Republican Rep.-elect picks a bone with a top leader in his party

On tax cuts, GOP passes 1st leadership test
For all the focus on what a victory the tax-cut bill represents for President Obama and what a defeat it represents for Liberal Democrats, little notice was paid to the fact that the House GOP has passed its first critical test of governing since winning back control of the House last month.   Despite earning the support of genuine Conservatives from Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) to Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), grandfather of the Tea Party movement, the tax-cut package was also opposed by Sarah Palin, f...

Allen West Bats Eric Cantor For Weak Congressional Calendar
Incoming Tea Party-backed Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) wasted no time butting heads with his future GOP leaders Thursday, writing a letter to House Majority Leader-in-waiting Eric Cantor to complain about the meager nature of the upcoming Congressional calendar. "As we know, Congress needs to work to create jobs, reduce the Deficit, strengthen our economy, limit the size of government and contend with a plethora of National Security issues," West wrote in a statement to Cantor. "How are we to do t...

Congress rushes to finish bills before holidays
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 emboldened Republicans who will take control of the House and add to the...

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 numbers i...

Earmarks, Spending, and the Scope of the Federal Government
The Washington Post reported yesterday that Republican senators were turning their back on a massive spending bill stuffed full of their own Earmarks. Those earmarks, the Post noted, included quite a few to benefit Mississippi, the home state of Senators Roger Wicker and Thad Cochran: Wicker, along with Cochran, had by then already sponsored earmarks in the spending bill that would fund an airport expansion in Tunica ($1.75 million), new riverwalk lights in Columbus ($300,000), improvements to a...

CNN will co-host presidential debate with PAC-affiliated "Tea Party" group
CNN will co-host a Republican presidential debate next year with the Tea Party Express, which is basically a PAC run by Republican political operatives. It is a slightly puzzling decision from a "basic standards of journalistic ethics" standpoint, although from a "desperation for attention and the participation of a bunch of Fox employees" standpoint it actually makes perfect sense. CNN Political Director Sam Feist is excited for this opportunity to attempt to justify having a Republican campaig...

Tea Party and CNN to Host 2011 Republican Presidential Debate in Florida
CNN Political Director Sam Feist called the "Tea Party movement a fascinating, diverse, Grassroots force that already has drastically changed the country's political landscape." The movement's impact on the political balance is indisputable. Tea party-backed Candidates, assailing President Obama's policies and calling for smaller government and less spending, had considerable success in the Nov. 2 election. The tea party and allies like Sarah Palin can rightly claim credit for playing a signific...

Chairman Tim Kaine Calls for Senate Approval of Bill Repealing Dont Ask, Dont Tell
Earlier this week, the House passed Legislation that would Repeal the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy. The Senate is expected to vote on Repeal Legislation this weekend. In advance of that vote, DNC Chairman Tim Kaine issued the following statement urging repeal: In the nearly two decades since ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ first took effect, America has come a long way. Today, the President of the United States, the Secretary of Defense, and the Chairman...

Congress rushes to finish bills before holidays
Senate Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., walks to his office on Capitol Hill in Washington Friday, Dec. 17, 2010. 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...

It's Law: Obama Signs Compromise Tax Plan
Drew Angerer/The New York Times President Obama signed the $858 billion tax and Unemployment Insurance bill into law on Friday. President Obama signed the sweeping $858 billion tax bill into law on Friday afternoon, the culmination of a lawmaking process that featured intensive negotiations with Republicans and loud expressions of frustration from Democrats. It was a rare sight in an auditorium of the old Executive Office Building:  Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader from Kentucky,...

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...

Obama signs massive tax-cut bill, hails compromise with Republicans
Capping a giant end-of-year victory, President Obama on Friday signed into law a bill preventing the largest Tax Increase in history by extending the bush-era Income Tax cuts across the board for another two years. At a signing ceremony with Democrats and Republicans alike, the president called the package a "victory" for the American People. "The Legislation I'm about to sign is a substantial victory for middle-class families across the country," said Mr. Obama, flanked on a stage by Vice Presi...

GOP freshman go-getter wants Congress working more hours
The go-getter GOP freshmen who won election in November aren’t going to follow their House leaders blindly—at least, Allen West isn’t. West penned a letter to incoming Majority Leader Eric Cantor last week with a simple message: Congress needs to be working longer hours next year. Rep.-elect Allen West (R-Fla.), who garnered significant tea-party backing as a Candidate, said in a letter to incoming Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) that the House should spend more time in...

Allen West says Congress has too much time off
WASHINGTON — Congressman-elect Allen West , the Tea Party Candidate who has promised to shake up Capitol Hill, wonders why the House plans to be in session for only 123 days next year. “As we know, Congress needs to work to create jobs, reduce the Deficit, strengthen our economy, limit the size of government and contend with a plethora of National Security issues,” West wrote to House Majority Leader-elect Eric Cantor .  “How are we to do that when, among other thing...

