grab" by Democrats -- emphasizing Mitch McConnell's suggestion that this it would hurt Democrats down the road if they "eliminate the ...

Happy Hour Roundup
* Is Nancy Pelosi openly siding against Harry Reid, and with the House GOP, on Earmarks? That's what Eric Cantor says he took from a Conference Call he had with Pelosi and Obama today. Aaccording to Cantor, Pelosi remarked that she'd like to see Reid join her and the House GOP in doing away with earmarks, a leading House GOP priority. "She would think it would be a big move (if) we could get the Senate to come our way," Cantor said in parahprasing her remarks to a Virginia paper. Cantor's offi...

Cantor asks Obama to work together on earmarks, spending
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) called President Obama on Wednesday and said he hopes to find common ground on spending issues, Cantor's office said. Cantor and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) were officially calling Obama to inform him that the House had chosen its speaker, Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio). "And I know that many members of our conference are particularly hopeful that we can work together given some of your remarks about Spending Cuts, that you’ll be propos...

No, really: Is it time to get rid of the filibuster?
Well, maybe not “get rid of,” but how about reform? Three Senate Democrats rolled out their Compromise proposal this morning and at least one writer at National Review (Dan Foster) says … it doesn’t sound half-bad. I’m inclined to agree. The specifics: -End the Filibuster on motions to proceed (since this amounts to unlimited debate on whether to allow debate at all). -Make all filibusters on substantive measures “talking” or “Jimmy Stewart”

Vote to Change Filibuster Rule Likely This Month
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Credit: AP) Senate Democrats on Wednesday unveiled their final plan for reforming the Filibuster, a rule that has made it nearly impossible to pass Legislation without the support of 60 out of 100 senators. Under the reform package put forth by Democratic Sen. Tom Udall of New Mexico, senators who filibuster must actually remain on the floor to make their case, something that they do not need to do now. Senators also could no longer filibuster motions to pr...

Taking Aim at the Senate Filibuster
Yahoo! Buzz If a few of Senate Democrats had their way, Jimmy Stewart’s character in the classic film “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” would have had a harder time blocking a Senate vote. In the 1939 movie, a Senate freshman spent all night talking in a classic Filibuster, the decades-old right of any lawmaker to block Legislation on the Senate floor. But a group of Democrats believes Republicans have abused the practice. On Wednesday, they began debate on an effort to try to st...

Why Is Jeff Sessions Blocking A Child Sex Trafficking Bill?
In the waning days of the Lame Duck session, the Senate had the opportunity to pass the Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking Deterrence and Victims Support Act. Aimed at creating “a comprehensive, victim-centered approach to addressing the sex trafficking of minors, the bill is “the first of its kind to deal with young trafficking victims domestically” by providing $12 million in off-set funding for state and local Law Enforcement to shelter, rehabilitate, prevent, and protect chil...

Senator Kyl's New Whip Team
Sen. Roger Wicker (R., Miss.) and two freshmen, Sen. Rob Portman (R., Ohio) and Sen. Roy Blunt (R., Mo.), have joined the Senate GOP whip team, where they will work with Sen. Jon Kyl (R., Ariz.), the No. 2 ranking Republican in the upper chamber. “Rob served in the U.S. House of Representatives and in the previous administration,” said Kyl in a statement. “Roy is the former House Republican Whip. And Roger has contributed greatly to our efforts over the past two years. Their un...

Gay rights group laments makeup of new House
A gay and Lesbian rights Advocacy Group, Human Rights Campaign, is calling the 112th House of Representatives solidly against their cause. According to the group's tally, 53 seats now belong to lawmakers who do not support the group's efforts. Overall in the House, 225 members of the new Congress fall into that category, with another 43 showing a mixed record. In all, a solid majority. A spokesman for the group, Michael Cole-Schwartz, said in an e-mail that for new members, the labels are base...

LGBT Groups Look Beyond Congress, Will Focus On Courts, States While GOP Has Majority
LGBT Groups Look Beyond Congress, Will Focus On Courts, States While GOP Has Majority The take away from Amanda Terkel’s piece on the outlook for LGBT initiatives for the next two years is that most of the action will be happening in the states and the courts, since the Republican majority in the 112th Congress is showing little interest in taking up equality Legislation: One branch of government that could hold major victories (or upsets) for the LGBT community: the judicial system. Th...

Udalls, Bennet lead charge against fillibuster abuse
Colorado’s United States Senators, Michael Bennet and Mark Udall, are up in arms. They are mad, and they aren’t going to take it any more. At least that is what they say about current rules that allow a small minority of senators to derail almost any Legislation by fillibustering against it. Rules currently being debated by the Senate would require a senator to be on the floor while fillibustering. A new package of reforms was introduced today by Senator Tom Udall (D-NM and Mark̵...

Republicans vow austerity as they take Congress
Can’t wait for censored version of Huck Finn? Read Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Zombie Jim Democrat Nancy Pelosi hands the speaker's gavel to Republican John Boehner as he is sworn in on Wednesday. Sheldon Alberts, Washington Correspondent, Postmedia News · Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2011 WASHINGTON — First came the tears. Then came the tough talk. Ohio Republican John Boehner, sworn in Wednesday as the new Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, vowed to restore fiscal aust...

