2015 American Politics Thread: The 114th Congress Is in the House!

altho of course no one knows the details so his objections are broader

if Joe Scarborough and "Mika" haven't seen it, it can't be good.

Ha.

Milbank wants spending on worker training and US infrastructure tied in to the trade deal, and he seems to think Republicans would have accepted that as part of a trade deal. I'm not so sure. Plus he barely mentions Dem Wyden who is crafting the whole bipartisan mess with Republicans

But conservative Politico says there is a separate "assistance" bill regarding workers--

Another key point of concern for undecided Democrats is the inclusion of trade adjustment assistance, a program that provides job retraining benefits to workers displaced by trade deals. Wyden and Ryan agreed to move the fast-track bill simultaneously with the renewal of the assistance program, which has become a prerequisite for Democratic votes on a trade bill.

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/04/dems-stuck-between-warren-obama-in-trade-rumble-117211.html#ixzz3YFNqtEhX

a program that provides job retraining benefits to workers displaced by trade deals

tbh I don't have a lot of faith in this. What are the requirements for qualifying as a worker "displaced by a trade deal" and what kind of training benefits are they going to provide - subsidies/scholarships for training programs, I assume? but training programs for what? how to be a brogrammer?

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/obama-progressives-trade-tpp

obama's excuses here are some weak tea.. im glad to hear hes 'fired up' about something =\

x-post--drone operator?

also this is crazy to me

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) further distanced himself from foreign policy adviser James Baker on Thursday during a closed-door meeting hosted by the Manhattan Republican Party.

Bush had previously said it was a mistake for Baker, an adviser and former secretary of state, to speak at the left-leaning Israel policy group J Street. In that appearance, Baker criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over seeming to change his position on a two-state solution.

Jeb having to throw his family's longtime consiglieri under the bus because he spoke to a pro israel lobby that gives money to Dems.

Baker and Poppa Bush are not remembered well by the Israel lobby though.

why is that? I can't remember

I can't rememember either. I don't see Jeb's action here as being too dramatic. J Street is the much more liberal Israel lobby group that does not back Bibi, so Jeb just wants to reassure right-wing Israel supporters that he does not support even talking to liberal Israel supporters. Then once this calms down, he will talk to Baker again.

Baker and Poppy came down hard on Shimon Peres for not being enthusiastic about a two state solution iirc.

From an article on the Correspondents Dinner thing with the Prez:

The dinner and its preliminaries were telecast live by Fox News, MSNBC and CNN, in addition to C-SPAN. The cable news networks largely put aside breaking news events in Nepal (site of a devastating earthquake) and Baltimore (site of an unruly demonstration against the local police force) to provide live coverage of red-carpet arrivals and the dinner itself.

the prez can tell a joke to his peers, all is fucking right with the world

When Ms. Feinstein was asked in a meeting with reporters in 2013 why she was so sure she was getting the truth about the drone program while she accused the C.I.A. of lying to her about torture, she seemed surprised.

“That’s a good question, actually,” she said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/26/us/politics/deep-support-in-washington-for-cias-drone-missions.html?&moduleDetail=section-news-3&action=click&contentCollection=Middle%20East®ion=Footer&configSection=article&isLoggedIn=true&module=MoreInSection&pgtype=article

Susan Rice
‏@AmbassadorRice
This Administration believes deeply in the importance of free and independent global media. Will continue to support. #FreethePress

good responses

https://twitter.com/AmbassadorRice/status/592774145970204672

#freethelols

Nation magazine editor's guest editorial in Washington Post

excerpt:

It has come to this. To sell his trade treaty — specifically the fast-track trade authority that would grease the skids for passage of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement (TPP), President Obama is mobilizing a coalition anchored by corporate lobbies, the Chamber of Commerce and Republican congressional leadership. He is opposed by the majority of Democratic legislators, the labor movement and a broad array of mainstream environmental, consumer and citizen organizations.

Democrats are stunned by the intensity of the lobbying effort mounted by the administration. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), a staunch supporter of the president, noted that Democrats have been “talked to, approached, lobbied and maybe cajoled by more Cabinet members on this issue than any issue since Barack Obama’s been president. That’s just sad. I wish they put the same effort into minimum wage. I wish they put the same effort into Medicare at 55. I wish they put the same effort into some consumer strengthening on Dodd-Frank.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-progressives-lament-about-the-trans-pacific-partnership/2015/04/28/6627523e-ed18-11e4-8abc-d6aa3bad79dd_story.html

they know what side their bread is buttered on

we're fighting this ^^ in my office and every meeting people are more taken aback by how hard the full court press is

obama addressed OFA last week with a line like "people are saying i'm turning my back on working families--i've spent my whole career fighting for working families, why would i turn my back on them now?" then his lackeys are turning around saying that opponents to TPP are "living in the past" and aren't ready for the global modern realities of trade.

i think we're gonna win. the pressure is coming down hard now because the japanese prime minister is visiting and japan insists they want progress on congressional approval before they'll move TPP through on their end. this is as intense as the pressure is gonna get, and we expect to lose in the senate, but we think we can hold the house--and if we can hold the house, we win.

