senate

Senate leaders are trying to “hotline” a bill that would expedite previously passed credit card reforms to prevent companies from hiking rates and fees before the law takes hold, according to sources on Capitol Hill.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has asked members of the Banking Committee for their consent to move the bill directly [...]

Twenty-seven days, four votes and a long lesson in tedium later, the upper chamber has passed legislation extending unemployment benefits by at least 14 weeks in every state. The final tally was 98-0.
Similar legislation passed the House more than six weeks ago, but the bill has been held up in the Senate as party leaders [...]

Sen. Mary Landrieu (La.), the moderate Democrat who’s been a loud critic of her party’s plan to create a public insurance option, is warming to the proposal, Roll Call reported today.
“The president was right to move us in the direction of finding a way to turn this cost curve down. We cannot accomplish any of [...]

On Thursday, the Senate Judiciary Committee will consider legislation designed to overhaul the nation’s criminal justice system by creating a commission to examine that system and make reform recommendations to Congress. The bill, sponsored by Sens. Jim Webb (D-Va.) and Arlen Specter (D-Pa.), is designed to confront the problem of the nation’s incarceration rates, which [...]

The Senate on Wednesday easily cleared the last procedural barrier standing in the way of passing legislation to extend unemployment insurance benefits as long as 20 weeks nationwide.
The count was  97  to one, with Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) the only lawmaker to oppose the measure.
The lopsided vote clears the way for final passage of the [...]

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,” Reid said, with no lack of sarcasm. [...]

Josh Kraushaar catches a surprising poll in the 2010 primary for U.S. Senate in Kentucky. In the GOP race, Rand Paul, the son of Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) and a first-time candidate, has jumped out to a small lead over Secretary of State Trey Grayson. The trends:
Rand Paul – 35 (+9)
Trey Grayson – 32 (-4)

The Senate will hold a procedural vote tomorrow at 12:15 p.m. to limit debate on legislation extending unemployment benefits in all states, Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) just announced on the chamber floor. Senate rules mandate that the final vote can’t come earlier than 30 hours after the cloture vote. To expedite final passage, however, Durbin [...]

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee — or half of it, more accurately — has begun its first day of markup of the landmark Kerry-Boxer climate legislation. And once again, it’s a pretty one-sided debate.
Last week, Ranking Member James Inhofe (R-Okla.) threatened to boycott the markup unless the committee received an Environmental Protection Agency [...]

The Senate is on the verge of passing a bill extending unemployment benefits up to 20 weeks nationwide, after lawmakers on Monday easily hopped the procedural hurdle bringing debate on the legislation to an end.
The cloture vote was a lopsided 85 to 2. After weeks of haggling over controversial amendments, only Republican Sens. Christopher Bond [...]