Allen West: Is the GOP looking at taking too much time off?
Congressman-elect Allen West -- who won the ardent backing of local Tea Party groups -- is already questioning GOP leadership, asking whether its new congressional calendar devotes enough time to congressional work. In a letter (also here) to House Majority Leader-Elect Eric Cantor , the newly-elected Republican notes that under the schedule, Congress would only be in office 10 days in its first month. "As we know, Congress needs to wo...

Interview With Congresswoman-Elect Vicky Hartzler, 4th District Missouri
On November 3rd, 2010, Vicky Hartzler, 41, defeated the long sitting Democrat, Congressman Ike Skelton in the 4th District of Missouri. Predominantly rural with agriculture, the 4th District is home to two major Military bases, Whiteman Air Force Base, home of the B-2 stealth bomber, and Fort Leonard Wood, a primary Army facility for training against IED and chemical attacks. Vicky Hartzler is no stranger to politics, having served for six years with the Missouri State House of Representatives ...

George W. Bush: 9/11 National Address to a Joint Session of Congress
Mr. Speaker, Mr. President Pro Tempore, members of Congress, and fellow Americans: In the normal course of events, Presidents come to this chamber to report on the State of the Union. Tonight, no such report is needed. It has already been delivered by the American People. We have seen it in the courage of passengers, who rushed Terrorists to save others on the ground -- passengers like an exceptional man named Todd Beamer. And would you please help me to welcome his wife, Lisa Beamer, here tonig...

Congress throws a tea party
Overall, a pretty good day for those who believe in low taxes and less spending. Here is the money graph from my upcoming Reuters Breakingviews column: Democrats and Republicans in Congress are gridlocked over the $1.1 Trillion 2011 Budget. So they will likely pass a temporary spending measure to keep the government running for another month or two. This creates a situation next year where incoming Tea Party Republicans can a) combine a threat of government shutdown with b) a refusal to raise t...

Obama salutes spirit of compromise, signs tax bill
WASHINGTON (AP) - While liberals seethed, President Barack Obama saluted a new spirit of political Compromise Friday as he signed into law a huge tax bill extending cuts for the rich—benefits he had steadfastly denounced—along with billions of dollars in help for the Middle Class and jobless workers. "It's a good deal for the American People; this is progress and that's what they sent us here to achieve," Obama said as a rare Bipartisan assembly of lawmakers looked on. The package re...

Arlen Specter: Good riddance
One of the most ignominious Political Careers of the modern era will at last sputter to a pitiful end when the 111th Congress finally relinquishes its strangle-hold on the American Republic. Arlen Specter, outgoing senator from Pennsylvania, personified the sort of elite, politically opportunistic, government careerism that the American People have grown to so justifiably loathe. He will not be missed. Educated at Yale Law School, Specter first sought public office when, though a registered Demo...

Obama bill signing heralds new balance of power
WASHINGTON (AP) - While liberals seethed, President Barack Obama saluted a new spirit of political Compromise Friday as he signed into law a huge tax bill extending cuts for the rich—benefits he had steadfastly denounced—along with billions of dollars in help for the Middle Class and jobless workers. "It's a good deal for the American People; this is progress and that's what they sent us here to achieve," Obama said as a rare Bipartisan assembly of lawmakers looked on. The package re...

What Shuts Down, Exactly?
Lawmakers in the House and Senate are scrambling to pass Legislation to preserve the funding stream for the Federal Government, which, if nothing is done, will expire at midnight on Saturday, prompting a shutdown of the federal government. In the event lawmakers fail to reach a deal, old hands in and around the Capitol have begun looking to the past as prologue, to determine how the federal Bureaucracy -- and Americans across the country -- would be affected by a government shutdown. "The entire...

What Shuts Down, Exactly?
Lawmakers in the House and Senate are scrambling to pass Legislation to preserve the funding stream for the Federal Government, which, if nothing is done, will expire at midnight on Saturday, prompting a shutdown of the federal government. In the event lawmakers fail to reach a deal, old hands in and around the Capitol have begun looking to the past as prologue, to determine how the federal Bureaucracy -- and Americans across the country -- would be affected by a government shutdown. "The entire...

The Republican Party Has Always Been at War with Eurasia
Paul Krugman: Orwell and the Financial Crisis: Barry Ritholtz catches AEI purging mention of Deregulation from Peter Wallison’s bio. Wallison is co-director of AEI’s financial Deregulation project; but he’s also one of the Gang of Four demanding that the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission not so much as mention Deregulation in its report. So Wallison’s history as an advocate of the policy that shall not be named must be expunged, I guess. If this sounds familiar, it sh...

Congress rushes to finish bills before holidays
Senate Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., walks to his office on Capi... Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., talks to the media on Capitol Hill in Washington... 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 mi...