Politics

Congress Links

By Sunlight Foundation & Participatory Politics Foundation

Congress is clearing out ahead of an expected snow storm today but lawmakers did manage to accomplish a few things before skipping town. Here are a few articles and blog posts on note from today:

• A bipartisan group of Senators today announced a resolution condemning a bill in Uganda that would make homosexuality punishable by death. The group includes Sen. Russ Feingold [D, WI], Sen. Tom Coburn [R, OK], Sen. Ben Cardin [D, MD] and Sen. Susan Collins [R, ME]. A similar House resolution (H.Res.1064) was introduced yesterday by Rep. Howard Berman [D, CA-28]. President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton also condemned the Ugandan law at today’s National Prayer Breakfast. (Politico)
• Patricia Smith wasn’t the only Obama nominee confirmed today. The Senate also confirmed Martha Johnson as Administrator of General Services in a 94-2 vote. With Scott Brown set to join the Senate soon, Sen. Harry Reid [D, NV] has brought up the possibility of using recess appointments to fill empty federal positions when the Senate is not in session. President Bush relied heavily on recess appointments during his terms in office and at the time Democrats disapproved of the practice. (The Huffington Post)
• A liberal critique of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision has been that the Court now affords corporations the rights of a person. Now one company is testing the limits of that idea. Murry Hill, Inc., a liberal PR firm from Maryland, is running for Congress. (The Atlantic)
• The House is demanding that the Senate fix some aspects of its health care bill (H.R.3590) before it can pass. Despite plans to dump the ?Cornhusker kickback? which pumps federal Medicaid dollars into Nebraska, Democrats are unwilling to drop many of the goodies loaded into the bill for specific states. (Politico)
• On a related note, Sen. Mary Landrieu [D, LA] is defending a ?Louisiana Purchase? of $300 million in Medicaid dollars for her state that was inserted into the Senate health care bill. (The Hill)

Full post as published by Open Congress on February 05, 2010 (boomark / email).