This Week in Congress from Capitol News Connection

Coming Up This Week on Capitol Hill

Rachel Rampino — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 20:14:38 +0000

Following Jon Huntsman’s announcement of his presidential candidacy on Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he preferred Huntsman over Mitt Romney in the Republican race.
“In that race I would choose Huntsman. I think the frontrunner [Romney] in the Republican stakes right now is a man who doesn’t know who he is,” Reid said, citing Romney’s vacillation in his opinion on issues such as gay marriage and health care. “If someone doesn’t know who they are, they shouldn’t be president.”
In his weekly news conference on Tuesday, Reid expressed frustration with Republican focus on spending cuts. The most important problem affecting Americans right now is unemployment, Reid said.
“We really have two deficits in this country, and my Republican colleagues seem to only care about one of them,” Reid said. “We have a jobs deficit problem that affects millions and millions of Americans every day.”
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia disagreed with this assessment of Republican goals. His colleagues have sponsored a jobs bill while the Democrats have done nothing, Cantor said.
“The Democrats have said that they take ownership of this economy. You still haven’t seen any indication by the majority in the Senate of where they stand; in contrast we put forward our plan for jobs increase,” Cantor said.
Despite his refusal to agree to raise the debt ceiling, even in the short-term, without substantial spending cuts, Cantor said it is necessary to “maintain some kind of safety net for those who need it.” He did not say how this would be accomplished.
Republicans want spending cuts, Cantor said. He will fight for these in the bi-partisan meetings with Vice President Joe Biden, which continue this week.
Cantor emphasized the need for the country to “live within its means.” Both parties’ leaders stressed the importance of pushing aside party politics in order to reach agreements on difficult decisions.
“Everything poses some potential peril on both sides of the aisle if you want to talk politics,” Cantor said. “You want to talk policy.”
It is unclear when a resolution will be reached.
“I haven’t had any closure discussions with the Vice President. What we’re really doing this week is we’re getting into crunch time now—big numbers, big programs,” Cantor said.
Also this week, the Senate will likely discuss the resolution put forward by Senators John Kerry, D-Mass., and John McCain, R-Ariz., that defines a limited role for the United States in Libya, according to Majority Leader Reid. Reid predicts the resolution, which he supports, will pass in the Senate.
“The decision will have to be made soon whether out of committee or if I move it to the floor,” Reid said. “It’s bipartisan; I think it’s really well done, well thought out… It’s got a wide range of support.”

This week

Rachel Rampino — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 05:00:00 +0000

The House this week..
In the first of at least three meetings this week to discuss the debt ceiling, Vice President Joe Biden met with congressional members of the bipartisan debt commission on Tuesday.
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor praised Biden’s efforts.
“I think the success of these talks thus far is due to the vice president,” Cantor said on Monday. “He has allowed for proposals to be brought forward that not everyone agrees to.”
This week the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and the House Financial Services subcommittee will hold hearings regarding spending. A military construction bill and an agriculture bill will be discussed on the House floor.
“We’re trying to accomplish as much as possible,” Cantor said.
On Wednesday Timothy Geithner, Treasury Secretary, will attend a House committee hearing to testify about international financial matters. Geithner controls the U.S. share in the International Monetary Fund; this is the largest current share. Geithner is also responsible for recently encouraging Obama to cut spending and increase taxes.
“Unless you put in place a long-term fiscal framework, you’re not going to be able to defend a level of entitlement benefits that this president would like to be able to support,” Geithner said.
Also on Wednesday, and the House Intelligence Committee plans to discuss U.S. involvement in Libya in a closed hearing on Thursday.
The Senate this week…
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the Senate will continue to discuss the economy this week and address issues about the environment and national security.
The entire body will continue debate about the Economic Development Revitalization Act and its accompanying amendments. The Senate democrats remain dissatisfied with GOP plans for the budget.
“We know Republicans have put together a budget that destroys Medicare,” Reid said on Tuesday, “That’s what we have received, we voted on it over here, it was turned down.”
Defense Secretary Robert Gates will be on the Hill on Wednesday for a hearing about the Defense Department’s estimated budget for 2012.There will also be a hearing about small business regulation and support on Thursday.
On Tuesday, the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee held a hearing on possible threats to rail security. Apprehension regarding these threats stemmed from plans to attack passenger trains found in Osama bin Laden’s hideout.
“We must protect our railways from the very real threats of attack,” Senator Frank Lautenberg, who is holding the hearing, said.
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will hold a hearing Wednesday clean air and public health and Thursday on nuclear energy regulation in the aftermath of the power plant emergency in Japan.

Archive Spotlight: Washington Bids Farewell to Senator Robert Byrd

EW Johnson — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 15:39:04 +0000

I’m Elizabeth Wynne Johnson of Capitol News Connection. This Week in Congress…AMB gavel

In his final years, his appearances at the Capitol grew increasingly rare. But each time he arrived, a frail Senator Robert C. Byrd never failed to croak out a certain familiar phrase – part greeting, part command.

This week, the United States Senate would “make way for liberty!”… one last time.

The story of Byrd is complicated, contradictory, and long. When then-Senator Barack Obama greeted a crowd in West Virginia back in early 2008, he told a story about being the new kid in the chamber:

OBAMA There was only one uniform piece of advice: when you talk to every single Senator in the Democratic caucus, they said, “The first thing you need to do is sit down and visit with Senator Byrd.”

In many ways the long story had come full-circle. The Southerner who joined the Ku Klux Klan and opposed the Civil Rights Act…would go on to support his Senate colleague Barack Obama for President.

In September of 2009, Byrd spoke from the Senate floor not far from a desk draped in a simple black cloth.

