Early Christmas in Washington DC. The US Senate health care vote was a big win for the drug companies, the biologics industry, the hospital companies, and the for-profit health insurance corporations.(AFP/Getty Images/Win Mcnamee)

Source: FireDogLake

A Big Win For PhRMA, Health Insurance Companies, Obama, Reid, Nelson, Lincoln, Lieberman; A Big Loss For The American People And the Progressive Movement

by Jon Walker
December 24, 2009

Today’s vote in the Senate to pass their health care reform bill was a big win for many people. It was a big win for the drug companies, the biologics industry, the hospital companies, and the for-profit health insurance corporations. They will all get billions of government dollars piled on to their ledgers, and and millions of Americans now forced to buy their products. The vote was also a huge win for the lobbyists who just saw their profits jump thanks to this great opportunity to show their clients just how powerful their hold on Washington really is. Read the full story

US soldiers patrol in Nuristan Province on December 18. The US Congress has sent US President Barack Obama a massive annual military spending bill that funds current operations in Afghanistan and pays for the troop withdrawal from Iraq. (AFP/File/Tauseef Mustafa)

versión similar en español abajo

Source: Reuters

by Andy Sullivan
December 19, 2009

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Senate approved a $636 billion military spending bill on Saturday that funds the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and also includes money to extend jobless aid and Medicare payment rates for two months.

By a vote of 88-10, the Senate approved the bill and sent it to President Barack Obama to sign into law. The House of Representatives passed the bill on Wednesday.

The bill covers Pentagon operations through September 30, 2010. But the $128 billion approved for ongoing wars probably will not be enough to cover Obama’s plans to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan. Read the full story

Source: Common Dreams

From left, Representative Barney Frank; Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg; former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker; Christina D. Romer, the chairwoman of the Council of Economic Advisers; and Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner listened to President Obama's speech at Federal Hall in September, 2009.

by Robert Weissman
December 12, 2009

Four hundred forty-two days after Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy, the U.S. House of Representatives has finally passed financial reform legislation.

The long delay between the onset of the financial crisis — a direct consequence of a quarter century of deregulation — and the passage of Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009 did not well serve the cause of reform.

As time passed, public anger over the Wall Street bailout became more diffuse. And Wall Street relentlessly continued its campaign to undermine meaningful efforts at reform. Read the full story

Source: CounterPunch

Legislative Trash

by Shamus Cooke
November 27, 2009

Wading through the endless debate over health care has exhausted the patience of most Americans — the zigzags, obscure language, and long-winded discussion is inherently repulsive.

But now the dust is starting to settle, and the Congressional vision for health care in the U.S. is emerging. Instead of being “progressive,” it will amount to a massive, corporate-inspired attack on American workers, the elderly, and the poor. Read the full story

Longue vie au Roi...President !! (Artwork: PhOtOnQuAnTiQuE's/flickr)

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Will You Love Every Future President?

by David Swanson
October 15, 2009

Presidential power has been on a pathway of expansion beyond what the Constitution outlined, and what a government of, by, and for the people requires, since George Washington was president. That expansion, which hit the highway after World War II, got a turbo boost during the co-presidency of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney.

Some of the new powers that those two stole from Congress, the courts, the states, and us the people are being abused less severely in this new age of Obama; others, more so; but far more crucially, in a pattern followed by recent presidencies, all are being maintained, if not expanded, and thus more firmly cemented into place for future presidents to use. Wherever you fall on the political spectrum, you are likely to strongly oppose some major decisions of some future presidents. So it shouldn’t be hard to envision some pretty undesirable consequences that might flow from presidential power that increasingly approaches the absolute. Read the full story

by Ann
November 4, 2009

“Today we journey from Operation Cast Lead to Operation Cast Doubt. Almost as serious as committing war crimes is covering up war crimes, pretending that war crimes were never committed and did not exist.” — Dennis Kucinich Read the full story

CRP says California Republican Rep. Darrell Issa is the richest lawmaker on Capitol Hill, with a net worth estimated at about $251 million.

by Erika Lovley
November 6, 2009

Talk about bad timing.

As Washington reels from the news of 10.2 percent unemployment, the Center for Responsive Politics is out with a new report describing the wealth of members of Congress.

Among the highlights: Two-hundred-and-thirty-seven members of Congress are millionaires. That’s 44 percent of the body – compared to about 1 percent of Americans overall.

CRP says California Republican Rep. Darrell Issa is the richest lawmaker on Capitol Hill, with a net worth estimated at about $251 million. Next in line: Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), worth about $244.7 million; Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.), worth about $214.5 million; Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), worth about $209.7 million; and Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), worth about $208.8 million. Read the full story

por Sam Stein
27 de enero, 2009

El 17 de octubre de 2008, tres días después que el Bank of America Corporation recibiera 25 mil millones de dólares en fondos federales de ayuda urgente, convocó a una audio-conferencia destinada a organizar la oposición a la Ley de Libre Elección del Empleado (EFCA, por su sigla en inglés), que favorece la sindicalización de los trabajadores.

Los participantes, entre ellos la AIG (American International Group), fueron urgidos a obtener “grandes contribuciones” de sus clientes para financiar a los grupos que trabajaban contra la EFCA, así como ganarse a los republicanos más permeables del Senado que podrían ser utilizados en bloquear esa legislación que haría más fácil la organización de sindicatos. Read the full story

“Congress Gave the FBI Few Rules to Follow and Shouldn’t be Surprised at the Results”

Patriot Act Trio, by Molly Eckler

by Sen. Russell Feingold
September 24, 2009

At the end of this year, three provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act will sunset unless Congress acts to reauthorize them. In my view, Congress should take this opportunity to revisit not just those three provisions, but rather a broad range of surveillance laws enacted in recent years to assess what additional safeguards are needed.

That is why I have introduced the JUSTICE Act, S. 1686, along with Senator Durbin and eight other Senators. It takes a comprehensive approach to fixing the USA PATRIOT Act and the FISA Amendments Act, once and for all. It permits the government to conduct necessary surveillance, but within a framework of accountability and oversight. It ensures both that our government has the tools to keep us safe, and that the privacy and civil liberties of innocent Americans will be protected. Because as the title of this hearing suggests, we can and must do both. These are not mutually exclusive goals. Read the full story

A Scorecard for the Future of American Politics

Lobbyist with cigar, by Steve Brodner

by Andy Kroll
September 15, 2009

At the end of this summer of discontent, of death panels and unplugging poor Grandma, of birthers and astroturfers and rifle-toting picketers, the halcyon early days of the Obama administration feel increasingly like hazy, gilt-edged memories. The president’s sprawling legislative agenda — a health-care overhaul, financial regulation reform, slashing wasteful military spending, and climate change legislation legislation — is slowly grinding its way through the halls of Congress. Barack Obama’s sheen, his administration’s unflagging confidence, and all the bipartisan, post-racial aspirations have been replaced by the hard realities of Washington politicking. And with the media’s lens more tightly focused than ever on Washington’s every move and utterance 24/7, anything said a few months back feels like a lifetime ago. Read the full story