Boehner Weighs In On Waxman

The newly re-elected House Minority Leader says in a statement that John Dingell's ouster as chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee to make way for the more liberal Rep. Henry Waxman is evidence that the "Democratic caucus increasingly seems to be pulled leftward by radical special interests."

-- Evie Stone

4:17 PM ET | 11-20-2008 | permalink

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Waxman Wins, Dingell out as Energy and Commerce Chair

Evie previewed it this morning, and now the verdict is in on Waxman vs. Dingell. House Democrats voted 137-122 in favor of giving California Rep. Henry Waxman the chairmanship of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Michigan's John Dingell, the top Democrat on the powerful committee for the past 28 years, will hand over the reins when the 111th Congress convenes in January. Dingell's defeat is seen by some as a blow to the bailout hopes of the "Big Three" who have often counted on the 27-term (soon to be 28-term) Michigan Congressman to defend their interests. The move also strikes a blow to the seniority system in the House.

There's no doubt Waxman, who has been the top Democrat on the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform since 1997, has what it takes to run a hearing room. Now we'll get to see if he plans to give Ford, GM, and Chrysler the Roger Clemens treatment.

-- Josh Figueira

1:32 PM ET | 11-20-2008 | permalink

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Stevens' Final Floor Speech

Alaska's senior Senator Ted Stevens bid farewell to the Senate today in a speech that received a standing ovation from everyone in the chamber.

Stevens has served in the Senate for nearly 40 years, about 80% of the time Alaska has been a state. In his remarks today, he said his motto throughout his Senate tenure was "To hell with politics. Just do what's right for Alaska." Indeed, he earned both praise and condemnation during his Senate career for his remarkable ability to channel federal dollars to his home state for roads, bridges, airports, schools, and other public works projects. (Public broadcasting, not always a favorite of GOP Senators, particularly benefited from Stevens' pull in the Appropriations Committee. The 25 stations of the Alaska Public Radio Network provide news and community services to many areas in that state where there are no broadcast TV signals, so Stevens was a stalwart supporter of public media funding.)

Stevens was also known for his feisty and sometimes volatile temperament. He wore ties featuring the Incredible Hulk or Tasmanian Devil to warn staffers and reporters if he was feeling especially short-fused. In recent years Stevens was best-known among the YouTube generation for a floor speech about Net Neutrality in which he compared the Internet to "a series of tubes".

Yesterday the Senator conceded his re-election race to Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich after a protracted vote-counting effort. Before this year, Stevens had never faced serious competition in a re-election bid. But after the FBI raided his vacation house in the summer of 2007, eventually gathering enough evidence for indictment and conviction on seven felony counts about undisclosed gifts, the Democrats saw an opening. Begich ultimately prevailed by a margin of about 1% of the vote. He will be Alaska's first Democratic Senator in nearly 30 years.

Stevens might well have faced expulsion from the Senate on ethical grounds if he had been re-elected -- South Carolina Republican Jim DeMint had a proposal lined up to oust him from the Senate's Republican caucus. But because Stevens lost the race his colleagues on both sides of the aisle set aside the felony conviction and bid him a fond adieu. Majority Leader Harry Reid took the floor immediately after Stevens, telling the chamber that "for Ted Stevens, public service has been more than a career, it's been his life's calling."

You can hear Stevens' farewell remarks here:

-- Evie Stone

12:26 PM ET | 11-20-2008 | permalink

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Stevens Vote Postponed

Senate Republicans have decided not to ruin Sen. Ted Stevens 85th birthday (any more than it may be ruined by the count of the last big pile of votes in his re-election race) with a vote on whether to boot him from their caucus. Stevens, the longest-serving Republican Senator in history -- he's held his seat since 1968 -- was convicted on seven felony counts last month.

South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint had planned to introduce a motion today calling on Senate Republicans to vote on Stevens' expulsion from their caucus. But after some GOP murmuring about jumping the gun, DeMint now says he'll wait until Thursday to press for the vote. By then the results of Stevens' re-election race should be clearer. As of this morning, Stevens trailed Democrat Mark Begich by 1,022 votes, with 24,000 votes yet to be counted.

