Blog - Articles Tagged 'Senate'

Between road tripping up the East Coast, weathering a Nor’easter and celebrating 2009, I’ve lost track of the Congress rumor mill a bit. So, rather than try to fall right back into step, here’s a rundown of what’s been happening over the past few days with some of the major themes shaping up as the 111th Congress gets ready to convene on Tuesday.

The Stimulus Package

• The first steps for passing the stimulus package, which is expected to cost about $775 billion over two years, will be a meeting between President-elect Barack Obama and congressional leaders on Monday and a Democrats-only committee hearing on Wednesday.
  
  

The Obamas will be officially moving to Washington D.C. on Monday, and as Sasha and Malia start up at their new school, Barack will have his first set of meetings with Congress to begin negotiating the size and scope of the stimulus package he is pushing.

On Wednesday, the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee will hear testimony from several economists and begin to nail down the Democatic Caucus’ priorities for inclusion in the legislation. “This hearing will build upon the stimulus package the House passed in September and the numerous hearings held by our other committees, to ensure we make the necessary investments in an innovative and bold way to strengthen the economy,” Nancy Pelosi said in her announcement of the hearing. It’s still unclear whether the stimulus will go through other committees before it is brought to a vote before the full House and passed by the expanded Democratic majority.

Republicans are hoping that they process will be slowed down a bit. “I would ask the Democratic leadership to guarantee that such a bill will not be brought to the floor of the House unless there have been public hearings in the appropriate committees, the entire text has been available online for the American people to review for at least one week, and it includes no special-interest earmarks,” said House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) earlier this week.

• Vice President-elect Joe Biden said last week that the stimulus “will not become a Christmas tree” for lawmakers’ pet projects. But the $73 billion wish list of infrastructure projects that state and local officials have submitted to Obama includes a lot of things that sound like classic pork:

>By all accounts, the $73 billion wish list may be the largest collection of parochial spending projects in American history. Strolling through the 800 pages, we found such beauties as: $1 million to upgrade the Los Angeles County Convention Center elevated “catwalk” for cameras and lighting; $350,000 for an Albuquerque, N.M., fitness center; $94 million for a parking garage at the Orange Bowl in Miami; $4.5 million for Gretna, Florida, to bottle water with recyclable bottles; a $35 million music hall of fame in Florissant, Missouri, and $3.1 million for a swimming pool in Tulsa.

• Patrick Ruffini gives us a hint as to what the Republican stimulus strategy might be:

>As a matter of practical reality, our numbers in the Senate and House are such that no Republican proposal will become law. The opportunity to finesse the Democratic stimulus is not there because the playing field is titled so far in the Democrats’ direction. With hopeless minorities, we are freer to demonstrate what we would do in an ideal governing situation, instead of trying to make the White House’s proposal less bad.
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>The best strategy is to create a nucleus of energy around a proposal as diametrically opposed to President Obama’s as humanly possible, thus pulling the eventual Gang of 14 to 20 “compromise” as far to the right as can be mustered.
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>If some sort of fiscal expansion is a given, and there is no way to paint a more modest set of permanent tax cuts as unreasonable when compared to an $800 billion stimulus, we might as well take this opportunity to have a public debate about the best way to stimulate the economy: tax cuts or spending hikes. To do that, though, the official Republican position on spending needs to be as clean as the driven snow.

Filling the Senate

• Senate Democrats are prepared to use police force to block Roland Burris:

>The aide familiar with Senate Democratic leaders’ plans said if Burris tries to enter the Senate chamber, the Senate doorkeeper will stop Burris. If Burris were to persist, either trying to force his way onto the Senate floor or refusing to leave and causing a scene, U.S. Capitol Police would stop him, said the aide.
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>"They (police) probably won’t arrest him" but they would call the sergeant-at-arms," the aide said.

Some thoughts on the matter from Chris Bowers:

>It is more than a little worrying that the only moment when Senate Democrats decide to take the gloves off is to block a Democrat who was legally appointed to the Senate from being seated. Kind of makes you think that Senate Democrats are more willing to stand up to other Democrats than they are to Republicans.

• Sounds like Caroline Kennedy will be the new Senator from New York:

>Officials say the daughter of the late President John F. Kennedy will be the governor’s choice to fill the New York Senate seat being vacated by Hillary Rodham Clinton.
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>Two people close to Gov. David Paterson tell The Associated Press they believe Caroline Kennedy will be his choice, but the governor cautions he’s still looking.

• And we’ve got a replacement for Ken Salazar in Colorado:

>Denver Public Schools superintendent Michael Bennet will be named Saturday as the future U.S. Senate replacement for Interior Secretary nominee Ken Salazar, according to two Democratic sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
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>Gov. Bill Ritter is expected to name Bennet on Saturday, ending a brief but frenzied period of speculation about who will take the seat of Interior Secretary nominee Ken Salazar.
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>Though he’s never run for office, Bennet, 44, has strong connections to Colorado’s power base: He’s been the school superintendent for 31/2 years and was Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper’s chief of staff. He also was managing director of Anschutz Investment Co from 1997-2003.