BYRD: Ted Kennedy and I were friends. Yet we were the oddest of odd couples. He was the scion of a wealthy and storied family. I am a coal miner’s son.

This week, it was the coal miner’s son whose desk sat unoccupied and shrouded. Senate Majority Leader Reid spoke of Byrd’s abiding and unmatched mastery of all things Senate. Its history. Its arcane procedures. Its place in a democracy.

REID America’s lost its strongest defender of its most precious traditions.

FEINGOLD Nobody had a clearer sense of the roles and prerogatives of Congress and the Constitution.

Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold.

FEINGOLD In particular, he was the leading voice for making sure that we tried to keep our powers over questions about when troops go to War.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell spoke of what Byrd meant to his home state of West Virginia.

McCONNELL In the year Robert Byrd was first elected to the US Senate, 1958, he won with 59% of the vote, a margin that most people around here would consider a landslide. In a record nine Senate elections, it was the smallest margin of victory he would ever get.

Under a brilliant blue sky on Thursday morning, the Senate's longest-serving and most senior member was carried once again up the stairs and brought gently to the Senate floor. Not in a wheelchair but under a carefully draped flag.

WV MAN We had people coming up behind us saying “what is going on here?” And we had to turn and think a moment how to express what we’re seeing.

The man watching from outside wore a rumpled plaid shirt and rumpled grey hair. He wouldn’t give his name. But while Senator McConnell was inside talking about Byrd’s popularity back home, ‘the Man from West Virginia’ was outside – showing it.

WV MAN My gosh, Senator Byrd has left a legacy of service, controversy, but also a sense that we are West Virginians and that we can move forward because we have a history.

AMB folk tune “Rye Whiskey”

Later this month, Virginia-based County records will reissue the 1978 album “Mountain Fiddler” on CD. The 32-year old recording featured one Senator Robert C. Byrd on fiddle and vocals.

AMB (singing) “ If the ocean was whiskey and I was a duck…” [fade under]

That was This Week in Congress. I’m Elizabeth Wynne Johnson, Capitol News Connection.

AMB “Rye whiskey, rye whiskey, I cry. If I don’t rye whiskey I surely will die…” [music out]

This Week in Congress: March 7-11, 2011

EW Johnson — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 23:46:04 +0000

I’m Elizabeth Wynne Johnson of Capitol News Connection. This Week in Congress…AMB gavel

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid cued up this week’s centerpiece votes: two competing spending bills for the current fiscal year. The Republican response to the President’s budget – a-k-a HR-1 – and the Democrats’ response to the response.

REID Everyone’s done the math. Everyone knows how going to turn out…

Spoiler alert. It would be Wednesday before this round of mutually-assured legislative destruction would come to its foregone conclusion. Democrats still had time to blast draconian G-O-P spending cuts. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell still had time to swat back.

McCONNELL If government spending would stimulate the economy, we’d be in the middle of a boom…

Or perhaps not quite as deep in a bust as we otherwise would have. That’s a legit debate – and it is just that: debatable.

By Wednesday, Republicans and Democrats were still some 50-billion-dollars’ apart on spending cuts. In Goldilocks terms, one version was too big, the other was too small. To Democrats Claire McCaskill of Missouri and Ben Nelson of Nebraska, neither was ‘just right.’ Not even close.

McCASKILL I will be voting ‘no’ on both proposals for that reason…

NELSON One has done nothing to attract Republicans, the other has done nothing to attract Democrats. In the end, you have bills that divide, they do not unite Congress… I will vote against both.

AMB “The clerk will call the roll” [RCV begins]

As predicted, both measures failed.

In the meantime this week, the House pressed forward with efforts to do away with federal mortgage relief programs. The process culminated in this exchange on the House floor Friday morning, featuring Baltimore Democrat Elijah Cummings and Texas Republican Jeb Hensarling. Each having the courage of his convictions about what’s The Right Thing To Do for struggling homeowners.

CUMMINGS They’ve lost their jobs – duh! – through no fault of their own. They come in with tears running down their faces. They’re black. They’re white. They’re Hispanic. They’re Asian. They are Americans.

HENSARLING We can do better than trillions of dollars of debt that is borrowed from the Chinese, and the bills are sent to our children and grandchildren.

CUMMINGS So it is, when you go to church on Sunday and when they ask you, ‘What did you do this week? What did you achieve? You can say – stick your chest out – and say, ‘Yeah, I stopped some 30,000 people from staying their homes – Americans.

HENSARLING When I go to church on Sunday, I’m going to be very glad in my heart, in my head, that I did not commit an act of fiscal child abuse …

Several bills to end foreclosure-relief programs are working their way through the House. They go to the Senate next, which is likely to push back against the cuts.

Finally, no review of the week’s events on Capitol Hill would be complete without mention of a certain Homeland Security hearing on the threat of Muslim extremism. When all was said and done, did Republican committee member Paul Broun of Georgia think it was productive?

BROUN I think so. I hope everybody there on both sides of the aisle learned a lot.

How about Democratic committee member Henry Cuellar of Texas?

CUELLAR My question is, ‘Did we come up with anything that will make America safer?’ If that’s the question that we’re all looking at, I don’t think nothing came out of this yesterday that would make America more safer.

That was This Week in Congress. I’m Elizabeth Wynne Johnson, Capitol News Connection.

This Week in Congress: Calling All Mayors

EW Johnson — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 22:01:52 +0000

I’m Elizabeth Wynne Johnson of Capitol News Connection. This Week in Congress…AMB gavel

AMB [introduction]

Mayor Elizabeth Kautz of Burnsville, Minnesota is president of the United Council of Mayors – which gathered this week in Washington to talk strategy.

