Conor Kenny's News Articles

Congresspedia Review: Last Week in Congress (Sept. 17-21, 2007)

by Conor Kenny — September 23, 2007 - 11:43pm
  • Topics: U.S. Congress

    • It was heady week in Congress, with developments in two investigations of members Congress and a series of votes on Iraq deployments, habeas corpus for War on Terror detainees, health insurance for low-income children, trade with Peru, a seat in the House of Representatives for Washington, D.C., the housing credit crisis and MoveOn's controversial ad. The headlines are below, but you can find more details, including how your members of Congress voted, by clicking through the links to the full Congresspedia articles.

    Preview: Congress This Week (Sept. 17 - 21, 2007)

    by Conor Kenny — September 17, 2007 - 9:30am
  • Topics: This Week In Congress, U.S. Congress

    • In the coming week the Senate will continue to debate the Fiscal Year 2008 defense budget after last week's testimony by Gen. David Petraeus and Amb. Ryan Crocker, which will provide a platform for general debate on the Iraq War and measures to begin withdrawing troops. It will also look at a bill to provide a congressional seat for Washington, D.C. The House will take on the Federal Aviation Administration section of the federal budget and, through the Financial Services Committee, will take up legislation to increase federal backing of low and middle income mortgages.

    Know anything about these issues? Click the links to the articles above and add what you find. A complete list of the week's congressional hearings are below, courtesy of Govtrack.

    Hearings Schedules:

    The Week In Congress (September 10-September 14, 2007)

    by Conor Kenny — September 13, 2007 - 4:03pm
  • Topics: U.S. Congress

    • The main event this week on Capitol Hill was General Petraeus's testimony on the situation in Iraq. Between the testimony and the shortened week due to Rosh Hashanah, the Senate still had time to get through one major appropriations bill and preempt a vote on a resolution defending Gen. Petraeus that Senate Republicans were trying to tack onto it. Also, President Bush was expected to sign the Senate ethics and transparency bill, S.1, on Friday. More details can be found below and the links go to the full Congresspedia articles. Remember, Congresspedia is a wiki, so if you would like to add to these articles or record your representatives' votes, head on over and click "edit":

    Coming Up This Week in Congress (Week of Sept. 10th, 2007)

    by Conor Kenny — September 10, 2007 - 9:17am
  • Topics: This Week In Congress, U.S. Congress

    • The marquee events in Congress this week will be the hearings in both chambers of Congress with testimony from General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker on the Iraq War. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will also hear testimony from Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and FBI Director Robert Mueller on the July National Intelligence Estimate, which claimed that Al-Quaeda had largely rebuilt itself to pre-Afghanistan War levels. Most of these hearings, whose schedules are listed below, are available for live viewing via C-SPAN.

    Also on the Senate's agenda is the $104.7 billion Transportation-Housing and Urban Development Fiscal Year 2008 funding bill, which currently exceeds President Bush's budget request by $3.1 billion and may receive a veto threat from him. With the beginning of Rosh Hashana on Wednesday evening, business in the Capitol will largely cease for the week.

    Hearings Schedules:

    The Week In Congress (September 3-September 7, 2007)

    by Conor Kenny — September 7, 2007 - 2:44pm
  • Topics: U.S. Congress

    • It was an eventful week on Capitol Hill, as Congress returned from its August recess and dug into a series of spending bills that must be completed by the end of the fiscal year on September 30th. The nutshell versions of the major bills that received action are below and the links go to their full Congresspedia articles.

    Coming Up this Week in Congress (Week of Sept. 4th, 2007)

    by Conor Kenny — September 4, 2007 - 9:36am
  • Topics: This Week In Congress, U.S. Congress

    • Congress is back in session after their August break and are diving headfirst into a passel of spending bills, many of which are due by September 30th, the end of the 2007 fiscal year. Iraq will also be a huge issue this month as the "Petraeus report" (which we have learned is actually being written by the White House) is to be delivered to Congress on September 10th - 11th and a Government Accountability Office report on Iraq is published in the next few days. While plenty of debate on Iraq is expected this week, it is unclear if anyone will try to move any bills ahead of Petraeus' testimony next week.

    The issue of Iraq is also, of course, intertwined with the debate over the budget for the next fiscal year year, which starts October 1st. This week the Senate will take up spending bills for military construction and veterans affairs and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) also reportedly wants to start work on funding bills for the Defense Department, transportation and foreign operations. Authorization bills for the Federal Aviation Administration, Food and Drug Administration, State Children's Health Insurance Program and the massive 2007 Farm Bill also due by the end of the month. Congressional Democrats are additionally looking to pass legislation passed by the House earlier this year on student loans and financial aid.

    As the September 30th deadline approaches it is unclear if all the funding bills, possibly including funding for the Iraq War, will be passed individually or passed as an omnibus bill. President Bush, meanwhile, is threatening to veto any bill that exceeds the budget he sent to Congress.

    On the personnel front, Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) announced his resignation on Saturday, effective September 30th. The Republican governor of Idaho is expected to appoint current Lieutenant Governor Jim Risch to serve until the end of Craig's term next year. Sen. Tim P. Johnson (D-S.D.) is back after recovering from his stroke and says he'll be serving through the end of his term next year when he expects to run for reelection.

    Each of the links in this post go to articles on the Congresspedia/SourceWatch wiki and are fully editable, so if you've seen some relevant information around, help spread truth and facts by going to the wiki article, clicking "edit this page" and adding it.