Transparency, BipartisanshipJust Words?
Remember how, during the past few years, Republicans repeatedly accused the Democrats of a lack of “openness and transparency” in the legislative process, of not allowing adequate time to either review proposed Legislation or to debate it and—in particular in the case of the Health Care bill—of ramming it down the throat of the GOP and of the American People without going through the Bipartisan process, without holding sufficient hearings or markups? In reality, House Democrats ...

GOP controls U.S. House
Republicans gained 63 seats in the 435-member House in November's Elections, fueled by Tea Party Candidates in Michigan and elsewhere who want a smaller Federal Government, less spending and a Repeal of the Health Care Reform Bill. But with the Democrats retaining control of the Senate -- and President Barack Obama holding a Veto pen -- the result of a divided government could be gridlock. To pass Legislation, including the Budget, accommodations must ...

Meet the Freshmen
In case you missed it last night, here’s video of Sean Hannity and Frank Luntz’s focus group with freshmen Republicans in the US House of Representatives. If this group sticks to their principles I believe there’s reason for hope. I wish them luck. Update: Speaker John Boehner has advised that the opening session of the 112th Congress will be streamed live. House Republicans will live stream the opening session of the 112th Congress - including the swearing-in ceremony ...

Are the Republicans Backing off 'Pledge' Budget Cuts?
That’s the way House Democrats, and many in the media, are portraying it. And it’s true that it is going to be difficult for Republicans to find enough cuts this Fiscal Year to hit the $100 billion target promised in the “Pledge to America.” Why? Well, in large part, because of the Republicans’ own successes. See, the intention of the “Pledge” was always to reduce non-defense Discretionary Spending to 2008 levels — before the Bailout and stimulus b...

Voters set bar low for incoming GOP majority
Voters have low expectations for the incoming Republican House majority, which is bad news for Democrats looking to make slip from power only temporary. Democratic Strategists were hoping a bungling performance by Republican leaders John Boehner and Eric Cantor would provide campaign fodder for 2012, when they'll need to recapture 25 seats to reclaim the speaker's gavel. But a new poll shows voters aren't expecting much from the Republicans, which will make it hard for Democrats to capitalize...

Nice negotiating, Mr. President
The START Treaty was ratified in the Lame Duck session of Congress and hailed by the MSM as a major political win for the Obama Administration.  Various Republicans, including Mitch McConnell and John McCain opposed the Treaty saying the Russians would use it to limit the development of our Missile Defense system.  Democrats, led by John Kerry, said the preamble was no cause for concern and would in no way limit missile defense. Turns out the Democrats are very wrong on that point. The Russian...

Could Dems' Effort to Blunt Filibuster Crush Move to End Secret Holds?
As a handful of frustrated Senate Democrats attempts to change the way the Senate conducts a Filibuster, it is becoming clearer that should they force such a change, they could snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in another area where they are seeking to make a major adjustment. Right now, any one senator can anonymously block a nominee or piece of Legislation by simply placing what's called a "hold" on the person or bill. Scores of nominees have been stymied over the years by both parties us...

House Speaker John Boehner makes a big deal on his first day about being humble.
By John DickersonPosted Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2011, at 7:50 PM ET Usually when politicians come to their big moment they crank up the lofty Rhetoric. They swirl around in the heavens, or do some resolving, or take a backstroke through the great American this or that. Backward run their sentences as Kennedy they try to approach but closer to Yoda they come. John Boehner, the new House Speaker, went the other way. He started in the dust—the Catholic Ash Wednesday ritual of smearing ashes on the...

Senate Welcomes 16, While Quayle, Clarence Thomas, Alito Look On
The 16 newly-elected members of the Senate, 13 of them Republican, are now officially senators, having been sworn in by Vice President Joe Biden shortly after NOON on Wednesday. Biden was in his element, as he back-slapped and hugged his former male colleagues, and planted a kiss on the cheek of many of the women he once served alongside. The members came in groups of four, new mixed with old, alphabetically and some with VIP's in tow. Partisanship was left, for a time, at the curbside, with sen...

Barbara Mikulski Becomes Longest-Serving Female Senator
Maryland Sen. Barbara Mikulski became the longest-serving woman in Senate history Wednesday. Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe and three others held a small ceremony on the Senate floor in the morning to mark the milestone, as Mikulski replaced former Maine senator Margaret Chase Smith as the record holder. Chase Smith, a Republican, served for 24 years. Milkulski in late December sat down with CNN and reflected what life was like for her as the first Democratic woman elected to the Senate in her own ri...

Filibuster Reform Fight Unfolds In Senate
ABC News’ Matthew Jaffe reports:   With the Democrats’ majority in the Senate today dwindling from 58 seats to 53 as the 112th Congress kicked off, they wasted no time in embarking on an effort to change Senate rules to make it harder for the minority party to Filibuster Legislation. “The United States Senate must solve problems, not create them,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said in a Speech on the chamber’s floor. “No one can deny that the Filibuster