KAUTZ “We’re here to raise voices for the people who are affected by these cuts, because it’s going to affect not only those who are beneficiaries of Community Development Block Grants, but to the rest of the people of our community, because the costs now shift.” 4:17

This coalition of city leaders – which declares itself “non-partisan” and, indeed, comprises both Republicans and Democrats – is worried about the prospect of a 62.5 percent reduction in federal block grants. Billions of dollars in direct aid that helps cities cover a range of vital services.

NUTTER (05:43) “I can only think of one word to describe what the House has done with H.R. 1: Outrageous.

That’s Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter holding forth on the immediate source of the threat: the Continuing Resolution. The long-overdue, yet still unresolved, budget that covers federal spending for the remainder of 2011. Here’s a snapshot of how the thing was being ‘discussed’ during this three-day gathering.

NUTTER H.R. 1 is un-American. It attacks senior citizens, it attacks children, it attacks working people, it stops jobs and economic development in cities all across the United States of America.”

Gastonia North Carolina Mayor Jennie Stultz went with a similar theme…

STULTZ   “When you start to talk about taking this away from the disenfranchised, it is totally un-American.”

Here’s Davenport, Iowa mayor Bill Gluba:

GLUBA (shouting) “We are not going to let them destroy this fundamental, basic program that has served this country for over 30 years, and you can take that to the bank!

NUTTER “I have no idea what is going on in the minds of those who have gotten elected on rhetoric, and are trying to govern with that same rhetoric. You cannot run a country by attacking its own people.”

GLUBA (still shouting) And you can tell Congressmen, Democrat and Republican alike, President and otherwise, that this will not be allowed to stand. And that’s coming from the city fathers and city mothers of this country who really know what’s best for their local communities.”

‘Democrat and Republican alike.’ Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett is also president of the Republican Mayors Association. And although the current C-R is the work of a Republican-led House, Cornett’s not pulling any punches either.

CORNETT “It’s a little bit lame for us to hear that they’ve (Congress) got tough choices to make. Let me tell you, you be a mayor for a day and I’ll tell you about some tough choices. So this is about priorities, and the priorities need to be about the economy. And if they start cutting Community Development grants, they have lost their sense of priority.”

So what next? Again, Mayors’ Council president Elizabeth Kautz:

KAUTZ “The impacts are devastating. And therefore, as we stand here today, knowing what happened in the House, our only hope is the Senate.”

Both House and Senate were out of town for the week. But in their absence, a local government lobbying blitz is now officially underway. These mayors are pinning all hope on the Senate because that’s who will be dealing with the C-R when Congress returns next week. And they’re focused on the C-R, not the President’s budget for fiscal year 2012 – at least not yet. Again, Mayor Nutter of Philadelphia:

NUTTER   “We’ll deal with ’12 when we get to ’12. We’re in ’11. So when someone has a bazooka pointed at your head, it’s a little difficult to focus on what you’re going to have for breakfast tomorrow morning.”

That was This Week in Congress. I’m Elizabeth Wynne Johnson, Capitol News Connection.

President Delivers State Of The Union Address

Sara Sciammacco — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 20:11:21 +0000

First item on the agenda came on Tuesday the House GOP made good on a promise and passed a resolution to return to 2008 spending levels. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor:

CANTOR: "Ah and what that means it won’t necessarily be a straight up flat decrease across the board that some programs may be eliminated, some cut more than others, absolutely.”

Throughout the day talk about what the President would or wouldn’t say in the State of the Union address that night dominated discussions on Capitol Hill. Republican Congressman Brian Bilbray of California:

BILBRAY: “The President has the chance to be the President of all Americans not just to the left, but also those in the middle and to the right.”

The speech came before a packed House chamber. The President delivered a little bit of what Congressman Bilbray suggested and quickly began his swings at trying to appease Republicans.

OBAMA: “Tonight, I am asking Democrats and Republicans to simplify the system and get rid of the loopholes and use the savings to lower the corporate tax code without adding to our deficit (clapping). It can be done.”

He also reached out to his health care law critics.

OBAMA: “Repealing the health care law would add to our deficit, still I am willing to look at other ideas to bring down costs, including one that republicans suggested last year, medical malpractice reform to rein in frivolous lawsuits.”

But what caught the ear of Republicans and what compromises will they try to reach with Democrats?

LUMMIS: Well I agree with much of what the President says, but little with what he does.”

Wyoming Congresswoman Cynthia Lummis says she liked what she heard, but still has doubts because she says the president failed to live up to his end of the bargain over the past two years --- and control federal spending.

LUMMIS: “People come up to me in grocery stores almost in tears when I am home about the amount of spending and how it has grown and this forty-five thousand dollars that every man, woman, and child owns. It is frightening.”

Another area Republicans say they can find common ground is on the issue of free trade agreements. Republican Senator John Barrasso - he is also of Wyoming:

BARRASSO: “The president specifically talked about South Korea, Panama, and the Colombia free trade agreements. I think we need to ratify those, I agree with the president.”

Republicans say they are less optimistic on health care and more encouraged by the president’s promise to work in a bipartisan fashion on education reform. On top of the list is fixing the No Child Left Behind law. On Wednesday, a group of Democrats and Republicans joined a press call with Education Secretary Arne Duncan. Among those participating was Republican Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee.

ALEXANDER: “You are going to find Democrats and Republicans working together in the Senate because if we don’t find a consensus nothing happens. So we are here to get things done where they need to be done and this is an example of working to find a consensus."

The Senators hope to complete a bill by April. Their challenge will be to produce a proposal that both Democrats and Republicans can stand behind.

Riding on that idea, Senator Alexander helped negotiate a deal with Democrats on Thursday that left in place the 60-vote requirement for major votes. It also included a secret holds resolution that prevents an anonymous senator from slowing action on a bill.

