Open Congress : Featured Members of Congress

November 03, 2009: Rep. Bart Stupak [D, MI-1]

2009-11-03T08:56:57Z

Rep. Bart Stupak [D, MI-1] is leading a group of about 40 pro-life House Democrats who are threatening to vote en bloc against the health care bill unless its language prohibiting federal funds for abortions is strengthened. Stupak and his 40 followers are threatening to vote against the rule to bring the bill to the floor unless they are allowed to vote on their abortion amendment on the floor.

Bart Stupak's Profile on OpenCongress

October 20, 2009: Rep. Charles Rangel [D, NY-15]

2009-10-20T12:49:08Z

Rep. Charles Rangel [D, NY-15], the powerful House Ways and Means Committee Chairman, is currently under investigation by the House Ethics Committee for a series of charges relating to his personal finances. Most recently, Rangel disclosed that he had failed to report over $1 million in income as required by congressional rules. Republicans and some Democrats and pushing for his chairmanship of the Ways and Means Committee to be taken away while the investigation is underway.

Charles Rangel's Profile on OpenCongress

October 20, 2009: Sen. Harry Reid [D, NV]

2009-10-20T12:41:47Z

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid [D, NV] is the most powerful person in the Senate right now for deciding what gets included in the health care bill that gets voted on by the Senate and what doesn't. Reid is refereeing negotiations with the chairman of the two Senate committee that have approved health care bills. Among the decisions that need to be made in the process of reconciling the two versions of the bills is what form of a public option, if any, is going to be included.

Harry Reid's Profile on OpenCongress

September 10, 2009: Rep. Addison Wilson [R, SC-2]

2009-09-10T14:25:05Z

Rep. Addison "Joe" Wilson [R, SC-2] entered the national spotlight on Wednesday September 9, 2009 when he interrupted President Obama's address to a joint session of Congress by yelling "You lie!" Wilson later apologized to Obama and the President accepted the apology. In the 24 hours following the incident, Wilson's potential Democratic challenger, Rob Miller, raised more than $500,000 towards his campaign to win Wilson's seat in Congress.

Addison Wilson's Profile on OpenCongress

August 07, 2009: Sen. Mel Martinez [R, FL]

2009-08-07T11:46:21Z

First-term Sen. Mel Martinez [R, FL] announced on Friday, August 7th that he is resigning from the Senate effective as soon as Florida Governor, Charlie Crist, chooses a replacement. Martinez is currently the only Hispanic Republican in the Senate. He votes with the Republicans 84% of the time. His most recent vote with the Democrats was on confirming Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. For an early take on who Gov. Crist might pick to replace him, see the Miami Herald.

Mel Martinez's Profile on OpenCongress

July 30, 2009: Sen. Max Baucus [D, MT]

2009-07-30T19:28:11Z

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus [D, MT] has been leading a group of centrist senators in negotiating a health care compromise in his committee that will be the most conservative of the five health care bills produced by congressional committees. Unlike the other versions of the bill, the bill Baucus is leading in drafting will not contain a public health insurance option. Instead it will have a plan for non-profit, health insurance co-ops.

Max Baucus's Profile on OpenCongress

July 24, 2009: Rep. Mike Ross [D, AR-4]

2009-07-24T16:04:52Z

Rep. Mike Ross [D, AR-4] is the Chairman of the Blue Dog Democrats' Health Care Task Force. As such he has been leading about 40 conservative Democrats in opposing the health care reform bill that is moving through Congress. Ross is a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, where objections from himself and 6 other Blue Dogs has stalled progress on the bill and thrown into jeopardy President Obama's timetable for signing a bill into law by the end of the year.

Mike Ross's Profile on OpenCongress

June 23, 2009: Sen. John Ensign [R, NV]

2009-06-23T11:49:23Z

On June 16, 2009, Senator John Ensign (R, NV) admitted to having had an extramarital affair in 2008 with a campaign staffer whose husband was a member of his Senate staff. The following day, Ensign gave up his leadership position Chairman of the Senate Republican Policy Committee. The Senate Ethics Committee may launch an inquiry into employment-related issues involved in the senator's affair.

John Ensign's Profile on OpenCongress

June 08, 2009: Rep. John McHugh [R, NY-23]

2009-06-08T13:53:35Z

Rep. John McHugh [R, NY-23] was appointed by President Obama to the position of United States Secretary of the Army on June 2nd. McHugh is expected to be confirmed later in the summer, which means that a special election to fill his seat will take place in the fall. McHugh, a Republican, has held the 23rd district since his initial election in 1992, but the district voted 52 percent for Obama in 2008, and it is considered a possible pick-up spot in the House for the Democrats.

John McHugh's Profile on OpenCongress

May 18, 2009: Rep. Nancy Pelosi [D, CA-8]

2009-05-18T10:28:17Z

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said at a recent press conference that she was lied to by the CIA in 2002 regarding their use of waterboarding and other "enhanced interrogation" techniques. "The CIA was misleading Congress," Pelosi said. "At the same time, the administration was misleading he Congress on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq." She has since backpedaled a bit, saying that her criticisms were meant for the Bush administration, not career intelligence officials.

