| Jamie Dupree |
February 2010 Archives
Democrats will try again this week to approve jobs legislation and extend long term jobless and COBRA health benefits for the unemployed. Simmering beneath both items is a fight over whether items like this should be paid for, or added to the deficit.
... continue reading Jobs & Jobless II. Here is the transcript of President Obama's remarks on Saturday about the earthquake in Chile and the tsunami threat to Hawaii and the Pacific.
... continue reading Obama on Quake/Tsunami. The Health Care Summit wasn't expected to produce a bipartisan agreement on health reform, and it did not, but it did produce some interesting moments when both parties weren't spouting their usual talking points on health legislation.
... continue reading Health Care Fight. As soon as President Obama jabbed Sen. John McCain at the Health Care Summit on Thursday, the event took on a much different focus, as their exchanges became obvious ingredients for anyone writing a story about that political gathering.
... continue reading Obama v McCain. Overshadowed by all of the coverage of the Health Care Summit was a battle among Democrats over a jobs bill and a nasty spat on the Senate floor on a short term extension of extended jobless benefits and health aid for the unemployed.
... continue reading Jobs & Jobless Battle. The Health Summit is over, and the logical question to ask is - which side won? I will let you answer that for yourself, based on your on views. How about where does this bill go from here?
... continue reading Summit Postgame Report. It's been an interesting first session of the Health Care Summit put on by the White House, as President Obama has urged lawmakers to find ways to "bridge the gaps" on health policy that exist between the two parties.
... continue reading Summit Halftime Report. The big story today in Washington, D.C. will be the White House Health Care Summit, as President Obama and his top lieutenants will sit down with 39 lamwakers from Congress to try to hash out something on health reform legislation.
If officials at Toyota had hoped that two days of Congressional hearings - including the appearance of CEO and namesake Akio Toyoda - would quell safety concerns about the Japanese automaker's vehicles, they probably didn't achieve that goal.
Well, that didn't take long. Just eleven days after President Obama signed the Pay-as-you-go law, which requires Congress to find offsetting budget cuts for any new spending or tax cuts, the Senate waived that new law in order to approve a jobs bill backed by Democratic leaders.
I get to watch a lot of hearings in the Congress, and sometimes there are some odd things that happen, and yesterday, there was one of those during an exchange between Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.
Here is a list of the Congressional attendees for Thursday's Health Care Summit in Washington, D.C. The rundown was provided by the White House.
... continue reading Health Summit Guest List. The focus of a second day of hearings on Toyota safety issues will be the CEO and namesake of the company, as Akio Toyoda will go before a House Committee to offer an apology over how the Japanese automaker handled questions about sudden acceleration in some of its vehicles.
... continue reading More Toyota Hearings. The email came through last weekend that Rep. John Dingell (D-MI), the longest serving member of the House will run for re-election. Any issues about age or sharpness of mind related to his bid were erased at yesterday's hearing on safety issues at Toyota.
... continue reading Mr. Lentz, Yes or No. Both parties are doing all they can to get ready for tomorrow's health care summit sponsored by the White House, as the chances don't seem great that the gathering will spur a round of bargaining that might produce comprehensive, bipartisan health reform legislation.
... continue reading Health Care Maneuvers. The Senate will vote today on a slimmed down, $15 billion jobs bill on Wednesday morning, sending the bill back to the House, but to an uncertain future.
... continue reading The Jobs Fight. The House Oversight Committee has released the opening statement for the committee's Wednesday's hearing that features Toyota President and CEO Ako Toyoda.
... continue reading Mr. Toyoda's Testimony. The big hearing today in the Congress will be before the House Energy & Commerce Committee, as it examines accelerator troubles at Toyota, in what could be the start of a difficult stretch on Capitol Hill for the Japanese automaker.
The White House released a veritable cornucopia of information Monday on the new health care plan from President Obama, which took a bit of a House health bill, some of the Senate bill and added in more from the White House. But a lot of stuff was missing.
... continue reading Obama Health Details. With the release on Monday of a new health care plan from the White House, did anything really change in terms of the politics on health care reform in the Congress? Judging from the reaction, probably not.
... continue reading Health Care Dynamic. Democrats won a test vote in the Senate on Monday evening on a slimmed down $15 billion jobs bill, as five Republican Senators led by new Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) broke ranks and helped Democrats break what would have been a GOP filibuster.
... continue reading Senate Jobs Bill Update. We have all been there. You take a vacation and soon enough, that day arrives when you finally have to go back to work. Sometimes it seems like it might be a better idea to stay home another day. Maybe that's what happened in the U.S. House on Monday.
