The Senate

Epa Chief Scott Pruitt Is Under Ethics Investigation For Lying To Senate

... that he only used his official attorney general’s email address to conduct official business. “I use only my official OAG [office of the attorney general] email address and government-issued phone to conduct official business,” Pruitt told the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee during his Jan. 18 confirmation hearing. According to emails released in an Open Records Act lawsuit last month, however, Pruitt did use a private email address for official business. On the eve of his confirmation last month, Pruitt was ordered by an Oklahoma judge to turn over thousands of communications between his office and the fossil fuel industry. Before those records were made public, however, Senate Republicans rushed to narrowly confirm Pruitt to lead the EPA. After his confirmation to lead the EPA, it was revealed that Pruitt’s personal email account was used for communication with the American Legislative Exchange Council and the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers while he served as Oklahoma’s attorney general. “Lo and behold, the documents Scott Pruitt wanted to keep hidden have ...

Rep. O'rourke Hits The Road To Campaign For A Senate Seat

... a local coffee shop. A couple dozen supporters showed up to that event. The Democrat then drove to Austin with his wife and staff to hold a meet and greet in front of hundreds. “What I'm really excited for is taking back this country and taking back the state in to do that we need to take back the Senate. Taking back the Senate in 2018 starts in El Paso, Texas and it comes right through here Dallas, Texas and it goes to every single community and county and town in the state,” O’Rourke said. During these events, the congressman asked supporters to donate to his Senate bid, saying that it will cost millions of dollars for him to have a chance at beating Ted Cruz in the 2018 midterm election. “Make a contribution. It doesn't have to be a big one but it's important that you make it because I'm one of two members in Congress had a 535 that takes no corporate cash,” O’Rourke said. The democrat has already launched a website to ...

Trump’s Agenda Is Now Squarely In Mitch Mcconnell’s, And The Senate’s, Hands

... its methods much closer to those in the more partisan House. Republicans have instead focused their public comments on how Democrats are the ones upending Senate norms with their Gorsuch blockade — and their hopes on the few Democrats they think might help them vote down a filibuster. A single-party filibuster has never successfully blocked a Supreme Court nomination; however, a bipartisan coalition used the procedural vote to defeat Abe Fortas’s 1968 nomination to be chief justice. The Democratic resistance to Gorsuch is heavily rooted in broader concerns about Trump, whose approval rating fell to 36 percent this week, according to Gallup. Democrats cite concerns about the president’s controversial travel ban, his criticism of the federal judiciary and questions about his ties to Russia. Democrats are also under pressure from a restive base of activists who have demanded obstruction of Trump’s agenda. “We’re worried that this president is more susceptible to overreach than any other, and Judge Gorsuch has not shown any independence,” said Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N. Y.). A similar pattern has emerged in negotiations over a must-pass, stopgap funding ...

These Los Angeles Girls Went To Capitol Hill To Ask The Senate To Fight New Immigration Enforcement Efforts

... Sheriff Scott Jones hosted a community forum on immigration Tuesday, where the guest speaker was the acting director of U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. March 28, 2017, 11:17 a.m. Reporting from Washington. These Los Angeles girls went to Capitol Hill to ask the Senate to fight new immigration enforcement efforts. Sarah D. Wire. Fatima, left, and Yuleni Avelica, with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N. Y) and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) during a news conference on Capitol Hill. (Zach Gibson/Getty Images). Fatima Avelica, 13, was training for the Los Angeles Marathon with her father before he was arrested by immigration agents last month after dropping Fatima's sister off at her Lincoln Heights school. Fatima had to pause repeatedly, pressing her fingers to her eyes, ...

Senate Braces For 'severe Blow' Over Supreme Court Nomination

... from American history in not giving Merrick Garland a hearing and then they similarly have nominated someone who is outside the mainstream of historical American jurisprudence. The question is what do the Democrats do, and we just have to make sure that we stand up," said Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.). Republicans say they compromised to reach an agreement to avoid this exact rule change a decade ago and reached a similar one in 2013, only to see Democrats under then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) change the rules on every kind of nominee except Supreme Court justices during the Obama administration. "I have no belief that they would honor any agreement if they got back in charge so, you know, if you keep doing this stuff and you keep getting the same result it's kind of foolish after a while," said an exasperated Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S. C.), who helped reach ...

Why The Senate Voted To Block Funding For Planned Parenthood And Other Abortion Providers

... from two dozen Republican women in Congress, and was sponsored by women in both chambers, including Republican Rep. Diane Black (R-Tenn) and Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa). They, along with other Republicans, argued that family planning funding and policy should be handled by the states. How are Democrats reacting. “As a direct result of the vote today, extreme politicians in states across the country will have the power to [block the rights of women],” said Sen. Patty Murray, (D-WA), the highest-ranking female senator in the leadership of either party. “As a woman I am angry,” she continued. “I am furious about what attacks like this mean for our daughters and granddaughters.”. After a line of Democrats came to the Senate floor to oppose the measure, Murray pointed out that most Republicans who voted for the measure opted not to defend it on the Senate floor. “What is most striking is the deafening silence from [a] group of almost entirely male politicians who are making it harder for women” to get the health care they need, she said. How is Planned Parenthood reacting. The ...

