Tag: congress

House to split off food stamps from farm bill.

“Elections have consequences.” That phrase isn’t always a knell of doom, by the way:

House Republican leaders have decided to drop food stamps from the farm bill and are whipping the farm-only portion of the bill for a vote that will likely come this week, according to a GOP leadership aide.

The nutrition portion of the bill would be dealt with later.

The Rules Committee is expected to post the text Tuesday night and meet Wednesday, the aide said.

Continue reading House to split off food stamps from farm bill.

Reps. Defazio, Grijalva slavering over Ed Markey’s Ranking Membership.

I’m not entirely certain why – Natural Resources is one of those committees where the basic goal of the Republicans is to inflict Maximum Fun on the Democrats; and when the GOP holds the House the Maximum Fun is very, very Maximum indeed – but I guess that there’s money in it?

Rep. Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., has yet to win the Senate seat vacated by now-Secretary of State John F. Kerry, but Reps. Peter A. Defazio and Raúl M. Grijalva are already fighting over who should replace him as the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee.

The two Democratic lawmakers are arguing not only over legislative records and policy positions, but also over the weight that should be given to seniority.

Continue reading Reps. Defazio, Grijalva slavering over Ed Markey’s Ranking Membership.

Eric Holder may have an *exquisitely* painful day today over at House Judiciary.

I know, I know: you are wounded unto death about such a thing occurring. Wounded unto death.

Attorney General Eric Holder will testify before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday, where Republicans say they’ll grill him about the Justice Department’s secret review of Associated Press phone records and the IRS targeting of conservative groups for extra tax scrutiny, among other issues.

The oversight hearing had already been scheduled for 1 p.m. on May 15. But Republicans now plan to use the time to address the two issues that came to light this week.

The real question is, though: will it just be the Republicans piling on? Possibly not: the National Journal is kind of hinting* that maybe Democrats on Judiciary will be wanting to put some distance between them and the Obama administration’s exciting new game Wheel of Scandal. The AP thing would be the place for House Democrats to do it, too. Of the (current) Big Three scandals going on right now (Benghazi, IRS, AP): the narrative on Benghazi is locked down among Democrats. No way are any of them going to admit that the White House deliberately lied about the origins of that attack because they were in the middle of a Presidential election. The IRS issue is kind of problematical: the Democratic progressive base simply seems intellectually incapable of understanding why it looks horrifically bad when the IRS confesses that they targeted the administration’s political enemies. Best not to push that one too far… but the AP? Yeah, that’s reasonably safe. Particularly since the House passed a federal shield bill in 2009 that would have protected all those fine, upstanding journalists. So, yeah, they’re on the side of the angels on that one. Continue reading Eric Holder may have an *exquisitely* painful day today over at House Judiciary.

QotD, And House Democrats Deserve This, Too edition.

Cook Political Report, establishing what we knew already:

In many respects, observing House Democrats trying to take back their majority is like watching a soccer team play a comparably skilled opponent with the field slanted 15 degrees against them.

Short version: Section V of the Voting Rights Act.  We’ve gotten into the habit of creating majority-minority districts; the Democrats are utterly reliant on the black vote to win elections; members of the Congressional Black Caucus are always willing to work with the Republican party to keep their seats safe (and to get new majority-minority districts); white Democrats are a bit reluctant to vote for minority Democrats; and it’s really hard to get the courts to throw out a map that the GOP/CBC has collaborated on.  Mix it all together, and hey presto! Structural GOP majority.

This drives the Online Left nuts, by the way: being largely white Democrats themselves and not entirely stupid, most of the smarter ones figure out eventually that they’re being given the shaft by minority Democrats.  The problem is that while the Online Left largely despises minorities they’re also exceptionally well conditioned by now to never, ever let that show.  So they just blame us, instead.  Oh, and vent their ire on minority conservatives: those are apparently safe targets. Continue reading QotD, And House Democrats Deserve This, Too edition.

I apologize in advance to any readers who ARE Congressional staffers…

…but I have to say: the aforementioned Congressional staffers need a better class of defenders.

