I thought Mitch McConnell was just grousing about trade adjustment assistance being included in the three trade deals that the President sent to Congress. What I didn’t know is that the White House negotiated directly with House Republicans on the deal, and didn’t really consult the Senate minority. So they’re making mischief out of a [...]

Lawmakers in the House will get their first opportunity soon to vote up or down on continuing the Afghanistan war since the death of Osama bin Laden. The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which will eventually fund $690 billion for the Pentagon and ongoing war operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, passed the House Armed Services [...]

MADISON, WI (FDL) – The Assembly Democrats have presented an alternative budget proposal and are meeting with the head of the Department of Administration, Mike Huebsch. We’re trying to get a copy of the alternative proposal, but I’m not sure they’ll have any more success with that as they’ve had with their litany of amendments [...]

We should see a vote in the Senate on repealing the Affordable Care Act today, although a decision on how to approach it is still being worked out. Because of the lack of Senate rules reform, any amendment is subject to filibuster as well. However, my understanding is that the amendment on repeal violates the [...]

On a conference call about the FAA Authorization bill, the first substantive legislation to be taken up in the Senate, Harry Reid was asked about the situation in Egypt, and basically toed the Obama Administration line, using much of the same language of the past 24 hours. He said that he’s “deeply concerned” about the [...]

The Senate passed two rules reforms and expects to pass a third, while more far-reaching reforms seemed destined to fail. Secret holds were banned by a vote of 92-4. This measure would allow Senators to retain the ability to place a hold on any nomination, legislation, amendment or motion to proceed, requiring a cloture vote [...]

Sen. Jeff Merkley acknowledged that one component of the consensus plan on Senate rules reform put together by him, Tom Udall and Tom Harkin would probably get tweaked, and that the biggest concern for skittish Democratic lawmakers was changing the rules at all, lest they be changed on them when Republicans take over. Which is [...]

Senate Republicans have let it be known that they are pleased by one aspect of the rules reform package put out by three Democrats. In so doing, they basically tipped their hand that they really want a majority-rule chamber. The issue in question is the “Right to Amend” provision of the rules package. Under this [...]

The Senate recessed last night, and won’t come back into session until January 25. It’s good to be a Senator. But before they pick back up on what amounts to the same “legislative day,” they will build support for Tom Udall’s Constitutional option to reform the Senate rules. Outside of Ben Nelson, there really isn’t [...]

So Tom Harkin and Lamar Alexander are engaged in a colloquy about the filibuster, which is kind of happening in a bizarro world. Harkin introduced his longtime filibuster proposal which would actually lower the threshold of the cloture vote gradually, from 60 down to 51 over a 9-day period. Alexander objected to it. This is [...]

The President just signed the legislative repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell at the Department of the Interior in Washington. Margaret Witt, the Seattle native who was reinstated to the military in one of the last DADT trials, made it to the bill signing. It was a gathering of incredible people who put their lives [...]