-- Evie Stone

1:40 PM ET | 11-18-2008 | permalink

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Lieberman Keeps Homeland Security Chair

The Senate Democratic caucus has voted 42-13 to allow Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman (a self-described "Independent Democrat" who caucuses with the Dems) to keep his chairmanship of the Homeland Security Committee. Lieberman was stripped of his seat on the Environment and Public Works Committee, in which he held a subcommittee chairmanship.

The caucus had called Lieberman's fate into question because of anger over his vocal support for John McCain during this year's presidential campaign. The Senator was one of the primetime speakers at the Republican Convention that nominated McCain. In his speech in St. Paul Lieberman called the Barack Obama "a gifted and eloquent young man" but added that "eloquence is no substitute for a record."

According to Politico's The Crypt, Lieberman expressed some contrition during the caucus meeting:

Sources who were inside the meeting said Lieberman did not apologize for supporting McCain during the campaign, but that he did say he was sorry for some of the statements he made about Obama.

President-Elect Obama had reportedly told the Democratic leadership that he thought Lieberman should stay in the Democratic caucus despite his campaign transgressions. According to a statement from transition spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter, "we don't hold any grudges."

-- Evie Stone

UPDATE: Time's Michael Scherer provides a greatest-hits list of sorts of Lieberman's Obama criticisms.

12:10 PM ET | 11-18-2008 | permalink

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Eight More Charges For Renzi

Three-term Arizona GOP Rep. Rick Renzi, who will retire from Congress at the end of his current term (i.e. next month) has been hit with a few more charges to add to the 35-count indictment handed up by a federal grand jury in Arizona last February. Renzi is one of four defendants in the case, and is named in 43 of the 44 charges -- which include conspiracy, money laundering, fraud, and extortion. As our Peter Overby points out, it's not often in these kinds of conspiracy cases that a defendant comes so close to racking up a perfect score in the indictment.

The February indictment charged Renzi with insurance fraud and engaging in a land-swap deal related to the development of a copper mine. The new charges, handed up yesterday, add racketeering and tax fraud to the mix.

Renzi's lawyer calls the new indictments "outrageous" and says they are designed to "coerce Congressman Renzi into a guilty plea." Renzi's court date is scheduled for March.

Democrat Ann Kirkpatrick won Renzi's open seat in last week's election.

-- Evie Stone

2:34 PM ET | 11-14-2008 | permalink

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Obama's Senate Resignation

Release from the President-Elect's office:

Below is a statement from President-elect Barack Obama

"It has been one of the highest honors and privileges of my life to have served the people of Illinois in the United States Senate. In a state that represents the crossroads of a nation, I have met so many men and women who've taken different journeys, but hold common hopes for their children's future. It is these Illinois families and their stories that will stay with me as I leave the United States Senate and begin the hard task of fulfilling the simple hopes and common dreams of all Americans as our nation's next President," said President-elect Barack Obama.

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich will appoint a successor to Obama's seat. Our own Ken Rudin pondered the succession question back in July. Among the names he floated: Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., Iraq war veteran and Illinois veterans' affairs director Tammy Duckworth, state Senate president Emil Jones, and Rep. Jan Schakowsky.

-- Evie Stone

3:20 PM ET | 11-13-2008 | permalink

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Just Your Average Joe "The Senator"

Sen. Joe Liberman (I-CT) was one of the most outspoken critics of Obama on the campaign trail. Liberman blasted Obama at the Republican National Convention and raised questions about Obama's ties to Hamas and Bill Ayers. Lieberman accused Obama of putting, "Party before Country." Obama spokesperson Stephanie Cutter says that Obama doesn't "hold any grudges" against Liberman. Paul Kane reports in the WaPo that Obama wants Lieberman in the Democratic caucus, but hasn't articulated what that means in terms of his chairmanship of the Homeland Security committee.

Lieberman is getting support from fellow Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd (D), who emphasized to the Hartford Courant on Friday that Liberman "votes with Democrats 90% of the time." Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN) has also provided comfort and aide to renegade Joe telling Sean Hannity that, "reconciliation is in order, not revenge or retribution."

Folks at firedoglake have a post that says Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) would like to strip Lieberman of his post.

And today, Brave New Films has released a new film to press the case against Lieberman.

