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Posts in "Capitol Hill"

June 19, 2013

A Good Test of Exactly How Screwed Up Washington Is

Farm 02 042513 445x294 A Good Test of Exactly How Screwed Up Washington Is

Stabenow worked with Republicans to pass the farm bill in the Senate. (Chris Maddaloni/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

Once upon a time, on a very different planet and in a very different country, the farm bill was not among the more controversial things that Congress did.

Yes, previous farm bills have produced knock-down, drag-out fights between various parts of the country, each seeking to protect its own commodities and farmers. And in 1981, the farm bill passed by only two votes, 205-203, with the conference committee’s report passing the House just two weeks before the end of the calendar year.

But those were largely fights over who got what, and most farm bills have produced relatively civil fights over how the pie — a shrinking pie, when it comes to money for actual farmers — is divided. Full story

By Stuart Rothenberg Posted at 2:15 p.m.
2comments
Capitol Hill

April 19, 2013

Landrieu’s Gun Vote: A Possible Political Explanation

landrieu041913 445x296 Landrieu’s Gun Vote: A Possible Political Explanation

Landrieu’s voting record stands out from other vulnerable Democrats up for re-election next year. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

Three red-state Democratic senators up for re-election next year – Alaska’s Mark Begich, Arkansas’ Mark Pryor and Montana’s Max Baucus – voted against the gun control measure offered by Sens. Joe Manchin III, D-W.Va., and Patrick J. Toomey, R-Pa., but not Louisiana Democratic Sen. Mary L. Landrieu.

Republicans are already licking their chops, barely able to hide their glee and control their euphoria. And they may well defeat Landrieu next year, when she seeks a fourth term. But anyone who thinks Landrieu is politically deaf ought to think again.

I don’t know whether Landrieu can survive her gun vote – or her votes for the Democratic Senate budget and the Obama health care bill – but the veteran Democrat certainly had political reasons for doing what she did on guns (if politics was part of her calculation). Full story

By Stuart Rothenberg Posted at 2:45 p.m.
23comments
Capitol Hill, Louisiana, Senate

April 17, 2013

How Will Divided Attention Affect Obama, Congress?

ObamaRoseGarden041713 445x309 How Will Divided Attention Affect Obama, Congress?

Obama has a lot of different issues to manage as he seeks to build his legacy in his second term. (JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images)

Not much going on these days, huh? There are only a few things on the president’s — and Congress’ — plate, including:

  • Guns
  • A big budget compromise
  • Immigration overhaul
  • North Korea
  • Bombs at the Boston Marathon
  • Iran’s nuclear program
  • And oh yes, jobs and the economy

Recent events once again prove that while politicians — and particularly presidents — like to believe that they can always set the agenda, much of political leadership involves responding to circumstances.

“Stuff happens” is the way I like to put it. It can be an oil spill, a shooting, a foreign leader firing on his own citizens, a trial of a doctor who killed women and children at an abortion clinic or some crisis manufactured by a largely unknown young political leader who needs to solidify himself at home. Full story

By Stuart Rothenberg Posted at 7:52 p.m.
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Capitol Hill, Democrats, Presidential, Republicans

April 5, 2013

New Jobs Numbers Raise Economic — and Political — Questions

jobs040513 445x274 New Jobs Numbers Raise Economic — and Political — Questions

The unemployment rate slid slightly in March, only because people stopped looking for work. (Douglas Graham/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

The jobs numbers just reported for March — an increase of only 88,000 jobs — are horrendous, especially coming after February’s strong job surge (236,000 new jobs revised up to 268,000).

Forget the unemployment rate sliding from 7.7 percent to 7.6 percent. As The Assocaited Press noted, that drop resulted “only because more people stopped looking for work.”

One bad month of new jobs data isn’t likely to have a huge effect on President Barack Obama’s job approval numbers, and good news in the April report would quickly erase concerns about the March numbers.

But any sense over the next few months that the growing optimism about the economy has been misguided could send the Dow Jones industrial average down hundreds of points and put pressure on the president. Full story

By Stuart Rothenberg Posted at 12:17 p.m.
2comments
Capitol Hill, Democrats, Presidential, Republicans

March 27, 2013

The Fat Lady Sings on Gun Control, 2013 Edition

gunsign032713 445x296 The Fat Lady Sings on Gun Control, 2013 Edition

(Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

Whether you are a staunch supporter of the National Rifle Association or an enthusiastic backer of the effort by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and California Sen. Dianne Feinstein for stronger gun control laws, it now should be clear who is winning — indeed, who has won — the latest skirmish in the gun control wars.

As my friend Chris Cillizza noted recently in an excellent piece, supporters of new gun control measures are poised to fail, yet again, in their efforts to pass significant new legislation.

The Senate’s gun violence bill doesn’t include an assault weapons ban or a ban on high-capacity magazines, so almost any legislation eventually enacted is likely to fall far short of what activists on the gun control side really want — or hoped for after the Newtown, Conn., tragedy.

The assault weapons ban was officially declared dead last week, and even a new requirement for expanded background checks could fail unless its supporters work with congressional Republicans to fashion a proposal that both parties can accept. Full story

By Stuart Rothenberg Posted at 3:27 p.m.
9comments
Capitol Hill, Democrats, Republicans

March 13, 2013

GOP Doubles Down on Ryan to Change the Narrative

PaulRyan031313 445x295 GOP Doubles Down on Ryan to Change the Narrative

“We aren’t going to be fighting about the Ryan budget,” one Republican promised about the political jockeying to come. (Chris Maddaloni/CQ Roll Call)

In what can only be regarded as an interesting gamble, Wisconsin Rep. Paul D. Ryan and House Republicans this week are proposing an economic agenda oddly similar to the one they have been offering for the past two years.

Among other things, the Ryan budget plan, which intends to balance the federal budget in 10 years, rolls back the health care legislation passed in 2010, transforms Medicare and creates just two personal income brackets, 
10 percent and 25 percent.

Whatever you think of the proposal as a policy document, Republicans are gambling that they will benefit from a comparison between the Ryan budget and a budget that Senate Democrats are offering.

“The whole point of the Ryan budget is to have a fight with the Democrats,” one GOP strategist told me recently. “The alternative is the status quo, and we haven’t done very well with that.” Full story

By Stuart Rothenberg Posted at 6:46 p.m.
1comment
Capitol Hill, Democrats, House, Presidential, Republicans

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