American Politics Thread 2014

if only they hadn't waited until the day it was due to vote on it. now those that do care about such things are in a tricky spot, timecrunched, outnumbered, out-politicked (if they managed to hold up the spending bill to fix the landmines contained within, it would shut down the government and they'd take the blame). what a coincidence that it happened this way!!!!!!!

The Democratic Party: Expressing Concern

I lol'd pretty hard here

...Before We Vote with the Shitheads

Obama 2012: so more of the same really

Far from being slipped into the measure in the dark of night, as Warren and some other liberals claimed, the provision was approved through the regular House committee process and then negotiated directly with Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.), according to aides in both parties.

Aides to Mikulski and other Democratic leaders said the spending measure could have been worse. They said Mikulski successfully turned back other GOP requests to amend Dodd-Frank and extracted more money from Republicans for federal watchdog agencies, including $150 million for the Securities and Exchange Commission and $35 million for the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

disappointed in you, Barbara

more evidence that the absence of "bipartisan cooperation" is ABSOLUTE SHIT

this is total bullshit. these fucking clowns barely stay in town long enough to actually legislate, then what they put out is some porky giveaway to rich people and the banks. this place sucks I want out.

Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) signed on to a letter with Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) that calls on congressional leaders to scrap portions of the $1.1 trillion “cromnibus” that relax restrictions on banks trading financial derivatives.

http://thehill.com/policy/finance/226816-gop-senator-criticizes-dodd-frank-rollback-in-cromnibus

Is a cromnibus like a cronut?

my personal interpretation is crominbus is a combination of cromulent and omnibus

Milkuski (D-Md.) believed she was negotiating from a position of weakness, due to the fact that the Ds are just about to become the minority party, so that presumably the Rs will soon be able to pass whatever spending bills they please. Her biggest blind spot was thinking that the Rs are united enough to constitute an actual working majority, rather than being so divided that they'll publically piss all over themselves just trying to agree on a budget.

it's ok, because once democrats get control of the house and senate back, i'm sure the republicans will cave on their spending bill during their lame duck session. right? loooool

cromnibus passes 219-206

roll call: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/house-roll-call-spending-bill-27546780?singlePage=true

the washington post likes to insert not so subtle indicators of their stance on Elizabeth Warren:

For the Warren wing, what they see as siding with banks over average Americans is among the most unforgivable of sins, and the showdown exposed just how disruptive and demanding this populist bloc plans to be.

...The rift among the Democrats, which has grown wider since the party got beaten badly on Election Day, has left Obama and his would-be allies on the Hill increasingly pointing fingers at one another: Senate Democrats blame Obama for costing them their majority; White House officials blame them right back; and when the two sides agree, the populists in the Senate and House step in and try to blow it all up.

They were successful late last month, when Reid was on the verge of a substantial pact with House Republicans to make permanent a crop of tax breaks. Just before Thanksgiving, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), the chairman of the Finance Committee, broke up that deal with support from the White House and House Democrats who thought it gave away too much to corporate America.

The result is the likely passage of legislation that merely kicks the can down the road, approving almost all of those breaks just for 2014 but leaving the issue to be debated again next year under the Republican-led House and Senate.

The can-do desires of establishment Democrats have been increasingly drowned out by liberals like Warren, who have energized activists across America and are beginning to pull other Democrats further to the left.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/congressional-democrats-take-a-stand-with-spending-bill/2014/12/11/b2246350-8181-11e4-8882-03cf08410beb_story.html

are "average Americans" the same as the middle class?

better to pass this so we can reinstate the derivative casino, and re-blow up the economy, than obstruct the GOP/citigroup. haven't democrats learned anything from the congeniality of the tea party since Obama took office?

yeah the tone of this morning's news coverage was almost relief that the Beltway press can now accuse Democrats of scuttling "bipartisanship" in anticipation of a shutdown.

The can-do desires of establishment Democrats have been increasingly drowned out by liberals like Warren The can-do desires of establishment Democrats have been increasingly drowned out by liberals like Warren The can-do desires of establishment Democrats have been increasingly drowned out by liberals like Warren The can-do desires of establishment Democrats have been increasingly drowned out by liberals like Warren The can-do desires of establishment Democrats have been increasingly drowned out by liberals like Warren

is the Senate sposed to pass this?

after senate democrats get their chance to complain about the bill on an official record no one will read, they'll probably all vote for it yes.

no one they care about really suffers during financial crashes anyways

lmao good catch Karl. just great reporting right there.

I'm gonna use it actually! Thanks, Karl.

https://twitter.com/pkcapitol

Washington Post congressional reporter, devotee of Philly sports, Springsteen and all things UD Fightin' Blue Hens.

KM, do you mind if we shut your job down this one time?

Was hearing the "oh, better this bill with just some bad changes, than a possible shutdown and the truly horrible bills Republicans will offer next year with their new majorities..." Actually, it would be better to have no such provisions this year and to have the President veto the even worse attempts, but oh no, that wouldn't be bipartisan

of all the political news released in the last six weeks, this is the worst, with Barack Obama conspiring to make his presidency a non-entity.

shutdowns are annoying (especially when you're juggling time-sensitive tasks) but they always provide backpay at the end of it, so at least you get to sit around and not worry about rent. so yeah go for it!

i don't think there's a chance that enough senate democrats will vote against it, though

yes you probly don't hafta worry

Obama's post-Admin job should be in the Orlando Hall of Presidents, as himself.

