Congresspedia's "Congress in the News" updates, Mar. 1-21, 2007
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- The Senate Appropriations Committee is expected to pass a $122 billion appropriations bill that contains provisions calling for a March 31, 2008 withdraw of most U.S. combat operations in Iraq. (Washington Post story)
- Reps. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) and Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) are preparing to introduce comprehensive immigration reform legislation in the House. (Hill News story)
- Rep. Gene Taylor (D-Miss.) directly criticized Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) during a speech on the House floor, violating House rules. (Hill News story)
- A commenter on the ''Talking Points Memo'' distributive research project on the White House's 3,000 page document dump discovered that no correspondence was released between the dates of November 15 and December 4, 2006. The U.S. Attorney firings occurred on December 7, 2006. (Talking Points Memo story)
- As of Tuesday, the House Democratic whip team was only 14 votes shy of having the 218 votes needed to pass a military spending bill that would precipitate the Iraq troop withdrawal. (Politico story)
- Following an early March 2007 Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions hearing on Capitol Hill workers' exposure to asbestos, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) harshly criticized the architect of the Capitol, Stephen Ayers, for his handling of the situation. (The Hill story)
- The Bush administration has offered to allow members of Congress to privately interview, with neither oath nor transcript, White House staff regarding the controversial firing of U.S. attorneys. Democrats rejected the offer and continued to pursue subpoenas. (The Hill story)
- The leadership of the House Ethics Committee, Chair Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-Ohio) and Ranking Member Doc Hastings (R-Wash.), issued a letter to colleagues asking for guidance on a provision of the Democratic ethics package. (MSNBC story)
- The $124 billion war funding bill in the House, scheduled for a vote on Thursday, contains billions of dollars for earmarks. (The Hill story)
- Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-Pa.) had heart bypass surgery late Monday night. (Roll Call story)
- House Administration Committee Ranking Member Rep. Vernon Ehlers (R-Mich.) dismissed suggestions of examining the election contestation of Democrat Christine Jennings, who lost to Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.) in the 2006 elections. (The Hill story)
- The Senate begins debate on a bill proposed by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) that would repeal the provisions that allowed for the firing of U.S. Attorneys by the Bush administration. The Caucus story)
- Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) equated the Democratic effort to subpoena White House staff regarding the firing of U.S. Attorneys to a "political witch hunt." (The Hill story)
- Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) is supporting comments by Marine General Peter Pace over his remarks that homosexuals acts are immoral. (CNN story)
- Former Sen. George Allen (R-Va.) is hosting a private dinner to discuss a potential run for Senate in 2008 or Governor in 2009. (Think Progress story)
- Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) became the second Republican lawmaker to call for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' resignation. (The Hill story)
- The Senate rejected a Democratic resolution to withdraw most American combat troops by a 50-48 vote. (N.Y. Times story)
- The House Judiciary Committee passed a bill that would give the District of Columbia a voting member in the House. (The Hill story)
- House members including, John Boehner (R-Ohio) are asking the ethics committee for written guidelines to clarify the new financial interest disclosure rules. (Politico story)
- The House Appropriations Committee approved the Iraq supplemental spending bill, by a vote of 36-28. (The Hill story)
- House Democrats expect to pass a $124 billion appropriations bill that will include a timetable for withdrawing from Iraq by fall of 2008. (CNN story)
- The Bush administration has responded to criticism of the forced resignation of eight U.S. Attorneys, saying that voter-fraud investigations were not being taken seriously. (Washington Post story)
- Sen. John E. Sununu (R-N.H.) has become the first Republican lawmaker to recommend that Alberto Gonzales be replaced as Attorney General. (CNN story)
- Democratic Caucus Chair Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) is telling freshmen House Members to avoid going on the ''Colbert Report'', fearing it could be risky to their political futures. (Hill News story)
- Sens. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) and John Warner (R-Va.) have been discussing the possibility of breaking ranks and coming up with a compromise piece of legislation regarding the Presidents plan for a troop surge in Iraq and Congressional appropriations. (Roll Call story)
- The Senate passed a bill containing many of the remaining provisions of the 9/11 commission, as well as expanded labor rights for more than 45,000 airport screeners. (Washington Post story)
- Rep. Marty Meehan (D-Mass.) will be resigning his seat in the House this summer to become the chancellor of the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. (Hill News story)
- Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) wants to call Karl Rove to testify before a Judiciary subcommittee in regards to his role in the U.S. Attorney firing controversy. (Hill News story)
- The man in charge of dismissing the U.S. Attorneys, D. Kyle Sampson, resigned yesterday after he acknowledged that he withheld information from Congress. Among the information withheld was that the White House had been considering firing all 93 U.S. Attorneys as early as February 2005. (Washington Post story)
- Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) has officially announced that he is a candidate for the presidency. (Hill News story)
- Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) has stated that he will announce whether or not he intends to run for the presidency later in 2007. (TPMmuckraker story)
- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) are engaged in a disagreement over changes to House ethics rules regarding congressional air travel. (Hill News story)
- Citing a lack of respect for the "rule of law and the Constitution law," Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has called for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to "step down." (CNN story)
- On March 8, in the face of the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings, U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales agreed on behalf of the administration not to oppose legislation that would effectively change the way U.S. Attorneys are replaced. (Washington Post story)
- The Office of Management and Budget stated that it would post all earmarks identified by federal agencies on its website. (The Hill story)
- The Bush administration, in keeping consistent with earlier statements, claimed that it would veto any legislation calling for a troop withdrawal timetable. (CNN story)
- House Democrats have introduced legislative requirements for the complete withdraw of U.S. combat soldiers from Iraq by the fall of 2008. The legislation is set to be bundled with a military appropriations bill worth over $100 billion. (Associated Press story)
- The Senate Judiciary Committee will decide tomorrow whether or not to subpoena Justice Department officials as part of an investigation into the firing of 8 U.S. attorneys in December 2006. (TPMmuckraker story)
- Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has stated that she would not file a motion objecting to the FBI raid on Rep. William Jefferson (D-L.A.), unless Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) would join her. (Politico story)
- Nearly two months after Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), captured his senate seat, he purchased over $50,000 worth of stock in two “speculative” companies whose major investors included some of his chief political contributors. (New York Times story)
- A probe into the firing of eight U.S. attorneys has implicated a senior staffer for Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.). This is the third GOP congressional office to become entangled in the mounting controversy over the firings. (The Hill story)
- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has asked President Bush to pledge he will not pardon Lewis Libby, Vice-President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff who was found guilty today on counts of perjury, obstruction of justice, and making a false statement. (TPM Cafe story)
- Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va) has introduced a bill which would seek to prohibit the president from invading Iran without congressional approval. (TPM Muckraker story)
- Rep. Heather Wilson (R-N.M.) has confirmed that she called former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias after her constituents contacted her saying that he "was intentionally delaying corruption investigations." (Washington Post story)
- David Iglesias and three other recently fired U.S. attorney's have been subpoenaed to appear at a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The hearing is focused on Republican executive and legislative branch interference into corruption inquiries. (Hill News story)
- The 2007 defense appropriations bill contains $10.5 billion in congressional earmark spending, despite passage of last year's Legislative Transparency and Accountability Act (Hill News story)
- Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) defended his shifting position on Iraq at a Republican conference this past Friday, stating that America's patience for the Iraqi government is "not inexhaustible." (The Oregonian story)
- Joe Baca (D-Calif.) has remained chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus despite a reported "coup" attempt to unseat him took place last week. (Hill News story)
- The House Judiciary Committee will issue the first round of subpoenas to Bush administration officials. (The Hill story)
- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) clashed over the 9/11 bill. (The Hill story)
- Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus will likely oust Rep. Joe Baca (D-Calif.) as their chairman. This follows an incident in which Baca allegedly called Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Calif.) a "whore." (The Hill story)
- Former Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio) sent out an emotional e-mail before reporting to a federal prison in West Virginia today. (The Hill story)
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