Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.) (WDCpix)
WASHINGTON — For millions of unemployed workers, the recession is poised to go from bad to worse.More than 3.2 million laid-off Americans, including 183,000 Michigan residents, will prematurely exhaust their unemployment insurance in the first quarter of next year [...]
WASHINGTON — It’s no mystery that some Democrats are hoping to extend emergency unemployment benefits even further into next year — both to acknowledge a jobless rate that’s topped 10 percent, and to fix a filing deadline glitch that will prevent those in high-unemployment states from getting [...]
WASHINGTON — After roughly 12 hours of debate — and no absence of GOP stalling — the U.S. House late Saturday night passed an $894 billion proposal that would forever change the way the nation’s health care system operates. The vote was 220 to 215 in the lower [...]
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate on Wednesday easily cleared the last procedural barrier standing in the way of passing legislation to extend unemployment insurance benefits as long as 20 weeks nationwide.
The count was 97 to one, with Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) the only lawmaker to oppose the measure.
The lopsided [...]
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate will vote Monday evening on legislation extending unemployment benefits — a procedural vote that could clear the way for final passage as early as late Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) just announced. The bill has been held up for weeks as party [...]
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate on Tuesday moved a step closer to passing a 14-week, nationwide extension of unemployment benefits, clearing a procedural hurdle that will bring the bill to the chamber floor.
The vote count was 87 to 13 — well beyond the 60 yeas required to proceed to the [...]
WASHINGTON — With 7,000 Americans exhausting their unemployment insurance (UI) each day, Senate Democrats are hoping this week to pass legislation extending those benefits nationwide — a bill that’s been held up for weeks while upper-chamber leaders haggle over a series of controversial Republican amendments. First, though, [...]
WASHINGTON —Last week, Senate Democratic leaders rolled out a proposal to extend unemployment insurance by 14 weeks — with an extra six weeks thrown in for those states where jobless figures have topped 8.5 percent — only to have Republicans block the measure on the chamber floor.
Well, it happened [...]
WASHINGTON — When Congress rushed to pass a $2 billion extension of the enormously popular “Cash for Clunkers” program earlier this month, there were few cheerleaders more quick than President Obama to extol the environmental virtues of the program.
“This gives consumers a break, reduces dangerous carbon pollution [...]
WASHINGTON — The Democratic push to slash tens of billions of dollars for private insurers who cover Medicare patients has been met on Capitol Hill by something unusual: a relative silence, even from supporters of the program.
In past years, the Democrats’ proposals to cut subsidies to the popular but controversial [...]
With the enormously popular cash for clunkers program soon to exhaust its $1 billion allotment, the Senate on Thursday passed legislation providing an additional $2 billion, which the lawmakers hope will see the program through the month.
The vote — 60 to 37 — came less than a week after [...]
WASHINGTON — Seems that critics of the White House decision to bail out General Motors and Chrysler were right to question how well federal government would manage its enormous new investment. The New York Times reported today that the administration recently bought thousands of new vehicles, but a lion’s [...]
We’ve heard plenty of grumbling from Republicans about how they couldn’t support the recently passed economic stimulus package because “it’s a spending bill, not a stimulus bill.” What you don’t hear frequently is a Republican claiming he opposed the measure because it was too small.
Enter Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R-Mich.). [...]
Team member Spencer Ackerman at The Washington Independent sends over the story that General Motors (NYSE:GM) has tried to keep quiet.
Following Sunday’s Super Bowl, the automaker — keeping with a marketing tradition — awarded the game’s MVP with the car of his choice. Santonio Holmes, the Steelers [...]
Saying the Democrats’ Detroit bailout plan “guarantees failure at taxpayer expense,” House Republicans on Wednesday introduced an alternative blueprint asking union workers to take a pay cut and give up benefits.
The current powers that be — both in Washington and Detroit — can’t be trusted to fix a problem [...]
Taxpayers for Common Sense, a policy watchdog group, has gotten its hands on an early draft of the Democrats’ plans to bailout Detroit’s automakers, and they’ve shared it with the world. From their summary of the proposal:
It taps the existing $25 billion auto loan guarantee program created under [...]
Democratic leaders, conceding that their efforts to bail out America’s automakers stand no chance in Congress this week, are extending a final opportunity to the Big Three: Submit specific plans for getting the companies back on track and repaying the taxpayers, they offered, and Congress will return to Washington in [...]
House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) said in no uncertain terms Wednesday that the $25 billion bailout being sought by America’s Big Three automakers would constitute just the first federal offering in what would be a much more expensive rescue plan. Asked by NPR why Democrats think [...]
For anyone wondering if Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) is in his right mind challenging Rep. John Dingell (Mich.), the longest-serving Democrat in Congress, for the gavel of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, there is this bit of history:
After being elected to his third term in Congress in 1978, Waxman [...]
Not to get ahead of ourselves, but there is the possibility that Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) — who has launched a surprise challenge to Rep. John Dingell’s (D-Mich.) chairmanship of the Energy and Commerce Committee — will, at the end of this saga, surrender his spot as head [...]
Wow — things are moving quickly in this brave new post-election world.
Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is planning to take on Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) as head of the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee, Roll Call reported Wednesday. The 27-term Dingell [...]
