Good afternoon, Daily Kos 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 your manifestos.
On a programing note, we did miss a couple of days. I'm blaming the Olympics.
Across the digital fold, you will find all of the Congress news that's fit to repost.
Hoyer: The Senate is "broken"
Somebody who matters had to finally come out and say this:
Hoyer: GOP 'abusing' Senate rules to block Democrats' bills
Republicans are guilty of "abusing" Senate rules to block pieces of legislation, the second-ranking House Democrat charged Wednesday.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said the Senate is "broken," while absolving Democratic leaders in the Senate of culpability for slow-moving legislation.
"I believe the Senate is broken. I don't think it's Harry Reid's fault, the Democratic leader," Hoyer said during an appearance on MSNBC. "What I think it is is the Republican leadership has determined that failure and gridlock are to its political benefit, and as a result, we've had more requests for cloture or filibuster votes than at any time in history."
Do you see what Hoyer did there? It's the fault of the Republicans who, over the course of the last year, haven't met a cloture vote they did not love. This frame really casts the loyal opposition in a poor light. They are abusing their privileges, so we might have to take those privileges away.
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Jobs Bill
In related news, stop me if you've heard this one before. "The Senate does not have the votes to pass the ___ bill because they don't have 60 votes."
Sen. Reid doesn't have the votes to pass $15 billion version of jobs bill
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) lacks the votes to begin debating his targeted job bills, according to sources monitoring the legislation.
Reid needs 60 votes to open debate on the $15 billion jobs bill up. The vote is scheduled for Monday, when lawmakers return from the Presidents’ Day recess.
~snip
But since he announced his smaller jobs bill, it has been under siege by Republicans and Democrats alike. Absent political arm-twisting by Senate leaders to bring their rank in file in line, opposition to the bill is expected to be bipartisan, sources said.
Good gods, this isn't democracy. This is a sham and the Republicans are not helping. Reid is offering a bill with less spending (the original bill was $85 billion) and a bunch of tax cuts. The party of small government and tax cuts won't even vote to talk about it. This is why they are the party of "No."
At this point, I think Mitch McConnell would force a cloture vote on a bill to proclaim Ronald Reagan as "The Greatest President Ever" if it was introduced by a Democrat.
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Bayh, Bye
And that spirit of "bipartisanship?" There is an argument to be made that the Blue Dog Democrats and the Moderate Republicans (read: the Senators from Maine) are the Senate's great moderating force. Sure that's a tough spot to be in when the minority party is demanding ideological purity and complete obstruction. And sure, it's a tough spot to be in when you are a Blue Dog and getting hit from all sides for looking for a compromise.
So what is one to do in that situation? One should take one's ball and go home, of course.
Senator Evan Bayh's departure sparks debate about partisanship in Congress
Sen. Evan Bayh's surprise decision not to seek reelection touched off a debate Tuesday among strategists and scholars about whether the Indiana senator's depiction of the "brain dead" politics and hyper-partisanship of Congress is accurate or overblown -- and, if accurate, whether walking away was the right decision.
~snip
But it was as much Bayh's stated reasons for leaving as the consequences that stirred controversy. "If in fact he believed that the Senate was broken and dysfunctional, then he had a responsibility to stand and man the pumps rather than run for the lifeboat," said Ross Baker, a political scientist at Rutgers University.
To his credit, Bayh thinks the filibuster rule needs to change and be set at 55 votes needed for cloture. That's great Evan. How about sticking around to make that happen?
As for his replacement, who about Little Pink Houses for you and me?
More realistically, it's looking like no Democrats will be on the primary ballot, allowing the party elders in Indiana to pick a candidate.
Indiana Fallout Over Bayh
With Senator Evan Bayh abandoning his re-election bid, the new focus in Indiana is on who will be running for his newly vacant seat. Both parties are in full maneuvering mode and national Democrats appear to have sidestepped what was – at least from their perspective – a political landmine.
~snip
Now Democrats say they can select their choice, and attention has focused mainly on Representative Brad Ellsworth, a Democrat from Evansville, as well as Representative Baron Hill, Democrat of Seymour. Party officials say they are also exploring other, less well-known names.
One problem is that both Mr. Ellsworth and Mr. Hill plan to qualify this week as House candidates. Republicans say it will not be proper if they do so only to later pull out to run for Senate, leaving Republicans with their House and Senate candidates while Democrats play political musical chairs.