Nancy Pelosi's Profile on OpenCongress

May 12, 2009: Rep. Steny Hoyer [D, MD-5]

2009-05-12T23:34:18Z

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) has reluctantly agreed that Congress should investigate House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's claim that she was not briefed on waterboarding in 2002 as recently released CIA documents indicate. "I think the facts need to get out," Hoyer said at a news conference. "I think the Republicans are simply trying to distract the American public with who knew what when. My response to that is, look, the issue is not what was said or what was known; the question and focus ought to be on what was done."

Steny Hoyer's Profile on OpenCongress

April 20, 2009: Rep. Jane Harman [D, CA-36]

2009-04-20T09:43:05Z

Congressional Quarterly is reporting that Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA) was recorded on wiretap in 2006 telling a suspected Israeli agent that she would push the Justice Department to drop espionage-related charges against AIPAC in exchange for their help in getting her the chairmanship of the House Intelligence Committee. Former AG Gonzales intervened to stop an investigation in exchange for Harman's help in defending the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program.

Jane Harman's Profile on OpenCongress

March 24, 2009: Sen. Arlen Specter [D, PA]

2009-03-24T14:48:12Z

On April 28, 2009, fifth term Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter announced that he was leaving the Republican party to join the Democrats and that he would be running on the Democratic ticket in 2010 for re-election. In a statement on his decision he said: "Since my election in 1980, as part of the Reagan Big Tent, the Republican Party has moved far to the right." Since his party switch, Sen. Specter has voted on several big issues against the rest of the Democrats. Here is a list of his recent votes on OpenCongress.

Arlen Specter's Profile on OpenCongress

March 16, 2009: Rep. Rosa DeLauro [D, CT-3]

2009-03-16T21:58:24Z

Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) has been getting a lot of attention on OpenCongress for her sponsorship of the controversial Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009. The bill would create a specialized agency within the FDA in charge of regulating food safety issues. Opponents of the bill argue that its broad wording would give the federal government jurisdiction over small backyard farms. The bill is awaiting action from the House Agriculture Committee.

Rosa DeLauro's Profile on OpenCongress

March 10, 2009: Sen. Ben Nelson [D, NE]

2009-03-10T17:34:47Z

Centrist Democrat Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) today told the Huffington Post that he opposes the Employee Free Choice Act. "I'm not in favor of the bill as it -- I haven't seen exactly what was put in, but if what was put in is the same as it's been described, I'm not in support of that," he said. Nelson voted "aye" last year on a motion to overcome a Republican filibuster of the bill.

Ben Nelson's Profile on OpenCongress

February 27, 2009: Sen. Judd Gregg [R, NH]

2009-02-27T19:15:24Z

Former Commerce Secretary nominee Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH) has directed $66 million in earmarks to redevelopment of a former Air Force in base his home state while his brother engaged in real estate deals there, reports the Associated Press. Gregg himself had invested money in his brother's company's project at the base, and has collected at least $240,017 from his investments.

Judd Gregg's Profile on OpenCongress

February 26, 2009: Sen. Roland Burris [D, IL]

2009-02-26T09:52:17Z

Following on the news that Roland Burris (D-IL) tried to raise campaign funds for former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who appointed him to the Senate, The Chicago Sun-Times reports that Burris' son was given a job by Blago five months ago. "Blagojevich's administration hired Roland W. Burris II as a senior counsel for the state's housing authority Sept. 10 — about six weeks after the Internal Revenue Service slapped a $34,163 tax lien on Burris II and three weeks after a mortgage company filed a foreclosure suit on his South Side house."

Roland Burris's Profile on OpenCongress

February 26, 2009: Rep. Nancy Pelosi [D, CA-8]

2009-02-26T09:35:11Z

Appearing on the Rachel Maddow show, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) expressed her disapproval of President Obama's Iraq withdrawal plan that would leave 30,000 - 50,000 troops as a residual force in the area. "I don’t know [what] the justification is for a presence of 50,000 troops in Iraq," Pelosi said. "I would think a third of that, maybe 20,000, a little more than a third, 15,000 or 20,000."

Nancy Pelosi's Profile on OpenCongress

February 25, 2009: Rep. Ellen Tauscher [D, CA-10]

2009-02-25T20:34:02Z

New Democrat Caucus Chairwoman Ellen Tauscher (D-CA) is heading up a coalition of moderate House Democrats in pushing for changes to H.R. 1106, the mortgage reform bill that is coming before the House of Representatives on Feb. 26. Among the changes she is pursuing are tougher bankruptcy eligibility standards for debtors, stricter house appraisal rules for bankruptcy judges, and an increase in the amount banks could recover if a homeowner whose mortgage is modified by a judge later sells the house for a profit.

Ellen Tauscher's Profile on OpenCongress

February 24, 2009: Sen. Richard Durbin [D, IL]

2009-02-24T15:34:10Z

Illinois senior senator Dick Durbin (D) on Tuesday added his voice to the growing chorus of senators calling on junior Illinois senator Roland Burris (D) to resign. "If I were in that position, I would resign," Durbin told reporters after a private meeting with Burris. Burris, who was appointed by former-Gov. Rod Blagojevich, recently admitted to trying to raise campaign funds for the Governor.

Richard Durbin's Profile on OpenCongress