House of Representatives

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Dems Get in Shouting and (Alleged) Shoving Match

'He touched me first,' says Waters

(Newser) - A pair of House Democrats had a less-than-decorous exchange on the floor yesterday, the Hill reports. With the chamber clearing out after a series of votes, Appropriations chair David Obey and Maxine Waters began screaming at each other over an earmark for a school bearing Waters' name. “You’re...

Cap-and-Trade Bill 'Biggest Tax in US History'

(Newser) - The cap-and-trade climate legislation that could come up for a House vote tomorrow makes no economic sense and “is likely to be the biggest tax in American history,” write the editors of the Wall Street Journal. Democrats are defending the bill with an incomplete Congressional Budget Office estimate...

Gore Works the Phones for Climate Bill

House votes tomorrow on measure to cut greenhouse gases

(Newser) - Al Gore is engaging in phone diplomacy today as the House prepares to vote on a landmark climate bill tomorrow. Original plans called for the former VP to appear in person, but Nancy Pelosi says lawmakers are close enough to an agreement that it's not necessary. Others offer a less...

Pelosi Gambles on Climate Bill Vote Despite Dem Grumbling

Speaker may need GOP backing

(Newser) - Nancy Pelosi has scheduled a vote this Friday on a controversial climate change bill despite the strong reservations of some Democrats, the Hill reports. Farmbelt lawmakers fear that the sprawling bill's measures to curb emissions will put a disproportionate burden on their states with no reward. The House speaker and...

House Dems Clear $106B War Funding Bill

(Newser) - War-funding legislation survived a fierce partisan battle in the House today, a major step in providing commanders in Iraq and Afghanistan the money they would need for the coming months. Democratic leaders pushing the $106 billion measure had to overcome an unusual alliance. Anti-war Democrats opposed continued war spending, and...

House OKs 'Cash for Clunkers' Bill
House OKs 'Cash for Clunkers' Bill

House OKs 'Cash for Clunkers' Bill

Rebates up to $4,500 would go to buyers of more efficient vehicles

(Newser) - The House has passed legislation to give people who trade in gas-guzzling vehicles for more efficient new models rebates up to $4,500, the Detroit News reports. The $4 billion "cash-for-clunkers" bill, aimed at giving the auto industry a boost, passed 298-119, and its backers will now try to...

Corruption Trial of Ex-Louisiana Rep Kicks Off

Feds say Jefferson took bribes, had $90K stashed in his freezer

(Newser) - Jury selection began today in the trial of former Louisiana Rep. William Jefferson, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports. The Democrat is charged with taking bribes and using his office to set up business deals in Africa. “It is good to have my family with me,” he said as...

Black President, Sure; Alabama Governor? We'll See

(Newser) - In the post-Obama political landscape, a young congressman is attempting a feat perhaps more difficult than putting a black man in the White House, writes Robbie Brown in the New York Times. That would be putting a black man in the Alabama governor’s mansion. “Yes, it will be...

House to Post Expenses Online
 House to Post Expenses Online 

House to Post Expenses Online

Pelosi orders info on lawmakers' spending be made easier to access

(Newser) - The House is planning to put lists of lawmakers' expenses online in an effort to share more information with the public, the Wall Street Journal reports. The move, announced by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi yesterday, will give taxpayers easy access to details on lawmakers' expenses, which run up to $1....

Bernanke Sees Slow Recovery, Despite Positive Signs

Still hopes economy will grow by year's end

(Newser) - The US has a long way to go before the economy returns to full health, despite hopeful signs, Ben Bernanke told the House budget committee today. “Recovery will only gradually gain momentum and that economic slack will diminish slowly,” the Fed chairman said. With businesses cautious, “the...

Obama to Name NY Republican Army Secretary

McHugh is ranking GOPer on Armed Services Committee

(Newser) - Barack Obama will nominate yet another Republican to an administration post today, tapping New York Rep. John McHugh as Army secretary, the New York Times reports. McHugh is the ranking Republican on the House armed services committee, and serves on West Point’s Board of Visitors.

US Taxpayers, Too, Billed for Lawmakers' Cars, Cameras

Taxpayer groups criticize Congress for making expense info hard to get hold of

(Newser) - No moat-cleaning, but there were cameras, TVs, and fancy cars among the expenses members of Congress have charged to taxpayers recently, a Wall Street Journal investigation inspired by the British expenses scandal finds. House members are given up to $1.9 million a year and senators get up to $4....

Boehner's No. 1 in Obama's Online Suggestion Box

GOP leader plays along with new tool

(Newser) - House Minority Leader John Boehner didn’t like how the House Democrats were operating, so where did he appeal? The White House, of course. More specifically, reports Politico, Boehner used the White House online suggestion box to ask the president to back a 72-hour review period before any spending bill...

Hyperbolic Newt's Antics Highlight Desperate GOP

(Newser) - Newt Gingrich is back, and he’s here to stay. “It’s Gingrich time,” Paul Waldman writes for  the American Prospect. That’s not a good thing, for the Republicans or the country. “This is Newt's time again not only because there's a leadership vacuum in the...

House OKs Credit Card Bill; Obama Up Next

(Newser) - Congress has sent President Obama a bill with sweeping new rules for the credit-card industry that will affect just about every American. The House approved the measure this afternoon, 361-64. The Senate OK'd it yesterday, 90-5. The new restrictions will protect debt-ridden consumers from many of the surprise charges common...

Pelosi's Stubbornness Turns CIA Smoke Into PR Fire

(Newser) - The CIA debacle engulfing Nancy Pelosi stems from two key mistakes on the part of the House speaker, Jay Newton-Small writes in Time. Pelosi’s dangerous belief that media training is “a waste of her time” was demonstrated when she walked away from her own press conference on the...

If You Care About Freedom, Free the Gitmo 60
If You Care About Freedom, Free the Gitmo 60
OPINION

If You Care About Freedom, Free the Gitmo 60

(Newser) - About 60 of the inmates at Guantanamo haven't committed any crime. The courts cleared them of all charges, and the military declared them not dangerous. Yet they’re entering their eighth year in custody, because Congress apparently doesn’t give a damn, Sabin Willett writes in the New York Daily ...

CIA 'Briefed Truthfully' in '02: Panetta

(Newser) - CIA director Leon Panetta today denied Nancy Pelosi’s claim that the agency misled lawmakers in a 2002 briefing, the Hill reports. In a memo to employees, Panetta said “CIA officers briefed truthfully on the interrogation of Abu Zubaydah, describing ‘the enhanced techniques that had been employed.’...

It's a Boy for Rep. Sanchez
It's a Boy for Rep. Sanchez

It's a Boy for Rep. Sanchez

Newly married Calif. Democrat is 8th to have a baby while in office

(Newser) - California Rep. Linda Sanchez gave birth to a boy today, the eighth lawmaker to do so while in office, CNN reports. “Mother and baby are both happy and healthy,” her husband said in a statement. Two other congresswomen have had babies in the past year, the AP notes;...

Gender Gap in GOP Is Striking, Problematic
Gender Gap in GOP Is Striking, Problematic
ANALYSIS

Gender Gap in GOP Is Striking, Problematic

Women compose 10% of GOP House, Senate; Dems are 23% female

(Newser) - Women may make up the majority of America, but they comprise just 10% of the GOP House and Senate—compared to about 23% for Dems—and that gender gap "could make the Republicans’ climb back to power even steeper," writes Erika Lovely in Politico. It's not that the...

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