Goobergunch Political Report

2012 Republican National Convention
(1144 delegates needed to nominate)
Gingrich Huntsman Paul Romney Santorum Unallocated
Selected 29 2 8 73 3 2039
Automatic 3 1 22 1 105
Total 32 2 9 95 4 2144

26 May 2011

H.R. 1540, the FY2012 Defense Authorization bill (Third Day)

Goobergunch @ 09:00 CT
Posted in: Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines, Conservation, Foreign Affairs, GPR Live, Highways and Byways, Hospitals and Asylums, Navigation and Navigable Waters, Providing for the General Welfare, Shipping, Transportation, War and National Defense

The House is continuing work on H.R. 1540, the National Defense Authorization Act for FY2012. Of the 152 amendments in order, 60 amendments have been disposed of. Last night, Buck McKeon (the chairman of the Armed Services Committee) announced that there were seven more amendments (#110, #111, #134, #141, #146, #152, and #55) and four en bloc amendments remaining for consideration.

For more information on the bill, see the initial post.

A couple notes on how the floor consideration process will work:

  • Each amendment gets 10 minutes of debate — 5 for, and 5 against. (Unless the amendment is non-controversial, in which case it just gets 10 minutes of praise.) However, McGovern/Amash Amendment #55 will get 20 minutes of debate.
  • Either party’s Armed Services Committee leadership can move an “en bloc amendment” consisting of a bunch of amendments that are considered together to save time. Those get 20 minutes of debate.

There are 16 amendments which were debated yesterday but did not receive a vote. They’ll be voted on today, but to save space the votes will be listed in yesterday’s amendment table. Under the fold, I’ve got the list of amendments that the House is considering today. All links to amendment text are PDFs, and all descriptions come from the sponsors of the amendment. If you just want the full list (including information on amendments that are considered as part of the en bloc amendments), the Rules Committee Democrats have you covered.

[13:39 CDT]: Bill passed, 322-96.

(more…)

25 May 2011

Senate Budget Watch

Goobergunch @ 23:00 CT
Posted in: Ways and Means

In Senate news today, there were a few votes on various budget proposals today. As can be expected from the Senate, nothing passed.

  • House-passed budget: Failed 40-57
  • Original White House budget: Failed 0-97
  • Toomey (R-PA) budget: Failed 42-55
  • Paul (R-KY) budget: Failed 7-90

The Senate will vote tomorrow at 10:00 EDT on invoking cloture on the USA PATRIOT Act extension I’ve discussed previously. There may also be amendment votes.

H.R. 1540, the FY2012 Defense Authorization bill (Continued)

Goobergunch @ 18:17 CT
Posted in: Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines, Conservation, Foreign Affairs, GPR Live, Hospitals and Asylums, Navigation and Navigable Waters, Providing for the General Welfare, Shipping, Transportation, War and National Defense

The House is continuing work on H.R. 1540, the National Defense Authorization Act for FY2012. Of the 152 amendments in order, 56 amendments have been disposed of.

For more information on the bill, see the previous post.

A few notes on how the floor consideration process will work:

  • There will be no further votes tonight. Amendment consideration will conclude tomorrow, and then we’ll have the vote on final passage.
  • Each amendment gets 10 minutes of debate — 5 for, and 5 against. (Unless the amendment is non-controversial, in which case it just gets 10 minutes of praise.)
  • Either party’s Armed Services Committee leadership can move an “en bloc amendment” consisting of a bunch of amendments that are considered together to save time. Those get 20 minutes of debate.

So, under the fold, here’s the list of amendments that the House is currently considering. All links to amendment text are PDFs, and all descriptions come from the sponsors of the amendment. If you want the full list, the Rules Committee Democrats have you covered.

(more…)

H.R. 1540, the FY2012 Defense Authorization bill

Goobergunch @ 14:05 CT
Posted in: Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines, Conservation, Foreign Affairs, GPR Live, Hospitals and Asylums, Navigation and Navigable Waters, Providing for the General Welfare, Shipping, Transportation, War and National Defense

Today the House is beginning its second day of consideration of H.R. 1540, the National Defense Authorization Act for FY2012. Yesterday, the House finished general debate. Today, it’s going to begin work on a good 152 amendments.

The Defense Authorization Act is an annual bill that sets spending levels and defense policy for the next fiscal year. This year’s House bill has a few especially troubling provisions, such as section 533, which requires each of the Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs to sign off on DADT repeal before it could be implemented, section 1034, an vast expansion of the authorization of military force, section 1039, which prevents transfers of Guantanamo detainees to the United States, and section 1055, which limits the President’s ability to comply with New START.

H.R. 1540 was reported by the House Armed Services Committee on May 11, with only Rep. John Garamendi (D-CA) voting against it. Yesterday, the White House indicated [PDF] that while it supported House passage of H.R. 1540, President Obama would likely not sign the final bill unless a number of the more offensive provisions were excluded.

