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When the people fear the government, there is tyranny; When the government fears the people, there is liberty.  ~ Thomas Jefferson

 

Entries Tagged as 'Senate'

Incentives Not to Work – Larry Summers v. Senate Democrats on jobless benefits.

April 13th, 2010 · Accountability, Deception, Democrats, Economy, Ethics, Federal Spending, Government Control, Money Lost, Obama Exposed, Obama's Scheme, Selling Out the US, Senate, Tax Dollars, Terrorism from Within, Unemployment

“The second way government assistance programs contribute to long-term unemployment is by providing an incentive, and the means, not to work. Each unemployed person has a ‘reservation wage’—the minimum wage he or she insists on getting before accepting a job. Unemployment insurance and other social assistance programs increase [the] reservation wage, causing an unemployed person to remain unemployed longer.”

Any guess who wrote that? Milton Friedman, perhaps. Simon Legree? Sorry.

Full credit goes to Lawrence H. Summers, the current White House economic adviser, who wrote those sensible words in his chapter on “Unemployment” in the Concise Encyclopedia of Economics, first published in 1999.

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More Reform, Same Corrupt Government – Dodd’s Financial Regulation

March 16th, 2010 · Corruption, Deception, Democrats, Ethics, Federal Spending, Finance, Government Control, Non-Transparency, Selling Out the US, Senate, Terrorism from Within

Concessions on financial reform bill yield few gains in Senate

By Brady Dennis Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), chairman of the Senate banking committee, introduced a revised bill on Monday to overhaul financial regulation that included compromises forged with Republicans in recent months but fell short of winning endorsement from conservatives, including members in his own party.

Even though Dodd whittled the scope of his initial November bill to address concerns that the proposals could give government too heavy a hand in the financial markets, it remains unclear whether he can find the votes to shepherd the legislation through the Senate.

“Our regulatory structure, constructed in a piecemeal fashion over many decades, remains hopelessly inadequate,” Dodd said at a news conference. “There hasn’t been financial reform on the scale that I’m proposing this afternoon since the 1930s. . . . It is certainly time to act.”

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Obama, Biden and Senate Dems more concerned with fair CRACK & COCAINE penalties than Economy.

March 13th, 2010 · Corruption, Deception, Democrats, Ethics, Government Control, National Security, Non-Transparency, Selling Out the US, Senate, Terrorism from Within, Treason

Senate bill would reduce sentencing disparities in crack, powder cocaine cases

By Carrie Johnson Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, March 13, 2010

A long-standing dispute over huge disparities in sentencing between crack vs. powdered cocaine appears to be headed for a resolution in Congress.

Senate lawmakers reached across the aisle and brokered a landmark deal this week to reduce criminal penalties for defendants caught with crack cocaine, hashing out the terms in, of all places, a congressional gym.

Opportunity struck when Sen. Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) encountered colleagues Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) and Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) in the Senate gym early Thursday, before they had started their workouts. Durbin seized the moment to advance the legislation and sent his aides an e-mail at 7:35 a.m., outlining the terms of his offer. The deal was sealed with a handshake two hours later at a committee meeting in the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

The often-divided Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously passed the measure 19 to 0 the same day, addressing for the first time in two decades a sentencing disparity that has troubled civil rights organizations, prisoners rights advocates and officials in the Obama White House.

The compromise would reduce the sentencing disparity to 18 to 1 for people caught with crack cocaine vs. those who carry the drug in powdered form. The current ratio has rested since 1986 at 100 to 1, disproportionately hurting African Americans, who are convicted of crack possession at far greater numbers.

The Senate bill would increase the amount of crack cocaine required to trigger a five-year mandatory minimum sentence for possession with an intent to distribute from 5 grams to 28 grams. Possessing cocaine in rock form would no longer carry a mandatory minimum prison term, equalizing that penalty to that of other drugs and marking the first time that Congress has overturned a mandatory minimum.

The House Judiciary Committee passed a cocaine sentencing reform bill in July. That bill would treat all forms of cocaine the same for sentencing purposes, lowering the ratio to 1 to 1.

Durbin and Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) continue to argue that equalizing the penalties would be the fairest approach, but gaining Republican and law enforcement support proved difficult.

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Democratic activists channel anger into Arkansas Senate race

March 8th, 2010 · Democrats, Dissention, Ethics, Greed, Senate

By Perry Bacon Jr. – Sunday, March 7, 2010

Democratic activists flooding money into a primary challenge against Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) say the race isn’t simply about defeating the incumbent. It is also about rebuking a Democratic-controlled Congress that they say isn’t pursuing an aggressive, populist agenda.

After Arkansas Lt. Gov. Bill Halter announced Monday that he would challenge Lincoln, liberal donors from groups such as MoveOn.org poured more than $1 million into his campaign, an unusually high sum for the first two days of campaigning. Liberals blasted Lincoln with anti-Washington rhetoric that sounded more like the conservative tea party movement. The groups are particularly critical of her opposition to the public option, as it is known, in the health-care bill and her support in 2008 for a Wall Street bailout.

The primary contest illustrates the challenge Democrats face in trying to please activists who worked hard to elect President Obama and congressional Democrats and now want to see results. They also want to lure independent voters who helped the party win the 2006 and 2008 elections but now express wariness about the Democratic agenda.

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Four Democratic senators aim to halt stimulus wind project

March 4th, 2010 · Deception, Democrats, Economy, Environment, Greed, Non-Transparency, Obama Exposed, Senate

By Dan Eggen Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, March 4, 2010

A group of Democratic senators called Wednesday for the government to halt a federal stimulus program aimed at building wind farms and other clean-energy projects, arguing that too much of the money spent so far has gone to create jobs overseas.

