Senators Figure Out McConnell Is Lying To Them About Trumpcare

Mitch McConnell has been reportedly promising vulnerable Republican Senators that they needn’t worry about the bill’s deep cuts to Medicaid, since they will never take effect anyway. But not everybody in his caucus is happy to hear this. “I am concerned about Leader McConnell’s comments to apparently some of my Republican colleagues — ‘Don’t worry about some of the Medicaid reforms, those are scheduled so far in the future they’ll never take effect,’” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) complains, “I think those comments are going to really put the motion to proceed in jeopardy, whether it’s on my part or others.”

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/07/senators-realize-mcconnell-is-lying-to-them-about-trumpcare.html

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Will a Trump Administration make life harder for undocumented immigrants? It looks like it....

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McConnell: I may not be majority leader next year

Mitch McConnell may not be leading the Senate majority next Congress, the Kentucky Republican acknowledged Thursday, hinting of the down-ballot effect Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump could have on Senate races.

“I may or may not be calling the shots next year,” McConnell told a civic group in Louisville, according to The Associated Press.

http://politicsbreaking.com/mcconnell-may-not-majority-leader-next-year/

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Bernie Sanders threatened with loss of Senate committee position if he didn’t endorse Hillary

Watching Sen. Bernie Sanders hoarsely shouting his praises of Hillary Clinton at the Democratic National Convention — and knowing that the hacked emails of the corrupt Democratic National Committee (DNC) reveal its machinations to undermine Bernie’s campaign — did you wonder as I did why Bernie would be so servile? The Yiddish words schmuck and schlemiel come to mind.

I thought that Hillary probably bought Bernie off with promises of some plum assignment in her administration. But I should know better because the Clintons are nasty pieces of work who wouldn’t use the carrot when the stick is so much cheaper and more effective.

Reporting from the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, independent investigative journalist Wayne Madsen says Bernie Sanders was threatened with the loss of his ranking position on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee if he did not endorse Hillary with enthusiasm.

http://investmentwatchblog.com/bernie-sanders-threatened-with-loss-of-senate-committee-position-if-he-didnt-endorse-hillary/

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Senate sleuths focus on ex-State Department aide in Clinton email ‘cover-up’

As Hillary Clinton seeks to rebound from a highly critical report from the State Department’s inspector general, Senate investigators and a conservative group are zeroing in on newly revealed evidence about the activities of a now retired State Department computer specialist in orchestrating what they charge was a “cover-up” of the former secretary of state’s email practices.

The role of John Bentel, whose identity as a key figure in the email probes was first reported by Yahoo News on Wednesday, is expected to be one focus of questioning today when Clinton’s former chief of staff, Cheryl Mills, is deposed in a lawsuit brought by Judicial Watch over the State Department’s handling of Freedom of Information Act requests relating to Clinton’s emails, according to a source close to the case.

Sen. Charles Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is also signaling that he intends to pursue Bentel’s role, saying that statements in the inspector general’s report show he “muzzled” staffers who warned that Clinton’s exclusive use of a private email system might be in violation of federal record-keeping laws.

Bentel served as the chief of “Information Resource Management” — essentially, the top official in charge of internal communications, security issues and record-keeping — inside the State Department’s Executive Secretariat, the professional support staff for the secretary of state. In late 2010, according to the inspector general’s report, two staffers inside his office, in separate meetings, raised concerns that Clinton’s private emails could contain government records that needed to be preserved — a standard requirement under a 1950 law known as the Federal Records Act.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/senate-sleuths-focus-ex-state-000000777.html?soc_src=social-sh&soc_trk=ma

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LePage Refuses to Swear-In Newly-Elected State Senator

Gov. Paul LePage struck back Friday at State House Democrats for what he said was shabby treatment of his nominee to the Maine Unemployment Insurance Commission.

Democrats refused to support Steven Webster for consideration, saying he lacked the temperament to hold the position.

LePage then refused to swear in newly-elected Democratic state Sen. Susan Deschambault, of Biddeford, saying he would take all of the time allowed under Maine law to perform that duty.

http://news.mpbn.net/post/lepage-refuses-swear-newly-elected-state-senator#stream/0

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Senators Remove Charitable Deduction Cap Proposal From Jobs Bill

Senators Remove Charitable Deduction Cap Proposal From Jobs Bill

In response to an announcement by Senate majority leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) that a provision in the American Jobs Act capping the charitable deduction at 28 percent had been removed from the bill, Independent Sector is calling on charities and foundations to remain steadfast in their efforts to block similar attempts to cap or eliminate tax incentives for charitable giving.

According to IS president and CEO Diana Aviv, nonprofit organizations reached out vigorously to lawmakers to share their concerns about such a cap and to explain why tax incentives designed to encourage charitable giving are critical to nonprofits and the communities they serve. But while lawmakers in both major parties indicated they do not support a lower cap on charitable deductions, such a cap has been put forward by the Obama administration four times as a source of revenue that could be used to help reduce the deficit and pay for other priorities. Indeed, while Reid removed the provision from the jobs bill, it remains in the White House's formal recommendations to the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, or so-called "Super Committee."

