The U.S. Senate passed the Budget Control Act of 2011 on Tuesday, after the bill was approved Monday by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.
Forty-five Democrats, 28 Republicans and independent Sen. Joe Lieberman voted in favor of the bill. Nineteen Republicans, 6 Democrats and independent Sen. Bernie
Though Republicans control the U.S. House and Democrats’ hold on the Senate took a hit in the 2010 election, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is trying once more to pass a Medicare-for-all single payer health care bill — something he tried to do in 2009 as an amendment to his More…
A statement from Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) on CNN’s John King USA received a great deal of attention in the blogosphere late Thursday night and Friday morning. When asked about the policy riders on social issues like abortion, environmental regulation and health care reform that are holding up budget negotiations, More…
Yesterday’s vote among Senate Republicans to place a two-year moratorium on the practice of requesting earmarks looks like it’s shaping up to be the beginning, not the end, of a long debate about the issue. My article today describes the mixed feelings of many Republican senators signing onto the More…
In the lead-up to Tuesday’s vote by Senate Republicans to self-impose a two-year moratorium on earmark requests, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) released a statement indicating his avowed, albeit somewhat conflicted, support for the idea.
“I respect the spirit in which this moratorium has been agreed to and hope it More…
It’s official: Senate Republicans voted this afternoon to pass a moratorium on earmark requests among their members for the next two years. In addition, Sens. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) are making a bipartisan push for a floor vote tomorrow on statutory language that would apply to More…
On a conference call hosted by the Heritage Foundation, Sens. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) delivered an impassioned plea in advance of tomorrow’s Republican Conference vote over ending the practice of requesting earmarks for local spending projects. But if the measure doesn’t pass tomorrow, Coburn made it known More…
Senate Republicans have long criticized the Obama administration as lax on immigration enforcement, and their argument was bolstered by news this week that Immigration and Customs Enforcement is dismissing a record-high number of cases against immigrant detainees in Houston. In response, seven pro-enforcement Republican senators sent a letter More…
By all accounts, it is a good time to pass the food safety bill that has languished between the upper and lower chambers of Congress for 14 months — since last July.
The Hill reports that a few Republican Senators, including John McCain (Ariz.), Jim DeMint (S.C.), Lindsey Graham (S.C.) and Tom Coburn (Okla.), are planning to propose a Constitutional amendment requiring the federal government to run a balanced budget this fall. The amendment would also require a two-thirds super-majority More…
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