By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  March 23rd at 04:40 AM  | 

It’s not just Robert McDowell that’s moving on from FCC. Julius Genachowski is, too, and while Genachowski hasn’t been very good at all, we could have done worse. Just look at NLRB. Let’s hope we don’t do worse after all with his successor.

Another big story is the Senate’s passage of the budget amendment incorporating the interstate sales tax compact. Some are bothered by this, but I still say it’s the right thing to do unless you’re going to rewrite the sales tax laws in every state. And that isn’t happening because the prisoner’s dilemma is keeping any one state from going from a buyer-owes to a seller-owes sales tax model.

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  March 2nd at 12:00 AM  | 

Is it still a likely coincidence when all these stories at once come out pushing this topic of spending money to give schoolkids access to the dangerous, adult Internet? Or is somebody funding this drive?

Manning confessies to being a spy and a traitor. I wish we could just force choke him.

Bad news: New Zealand is arming manatees. Seriously though, if Kim Dotcom wants to fight his prosecution, he should turn himself in, instead of continuing his crimes in New Zealand.

By: Erick Erickson (Diary)  |  January 1st at 09:49 AM  | 

Tom Coburn cares about the size and scope of the federal government. So do Ron Johnson and Pat Toomey. But they just voted for a tax increase with legislation that was not even publicly available. In other words, they voted for a law that was not even written for them to review. And what was in the law? Nothing to rein in the size of | Read More »

By: Moe Lane (Diary)  |  December 4th at 12:30 PM  | 

Here’s a pro-tip* for Bob Shrum: if you’re going to try to marginalize and mock a US Senator (to the point of calling him “buddy”), make sure that you have the right info first.

By: Breeanne Howe (Diary)  |  October 19th at 07:19 PM  | 

Amidst ongoing questions concerning the potential cover-ups by the Obama Administration of Fast and Furious and the Benghazi attack, another scandal is coming back to light for the White House.  The U.S. Secret Service made the news last April when a number of agents were suspended after being accused of consorting with prostitutes while in Cartagena, Columbia for the Summit of the Americas attended by | Read More »

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  August 7th at 03:30 AM  | 

We had no Tech at Night on Friday becuase I was at the Gathering in Jacksonville. Hope those who went enjoyed it, and that those who weren’t able to attend can make it next year! So, Harry Reid offered to let Republicans fix Lieberman-Collins. Republicans took him up on that, and he was unhappy. So he tried to ram it through after all. Republicans objected, | Read More »

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  August 2nd at 12:00 AM  | 

Lieberman-Collins is in trouble! There is apparently some misinformation going around. I’ve seen people claiming that gun control is in the bill, when it’s just an amendment possibly to be added, along with an anti-Obamacare amendment going around. Further, The Hill posted and pulled a story saying Harry Reid postponed the Cybersecurity Act. But it looks like I was right to respect Republican attempts to | Read More »

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  July 28th at 12:30 AM  | 

Senate Republicans have decided to take Harry Reid at his word that Republicans will have the opportunity to amend the Lieberman-Collins cybersecurity bill. So, many Republicans voted for advancing the bill, which passed 84-11. And oh boy it needs amending. Who are you going to believe? For it is Barack Obama. Against have been Kay Bailey Hutchison, John McCain, Marco Rubio, Ron Johnson, Heritage, and | Read More »

By: Soren Dayton (Diary)  |  July 26th at 02:14 PM  | 

One upside of President Obama’s hostility to business is that business leaders like Senator Ron Johnson from Wisconsin have come forward to share their experience. Tom Smith, the Republican Senate nominee in Pennsylvania is one of them. He is endorsed by Pat Toomey. He is up against Bobby Casey, a career politician son of a career politician. But at least his dad was willing to | Read More »

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  July 26th at 02:15 AM  | 

Right now the top issues are both getting lots of attention in the Senate. One is the cybersecurity bill. It’s been difficult for me to find out much about what’s going on with it, and it turns out there’s a reason. Sources familiar with the situation indicate to me that Harry Reid has been negotiating with Republicans in bad faith. Even Republicans who love to | Read More »

By: Erick Erickson (Diary)  |  July 18th at 04:46 AM  | 

In 2010, one of the few candidates the GOP establishment and conservative activists agreed on was a businessman in Wisconsin named Ron Johnson. “Crazy!!!” people said. “It’s Wisconsin. Russ Feingold!!!! Ron Johnson can’t win.” Then he got the nomination. “It’s crazy!!! He bores people with charts. He scares the old people. He actually says we need to cut spending. It’s Wisconsin!!!!” Call Ron Johnson the | Read More »

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  June 28th at 12:30 AM  | 

John McCain. Lisa Murkowski. Kay Bailey Hutchison. Saxby Chambliss. Richard Burr. Dan Coats. No, I’m not listing the centrist wing of the Senate Republicans. I’m listing some of the co-sponsors of SECURE IT, the bill that Senate Republicans have been forced to bring forth because the extremist Cybersecurity bill by Joe Lieberman and Susan Collins just couldn’t be bargained with. That’s right, John McCain of | Read More »

By: Daniel Horowitz (Diary)  |  April 18th at 10:45 AM  | 

Senator Kent Conrad has finally made it clear that he has no intentions of passing a budget resolution.  He will offer the “Simpson-Bowles plan” without allowing any amendments or even a committee vote, much less a floor vote.  That’s some budget resolution.  Without a budget resolution to guide the topline spending numbers, the Senate Appropriations Committee has already begun markups on the 12 appropriations bills | Read More »

By: Erick Erickson (Diary)  |  April 17th at 04:46 AM  | 

Last year, Senator Ron Johnson (HAFA Score 94) ran for a Leadership post (not because he wanted to be in Leadership but because he wanted to change it). Roy Blunt (HAFA Score 63) beat him. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (HAFA 76) had hand picked Senator Blunt. Even though McConnell pulled out all the stops to help Blunt, Johnson still got 22 Republican votes, which | Read More »

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  March 29th at 02:30 AM  | 

FCC reform advances in the House. Greg Walden’s FCC Process Reform Act is a needed bill, so I’m glad that it went from committee to the floor, and took minimal modification in passing. I like that it got an extra poke at FCC being more closed on FOIA requests than even CIA. Locking in the reforms is important, and CTIA is right in saying we | Read More »