Senate Democrats

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Public-Employees Union No. 1 Election Spender

1.6-million member AFSCME spends $87.5M on campaign

(Newser) - The American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees has become the biggest outside donor to the midterm elections, thanks to a last-minute push of funds to Democrats that brings its total election spending to $87.5 million, the Wall Street Journal reports. The organization, which boasts 1.6 million...

Senate Democrats Postpone Fight Over Tax Cuts

No vote until after the November election

(Newser) - Senate Democrats have decided to delay a vote on the volatile issue of the Bush tax cuts until after the November election, the Washington Post reports. The move avoids a pre-election showdown in the chamber between Republicans, who want to extend all the expiring cuts, and Democrats, who want to...

Brown, Snowe Give Dems 60 Votes to Pass Wall Street Bill

GOP yeas mean they don't need Byrd replacement

(Newser) - With New England Republicans Olympia Snowe and Scott Brown on board, Senate Democrats appear to have the 60 votes they need to pass the Wall Street reform bill. The move by Snowe and Brown means Dems won't have to wait for the appointment of a successor to the late Sen....

Robert Byrd Hospitalized; Senator, 92, 'Seriously Ill'

West Virginia lawmaker is longest-serving member of Congress

(Newser) - Robert Byrd, the Democratic senator from West Virginia who last fall became the longest-serving member of Congress, is hospitalized and in serious condition, his office tells MSNBC . The 92-year-old was admitted last week with what was believed to be a heat-related illness, but "other conditions have developed which has...

Democrats Defy Reid, Keep Financial Debate Going

They want tougher amendments

(Newser) - Harry Reid had to fight with Republicans to begin debate on financial reform, and now he's got to fight fellow Democrats to end it. He called a vote today to move toward final passage ("We've got to put this thing to rest"), only to have Democrats such as...

Obama Signs Health Reform Law (Yes, Again)

Final version of legislation enacted along with student loan overhaul

(Newser) - Finalizing two major pieces of his agenda, a beaming President Obama today signed legislation sealing his health care overhaul and making the government the primary lender to students by cutting banks out of the process. Both domestic priorities came in one bill, pushed through by Democrats in the House and...

Senate Faces Another Fight on Extending Benefits

Starring Tom Coburn as Jim Bunning

(Newser) - With the Senate scheduled for a two-week recess after tomorrow, there’s another showdown brewing over unemployment benefits—and this time, the Republicans have introduced a bill of their own in an apparent effort to avoid the negative publicity that came with Sen. Jim Bunning’s one-man filibuster earlier this...

Senators Fight to Keep Sending Pork Home

Upper chamber unlikely to follow House's lead on earmarks

(Newser) - House members may be pushing earmark reform, but many of their Senate colleagues refuse to let go without a fight—in fact, Politico notes, it may be the one issue on which senators from both parties can agree on. Lawmakers from both sides argue that the money would be spent...

Reconciliation Will Make Senate Less Human
 Reconciliation Will Make Senate Less Human
DAVID BROOKS
Mar 16, 2010 4:50 AM CDT

Reconciliation Will Make Senate Less Human

Partisan reconciliation will turn Senate into House, predicts David Brooks

(Newser) - Using reconciliation to push health care through will turn the Senate into a crude, partisan arena much like the House, argues David Brooks. Once a place where alliances were formed between individual lawmakers, the Senate used to reflect the human sympathy seen in one-on-one relationships; a party-line vote will reduce...

Obama: Cut Pork From Health Bill. Senate: Say What?

Prez gets pushback from senators looking to hang on to pet projects

(Newser) - There's $600 million in Medicaid payments to Vermont, $100 million for a Connecticut hospital, and the infamous "Cornhusker Kickback," among others, and President Obama wants to yank those porky projects from the health care bill. Democratic senators, being senators, beg to differ. "We're going to do what...

GOP: Obama Must Sign Health Measure Before Reconciliation
GOP: Obama Must Sign Health Measure Before Reconciliation
PER PARLIAMENTARIAN
Mar 11, 2010 8:17 PM CST

GOP: Obama Must Sign Health Measure Before Reconciliation

And Senate's bill, which House Dems dislike

(Newser) - There looks to be a pretty substantial wrinkle in congressional Democrats’ plans to pass health-care reform via the simple-majority processes of reconciliation: President Obama would have to sign the Senate version of the bill into law before the House and Senate versions could be reconciled into one. That’s the...