... continue reading Tough Getting Back To Work. The new health care reform bill is out from President Obama, the first plan fully embraced by the White House since this debate began.
... continue reading New Obama Health Plan. This will be a busy week in the Congress, as lawmakers return to work after a President's Day break. The two big items on the agenda will be a Senate jobs bill and the new health care plan being unveiled by the White House today.
If you thought health care reform was dead in the Congress, think again, as Democrats are going to try to rustle up some momentum on the issue this week, in hopes of getting something to the President's desk.
... continue reading Health Care Returns. As the Senate returns to work from a President's Day break, the politics of jobs legislation will smack Senators in the forehead, as Democrats try to muster 60 votes to force action this week on a slimmed down, $15 billion jobs bill.
... continue reading Back To Jobs. Here is another rundown on how some of the Economic Stimulus money was spent. This is from the Commerce Department, which received money in that law to help spur the growth of high speed broadband internet services.
... continue reading More Stimulus Grants. It was billed as "major" announcement by Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite (R-FL), which is usually code for someone running for another office or announcing that he or she won't run for re-election.
... continue reading GOP Retirement Avoided. The special served all day on day one of the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C. was red meat, as Conservative Republicans sharpened their rhetorical knives repeatedly on Democrats and President Obama.
... continue reading CPAC Red Meat. We all know that the federal budget is in terrible shape. So what can be done to fix it? Why is it so impossible for either political party to get things in order?
... continue reading Fixing The Budget. Yes, it's about to be back again, front and center in the political debate - health care reform, as the run to next Thursday's health care summit is heating up this controversial issue again.
... continue reading Health Care Returns. I had a lot of negative comments after my post earlier this week on how much money was being spent on each job created and/or saved by the Economic Stimulus law of last year. So let's do some of that again.
... continue reading EPA Stimulus Jobs. Here is the text of the Executive Order signed today by President Obama that sets up an 18 member commission to study ways to rein in skyrocketing federal deficits.
... continue reading Obama Deficit Panel. A day after yet another report that showed rising levels of red ink, President Obama will try to take a step on the road to budget sanity by announcing a special Presidential commission to find ways to rein in the budget deficit.
... continue reading Obama Deficit Commission. The hallways will be buzzing in a downtown Washington, D.C. hotel in coming days, as Republicans gather for the Conservative Political Action Conference here, amid hopes that November will mean a return to power for their party and their agenda in the nation's capital.
... continue reading CPAC 2010. As Democrats marked the first anniversary of the Obama Economic Stimulus plan, they also turned up the heat on Republicans who have been denouncing the stimulus on one hand and trumpeting some of the money coming to their districts with the other.
... continue reading Stimulus Money Bomb. With yesterday's batte over the Economic Stimulus law, I decided to reach into my bag and see what I could find in terms of stimulus grant awards. So I tracked down these projects through the Federal Aviation Administration.
... continue reading Airport Stimulus Spending. There has been a lot of political back-and-forth over how many jobs have been created by the Economic Stimulus law approved a year ago today. How about how much has it cost per job?
The much maligned economic stimulus law turns one year old today, even more controversial maybe than when President Obama signed his name on that legislation back in February of 2009.
I listened in on a classic Washington, D.C. gathering Tuesday, which focused on the terrible situation with the federal budget. There were familiar faces, familiar calls for action and a general sense that something better the hell happen soon to deal with it.
... continue reading Federal Budget Choices. One thing about politics has always confused me. Most of us have to compromise in various ways in our lives, whether it's at work or in our family life. But when it comes to politics, the idea of compromise is hated and villified as an example of weakness.
... continue reading Whither The Center. With the stunning decision of Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN) to retire instead of running for re-election this year, it is a good time to review where the two parties stand in the battle for control of the U.S. Senate in November.
... continue reading Senate 2010 Outlook. What exactly is in the Senate jobs bill and how does it compare to a jobs bill already approved by the House? Well, there is a lot of difference in terms of the details, as the Senate plan is worth $15 billion, while the House plan is over $150 billion.
... continue reading Jobs Bill Comparison. Today we look at one program in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which hands out a variety of grants to farmers and agricultural companies, as the focus will be on the USDA "Value Added" Grant, which has $18 million now available.
If anyone in Washington, D.C. has been talking about Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN) retiring, they haven't been up in the Press Galleries of the U.S. Capitol, because this news was a shocker from out in Left Field.
The U.S. Congress is on a President's Day recess this week, which gives us a chance to review an issue that's been bubbling up in Washinton, D.C. of late, another partisan back-and-forth on Executive Branch nominations that are being held up in the Senate.