Two senior Democrats complained at a House Appropriations Committee hearing Tuesday that the combination of cuts over the past two years has robbed them of nearly 11 percent of their personal budgets, which average $1.3 million.

Now House officials are looking at an additional 8.2 percent cut, or about $100,000. Total cut over three years: nearly 20 percent.

Continue reading I apologize in advance to any readers who ARE Congressional staffers…

Eric Cantor: Here’s a 3-month debt ceiling increase. Use it to pass a budget, Senators.

Or you don’t get paid.

“The first step to fixing this problem is to pass a budget that reduces spending. The House has done so, and will again. The Democratic Senate has not passed a budget in almost four years, which is unfair to hardworking taxpayers who expect more from their representatives. That ends this year.

“We must pay our bills and responsibly budget for our future. Next week, we will authorize a three month temporary debt limit increase to give the Senate and House time to pass a budget. Furthermore, if the Senate or House fails to pass a budget in that time, Members of Congress will not be paid by the American people for failing to do their job. No budget, no pay.

There’s a lot of arguments going on right now about the best thing for Republicans right now (I default to agreeing with Ieyasu when it comes to birds that will not sing), but one thing that absolutely must change is that we have to find some way to make Senate Democrats do their damned jobs. If you don’t like this method of getting them to pass a budget, by all means: feel free to suggest a better one.

One that might work.

Moe Lane Continue reading Eric Cantor: Here’s a 3-month debt ceiling increase. Use it to pass a budget, Senators.

My (half-alas, *not* hungover) look at the Senate fiscal bill schmeer.

So, let’s have us a little look-see here about the deal that went down this morning.  Good news: permanent Alternative Minimum Tax fix (I dunno if there’s actually another extension of the Medicare ‘doc fix*’ or not).  Bad news: tax hikes on people making above $400/$450K, and a bunch of other stuff.  All in all: the below seems to still be true.

Continue reading My (half-alas, *not* hungover) look at the Senate fiscal bill schmeer.

Maxine Waters to be… Ranking Member on Financial Services.

I kind of feel for Megan McArdle, here; the woman clearly wants to live in a world where both American political parties are serious-minded about the debt, our ongoing fiscal crisis, and the economy in general. Heck, so would I. Unfortunately, we instead live in a world where the Democratic party thinks that it’s a good idea for Maxine Waters to be the Financial Services Committee Ranking Member. This is an… alarming thought, although for right now it’s merely an opportunity for people to show as much disapproval as they personally dare*.

Megan then tries to reach for a silver lining, and discovers that it’s actually molten steel:

The best hope is that this is entirely symbolic, and they figure it’s safe to make her the senior member as long as she won’t actually be in charge of anything. But having put her in a highly visible slot, it will be very difficult to dislodge her in the event that the Democrats retake the house, and Maxine Waters is expected to actually architect new legislation concerning the financial system. And even typing those words strikes terror into my heart.

Well, that’s what happens when people simply unquestionably ACCEPT the word of Democrats that they’re serious-minded people when it comes to the economy. Free hint: serious-minded people would have submitted a budget in the Senate by now.

Moe Lane Continue reading Maxine Waters to be… Ranking Member on Financial Services.

Democrats keep leadership team that cost them the House in ’12.

Reports are in that Nancy Pelosi will stay on as House Minority Leader and Steve Israel as DCCC chair, despite the fact that neither could ever quite manage to translate a Democratic registration advantage of +6 in 2012 into more than… hold on; let me check… six House seats, net. At best.  Which is in its way a shame: I was personally planning to speed her way out the door by thanking Nancy for all her hard work in reauthorizing FISA under the very noses of the very progressives who urged her to stay on and…

Actually, I don’t know what Nancy Pelosi plans to do.  I know that this is the point in the script where the Democrats are supposed to come up with their Big Plan to take the House of Representatives back, but the last two years have pretty much demonstrated that the former Speaker doesn’t particular ability to overcome the obstacles associated with her fall from power.  She’s just been sort of… there.

Oh, well, not really my problem.