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Gerrymandering: NC Democrats Get More Votes, Republicans Win 9 of 13 Seats
Gerrymandering: North Carolina Democrats received more votes but Republicans won 9 of 13 seats http://wunc.org/post/duke-mathematicians-investigate-2012-ele...
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Gerrymandering: NC Democrats Get More Votes, Republicans Win 9 of 13 Seats - Video
Dec. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Congress will vote this week on a $1.1 trillion spending plan that would avert a U.S. government shutdown as Democrats agreed to roll back rules affecting banks, clean water and rest for truckers. Peter Cook reports on In The Loop. (Source: Bloomberg)
Congress will vote this week on a $1.1 trillion spending plan that would avert a U.S. government shutdown as Democrats agreed to roll back rules affecting banks, clean water and rest for truckers.
The House will vote on the plan tomorrow, Speaker John Boehner told reporters today. The Ohio Republican said he looks forward to it passing with bipartisan majorities in the House and the Senate in the coming days.
The deal was announced late yesterday after Democrats accepted Republican demands to ease regulations including the banking provision, a significant victory for big banks. It lets JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), Citigroup Inc. (C) and other lenders keep swaps trading in units with federal backstops.
The measure is a compromise that can and should have wide bipartisan support, House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers, a Kentucky Republican, said in a statement yesterday. Passage of this bill will show our people that we can and will govern responsibly.
While Democrats arent pleased about the policy changes, they said they beat back dozens of other provisions that Republicans had sought in the measure.
This agreement means no government shutdown and no government on autopilot, said Senate Appropriations Chair Barbara Mikulski of Maryland, a Democrat who negotiated the plan with Rogers.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat from Nevada, said earlier today that if the House included the District of Columbia marijuana provision in the bill, its going to be hard to take it out over here. But I oppose it. Close
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat from Nevada, said earlier today that if... Read More
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Democrats Resisting Policy Changes in Plan to Avoid Shutdown
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi was treading carefully in the wake of the Tuesday-night release of a spending package to keep the government open past Thursday.
Pelosi, a California Democrat, said shes hopeful Democrats can support the $1.1 trillion spending bill slated for a vote later this week, according to the Hill. She declined to show her hand, however, saying she first needs to read the bill. Our goal has always been to keep [the] government open, and to accomplish that goal in a bipartisan manner, she said in a statement. Until we review the final language, we cannot make a determination about whether House Democrats can support this legislation, but I am hopeful.
The spending bill, reports The Wall Street Journal, funds most of the government through September and the Department of Homeland Security through February. The shorter Homeland Security funding ensures Republicans can try to take aim at President Barack Obamas plan to curb deportation for millions of undocumented immigrants, without threatening to close the federal government. The measure provides $521 billion for defense and $492 billion for non-defense spending, hewing to a bipartisan budget deal.
Cuts for EPA, IRS: The budget agreement conforms to spending caps that lawmakers and the White House agreed to last year. But there are winners and losers underneath the overall number. For example, reports the Washington Post, the Environmental Protection Agencys budget would be cut by $60 million. The Internal Revenue Service would lose $345.6 million. Meanwhile, the bill authorizes a 1% pay raise for military service members and allows a 1% raise for federal employees. For the first time, the Post said, Congress would allow the benefits of current retirees to be severely cut, part of an effort to save some of the countrys most distressed pension plans.
Harry Reids new battle: Harry Reid was not chastened by the midterm elections. The New York Times writes the Senates incoming minority leader wont be discouraged from picking fights with Republicans on issues including the environment, financial regulations and womens rights. Were going to have to set up for the new battle, which is going to begin on Jan. 6, Reid told the Times. Reids Democrats lost nine seats in the election and handed control of the Senate to the GOP.