Another key point of concern for undecided Democrats is the inclusion of trade adjustment assistance, a program that provides job retraining benefits to workers displaced by trade deals. Wyden and Ryan agreed to move the fast-track bill simultaneously with the renewal of the assistance program, which has become a prerequisite for Democratic votes on a trade bill.

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/04/dems-stuck-between-warren-obama-in-trade-rumble-117211.html#ixzz3YFNqtEhX

― curmudgeon, Friday, April 24, 2015 5:05 PM (4 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is a garbage ass bill

like as trade adjustment assistance goes this does nothing new, just continues the status quo, and they're presenting it like a goddamn concession

and what's "job training" – how to run the cash register at Dunkin Donuts?

but we think we can hold the house--and if we can hold the house, we wi

is this because of unified opposition from the Dems + Tea Party isolationist weirdos?

yes

for once I'm glad Boehner can't hold his caucus together I guess

Well that was some total word-salad from Abe.

pass social security from cradle to grave before you sell us any more 'trade deals', rich people

now now, that's class warfare can't have that

class warfare's only ok when the rich do it do u see

UBI A-OK

Steny Hoyer

The Bryce Harlow Foundation awards dinner, a party thrown by lobbyists as a “celebration within the lobbying community in Washington, D.C.” brings together senior lawmakers and lobbyists for a night of self-congratulation.

At last week’s gala, when Minority Whip Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., the second ranking Democrat in the House, introduced Steve Elmendorf, a lobbyist for Goldman Sachs, Verizon, and other corporate interests, Hoyer was effusive in thanking his hosts. The Politico Influence newsletter quoted Hoyer as saying:

“I’m thankful to all of you for what you do because I think what you do is critically important to what I do and to what our people expect us to do, and that is to understand the issues that confront us and them and make the decisions that help them.”

The event serves as annual opportunity for lawmaker to single out a lobbyist for an award, and vice versa. Elmendorf was the lawmakers’ pick. Lobbyists gave their award to Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich.

;_;

"let's not all start sucking each other's dicks just yet"

hell might have just frozen over

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/nevada-sandoval-republicans-largest-tax-hike-state-history

suck it, norquist

N.D. legislator who voted against gay rights bill caught sending pics on Grindr

“I’m sure I’ve talked to this person before,” Smith remembers thinking to himself, as he told The Washington Post in a telephone interview from his home in Bismarck, N.D. “Suddenly it dawned on me: I think I’ve seen this guy on Grindr!”

Smith started going through his conversations on Grindr — “an all-male location-based social network“— searching for the round, bespectacled face and bushy eyebrows. And there he was: Top Man!, a.k.a. Randy Boehning, the Republican state representative from Fargo . . .

Grindr-gate, however, has plunged Boehning into an existential crisis. Confronted with the photos he had sent Smith, the lawmaker admitted that he was gay. (His Grindr bio reads: “Seems I haven’t found mister right yet, so need to keep looking for and having fun on the way! Hit me up boys.”)

Boehning, 49, also defended sending the younger man a picture of his private parts and pickup lines such as “What’s up tonight sexy?”

eh I told him to be careful

MENENDEZ U WILD MOTHERFUCKER

http://i.imgur.com/E9377zal.jpg

haha nice gamesmanship

I think the Nevada GOP can minimize the damage if they levy 90% of the new taxes on the lazy poors

xpost

would be kind of cool if there was some new minority trend in the GOP like "We're the party of fiscal responsibility - when did that get to mean no taxes, ever, for anything?" but I'm not holding my breath.

Unions have succeeded in persuading some Republicans not to support Fast Track for the TPP. "For example, reliable allies of GOP leadership like New Jersey Rep. Frank LoBiondo and Ohio Rep. Dave Joyce are unlikely to support the measure because of local union concerns, aides said." Just last week Morning Shift was voicing strong skepticism that organized labor would exert any significant influence over fast track. That judgment may have been, uh, hasty.

http://media.giphy.com/media/W9WSk4tEU1aJW/giphy.gif

Boehner fail:
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/04/house-yanks-first-spending-bill-off-the-floor-117497.html

Bohener yanks

Did not enjoy the DNC email with the subject line 'Boehner CRUSHED'

lel

Boehner deflated

http://33.media.tumblr.com/1a20a0358f42f7fe0e8575ddb4f6747e/tumblr_nnneg62Bk01qdmmiqo1_400.gif

some americans are just so crazy

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/have-obama-hang-himself-death-national-tv

creator
R. M.
Davenport, FL
April 22, 2015
Signature # 1

when the fed's call about this it'll be just more socialist government hates our freedoms