Congress

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House Bill Loaded With $6.5B the Pentagon Doesn't Want
House Bill Loaded With $6.5B the Pentagon Doesn't Want
earmarks showdown
Jul 30, 2009 8:30 AM CDT

House Bill Loaded With $6.5B the Pentagon Doesn't Want

(Newser) - They gave up on the F22, but Congress is still trying to give the Pentagon $6.9 billion in planes, helicopters and ships the Defense secretary doesn’t want, the Washington Post reports. House Democrats have loaded the defense spending bill with earmarks for programs Barack Obama and Robert Gates...

Goldman Sachs Subpoenaed in Fraud Probe

Senate seeks evidence that banks foresaw mortgage meltdown

(Newser) - A Senate committee has subpoenaed Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, and other financial institutions as part of an investigation into mortgage-market fraud, sources tell the Wall Street Journal. The probe appears to focus on emails and other internal communications that may show bankers' doubts about the safety of mortgage-backed securities, which...

Liberals Near Revolt Over Health Care Deal

(Newser) - Blue Dogs had a good day, but now liberals are howling. After the conservative Democrats managed to shift health care legislation to the center, progressive Democrats say they might mount a rebellion of their own, report Politico and the Hill. They're mostly upset that Henry Waxman agreed to water down...

Blue Dogs Stand Firm as Dems Get Panicky

Marathon sessions fail to reach a deal as tempers fray

(Newser) - The Democratic leadership is scrambling to make progress on health care reform before Congress breaks for its August recess, but last night's marathon negotiations failed to break the stalemate—and may even have increased the number of issues up for debate.  "We're making progress," Nancy Pelosi said...

Awash-in-Red USPS 'High-Risk': Fed Watchdog

(Newser) - The Government Accountability Office has put the struggling US Postal Service on its list of “high-risk” federal programs, the Hill reports. The federal watchdog says the USPS will lose $7 billion this year, and that even the end of the recession will not return business that has migrated to...

Dumbest Arguments Against Health Reform
 Dumbest Arguments 
 Against Health Reform 
OPINION
Jul 28, 2009 2:04 PM CDT

Dumbest Arguments Against Health Reform

(Newser) - “The opponents of reform are getting serious now,” Paul Waldman writes of the health care debate for the American Prospect, “and they've turned the volume on their megaphones of mendacity up to 11.” Herewith, some of the most cringe-inducing arguments against:
  • It's not broken: Progressives dismiss
...

Communication Is What Ails Obama on Health Reform
Communication Is What Ails Obama on Health Reform
ANALYSIS
Jul 27, 2009 3:32 PM CDT

Communication Is What Ails Obama on Health Reform

(Newser) - President Obama’s failure to get health-care reform on a faster track, despite early legislative victories, is a personal one, Sam Youngman writes in the Hill. “While it is shocking to consider that Obama is anything less than one of the best communicators in modern political history,” Youngman...

5 Barriers to Obamacare
 5 Barriers to Obamacare 
ANALYSIS
Jul 27, 2009 12:35 PM CDT

5 Barriers to Obamacare

(Newser) - Both chambers of Congress will likely miss President Obama’s August deadline for a health care reform bill, slowing “the momentum behind the president's top priority,” Jay Newton-Small writes in Time. “Why can't a popular president with poll numbers in the 60s and super majorities in both...

GI's Capture Fuels Desertion Controversy

Lawmakers rip Fox analyst; blogger says Bergdahl left unarmed

(Newser) - With some speculating that the US soldier kidnapped by the Taliban deserted his Afghanistan post, conservative media are hot on the trail. Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl “walked off (his base) with a water bottle and (a military ration pack) on some kind of he-man expedition,” a military blogger tells...

Blue Dogs Raking In Campaign Donations

(Newser) - Blue Dog Democrats may be ticking off President Obama and party leaders with their opposition to health care overhaul, but the move is doing wonders for their campaign coffers, reports CQ Politics. The Blue Dog Political Action Committee has pulled in $1.1 million for the 2010 races, more than...

Obama: Delay on Health Bill 'OK,' But Keep Working

(Newser) - President Barack Obama stepped up his pitch for overhauling health care today, saying the American people need it and must overcome resistance from opponents in Washington, whom he described vaguely as naysayers and skeptics. "Reform may be coming too soon for some in Washington," the president told a...

No Vote on Health Care Reform Before Fall: Reid

More time is needed to build support for bill, majority leader says

(Newser) - The Senate will not vote on the health-care bill before the August recess, Majority Leader Harry Reid said today, citing the need to build bipartisan support—or even unified Democratic support—for such comprehensive reform, the AP reports. “Working with Republicans, one of the things that they asked for...

Pelosi: I've Got the Votes on Health Care

(Newser) - Nancy Pelosi says she's got enough votes lined up in the House to pass health care reform by the end of the month, the Hill reports. Republicans and Blue Dog Democrats beg to differ, but Pelosi says there's "no question" she's right. On the chance she's wrong, however, she...

Newt: Obama's Misguided Health Plan Will 'Kill Jobs'

(Newser) - Newt Gingrich lashed out today against President Obama’s health care plan, saying the nation should deal with crushing unemployment first, Politico reports. “America does not work if Americans are not working,” he said. “Getting Americans working should be the number one priority.” Gingrich called for...

Senate Dems Bring Down Concealed-Weapons Measure

Schumer leads effort to quash Thune amendment

(Newser) - Senate Democrats today narrowly defeated a measure that would have let concealed weapons be transported across state lines, the Hill reports. The amendment, which required 60 votes to pass according to a prior, bipartisan agreement, went down 58-39. Sen. Charles Schumer and majority whip Dick Durbin fought hard to drum...

Time to Show America Why We Need Health Fix

Most Americans don't know 'what's in it for them'

(Newser) - With 90% of voters already insured, it’s time for President Obama to put his oratory skills to the test, clearly explaining to Americans how health reform can help us—and not just mean tax hikes, writes David Leonhardt in the New York Times. As it stands, many never see...

Halperin: 7 Reasons Not to Bet Against Health Reform

(Newser) - President Obama's push for health care reform is hitting heavy turbulence, but Mark Halperin of Time lays out 7 reasons not to bet against him:
  • Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and all the committee chairs "are still on board."
  • Get a bill to conference committee, and the press will
...

Senate Grounds F-22 Money
 Senate Grounds F-22 Money 
UPDATED
Jul 21, 2009 12:06 PM CDT

Senate Grounds F-22 Money

(Newser) - The Senate has sided with the Obama administration in agreeing to cut off new spending for the F-22 jet fighter program. The 58-40 vote today removes $1.75 billion set aside in a defense policy bill to build seven more F-22 Raptors, adding to the 187 stealth fighters already in...

Obama Picks Up Steam in Congress Over F-22 Funds

Lawmakers had opposed Prez's bid to cut money

(Newser) - In a shift, the White House looks likely to win over Congress in its bid to cut $1.7 billion in funding for the F-22 fighter jet, Politico reports. Congress had looked set to support the measure last week, but the administration is pressing hard with Defense Secretary Robert Gates...

Health Care Surtax on the Chopping Block

Dems waffle on high-income tax; timetable cloudy

(Newser) - Democrats are growing queasy about their plan to tax the wealthy to help pay for health care reform, the New York Times reports. Nancy Pelosi yesterday suggested revising the contentious provision so that fewer households would have to pay the surtax. Under the current House draft, individuals earning more than...

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