(h/t: Think Progress)

This seems to be less about reaching out to critics and more about avoiding a distracting and messy battle. Lieberman isn't the guy to reach out to as a way to show bi-partisanship, but sacking him could build on the argument advanced by GOPers that selecting Rahm Emanuel as his chief of staff undercuts Obama's message of inclusiveness and change. Standing by Lieberman would anger the liberals who have gone to bat for Obama and resent Lieberman after anti-war icon Ned Lamont (D) lost in Connecticut. The former Democratic VP nominee's delicate dance continues.

-- Michael Olson

12:34 PM ET | 11-11-2008 | permalink

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Byrd Relinquishes Approps Chair

Senator Robert C. Byrd announced today that he'll step aside as the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. Byrd, 90, has served as Chair or Ranking member of the powerful committee for two decades, and has been a member of Appropriations for all 50 years of his Senate career. He is known by some as the "King of Pork" because of his unparalleled (well...almost paralleled by Alaska's Ted Stevens) ability to bring home the bacon for his West Virginia constituents. Even a casual outing to the Mountain State will take you past a veritable smorgasboard of schools, highways, and municipal buildings funded by Byrd's earmarks and christened in his name.

Byrd's health has suffered in recent years, and lately he uses a wheelchair to get around. He says the decision to resign was his own, but it comes after weeks of Democratic murmurs about his fitness for the responsibilities of the chairmanship.

He will be replace by Daniel Inouye of Hawaii, who is a comparatively spry 84.

-- Evie Stone

4:32 PM ET | 11- 7-2008 | permalink

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Blunt Steps Aside

House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO) has announced he's relinquishing his leadership post. Blunt's resignation paves the way for Virginia Rep. Eric Cantor, the current Chief Deputy Whip, who had already started campaigning to replace his onetime mentor.

Via AP:

Blunt said he had long ago decided that if Republicans did not reclaim the majority in Tuesday's elections, he would step down from the difficult job of shepherding votes.

As far as we know, Roy Blount Jr. (no relation) will retain his position as a panelist on the NPR News quiz show "Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me".

-- Evie Stone

12:27 PM ET | 11- 6-2008 | permalink

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Putnam Gives Up Leadership Post

Republican Conference Chairman Adam Putnam (FL-12) sent his resignation letter to his colleagues a short while ago. The chairmanship is the third-ranking Republican position in the House.

I have enjoyed every minute as Conference Chairman, but I believe it is time to step off the leadership ladder and return my focus to crafting public policy solutions for America's generational challenges -- the very reason I ran for Congress in the first place.

(snip)

I want to fight the battles worth fighting and lock arms to strengthen our nation whenever possible. In the coming Congress, I look forward to focusing on the policy solutions critical to the state of Florida and the important work we face on the Financial Services Committee to hold Wall Street accountable and put our economy back on the right track.

-- Andrea Seabrook

12:32 AM ET | 11- 5-2008 | permalink

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Revised Bailout Plan Passes House

The House has passed the $700 billion financial rescue package that the Senate approved Wednesday. A similar bill failed in the House Monday 205-228, but a few sweeteners added before the Senate vote made the new version more palatable to some lawmakers. The House approved the measure 263 to 171.

The breakdown:

Democrats 172-63
Republicans 91-108

Monday's numbers:

Democrats 141-94
Republicans 65-133

NPR Senior Washington Editor Ron Elving points out that the Republicans' inability to convince a majority of their caucus to support the bill -- even after Monday's precipitous market drop in the wake of the House rejection -- signifies a serious power vacuum in the Republican leadership.

Not one of House Minority Leader John Boehner, House Minority Whip Roy Blunt, President George W. Bush, and nominee John McCain -- all of whom vocally supported this bill -- were able to get the GOP House members to fall in line. When it comes to drumming up votes, Tom DeLay these guys ain't. (GOP senators, on the other hand, dutifully voted for the bill at about the same rate as Senate Democrats, which is a credit to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Minority Whip John Kyl.)

-- Evie Stone

UPDATE: Politico lists the vote-switchers

1:30 PM ET | 10- 3-2008 | permalink

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Honey + Vinegar = Bailout?

