the Senate ~~ CONGRESS 5/21 ~~ the House


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The Senate stands adjourned until 9:30am on Wednesday, May 21.

Following any Leader remarks, there will be a period of morning business until 12:15pm, with the time equally divided and controlled between the two Leaders or their designees. At 12:15pm, the Senate will proceed to vote on confirmation of Executive Calendar #768, Stanley Fischer, of New York, to be a Member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve.

Following the Fischer vote, the Senate will recess until 2:00pm to allow for the Republican caucus meeting.

At 2:00pm, there will be up to 10 minutes for debate equally divided.

At 2:10pm, there will be a series of up to 5 roll call votes in relation to the following nominations:

  1. Cloture on Executive Calendar 576, David Jeremiah Barron, of Massachusetts, to be United States Circuit Judge for the First Circuit
  2. Confirmation of Executive Calendar #773 Elisebeth Collins Cook – to be a Member of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board for a term expiring January 29, 2020
  3. Confirmation of Executive Calendar #774 Deirdre M. Daly – to be United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut for the term of four years
  4. Confirmation of Executive Calendar #775 James Walter Frazer Green – to be United States Attorney for the Middle District of Louisiana for the term of four years
  5. Confirmation of Executive Calendar #743 Damon Paul Martinez – to be United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico for the term of four years

There will be a roll call vote on cloture on the Barron nomination and we expect to confirmed the Cook, Daly, Green, and Martinez nominations by voice votes. Therefore, senators should expect one roll call vote at 12:15pm and another roll call vote at 2:10pm.

Senator Paul asked unanimous consent that the cloture motion on Executive Calendar 576, David Jeremiah Barron, of Massachusetts, to be United States Circuit Judge for the First Circuit, be delayed.

Senator Markey objected.

12:16pm The Senate began a 15 minute roll call vote on confirmation of Executive Calendar #768, Stanley Fischer, of New York, to be a Member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve;

Confirmed: 68-27

2:14pm The Senate began a 15 minute roll call vote on the motion to invoke cloture on Executive Calendar 576, David Jeremiah Barron, of Massachusetts, to be United States Circuit Judge for the First Circuit;

Invoked:52-43

 

 

  1. Confirmation of Executive Calendar #773 Elisebeth Collins Cook, of Virginia, to be a Member of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board for a term expiring January 29, 2020
  2. Confirmation of Executive Calendar #774 Deirdre M. Daly, of Connecticut, to be United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut for the term of four years
  3. Confirmation of Executive Calendar #775 James Walter Frazer Green, Louisiana, to be United States Attorney for the Middle District of Louisiana for the term of four years
  4. Confirmation of Executive Calendar #743 Damon Paul Martinez, of New Mexico, to be United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico for the term of four years

Cloture was invoked on the Barron nomination by a vote of 52-43.Under the previous order, the vote on confirmation of the Barron nomination will occur at approximately 2:00pm tomorrow, Thursday, May 22.  There will be no further roll call votes today

Senator Klobuchar asked unanimous consent the Senate take up and pass Calendar #88, S.394, a bill to prohibit and deter the theft of metal. Senator Lee objected.

By voice vote, the Senate confirmed the following nominations:

  • Confirmation of Executive Calendar #773 Elisebeth Collins Cook, of Virginia, to be a Member of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board for a term expiring January 29, 2020
  • Confirmation of Executive Calendar #774 Deirdre M. Daly, of Connecticut, to be United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut for the term of four years
  • Confirmation of Executive Calendar #775 James Walter Frazer Green, Louisiana, to be United States Attorney for the Middle District of Louisiana for the term of four years
  • Confirmation of Executive Calendar #743 Damon Paul Martinez, of New Mexico, to be United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico for the term of four years

WRAP UP

Roll Call Votes

1)     Confirmation of Executive Calendar #768, Stanley Fischer, of New York, to be a Member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve; Confirmed: 68-27

2)     Motion to invoke cloture on Executive Calendar 576, David Jeremiah Barron, of Massachusetts, to be United States Circuit Judge for the First Circuit; Invoked: 52-43

 

Legislative items

Passed S.2086, the Reliable Home Heating Act with a committee-reported substitute amendment.

 

Passed the following postal naming bills, en bloc:

–        Calendar #385, H.R.1036, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 103 Center Street West in Eatonville, Washington, as the “National Park Ranger Margaret  Anderson Post Office”.

–        Calendar #386, H.R.1228, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 123 South 9th Street in De Pere, Wisconsin, as the “Corporal Justin D. Ross Post Office Building”.

–        Calendar #387, H.R.1451, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 14 Main Street in Brockport, New York, as the “Staff Sergeant Nicholas H. Reid Post Office Building”.

