Archive for the 'Legislation' Category

By The Way, The Economic Rescue Bill Passed The Senate

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Economy, Legislation

Overwhelmingly…
Senators loaded the economic rescue bill with tax breaks and other sweeteners before passing it by a wide margin, 74-25, a month before the presidential and congressional elections.
In the House, leaders were working feverishly to convert enough opponents of the bill to push it through by Friday, just days after lawmakers there stunningly rejected an [...]

October 1st, 2008 | Permalink| 2 Comments »

Republican Mitch McConnell: Credit Crunch Already Here

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Economy, Legislation, Video

Watch…

It’s happening.

September 30th, 2008 | Permalink| 1 Comment »

That Pelosi Speech

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Democrats, Economy, Legislation, McCain, Republicans, Video

Some House Republicans are claiming that the following speech made them change their vote.

I’m sorry folks, but that’s hardly the hyperpartisan tour-de-force House Republicans claim it was.
Still, was it helpful? No.
So, in the end, she probably shouldn’t have made it, but from what I was hearing about this I was expecting some fire and [...]

September 29th, 2008 | Permalink| 10 Comments »

Contents Of Missing Palin/Couric Clip Revealed

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Foreign Policy, Law, Legislation, Palin, Supreme Court

Apparently it has to do with her knowledge of Supreme Court decisions…
Of concern to McCain’s campaign, however, is a remaining and still-undisclosed clip from Palin’s interview with Couric last week that has the political world buzzing.
The Palin aide, after first noting how “infuriating” it was for CBS to purportedly leak word about the gaffe, [...]

September 29th, 2008 | Permalink| No Comments »

Poll: Public Now Favors Bailout More Than They Oppose It

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Economy, Legislation, Polls

True, Rasmussen’s numbers still include a great deal who are undecided on the matter, but once they see this 777 point drop in the Dow today which wiped out ANY gains from Bush’s entire 8 years as President, I’m thinking they’re start to reconsider.
From Rasmussen:
As Congress prepares to vote on a proposed economic rescue plan, [...]

September 29th, 2008 | Permalink| 3 Comments »

Gingrich Supports Bailout Plan

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Economy, Legislation, Republicans

Yet another naysayer reverses course.
Gee, I wonder why…
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich reversed course on Monday, issuing a statement saying that if he were still in office he would “reluctantly and sadly” support the $700 billion Wall Street bailout bill.
Gingrich, who led the charge against the bailout last week, explained his change in position by [...]

September 29th, 2008 | Permalink| 2 Comments »

Dow Loses 777 Points Today

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Economy, Legislation, Video

To put this in perspective, this drop is worse than the day after 9/11.
MSNBC has more on this mess…

I hope they pass this bill soon.

September 29th, 2008 | Permalink| No Comments »

The Blame Game Begins

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Barack, Democrats, Economy, Legislation, McCain, Republicans

McCain and House Republicans blame Obama and the Democrats.
Obama doesn’t really blame anybody and calls for calm.
Meanwhile…the quote that could very well sink McCain in all of this came from his top campaign strategist, Steve Schmidt yesterday on Meet The Press…
“What Senator McCain was able to do was to help bring all of the parties [...]

September 29th, 2008 | Permalink| 4 Comments »

House Republicans Start To Get Religion On Bailout

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Bush, Economy, Legislation, Republicans

“This bill offends my principles but I’m going to vote for this bill in order to preserve my principles… to preserve [the free enterprise system]. This is a Herbert Hoover moment.. he made mistakes during the Great Depression… Let’s not make those mistakes… If we fail to do the right thing, heaven help us—if we [...]

September 29th, 2008 | Permalink| 7 Comments »

A Bailout Deal Has Been Reached

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Economy, Legislation

House Republicans could still try to blow it up because lawmakers want EVERYBODY to support it. Something tells me that those politicians in the House won’t pass ANYTHING, though, so Dem and Repubs in the Senate may just have to bite the bullet.
The good news? Both Obama and McCain say they’ll probably support it. So [...]

September 28th, 2008 | Permalink| 3 Comments »

Rep Roy Blunt (R-MO): McCain Stopped The Deal

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Democrats, Economy, Legislation, McCain, Republicans, Video

Here’s the vid…

A partial transcript…
I do think that John McCain was very helpful in what he did. I saw him this morning, we’ve been talking with his staff. Clearly, yesterday, his position in that discussion yesterday was one that stopped a deal from, uh, finalizing that no House Republican, in my view, would’ve been for. [...]