"Our message that the charitable deduction spurs the giving that enables nonprofits to create jobs and provide critical services has been validated," Aviv said. "We must continue to voice our strong objection to any proposals that would limit charitable giving incentives and harm the people served by the nonprofit community."

Senate rejects both parties’ spending plans

Majority Leader Harry Reid's caucus held the line against House Republicans on Wednesday. | AP PhotoClose

By DAVID ROGERS | 3/9/11 3:39 PM EST Updated: 3/9/11 7:49 PM EST

The Senate soundly rejected a House-passed package of Republican spending cuts Wednesday, shifting the burden back onto Speaker John Boehner to show more flexibility in budget talks with the White House and Democrats.

“With this vote out of the way, we’re gonna do some serious negotiations,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev). “This paves the way to get something done.”

POLITICO 4

The 56-44 roll call fell short of a simple majority let alone the 60 votes needed for Senate passage. Just as in the House last month, the measure won not a single Democratic vote—a remarkable failure given the political pressure on moderates running in 2012 to embrace more spending reductions.

Instead, Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), who had been targeted by the GOP, told his colleagues that the House bill “has too much hate” for him to accept. And Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), a second moderate in play, said the speed and size of the House cuts— $61.3 billion compressed in the second half of this fiscal year—could “cause just as big a crisis as our failure to deal with our long term structural debt.”

That said, the Democratic unhappiness in the Senate is clearly there to be mined if Boehner recalibrates the House approach. Just moments after the Republican defeat, a Democratic budget alternative fared even worse, 58-42, as moderates bolted in a signal to the White House it must also move more to the center to hold their support in the future.

Boehner’s initial reaction was to maneuver for more time, saying Democrats had still failed to come up with a legitimate counter-offer to the House bill. “It’s time for Washington Democrats to present a serious plan to cut spending,” the speaker said. But given their own divisions, Senate Democrats are clearly moving now to broaden the discussion to include mandatory savings—as well as tax loophole closings—to address deficit-reduction.

Each party faces challenges on the edges.

This is most pointed for Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), fighting to hold onto his old traditional northeastern GOP moderates while new tea party conservatives defect on the right.

For example, after adjusting for defense dollars, the House-passed cuts truly represent a cut of $66 billion from domestic and foreign aid programs, a 14 percent reduction. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who had been outspoken in her criticism of the bill, ultimately fell in line Wednesday with two other New England Republicans facing election next year: Sens. Olympia Snowe of Maine and Scott Brown of Massachusetts. But on the right, conservative Sens. Rep. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Mike Lee of Utah, two freshmen elected in November with tea party support, joined with Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) to vote no as a protest that the cuts did not go far enough.

Senate Passes “The ______Act of____”—No Foolin’!

Senate Passes “The ______Act of____”—No Foolin’!

Posted by Jim Harper, August 8, 2010 at 9:24 pm

What a mess the Senate has made of H.R. 1586. It’s a package of spending and revenue measures—but we’ll ignore the substance for now because they have so utterly goofed up the name.

As we noted here before, this is a “shell bill.” It was introduced as one thing (TARP taxes), became another thing (an aviation bill), and is now a batch of spending policies. (Cost: about $125 per family)

snafuThe most recent version of the bill was produced when the Senate passed a “substitute amendment.” That’s an amendment that clips out everything in the bill and puts in all new text.

In the House and Senate, they often publish amendments ahead of time, and it looks like someone was in a rush to get the amendment together, because they left blank lines where the new name of the bill should have been.

Take a look for yourself. Down toward the bottom of this page in the Congressional Record, it says, “SECTION 1. This Act may be cited as the “_______Act of______”. (The Library of Congress’ Thomas reporting system picked that up as the “XXXXXXAct ofXXXX,” so that’s how it shows up on our site.)

Well, THAT’s the amendment they brought up and passed, so the new name of the bill is the “_______Act of______.”

oopsAnd that’s the way it might be signed into law.

You see, the Constitution requires both Houses of Congress to pass identical bills before they can be sent to the president and signed into law. The Senate has left town for the rest of August, and the House is coming back next week to put its stamp of approval on the bill.

President Obama wants to sign it quickly—the bill is already up on the Whitehouse.gov “pending legislation” page (though posting it there before the bill passes Congress doesn’t count as Sunlight Before Signing). So the House has to approve this bill, with the name “_______Act of______.”

The only other alternative is for the House to change the name and have the Senate come back for another vote.

Congress seems always to be hustling to get things done—even when it’s spending billions of taxpayer dollars. This time, they were hustling so fast to get the money moving that they couldn’t take the time to give the bill a proper name.

Whose problem is this? Yours! You voted these folks in!

The Whitest Kids U'Know - Clint Webb for Senate