Blog - The Week In Review

A historic blizzard virtually shut down Washington, D.C. for most of the week but we here at OpenCongress braved the snow to keep you up-to-date on what happened in the political world. Here’s a roundup of what we did this week:

• Rep. John Murtha [D, PA-12] passed away this week sparking questions as to who might get his powerful and lucrative leadership position on the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.
• President Obama is planning to hold a summit to discuss health care with Congressional Republicans but Ezra Klein went through the Senate health care bill (H.R.3590) and pointed out some of the Republican that are already in it. You can see exactly where those ideas are here.
• The drama over presidential nominations reached critical mass this week. Sen. Richard Shelby [R. AL] lifted his hold on almost all Obama nominees, Obama threatened to use recess appointments to bypass Republican obstruction and the Senate actually managed to confirm 27 of those nominees.
• Michelle Obama unveiled the White House’s anti-childhood obesity initiative and Rep. Dennis Kucinich [D, OH-10] introduced a bill (H.R.4310) eliminating tax brakes for junk food advertisements.
• Democrats began to fret that a proposed Senate jobs bill had too many tax cuts to draw Republican support. In reponse, Sen. Harry Reid [D, NV] dropped those tax cuts and more from a draft of the bill.
• Two bills in Congress want to reverse a Bush-era ruling allowing mining waste to pollute U.S. waters. The Washington Independent has more here.
• Many see the budget reconciliation process as the only way forward for health care reform. Donny looks at the process here.
• Democrats finally unveiled their legislative response to the Citizens United decision allowing unlimited corporate dollars to affect U.S. Elections.
• Sen. Tom Harkin [D, IA] finally unveiled his bill to reform the Senate’s filibuster process.
• Be sure to check out this must-read story by the Sunlight Foundation’s Paul Blumenthal on how lobbyists shaped the health care bills.
• Also check out Donny’s must-read post on how bloggers can better utilize all the amazing resources at OpenCongress.

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