... continue reading Recess Appointments. The legislative text is out of the slimmed down jobs bill being advanced by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and it definitely does not have some special interest items we noted last week. So let's review some of what's in and out.
... continue reading Revised Jobs Bill. This is another installment of checks by this blog on billions in grant money handed out each year by the federal government. In Part 4, we look at money awarded under the Stimulus law approved in 2009 for Health Information Technology.
Here is the text of the new jobs plan from Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid (D-NV). This is a barebones package that would cost $15 billion, down from the original $85 billion price tag.
It was an interesting day in the U.S. Senate, as just a few hours after the unveiling of a bipartisan jobs bill, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid deep-sixed the plan and opted for a slimmed down jobs measure that wasn't loaded with legislative extras.
... continue reading Jobs Bill Switch. While Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid blew apart a bipartisan jobs bill that was stuffed with all kinds of unrelated provisions, those plans didn't exact die a horrible legislative death, as Reid says they will still be considered by the Senate.
After four snow days in a row, Federal Government offices in the Washington, D.C. area will be open on this Friday for the first time this week, as the Mid-Atlantic struggles to get back to normal after two severe snow storms in five days.
... continue reading Back To Work. While the Democratic Jobs Bill in the Senate is not yet in a final form, the 362 page draft is chock full of interesting items, like emergency loans for what looks to be chicken farmers who worked with one specific poultry company that went into bankruptcy in late 2008.
... continue reading Jobs Bill as Poultry Bailout. Last week, Democrats made a big deal out of how they approved a "PAYGO" plan, designed to force the Congress to stick with pay-as-you-go budgeting, all to stop deficit spending. But a draft jobs bill in the Senate would already get around some of those provisions.
... continue reading Paying For A Jobs Bill. As I sat in my house on Wednesday, all I could do was stare out the window in amazement at all of the snow that just kept falling and falling and falling on the Washington, D.C. area. Today, the city will try (again) to get back to work.
... continue reading The New Normal. It is hard to believe that we are having blizzard conditions today in the Washington, D.C. area, but that's what Mother Nature is throwing our way. I took a few photos, but it doesn't give you a great feel for the snow and the wind.
With the latest winter storm hitting the Washington, D.C. area leaving me snowbound again, I will have some time to dig into the details of the jobs bill being floated by Democrats in the Senate. And so here is a taste of what's in there for you.
As more snow started to fall in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday afternoon, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was still trying to fast track a bill designed to create jobs. But as Tuesday wore on, the bill seemed to grow larger and larger, like a legislative Christmas Tree.
... continue reading Jobs Bill As Xmas Tree. One of my main rules of politics in Washington, D.C. is never to underestimate the power of a President, no matter their party, no matter what kind of trouble that person is encountering. That rule applies right now to the call for bipartisanship by President Obama.
... continue reading White House Maneuvering. While most of the federal government was closed for a second straight day, a small group of Senators and experts held an interesting hearing on the challenges of bringing down the huge budget deficits now confronting the Congress.
... continue reading Snowbound Congress. Federal Government offices in Washington, D.C. will be closed again today, and with another snow storm arriving today, this week may quickly become a lost cause in terms of work in the Congress because of winter weather.
... continue reading Another Snow Day. An era came to an end in the U.S. House on Monday, as Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) died at a hospital in suburban Washington, D.C. The 77 year old Murtha had been suffering from complications in the wake of gallblader surgery.
... continue reading Rep. John Murtha. This is another blog entry that is intended to take a look at federal spending, specifically on billions in grant money handed out each year by Uncle Sam. In this case, the focus is on some of the grants awarded by the Department of Education.
The Obama Administration picked a Snow Day for the federal government in Washington, D.C. to announce the creation of a new climate change office, as well as a new "climate.gov" web site, though none of it seems to be in the federal budget.
... continue reading Climate Change End Run. The U.S. Senate convened as scheduled on this Snow Day for Washington, D.C., but did its work in just five minutes, postponing votes until Tuesday, to allow more time for Senators to get back to the nation's capital.
... continue reading In And Out. As long as I have lived in the Washington, D.C. area, it has been clear that big snows simply leave this region paralyzed, and that's true of the storm that hit this past weekend, as much of the Federal Government and a lot more will be shut down today.
... continue reading DC Snow Day. Last Thursday morning, Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid vowed that there would be votes on Monday on or related to a jobs creation bill. As Senators return to work this week, Democrats still haven't even agreed on what to put in that measure.
... continue reading Senate Jobs Bill. The White House is again trying to light a fire under a health care reform bill that is going nowhere in Congress, this time by pledging to meet with bi-partisan Congressional leaders later this month to talk about the matter.
