Blog - Congress Links - Weekend Edition

• The 110th Congress has been in session for 150 days. Check out this First-Session Scorecard from the New York Times for a clearly-organized outline of what Congress has accomplished and what still remains to be done. via ThinkProgress

• The Politico’s Sunday Talk Show Tip Sheet

• The Internet Radio Equality Act, H.R.2060, gained its 100th co-sponsor on Friday. See also SaveNetRadio.org.

• The AP’s Immigration Bill FAQ

• “Prodded by Democratic leaders and by freshmen elected partly on promises to clean up Washington, the House approved new ethics legislation [Friday] that would penalize lawmakers who receive a wide range of favors from special interests, and would require lobbyists to disclose the campaign contributions they collect and deliver to lawmakers.” – The Washington Post. Two ethics bills were passed, H.R.2316 and H.R.2317. CQ on the motion to recommit and expand the scope of H.R.2317.

• This was overshadowed by the lack of a troop withdrawal timeline in the supplemental: Minimum Wage May Soon Increase.

• Matthew Yglesias on the problems with the guestworker program.

• John Hawkins on why the path to citizenship program — referred to here as “amnesty” — is bad for America.

• “An unidentified Republican Senator placed a secret hold on the Open Government Act, a bipartisan bill to strengthen the Freedom of Information Act, thereby preventing the Senate from acting on the bill this week.” – Secrecy News. Learn more about the bill here.

• “Silvestre Reyes (D-TX), the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, plans to hold hearings in June to determine the nature of the NSA’s surveillance program and to find out whether it was legal. The hearings will also consider the issue of whether laws need to be changed to allow intelligence agencies to better track terrorist communications.” – Ars Technica

• MAPLight.org: Illuminating the connection between money and politics

• It’s official: Bush Signs Iraq Spending Bill

• The Senate Armed Services Committee this week approved a bill that would grant Guantanamo detainees the right to legal counsel and narrow the definition of an enemy combatant. AP article here.

This is an open thread — use the comments section to share your thoughts or suggest a link.