Those who are claustrophobic or merely uncomfortable with being pressed up against dozens of other people likely hated today’s inauguration. Drawing near-record crowds, depending on whom you ask, the event taxed people’s patience, tolerance for cold and even their needs for personal space bubbles. A lot had been made of the difficulties guests would have getting to the inauguration, what with practically all of northern Virginia being declared a no-driving zone for personal vehicles. So I was surprised to find the District-bound Blue line Metro at Crystal City nearly empty at 6:30 a.m. and thought I was in for an…
Browsing: Congress
President Barack Obama’s Cabinet now has eight official members. The Senate voted by voice vote just before 4 p.m. today to confirm the following seven nominees: Steven Chu for Energy, Arne Duncan for Education, Janet Napolitano for Homeland Security, Peter Orszag for director of the Office of Management and Budget, Ken Salazar for Interior, Eric Shinseki for Veterans Affairs and Tom Vilsak for Agriculture. His Cabinet already included Robert Gates, whom Obama asked to stay on as Defense secretary. But things aren’t moving so quickly for Sen. Hillary Clinton’s secretary of state nomination. After her smooth hearing before the Senate…
Medical workers aided Sens. Ted Kennedy and Robert Byrd during the inaugural luncheon in the Capitol’s Statuary Hall. Both were wheeled out by medical personnel during the luncheon, which immediately followed President Barack Obama’s inaguration on the West Front of the Capitol. Kennedy recently returned to the Senate after a fight with a brain tumor, while Byrd has been frail for years. Capitol staff had no further updates on the conditions of either senator though comments from Obama hinted at something serious. “He was there when the voting rights act was passed,” Obama said of Kennedy. “So I would be…
Politicians can’t get enough of squawking about the debacle that is the Bowl Championship Series. First President-elect Barack Obama bemoaned the system of selecting a national “champion” for college football. (Unsure how the BCS works? Click here.) Now Congress is looking to get in on the action (because, you know, there’s not much else going on right now). Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, may have some bitter feelings about Texas being shut out of the BCS title game, because he introduced HR 390 in the House last week. Let’s read the bill’s description: “A bill to prohibit, as an unfair and…
Thought the presidential race was over? Not quite. The House and Senate met today in a joint session to count and certify the Electoral College votes, formally declaring Barack Obama the 44th president. With Vice President Dick Cheney presiding in one of his last official duties, four pages carried in the two gleaming wooden boxes containing the certificates from each state plus the District of Columbia. California was the first state read in alphabetical order to give votes to Obama, leading to a roar of applause in the House Chamber. When Obama was announced as the winner, the entire Congress…
Former Sen. Tom Daschle’s appearance before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee today marked the first confirmation hearing for the slate of Senate confirmable nominees named by President-elect Barack Obama over the past two months. During the hearing, which marked Chairman Edward Kennedy’s return to Capitol Hill after treatment for a brain tumor, Daschle repeatedly emphasized his commitment to improving efficiency and innovating America’s health care system. Senators also challenged him to improve civil servants’ morale within HHS and to make the department more effective and accountable. Daschle spoke of the health crisis facing Native Americans, citing that…
That’s the word on the Hill and in today’s newspapers, and CNN has all but confirmed that its medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, will be President-elect Barack Obama’s choice for surgeon general. When word spread yesterday that Obama had discussed the position with Gupta, it led to a lot of head scratching and “really?” comments on the Hill. Though a distinguished Atlanta neurosurgeon and professor, Gupta is best known to most Americans as a prolific television commentator. However, he served as an adviser to the Clinton White House, helping craft health care speeches and policy for Hillary Clinton. According to…
Sens. Mary Landrieu and Olympia Snowe will be the top Democrat and Republican leaders of a Senate committee when the new Congress convenes in January. Landrieu, D-La., will become chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, while Snowe, R-Maine, will remain the ranking member. Landrieu is replacing John Kerry, D-Mass., as the committee’s chair. In a press release, Landrieu said she will push for opportunities for women- and minority-owned small businesses, and Snowe concurred. “As a vital voice for women entrepreneurs in Congress, we will advance an ambitious policy agenda targeted toward renewing the federal government’s commitment…
Apparently the grape is the key to economic recovery for western New York. That’s according to a news release from the office of Sen. Charles Schumer, who has pledged to fight for federal funding for the Grape Heritage Discovery Center in Westfield, N.Y. The release states that the center would promote wine tourism in New York and showcase Chautauqua County’s grape and wine industry, creating jobs through increased tourism. It will be patterned after the Wisconsin Cranberry Discovery Center, which the release says attracts tens of thousands of visitors a year. Schumer, a Democrat, said he’ll push for funding through…
And that’s just what he wanted. The California Democratic’s gamble to take the reins of the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee chairmanship paid off today when the Democratic caucus voted 137-122 to replace existing Chairman John Dingell of Michigan with Waxman. Dingell has chaired the energy committee since 1981, and Waxman’s challenge of a sitting same-party chairman struck many lawmakers as daring or even arrogrant, depending on who you talked to. Waxman argued that chairmanships should not be permanent institutions. “Seniority is important, but it should not be a grant of property rights to be chairman for three decades…