As the conference committee reconciles the House and Senate versions of the financial regulatory reform bills, Sen. Richard Durbin’s (D-Ill.) amendment regulating the type and scope of fees that Visa, Mastercard and other companies can charge businesses for debit card transactions has proven one of the hottest flashpoints. But More…
The “America’s Future Now!” conference, organized by the progressive Campaign for America’s Future, kicked off in Washington today, and TWI’s crack video team — Abbey Brandon, Sarah Zibanejadrad, Lucas Thomas and Jaime Bellemare — was on hand. Here are some highlights from the afternoon panel on money in politics, at More…
Ask any lawmaker on Capitol Hill about the worst part of his job and the answer will usually be the same: They all claim to hate the hours a week they spend attending fundraisers or dialing for dollars to see them through the next election.
That they’re not doing anything More…
Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) just took to the chamber floor asking for unanimous consent to pass a temporary extension of unemployment insurance, COBRA benefits and a handful of additional funding provisions that expired yesterday.
You already know the outcome.
In a move straight out of the Bush administration’s Office of Legal Counsel, a secret decision made by the Obama administration’s OLC provided retroactive legal justification for the FBI and telecommunications companies to improperly collect the phone records of American citizens. We would have no idea that the OLC issued More…
Senate leaders have struck a deal to stage an 8 a.m. Thursday vote to finalize both health care reform and an expansion of the debt limit, Sen. Richard Durbin’s (D-Ill.) office just announced. That agreement, struck between Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), More…
Another notable passage from Sen. Richard Durbin’s (D-Ill.) interview on MSNBC this morning finds the majority whip conceding that the Democrats have few alternatives but to bow to the sensitivities of Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), who this week single-handedly blew up a Democratic More…
With Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) threatening to kill health insurance reform legislation unless it’s diluted considerably, liberals nationwide are urging Democrats to side-step Lieberman by using the budget reconciliation process, which would allow them to pass parts of the bill with a simple majority More…
Jake Tapper at ABC News reports that the Obama administration will announce on Tuesday that at least some Guantanamo Bay detainees are headed to the federal prison in Thomson, Ill. Just how many of the inmates at Thomson will come from the Guantanamo Bay prison is unclear, though.
As I’ve More…
As the Senate idles awaiting a procedural vote on unemployment legislation — a vote that’s held up activity on all other pending legislation and nominations — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) this morning offered a solution that might speed things up: “Maybe [Republicans] needed another ACORN amendment,” More…
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