That was This Week in Congress I’m Sara Sciammacco Capitol News Connection

Health Care: Now The Work Begins

Sara Sciammacco — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 20:28:44 +0000

This Week in Congress, the week began with commemorations across the country to honor the late Martin Luther King, Jr. On Tuesday Congress began legislative business with debate on repeal of the new health care law. Lawmaker after lawmaker took their argument to the House floor either in favor or against the repeal. Newly-elected Tennessee Republican Congressman and family doctor Scott Desjarlais:

DESJARLAIS: “The American people have had their say. They do not want this bill.”

Democrats responded by putting out district by district numbers on the impacts of repeal on the uninsured. The effort to scrap the new law comes just as the law’s provisions are starting to kick in. And Democratic Congresswoman Diana DeGette of Colorado says they are already becoming indispensable.

DEGETTE: “Frankly I think my constituents are getting used to having insurance coverage for their kids up to age 26, for their kids with asthma and diabetes.”

Before Wednesday’s vote word made it through the Capitol that Connecticut Independent Senator Joe Lieberman would announce his retirement.

Immediately one House Democrat from the same state, Congressman Chris Murphy, signaled he would announce his intention to run for the seat. And Congressman Joe Courtney, also of Connecticut, took questions from reporters about whether he is eyeing the Senate spot.

COURTNEY: “You know the Senate obviously is a place where you know a legislator has a lot more impact on the process. And that’s certainly attractive, you know the 6 year term and all that stuff is not so much a factor, but really it is just an opportunity to work on issues that I care a lot about.”

Then came Senator Lieberman’s formal announcement.

LIEBERMAN: “I have decided that it is time to turn the page to a new chapter so I will not be a candidate for reelection to a fifth term in the United States Senate in 2012.”

Hours later the House took up the vote to repeal the health care law. It passed with three Democrats voting for it – including Oklahoma Congressman Dan Boren. In a statement he said the health care law adds far too many taxes, mandates, and regulations.

While House Republicans won a legislative victory, the Senate GOP is facing an uphill battle to get the bill to the floor. Florida Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz pointed out her party’s primary beef with the bill.

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: “Every minute that we spend fruitlessly debating the repeal of health care reform, which we know ultimately is not going to happen, is one less minute that we are spending creating jobs and turning this economy around.”

It means repeal supporters may have to settle for small changes in the law. On Thursday, the House began their piecemeal approach to strip away parts of it. Chairman Lamar Smith of the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on medical malpractice liability.

SMITH: “The purpose of this hearing is to discuss the need to reduce the waste in our health care system caused by defensive medicine. This practice occurs when doctors are forced by the threat of lawsuits to conduct tests and prescribe drugs that are not medically required.”

Republican Congressman Wally Herger of California is still holding out hope that the Democrats will join their efforts.

HERGER: “Virtually everybody recognizes that the Democrats haven’t been forthcoming on working on that area.”

Next week, Republicans continue to chip away at the health care law. And President Barack Obama comes to the Capitol to deliver his State of the Union address.

That was This Week in Congress, I’m Sara Sciammacco, Capitol News Connection.

Shock and Law

EW Johnson — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 22:50:42 +0000

I’m Elizabeth Wynne Johnson of Capitol News Connection. This Week in Congress…AMB gavel

BOEHNER Madam Speaker, my colleagues today, we are called here to mourn.

AMB [reading resolution] // cross-fade to AMB walking

On Monday, Hill staffers and a number of House members had gathered in the sub-freezing cold on the steps of the Capitol to share in a moment of silence, of collective dismay and grief for those who died at the hand of a madman in Tucson on Saturday. Those victims included the Congresswoman’s 30-year old director of community outreach.

Pennsylvania Representative Allyson Schwartz was one of the members who lingered in the frigid air to answer wave after wave of questions (mostly the same questions, again and again).

SCHWARTZ You know I’ve been a public official for a long time. I don’t think that any of us could imagine the unimaginable happening, which is what happened. …

Schwartz was asked whether this would lead to a real change in how members deal with each other.

SCHWARTZ   This is a moment when we come together to support each other. Whether it changes the way we approach our differences on policy and can damp down the rhetoric… I don’t know. I don’t know that that changes.

Schwartz was also pressed for her thoughts on a proposal put forth by a fellow Pennsylvania Democrat, Congressman Bob Brady. This Brady bill would ban threatening speech against members of Congress and their staff; there’s already a law against making threats against those in top leadership posts. Schwartz was noncommittal.

SCHWARTZ Where you draw that line in a country that we’re so proud of having free speech, I think is a difficult one.

House leaders had suspended business-as-usual for the week. In the absence of actual legislation, the conversation circled time and again back to language. Congressman Robert Andrews of New Jersey:

ANDREWS I think there have been a lot of things said in the debate on health care that are intemperate. I’m not in any way suggesting they caused any act of violence. But you do violence to the political community when you question the motives of your adversary.

Throughout the week, much of what actually was said about tone and political rhetoric was nowhere near as strident as the subsequent reaction has been.

In the meantime, members have every reason to think about their own safety and that of their staff.   Newly-elected Florida Republican Steve Southerland says the shooting makes him see his new job in a new light.

SOUTHERLAND It clearly puts an element that has not been in my mind for the last few months. But I have been overwhelmed by the law enforcement and how they have reached out to us.

Southerland echoes a refrain that’s being uttered a lot this week: wanting to keep Congress – its people, at least – as open and accessible as ever, despite acts of violence.

The House returns next week to resume the health care bill repeal debate – with a final vote mid-week. Too soon? Congressman Andrews of New Jersey, a Democrat, thinks so.

ANDREWS I’m not saying it should be deferred indefinitely, I’m not saying the majority doesn’t have the right to honor its promise to its base and go forward with this. But I do think that (pause) the country could use a period of healing from the divisiveness and I don’t think that period is quite over yet.

