Congress remembers the Constitution

Frank vows a "fight" if Republicans refuse Dodd-Frank funding
One of the titular sponsors of the Dodd-Frank Financial Reform law is promising a "major battle" if Republicans attempt to stifle the law by denying increased funding for Regulators implementing it. "They can expect a major fight," said Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), speaking to The Boston Herald. Frank will serve as ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee when the new Congress is sworn in Wednesday. Democrats scored a major legislative victory last year when they passed a Wall ...

Republicans may starve financial reform of cash
By Dave Clarke and Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON | Mon Jan 3, 2011 5:03pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans in the new Congress could put the Budget squeeze on two powerful regulatory agencies to slow President Barack Obama's crackdown on Wall Street. A Democratic-controlled Congress pushed through the Dodd-Frank bank reform laws last year and Regulators were counting on a big Budget boost to police the $600 Trillion over-the-counter Derivatives market -- blamed for much of the excess behin...

Read It and Weep
How the Tea Party's fetish for the Constitution as written may get it in trouble. By Dahlia Lithwick Slate.com Posted Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2011 A reading of the Constitution during a Tea Party Patriots rallyMembers of the Tea Party are really into the Constitution. We know this because on Thursday, House Republicans propose to read the document from start to finish on the House floor, and they also propose to pass a rule requiring that every piece of new Legislation identify the source of its cons...

Can Obama Crash the Tea Party?
After starting out as just a few people with signs, then morphing into a viable third-party force tipping Elections and surprising skeptics, the Tea Party is now moving into next phase on Wednesday, as members will hold their first formal positions in Washington. Wednesday also marks the first time President Obama will face Tea Party members in a concrete sense. So far he's only had to deal with them in a distant way. His party competed against Tea Party Candidates in the Midterm Elections, othe...

Linda Milazzo: CNN Reignites the Death Panel Myth & Sparks My Network Moment
Across America people suffer end-of-life illness. They agonize in pain. They agonize in fear. They're in drug induced stupors. Modest people soil themselves in front of friends and family. They avert their eyes in shame. They lose and regain consciousness. They welcome the unconscious moments that shield them from feelings of helplessness and burdening those they love. This is no way to live. This is no way to die. Throughout the recent debate on the Health Care bill, the media -- in particu...

2011: Year of the Constitution
Congress’s first public act after getting sworn in tomorrow will be a reading of the Constitution on the floor of the House — apparently the first time this has been done in the history of the Republic.  This symbolic closely parallels a new rule the Republican House majority is implementing: members will now have to cite specific Constitutional Authority for any bill they introduce. As Roger Pilon explains in this morning’s Wall Street Journal, this focus on the Constitut...

Republicans may starve financial reform of cash
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans in the new Congress could put the Budget squeeze on two powerful regulatory agencies to slow President Barack Obama's crackdown on Wall Street. A Democratic-controlled Congress pushed through the Dodd-Frank bank reform laws last year and Regulators were counting on a big Budget boost to police the $600 Trillion over-the-counter Derivatives market -- blamed for much of the excess behind the 2007-2009 Financial Crisis. But the last Congress failed to deliver on ...

Online gambling not a good bet
WASHINGTON, Jan. 4 (UPI) -- Expanding legal Internet gambling in the United States is a long shot now that Congress is more heavily Republican, gaming industry experts say. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid fell short last month in his effort to allow U.S. casino companies set up Internet poker sites and access a portion of the multibillion dollar offshore industry. The chances of success are diminished now that Republicans control the House and have more members in the Senate. Reid says he's re...

The Constitution Is Dead
Almost every patriotic fiber of my body tells me that reading the Constitution aloud at the commencement of congressional sessions is a good idea. Heck, a pop quiz might even be in order. It is vital that members of Congress fully immerse themselves in the document if they're going to circumvent it effectively. These same instincts demand that I embrace the new Republican rule requiring that every House Bill contain a statement from the author specifically citing the Constitutional Authority on ...

The Return of the Forgotten Man?
During the Great Depression, Franklin Delano Roosevelt promised to act in the name of “the forgotten man,” that is, the poor man, the old man, the man “at the bottom of the economic pyramid” in need of government help.  Amity Shales explained that FDR redefined the forgotten man and his plight. “As soon as A observes something which seems to him to be wrong, from which X is suffering, A talks it over with B, and A and B then propose to get a law passed to remedy the ...

Report: 'Death panel' provision removed from Obama Medicare rule
The Obama Administration will remove a brand-new Medicare policy that had reignited the "Death Panel" debate from last year's healthcare fight. The provision to be eliminated would have covered end-of-life consultations as part of annual wellness examinations created by the new Healthcare Reform law, according to a report. The reversal comes a week after some Conservatives accused the Obama Administration of trying to sneak through a Regulation after failing to gain congressional support. A pr...

Bio: John Boehners return to power an improbable comeback
WASHINGTON – Just hours after he was ousted from the House Republican leadership that November evening in 1998, Rep. John Boehner enjoyed dinner with 30 of his closest friends and aides at a posh Washington restaurant known for its expensive porterhouse steaks. Over glasses of Red Wine and dinner, Boehner cracked jokes and thanked those who had rallied to him in a lost cause. And while one of those who attended the dinner insisted “it wasn’t a wake, it was a celebration,’...

Lugar Likely to Face Primary Challenger
Tea Partiers in Indiana are planning to back a primary challenger to Sen. Dick Lugar in 2012, citing Lugar’s support for the DREAM Act, the New START Treaty, and his votes to confirm Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor as evidence that he’s not conservative enough. From CNN: Hoping to head off a primary challenge from the right, Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Indiana, sat down with Tea Party Leaders last month but did little to persuade them of his conservative credentials. The two-hour meeting, ...

