It will be a welcome sight to see an actual cross-examiner in committee hearings, to see Wall Street executives actually grilled by at least one member rather than the love-fests we normally see. Warren has stated that she envisions the Senate as a platform to highlight her views. I can’t think of a better foundation for that platform than the Banking Committee.

The messaging and posturing is hot and heavy as the Senate nears a vote on competing tax plans that in large measure will define the election in November. The fact that the two plans happen to have a lot in common will not be heard – they envision the same individual income tax rate for [...]

As expected, Republicans filibustered the DISCLOSE Act last night, as the legislation that would have forced disclosure on political campaign expenditures failed 51-44. Republicans who voted all united against the bill, and they were joined by West Virginia’s Joe Manchin, who is sure to have a wide variety of independent expenditure ads funded by secret [...]

Those who liked yesterday’s 5-4 verdict in NFIB v. Sebelius, the formal name of the Affordable Care Act lawsuit, have made two arguments knocking down concerns that the ruling could have negative ramifications. One of them I completely disagree with, and one I think needs to be looked at a bit differently. I want to [...]

A new poll from the National Journal shows that the principle of raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans by letting the Bush tax cuts expire remains extremely popular, even as some Democrats show trepidation about the idea. A new United Technologies/National Journal Congressional Connection Poll shows that only 26 percent of the public wants to [...]

Harry Reid has scheduled a vote on the Blunt amendment, which would allow employers to refuse insurance mandates on virtually any medical service simply by stating a moral objection to the practice, for tomorrow. Reid actually introduced the amendment himself when the Republicans wouldn’t: “We’re having our usual productive time in the Senate. Monday, no [...]

In my monomania yesterday on the foreclosure fraud settlement, I didn’t attend to the raft of developments on the President’s birth control regulations and the backlash from religious groups, onto which Republicans have piggy-backed. This has caused some competing actions on the Democratic side. On the one hand, you have in particular Democratic women, speaking [...]

So far, we have one defection on the American Jobs Act, though it isn’t a Democratic defection. Joe Lieberman, the lame duck (emphasis on lame) Senator from the Connnecticut for Lieberman Party, plans to vote no today, because he wants more deficit reduction (the American Jobs Act reduces the deficit). In addition, New Hampshire Democrat [...]

Weekly unemployment claims spiked up again today, and the NY Fed’s survey of regional manufacturing, a key indicator of the economy, was down sharply relative to expectations. This is a crisis time in the economy, and big solutions are needed to arrest the slide. The American Jobs Act isn’t perfect, but it would improve the [...]

Tonight’s address to the nation from the White House on the future in Afghanistan won’t be terribly interesting. By now we know the outlines: President Obama will announce a drawdown of “second surge” troops, about 33,000 in all, by the end of 2012. So there will still be 66,000 troops or so in Afghanistan by [...]

There’s no question that Joe Manchin will be a thorn in the side of the White House and national Democrats for the next two years and possibly longer. He won his election running away from the Democratic Party – even though he received more help from liberal writers, who did much to define his opponent [...]