–        Calendar #388, H.R.2391, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 5323 Highway N in Cottleville, Missouri as the “Lance Corporal Phillip Vinnedge Post Office”.

–        Calendar #389, H.R.3060, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 232 Southwest Johnson Avenue in Burleson, Texas, as the “Sergeant William Moody Post Office Building”.

 

Adopted S.Res.421, Expressing the gratitude and appreciation of the Senate for the acts of heroism and military achievement by the members of the United States Armed Forces who participated in the June 6, 1944, amphibious landing at Normandy, France, and commending them for leadership and valor in an operation that helped bring an end to World War II.

 

Discharged the Judiciary committee and adopted S.Res.445, recognizing the importance of cancer research and the contributions of scientists, clinicians, and patient advocates across the United States who are dedicated to finding a cure for cancer, and designating May 2014, as “National Cancer Research Month”.

 

Adopted S.Res.454, Recognizing that cardiovascular disease continues to be overwhelming threat to women’s health and the importance of providing basic, preventive heart screenings to women wherever they seek primary care.

 

Completed the Rule 14 process to place S.2363, Bipartisan Sportsman’s Act, on the Legislative Calendar of Business.

 

Additional Executive items

Confirmed the following by voice vote

–        Executive Calendar #773 Elisebeth Collins Cook, of Virginia, to be a Member of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board for a term expiring January 29, 2020

–        Executive Calendar #774 Deirdre M. Daly, of Connecticut, to be United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut for the term of four years

–        Executive Calendar #775 James Walter Frazer Green, Louisiana, to be United States Attorney for the Middle District of Louisiana for the term of four years

–        Executive Calendar #743 Damon Paul Martinez, of New Mexico, to be United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico for the term of four years

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Last Floor Action:5/20 1:45:15 A.M. – The House adjourned.

The next meeting is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. on May 21, 2014.

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Not Lovin’It


By

Scenes From Yesterday’s Worldwide Fast Food Strikes

Yesterday we wrote about how fast food workers united to participate in the most widespread strike in the history of the fast food industry. Employees of fast food restaurants across the United States and around the world took the risk of walking off the job to demand higher pay, better treatment at work, and the opportunity for those who work hard to get ahead. All told, there were strikes in 230 cities, in 33 countries, on 6 continents around the world — including 150 cities in the United States.

Take a look at some of pictures from this worldwide event, and find more by following the twitter hashtag #FastFoodGlobal.

New York, NY:

fast_nyc

CREDIT: @occupywallst

Tokyo, Japan:

fast_tokyo

CREDIT: @akaill

Aukland, New Zealand:

fast_aukland

CREDIT: @LowPayIsNotOK

Chicago, IL:

fast_chicago

CREDIT: @seiulocal1

Golas, Brazil:

fast_brazil

CREDIT: @LowPayIsNotOK

London, England:

fast_london

CREDIT: @NSSN_AntiCuts

Oakland, CA:

fast_oakland

CREDIT: @juliacarriew

Bangkok, Thailand:

fast_thailand

CREDIT: @nickrudikoff

Seoul, South Korea:

fast1

CREDIT: #FastFoodGlobal

Eye on the Amazon: IN PICTURES – Meet the Zápara


Earth Day, every day

Oil? Not in Our Dreams
Meet the Zápara

As AW partner and fearless leader of the Zápara Women’s Assoc. Gloria Ushigua travels to the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues to ask that the Zápara be protected, we bring you a glimpse of the only nationality in Ecuador declared a UNESCO cultural patrimony.

The Zápara were once one of the largest indigenous groups in the Ecuadorian Amazon. But by the 1980s anthropologists deemed them extinct, an entire culture erased in less than a century by disease, violence, persecution and assimilation. What most didn’t know was that some 200 Zápara remained hidden in the dense jungle…

View more photos and read the rest on Eye on the Amazon »

Senate Expected to Vote on Wind Energy Policy – Please Reach Out!


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Aaron Severn
Director, Grassroots Advocacy & Federal Legislative Affairs
American Wind Energy Association

 

I wanted to make sure that you saw my e-mail from last week (below).  I told you that we were expecting the U.S. Senate to vote on wind energy policy.  That still is a possibility, but the bill stalled today on a procedural vote.  Our Senators will have another opportunity to advance this bill as soon as next week.

Your Senators need to hear from you right away.  Please write in and urge them to support The EXPIRE Act. 

This bill proposes to extend a host of expired and expiring tax provisions, including the renewable energy production tax credit (PTC) and investment tax credit (ITC).  The extension would let wind energy developers qualify for the tax credits if they start construction on their wind projects by the end of 2015.

