At the Huffington Post, Ryan Grim reports that Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) has capitulated and decided to vote for financial regulatory reform legislation. Yesterday, he surprised reporters by announcing that he was not a firm yes for the bill, due to concerns over the leadership of the not-yet-existent More…
Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) signed on overnight, meaning that the sweeping Dodd-Frank financial regulatory reform bill, the Obama administration’s second signature piece of legislation, has the votes to pass. A final vote is expected for Thursday, and Obama is likely to sign the bill into law that day.
But More…
A few weeks ago, I noted that in a new Gallup poll, Americans ranked terrorism and the national debt evenly — above health care costs, unemployment and climate change — as the most pressing issues for the country. Here’s the chart:
Yesterday evening, Senate Republicans, joined by Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Ct.) and Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), voted against ending debate on the jobs bill, also known as the extenders’ bill or H.R. 4213. The Republicans considered most likely to cross the fence for the bill — Sens. Olympia Snowe (Maine), Susan Collins More…
Yesterday evening, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) withdrew his request for a cloture vote to end debate on the pending jobs bill, which continues the emergency extension of unemployment insurance, Medicaid funding for states and Medicare payments for doctors.
The Senate has planned further consideration of amendments and More…
This week, Senate Democrats will attempt to push through a jobs bill that has stalled in the chamber for seven weeks. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) filed for cloture on Monday afternoon, leaving just days before a vote on the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act, or House Resolution More…
The Senate just voted down Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s (R-Alaska) resolution to overturn the Environmental Protection Agency’s finding that greenhouse gas emissions pose a danger to public health. The final vote was 53-47, with six Democrats joining all Republicans in voting for the resolution.
The EPA was required by the Supreme More…
The Senate Armed Services Committee goes into room 222 of the Russell building today at 2:30 p.m. to mark up the fiscal 2011 defense authorization bill. Until members emerge at 9 p.m., it’s a black box of information for determining the contours of the half-trillion-dollar-plus piece of legislation, including More…
Alan Schram at Seeking Alpha takes some notes at the annual conference of Berkshire Hathaway, the investment firm run by the “Oracle of Omaha,” Warren Buffett. It’s mostly run-of-the-mill stuff, but this passage caught my eye.
Derivatives. The usefulness of derivatives is overrated. They have some utility but have
With Democrat Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) siding again with the Republicans — none of whom crossed over to vote for cloture to start debate on Sen. Chris Dodd’s (D-Conn.) financial regulatory reform bill — the effort has failed for the third day in a row on a vote of 56 More…
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