West Virginia Blue
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Good afternoon, West Virginia Blue readers. This is your afternoon open thread to discuss all things Hill-related. Use this thread to praise or bash Congresscritters, share a juicy tip, ask questions, offer critiques and suggestions, or post manifestos. We'll be here all weekend.
Some of the Hill news that's fit to blog is over the fold...
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Bill Clinton hospitalized with chest pains.
Clinton, 63, was transported to Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan for a condition related to his heart.
ABC News' chief political correspondent George Stephanopoulos reported that sources said he was taken to the hospital "likely for a stent procedure."
Sources on Capital Hill tell ABC News that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was seen leaving the Oval Office a short time ago and did not seem "too concerned" or "in a rush."
It took about 12 hours for the right to diss Rep. Murtha after his death on twitter so the count down for it to begin against Pres. Clinton is over.
Until the filibuster is ended in the not so much a gentleman's club in Washington, the US Senate, our nation will never come out of the dark ages of the Bush years. Every day that goes by requiring 60 votes to bring righteous legislation into law insures that nothing will be done to bring hope to those whose lives are made so difficult by allowing those that have so much to keep the rest of our nation behind. I think that there is nothing so selfish as the behavior of the blue dog democrats and their partners in crime all of the Republican Senators that have brought President Obama's promise of hope for our nation to an absolute standstill because the Senate has the archaic and absurd filibuster. Their co conspirators in the medical industrial complex and the financial industry are no less guilty as they make it possible for the aforementioned elected officials to ignore the needs of their constituents by handing them campaign contributions that reward them for bringing us bad government.
We have watched health care, bank reform, and wall street reform weakened or defeated either by the greed of these Senators or by the absolute Bull S**t financed by the corporations that permeates the airwaves because it is so easy to buy off media. That media isn't just Fox or Rush Limbaugh it is every person that calls themselves a reporter who fails to report the lies and deceptive stories for what they are.
Now we have a whole new category added to the fray with the actions of Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama who feels that he has the power to keep good Presidential nominees from being confirmed by putting a hold on their nominations until he gets earmarks for his state passed and signed into law by the President. What he is looking for is best described in New York Magazine (HT Balloon-Juice) in an article published on Tuesday...
So why exactly has Shelby taken such drastic action? Because he wants some pork for Alabama. Specifically, one earmark for a $40 billion contract to build air-to-air refueling tankers, and another for a $45 million FBI testing lab. It's a $40,045,000,000 ransom demand to the United States government. When did Dr. Evil become a senator?
Note that the contract mentioned involves an aircraft built by Airbus, a European company with facilities in Alabama that is competing with an American company, Boeing, with facilities all over the United States.
Time to call Senator Rockefeller and Senator Byrd and tell them point blank that the filibuster must go and tell them that it is necessary to do this so we can have true representative government back in Washington.
The Senate is an inherently undemocratic (little D) legislative body, a fact made all the worse with the evolution of the filibuster from its original rules. (Mind you, the filibuster exists nowhere in the constitution, it derives from Senate rules, continually changing since the late 1700's.) Today, the filibuster rules allow Sens. represented a small minority of the countries population to obstruct the will of the majority of our citizens.
This story hit the news last Friday and it isn't pretty (emphasis mine, article by Darren Samuelsohn)
Budget move for climate bill draws rebuke from 28 senators
A White House-led push to move global warming legislation in the Senate without having to deal with an expected GOP filibuster has drawn opposition from 28 senators, including six Democrats and several moderate Republicans.
Critics of using the budget reconciliation process as a vehicle for President Obama's cap-and-trade plan weighed in with a letter (pdf) to the Democratic and Republican leaders of the Senate Budget Committee, saying the fast-track strategy should not be used for something as complex as a climate bill.
There has been wide-spread speculation that the budget process might be used to avoid Republican obstruction to enact Obama's campaign promises on both climate change and healthcare reform.
Sens. Mike Johanns (R-Neb.) and Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) led a signature drive that included several notable moderate lawmakers from both parties who have long been considered critical to passage of a climate bill. They include Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), Evan Bayh (D-Ind.), Robert Casey (D-Pa.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), Mary Landrieu (D-La.), Carl Levin (D-Mich.), Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Ben Nelson (D-Neb.).
Carol Browner, Obama's top energy and climate adviser, has been quietly pressing Democrats on Capitol Hill to consider using the budget reconciliation strategy out of concern that a cap-and-trade bill could not otherwise win 60 votes. Earlier today, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said he is still considering the controversial budget strategy and questioned the premise that he does not have the 51 votes necessary to pass the legislation with the climate language included (Greenwire, March 12).
The obvious and most tantalizing option for congressional Democrats for moving Obama's agenda is the budget process known as reconciliation. Under this system, legislation that affects tax revenue and mandatory spending needs only 51 votes to pass the Senate, meaning it negates the threat of filibusters.
But moving either the emissions cap-and-trade legislation or a health care overhaul through this process wouldn't be easy either, because of what is known as the Byrd rule. Named for Democratic Sen. Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia, the rule allows policy language that has no effect on spending or revenue to be struck from reconciliation bills when they come to the floor.
In summary... the administration says cap-and-trade and health care legislation are fundamentally legislation that affect tax revenue and mandatory spending. Sen. Byrd is preemptively signaling that he does not agree. In doing so, Sen. Byrd is allying with Republican obstructionist seeking to derail Obama's climate change and health care policies--two of Obama's three major campaign promises.
If you support the administration taking action on climate change or on a health care system overhaul, I urge you to contact Sen. Byrd's office to express your concerns. Sen. Byrd has significant influence to help both of these initiatives through the Senate. It is important for him to knows West Virginians are for change, not obstruction.
Follow below the fold for contact information for Sen. Byrd's office.
This writer fails to understand why Democratic officeholders in the US House and Senate are not actively seeking situations where Republicans resort to filibustering popular Democratic legislation and situations where Bush vetoes similar measures. The benefits in political terms for Democrats far outweigh the risks and good legislation might just get enacted into law.
If nothing else positive happens, Democrats at least would raise the public awareness of issues that need addressed. Democrats should go on the offensive and start controlling the discussion of public issues.
Democrats should not have voted to continue funding the Iraq War without timetables for withdrawing our troops. Democratic activists are very disappointed that Congressional Democrats did not respond aggressively to the propaganda of the Bush Republicans. The Democratic proposals DID FUND THE TROOPS WHILE ESTABLISHING TIMETABLES FOR WITHDRAWAL!
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In summary... the administration says cap-and-trade and health care legislation are fundamentally legislation that affect tax revenue and mandatory spending. Sen. Byrd is preemptively signaling that he does not agree. In doing so, Sen. Byrd is allying with Republican obstructionist seeking to derail Obama's climate change and health care policies--two of Obama's three major campaign promises.