I’ve drafted a template note for you – just click here, enter your address, personalize the note, and send it along.  It won’t take long.

Thanks for taking action at this important time!  I sincerely appreciate your support.  I will be in touch again soon.

Best regards,
Aaron

Begin forwarded message:

From: Aaron Severn <grassroots@awea.org>
Date: Tuesday May 6, 2014
Subject: Senate Expected to Vote on Wind Energy Policy – Please Reach Out!

 

I wanted to let you know that the full Senate is expected to vote on the EXPIRE Act as early as next week, and I encourage you to urge your Senators to support this bill.

The EXPIRE Act proposes to extend a host of expired and expiring tax provisions, including the renewable energy production tax credit (PTC) and investment tax credit (ITC).  The extension would let wind energy developers qualify for the tax credits if they start construction on their wind projects by the end of 2015.

The PTC and ITC have been successful policies, and it’s crucial that they be extended.  In a period of relative policy stability, between 2005 and 2012, with the credits being seamlessly extended, the wind industry:

  • Experienced an average annual growth rate of 31%
  • Added the vast majority of all wind power capacity in the U.S. today; and
  • Channeled $105 billion of private investment into the U.S. economy.

These credits were allowed to expire at the end of 2013, though.  Leading up to this expiration, new wind installations came to a halt, resulting in a:

  • 92% drop in new wind projects (1,087 megawatts in 2013, compared to 13,131 in 2012)
  • Corresponding drop in investment ($2 billion in 2013, compared to $25 billion in 2012); and
  • Loss of thousands of manufacturing jobs.

I urge you to share this information with your Senators – and even better, let them know why it matters to you.  Please let them know why you want the U.S. to get more and more of its electricity from wind power, and that you need their support in order to make that happen.

I’ve drafted a template note for you – just click here, enter your address, personalize the note, and send it along.  It won’t take long.

Thanks for taking action at this important time!  I sincerely appreciate your support.  I will update you on the outcome of this vote.

Best regards,
Aaron

Aaron Severn
Director, Grassroots Advocacy & Federal Legislative Affairs
American Wind Energy Association

P.S.  Interested to know more about the PTC?  Visit this page.

 

Going Global


By

Fast Food Workers Strike In 150 U.S. Cities And Worldwide

 

Every worker deserves fair wages and the right to organize. That’s why fast food workers have united today to participate in the most widespread strike in the history of the fast food industry. All in all, employees of fast food restaurants in 150 cities across the United States are taking the risk of walking off the job to demand higher pay, better treatment at work, and the opportunity for those who work hard to get ahead. The movement has also gone global, with protesters on six different continents as part of the worldwide “Low Pay Is Not OK” campaign.

Think Progress takes a look back at how their cause grew from a handful of people to a globe-spanning movement. The fast food strikes began on November 29, 2012. By the next August, strikers walked out in 60 cities. In December 2013, a little over a year after the first strike, a record-breaking 100 cities participated. And today, we are at a new record of 150. Take a look below — and head here to see the map in motion.

fastfoodglobal2

These workers are standing up for a cause that all of us can get behind. Our economy is simply not working for most Americans. While wealth at the top has kept going up and up and up, middle- and working-class families now have less, and this has thrown our entire economy off kilter. A strong middle class is the real engine of the economy. An economy that grows from the middle class out is an economy that works for everyone, not just the wealthy few.

The push to raise the minimum wage comes from the same set of beliefs: a person working full-time in America should not live in poverty. But many Republicans in Congress have remained staunchly opposed to raising the federal minimum wage to $10.10. Instead of voting to give Americans who work hard a better opportunity to get ahead, they have sided with the one percent and the special interests.

The tide could be changing, however. First, conservative leaders and former officeholders Rick Santorum and Tim Pawlenty said their fellow party members “should support reasonable increases to the minimum wage.” Then 2012 Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney agreed, telling a television audience that “we ought to raise it.”

Additionally, major low-wage employers have recently come out in favor of an increase. The CEO of Subway, the biggest fast food chain in the world, said his company would not object: “I’m not concerned. Over the years, I’ve seen so many of these wage increases. I think it’s normal.” And just today, Wal-Mart, which had previously maintained a “neutral” position on a wage increase, announced that it is “not opposed.”

BOTTOM LINE: The momentum to stand up for workers and fair pay is spreading at the grassroots and in corner offices. Fast food workers across the United States and the world are striking today to stand up for the principle that if you work hard, you should get ahead. At the same time, more and more of conservatives’ supposed anti-worker allies — top Republicans and the big retail companies they claim would be hurt — are announcing their support for a minimum wage increase.