By anyone’s measure, it’s a fine line between restraint and opportunism. Sometimes it’s a fine line between life and death.

Almost makes one look forward to something as clunky – and as impotent – as a purely symbolic vote in the House.

That was This Week in Congress. I’m Elizabeth Wynne Johnson, Capitol News Connection.

The 112th Convenes

EW Johnson — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 22:28:12 +0000

I’m Elizabeth Wynne Johnson of Capitol News Connection. This Week in Congress…AMB gavel

LAMBORN Well, if you’re a Republican it was a very exciting week; if you’re a Democrat, I think there were a lot of long faces.

That was Congressman Doug Lamborn – Republican of Colorado – summing up an eventful three days that began on Wednesday…

CANTOR The new House majority will be about Cut and Grow. We’re going to cut spending and job-killing regulations, and grow the economy and private sector jobs.

The message – put forth here by new House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia – was clear and tight.

CANTOR Our majority will return America to prosperity…

First, however, the opening of a new Congress is an opportunity to make grand gestures and Republicans were not about to pass that up.

CANTOR We establish a Constitution-focused House of Representatives, which starts by reading the Constitution on the House floor…

Speaking of symbolic moments… The following day it would be discovered that two Republicans had missed the official swearing-in on the House floor, and thus had not technically taken the oath of office and bound themselves to the public trust; nonetheless they went on to cast votes and take legislative action: a direct violation of the terms spelled out in the Constitution. A parliamentary technicality? Sure, no question. Still – hardly the kick-off Republicans were going for. Meanwhile …

AMB [chaotic House floor, pounding gavel]

The House was moving steadily if not smoothly toward its first major legislative moment – a vote on whether to repeal the 2010 health care overhaul bill.

PALAZZO There is probably going to be a certain veto. We may not be able to overcome the veto. If this is the first step, let’s get that vote out of the way and then begin dismantling it piece by piece.

Even a freshman like Steven Palazzo, Republican of Mississippi, knew the repeal effort would be largely symbolic. Colorado Republican Doug Lamborn sees it differently.

LAMBORN I think it really is important to be taking this vote on repealing ‘ObamaCare.’ Many of us campaigned on a pledge that we would do everything we can to repeal it, and if that doesn’t work, to de-fund later on.

Here’s how Democrat Lois Capps of California would sum up her Party’s new reality on Friday:

CAPPS In 2008 it was “changing the guard.” Now it’s “guarding the change.”

Democrats are living now with the political consequences of NOT having had a simple, clear, straightforward story to tell. Or at least not telling it that way.

CAPPS We didn’t do a good job of explaining the major pieces of legislation that we passed that were necessary to respond to the recession, to respond to a broken health care system, to respond to a runaway Wall Street. We did the work to do it, but along the way, the story got garbled.

Going in to next week, House Democrats will continue to hammer their point that Republicans are not giving the minority much chance to weigh in, they very thing Republicans complained about when the roles were reversed. Those Dems comforted, perhaps, by the foreseeable outcome –as predicted this week by Senator Chuck Schumer:

SCHUMER We’re here to assure everyone, don’t worry. These plans won’t happen, because we’re here.

That’s the part that leaves Lamborn, for one, unapologetic about the drive to vote on health care repeal without input from Democrats now.

LAMBORN I don’t think it’s legitimate to say this is not a serious bill BUT we want to debate it to death. They’re trying to have it both ways.

That vote is set for next week in the House. On the final day this week of floor debate over the procedural framework for this new Congress, New York Democrat Anthony Weiner had to ask:

WEINER Parliamentary inquiry: Can the Speaker certify that all 435 members have been correctly and duly sworn and taken the oath of office as required under the Constitution? [pause] “The chair is under the information and belief that all 435 members have been sworn.” Thank you.

That was This Week in Congress. I’m Elizabeth Wynne Johnson, Capitol News Connection.

Raucus Caucus

EW Johnson — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 22:40:14 +0000

I’m Elizabeth Wynne Johnson of Capitol News Connection. This Week in Congress…AMB gavel

On Monday, news spread that a federal court judge had struck down a key portion of the recently-passed health care overhaul package: health insurance mandates. Proponents had always touted the federal mandate as a vital piece of actuarial puzzle – keeping costs down by spreading risk across large numbers of people. Opponents always argued that a federal mandate was unconstitutional. So it was only a matter of time, said Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska, before the courts weighed in.

NELSON Well, let’s say it this way: I thought it was Constitutional when we passed it but the Supreme Court gets the final say.

This week it was do or die for the President’s 858-billion-dollar tax cut deal – so they did. The Senate went first.

CORKER It was a painful vote, I want to tell you. It was not a no-brainer for me…

That was a reluctant Bob Corker, Republican Senator from Tennessee – speaking from between rock and a hard place.

CORKER The tax expenditures… all the special biz tax breaks that we end up passing each year to me are just ludicrous. That part was very painful to vote for again…

So why did he?

CORKER You have to look at this vote as if, well if it doesn’t pass, what next?

In the near-term, what came next was the vote in the House. Fast-forward to Thursday evening…

DREIER I was told 5 minutes ago to appear on the floor…

This is California Congressman David Dreier, ranking Republican on the House Rules Committee. In an exchange with Rules Chairman Louise Slaughter of New York that could best be described as a collective, parliamentary “W-T-F?”

DREIER asks for explanation …what’s going on?

