The Washington Independent

Posts Tagged ron wyden

Senators Ask Holder to Declassify Evidence on Patriot Act

By | 11.17.09 | 6:30 pm

Anticipating that the debate over reauthorization of the USA PATRIOT Act will soon come to the Senate floor, Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) and Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) on Tuesday asked Attorney General Eric Holder to declassify key information about how the law’s “business records provision” has More…

Nine More Dems Urge Wyden ‘Free Choice’ Proposal

By | 10.30.09 | 2:39 pm

Few lawmakers on planet earth have pushed more persistently for health care reform in the past decade than Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). And although Wyden’s own enormous blueprint for a health system overhaul was largely ignored through this year’s debate, the Oregon Democrat has had a More…

Finance Committee Dems Are No Rubber Stamp for Health Reform

By | 10.05.09 | 10:27 am

With so much speculation on whether Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) will support the health reform bill finalized by the Senate Finance Committee last week, the world might be surprised to learn that some panel Democrats are also wary of the legislation. Yet Sens. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) More…

The Waiting Room

By | 09.18.09 | 8:12 pm

Here’s a quick wrap-up of today’s health care news.

After a tumultuous week that saw the release of Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus’ (D-Mont.) long-awaited “Gang of Six” compromise health care reform bill, all eyes turn to gang-member Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), who is almost certainly the only Republican More…

Two of Those Senate-Committee-Requested Torture Documents Are the Ones Cheney Wants

By | 07.23.09 | 8:58 am

It read to me yesterday like the torture documents requested in the Senate intelligence committee’s intelligence authorization bill were probably documents from the CIA supporting the dubious proposition that torturing detainees yielded valuable intelligence. But it’s unclear — they’re, of course, still classified — and some progressive senators, like More…

GOP (Plus Liberals!) Pushed Torture-Disclosure Provision

By | 07.22.09 | 5:08 pm

More on that new provision in the intelligence authorization bill pushing disclosure on the efficacy of torture. The measure was proposed by Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo.) to counter the Obama administration’s portrayal of torture as ineffective, and particularly in light of the release of the Justice Department’s 2002 and More…

Bipartisan Senate Group: Don’t Rush Health Care

By | 07.17.09 | 3:25 pm

Via Roll Call, a bipartisan group of senators on Friday urged Democratic leaders to slow the pace of the health reform debate to ensure that the final product actually reins in long-term health care spending.

“While we are committed to providing relief for American families as quickly as More…

Wyden-Snowe Executive Pay Limits — The Enhanced Version

By | 03.19.09 | 6:10 pm

When the White House economic team last month rejected a Senate-passed stimulus amendment that would have taxed bailed-out companies at 35 percent for 2008 bonuses, sponsor Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) vowed he’d be back later for another try.

Today, he made good on that promise.

Wyden-Snowe Executive-Pay Limits Sliced from Stimulus

By | 02.12.09 | 6:58 pm

The finance industry might be floundering, it might be broke, and it might be ringing the tin cup for federal help. But don’t say Wall Street has lost its sway over lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

Congress agreed on a final stimulus plan yesterday, but not before stripping out a provision More…

On the Bandwagon to Limit CEO Pay

By | 02.04.09 | 3:28 pm

Something strange has happened to Senate Democrats.

Just a few weeks ago, few showed any interest in taking up House-passed legislation that would rein in executive pay for companies that accepted cash under the Troubled Assets Relief Program. Instead, party leaders said they’d trust the new administration to spend More…