Senate aims to end debate on 9/11 benefits bill

9/11 responders' $4.2B aid package called miracle (AP)
NEW YORK – It was called a "Christmas miracle," but a last-minute Compromise by Congress will provide a smaller Aid Package than originally envisioned to help Victims of the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center and the responders sickened as they worked in its smoldering ruins. The measure passed by Congress and sent to President Barack Obama on Wednesday would provide up to $4.2 billion in new aid to survivors and responders, $2 million less than originally proposed. Obama said he ...

'Lame duck Congress morphed into energizer bunny
Senate Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., talks with the Associated... Shaken by a historic election in which angry voters canceled Democratic control of the House, lawmakers of both parties and President Barack Obama tried something new: They consulted each other. They cooperated. And finally, they compromised. From Tax Cuts to a nuclear arms treaty and the Repeal of the ban on openly serving gay Soldiers, Congress and the Obama White House closed up their respective shops and headed out...

Congress Poised To Expedite 9/11 Responders Bill Over GOP Objections
After months of GOP obstruction, a bill to help 9/11 First Responders cover their mounting Health Care costs is expected to zip through Congress. In addition to being a feather in the cap of New York and New Jersey Democrats -- who have been pushing the bill for months -- it will likely enjoy the distinction of being the last legislative item to pass the unusually productive 111th Congress lame duck session. Republicans have blocked the bill in both the House and Senate over objections to its ...

Year End, fresh Start?
The lame-duck session of the 111th Congress, which was widely expected to be an unproductive nightmare, ended pretty impressively for the administration and congressional Democrats with a 71-26 Senate vote to ratify the START Treaty. Here's Politico's summary of the end-game: The Senate voted on START the same day Obama signed Legislation that begins a process to Repeal the Pentagon's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" ban on Openly Gay service members, and hours after it passed a stripped-down defense a...

You Sir, Are No Ronald Reagan
Jerry Seib, Assistant Managing Editor of the Wall Street Journal, tries valiantly [see video embedded below] to depict America’s Child Emperor as the second coming of Ronald Reagan. Mr. Seib, this country knew Ronald Reagan and he, sir, is no Ronald Reagan. Obama is a crooked dealer in a backroom poker game. Neither a negotiator nor a compromiser. He merely took advantage of a hobbled 111th Congress in a Lame Duck session. He played what amounted to an ace he had hidden up his sleeve. The ...

111th Congress in the history books
Adjournment Wednesday also marked the end of Democrats' four years of controlling the U.S. House of Representatives led by Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who is expected to relinquish the gavel to Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, when the 112th Congress convenes Jan. 5, The Hill reported Thursday. In the Senate, lawmakers fled Capitol Hill after casting their final two roll-call votes on the new U.S.-Russia nuclear arms reduction treaty and the nomination of Mary Helen Murguia to the 9th U.S. Circuit Co...

Lame-Duck Session Over, GOP Looks to 2011
The lame-duck session of Congress is over, but lawmakers and President Barack Obama have wrapped up a huge amount of Legislation in the last action-packed month. However, it may not be something that can be repeated next year when conservative Republicans control half of Congress and the liberal Obama still reigns in the White House. "What we've shown is that we don't have to agree on a hundred percent to get things done that enhance the lives of families all across America," Obama said. The ...

No Congress Since 1960s Has Impact on Public as 111th
Source: Bloomberg Bloomberg No Congress Since 1960s Has Impact on Public as 111th By Lisa Lerer and Laura Litvan (Adds Sept. 11 responders health-care bill passage in 3rd paragraph.) Dec. 22 (Bloomberg) -- However history judges the 535 men and women in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate the past two years, one thing is certain: The 111th Congress made more law affecting more Americans since the “Great Society” Legislation of the 1960s. For the first time since President Theodore Roose..

Can Obamas political rebound last?
President Barack Obama, whose first two years were marked by staunchly partisan votes on his signature initiatives, finds himself at a crossroads. In the seven weeks since the election, Obama negotiated with Republican leaders on taxes and left angry liberals on the sidelines. On a major nuclear treaty with Russia, he sidelined GOP Senate leaders and negotiated with like-minded Republicans. And with a landmark repeal of the ban on openly gay military service, he delighted liberals, won Republica...

House Will Stay to Pass 9/11 Bill (Updated)
The House will stay in session tomorrow to pass the 9/11 health bill, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) declared this afternoon, removing one more potential obstacle to passing the measure that woudl help ailing First Responders. “My expectation is there is a high likelihood of a vote on 9/11 sometime tomorrow," Hoyer said of the ongoing effort in the Senate to pass the $6.2 billion James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act. "As a result, I would be asking all of you to st...

Pelosi says House won't "re-originate" 9-11 bill
The problem facing the House on the 9-11 bill is time. If the Senate has to invoke Cloture on 9-11 health, that could take days taking us past the Christmas holiday. So House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer is trying to get the 9-11 health bill on the floor tomorrow and pray that the Senate can get him a bill. Speaker Nancy Pelosi tells Fox the House wouldn't "re-orginate" the bill. In other words, re-start the process by passing the same bill the Senate hopes to approve and then wash their hands of...

Last Chance for 9-11 Health Bill
After new START gets ratification today, we’re going to apparently get the first test vote on the 9-11 Health Care bill. With Tom Coburn committed to blocking or at least delaying the bill, there’s no chance of unanimous consent, but the leadership of both parties is working out some kind of agreement to consider it. The House is prepared to pass the measure as well, but they’re waiting to see what the Senate will do. Basically, nobody wants to come back the week after Chris...