The Obama administration and wind-energy advocates strongly disputed the criticism by Sen. Charles E. Schumer (N.Y.) and three other Democrats, saying that most of the jobs under the Energy Department program have been created in the United States, despite the dominance of foreign manufacturers in the green-technology sector.

The dispute marks a rare public split among Democrats over the $862 billion stimulus package, which the Obama administration and party leaders have defended as crucial to saving jobs and easing the recession’s impact. Republicans have spent the past year attacking the package as a wasteful boondoggle.

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Levin to take reins of Ways and Means – More of The Same…

March 4th, 2010 · Corruption, Deception, Democrats, Ethics, Senate

By Paul Kane – Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, March 4, 2010; 10:24 AM

Rep. Sander Levin (D-Mich.), a pro-union, anti-free-trade liberal who is a close ally of the auto industry, has been selected as interim chairman of the Ways and Means Committee.

Levin, 79, succeeds Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.), who stepped down amid ethics questions.

Levin’s ascension is a rebuke to the seniority system, as Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.) was in line to chair the powerful panel with authority over tax and trade issues, but rank-and-file Democrats on the committee rebelled because Stark, 78, has a history of intemperate remarks and has an undisclosed illness that has made it difficult for him to be on hand in recent weeks.

Levin’s younger brother, Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), chairs the Armed Services Committee.

Sander Levin declined comment on his elevation, stressing its temporary status as Rangel’s ethics investigations continue.

“Under the circumstances, I could not think of anyone that could serve the country, the Congress and our committee better,” Rangel told reporters.

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Senators propose consumer-protection regulator within Fed

March 3rd, 2010 · Accountability, Banking Industry, Deception, Senate

By Binyamin Appelbaum and David Cho Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, March 3, 2010

It’s an unlikely twist after all the beatings that Democrats and Republicans have laid on the Federal Reserve over the past year.

Some lawmakers who set out to improve financial regulation by stripping the Fed of its powers are moving toward the grudging conclusion that the Fed should hold even more power.

The central bank was responsible for the health of the nation’s largest banks and the safety of American borrowers. Its failures in both roles have been well documented.

Even so, key lawmakers on the Senate banking committee are seeking bipartisan support for a plan to house a new consumer-protection regulator inside the Fed. Separate efforts to strip the Fed of its responsibility for overseeing large banks have lost momentum.

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Senator Brown vote in favor of Democrat Big Government Spending

February 23rd, 2010 · Deception, Democrats, Ethics, Federal Spending, Government Control, Greed, Money Lost, Non-Transparency, Obama's Scheme, Senate, Tax Dollars, Terrorism from Within, Unemployment

From the bluest of states, a red senator of a different color

By Dana Milbank Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, February 23, 2010

So much for the Massachusetts Miracle.

The election of Republican Scott Brown to Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat was supposed to bring a seismic change to national politics. It did just that Monday night, but not in the way Republicans had hoped.

It was almost time to vote on the Senate jobs bill, the first major vote since Brown’s arrival. Republicans were counting on their new member to be their “41st vote,” the number needed to sustain filibusters and shoot down any and all Democratic proposals.

Brown, his desk in the back corner, was the only Republican in the room as Senate Majority Harry Reid (D-Nev.) offered a final denunciation of the GOP before the vote. “My friends on the other side of the aisle are looking for ways not to vote for this,” he said, accusing them of putting “partisanship ahead of people.”

As Reid spoke, Brown was leafing through a Senate face book, learning to recognize his new colleagues. As soon as the vote was called, he strode quickly into the well and interrupted the clerk as he read the roll.

“Yes,” Brown said quietly, and then, having become Reid’s first vote, he rushed out of the room before Republican colleagues arrived. He stepped into the hallway, then waited for reporters to assemble around him.

“I’m not from around here,” he said. “I’m from Massachusetts.”

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Democratic Sen. Bayh of Indiana won’t run for reelection

February 16th, 2010 · Change of Power, Politics, Senate

By Chris Cillizza and Shailagh MurrayWashington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana announced Monday that he will not seek a third term in November, a decision that, coming on the heels of other Democratic departures, could imperil the party’s prospects of retaining control of the Senate.

Bayh cited the lack of bipartisanship on Capitol Hill as his main reason for leaving, adding to skepticism that the fractiousness in Washington can be repaired and undermining President Obama‘s efforts to build bridges.

“There is too much partisanship and not enough progress — too much narrow ideology and not enough practical problem-solving,” Bayh said in a statement. “Even at a time of enormous challenge, the people’s business is not being done.”

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Obama criticizes Senate Republicans for Doing As He Has Done.

February 4th, 2010 · Dissention, Obama's Scheme, Politics, Senate

Obama criticizes Senate Republicans for delaying confirmation votes

By Ed O’Keefe Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, February 4, 2010

President Obama criticized senators Wednesday for using a legislative tactic he once practiced himself, saying that Republicans were delaying confirmation votes on several of his nominees for reasons unrelated to their qualifications.

“We’ve got a huge backlog of folks who are unanimously viewed as well qualified — nobody has a specific objection to them — but end up having a hold on them because of some completely unrelated piece of business,” Obama said at a question-and-answer session during the Senate Democratic Conference, held at the Newseum.

Senate rules allow members to place a hold on nominees — to block their consideration by the chamber — at any time for any reason. Such holds are often placed privately, making it exceedingly difficult for those outside the Senate to track their use, and they can be a powerful tool to influence the executive branch.

News reports indicate that Obama, as a senator from Illinois, placed holds on at least three Bush administration nominees amid policy disagreements or concerns about their qualifications.

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