[poochee]

House, Senate strike deal on transportation bill, student loans

By Alexander Bolton and Russell Berman - 06/28/12 05:02 AM ET
Keith Laing and Bernie Becker contributed to this report.

Senate and House negotiators have struck a deal to combine the transportation reauthorization, student loan bill and flood insurance legislation in a package expected to pass by the end of the week, according to congressional sources.

http://thehill.com/homenews/news/235...ate-wednesday-

[Wino]

Originally Posted by poochee

House, Senate strike deal on transportation bill, student loans

By Alexander Bolton and Russell Berman - 06/28/12 05:02 AM ET
Keith Laing and Bernie Becker contributed to this report.

Senate and House negotiators have struck a deal to combine the transportation reauthorization, student loan bill and flood insurance legislation in a package expected to pass by the end of the week, according to congressional sources.

http://thehill.com/homenews/news/235...ate-wednesday-

So how does in restrict women's rights?? There has to be a catch or someone has to get screwed by the wingers to pass anything. No doubt some nefarious clause in these bills somewhere.

[poochee]

Originally Posted by Wino

So how does in restrict women's rights?? There has to be a catch or someone has to get screwed by the wingers to pass anything. No doubt some nefarious clause in these bills somewhere.

Yep!

[poochee]

Posted on Friday, June 29, 2012
S.C. Gov. Haley cleared of ethics allegations
Andrew Shain | The State

COLUMBIA — Gov. Nikki Haley did not use her office for personal gain while serving as a representative from Lexington County, the S.C. House Ethics Committee ruled today.

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/06/2...#storylink=cpy

[poochee]

Congress finally gets its business done. But first, lots of something else.
By David A. Fahrenthold, Published: July 1

This is what the most detested, divided, gridlocked Congress in recent memory looks like when it works.

At one point in the past two weeks, lawmakers fought over the definition of a catfish. They fought over the question of when life begins. They fought about health-care legislation that passed two years ago and an immigration bill that failed 17 months ago.

One day, Democrats staged a walkout of the House chamber. On another, a Republican held a committee hearing to study his committee hearings.

And then — on the last afternoon of the last workday — they managed to complete the work that had been hanging in the balance the whole time. They saved student borrowers and their parents from an increase in college-loan interest rates and saved states from running out of highway funding.

That was accomplished with the last-minute appearance of a 596-page bill that several lawmakers hinted they had not read.



Read on: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politi...gin_redirect=0

[poochee]

Laura BassettBecome a fan.
North Carolina Defunds Planned Parenthood In Midnight Vote, Overriding Veto
The war against women continues.
Posted: 07/03/2012 12:18 pm Updated: 07/03/2012 4:22 pm

Planned Parenthood of Central North Carolina, one of the state's two Planned Parenthood providers, estimates that it will lose $200,000 as a result of the new budget. Because no state money is used for abortion services, the funding cuts will affect the clinic's ability to provide affordable birth control, cancer screenings, pap smears and other services for low-income women in the state.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...n_1646466.html

[poochee]

Rep. Jackson's ailments 'more serious' than 'initially believed'
By Laurie Ure, CNN Congressional Producer
updated 5:18 PM EDT, Thu July 5, 2012

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.'s illness is more serious than initially thought, his office says
Jackson, receiving extended in-patient treatment, has long term "physical and emotional ailments"
Jackson has been on leave from Congress since June 10
Jackson, an Illinois Democrat, is the son of civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson

Watkins declined a CNN request to elaborate on the specific nature of Jackson's ailment.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/05/politi...nts/index.html

[poochee]

Posted on Friday, July 6, 2012
N.C. Black Leadership Caucus group pulls support for Democrat Kissell
What took you so long?
Franco Ordoñez | McClatchy Newspapers

The N.C. 8th Congressional District Black Leadership Caucus political action committee, meeting in Hamlet, announced it would not endorse Kissell, a Biscoe Democrat, and discussed whether to back a write-in candidate.