If you want more details on the bill, check out the legislative text or the committee report. (Be advised that the report is written by House Republicans.)

A few notes on how the floor consideration process will work:

  • The House isn’t expected to get through all 152 amendments today. (And for that matter, not all of the amendments will be offered.) Amendment consideration will conclude tomorrow, and then we’ll have the vote on final passage.
  • Each amendment gets 10 minutes of debate — 5 for, and 5 against. (Unless the amendment is non-controversial, in which case it just gets 10 minutes of praise.)
  • Either party’s Armed Services Committee leadership can move an “en bloc amendment” consisting of a bunch of amendments that are considered together to save time. Those get 20 minutes of debate.

So, under the fold, here’s the list of amendments that the House is considering. All links to amendment text are PDFs, and all descriptions come from the sponsors of the amendment. To save space, I’m going to try to only stay about ten to fifteen amendments ahead of where the House is right now. If you want the full list, the Rules Committee Democrats have you covered.

(more…)

24 May 2011

NY-26

Goobergunch @ 20:00 CT
Posted in: By-Elections
Tags: , , ,

A few months ago, I wrote:

More on the resultant special election when I have time to actually react to the vacancy, but I’ll rate it “GOP Hold Favored” for now.

At the time, that seemed like a pretty straightforward characterization of tonight’s NY-26 special election. The district is about six percentage points more Republican than the country as a whole, and it (or its ancestors) hasn’t elected a Democrat since 1968. But the political winds have shifted in the last few months, with backlash towards  the Republican budget plan (trying to eliminate Medicare as we know it will do that) and the presence of Jack Davis, a former Democrat now running on the “Tea Party” line, making the race highly competitive. At this point, the race is too close to call.

Polls are now closed in New York. I’ll have an update when a result in this race can be projected.

UPDATE [22:00 EDT]: At this time, I can now project that Kathy Hochul has been elected to this seat. This is a Democratic gain.

NY-26: DEM Gain

21 May 2011

S. 1038, the USA PATRIOT Act Extension bill

Goobergunch @ 20:00 CT
Posted in: War and National Defense
Tags:

What’s this? Legislative business on the Senate schedule?

Following morning business, the Senate will resume the motion to proceed to S. 1038, a bill to provide for the extension of expiring provisions of the PATRIOT Act until June 1, 2015 with the time until 5pm equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees.

At 5:00pm, there will be a roll call vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to S. 1038.

This bill is sponsored by Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell, the two Senate party leaders. That’s right, we’re seeing some bipartisanship in action! (Even if there is a filibuster.) And it’s not even doomed in the House!

Of course, there’s the little issue of what the bill does. You may remember that earlier this year, Congress passed a law that extended the “lone wolf” provision and the roving electronic surveillance authority until 27 May. (In other words, Friday.) The idea was ostensibly to allow for a bit more time to ensure that there would be proper safeguards against abuse of USA PATRIOT Act provisions before any long-term reauthorization went into place. I could understand another short-term reauthorization to give the committees of jurisdiction the time to produce a detailed reauthorization bill. (After all, I understand that the House Judiciary Committee has been so engrossed in overseeing women’s health issues that it probably hasn’t had time to look at the USA PATRIOT Act.) But this bill goes far beyond “short-term reauthorization” by extending the relevant provisions to 1 June 2015. That’s a four-year extension. And, to quote the Associated Press:

The idea is to pass the extension with as little debate as possible to avoid a protracted and familiar argument over the expanded power the law gives to the government.

Because that is totally the same thing as the “honest discussion about [necessary] changes and reforms” (to quote Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin) that we were promised during debate on the last extension.

It’s worth noting that if they really want to, opponents of this extension can drag this debate out past Friday in the Senate. Since Thursday is the last day of business for the House prior to the Memorial Day recess, that would kill the provisions for at least a week. We’ll see if anybody’s actually willing to do this, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.

18 May 2011

CA-36, Round 1

Goobergunch @ 01:55 CT
Posted in: By-Elections
Tags: , , , , ,

Tonight’s the first installment of the special election in the 36th Congressional District of California. It’s also the first federal-level test of the new top-two voting system. Traditionally, party candidates are selected in a party primary, and each party’s nominee faces off in the general election. But now, California elections will feature all candidates from every party running against each other in the “primary”, with the top two candidates going on to face each other in the general election.