In NY I'm sure phoning Schumer wd be a lost cause, but if the vote count looks "good" they will let Gillibrand take a theatrical stand against it.

they have Dimon

http://www.salon.com/2014/12/12/government_by_wall_street_jpmorgan_ceo_whipped_votes_for_spending_bill/

we have Cher

http://www.salon.com/2014/12/11/cher_unloads_on_the_cromnibus_as_only_cher_can/

So the White House supported the overall bill citing the increased leverage Republicans would have if appropriations levels were set early next year after the GOP Senate takeover. So 2 fiscal agencies will have more money to uh, enforce a weakened bill

Kevin Drum sez Dems haven't sold the "good" things in the bill:

What's the point of posting this laundry list? Curiosity. Last night a reader sent a tweet to me: "Honest question: what do progressives get out of this? 'Govt not shutting down' not enough." I was stumped. I really had no idea whether Democrats had gotten anything in this bill, or if they were just caving in to a whole bunch of obnoxious Republican demands merely in exchange for keeping the government funded.

But as it turns out, Democrats did get a bunch of stuff they wanted. And of course, that's in addition to getting the government funded before Republicans take over Congress in January, which is worthwhile all by itself. We can each decide for ourselves whether Democrats got enough, or if they should have held out for a better deal, but they weren't left empty-handed.

So what I'm curious about is this: why are virtually no Democrats talking about this? As near as I can tell, there was literally no attempt to sell this compromise to the base, or to anyone else. As a result, the general feeling among progressives is simple: this bill was an unqualified cave-in from gutless Democrats who, once again, refused to fight back against Republican hostage taking. And as usual, Republicans won.

to implement the Administration’s strategy to counter the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant

oh yeah, big progressive priority this one rmde

this wapo blurb makes me want to kill

The result is the likely passage of legislation that merely kicks the can down the road, approving almost all of those breaks just for 2014 but leaving the issue to be debated again next year under the Republican-led House and Senate.

this piece of shit bill only funds the government to next fucking september

yeah but bipartisanship

And the EPA budget wasn't cut by quite as much as the Republicans wanted and they didn't get their riders to kill more EPA regs; so in exchange for such niceness, the bipartisan Dems gave the Republicans the smaller IRS budget they wanted.

they did manage to insert a rider banning the regulation of cow belching - something that EPA has it has no intention of regulating about NINETEEN TRILLION TIMES ALREADY

but don't worry america - now EPA can't regulate cow farts. ♫ let freedom ring! ♫

Plus there’s a lot more money for early-childhood development

I bet its less than corporations will get from this budget and its provisions; and the fact that Dems have to fight for this in the first place is unfortunate. I guess I am not as much of a realist on this as Kevin Drum

Well! Justice Dept won't prosecute James Risen.

huh wonder what prompted that

CIA doesn't want the source revealed maybe?

"cow farts"

http://epa.gov/climatechange/ghgemissions/gases/ch4.html

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2014/09/methane-fracking-obama-climate-change-bill-mckibben

i think Karl Malone put that in the climate thread in September

cromnibus passes Senate 56-40

The thinnest of silver linings:

While Republican senators were fuming at Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) for holding up a $1.1 trillion spending bill aimed at preventing a government shutdown, Democrats saw a silver lining: the move by Cruz and Lee gave Democrats an opening to move a number of President Barack Obama's nominees for federal judgeships and the executive branch.

What happened was that when Cruz and Lee scuttled a deal between Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) that would have allowed lawmakers to leave Washington D.C. for the weekend and come back Monday they gave Democrats a chance to advance Obama's presidential appointees by having to stay in D.C. to deal with the spending bill.

surgeon general too fwiw

Thanks Ted. From the NY Times story on this:

By carving out more legislative time, Mr. Cruz inadvertently enabled the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada, to advance two dozen nominations, including several contentious ones that would otherwise have faced a more difficult confirmation process.

“It will have the end result of causing nominees who I think are not well qualified to be confirmed, so I don’t understand the approach that he is taking,” said Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine. “And I think it’s very unfortunate and counterproductive.”

nominees who I think are not well qualified

I'd love to hear her opinion on some of dubya's appointments who were duly confirmed by the senate. Head of FEMA comes quickly to mind.

Also buried in the giant spending bill that cleared the Senate on Saturday and is headed to President Obama for his signature were provisions that prohibit the federal government from requiring less salt in school lunches and allow schools to obtain exemptions from whole-grain requirements for pasta and tortillas.

The watered-down standards for school meals were a setback for the first lady, Michelle Obama, who had vowed to fight “until the bitter end” for tougher nutrition standards. But they were a victory for food companies and some local school officials, who had sought changes in regulations that are taking effect over several years

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/15/us/politics/in-final-spending-bill-salty-food-and-belching-cows-are-winners.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0