We know that the US Conference of Catholic Bishops has rejected the new compromise policy on birth control access, and that the Republican leadership agrees with them. But does that mean they have a chance to shift policy legislatively? The chances of that took a severe blow today, when Maine Republican Senators Olympia Snowe and [...]

Here’s how out of control the debt limit debate has gotten on Capitol Hill. The Democrat in the White House is trying to increase the eligibility age for Medicare or effect a Social Security benefit cut, and the Republican from Maine is trying to stop him. “There are solvency problems with both programs,” Sen. Olympia [...]

Here’s just another reason why I’m not buying this about-face from Republicans on $1 trillion in tax increases, which would be needed to secure the “going big” deal hoped for by Barack Obama. If you open your Wall Street Journal editorial page, as I’m sure you do every day, you will see an op-ed by [...]

About a year ago, I appeared at Netroots Nation with Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR), the Huffington Post’s Ryan Grim and Professor Elizabeth Warren on a panel called “The Forgotten Foreclosure Crisis.” Speaking with Merkley today, I remarked that we could hold the same panel again this year, without changing a word of it, and not [...]

Let’s just say that the President’s energy security speech didn’t go over so well among the communities of interest. The President acknowledged the problem of dependence on oil, but the relatively puny target – reducing foreign oil imports by 1/3 over the next decade and a half – and the emphasis on “finding and producing [...]

Bob Corker, speaking softly to Olivier Knox, casually says that the START treaty won’t pass if Don’t Ask Don’t Tell or the DREAM Act get a vote tomorrow. Corker voted against bringing up START in the first place. Nevertheless, you can’t totally dismiss this threat. Even though Corker voted against the treaty on the motion [...]

The House passage of the standalone bill that would effect a legislative repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell leads to the worst words in the English language: “The bill now moves to the Senate.” But there’s some reason for optimism. First of all, check out the roll call of the 250-175 House vote. Supporters actually [...]

It’s not clear if Senators Reid and McConnell will allow much in the way of amendments to the tax cut deal, which should get a cloture vote shortly. But Senators are already filing those amendments, and one intriguing bipartisan one comes from Sen. Sherrod Brown’s office. U.S. Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Olympia J. Snowe [...]

Senators Jack Reed (D-RI) and Bob Casey (D-PA) want the Senate to take up and pass a one-year extension of unemployment insurance benefits from 26 to 99 weeks, but they did not sound hopeful on a conference call that this could get done before the extension lapses at the end of November. Getting jobless benefits [...]

I can’t believe people are falling for Mark Kirk making moon eyes at the DISCLOSE Act, as if this portends progress for getting the bill passed in the lame duck session. First of all, Kirk will show up in the lame duck, but he’ll replace Roland Burris – who was already a vote for the [...]

Senate Republicans created another roadblock today, stopping debate on the DISCLOSE Act, a campaign finance bill meant to be a response to the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision. The cloture vote was 59-39, one short of the 60 votes needed to move forward on the bill. Republicans were lockstep in opposition. Democrats tried to entice [...]