Lobbyists return to Hill: The lure of a Republican-dominated House and Senate is drawing some lobbyists back to Capitol Hill. The outgoing chief of staff for Ohio Republican Sen. Rob Portman, for instance, has helped recruit a lobbyist to replace him, reports the Hill. And Rep. Jason Chaffetz, the Utah Republican who will lead the House Oversight Committee in the next Congress, recently hired a Podesta Group lobbyist as staff director for the panel. People are interviewing all over the Hill, said Ivan Adler, a principal at The McCormick Group.
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Capitol Report: Pelosi hopeful Democrats will back spending bill
Senate Minority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) (3rd L), Senate Minority Whip Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) (R), Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO), and Sen. John Thune (R-SD), speak to members of the media after the Senate Republican Policy Luncheon at the Capitol December 9, 2014 on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. Alex Wong, Getty Images
After complaining about the way Senate Democrats changed the rules for approving executive branch nominations last year, Republicans may decide to keep the rules in place next year when they take over the Senate.
In a meeting Tuesday, the Senate GOP caucus discussed the nominations rule but came to no decision about whether to keep it. The rule allows the Senate to approve nominations (except for Supreme Court nominations) with a simple 51-vote majority, shielding nominees from filibusters, which takes 60 votes to overcome.
Senate Democrats last year changed the rules using the so-called "nuclear option" -- they used a simple majority in the Senate to overturn the policy, rather than going through the Senate Rules Committee.
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, is one Republican who decried the Democrats' use of the "nuclear option" but now feels the GOP might as well keep the new rules in place.
"Returning to the pre-nuclear option filibuster rule would serve neither the interests of the Senate as an institution, nor constitutionally limited government more broadly," he wrote in an op-ed this week.
Since Democrats were able to use the 51-vote threshold to confirm President Obama's nominees, he argued, Republicans should now take the opportunity to confirm their preferred nominees with 51 votes. "To restore the prior nominations threshold would be to cede the federal judiciary to liberal activists," he wrote.
Other Republicans, however, oppose the day. Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, said that to keep the new rules would amount to "rank hypocrisy."
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, on Tuesday said that he intends for the Democratic-led Senate to get through "a number of nominations" before they adjourn this month. He specifically said the Senate would vote on Sarah Saldaa, the nominee to lead Immigration and Customs Enforcement; Social Security administrator nominee Carolyn W. Colvin; surgeon general nominee Vivek Murthy; and nine more judges.
To get through the list, "maybe we'll have to work the weekend and maybe even work next week," Reid said. "I know that's tough duty for everybody, but we may have to do that."
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Senate Republicans debate keeping Democrats' filibuster rules
Senator Jeanne Shaheen will oppose Antonio Weiss to be undersecretary of the U.S. Treasury, her spokesman said today, joining Democrats lining up against the nomination of the Wall Street banker.
Shaheen, of New Hampshire, is concerned about Weisss work on tax inversions, in which a U.S.-based firm moves its legal headquarters to a lower-tax country, Shripal Shah, her spokesman, said today in an e-mail response to a question.
Democrats including Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Richard Durbin of Illinois, the chambers second-ranking Democrat, have said they too will oppose Weiss, global head of Lazard Ltd. (LAZ)s investment banking unit who has worked on international mergers and acquisitions.
As undersecretary for domestic finance, Weiss would coordinate policies on banking, capital markets and regulation. The undersecretary also works on implementation of the Dodd-Frank financial law. One of the jobs main responsibilities is managing the issuance of the nations debt.
In a speech yesterday, Warren challenged Weisss credentials, saying a well-oiled revolving door between Wall Street and its regulators favors banks interests at the expense of consumers. She criticized President Barack Obama for nominating an executive who has worked on corporate tax-inversion deals, which the administration is attempting to curb.
Warren said his selection would perpetuate close ties between the government and banks. She cited figures showing the amount of time and money Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and other financial companies spend trying to influence regulators in Washington.
To contact the reporter on this story: Steve Geimann in Washington at sgeimann@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jodi Schneider at jschneider50@bloomberg.net Steve Geimann, Elizabeth Wasserman
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Shaheen Joins Democrats Opposed to Weiss for Treasury, Aide Says