Congress

Term Limits, Sen. Kennedy?

In a much-hyped rally announcing his endorsement of presidential hopeful Barack Obama, Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) piled heaps of praise on the young Illinois senator Monday. Obama, Kennedy said, will be a fighter, an inspirer, a great uniter in the image of Kennedy's brother Jack, who came to power in another era of ideological bickering.

GOP Gags Witnesses on Credit Card Woes

Republicans on a consumer credit subcommittee required witnesses to waive privacy rights to their financial history before testifying about run-ins with credit card companies.

Ron Paul Warns Burma Tyrants: We'll Stay Out of Your Way!

The House yesterday approved a lightweight, nonbinding resolution offering condolences to the people of Burma in the wake of Cyclone Nargis, which the Red Cross now estimates took as many as 128,000 lives when it struck the Irrawaddy Delta earlier this month. From a political standpoint, this was a pretty safe vote. Indeed, 186 Republicans joined every voting Democrat to pass the measure. But it didn't go unanimously. That's because Texas GOP presidential contender Rep. Ron Paul disapproved. The final count was 410 to 1.

Big Oil Defends Profits

Gas prices and profits are largely out of their control, oil executives tell Congress.

Waxman: White House Knew Of Hunt/Kurdistan Oil Contract

Today the House oversight committee released a reportasserting that the White House knew about an oil deal between the Kurdistan regional government and Texas-based Hunt Oil, though President George W. Bush had claimed he knew nothing about the contract before it was announced. According to the report, Ray Hunt, President of the company, talked to Bush administration advisers months before the deal was made. Also, officials at the Commerce and State departments encouraged the deal and even congratulated Hunt after obtaining the contract.

The deal embarrassed the Bush administration and outraged the Iraqi government when it was announced in September. Bush criticized both parties for making a deal that bypassed the Iraqi national government, especially impolitic as a national oil law was still not established.

Health Care Reform Waits

Former Health and Human Services secretary Tommy Thompson urged action this week, saying 2009 brings a perfect storm to sweep through change.

Dems Cave on Telecom Immunity

Civil liberties groups claim congressional leaders backed down for fear of how national security will play out in November.

Rocky Road for Credit Card Bill

Parties are split over how to approach business oversight, as lawmakers seek to modernize federal rules governing the highly influential banking industry.

Big Oil Ties Could Hurt GOP

The GOP is striving to establish itself as the party with energy solutions, but connections with Big Oil companies could undermine their efforts.

And On the Fifth Day, Republicans Were Still Talking to Themselves

Today marks day five of the GOP's empty-chamber self-debate over high fuel prices. For anyone who's been vacationing on Jupiter, the Republicans are calling on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to bring Congress back to Washington to vote on an expansion of offshore drilling. Nevermind that experts and independent analyses indicate that increased drilling would have no immediate effect on prices at the pump, the public is growing weary of $4-a-gallon gas, and the GOP's drilling push is gaining momentum.

Although the debate to this point has revolved around fuel costs and environmental impact, there's another facet of this argument that, unfortunately, has gone largely ignored: That's the long-term damage that an oil-based energy model promises to wreak on the U.S. economy. As New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman pointed out last week:

Abstinence-Only Education Endures

At least on part of Newt Gingrich's 1994 "Contract With America" lives on.

Free Cash! (And Don't Forget Us in November)

If you're like most working Americans, your mailbox this week held a gift from the IRS in the form of an "Economic Stimulus Payment Notice." These gems of efficiency are designed to inform taxpayers that they'll be receiving a one-time payment of up to $600 for individuals -- or $1,200 for couples filing jointly -- courtesy of their benevolent Washington representatives.

But there's something curious here, which is this: In order to get these checks, taxpayers have to do -- drum-roll here -- precisely nothing. That's right. Just file this year's return, like you're required to do anyway, and the extra cash will follow.

"These special letters remind people that they won’t need to do anything more than file a 2007 tax return in order to put the stimulus payment process in motion,” Acting IRS Commissioner Linda Stiff said in a statement.

Which begs the question: Why did we need to be told to do nothing?

A quick glance at the notice gives the answer. "Dear Taxpayer," the text reads. "We are pleased to inform you that the United States Congress passed and President George W. Bush signed into law the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008, which provides for economic stimulus payments to be made to over 130 million American households."

The message is clear:

FISA Battle Is More Politics than Policy

Call it a game of political chicken: Four days after the Bush administration lost its authority to sidestep the courts when eavesdropping on some U.S. residents, House Democrats and the White House remain embroiled in a high-profile rhetorical battle over what the change means for the nation's security.

Shooting Down Missile Defense

The latest oversight is the first serious challenge to the unsuccessful, 25-year-old program.

Owning the News

Should community newspaper companies get to own local TV and radio stations too?

How Quickly They Forget

Despite voting to authorize the invasion, Democrats say only Bush is to blame.

Senate Passes Indian Health Care Bill

Capitol Hill is a long way from Indian country, but this week tribal leaders and health care advocates took a long stride closer to the boost in health funding that Congress has failed to provide for 16 years.

No Push From Bush on Conservation

With gas prices eating deeper into family budgets, most experts agree that reducing demand through individual conservation would prove a much more immediate solution than increasing supply through increased drilling. Hell, even President George W. Bush said yesterday that conservation would remedy the current "imbalance" in energy supply and demand.

But if you think that means the president would call on Americans to be wise about their personal energy use, you'd be perfectly, 100-percent wrong. From the transcript of yesterday's White House press conference:
 

Energy Debate Excludes Conservation

As Congress fights over what to do about the 68 million acres oil and gas companies aren't exploring, neither side is talking about a real energy policy change.

Conyers to Rove: I Mean It This Time!

Since Rep. John Conyers (D-Mi.) said back in April that he was going to kick Karl Rove's ass, hardly a week has gone by without the House Judiciary Committee chairman demanding Rove's testimony before Congress. Today a judiciary subcommittee held a hearing on alleged selective prosecution of Democratic officials within the Bush Justice Dept. Rove was subpoenaed to testify, but he didn't show up, claiming executive privilege.

This appeared to upset Conyers. "Mr. Rove's absence today is an insult to the American people and to the system of checks and balances that are the basis of our constitution and our democracy,"Conyers said today. He added that it's necessary to ensure "that no one-- not the President and certainly not Karl Rove is above the law."