Reid blasts GOP Sens. DeMint and Kyl as 'sanctimonious'

Dems: Bah, humbug!
It’s Christmastime in Washington. Wreaths adorn the arches of Union Station. The National Cathedral hosts “Handel’s Messiah.” A sparkling conifer stands, a quiet sentinel, on Capitol Hill throughout the night. And, of course, lawmakers invoke the holiday spirit for partisan gain — using Christmas cheer to sling political mud. Continue Reading Text Size - + reset Politico 44 Republicans spun a new Dickens tale this week, finding their Ebenezer Scrooge in Senate ...

Another Terrible, Arcane Rule Will Bring the Senate to a Halt
The Senate will most likely approve President Obama's tax deal today. Now that that's settled, can the chamber finish its other year-end work? Sure! But Tea Party Sen. Jim DeMint wants these bills read in full on the Senate floor. "Read the bill!" was a popular Tea Party chant during the election, but maybe Tea Party folks could settle for senators reading bills in their spare time as the basic requirement? Nope, sorry. That wouldn't take full advantage of each individual senator's arcane righ...

POLITICAL HOT TOPICS: Friday, December 17, 2010
The CNN Washington Bureau’s morning speed read of the top stories making news from around the country and the world. Click on the headlines for more. The House of Representatives gave final approval late Thursday night to the $858 billion tax deal negotiated by the White House and top Senate Republicans, sending it to President Barack Obama to be signed into law. After a day of legislative wrangling that delayed consideration of the measure for several hours, the final vote of 277-148 had...

Lawmakers stretching out Russia nuke pact debate
WASHINGTON — Republican opponents of a new U.S-Russia nuclear arms pact are ignoring demands by Democrats that they move toward a vote as they stretch out debate amid a tight year-end schedule in Congress. Debate on the treaty lasted into the evening Thursday even as lawmakers wrangled on how to deal with essential budgetary issues that must be addressed before Congress breaks for the year. Democrats were urging Republicans to address their concerns in a separate document that would be a...

Lawmakers stretching out Russia nuke pact debate
WASHINGTON—Republican opponents of a new U.S-Russia nuclear arms pact are ignoring demands by Democrats that they move toward a vote as they stretch out debate amid a tight year-end schedule in Congress. Debate on the treaty lasted into the evening Thursday even as lawmakers wrangled on how to deal with essential budgetary issues that must be addressed before Congress breaks for the year. Democrats were urging Republicans to address their concerns in a separate document that would be appr...

Democrats Withdraw $1.2 Trillion Spending Bill
Democrats abruptly abandoned a fight over spending on Thursday and said they would instead extend government funding on a temporary basis, a move that gives Republicans a greater chance to enact the deep cuts they have promised. The surprise agreement looked likely to end a high-stakes game of chicken that could have led to a shutdown of wide swaths of the U.S. government when current funding expires on Saturday night. Like the $858 billion tax deal poised to clear Congress over the objection of...

Lawmakers stretching out Russia nuke pact debate
Republican opponents of a new U.S-Russia nuclear arms pact are ignoring demands by Democrats that they move toward a vote as they stretch out debate amid a tight year-end schedule in Congress. Debate on the treaty lasted into the evening Thursday even as lawmakers wrangled on how to deal with essential budgetary issues that must be addressed before Congress breaks for the year. Democrats were urging Republicans to address their concerns in a separate document that would be approved along with th...

'Don't ask, don't tell' repeal vote on to Senate
WASHINGTON — Senate members who support repealing the Military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy barring gay service members said Thursday they have the votes necessary for passage — if the Democratic leadership can schedule a vote before the new Congress takes office in January. "It could come up Saturday night or Sunday morning, and I hope it does," said Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, I-Conn., who along with Sen. Kirsten E. Gillibrand, D-N.Y., has taken center stage on repe...

9/11 Comedy Crisis
If anger is the source of all humor, in his last Daily Show of the year, Jon Stewart pulled back the curtain, skipped the jokes and showed us pure rage about Congress' failure to enact medical care for 9/11 responders in the lame-duck session. Instead of the usual lineup of fake bloviators, Stewart hosted a panel of police and firemen suffering from toxic effects of working at Ground Zero, who offered living Testimony as commentary on Jon Kyl's complaint about having to work so close to Christm...

GOP opposition forces Democrats to pull $1.1 trillion spending bill from floor
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was forced to pull the $1.1 Trillion omnibus bill that would fund the government for next year on Thursday after it became clear he would not have the votes to pass it. The Senate was set to begin considering the bill Thursday with expected passage over the weekend, but nine Senate Republicans who said they would support the bill withdrew their support at the last moment because of pressure from their GOP colleagues. Before they changed their position on the bil...

GOP Senate resistance kills giant spending bill
© Alex Brandon/AP Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada wasn't able to break Republican opposition to the bill. Democrats controlling the Senate abandoned on Thursday a huge catchall spending measure combining nearly $1.3 Trillion worth of unfinished Budget work, including another $158 billion for Military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The 1,924-page bill collapsed of its own weight after an outcry from Conservatives who complained it was stuffed with more than $8 billion in...

Working for The Weekend
After the delaying tactics such as demanding that the Senate clerks read every word of the big spending bill -- over 1,900 pages -- out loud and the Republicans basically backing down on a bill they originally created, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) pulled the bill from consideration.After long deliberations with Republican principals Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced on the Senate floor that nine GOP members had reneged on their pledges to vote for the omnibus spending bill...