SLAUGHTER Frankly we had a rather raucus meeting of the caucus this morning…best if we recessed and took some time…

A number of Democrats – a scrappy mix of liberal progressives and fiscally conservative Blue Dogs – were preparing to stand down their opposition to the President’s tax cut deal… but they were not about to go down quietly.    (AMB interruption – House not in order)

Gene Taylor of Mississippi, a conservative Democrat from a conservative district in Mississippi, and one of the notable victims of voter pique in the midterms, railed against adding to the already staggering national debt…

TAYLOR … I BEG this body to defeat this bill.

In the end, the one prospect no one could stomach was allowing the clock to run out and triggering an across-the-board tax increase at the stroke of midnight, January 1st.

The Senate, meanwhile, had moved on to what was expected to be a vote on the 1.1 trillion dollar catch-all spending bill. Top of the short list of must-do’s. Thursday afternoon, the newly-installed Senator from Illinois Mark Kirk gathered anyone who would listen to declare the omnibus an “unreviewed” document, the product of back-room, majority rule.

KIRK The lame duck Congress has a superseded mandate, making the actions of this Congress increasingly illegitimate, especially if they’re large, expensive and last far into the future.

Hours later, Kirk joined with John McCain in celebrating on the Senate floor the abrupt demise of the omnibus bill. To which Senator Claire McCaskill, Democrat of Missouri, responded:

McCASKILL What’s offensive to me is we’ve gotten into this bad habit of trying to score cheap political points. And for Senators to get on this floor and say “we won”… when you know how many Republicans worked hard on this bill…

Senator Mark Begich, Democrat of Alaska, didn’t technically have the last word that night. But in terms of setting a tone for the Senate’s return to work on Friday… perhaps he should have.

BEGICH We’re all at fault here. This may be the moment we finally say no more show and tell, no more gimmicks. And the winner should be the American people at the end of the day.

AMB Senate adjourns

The week would end with plans for the Senate – and perhaps the House – to be back on Saturday.

That was This Week in Congress. I’m Elizabeth Wynne Johnson, Capitol News Connection.

Mixed Messages

EW Johnson — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 20:47:44 +0000

I’m Elizabeth Wynne Johnson of Capitol News Connection. This Week in Congress…AMB gavel

...was book-ended by “messages” from US lawmakers to the global community at large… and some pretty dysfunctional communication right here on Capitol Hill.

On Monday, California Senator Barbara Boxer delivered her message via webcast to the U-N climate change conference in Cancun, Mexico. The Chairman of the Senate Environment Committee touted ongoing US efforts to reduce carbon emissions.

BOXER I’m committed to making sure the public and my colleagues here in Washington are exposed to continuing, non-partisan briefings on the true scientific consensus on climate change.

It was a ‘message’ for nations that took notice when energy-and-climate legislation sputtered and stalled in the Senate.

Also on Monday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid laid out an agenda for the remainder of the session.

REID It’s time to roll up our sleeves, not dig in our heels. My hope for the final weeks of this year is that Republicans finally will realize that we all have much more to gain by working together than working against each other.

Under the heading of 'careful what you wish for,’ this week President Obama struck a deal with Republicans on those Bush-era temporary tax cuts. On this, the forces most at odds with one another were Democrats.

NYE There are number of Democrats who would like to see a different deal – and I can certainly relate to that. But I think we need to take action…

WELCH He reached his agreement from our perspective in the 7th inning. We had a couple more innings to go.

Fellow Democrats Glenn Nye of Virginia and Peter Welch of Vermont. Nye says the time just isn’t right to raise taxes for top income-earners – even if the economic consequences have more to do with an overheated zeitgeist than with actual projections.

NYE And I think that both the numbers side of things and the confidence side are in play here, and they’re both important. People need to know their rates are not going to go up; we need to set those in stone. We do have to be concerned about the deficit which is why it’s important that these rates are being extended temporarily for two years.

The line between that which is “set in stone” and that which is “temporary” does seem to be remarkably fluid these days. For his part, Welch sees the deal as a political trap.

WELCH They put two wars on the credit card, they put the Bush tax cuts on the credit card, the prescription drug program on the credit card. And then they turned around and accused President Obama now of being the spendthrift who ran up the deficit. And before the ink is dry on this agreement, you’re going to see the Republicans who demanded it be signed accuse the President of increasing the deficit on his own by a trillion dollars.

By week’s end, the House had managed to scuttle the deal, ensuring at least another week of extending the extension tension. How very taxing.

In the meantime, following months of rhetorical build-up, the time came for votes on both the DREAM Act – which throws a citizenship line to children who were brought to the US illegally – and a measure to repeal the ban on gays and lesbians serving openly in the military. The immigration bill passed in the House but stalled in the Senate. The Senate also fell short of the votes needed to repeal “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.”

Several members of Congress ended this week in Oslo, to honor this year’s winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. Democracy advocate Liu Xiaobo missed the ceremony because he’s serving an 11-year prison sentence for having criticized China’s communist regime. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi defied a Chinese boycott of the event. As did Oregon Congressman David Wu.

WU This is important.

Considering that legislatively the week pretty much ended where it began, Wu for one was willing to sacrifice a day or so of official business on the Hill.

WU It’s important to history. It’s important to me. I hope that my constituents will feel that, in the long term, it’s important to them also.

If a blow to freedom anywhere is a blow to freedom everywhere, perhaps the opposite is true as well.

That was This Week in Congress. I’m Elizabeth Wynne Johnson, Capitol News Connection.

‘Tis The Season For A Visit From The Ghost of Bipartisanship Past

EW Johnson — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 22:15:30 +0000

I’m Elizabeth Wynne Johnson of Capitol News Connection. This Week in Congress, there wasn’t a whole lot of seasonal goodwill going around. With the possible exception of Monday morning.

FORTNER It’s an honor. I mean, it’s a once in a lifetime experience.

Trucker Mark Fortner had just driven from Jackson, Wyoming in a convoy with this year’s Capitol Christmas tree.

