U.S. Congress

TheWeekInCongress (April 23-27, 2007)

by Conor Kenny — April 27, 2007 - 1:00pm

Topics: U.S. Congress, Democracy, U.S. Government

It was another active week on Capitol Hill for both the House and Senate. In addition to major legislation on the Iraq War, measures regarding small businesses, animal rights, and genetics were also considered. For a thorough look at the bills debated and considered since Monday, we again turn to Robert McElroy’s TheWeekInCongress.

Final vote this week on Iraq withdrawal bill; Bush Promises Veto

by Conor Kenny — April 25, 2007 - 4:20pm

Topics: Iraq, U.S. Congress, Democracy, U.S. Government

Update 2: On Thursday afternoon, the Senate followed the House in passing the spending bill, 51-46. It now goes to President Bush, who is expected to veto it.

Update: Late Wednesday night, the House passed the $124 billion supplemental spending bill which establishes timetables for a U.S. combat withdrawal from Iraq, 218-208.

Both chambers of Congress are set to vote this week on final passage of the contentious Iraq War funding bill.

House and Senate Face Busy Week of Committee Hearings

by Conor Kenny — April 24, 2007 - 2:30pm

Topics: U.S. Congress, Democracy, U.S. Government

Both the House and Senate are in full swing this week, with each expected to consider numerous bills and resolutions. Most notably, both chambers plan to vote on a supplemental spending bill which would provide $95 billion for the Iraq War, but also call for a phased withdrawal of U.S. combat troops by Oct. 1, 2007 and set a non-binding goal of removing all troops by Apr. 1, 2008 (President Bush has promised to veto the bill if it passes). In addition to legislation, both the House and Senate are again planning to hold a number of important committee hearings. These include one by the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee concerning the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act, as well as a House Judiciary Committee hearing where the panel is expected to issue a subpoena and grant immunity to former Justice Department Director of Public Affairs Monica Goodling for her testimony regarding the U.S. attorney firings controversy. Here, courtesy of GovTrack, is a quick rundown of all of this week’s House and Senate hearings:

DC Voting Rights March Hailed as Success; House to Consider Bill Soon

by Conor Kenny — April 19, 2007 - 11:50am

Topics: Activism, U.S. Congress, Democracy, U.S. Government

Rain and cold temperatures were not enough this past Monday (April 16) to deter residents of the District of Columbia (including newly-elected Mayor Adrian Fenty) from marching in support of long-awaited voting rights in Congress. An estimated crowd of 3,500 turned out for the largest gathering regarding the issue in decades, which featured a march down Pennsylvania Avenue to the U.S. Capitol.

The District of Columbia, which has nearly 400,000 voting residents who are required to pay all federal taxes, has never enjoyed voting representation in either the House or Senate.

Help Solve the Mystery: Which Senator Placed a Secret Hold on the Electronic Filing Bill?

by Conor Kenny — April 18, 2007 - 5:37pm

Topics: U.S. Congress, Democracy, U.S. Government

Our friends at Sunlight have been closely following S.223, a bill which would require senators to file their campaign finance reports in electronic form (as House members already do). The bill, sponsored by Sen.

Senate Facing Another Busy Week of Hearings

by Conor Kenny — April 17, 2007 - 4:55pm

Topics: U.S. Congress, Democracy, U.S. Government

After a two-week recess, the House is back in session this week and ready to tackle a full legislative schedule, including a measure which would grant the District of Columbia a voting member in the House. The Senate plans to be active as well, and among other things will consider a bill (passed by the House in January) to allow the federal government to negotiate drug prices with pharmaceuticals for Medicare recipients. In addition to legislation, the Senate is again planning to hold a number of important committee hearings, including the highly anticipated testimony of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales before the Judiciary Committee concerning his role in the U.S. attorney firings scandal. Here, courtesy of GovTrack, is a quick rundown of all of this week’s Senate hearings (the House doesn't have easily accessible committee schedules, something the folks at the OpenHouseProject are trying to fix):

TheWeekInCongress (April 7-13, 2007)

by Conor Kenny — April 13, 2007 - 5:15pm

Topics: U.S. Congress, Democracy, U.S. Government

With the House out of session this week, there was less news than usual to report from Capitol Hill. The Senate, however, did consider a number of important issues such as stem cell research and funding for federal intelligence agencies. For a thorough analysis of this action, we again turn to Robert McElroy’s TheWeekInCongress. His site is a great resource for citizens wishing to keep track of what their members are up to in Washington, and we urge you to check it out. Follow the headlines below to the Congresspedia articles covering the respective issues, which in turn link to and heavily rely on McElroy's analyses.

New Participatory Project: Getting the Colbert Report into Congresspedia

by Conor Kenny — April 11, 2007 - 8:59am

A few weeks ago we asked you, dear readers and citizen editors, to pitch in and help with our first "wikiproject" - a short, participatory effort to update and expand a part of the SourceWatch/Congresspedia wiki. Lots of people chipped in and we accomplished our goal: getting contact information for all the freshman members of Congress, including the addresses and phone numbers for each of their district offices.

Main Source:

The Colbert Report on Congresspedia

Senate Committees Busy With Hearings This Week

by Conor Kenny — April 10, 2007 - 9:30pm

Topics: U.S. Congress, Democracy, U.S. Government

With the House out of session and the Senate tackling a lighter-than-usual legislative schedule this week, posting at Congresspedia has been light. There are, however, a number important committee hearings set to take place in the Senate that we wanted to bring to your attention. Here, courtesy of GovTrack, is a quick rundown of them:

House Reps. Brady and Fattah in Tight Race for Philly Mayor

by Conor Kenny — April 6, 2007 - 6:00pm

Topics: U.S. Congress, Democracy, Politics

While Congress has been out of session this past week, Democratic House Reps. Bob Brady (Pa.) and Chaka Fattah (Pa.) have been busy campaigning in the hopes of becoming Philadelphia’s next mayor. The primary will take place on May 15 and — given the city’s heavily Democratic lean (no Republican has been elected mayor since 1948) — is expected to effectively determine the outcome of the general election.