House Will Stay to Pass 9/11 Bill
The House will stay in session tomorrow to pass the 9/11 health bill, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) declared this afternoon, removing one more potential obstacle to passing the measure that woudl help ailing First Responders. “My expectation is there is a high likelihood of a vote on 9/11 sometime tomorrow," Hoyer said of the ongoing effort in the Senate to pass the $6.2 billion James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act. "As a result, I would be asking all of you to st...

Confident Senate vows Zadroga bill vote
WASHINGTON - Senate leaders think they have enough support to break a GOP Filibuster of the Zadroga 9/11 health bill - and vowed to start voting Wendesday. House members will hang around the Capitol at least through the evenign Wednesday to quickly sign off on any Senate-backed plan. "This is important to our country," House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said as he implored his colleagues to hold off on a holiday Vacation for another day. Roadblocks remain. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) has ...

Off the Ropes
A lot will be made of Barack Obama's remarkable political recovery since his electoral "shellacking" of 6 weeks ago. A politician who appeared to be headed for two possible years of lame-duckness was saved by the most active Lame Duck session of Congress in generations. • They passed the tax "deal," which included a few of Obama's wish-list of non-stimulative "stimulus." • They passed a Repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell ("DADT"), probably going a long way to soothe the Far Left fringe who we...

Last Call
Senate Dems seem serious about Filibuster reform for January. All Democratic senators returning next year have signed a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid , D-Nev., urging him to consider action to change long-sacrosanct Filibuster rules. The letter, delivered this week, expresses general frustration with what Democrats consider unprecedented obstruction and asks Reid to take steps to end those abuses. While it does not urge a specific solution, Democrats said it demonstrates increased ...

Senate's Returning Democrats Unanimously Favor Filibuster Reform
Source: National Journal (All) Senate's Returning Democrats Unanimously Favor Filibuster Reform All except Dodd sign a letter urging Majority Leader Harry Reid to change the rules. by Dan Friedman Wednesday, December 22, 2010 | 3:12 p.m. Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images All Democratic senators returning next year have signed a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., urging him to consider action to change long-sacrosanct filibuster rules. The letter, delivered this week, expresses ge...

The Pride of Obamas Orphans
WASHINGTON — At the beginning of 2009, the choice before Democrats who controlled the 111th Congress was whether they would enact historic Legislation, even at the risk of their majority, or whether they would play it safe. They gave the safe option a pass, with two results: This will go down as the most productive Congress since the 89th, which was even more Democratic because of Lyndon Johnson’s 1964 landslide. And 52 Democratic House Incumbents, most elected in 2006 or 2008, los...

Lame-duck session brings Obama surprising success
President Barack Obama gets a round of applause after inking the Repeal of the ban on gays serving openly in the Military during a signing ceremony Wednesday at the Interior Department. (Drew Angerer, The New York Times) WASHINGTON — When the lame-duck session of Congress started more than a month ago, President Barack Obama looked defeated and deflated, publicly acknowledging the "shellacking" his party had taken in the November Midterm Elections. Now, a six-week session that was expecte...

Democratic majority ends with accomplishments
WASHINGTON — This is the story of a "Lame Duck" Congress that wasn't. Shaken by a historic election in which angry voters canceled Democratic control of the House, lawmakers of both parties and President Barack Obama tried something new: They consulted each other. They cooperated. And finally, they compromised. From Tax Cuts to a nuclear arms treaty and the Repeal of the ban on openly serving gay Soldiers, Congress and the Obama White House closed up their respective shops and headed out...

Democratic majority ends with accomplishments
WASHINGTON—This is the story of a "Lame Duck" Congress that wasn't. Shaken by a historic election in which angry voters canceled Democratic control of the House, lawmakers of both parties and President Barack Obama tried something new: They consulted each other. They cooperated. And finally, they compromised. From Tax Cuts to a nuclear arms treaty and the Repeal of the ban on openly serving gay Soldiers, Congress and the Obama White House closed up their respective shops and headed out fo...

Congress approves health bill for 9/11 rescue workers
WASHINGTON — After years of fierce lobbying and debate, Congress approved a bill Wednesday to cover the cost of medical care for Rescue Workers and others who became sick from toxic fumes, dust and smoke after the 2001 attack on the World Trade Center. The $4.3 billion bill cleared its biggest hurdle Wednesday afternoon when the Senate unexpectedly approved it just 12 days after Republican senators had blocked a more expensive House version from coming to the floor of the Senate for a vote...

9/11 Responders Call Their $4.2B Aid Package a Christmas Miracle
Thursday, December 23, 2010 By Andrew Miga and Beth Fouhy, Associated Press Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., congratulates John Feal, a former demolition supervisor from Long Island, on Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2010 after the Senate passed a bill giving billions in Federal Aid to 9/11 First Responders. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) New York (AP) - It was called a "Christmas miracle," but a last-minute Compromise by Congress will provide a smaller Aid Package than originally envisioned to help Victims of ...

The Lesson of the Lame Duck Congress
And so the 111th Congress goes home, after a flurry of actually quite huge last-minute Legislation. The Repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell. Extension of Unemployment Benefits. The START Treaty. The Zadroga bill (albeit a scaled-back one). Is this what 11-dimensional Chess looks like? If so, then what we are left with is an appalling reality amidst all the accomplishments: that all we need do in order to get worthy legislation that costs either nothing or comparatively little through the legislativ...

Bad News, Good News, and Really Bad News for Social Security's Political Future
All of the signs point to 2011 being an important year for Social Security. The Obama Administration seems intent on taking some hacks at the program, with the President's temporarily-forgotten Deficit Commission providing cover for those who want to cut Social Security. (Their mission statement did not even include Social Security reform, but the commission nonetheless decided to weigh in on the program's future. And the Administration applauded.) Some in the Congressional leadership also seem ...