    The House has not yet posted their hearing schedule for the week, but the Congresspedia staff put together the Senate schedule for the week:

    Hearings Schedules:

    Congresspedia's "Congress in the News" updates, July 11-July 18, 2007

    by Conor Kenny — August 9, 2007 - 2:15pm
  • Topics: Congresspedia News Updates, U.S. Congress, Democracy, U.S. Government
    • In anticipation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales's upcoming appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) sent Gonzales a letter detailing questions the chairman planned to ask, in order to help avoid so many "I don't recall" responses.

    Alaskan Congressional Delegation Facing Mounting Legal Trouble; Two Members Now Under Criminal Investigation

    by Conor Kenny — August 8, 2007 - 4:00pm
  • Topics: U.S. Congress, Democracy, U.S. Government

    • While Congress has officially begun it's August recess, members of the Alaskan congressional delegation may be finding it difficult to relax.

    Both Sen. Ted Stevens (R) and Rep. Don Young (R) are currently under federal investigation for possibly taking bribes, illegal gratuities and unreported gifts from Veco Corp., an Anchorage-based oil services company.

    The Week In Congress (July 30-August 3, 2007)

    by Conor Kenny — August 6, 2007 - 7:15pm
  • Topics: U.S. Congress, Democracy, U.S. Government

    • Both chambers of Congress scrambled to pass weighty and complicated pieces of legislation before they adjourned for the August recess, with the House finally wrapping things up on Sunday. The biggest measures were on domestic wiretapping, ethics, childrens' health insurance and energy. The headlines below link to the respective full Congresspedia articles. Know something about the bills?

    Coming Up This Week in Congress: Iraq, ethics, childrens health insurance, energy and the farm bill

    by Conor Kenny — July 30, 2007 - 1:23pm
  • Topics: This Week In Congress, U.S. Congress

    • There's only one more workweek before the Congressional August recess (Aug. 3 - 31) and Democratic leaders are scrambling to pass a number of important bills before leaving Washington. They will try to pass the long-delayed ethics reform bill and an expansion of health insurance for poor children. The House will also debate a number of Iraq-related budget and withdrawal timeline provisions as well as energy and farm legislation. A full listing of the committee schedules for the week is after the jump.

    • Ethics and transparency legislation - After Senate Republicans including Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) stalled the main ethics reform bill after Democrats refused to guarantee the inclusion of earmark reforms (S.1), Democrats are moving to pass a new version out of the House, allowing them to give it an up-or-down vote in the Senate without going through the committee process. Provisions include requirements for lobbyists to disclose campaign fundraising and changes to revolving door lobbing regulations. It is unclear whether the bill will include earmark provisions requiring the disclosure of earmark sponsors and the easy striking of earmarks that originate in conference committees.
    • 2008 Defense budget - The House will debate the Fiscal Year 2008 Defense appropriations bill this week and several Iraq-related amendments are expected. Bush has requested $141.7 billion for Iraq and Afghanistan. An amendment is expected from Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) that would require a reduction in troop levels beginning 60 days after the budget is passed but does not include a deadline for a withdrawal to be completed. Another Democratic amendment to require the closure of Guantanamo bill within 180 days.
    • More Iraq bills - The House may debate and vote on two Democratic bills approved by the House Armed Services Committee on Friday. H.R.3159, by Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.), would require that soldiers receive leave equal to the time they are deployed in Iraq and H.R.3087, by Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii), would require the Pentagon to make reports on war planning.
    • State Children's Health Insurance Plan - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) are expected to try and pass a reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Plan (SCHIP), which provides funding to states to provide health insurance to the children of families which have too much income to qualify for Medicaid but too little to afford private health insurance. The Senate Finance Committee has sent a bipartisan bill to the full body that expands SCHIP by $35 billion over five years from its current level of about $25 billion. Amendments are expected from senate Republicans to reduce the increase to $9 billion and add small business health plans and health savings accounts, but have said they won't filibuster the bill. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) is expected to offer an amendment expanding the increase to $50 billion over five years. In the House, the Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means committees have sent a Democratic bill to the floor that expands the program by $50 billion over five years and prevents planned cuts in Medicare physician fees for two years. It would be paid for by a 45 cent-per-pack tax hike on cigarettes, and cuts or freezes on fees paid to Medicare health plans and some healthcare providers. Pelosi said last week she will bring the bill, which faced strong opposition from some Republicans when it was in committee, up for a floor vote this week.
    • Employment discrimination - The House is expected to vote this week on a bill that would nullify a recent Supreme Court ruling on employment discrimination in pay by extending the statute of limitations on claims each time an employee received discriminatory pay or compensation. The Supreme Court had recently ruled against a plaintiff based on the fact that the 180 statute of limitations started when the discriminatory decision was made, not each time the employee was paid. House Republicans have complained of being shut out of the process and President Bush has issued a veto threat.
    • Budgets - The Senate votes to confirm former Rep. Jim Nussle (R-Iowa) as the new OMB Director may be delayed by Democrats if Bush indicates he will veto the domestic spending bills, which exceed his overall proposal (not including Iraq War funding) by $23 billion. Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) has scheduled a vote in the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee but Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) is waiting to see what Bush says.
    • Farm bill - The House will debate the $90.7 billion 2007 farm bill (H.R.2419).
    • Energy - The House is expected to debate several energy bills this week, many of which are related to bills already filed to combat climate change.

    Hearings Schedules:

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