This afternoon by unanimous consent in the Senate:

• Steven Chu to be Secretary of Energy
  
• Arne Duncan to be Secretary of Education
  
• Peter Orszag to be Director of the Office of Management and Budget
  
• Tom Vilsack to be Secretary of Agriculture
  
• Janet Napolitano to be Secretary of Homeland Security
  
• Ken Salazar to be Secretary of Interior
  
• Eric Shinseki to be Secretary of Veterans Affairs
  
  

Clinton’s confirmation vote is set for tomorrow and Geithner’s will likely happen on Thursday.

Reports PIX11 News and FOX:

>PIX NEWS is being told that Congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand is the reported choice of Governor David Paterson to fill the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Hillary Clinton. Two Congressional sources say New York Democratic delegation has been invited to join Governor Paterson for the announcement at noon in Albany.


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>Two members of that delegation, agreeing to speak without attribution, told me that the Governor has telephoned New York’s Democratic members of Congress for their views after Caroline Kennedy withdrew herself from consideration. One of the contenders, long-term Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney canceled a scheduled appearance on “PIX News Closeup” Friday because of a “conflict,” which she did not disclose. She too will be in Albany. According to the sources, Gillibrand, now in her second congressional term, is favored by Secretary of State Clinton herself. Paterson has been under pressure to select a woman.
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>With most Democratic leaders in Albany coming from the New York City area, one source said this would be an important move for the Governor to have a Senator from upstate. Sources say Gillibrand, a blue-dog Democrat and a good fundraiser, would be an asset to Paterson in any bid for election in 2010. However, since her name has moved high on the list of candidates, there has been criticism of her voting record and of her support of the National Rifle Association.

Gillibrand won her seat in upstate New York by campaigning with fairly conservative political views for a Democrat (a Blue Dog, endorsed by the NRA). As a Senator she’ll be representing the entire state of New York, so it’s possible that her politics will shift somewhat to the left. If not, fellow Democratic New York Rep. Carolyn McCarthy has already pledged to challenge her in the 2010 primary.

Gillibrand’s House seat will be filled through special election to be held sometime in the upcoming months. The district generally leans Republican.

Here are some resources for learning more about her:

OpenCongress profile

Congresspedia profile

Voting history in the 110th and 111th Congress

Gillibrand in the news

Gillibrand in the blogs

Compare her voting record with any other Rep.

Roll Call is reporting that President Obama is thinking about naming Republican Senator Judd Gregg (NH) to serve as his Secretary of Commerce. Sam Stein, the Huffington Post’s D.C. reporter, is calling it a “strong possibility.”

Here’s why this is a potentially big deal: if Gregg accepts the job, New Hampshire Governor John Lynch, a Democrat, would appoint Gregg’s replacement, giving Senate Democrats the 60-seat majority they have been hoping for (assuming Al Franken is seated in Minnesota). Sixty is the number of votes that are needed to overcome cloture, a parliamentary motion that is often used by the minority party to block majority-party legislation.

It would mean that the Democrats would be in a position to push virtually anything they wanted through Congress this session, as long no one in their party defects in the Senate.

Expect a heavy push from the right telling Gregg to turn the offer down.

And related: check out this excellent analysis from Nate Silver at FiveThirtyEighty showing which GOP Senators have been voting with Obama the most this session. I was shocked to see Gregg as #2 on the list.

UPDATE: Kagro X at Congress Matters has a more detailed breakdown of Gregg’s votes so far this session.

A few days ago, the Democrats’ all-but-forgotten dream of a 60-seat, filibuster-proof majority in the Senate was suddenly renewed by rumors that Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH) was under consideration to be Obama’s Secretary of Commerce. New Hampshire’s Governor, John Lynch, is a Democrat, so the immediate assumption was that he would appoint a Democrat to fill Gregg’s Senate seat. Usually when there’s a vacancy in the Senate to be filled by gubernatorial appointment, governors choose someone from their own party to fill it, regardless of which party the vacating senator belonged to.

But a statement released today by Gov. Lynch puts Democrats’ dream for the Senate back to rest (h/t Ambinder):

>We are in the midst of a national economic crisis, and it calls for cooperation on all of our parts. We all need to work together to do what is in the best interest of our country and our state.
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>I have had conversations with Senator Gregg, the White House and U.S. Senate leadership. Senator Gregg has said he would not resign his seat in the U.S. Senate if it changed the balance in the Senate. Based on my discussions, it is clear the White House and Senate leadership understand this as well.
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>It is important that President Obama be able to select the advisors he feels are necessary to help him address the challenges facing our nation.
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>If President Obama does nominate Senator Gregg to serve as Commerce Secretary, I will name a replacement who will put the people of New Hampshire first and represent New Hampshire effectively in the U.S. Senate."