... continue reading Health Care Push. Here are a few more photos from my neighborhood, as the Washington, D.C. region struggles to get things back in gear after a big weekend snowstorm which will close down offices of the Federal Government here on Monday.
It is a Winter Wonderland on this Saturday in the Washington, D.C. area, as a large swath of heavy snow has hit this region. Here's a couple of pictures from my neck of the woods.
Democrats have talked a lot in recent weeks how jobs creation legislation is going to be their number one priority this year. But it is obvious that members of that party in the Congress aren't on the same page when it comes to that issue.
... continue reading Priority Number One Trouble. The end came suddenly for Democrats in the Senate on Thursday, as their super-majority of 60 votes went away as Scott Brown took the oath of office and became the new junior Senator from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
... continue reading The End of 60. Yesterday this blog detailed some grants from the Department of Homeland Security to fire departments around the country. As if on cue, DHS awarded even more grants on Thursday.
The House will vote on legislation today that will raise the limit on how much money the government can borrow by $1.9 trillion. Republicans will want to focus on that while Democrats will highlight new budget safeguards that will also be signed into law.
... continue reading Big Time Money. There is always a lot of talk about the Congress approving those dreaded 'pork barrel' items, which send taxpayer dollars to sometimes questionable projects in a certain state or city. But there isn't much of a focus on pork doled out by the Executive Branch.
... continue reading More Executive Pork. In both of the budgets submitted to the Congress by President Obama, there has been a very clear message sent to the oil and gas industry, with proposals for higher taxes designed to hit domestic American energy producers.
... continue reading Taking On Big Oil. I'm not quite sure how best to describe the phrase "Acquisition Workforce Capacity", but it sure seems like a classic government line to describe the ability to buy something. However you define it, a lot more focus is on it in the new Obama budget.
... continue reading Acquisition Workforce Capacity. If day one of hearings in Congress is any indication of where the debate is going into the President's budget proposal, this might well be a rocky day in the Congress for top administration officials.
... continue reading Obama Budget Rumblings. It is easy to poke holes in a Presidential budget, since it is a massive document that can easily give the opposing party the chance to find something inside that doesn't add up. So let's look at one item that might draw a second look.
... continue reading Holes In The Budget. When reading the details of legislation, there are often a number of things that aren't exactly clear as you go through the legalistic text. There was a good example of that in the latest budget from President Obama.
... continue reading Buying Power Maintenance. During the time that I have covered Congress, we have seen the yearly budget deficits become a big political football in the debate over who is to blame for fiscal troubles in the U.S. So, let's look at some statistics.
For all the talk from President Obama about how important it is to confront the spending machine that is the federal government, the bottom line details of his latest budget show that tough decisions aren't exactly a hallmark of this spending plan.
... continue reading A Lot More Talk. As usual, some of the good stuff about a Presidential budget plan is not in the summary handouts delivered to reporters by the White House, or in the preview stories dutifully hammered out by my colleagues. The good stuff is in the fine print.
... continue reading The Fine Print. If you are looking through the Obama budget for earmarks, you aren't going to find many, if any, because those kind of things are left to lawmakers in the Congress to arrange as the House and Senate go through spending bills for the next fiscal year.
... continue reading Obama Budget Earmarks. You know the old line, "if it doesn't work, try, try again." Well, that can be said about a lot of different provisions in President Obama's budget, big and small, which were ignored and/or rejected last year by the Congress.
... continue reading Try It Again. The $3.8 trillion budget plan for Fiscal Year 2011 from President Obama is now being digested by all of Washington, D.C., and the first review certainly indicates some difficult fights ahead for the White House on a number of fronts.
Here's a list of "Terminations, Reductions and Savings" in the Fiscal Year 2011 Budget issued today by the White House.
Here is a release from the White House budget office that was sent to reporters on Sunday night, describing some of the bullet points of the Obama Budget for Fiscal Year 2011, which is being sent to Congress today.
... continue reading The Obama Budget. If you didn't watch the back and forth on Friday between President Obama and Republicans in the Congress, you missed some really good political TV, no matter what side you're on right now.
... continue reading Obama v GOP. Over the years, it has been somewhat painful to cover the happenings at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, better known as NASA. There has been tragedy, all kinds of cool stuff, and then at budget time, a feeling sometimes of slow death.
... continue reading NASA Takes Its Lumps. As the new budget plan from the Obama Administration comes out today, it brings back old memories of my early days as a reporter in Washington, D.C., with an event that still gets repeated.
... continue reading The Historical Tables. advertisement
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