Go to my new blog at ThePointNews.com.
The following is brought to you by the honorable (?) Senator from Illinois, Roland Burris:
It was the night before Christmas, and all through the Senate
the right held up our health care bill, no matter what was in it.The people had voted a mandated reform
but Republicans blew off the gathering storm. Read the rest of this entry »
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid
Well it’s done. Tomorrow Obama will sign the $789 Billion economic stimulus package . So, let’s take a look at a few of the story’s that unfolded during the passage of this epic bill.
1. Nancy Pelosi- The next Joe Canon?
One of the stories that is still unfolding is the power of the Speaker. Pelosi, who has been speaker of the house for 2 years now, really flexed her muscles in the last few weeks. First, she bypassed the committee structure that a bill normally goes through and forced a vote on the floor with almost no debate. Second, she shut Republicans out of the process (which I think turned out to be a bad call) . Finally, she sent a warning shot at Harry Reid when he went ahead and made a deal on the bill without House democrats instead of letting the conference committee do their work.
The Senate passed a modified version of the stimulus package that the House passed more than a week ago. The House bill passed with no Republican support and the Senate bill passed with just 3 Republicans voting in favor.
Republicans have been fighting this bill from it’s inception. They claim that only tax cuts not spending can help our economy. They are calling the democrats “reckless” and “irresponsible.” So, here is my question:
What words would you use to describe the Republicans over the past 8 years?
According to the latest polls from USA Today/Gallup, NBC/Wall Street Journal and even Fox News, only about 20-25% of Americans think congress is doing a good job. Certainly some of that can be explained by the gridlock and partisanship that has arose recently over Obama’s Economic Stimulus plan but most of the low approval rating can be explained by the fact that most people do not really know what Congress does. More importantly, they do not understand how Congress works or is, in fact, suppose to work.
Former Senator Tom Daschle withdrew his nomination as Secretary of Health and Human Services earlier today. The question on my mind is what will this do to Obama’s bold plans for providing universal health care.
Daschle’s long time in the Senate, including 10 years as Senate Majority Leader, gave him a unique perspective to help guide any health care legislation through the process. You cannot replace the experience of working on the Hill with any other kind of experience.
Photo from Current.com
It looks like Obama will select Judd Gregg as his commerce secretary. Gregg is a republican senator from New Hampshire. Gregg said that he would only accept the position if the Governor of New Hampshire (Democrat, John Lynch) appoints a Republican to finish out his term in the Senate.
This comes just after a rather humiliating vote on the House floor for Obama’s stimulus package. Who knew winning could hurt so much! Obama’s package passed 244 to 188 but the kicker is that not a single Republican voted for the bill. Not a single one. So much for a bipartisan bill.
I was pretty excited to see that the House and Senate had made it onto Twitter but I am even more excited to see them on YouTube.
Photo from Current.com
Starting on January 20th, one party will control the House, the Senate and the White House. Don’t get me wrong, I voted for Obama and I wanted the democrats to get the 60 they would need to have a filibuster proof majority in the senate.
And yet I cannot shake the feeling that perhaps having one party rule it all isn’t such a great idea. For all of the blame that is put on the Bush administration, part of that blame has to be given to the complacent Republican congress that gave Bush a blank check.
That’s right you can follow The White House, The Senate & The House on Twitter!