Citing the Constitution
A few responses to my mention yesterday of the new House rule requiring each introduced bill to cite a specific constitutional provision for Congress’s authority to pass it asked me to elaborate on what this would mean in practice. Well, this is apparently a new thing so nobody knows exactly, but the Republican leadership has provided a fascinating memo providing guidance to all (not just GOP) lawmakers. First of all, the Constitution has to be cited “as...

Joy Behars Stupid Question
It has often been said that there is no such thing as a stupid question. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say it’s never stupid to seek answers, but it’s not hard to come up with examples of inane inquiries. Consider a recent gem from the cantankerous Joy Behar. In a discussion with leftist radio talker Bill Press, she marveled at the anticipated reading of the entire U.S. Constitution from the House floor. Do you think this Constitution-loving is getting out of hand? If ever t...

TRENDING: Bachmann considering White House bid
(CNN) - When Rep. Michele Bachmann heads to Iowa later this month, she just might have a potential Presidential Campaign on her mind. "She's not taking anything off the table, her focus remains on Minnesota's 6th District, but she hasn't ruled anything out," Doug Sachtleben, Bachmann's Communications Director, told CNN. Bachmann, who is beginning her third term, will head to the Hawkeye State on January 21 to deliver a keynote address in Des Moines at an event sponsored by the Iowans for Tax Rel...

Pence headed to South Carolina this weekend
Washington (CNN) - Add a stop in South Carolina this weekend to Rep. Mike Pence's schedule. This, as speculation grows over whether the Republican from Indiana will make a bid for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination, or whether he'll run for Governor in his home state. Pence spokesman Matt Lloyd confirms to CNN that the congressman, who's entering his sixth term in the House, will keynote the Awakening Conference's dinner at a resort on Kiawah Island in South Carolina on Saturday. The conferen...

As they beat a retweet...
As they beat a retweet... Via Ann Althouse, I learned that CNN is all atwitter over Sarah Palin's retweet of Tammy Bruce's pro-gay Twitter: Normally, it's what Sarah Palin tweets that makes news. This time it's what she has re-tweeted. The former Alaska Governor Monday relayed a comment from gay conservative pundit Tammy Bruce, who was expressing her criticism over continued Republican opposition to the Don't Ask Don't Tell Military policy that won congressional Repeal late last month. Now th...

More signals Santorum is preparing for a White House run
More signals from Rick Santorum that he's gearing up for a run for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. A source close to the former senator from Pennsylvania confirms to CNN that later Wednesday Santorum will announced that he's bringing on board one of the top GOP political Strategists in New Hampshire, a state that plays a crucial role in the race for the White House. Santorum will also next week make another visit to the state, which traditionally holds in nation's first primary in t...

Report: Internet Gains on TV as People's Main News Source
A report by the Pew Research Center shows 41 percent of Americans get their national and international news from the Internet. (Credit: CBS) A report released Tuesday by the Pew Research Center shows that the internet is closing in on TV as the main source of national and international news for Americans. Forty-one percent of Americans say they get their news from the Internet. That statistic hasn't changed much in the last two years, says Pew, but is up 17 percent from 2007. Television is t...

Specter gets a teaching gig at Penn
Finished with a 30-year career in the Senate, Arlen Specter will take his talents to the University of Pennsylvania's Law School, Penn announced Tuesday. As an adjunct faculty member, Specter will teach an upper-level course on the relationship between Congress and the Supreme Court, beginning in fall 2011, Penn officials said. "It's a subject matter which could use a lot more understanding. And it's a subject which warrants additional study. Penn Law is a good place to do it," Specter...

Ten to Watch in the 112th Congress
The Fix breaks down the ten members of the 112th Congress to keep an eye on. The list is roughly evenly split between freshmen that are seen as rising stars and Incumbents that will wield new power or face tough Reelection bids. Topping the list: Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) "is a man in the middle. His strong Fiscal Conservatism gives him credibility among the Tea Party crowd but he's spent time in the House and has cordial relationships with the party establishment too. How does Toomey navigate bet...

ABC Offers Skeptical Take on New Republicans Who are 'Whipping Out' Their Pocket Constitutions
Good Morning America's Robin Roberts on Wednesday offered a doubting take on whether or not the newly elected Republicans in Congress would be able to keep their promises. She skeptically wondered, "And they're not the first ones who go to Washington, with the right intentions and feeling, you know, the things that they talked about to get elected and then, getting to Washington." She continued, " Why do they think it's going to be different with them to be able to, yo...

Time for Tea Party to Learn How Washington Works
I was outraged today when Tea Party Patriots cofounders Mark Meckler and Jenny Beth Martin stated they would be watching the newly elected Congress to make sure they’re doing the “right” thing. They said this during a taping of Follow the Money, one of the Fox Business Channel programs I appear on. Just what exactly is the “right” thing? Oh you mean what they want? Or perhaps their demands?! [See editorial cartoons about the Tea Party.] They also have stated that ...

Rep. Bachmann 'not ruling out' bid for president
Minneapolis — U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota is the keynote speaker at a GOP event in the early presidential Caucus state of Iowa later this month, and a spokesman said Wednesday that the Tea Party favorite has "not ruled out" a bid for president. "Nothing's off the table for her," said Andy Parrish, Bachmann's Chief of Staff. "She's looking forward to traveling to Iowa for the Fundraiser, and you know, she's looking forward over the next year to traveling and sharing the story ...