Monthly Archives: May 2014

Black History

the Senate ~~ CONGRESS ~~ the House


never-be-afraid-to-say-what-you-feel-never-be-afraid-to-say-demotivational-poster-1232488528The Senate stands adjourned until 2:00pm on Monday, May 5, 2014.

Following any Leader remarks, the Senate will be in a period of morning business until 5:30pm with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

 At 5:30pm, the Senate will proceed to Executive Session and there will be up to 2 roll call votes:

–        Confirmation of Executive Calendar #575, Nancy L. Moritz, of Kansas, to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the Tenth Circuit and

–        Confirmation of Executive Calendar #703 Peter A. Selfridge, of Minnesota, to be Chief of Protocol, and to have the rank of Ambassador during his tenure of service.

 During Thursday’s session of the Senate, cloture was filed on the motion to proceed to S.2262, the Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness Act.

5:33pm The Senate began a 15 minute roll call vote on confirmation of Executive Calendar #575, Nancy L. Moritz, of Kansas, to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the Tenth Circuit;

Confirmed: 90-3

Executive Calendar #703 Peter A. Selfridge, of Minnesota, to be Chief of Protocol, and to have the rank of Ambassador during his tenure of service, was confirmed by voice vote

      There will be no further roll call votes during Monday’s session of the Senate.

Senator Klobuchar asked unanimous consent the Senate take up and pass Calendar #316, S.149, Stopping Tax Offenders and Prosecuting Identity Theft Act of 2013.

 

Senator Cruz reserved his right to object and asked consent to take up S.2066 and S.2067, en bloc. Senator Klobuchar objected. Senator Cruz objected to the original request.

 

S.2066 is a bill to amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit the intentional discrimination of a person or organization by an employee of the Internal Revenue Service.

 

S.2067 is a bill to prohibit the Department of the Treasury from assigning tax statuses to organizations based on their political beliefs and activities.

WRAP UP

Roll Call Votes

1)     Confirmation of Executive Calendar #575, Nancy L. Moritz, of Kansas, to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the Tenth Circuit; Confirmed: 90-3

 

Legislative items

Passed H.R.4120, a bill to amend the National Law Enforcement Museum Act to extend the termination date.

 

Adopted S.Res.434, a resolution electing Andrew B. Willison as the Sergeant at Arms and Doorkeeper of the Senate.

 

Adopted S.Res.435, a resolution notifying the President of the United States of the election of Andrew B. Willison as the Sergeant at Arms and Doorkeeper of the Senate.

 

Adopted S.Res.436, a resolution notifying the House of Representatives of the United States of the election of Andrew B. Willison as the Sergeant at Arms and Doorkeeper of the Senate.

 

Adopted S.Res.437, recognizing the historic significance of the Mexican holiday of Cinco de Mayo.

 

Discharged the HELP committee and adopted S.Res.102, expressing support for the designation of Saint Louis, Missouri, as the “National Chess Capital” of the United States to enhance awareness of the educational benefits of chess and to encourage schools and community centers to engage in chess programs to promote problem-solving, critical thinking, special awareness, and goal setting.

 

Completed the Rule 14 process of S.2280, the Keystone XL Pipeline Approval bill (Hoeven-Landrieu-others) in order to place the bill on the Legislative Calendar.

 

Additional Executive items

Confirmed Executive Calendar #703 Peter A. Selfridge, of Minnesota, to be Chief of Protocol, and to have the rank of Ambassador during his tenure of service by voice vote. 

 

 

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Last Floor Action:5/2
12:03:47 P.M. – The Speaker announced that the House do now adjourn pursuant to a previous special order.

The next meeting is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. on May 6, 2014.

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~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

The 1% VOTES NO !

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GOP Senators Vote Against Working Americans And Block Minimum Wage Increase

A minority of 41 Senators, all Republicans, voted today to block a bill that would raise the minimum wage to $10.10. Once again, the GOP followed the orders of the Koch brothers to keep our economy working for only the wealthiest.

Earnings for the top 1 percent have gone up 177 percent (PDF) since 1980. Meanwhile, minimum wage workers are actually making 16 percent less. But Republican Senators are still refusing to give them a raise:

RTW-Line-Graph

What’s more, instead of voting to give 28 million people as much as a $4,000 raise each, these GOP Senators instead took checks from leading lobbyists from big corporations opposed to raising it. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, for instance, has taken $118,000 since 2008:

RTW-McConnell

Let’s go over just a few of the groups that these 41 Senate Republicans — whose average net worth is $6.26 million — were voting against in deciding to not even allow debate on the minimum wage bill:

But despite today’s vote, this issue isn’t going away no matter how hard Republicans wish it would. The 42nd ‘no’ vote came from Majority Leader Harry Reid, a procedural move in order to preserve the option of bringing the bill up again. And just before the vote took place, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) issued a clear indication on the Senate floor that this fight is long from over: “If we don’t succeed this time…we will bring this bill to the floor again and again and again. Sooner or later we will get it done.”

BOTTOM LINE: Instead of raising the minimum wage and giving Americans who work hard a better opportunity to get ahead, Senate Republicans have shown once again that they’re against the 99%. But this fight is far from over. Those who vote against everyday Americans — many of whom have voted for similar minimum wage increases in the past — are on the wrong side of history.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

A Tale of Two Washingtons


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Seattle Business And Labor Leaders Reach Compromise For Historic $15 Minimum Wage

Just one day after a minority of 41 Republican Senators prevented a federal minimum wage increase to $10.10 from even being debated, Seattle announced a plan to raise its minimum wage to $15 per hour. The deal, brokered by Mayor Ed Murray and developed by labor leaders, business leaders, restaurateurs, and community groups, epitomizes the stark contrast between the intransigence of one party in the nation’s capital, and the spirit of compromise elsewhere that can lead to real progress.

The $15 minimum wage will be the highest in the nation. It is a demonstration of policy-making that will grow the economy from the middle-out, not the top down. These businesses, community leaders, and labor leaders in Seattle all understand the benefit of raising the minimum wage—it would put more money in the pocket of workers who will turn around and spend that money at businesses large and small. More customers means more jobs and a stronger economy for everyone. Seattle is “showing how we as a city can lead the conversation” for the nation on income inequality, said Mayor Ed Murray.

Think Progress breaks down the details of the plan, which the Mayor says will leave “no industry, organization or class of employer exempt”:

The new pay floor will phase in at different speeds for businesses of different sizes, but all employers will have to meet the $15 minimum wage by the end of the decade. Businesses with more than 500 employees nationwide will have a three-year phase-in period, while smaller employers get five years to ratchet up their payscales.

After reaching $15 an hour, the city’s minimum wage will automatically climb by 2.4 percent each year regardless of the rate of inflation. Even among states with relatively strong minimum wage laws, automatic increases are uncommon. Thursday’s deal will make Seattle the national leader on municipal minimum wage laws. Washington currently has the highest pay floor of any state at $9.32 per hour.

Like one would expect with any major policy compromise, the deal has been in the works for months and took time to iron out. The Mayor initially pushed for a $15 minimum wage last December, when he created an income inequality advisory group representing to come up with a plan to raise the wage to that level in four months. At certain points in the process the deal looked dead. But yesterday, just an hour before the deadline, the necessary “super-majority” was reached with 21 of the 24 committee members approving the deal.

Seattle, while pushing the largest increase, isn’t the only success story of cities and states taking action to raise the minimum wage while Congress flounders. Here are a few others:

BOTTOM LINE: Washington, DC can learn a lot from Seattle, Washington. It’s time to stop playing politics with people’s lives and start building an economy that works for everyone.