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Jamie Dupree's Washington Insider Archive for July 2012
Blog Entries for Tuesday, July 31
House poised for votes on Bush tax rates
With little suspense, the House is on the verge of approving a Republican plan to extend all federal income tax rates for one year, setting up a political game of chicken with Democrats and the Senate that will play out after the November elections. It will be the exact opposite ...
Tea Party flexes muscles in Texas GOP Senate win
Once again, the Republican Establishment has been sent a strong message by the voters, this time in Texas, as longshot candidate Rafael "Ted" Cruz won an easy win Tuesday over the sitting Lt. Governor of the Lone Star State in a battle for the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate. "Tonight’s ...
Blog Entries for Monday, July 30
Congress moves to streamline nominations process
Most of the time the stories that filter out of Capitol Hill are about partisanship and gridlock, like the Senate filibuster Monday against a federal judge nominated by President Obama. But on Tuesday, the House is poised to send President Obama a bill that would streamline the process for Executive ...
Finger pointing flares after GOP filibusters Oklahoma judge
When Republicans in the U.S. Senate blocked the nomination of an Oklahoma federal judge to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, the story line quickly became tangled in the somewhat messy ways of Congress, as both sides exchanged bitter words over what Senators were supposed to do in an election ...
House keeps waiting to act on postal reforms
It was late April when the Senate approved a bipartisan Postal Reform bill, designed to help the Postal Service rein in losses that were starting to go over $1 billion each month. The focus then shifted to the House of Representatives. Republicans said they were ready to offer a much ...
Congress gets ready for a summer break
Lawmakers in Congress know that when they leave Washington, D.C. later this week, they don't have to be back on the floor of the House and Senate until the week of September 10, as both parties will try to score as many political points as possible in the next few ...
Blog Entries for Thursday, July 26
A bipartisan moment on automatic budget cuts
Asking for details on a scheduled budget sequester that would take effect in January of 2013, the Senate on Wednesday sent President Obama a bill that requires the federal government to detail where over $100 billion in automatic budget cuts would hit military and domestic spending accounts. After being approved ...
GOP Senator: "Somebody has to start saying no"
As the days tick by for the Congress until a summer break, it's clear that despite a lot of talk from lawmakers in both sides, there is still a resistance to the idea of Congress paying for things the way most families would deal with their own budget. For example, ...
Republicans bungle anti-regulation bill twice
Instead of fixing a clerical error in a bill that would rein in federal regulations, House Republicans made things even messier when they realized the resolution to fix that mistake also had an error in it as well. "Mistakes happen," said Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), "As silly and embarrassing as ...
Battle of the Eggs in Congress
Sometimes in the Congress there are hearings that are just too good to ignore, and that's true in the U.S. Senate, where a committee will hold a hearing on legislation that would establish a "uniform national standard for the housing and treatment of egg-laying hens." While that title may draw ...
Blog Entries for Wednesday, July 25
Senate approves Democratic tax rate plan
After several weeks of parliamentary maneuvers, the Senate finally voted Wednesday on competing tax plans from both parties, delivering Democrats and the White House a victory on a bill that would allow tax rates to increase on income above $250,000 per year for a family, $200,000 for an individual. Moving ...
GAO finds $800 million in unused grant money
After taking a quick look on this blog at grants, by chance on Wednesday there was a hearing on Capitol Hill dealing with how money is doled out by Uncle Sam. The figures were a stark reminder at how much attention the Congress got over earmarks, and how little attention ...
Blog Entries for Tuesday, July 24
Senate holds test vote on Democratic tax plan
The Senate is poised to either start debate on a Democratic plan to extend some of the Bush tax rates or lapse into more legislative gridlock as both parties angle for political advantage. The vote is set for 2:15 pm on Wednesday afternoon. For those parliamentary experts out there at ...
A look at Executive Branch earmarks
As this blog has discussed many times, while Congressional earmarks have received a lot of attention over the years, the Executive Branch has escaped public scrutiny for its own budget earmarks, as administrations of both parties have doled out money to all 50 states with little oversight and publicity. Unlike ...
Blog Entries for Monday, July 23
Senate preps for tax rate showdown vote
Senate Democrats on Monday laid the groundwork for what could be a showdown vote on Wednesday on a plan that would extend current income tax rates only for those making less than $250,000 a year, as both sides maneuvered for advantage on the tax issue over the next two weeks. ...
Some Democrats to press case for gun controls
A group of more liberal Democrats in the Congress will hold a news conference Tuesday afternoon to speak about gun control measures in the Congress, saying they will "discuss the need for common-sense gun safety reforms." The Democrats will be led by Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), who was elected to ...
Blog Entries for Sunday, July 22
Colorado shootings unlikely to make gun control prime issue
When I started working on Capitol Hill in 1980, the politics of gun control was certainly an issue in the Congress. But after a number of years of controversy, the issue now makes few major political waves even after a tragedy like the one last week in Colorado. That's not ...
Blog Entries for Thursday, July 19
GSA under fire over another conference
Two days after scrapping a major energy conference because of cost questions, the General Services Administration finds itself under scrutiny again because of big spending on an agency conference, this time a one-day gathering just outside of Washington, D.C. that cost taxpayers almost $270,000. "This is another sad day for ...
Blog Entries for Wednesday, July 18
Congress balks at small military budget cuts
If you want an example of just how difficult it can be to trim back the federal budget, look no further than the floor of the House on Wednesday, as lawmakers easily rejected a plan to reduce spending on military bands. Yes, you read that right - military music bands. ...
GSA cancels conference, institutes hiring freeze
The fallout continues from the furor over an expensive General Services Administration conference, as the feds have cancelled a major energy issues gathering set for next month and asked internal investigators to review the process of how it was set up. "GovEnergy 2012, August 19-22, 2012, St. Louis, MO is ...
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