September 26th, 2008 | Permalink| 2 Comments »

“A black mark, not only on Democrats, but on the Congress, and the history of the United States.”

By mw | Related entries in Barack, Civil Liberties, Congress, Constitution, Democrats, FISA, Law, Legislation, McCain, News, Republicans, Video

How are you feeling this morning? I’m not feeling great. I am a little unhappy about the news.
You might not have noticed, as this was only the third most important story yesterday. Based on television news coverage, the most important political story yesterday was Rev. Jesse Jackson caught making crude remarks about Obama [...]

July 10th, 2008 | Permalink| 7 Comments »

Ron Paul’s Car Trade-In Tax Credit Plan Promotes Fuel Efficiency

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Energy, Environment, Gas, Ideas, Legislation, McCain, Oil, Ron Paul

I love this idea…and I would certainly take advantage of it if it becomes law.
The bill is called “The Energy Efficient and Environmentally Friendly Automobile Tax Credit Act of 2008″ and it provides tax credits of up to $2K for people who sell or trade in their car for a model that’s 20% more fuel [...]

July 10th, 2008 | Permalink| 18 Comments »

Anti-FISA Group On Obama’s Website Reaches 14,600+ Members

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Barack, Law, Legislation, Technology, The War On Terrorism

I covered this back on June 27th, and at that time the group had around 550 members. What a difference a week makes, eh?
Not only that, this group is now the biggest on his website now.
TPM points to a story from USA Today about the group…
In recent days, Obama has criticized the Supreme Court [...]

July 3rd, 2008 | Permalink| 5 Comments »

Obama’s Plan To Address Energy Trading

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Barack, Democrats, Energy, Legislation, Republicans

This is one way to bring some sanity back to the price of oil, and I’m glad to see that not only is Obama backing this bi-partisan push to put some limits on out of control speculation, but also calling for tougher restrictions on market forces that aren’t doing anything to help out consumers…
Obama wants [...]

June 22nd, 2008 | Permalink| 2 Comments »

Obama Responds To FISA Decision

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Barack, Law, Legislation, The War On Terrorism

Reprinted in full…
“Given the grave threats that we face, our national security agencies must have the capability to gather intelligence and track down terrorists before they strike, while respecting the rule of law and the privacy and civil liberties of the American people. There is also little doubt that the Bush Administration, with the cooperation [...]

June 21st, 2008 | Permalink| 3 Comments »

Telecom Immunity Is The Right Decision

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Barack, Bush, Congress, Democrats, Law, Legislation, Republicans, The War On Terrorism

A lot of left wing blogs are hammering Steny Hoyer and Nancy Pelosi for reaching a compromise on the FISA legislation, but this is difficult bi-partisanship at work and it ultimately means getting to a better place than we previously were.
From Wash Post:
Ending a year-long battle with President Bush, the House approved, 293 to 129, [...]

June 20th, 2008 | Permalink| 4 Comments »

Climate Change Bill Headed For Defeat?

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Energy, Environment, Legislation, Lieberman

As is the case with many pieces of legislation…it doesn’t seem to have enough institutional support.
From Fortune:
The U.S. Climate Action Partnership formed last year won’t take a position on the bill, although nine of its members - including General Electric, Alcoa and four utility companies - signed a letter to senators backing the legislation.
The letter, [...]

May 31st, 2008 | Permalink| 2 Comments »

McCain Shows Leadership on Farm Bill. Obama Doesn’t.

By Alan Stewart Carl | Related entries in Barack, Congress, Legislation, McCain

Here’s what I find so interesting about the poorly considered and irresponsible farm bill. Barack Obama supported it. John McCain opposed it. Apparently, for Obama, change does not include changing the way our government recklessly doles out money with more regard to the desires of lobbyists than to the needs of the nation. McCain, on [...]

May 20th, 2008 | Permalink| 18 Comments »

Bring Gas Prices Down For Good?

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Barack, Energy, Gas, Legislation, McCain, Video

That’s one of the last lines of this commercial. Think that’s a bit of an overstatement given that Clinton and McCain are proposing that this is only a Gas Tax Holiday?
Watch it and judge for yourself…

Honestly, please explain to me how this proposed legislation will bring the gas prices down for the foreseeable future.

May 3rd, 2008 | Permalink| 3 Comments »