“He has refused to endorse or support the president, has said he will vote to repeal the health care bill, and will just do anything that he can to be antagonistic to the president,” said caucus member Walter Rogers of Laurinburg. “We will not endorse or support Larry Kissell in his bid for re-election.”

A lot has happened in the past four years. Reapportionment reshaped the 8th District, making it even more Republican – and white. Registered black voters dropped from nearly 30 percent to 19 percent in his new district.

Two years ago, he faced similar criticism while running for his second term after voting against the health care bill, considered the Obama administration’s signature legislative victory. Rogers said he and others “held their nose” and endorsed Kissell, hoping the current term would be better.

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/07/0...#storylink=cpy

[poochee]

July 7th, 2012
08:02 PM ET
Barney Frank marries longtime partner
Posted by
CNN's Gregory Wallace
– CNN's Marlena Baldacci and Deirdre Walsh contributed to this report

Frank's office said the 16-term Massachusetts Democrat married Jim Ready, a small business owner and photographer from Maine at a Boston ceremony officiated by Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com...gtime-partner/

[poochee]

Rep. Rangel holds 990-vote lead as count ends in contested NY Democratic primary
By Meghashyam Mali - 07/08/12 08:42 AM ET

Rep. Charles Rangel leads by 990 votes in his Democratic primary, after election officials completed a contentious, extended count lasting nearly two weeks.

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/...cratic-primary

[Wino]

Sad. Past time for Rangel to go.

[poochee]

Posted on Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Missouri Republican candidates for Senate seat all share McCaskill's tax problem
David Goldstein | McClatchy Newspapers

U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill’s tax problems might not be so inviting a political target for her opponents after all.

It turns out that the three Missouri Republicans hoping for the chance to unseat her in the fall have been slow payers, too, although their overdue bills were not as sizable.

But even more ironic is the case of GOP Senate hopeful John Brunner. Among his tardy tax payments was one involving his company plane, a situation similar to one that caused McCaskill — a first-term Democrat in a tough re-election battle — so many political headaches a year ago.

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/07/1...#storylink=cpy

[poochee]

Nancy Pelosi And House Democrats File Brief Supporting DOMA Repeal In California Court
The Huffington Post | By Max J. Rosenthal Posted: 07/11/2012 2:05 pm Updated: 07/11/2012 2:05 pm

In the brief, which was filed in the case of Golinski v. U.S. Office of Personnel Management, the members of Congress argued that DOMA "lacks a rational relationship to any legitimate federal purpose and accordingly is unconstitutional." Karen Golinski, a federal employee who is married to another woman, launched the suit to force the federal government to give her spouse the same benefits afforded to heterosexual couples

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...cs&ir=Politics

[poochee]

Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. being treated for ‘mood disorder,’ office says
By Ed O'Keefe, Thursday, July 12, 5:12 AM
Rosalind S. Helderman contributed to this report.

Rep. Jesse L. Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) is at an undisclosed facility receiving medical treatment for a mood disorder, his aides said Wednesday after days of speculation about his whereabouts.

Citing federal medical privacy laws, Jackson’s office said late Wednesday that it would not release specific details about the congressman’s condition or location. But a statement from the office citing an unnamed physician said Jackson, 47, “is receiving intensive medical treatment at a residential treatment facility for a mood disorder. He is responding positively to treatment and is expected to make a full recovery.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politi...rc=nl_politics

[poochee]

House Agriculture Committee approves 5-year farm and food bill
By Associated Press, Published: July 11

WASHINGTON — The House Agriculture Committee has approved a five-year farm and nutrition bill that gives farmers new ways to protect themselves from bad weather and poor prices and slices about 2 percent off the $80 billion the government spends every year on food stamps.

The 35-11 committee vote comes three weeks after the Senate passed its version of the half-trillion-dollar bill and shifts the focus to the full House as Congress seeks to come up with a consensus bill before the current farm bill expires at the end of September.

House Republican leaders have shown little enthusiasm for taking up legislation that faces opposition from conservatives who say it is too expensive. Democrats, meanwhile, don’t like the cuts in food stamps.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/busine...y.html?hpid=z4