kent conrad

The push is on to dilute the climate change bills moving through Congress, and it’s not coming only from conservatives. Mother Jones’ Kate Sheppard reports today that 14 Senate Democrats are urging their leadership to amend the proposal to grant more free polluting permits to the coal-burning utilities that emit the most greenhouse gases. In [...]

The abortion debate in the Senate is looking more and more like that in the House every day.
Last week, it was liberal Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) predicting that anti-abortion lawmakers in the upper chamber wouldn’t be able to rally the 60 votes needed to pass an amendment to health reform legislation restricting abortion. This week, [...]

On the Fence
Likely Supporters
Likely Opponents

9
51
40

On the Fence

Senator

Stance

Home State Data*

Evan Bayh (D-Ind.)
Rachel Maddow Show: “Sen. Bayh told us it is extraordinarily unlikely that he would filibuster health reform. He said there is nothing in the bill he is aware of now that would cause him to vote to filibuster and he said that he currently ‘can’t [...]

It’s not looking good for Senate Democratic leaders hoping next week to pass a $245 billion proposal to give Medicare doctors pay raises over the next decade. That’s because there are a number of Democratic moderates lining up to oppose the proposal because it’s not paid for. The New York Times points out this morning [...]

The Senate Finance Committee just voted down the second and last public option amendment expected to be offered during the panel’s markup of health reform legislation. The proposal, sponsored by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), would have created a public plan to compete with private insurers on a newly formed marketplace, called the exchange.
The vote was [...]

Smelling blood in the water as Democrats made contradictory statements about what a Senate health care reform bill might contain, Republicans are pushing back against a possible compromise.

The New York Times today does a nice job pointing out some of the limitations of the co-op coverage model being pushed by “Gang of Six” member Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) as an alternative to the government-backed option preferred by the White House and Democratic leaders. Conrad says the public plan proposal simply doesn’t have [...]

Tough to say if this is good news or bad news for public plan fans. Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) apparently “doesn’t have an opinion on the public option, because he believes the issue is ‘moot,’” according to TPMDC, citing Conrad’s office.
This revelation might be unremarkable, except that the public plan is only the most contentious [...]

The timing here isn’t coincidental, nor are the players.
Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), who head the Senate Ethics Committee, introduced legislation Thursday to force lawmakers to disclose the “full and complete” details of their mortgage arrangements — including dates, rates, the range of the amount and the creditor’s name and location.
The bill [...]

Melanie Sloan, executive director of the Center for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, just responded to the Senate Ethics Committee’s decision to clear Sens. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) of any wrongdoing in relation to their preferential treatment from Countrywide Financial Corp.
Apparently, clearing the senators was insufficient penance for the committee for having [...]