Bunning Cuts Deal, Ends Jobless Filibuster
Bunning Cuts Deal, Ends Jobless Filibuster
UPDATED
Mar 2, 2010 8:54 PM CST

Bunning Cuts Deal, Ends Jobless Filibuster

Benefits will be extended a month; senator can offer amendment

(Newser) - Republican Jim Bunning has agreed to end the one-man filibuster that’s cut unemployment and other benefits to thousands of workers, making a deal with the Senate leaders of both parties tonight. Roll Call reports that Bunning will support a one-month extension of the benefits in return for the Senate...

Obama Will OK Use of Reconciliation on Health Bill

Wants GOP help but will do what's needed

(Newser) - President Obama will tell Democrats tomorrow to use reconciliation to get health-care reform passed if Senate Republicans won’t cooperate, White House sources tell ABC News tonight. That option would allow a previously passed bill to be “fixed” with 51 votes (which the Democrats have) and not a filibuster-proof...

Democrats Lead the Way in Voter Registration
Democrats Lead the Way in Voter Registration
Analysis
Mar 2, 2010 9:39 AM CST

Democrats Lead the Way in Voter Registration

Obama's 2008 effort gives party an edge in 2010 Senate races

(Newser) - Senate Democrats have a silver lining heading into the 2010 election: their party’s made huge gains in voter registration. The last time this crop of senators was on the ballot was 2004, when George W. Bush’s field operation, then the most sophisticated ever, was registering hordes of Republicans....

Ford Won't Run for NY Senate Seat After All

Tenn. transplant changes mind on challenge to Gillibrand

(Newser) - Harold Ford Jr., the former congressman and political commentator who’s been making waves in New York political circles since moving from Tennessee, won’t challenge fellow Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand for her US Senate seat after all. “I heard from Harold Ford and he has decided not to run,...

Score One for Jim Bunning
Score One for Jim Bunning
ANALYSIS
Feb 26, 2010 9:35 PM CST

Score One for Jim Bunning

Solo filibuster works: Senate Dems adjourn without extending jobless benefits

(Newser) - Republican Jim Bunning’s one-man filibuster, intended to force Democrats to account for the money that would extend by 30 days unemployment benefits for 1.2 million, looks to have worked, with the Senate adjourning for the weekend without passing the extension. Jobless and COBRA payments thus expire Sunday, Chris...

Mag Names Most Liberal, Conservative Lawmakers

Rankings show ideology trumping Obama's change agenda

(Newser) - National Journal 's rankings of the most liberal and conservative lawmakers confirm that President Obama's first term has had little effect on the partisan atmosphere in Congress. Most members stick to the ideological positions they've staked out for most of their careers, with Sherrod Brown, John Kerry, and Chris...

Scott Brown Changes the Senate Math
Scott Brown Changes the
Senate Math
NATE SILVER
Feb 23, 2010 7:56 AM CST

Scott Brown Changes the Senate Math

Moderate GOP votes up for grabs mean 56 could be Dems' new 60

(Newser) - Yesterday's Senate vote to end debate on the jobs bill showed that losing the supermajority may not be such a disaster for the Democrats after all, writes Nate Silver. Scott Brown joined four other moderate Republicans in voting to end a filibuster on Harry Reid's jobs bill, suggesting that a...

Brown, GOP Moderates Help $15B Jobs Bill Advance
Brown, GOP Moderates Help $15B Jobs Bill Advance
GLIMMER OF BIPARTISANSHIP?
Feb 22, 2010 6:16 PM CST

Brown, GOP Moderates Help $15B Jobs Bill Advance

62-30 vote is victory, however small, for Dems, Obama

(Newser) - A bipartisan jobs bill cleared a GOP filibuster today with crucial momentum provided by the Senate's newest Republican, Scott Brown of Massachusetts. The 62-30 vote to advance the measure to a final vote Wednesday gives both President Obama and Capitol Hill Democrats a much-needed victory—even though the $15 billion...

Tea Partier Wants Wash. Dem Hung
 Tea Partier 
 Wants Wash. 
 Dem Hung 
FRONTIER JUSTICE FOR PATTY MURRAY
Feb 17, 2010 6:45 PM CST

Tea Partier Wants Wash. Dem Hung

Lonesome Dove treatment for Sen. Patty Murray

(Newser) - One woman at a weekend Tea Party gathering in eastern Washington state invoked frontier justice in suggesting how fellow audience members ought to treat Sen. Patty Murray, a Democrat seen as vulnerable in November’s elections. “How many of you have watched the movie Lonesome Dove?” asked the woman,...

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