Dick Durbin Allegedly Insults Student as For-Profit College Debate Unfolds
Reid Backs Fed Audit, SAFE Banking Act
Yesterday I reported that Senate leadership had reached agreement that amendments would have a simple majority vote, which would have been good news. Unfortunately, that agreement was for yesterday's amendments, only. So the vote thresholds will apparently be determined as we go.
That fact seriously factors in to the prosect for key...
Durbin Says He’ll Whip the Public Option, If Pelosi Passes It
The public option hot potato is still in play. Watching the Obama and Reid and the Senate Dems tossing it back and forth all year, it's like the old "Life" cereal commercial. "I'm not gonna kill it, you kill it. I'm not gonna kill it, you kill it." They've apparently figured out the answer.
Durbin Tells Progressive Senators They Can’t Have the Public Option Vote
With now more than 40 Senators saying they would support the public option in a reconciliation vote, Dick Durbin is trying to put the brakes on the process, saying that liberals may be asked to oppose the amendment [sub req] now that they've said they would support it. Roll Call reports:
...
Durbin Takes National Security Stand
A handful of blogs have been asking the question over the past few weeks, where are the Congressional Dems in defending the Obama national security record?
Greg Sargent finds one, and a prominent one at that.
[Wednesday] night . . . Senator Dick Durbin stepped up and pushed back hard...
Dems letting Bunning win on UI/COBRA?
Lots of tough talk from Dems on Sen. Jim Bunning's (R-KY) filibuster against the extension of unemployment insurance and COBRA benefits, but no real fight.
Last night, Roll Call (subscription only) was reporting that Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) was ready for a knock-down, drag-out with Bunning over this much-needed...
Durbin Signs on to Filibuster Reform
The filibuster reform fight is getting more interesting. This morning, David wrote about the burgeoning effort among Senate Dems to prime the procedural pump to be ready at the beginning of the next Congress to change the filibuster rule, and the current Majority Leader, Harry Reid's opposition to doing that just now.
...
Republicans and what they pray for
Via Think Progress, we learn about the very Christian values Tom Coburn put on display yesterday when he was discussing the upcoming cloture vote on the health care reform bill:
What the American people ought to pray is that somebody can’t make the vote tonight. That’s what they ought to pray.
...
An Equal Press Shield
Thursday morning, the Senate Judiciary Committee adopted language proposed by Senators Specter, Schumer and Graham which will treat blogger-journalists as equals when it comes to the protections of a federal press shield, the evidentiary privilege which allows journalists in most states to protect the confidential sources when the prosecutors come asking.
As we
Act To Protect Online Press Equality
If you read Markos' diary last night, you know the deal: the Senate Judiciary Committee is meeting this morning to discuss the long-awaited extension of press shield protections into federal courts. The key question up for grabs in S. 448 is who counts as a "journalist" and therefore can generally protect her...
Follow seriouslypolitics on Twitter!