Senate Dems Talk up Filibuster Reform
The Huffington Post reports: WASHINGTON — Some Senate Democrats leading the push for Filibuster reform say they plan to discuss possible rule changes during a full Caucus meeting, likely to be held on Friday, and will seek a final package for the chamber to consider early next year. In a Conference Call with reporters on Thursday, two of the Senate’s loudest pro-reform voices offered fresh details on the still-delicate strategy they said they hope to pursue in the weeks ahead. Acco...

GOP votes in place for repeal of Don't Ask
Gay Rights Lobbyists say they now have 61 Senate votes in hand to Repeal the Don't Ask, Don't Tell ban on gays and Lesbians in the Military. Three Republicans are needed and at least that many have now made firm commitments to vote yes if a stand-alone Repeal comes to the floor. Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Scott Brown of Massachusetts have both said they are on board, joining Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine. That's four Republicans, one more than needed, and two more are conside...

START treaty debate testy
Published: Dec. 16, 2010 at 6:15 PM WASHINGTON, Dec. 16 (UPI) -- Senators hunkered down Thursday for what promised to be a long debate before considering whether to ratify the new U.S.-Russian nuclear arms treaty. Opponents to the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty said they feared it could limit U.S. Missile Defense, did not include tactical weapons and the agreement was tilted more favorably toward Russia. "We get nuclear stability," Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., chairman of the Senate Foreign Re...

Senate to hold showdown vote on gays in military
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, confident he will prevail, on Thursday set up a showdown vote on a new bid to end the ban against gays serving openly in the U.S. Military. Reid filed a motion to hold a vote on Saturday on an effort to clear a Republican procedural hurdle against Legislation to end the policy known as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." Sixty votes would be needed in the 100-member Senate to end the roadblock and move toward passage of the measure, a top priority o...

Lawmakers stretching out Russia nuke pact debate
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican opponents of a new U.S-Russia nuclear arms pact are ignoring demands by Democrats that they move toward a vote as they stretch out debate amid a tight year-end schedule in Congress. Debate on the treaty lasted into the evening Thursday even as lawmakers wrangled on how to deal with essential budgetary issues that must be addressed before Congress breaks for the year. Democrats were urging Republicans to address their concerns in a separate document that would b...

GOP Kills Dems Omnibus Spending Bill
The Hill: Senate Democrats have given up on their plan to pass a $1.1 Trillion omnibus spending bill in the face of unified Republican opposition. The bill’s collapse will take with it more than 6,000 Earmarks as well as more than $1 billion in funding for implementation of Healthcare Reform. Democrats will move instead to two high priorities on their legislative agenda: the DREAM Act, which would grant permanent legal residency to Illegal Immigrants under a certain age, and a Repeal of the ...

Sen. Reid: GOP "Sanctimonious" On Objection To Christmas Work
Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) personally names Sens. Kyl (R) and DeMint (R) for complaining that the Senate may stay in session during Christmas. Reid then slams Republicans for making the Senate work through the holidays, even though they are an extreme minority. "If they decide to work with us, we can have a happy holiday," Reid said on the Senate floor. "It's offensive to me and millions of working Americans for any senator to suggest that working through the Christmas holiday is sacrilegious or dis...

Military Curb on Gays Faces Senate Repeal
WASHINGTON — Embattled and left for near dead last week, the effort to allow gay men and Lesbians to serve openly in the Military gained significant momentum on Thursday with three more Republican Senators agreeing to vote to end the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. The latest on President Obama, the new Congress and other news from Washington and around the nation. Join the discussion. On Thursday evening, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Majority Leader, said tha...

Ron Wyden to Miss Votes Because of Prostate Cancer
Get alerts when there is a new article that might interest you. Via Dave Weigel, a statement from Sen. Ron Wyden (D., Ore.): After my annual physical in late November, I was diagnosed with early stage Prostate Cancer. After reviewing all the options with multiple physicians, I decided to take a proactive approach and have surgery, which will be performed December 20 at Johns Hopkins Hospital by Dr. Alan Partin. Thanks to routine screening, this was diagnosed very early and I expect a full and sp...

Harry Reid Blinks
Business as usual in Washington ended tonight. Harry Reid pulled the pork laden spending bill that, if passed, would have locked the Republicans into a massive Budget Deficit for the next year. Nevada Democrat Harry Reid gave up on the nearly $1.3 Trillion bill after several Republicans who had been thinking of voting for the bill pulled back their support. GOP leader Mitch McConnell threw his weight against the bill in recent days, saying it was in his words “unbelievable” that Dem...

Obama to speak on Afghan review, visit tribal chiefs
The White House, which has focused mostly on economic issues for the last several weeks, will shift Thursday to Foreign Policy, presenting the results of its review of administration policy in Afghanistan. This Story Slumping support for Afghan war West Wing Briefing: Obama to speak on Afghan review, visit tribal chiefs Obama says U.S. is 'on track' to achieve goals in Afghanistan Behind the scenes with the president: October and November Administration's next big Afghan battle: How many troo...

Who (and what) could still trip up DADT repeal
Somewhat amazingly, it now seems more likely than not that the Military's widely loathed "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy will be repealed in the coming days. This outcome was hard to imagine just a week ago, when -- not for the first time -- Repeal proponents were unable to muster 60 votes to end a GOP-led Filibuster of a Defense Authorization bill that included Repeal language. But immediately after that failed Cloture vote, Joe Lieberman and Susan Collins announced their plans to file a new, st...

Who (and what) could still trip up DADT repeal
Somewhat amazingly, it now seems more likely than not that the Military's widely loathed "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy will be repealed in the coming days. This outcome was hard to imagine just a week ago, when -- not for the first time -- Repeal proponents were unable to muster 60 votes to end a GOP-led Filibuster of a Defense Authorization bill that included Repeal language. But immediately after that failed Cloture vote, Joe Lieberman and Susan Collins announced their plans to file a new, st...