This special election was prompted by Democratic Rep. Jane Harman’s resignation to head the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, which was effective back on 28 February. The main Democratic candidates are Los Angeles Councilwoman Janice Hahn and California Secretary of State Debra Bowen. The most prominent Republicans running are Redondo Beach mayor Mike Gin, businessman Craig Huey, and Hermosa Beach Councilman Kit Bobko.
Hahn (D) 24.7%, Huey (R) 21.9%, Bowen (D) 21.5%, 100% reporting

At this time, it appears that Janice Hahn and Craig Huey make the run-off, which will be held on 12 July. The race starts off as a likely Democratic hold. This outcome is actually fairly surprising; I was expecting the run-off to be between Hahn and Bowen.

UPDATE [2:29 CDT by Goobergunch]: Well, hold that thought.

Dean Logan, RR/CC
Initial ESTIMATE of remaining ballots: 9,811 (8,416 vote by mail; 1,269 provisionals; 126 damaged). #CA36 #CD36

Looks like Bowen still has a shot at winning the runoff. We’ll know later this week…

13 May 2011

H.R. 754, the FY2011 Intelligence Authorization bill

Goobergunch @ 00:00 CT
Posted in: Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines, War and National Defense

The House is in the process of considering H.R. 754, which authorizes and sets funding levels for United States intelligence activities for the remainder of the current fiscal year. This bill is always a hard one to discuss because the specific funding and personnel levels are classified. But there are a few other provisions worth mentioning. Section 401 requires the National Counterintelligence Strategy to be updated every three years (instead of annually), and be aligned with the strategy and policies of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). Section 402 requires the development of an automated insider threat detection program. Section 411 gives the Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency special budget authority, and Section 412 grants Department of Defense transfer authority from intelligence accounts.

The following amendments are in order to H.R. 754:

  1. Rogers (MI) Amendment, which strikes section 412 and clarifies the section 411 authority to only apply to National Intelligence Program funds.
  2. Barrow Amendment, which creates a pilot grant program for Historically Black Colleges and Universities for foreign language and study abroad programs. (Adopted by voice vote.)
  3. Dent Amendment, which requires the DNI and CIA Director to submit information regarding Anwar al-Awlaki to the intelligence committees. (Withdrawn.)
  4. [Welch Amendment not moved.]
  5. Gibson Amendment, which requires the DNI to submit recommendations for the consolidation of the intelligence community.
  6. Ruppersburger (for Waters) Amendment, which requires a report on minority employment in the intelligence community. (Adopted by voice vote.)
  7. Hinchey Amendment, which requires a report on Argentina’s human rights violations in the 1970s and 1980s.
  8. Carney Amendment, which establishes the sense of Congress that rail transport be included in transportation security plans.
  9. Grimm Amendment, which commends the U.S. intelligence community for their role in killing Osama bin Laden.

Debate on the Grimm Amendment and votes on all of the outstanding amendments as well as on final passage will happen this morning, starting shortly after 9:00 EDT.

10 May 2011

A New Challenger Approaches: Herman Cain, the Godfather’s Pizza CEO

Goobergunch @ 12:00 CT
Posted in: Election 2012
Tags: ,

So when I kicked off 2012 Presidential election coverage, I set out the criteria for candidate inclusion thusly:

Since it’s too early to have a clear view of the Republican field, at this time candidates will be added to the delegate tracker if either they have at some point been elected to federal or statewide office or they get at least one endorsement from a Republican National Committee member. When Republican presidential debates start happening, those will probably be used to determine who should be included in the count.

Well, the first debate was held on 5 May, and there was one attendee who didn’t meet any of the other criteria:

Radio host, businessman and former United States Senate candidate Herman Cain of Georgia began a movement for the 2012 Republican Party nomination for President of the United States shortly following the 2010 midterm elections.

That, uh, sounds like a truly promising background for a Presidential candidate. When your only prior bid for elective office led to a whopping 26.2% in a Republican primary, clearly your next step should be to run for President. Really, the only interesting thing I can say about Cain is that he’s a black Tea Party supporter. I’ll be surprised if he’s a serious factor in the primaries.

This Week in the House

Goobergunch @ 00:00 CT
Posted in: Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines, Foreign Affairs, Public Lands, War and National Defense

While we know the Senate’s not going to accomplish anything, the House is still passing bills. Whether they’re fated to do anything after they leave the House is another question. Scheduled for this week:

  • H.R. 1016 (summary), which requires a report on the status of post-earthquake efforts in Haiti. [Tuesday - Suspension]
  • H.R. 1229 (summary, report), which intends to expedite the resumption of oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico by requiring the Secretary of the Interior, at the most, to approve or reject permits within 60 days. [Tuesday]
  • H.R. 1231 (summary, report), which requires areas estimated to contain the most oil in each outer continental shelf to be opened for leasing. With a title like the “Reversing President Obama’s Offshore Moratorium Act”, you know that this has a strong chance of enactment. [Wednesday]
  • H.R. 754 (summary, report), the Intelligence Authorization Act for FY2011. More on this later in the week. [Thursday, Friday]
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