The U.S. Senate flails about in an effort to save face as the coalition in charge of bombing Libya begins to crack

By: Jeff Emanuel (Diary)  |  June 23rd at 11:00 AM  | 

In an apparent effort to save face via the provision of ex post facto permission, the U.S. Senate is considering a bipartisan resolution that would authorize Obama to continue prosecuting his war in Libya for up to a year, albeit with a specific prohibition against the employment of ground troops.  The sponsors  of this resolution are, as may be expected, John McCain (R-AZ) and John | Read More »

When is a War not a War? When Obama is President and Libya is the Opponent

By: Jeff Emanuel (Diary)  |  June 22nd at 12:00 PM  | 

Last week, at House Speaker John Boehner’s (R-OH) request, the Obama administration provided a brief (32 pages plus classified addenda) overview of its activities in Libya, its conversations with Congress about them, and its rationale for not needing Congressional approval to continue this war ad infinitem.  The full document (minus the classified annexes) is available here in pdf form.  Here are a few highlights. 1. | Read More »

Roland Burris and his list of accomplishments are running for the Senate in 2010

By: Jeff Emanuel (Diary)  |  March 3rd at 01:57 PM  | 

Roland Burris’s reelection website is live, and the first thing that jumps out at the viewer is his lengthy list of accomplishments (see right; click here for full screencap). In all fairness, I’ve got to give Senator Burris full credit for having the most honest accomplishments section of a campaign website that I’ve ever seen. Pity it (likely) won’t last. Whatever changes on the page, | Read More »

And Then There Were Two?

By: Jeff Emanuel (Diary)  |  February 6th at 03:38 PM  | 

Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) just said in a radio interview that only two “Republican” Senators are still actively attempting to provide the Democrats “bipartisan” cover for their nearly $1,000,000,000,000.00 borrow-and-spend bill. Based on what I’ve been hearing from around the Hill, and Roll Call’s report that Sen. Collins (R-ME) was having misgivings about betraying her party and constituents, those two are (definitely) Arlen Specter (PA) | Read More »

Republican Mainstreeters Caving in to Democrats, Providing “Bipartisan” Cover for Nearly $1T in Pork Spending

By: Jeff Emanuel (Diary)  |  February 6th at 01:47 PM  | 

From Byron York at NRO: Just got off the phone with an influential Republican senator. I asked how things stood with the stimulus, and he answered instantly, “They’ve cut a deal with three of our guys. They’re delaying us from offering amendments. I suspect that as soon as they’ve got it written, they will offer it as an amendment, vote on it, and that will | Read More »

A Challenge to the Senate GOP: Don’t Abandon House Republicans on the Front Lines of the War for America’s Future

By: Jeff Emanuel (Diary)  |  January 29th at 04:43 PM  | 

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Democrat-Electable, Nevada) came out today and bragged that some Senate Republicans would vote for the awful so-called “stimulus” bill despite the fact that: (A) It’s a massive, wasteful pork-barrel bill that won’t stimulate anything or anyone (except those who get really, really excited at the prospect of huge transfers of borrowed cash from larger governments to smaller governments); and (B) | Read More »

Corrupt Senate “Stimulus” Bill is, well, Corrupted

By: Jeff Emanuel (Diary)  |  January 27th at 09:13 AM  | 

It should come as no surprise that the Senate’s version of the “stimulus” bill is being kept under lock and key by the Appropriations Committee, lest the opposition — let alone America’s great unwashed as a whole — get a chance to pick away at the litany of new, unstimulative spending programs. After all, the government can’t go about its business of doing what it | Read More »

Welcome to Capitol Hill. Please leave your Spines and Principles in the Senate Cloakroom.

By: Jeff Emanuel (Diary)  |  January 17th at 11:41 AM  | 

Mary Katharine Ham has the scoop over at The Weekly Standard: Of seven newly minted freshman Democratic senators, six voted for releasing the second half of the $700 billion TARP funds in what is being considered Obama’s first major test of strength on the Hill. This would be rather uncontroversial had not five of them, to some degree or another, campaigned against the original, unpopular | Read More »

Former Sen. Max Cleland calls Saxby Chambliss “Chicken Hawk,” says he “tricked people” to get out of service in Vietnam

By: Jeff Emanuel (Diary)  |  November 3rd at 12:44 AM  | 

Former Georgia Senator Max Cleland and a number of his fellow Democrats are clearly still obsessing over the ad run six years ago that dared pointed out Cleland’s refusal, in the immediate aftermath of September 11, 2001, to vote for new homeland security measures proposed by the Bush administration. Cleland – who appeared to lose his mind after convincing himself that his patriotism had been | Read More »

Bailout Bill Language, Senate Version

By: Jeff Emanuel (Diary)  |  October 1st at 11:37 AM  | 

Update-10/1@1500CDT: A Senate contact just emailed to correct my use of the term “tax earmarks” to describe the tax extenders in the Senate legislation. Brian Johnson of Americans for Tax Reform has a good post below explaining why that term is a misnomer, saying in part: Calling tax cuts “earmarks” is very unhelpful and completely wrong from a fiscal conservative perspective. There is no such | Read More »

Mental Health, Tax Breaks, and a $700 Billion Bailout

By: Jeff Emanuel (Diary)  |  September 30th at 11:17 PM  | 

At 7:30PM Wednesday, the Senate will hold roll call votes on six amendments and pieces of legislation. Those items are as follows: Motion to concur on the House message, HR 2095, Rail Safety Dorgan amendment relating to HR 7081, the US-India Nuclear agreement Bingaman amendment relating to HR 7081, the US-India Nuclear agreement Passage of HR 7081, the US-India Nuclear agreement Dodd amendment to HR | Read More »

Harry Reid schooled by “far right rogue” yet again

By: Jeff Emanuel (Diary)  |  July 28th at 05:02 PM  | 

“The only argument Reid could muster against Coburn…was a pathetic claim that the Senate does not actually spend federal money, but only authorizes funding.” “Senator Train Wreck,” also known as Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-OK), was the subject of two not-so-fawning stories this morning — one in the New York Times and one in the Washington Post — addressing both his reputation as a stickler on | Read More »