So, what does it take to get reluctant house members to vote for a bailout? So-called "sweeteners," tax breaks the Senate added to the bill to make it irresistible.

The LA Times reports those tax breaks aren't just popular, they're calculated to woo specific House members into changing their votes from no to yes:

[T]he bill now includes a provision to boost insurance coverage of mental illness, a priority of Rep. Jim Ramstad (R-Minn.), who voted against the bailout bill Monday. It also includes a tax benefit for bicycle commuting sought by Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), also a no vote on Monday. And there's an extension of the renewable energy tax credit, a priority of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), who wants to make Arizona the "Silicon Valley of solar energy."

The tax breaks and accounting rule changes for Hollywood were apparently aimed at two Southern California Democrats -- Rep. Adam B. Schiff of Burbank and Rep. Brad Sherman of Sherman Oaks -- who voted against the plan. Sherman, who led the defection of a group of Democratic skeptics, insisted that he would not be enticed to vote for the rescue plan.

These tax breaks come with a big price tag of $100 billion, though, attached to the already enormous $700 billion for the bailout. And those tax breaks will make the bill less attractive to at least a few House members, who believe that any tax cuts need to be deficit neutral. One in that camp is Rep. Lloyd Doggett (R-Texas):

"The Senate measure has changed my position from 'No' to 'Heck no,' " he said. "With the Senate amendment, the bailout has gone from bad to worse, $105 billion more in public debt worse."

--Laurel Wamsley

11:37 AM ET | 10- 2-2008 | permalink

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Simplify, Simplify

WP's The Fix points out that despite rampant enthusiasm for elaborate blame-laying among House Democrats and Republicans (not to mention presidential candidates), there's compelling evidence that the bailout bill failed for another, more parochial reason:

It's no coincidence then that of the 205 Members who voted in support of the bill today, there are only two -- Reps. Chris Shays (R-Conn.) and Jon Porter (R-Nev.) -- who find themselves in difficult reelection races this fall. The list of the 228 "nays" reads like a virtual target list for the two parties.

-- Evie Stone

5:40 PM ET | 09-29-2008 | permalink

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Buck-Passing Galore

House Minority Leader John Boehner told reporters this afternoon that Speaker Nancy Pelosi's pre-vote floor speech sapped GOP willingness to step up and vote for the failed financial bailout bill. Boehner said Pelosi's remarks were too partisan and "poisoned our conference." You can follow the link above to judge the speech for yourself, but here's a representatively fiery snippet, re: the size of the package.

It is a number that is staggering, but tells us only the costs of the Bush Administration's failed economic policies-policies built on budgetary recklessness, on an anything goes mentality, with no regulation, no supervision, and no discipline in the system.

Democrats immediately hit back at the Minority Leader's argument, saying they brought in the votes they had promised, and the Republicans basically wimped out and failed to hold up their end of the bargain. Here's Rep. Barney Frank, the chair of the House Financial Services Committee, responding to Boehner:

"Well if that stopped people from voting, then shame on them," he said. "If people's feelings were hurt because of a speech and that led them to vote differently than what they thought the national interest (requires), then they really don't belong here. They're not tough enough."

Wisconsin Democrat David Obey's take: "I guess the Republican leadership is so weak John Boehner couldn't deliver 50 percent of the votes."

Partisan sniping aside, it is clear that no GOP luminary was able to gin up the votes to make this deal happen -- not the President, not the House leadership, and not even nominee John McCain, who suspended his campaign last week in a highly visible effort to bring House Republicans on board with the compromise.

This morning in Columbus, OH, McCain seemed awfully optimistic about the plan's prospects -- almost appearing to take credit for the proposed bill:

I put my campaign on hold for a couple days last week to fight for a rescue plan that put you and your economic security first. I fought for a plan that protected taxpayers, homeowners, consumers and small business owners.

I went to Washington last week to make sure that the taxpayers of Ohio and across this great country were not left footing the bill for mistakes made on Wall Street and in Washington.

(snip)

Senator Obama took a very different approach to the crisis our country faced. At first he didn't want to get involved. Then he was "monitoring the situation." That's not leadership, that's watching from the sidelines.

