sherrod brown

In the wake of Saturday’s Senate vote to take up the chamber’s health reform legislation, the focus of the debate has shifted back to the public option, over which no fewer than four Democratic caucus members — Sens. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) — have threatened to [...]

With abortion now topic-of-the-moment amid the health reform debate, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) weighed in last night with a prediction certain to please women’s rights groups: Republicans, the Ohio Democrat said, won’t be able to rally even 50 votes — let alone the 60 they’ll need — to pass an amendment restricting abortion coverage on [...]

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 [...]

Moments ago, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) took to the chamber floor with a strange claim about the urgency surrounding legislation to extend unemployment insurance.
“The benefits haven’t run out yet,” Kyl said. “We’re going to pass this before the benefits run out.”
It’s tough to decipher exactly what he means.

He’s been threatening to do it for weeks, and today Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) made good on his vow to push legislation reining in the overdraft charges that hit consumers who exceed their balances when making debit card purchases. Those fees — which average upwards of $30 a pop — have evolved into an [...]

Turns out, quite a lot of money.
We mentioned here last week that no fewer than 30 Senate Democrats are urging chamber leaders to include a public insurance option as part of the sweeping health reform bill to be weaved from separate proposals drafted by the Senate Finance and HELP committees. Those lawmakers sent a letter [...]

As the Senate awaits the cap-and-trade bill expected to be released sometime before the end of September, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) is looking for ways to get more incentives for manufacturing and clean-energy technology in the bill that might help sweeten the deal for Midwest Democrats.
Brown has already introduced the Investments for Manufacturing Progress and [...]

One of the greatest obstacles to overarching energy policy reform is likely to come in the form of a group of moderate Democratic senators from states that rely heavily on manufacturing. Among this so-called Gang of 16 is Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), who is also a member of the Senate Subcommittee on Energy, Science and [...]

Unlike previous Democratic presidential candidates, Obama has taken a cue from the state’s governor and freshman senator and launched an all-inclusive 88-county strategy with an unprecedented grassroots campaign. Ohioans have never seen anything like it.

For weeks, Republican lawmakers have been pushing for an increase in offshore oil drilling, hoping to use towering fuel costs and Democrats’ historic opposition to the drilling expansion to make the energy debate the defining issue of the congressional campaign season.
Then Lehman Bros. crumpled into bankruptcy, Merrill Lynch was sold out and AIG began teetering [...]