He doesn’t come out and say it directly, but it’s pretty clear… Obama wants Gregg, Gregg requires a Republican replacement, therefore Lynch will appoint a Republican so that Obama can get what he wants.

Reports indicate that the current front-runner for Gregg’s seat is Bonnie Newman, a moderate Republican who worked for Gregg in the 80’s and endorsed Gov. Lynch in 2004, co-chairing Republicans for Lynch. First Read suggests that she may not run again in 2010 if she is given the position.

Now that a 60-Democrat 111th Senate is off the table, will Obama still pick Gregg? If so, why?

Nate at 538 looks at voting unity on 13 amendments to the stimulus that the Senate has voted on this week.

>So far, Senate Democrats have voted in accordance with what we believe to be the administration’s position 97.4 percent of the time – or 98.1 percent of the time if the most common “Democratic” dissenter, Joe Lieberman, is excluded from the tally.
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>By contrast, the Republicans have voted against the administration’s position an average of 89.2 percent of the time. That’s fairly unified also, but the Democrats are nevertheless picking off an average of 4 Republican votes on each amendment, whereas the Republicans are getting an average of only 1 and 2 Democrats siding with them. That’s a net swing of 2 or 3 votes in the Democrats’ direction – possibly enough to get them to 60 votes when the final bill comes up for passage.

It’s definitely worth clicking through to Nate’s post because he has put all the vote data in a chart that shows the trends really nicely. You can see, for example, that Republican Susan Collins has voted with Democrats more often than Democrat Evan Bayh (and Independent-Democrat Joe Lieberman). And that Republican John Ensign’s “”http://ensign.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Media.PressReleases&ContentRecord_id=471e7ea0-962d-921a-0cf8-ca13911620e2">Fix Housing First Act," one of the most divisive amendments, was opposed by two very conservative Republicans – Jim Bunning and Jim DeMint.

New Hampshire Republican Sen. Judd Gregg has withdrawn his name from consideration for Secretary of Commerce in the Obama administration and will return to his seat in the Senate.

CNN has his full statement here.

This is yet another negative mark on President Obama’s record in selecting cabinet members. Talking Points Memo quotes a Dem staffer speculating that Gregg’s announcement, with Obama on stage in Peoria, IL to promote his increasingly-popular stimulus package, was “timed to cause the most damage possible to the Obama administration.”

Gregg had recused himself from voting on the stimulus package and amendments, but on the first seven nontrivial votes of the 111th Congress (Ledbetter Fair Pay, Omnibus Lands Bill, TARP II), Gregg voted with the Obama administration more often than all Republicans except Olympia Snowe (R-ME).

UPDATE: And here is the White House statement:

>"Senator Gregg reached out to the President and offered his name for Secretary of Commerce. He was very clear throughout the interviewing process that despite past disagreements about policies, he would support, embrace, and move forward with the President’s agenda. Once it became clear after his nomination that Senator Gregg was not going to be supporting some of President Obama’s key economic priorities, it became necessary for Senator Gregg and the Obama administration to part ways. We regret that he has had a change of heart."

Also, the NH UnionLeader reports that Gregg will not run again in 2010. Gregg would have faced a difficult re-election in an increasingly blue state. His decision not to run again will probably mean that he’ll vote as more of a party-line Republican this session than his early-111th voting record indicates.

Sen. Arlen Specter [R, PA] is one of the Republicans most likely to vote with Democrats and help them overcome Republican filibusters on key votes. According to our voting trend analysis (scroll down half page here), he votes with his party, the Republicans, only 48 percent of the time. Not surprisingly, he is facing a very difficult primary race in 2010.

Alexander Bolton for The Hill writes that Specter’s best chance for remaining a U.S. senator after this session likely involves switching parties and running as a Democrat:

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) does not have the fall-back option of running as an independent should he lose his 2010 primary election, giving the senior lawmaker strong incentive to abandon his party this year.

Specter faces an extremely difficult primary race against former Rep. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), the conservative firebrand who lost his bid to oust Specter from his seat in the 2004 GOP primary by a mere 17,000 votes (out of more than a million cast).

Pennsylvania political experts say that Specter would likely face a more difficult challenge in 2010 because the Republican primary electorate in Pennsylvania has become more conservative.

“I think he has a lot of problems,” said Terry Madonna, a professor of political science at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa. “I think this is the test of lifetime.”

Madonna estimated that between 150,000 to 200,000 centrist Republicans switched registration to the Democratic Party in the 2008 election cycle, leaving the remaining GOP electorate more conservative.

If he makes the decision to switch, he’ll probably become an even more reliable cross-over for the Democrats and help them pass key bill coming up this year, including card check, health care reform, climate change legislation, and banking regulations.

Some of the key votes that Specter has voted with the Democrats on so far this year include D.C. voting rights, the stimulus bill, S-CHIP and the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.

View Specter’s full voting history, including information on which votes were with his party and which were against his party, and use our head-to-head vote comparison tool to see how he compares to other senators from both parties.