Your quick refresher: Bayh announced he would not be running about a week before the filing deadline, forcing Democrats who might run for an open seat to scramble to get 500 signatures in each county 4500 signatures in each of the nine Congressional Districts. Good luck with that.
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Citizens United ruling
The recent Supreme Court ruling in the Citizens United case basically makes it easier for companies to funnel cash to political campaigns. Personally, I expect this to have a much more dramatic impact on Congressional races than on the Presidential contests.The Presidential contests are closely watched and the American people care. During the midterms, almost everyone but the activists give a collective, "meh." If someone, say a major corporations with lots of money to spare, can energize some people to vote, they could tip a few elections.
In light of that, a major DC lobbying group, K&L Gates, has helpfully posted tips on ways to sway those elections while keeping their donations away from the prying eyes of the blogosphere and the Traditional Media.
Lobby Firm Tells Clients How To Sway Elections While Avoiding 'Public Scrutiny'
In the wake of last month's Citizens United ruling, a powerhouse Washington lobbying firm is informing its corporate clients on how they can use middlemen like the Chamber of Commerce to pour unlimited amounts of money into political campaigns, while maintaining "sufficient cover" to avoid "public scrutiny" and negative media coverage.
A "Public Policy and Law Alert" on the impact of the Supreme Court's ruling, prepared by two lawyers for K&LGates and posted on the firm's site last Friday, notes that, thanks to disclosure rules, corporations could alienate their customers by spending on political campaigns -- especially because they could become the target of negative media coverage.
For the record, most people hate the ruling.
Eight in 10 poll respondents say they oppose the high court's Jan. 21 decision to allow unfettered corporate political spending, with 65 percent "strongly" opposed. Nearly as many backed congressional action to curb the ruling, with 72 percent in favor of reinstating limits.
I guess that's bipartisan.
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The Tea Party wants to run for office
Don't assume that it is only the Democrats who are actively lining up for a circular firing squad. The Tea Party movement is the new far right and they seem committed to either moving the GOP further to the right or, failing that, to let the Democrats win a few seats to make their point. To that end, the National Journal discusses ten midterm races that the Teaparty activists could tip one way or the other.
10 Races Where The Tea Party Movement Could Make A Difference
This story is on ten different pages, but the races highlighted are:
Florida Senate
Nevada Senate
Virginia-05
Pennsylvania Senate
Arizona Senate
Kentucky Senate
Iowa Governor
Alabama -02
Ohio-15
Mississippi-01
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He just won't go away
In The Most Important News of the Day™ Senator Rick "man-on-dog" Santorum might be in the GOP field for the 2012 Presidential primaries.
The Re-Emergence Of Rick Santorum -- From Ex-Senator To Potential Presidential Candidate
Former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA), who was defeated for re-election in 2006 by a whopping 18-point margin, has been slowly but surely re-emerging on the political scene -- and could be a presidential candidate in 2012.
Over the last few months, Santorum has built up a schedule of visits to the top three primary and caucus states: He has already made two trips to South Carolina, one in December and another in January; he visited Iowa this past October, and will be headed back in March; and he just announced a trip to New Hampshire on April 30.
This is great news for John McCain Barack Obama. For one thing, Pennsylvania should not be a swing state if that happens. The reason Santorum lost by 18 points is that there were real questions about whether he was really representing the state. He moved his family to Leeburg, Va. while enrolling his kids in a Pa. cyberschool. That's a sore spot for a lot of Keystone State residents since state law requires that the local school district, using property tax money pays 80 percent of that tuition bill.
For the 2004-2005 academic year the tuition for Santorum's five children would have been $38,000. The controversy centers on whether or not the Santorums are "residents" of the Penn Hills School District which paid for part of the tuition.
And then there was Terri Schiavo episode. Santorum spent all of his time in Florida rather than working for Pennsylvanians. That didn't fly well at all.
So will Santorum claim to be from Pennsylvania or Northern Virginia if he runs? Good question. But here is an interesting comparison. Here's how Santorum did in 2006 against Robert Casey Jr. Here's how Barack Obama did against John McCain.
I'm not saying it would be a cakewalk in Pennsylvania, but that will be one solid Blue state with a Santorum/Palin ticket.