FORTNER One day coming in to Cheyenne, it was just a whiteout. The pilot cars just disappear. It was pretty rough. [laughs]

67 feet tall, 34 feet wide at the base, it’s a near-perfect isosceles triangle of an evergreen. Lighting the Capitol Tree, in a ceremony next Tuesday, will be one of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s final ceremonial duties.

Meanwhile back to THIS week: The latest measure to further extend unemployment benefits ground to a halt in the Senate (though Democratic leaders still intend to revive it). On Wednesday, Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd presided over a hearing on the foreclosure crisis. His last as chairman of the Banking Committee.

DODD I’m ending where we began. Our second hearing in ’07 was on the foreclosure issues. For those two years, we could hardly get anyone to pay attention.

What a difference a meltdown makes. Just HOW broken is the mortgage lending and loan modification process?

TARULLO There are significant weaknesses in risk management, quality control, in audit and compliance practices, staff training and in oversight of third party providers such as law firms…

In other words, said Daniel Tarullo of the Federal Reserve, the system is broken everywhere. This is the tip of a very large economic iceberg. Kentucky Republican Jim Bunning pointed – literally – at the federal regulators seated at the witness table…

BUNNING All you people have not come up with a solution. All your brains, and you’ve got a lot of them. I’ve been on this committee for 12 years, and listened to the same absolute gobble-de-goop…

The lack of a coherent response from the financial and regulatory universe may have something to do with the complex trade-offs at every step of the process. The same easing of credit and lending practices that fueled growth also planted the seeds of collapse; the same desperate attempts to staunch the flood of foreclosures also destabilize the very foundation of any properly-functioning market. So still no answer to the question:

BUNNING (angrily) How do you solve the problem??

The economy can’t recover until the housing mess is fixed; the housing mess won’t be fixed until more people have jobs. So which comes first: the housing chicken or the economy egg?

On Thursday, the House voted to formally censure Representative Charles Rangel for violations of House ethics rules.

AMBIENT SOUND “The Gentleman from NY asks unanimous consent to address the House for one minute…”

The 80-year old Democrat from New York, former Ways and Means chairman, rose and accepted his peers’ findings. If not the political motivations that he said contributed to the process.

RANGEL I know in my heart that I’m not going to be judged by this Congress. But by my life, my activities… And I just apologize for the awkward position that some of you are in. But at the end of the day, as I started off saying, compared to where I’ve been, I haven’t had a bad day since. Thank you. [applause]

The week ended with the battle still raging on over whether to extend any, some or all of the Bush-era tax cuts. With more votes this weekend – but still no end in sight. Senator Byron Dorgan of North Dakota:

DORGAN Those of us who sat here on Christmas Eve morning last year would not like to repeat that.

At the moment, it seems the only thing happy to be where it is on the Hill is the seven-story unlit evergreen on the West Front lawn.

That was This Week in Congress. I’m Elizabeth Wynne Johnson, Capitol News Connection.

Learning How To Be A Lawmaker

EW Johnson — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 02:42:39 +0000

I’m Elizabeth Wynne Johnson of Capitol News Connection. This Week in Congress was orientation week for its newly-elected members. And New York’s newest Republican wasn’t about to miss out.

ALTSCHULER: “You know they only give the orientation once, so it would be irresponsible if I didn’t come, but we are very much in the middle of the race and hopefully that will be resolved in the next couple of weeks.”

As of Monday, the race for New York’s 1st district still had not been officially called, but Republican Randy Altschuler was ahead by some 300 votes. So, with one eye on the election scoreboard, Altschuler attended the meetings, listened to the lectures and otherwise dove in to this week’s crash course on All Things Congress. From how to set-up a congressional office and handle a budget, to how to electronically cast votes on the House floor. And how to evacuate the U.S. Capitol in the event of an emergency. Never a dull moment, to Pennsylvania Representative-elect Mike Kelly.

KELLY: “If you have been here for a long time, it is probably like, yada yada yada, but for me, it is very interesting and it is fascinating to watch how things work.”

Even as the newly-minted (if not necessarily wide-eyed) lawmakers got schooled in topics like ‘ethics’ and ‘the rules of conduct,’ a kind of Congressional cautionary tale was playing out this week, as well. The ethics trial of 80-year-old congressman and former chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Charles Rangel. The proceedings would end this week, with Rangel being found guilty on 11 counts of financial and fundraising wrongdoing.

Speaking of ups and downs…

It was a tough week for House Democrats in general. For those who survived the midterm drubbing, the second largest in American history...

WU: "We’re number two! (chuckling) We’re number two in most seats lost."

...a little gallows humor couldn’t hurt. David Wu of Oregon had just emerged from the Democrats’ caucus gathering late Tuesday, where chastened politicians had spent hours taking turns …

WU: "And speaking their heart, their mind, election analysis, plans for the future. I have never been prouder of our members of the Democratic caucus, and I hope that the same thing is happening on the Republican side."

Maybe not exactly the same thing. Where Wu and other Democrats had find the good in self-analysis, it was a different sort of challenge that befell Utah Republican Rob Bishop.

BISHOP: (chuckling) "We could have done it a lot faster than we did. There was a lot of applause and standing up and sitting down. We could have been done in ten minutes, actually."

Republicans had just finished electing their incoming leadership team to be led by Speaker of the House John Boehner.

BISHOP: "The reveling became kind of labor-some towards the end."

Perhaps in part because it was all chest-thumping, no drama. No Republican challenged any other for any of the top spots, noted Utah’s Jason Chaffetz.

CHAFFETZ: "That’s an important thing for us moving forward. We’re very united. I think that’s one of the messages of the non-thrilling votes we had – we’re very united."

