Colorado Rep. DeGette fights GOP ‘big government’ anti-abortion gambit

In a new chapter of the often topsy-turvy story of the Tea Party era, Colorado Democratic US Rep Diana DeGette this week finds herself championing local government rights against Republican efforts to expand federal power. DeGette on Wednesday urged House and Senate appropriations committees staffers to reject legislative stipulations that More…

Pro-Choice Caucus chair DeGette leads defense of abortion rights in House

Colorado Representative and head of the Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus Diana DeGette is surprised to find herself doing heated battle on a number of fronts in the war over abortion rights this early in the year. This session of Congress was supposed to be about jobs and the economy,

Slaughter Threatened After Health Care Debate

Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.), the head of the Rules Committee and a high-profile player during the debate over health care reform, has been threatened in the past few days with at least two acts of violence. From her just-released statement:

There was a brick thrown through my Niagara Falls district

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Republicans Fret About ‘Slaughter Option,’ Ask for ‘Up-or-Down Vote’

Republicans have grabbed hold of reports that Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) has readied a rule that would allow the House to deem the Senate health care bill passed and start making corrections — something the GOP quickly dubbed the “Slaughter Option” or the “Slaughter Solution.”

“[W]e are hearing reports More…

House Bill Would Cap Credit Card Rates at 16 Percent

Equating today’s rising credit card rates to usury, several House Democrats today announced plans to introduce legislation capping credit card rates at 16 percent.

“Things were a lot better for the average person in this country when we had usury caps,” Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.), head of the House Rules Committee, said More…

House Passes FOIA Amendment to Hide Abuse Photos

Notwithstanding Rep. Louise Slaughter’s (D-N.Y.) impassioned plea, the House this afternoon passed that amendment to alter the Freedom of Information Act and hide detainee abuse photos — and to keep the question of what’s secret and what’s not away from the courts.

More on the Congressional Move to Amend FOIA, Hide Torture Photos

To follow up on my earlier post about Rep. Louis Slaughter (D-N.Y.) and her speech on her colleagues’ move to amend the Freedom of Information Act to prevent the release of photographs depicting abuse of detainees in U.S. custody, it’s worth looking at the conference report More…

Louise Slaughter Slams Effort to Amend FOIA to Shield Abuse Photos

Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) today blasted the Obama administration, as well as some of her colleagues in the House and Senate, for including a provision in the Homeland Security Appropriations Bill that would amend the Freedom of Information Act to exempt from disclosure photos depicting the abuse of detainees in More…

A Congress of Inside Traders?

You might think that members of Congress and their staffs would be prohibited from using their privileged access to nonpublic information to cash in on Wall Street. But you’d be wrong.

Congressional insider trading is not, in fact, illegal. In a letter to lawmakers today, several watchdogs groups offer More…