After the bill's failure, the McCain campaign released a statement blaming Obama for "fail[ing] to lead," and echoing Boehner's Pelosi criticisms, culminating with this:

This bill failed because Barack Obama and the Democrats put politics ahead of country.

The Obama campaign's response:

This is a moment of national crisis, and today's inaction in Congress as well as the angry and hyper-partisan statement released by the McCain campaign are exactly why the American people are disgusted with Washington.

-- Evie Stone

5:08 PM ET | 09-29-2008 | permalink

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No New Vote Today

Via CNN, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) says the House will not vote again today on a plan aimed at rescuing the financial services sector. The economic bailout was defeated by a final vote of 205 to 228. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson pledges to use all available tools to protect financial markets in the wake of the vote.

-- Sean Bowditch

3:16 PM ET | 09-29-2008 | permalink

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House Rejects Bailout Bill

The economic rescue package that lawmakers spent a long weekend negotiating (H.R. 3997 for those keeping score at home) has failed to pass the House of Representatives. Democrats voted 141-94 in favor of the bill, Republicans went against, with 65 yeas and 133 nays. The final vote was 205 yeas to 228 nays, with one abstention.

The vote stayed open for about 20 minutes after the 15-minute voting time had expired to provide the leadership time to negotiate for more votes (i.e. twist enough arms and beat enough brows to put the bill over the top). That effort garnered a few scattered yeas, but not enough to achieve the necessary simple majority.

The markets showed a real-time reaction to the bill's failure, with the Dow Jones plummeting as traders tracked the vote count on TV.

Immediately after the vote, Rep. Joe Barton of Texas, who voted with the nays, rose to ask when the motion would be re-voted if he moved to reconsider. The chair said it would be re-voted immediately, and Barton withdrew his request.

-- Evie Stone

1:44 PM ET | 09-29-2008 | permalink

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I'll Vote if You Do

Politico's Mike Allen is reporting that both Barack Obama and John McCain now say they'll return to the Senate this week to vote on the bailout bill. Both campaigns gave squishy responses when asked about the vote over the weekend, but there's been so much grandstanding on this issue in the past week that it would have been awfully awkward if one or both of them bailed. The Senate could take up the package as early as Wednesday.

-- Evie Stone

1:05 PM ET | 09-29-2008 | permalink

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Tubbs Jones in Critical Condition after Aneurysm

Via the Cleveland Plain Dealer:

U.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, the first African-American woman to represent Ohio in Congress, is in critical condition after suffering an aneurysm last night, officials said this afternoon.

Tubbs Jones, 58, served as a Cuyahoga County judge and prosecutor before succeeding U.S. Rep. Louis Stokes. She has served five terms in Congress and is expected to easily win her sixth in November.

A doctor and family members said she has limited brain function.

Earlier this afternoon the Plain Dealer mistakenly reported, and several other news organizations echoed, that Tubbs Jones had died.

-- Evie Stone

3:28 PM ET | 08-20-2008 | permalink

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Ethics, Capitol Hill Style

House ethics rules are apparently about to get new teeth. Not all that sharp, but still.... Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Minority Leader John Boehner today unveiled names for the six-person panel to lead the new Office of Congressional Ethics.

More simply put: These are the six people who will recommend if cases should go to the House ethics committee (officially, the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct) for full-blown investigations.

As watchdog group Common Cause points out, the Office of Congressional Ethics will take some decisions about ethics enforcement out of the hands of Congress itself.

This change will spare lawmakers the agony of casting the first stone -- an act they've assiduously avoided in some big cases. If you think of former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, whose payoff price list, on congressional letterhead, helped prosecutors put him in prison, or current Rep. William Jefferson, indicted on bribery charges after FBI agents found $90,000 neatly bagged in his freezer, or a variety of lawmakers and staffers linked to former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, you've got the idea. Members of Congress don't rush to judgment.

Nor did they rush into this new ethics process. The concept of an independent office has been around for years. Democrats talked it up when in the 2006 campaign, and after they took over Congress that fall, ethics reformers have been lobbying for it. The House passed it this past March. The Senate wasn't interested.

The names of the ethics panelists are after the jump.

Continue reading "Ethics, Capitol Hill Style" »

4:02 PM ET | 07-24-2008 | permalink

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