Considering the ideological range that stretches from moderate to Tea Party, perhaps he doth protest a bit too much. Republicans did make a point this week of papering over past differences – on earmarks, for example.

Among Democrats, meanwhile, there was no shortage of drama in the leadership election process.

COOPER: "If you’re the captain of the ship ad the ship goes down, the captain is at fault."

That was Tennessee Blue Dog Jim Cooper. Speaker Nancy Pelosi faced - and ultimately survived – the calls from within the ranks to step aside.

In other news of drawn-out battles: that would-be Representative from New York who attended orientation this week, even though his race had not yet been decided…? That’s still going. Ballots are still being counted in the race between Republican Randy Altschuler and incumbent Democrat Tim Bishop.

That was This Week in Congress. I’m Elizabeth Wynne Johnson, Capitol News Connection.

GOP House Transition Team Mantra: Openness and Light

EW Johnson — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 20:01:21 +0000

I’m Elizabeth Wynne Johnson of Capitol News Connection. This Week in Congress…AMB gavel

After many weeks of relative quiet on Capitol Hill – as all the Congressional action played out elsewhere –

AMB song “Guess who just got back today? / Them wild-eyed boys that had been away…“

The men and women of the new House majority transition team returned on Monday. Led by Oregon’s only Republican in Congress, Representative Greg Walden – who rolled out the theme of the moment:

WALDEN …about how we can reform this Congress to make it more accountable and transparent. Our goal is to look at how we can make the US House of Representatives more open, more transparent, more accessible to the American people, to the press and to us.

Going into their first meeting – Utah Congressman Rob Bishop was candid about not knowing exactly what to expect.

BISHOP Got me. I have never been on the transition team before.

On his way out that night, soon-to-be-no-longer-a-freshman Jason Chaffetz, also of Utah, summed up his goal:

CHAFFETZ I want to make sure that we are Republicans don’t do to the Democrats what the Democrats did to us.

So what exactly does that mean?

CHAFFETZ There are just things in the process that were just wrong and we need to be above that. We need to make sure were more open, transparent, effective, efficient – um, and work inclusively as best we can with the Democrats.

‘Transparency, efficiency and effectiveness’ are worthy goals. So is bipartisanship. But given that all are elusive and none is not terribly specific…

CHAFFETZ The rules of the House- for those of us that were freshmen were a little bit offensive. For instance…
Now we’re talking.

CHAFFETZ …I was not allowed to, as a freshman in the minority, offer an amendment on the floor of the House on an Appropriations bill. That’s wrong! So things like that, I think we can change the rules of the House to be more fair and more respectful of the institution.

“Rules” are at the core of the work that the transition team began this week. They’re dictated by the party in power and subject to change with each new Congress. In the 435-member House, each individual Representative has limited power, and rules really matter. How much? Deputy historian of the House Fred Beuttler says look no further than where committee rooms are located:

BEUTTLER The three most powerful are the closest to the House chamber – Appropriations on one side, Ways and Means on the other… but the most important committee in the House has its committee meeting room right off the Chamber, and that’s the Rules Committee.

The transition team is a separate thing altogether. But it is the new majority’s first opportunity to flex its rule-making muscle. Those rules could affect the amount of time House members stay in Washington instead of going back to work (and raise money) in their districts; they could alter the budget process in an attempt to cap federal spending.

While all this is going on, another ritual of change is playing out in countless House, Senate and Committee offices. Those who work for House committees have begun the transition from majority to minority status – and vice versa.

BEUTTLER Some of the offices, the Minority Committee offices are down in the cellars, in the basement… And that’s not by accident, no.

Staffers who work for this year’s midterm casualties have until the end of the month to clear out; some relocate to temporary digs in some out-of-the-way corridor.

While the glass is half-empty for some, it’s more than half-full for the members of the House majority transition team. But Rob Bishop of Utah was characteristically blunt about prospects for a new era of openness and efficiency in Washington.

BISHOP Yeah, I think those would be goals. And this time I hope it actually works.

That was This Week in Congress. I’m Elizabeth Wynne Johnson, Capitol News Connection.

A Look Back at 'This Week in Congress'

EW Johnson — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 11:10:10 +0000

I’m Elizabeth Wynne Johnson of Capitol News Connection. This Week in Congress was orientation week for its newly-elected members. And New York’s newest Republican wasn’t about to miss out.

ALTSCHULER: “You know they only give the orientation once, so it would be irresponsible if I didn’t come, but we are very much in the middle of the race and hopefully that will be resolved in the next couple of weeks.”

As of Monday, the race for New York’s 1st district still had not been officially called, but Republican Randy Altschuler was ahead by some 300 votes. So, with one eye on the election scoreboard, Altschuler attended the meetings, listened to the lectures and otherwise dove in to this week’s crash course on All Things Congress. From how to set-up a congressional office and handle a budget, to how to electronically cast votes on the House floor. And how to evacuate the U.S. Capitol in the event of an emergency. Never a dull moment, to Pennsylvania Representative-elect Mike Kelly.

KELLY: “If you have been here for a long time, it is probably like, yada yada yada, but for me, it is very interesting and it is fascinating to watch how things work.”

Even as the newly-minted (if not necessarily wide-eyed) lawmakers got schooled in topics like ‘ethics’ and ‘the rules of conduct,’ a kind of Congressional cautionary tale was playing out this week, as well. The ethics trial of 80-year-old congressman and former chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Charles Rangel. The proceedings would end this week, with Rangel being found guilty on 11 counts of financial and fundraising wrongdoing.

Speaking of ups and downs…

It was a tough week for House Democrats in general. For those who survived the midterm drubbing, the second largest in American history...

WU: "We’re number two! (chuckling) We’re number two in most seats lost."