Two Years In, The Kennedy Institute For The Senate Is Drawing Fewer Visitors Than Projected

... to guide them through exhibits about the 1,700 people who have served in the Senate and about Kennedy’s record on education, civil rights, and other issues. John Tlumacki/Globe staff. The Edward Kennedy Institute opened in 2015. In the Senate chamber, they sat at desks and, with the help of three energetic docents, debated and voted on the Bridge Act , a real piece of federal legislation that would protect from deportation certain immigrants who entered the country illegally as children. “It would be great if every child in America could experience it,” said Marlene Harting, Todd Harting’s wife. “They’d really learn.”. Though the institute honors a famously liberal lawmaker loathed by the political right, its board is bipartisan. And Mac Cormack said the museum’s focus on the nobility of public service is even more vital in the era of President Trump. “The current state of political affairs is good for our business,” she said. “We’ve got more people coming to us and saying, ‘Do you do any democracy engagement workshops?’ There’s lots of opportunities for us to ...

Florida Senate Introduces Budget With $4 Billion More In Spending Than House Plan

... the Senate,” Latvala, R-Clearwater, said. Each chamber is expected to approve its version of the budget within the next two weeks. Then they will begin the conference process in which committees comprised of representatives and senators will try to iron out a deal. The budget must be finalized by May 2 in order for session to end on time because of a mandatory 72-hour “cooling off” period before a vote can occur. Among the main disagreements is whether to fund economic development agencies and incentive programs championed by Gov. Rick Scott; the Senate wants to and the House doesn’t. The House and Senate treat K-12 education spending differently, and they also have different tax cut packages. The House also reallocates $840 million from the rainy day funds of the 12 state universities and $80 million held by universities’ fundraising arms. Florida State University President John Thrasher said he understood the decision to reduce the amount of money in universities’ reserve accounts that represent a carryover of unspent state dollars from previous years. “We had to do ...

State House, Senate Miles

... are likely to happen. That gives lawmakers a little more than two weeks to close the $2 billion or $4 billion gap, depending on how you want to count it, then decide how to spend what's left over, then get the agreement printed in time for a 72-hour cooling-off period before lawmakers vote on the final package. That's not a lot of time in legislative terms. There are some philosophical differences that make the debate that much more difficult. The House and Senate are deeply divided, for example, on whether to fund the business incentives Gov. Rick Scott loves but House lawmakers hate. The Senate wants more than $80 million for programs tied to Enterprise Florida, the state's economic development agency; the House already has voted to abolish Enterprise Florida. The Senate wants $76 million for tourism-marketer Visit Florida; the House is pitching $25 million. Senate Appropriations Chairman Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater, said Tuesday he doesn't support the House approach on the agencies but that his focus is "getting what we have over here done first.". "The House does its thing, the Senate does its thing, then we see where it ...

Why The Senate Must Do The House's Job

... official who leaked confidential information to Woodward and Bernstein during Watergate, isn’t remembered as the villain of the scandal. FBI Director James Comey acknowledged during Nunes’ panel’s hearing that the FBI is investigating possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian operatives, a fact everyone in Washington already knew, but it was nevertheless greeted as a bombshell announcement. The chairman criticized the disclosure for placing a cloud of suspicion over the White House. Later that week, Nunes embarked on his madcap adventure. He secretly visited the White House. Then he held a press conference to hint at information he’d been provided by someone he wouldn’t disclose but who obviously worked in the administration. Then he returned to the White House to brief the president on the information the White House had provided him. Then he held another press conference, never once pausing to brief even the Republican members of his committee on what, if anything, he had actually learned. Nunes has had a hell of a time trying to keep his story straight. But it seems the episode was a clumsy attempt at salvaging ...

Are Republicans Prepared To Burn Down The Senate

... O'Brien and Rappeport have this right, as I will explain momentarily. They are, in any event, definitely on solid ground in noting that the Byrd Rule would require 60 votes in the Senate to pass a tax bill that is a net loser beyond the 10-year budget window. Related: Neil Buchanan: Trump's heartless, vicious, rich man's budget. That, in fact, is exactly what happened in 2001, when the first round of Bush tax cuts was passed by the Senate even though there were not 60 votes in support of the bill. Because of the Byrd Rule, that legislation was utterly bizarre, including a multiyear phase-out of the estate tax which eventually resulted in full repeal for exactly one year before reverting to its 2000 levels in 2011. (Subsequent legislation prevented that full reversion.). Readers might also remember the "fiscal cliff," which actually played out in two steps. In late 2010, when the Bush tax cuts were about to expire (all of them, not just the estate tax repeal), ...

Senate Intelligence Committee Rejects Flynn's Request For Immunity

... prosecution in exchange for his testimony into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election, congressional sources told NBC News. President Donald Trump 's former national security advisor's lawyer was told the move was "wildly preliminary" and "not on the table" at this point, a senior congressional official told NBC. It does not necessarily rule out immunity at a later date, since the Senate investigation is ongoing. Flynn, who resigned after only weeks on the job, also offered to speak to the Justice Department in exchange for protection from prosecution, according to NBC. At this time, there is no indication that Flynn is admitting guilt to any crimes. In a statement Thursday, his lawyer Robert Kelner said no "reasonable person" would get questioned in "such a highly politicized, witch hunt environment without assurance against unfair prosecution.". Flynn stepped down in February when reports surfaced that he misled White House officials about whether he discussed sanctions with Russia's ambassador to the United States. Flynn told Vice President Mike ...