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~ my 2cents ...

TGIF …&some News


I needed some feeling of peace so the picture on the left is of our I-5 Peace Arch on the Canadian Border.

Last night, the following comments were made after the jobs/tax extenders bill failed in the Senate again 56-40 -“Tonight, every single Republican voted to deny states critical aid that would keep firefighters, police offices and teachers employed,” said Jim Manley, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). “And tonight, every single Republican voted to tell the one in ten Americans who have lost their jobs that they are on their own.” Please call your representative in Congress.

We need Congress to walk through a feature like our Arch to bring peace over them and maybe they will all come to the same conclusion… The need to vote yes to the Jobs bill and that  BP is a big Corporation that should be held completely accountable for the BP disaster; lets hope all Americans heard the Barton, Bachmann; cable heads and Boehner comments-   Corporatist-Republicans! The escrow was for We the People and is not a Chicago style take down as suggested. Republican Congressmen like Barton came out in support and the protection of a company that has ruined not only the Gulf Coast, the livelihoods the environment the Marshes, Estuaries and now the beaches in Louisiana are suffering, which may affect every aspect of their economy for decades. Those comments were pulled back by Barton but as I have said, those comments cannot be put back into any bottle and hopefully Americans will not forget or forgive.

The President will be in Ohio to talk and see exactly what the locals are doing with the stimulus money, how many were hired and how can we get more people to work in Ohio as well as other places in the country. Apparently, there are a lot people with negative comments about the stimulus money but I feel if Governors continue to use the stimulus money to balance their budgets and the private sector seems unwilling to open up, the unemployment numbers will continue to dive.

Thank goodness, it is Friday; today, the US plays slovenia… live on cable now. It is definitely a week full of big sports news and some great and not so great news. The Lakers pull one out of their hatsss… in game seven 83-79. I will admit I did not watch the first six games, but game seven started out with the Lakers throwing everything but the kitchen sink at the hoop. The first half really look like the Lakers were going down; looking at the close-ups of the Celtic players told it all they looked tired and very old like a story or two already written for the airwaves and it showed on game seven. As a viewer, watching Kobe and associates miss so many shots at the beginning was irritating  but then I read that somebody was willing to put limbaugh on the Golf Channel -what? Yep he will be getting golf tips on the Haney Project show and well you have to wonder if the ratings are just so bad that they need controversy and more viewers …good luck with that. Watch out for baseball- College World Series …this weekend

Other News …

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently told an Ecuadorian TV network that the Department of Justice “will be bringing a lawsuit” against Arizona over SB-1070, saying President Obama “thinks that the federal government should be determining immigration policy.” The DOJ refused to confirm or deny Clinton’s comments, and Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) called the remarks “outrageous.”

THINK FAST

“Liberal Democrats in the Senate are threatening to vote against energy legislation if it does not address global climate change,” the Hill reports. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) “declined to commit” yesterday to including a climate change provision in the bill, and liberals don’t want a repeat of other major bills, which were watered down by concessions to conservatives.


C-SPAN …

watch White House Press Briefing

watch Spkr. Pelosi Briefing

watch Panel 1 watch Panel 2 watch Panel 3

watch Atty. Gen. Holder & FBI Dir. Mueller

Obama Travels to Ohio, New Tax Extenders Bill Evolves in Senate

President Obama travels to Ohio today to mark the groundbreaking of a Columbus road project. He plans to meet with workers, and deliver remarks on the impact of the $787 billion Recovery Act.  This week, the Senate has been working on the Unemployment Extension 2010 Tax Extenders Bill (H.R. 4213). Two procedural motions have been defeated and leadership is now working on a scaled down version of the bill which they hope can pass. Unemployment benefits for up to a million Amerricans expired June 2, meaning that they are without benefits.

BP CEO Tony Hayward Offers Few New Details in Hearing

In his opening testimony yesterday, BP chief executive Tony Hayward said that he was “deeply sorry” over the Gulf oil spill and that the accident “never should have happened.” During the nearly six hour hearing, Mr. Hayward repeatedly claimed that he was not included on many decisions leading up to the Deepwater Horizon rig accident. Later during questions he acknowledged that he wasn’t familiar with the well until it hit oil in early April. The hearing was the CEO’s first appearance before Congress on the disaster. BP America President Lamar McKay, who oversees BP’s U.S. operations, has been its top representative at previous hearings. After a fire Tuesday on a BP vessel capturing oil, BP resumed the containment process, which they announced is capturing more than 15,000 barrels a day. On June 15th, government officials announced the well is leaking between 35,000 and 60,000 barrels a day.  The change was “based on updated information and scientific assessments,” the Deepwater Horizon Incident Joint Information Center said.

Commission Scrutinizes Role of Private Security Firms

The federal government has depended on security protection and other services provided by contractors during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. However, the Commission on Wartime Contracting (CWC) examines if some of the tasks performed by armed and unarmed contractors are inherently governmental duties, such as hostage negotiations and providing security for convoys and bases. The two-day hearing also discusses how the drawdown of U.S. military forces in Iraq will affect the need for private contractors.
~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

UNDER THE RADAR

RADICAL RIGHT — CANADIAN BILLIONAIRE SET TO LAUNCH A CONSERVATIVE NETWORK BEING DUBBED ‘FOX NEWS NORTH’: Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s ex-communications director Kory Teneycke has teamed up with media company Quebecor — run by billionaire media tycoon Karl Pierre Peladeau — to start a new “24-hour conservative news and comment channel” called Sun TV News, which many media insiders are dubbing “Fox News North.” Interestingly, Teneycke met with News Corp. Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch and Fox News President Roger Ailes just four months before leaving his position to join Quebecor. The meeting was not listed on Harper’s public itinerary and “only came to light when The Canadian Press searched media consultant Ari Fleischer’s mandatory disclosures with the U.S. Justice Department,” although Teneycke insists that the Quebecor venture was not discussed. However, just four months later — “barely a year into his job as Harper’s chief spokesman” — Teneycke “pick[ed] up a contract with Quebecor to explore a project that Ottawa insiders almost immediately described as a fledgling ‘Fox News North.'” Teneycke, now the vice president of Quebecor, has told the press that Sun TV News will offer “an attractive mix of hard-news reporting during the day and straight talk opinion journalism at night” that will take on “smug, condescending, often irrelevant journalism” and “political correctness.” He insisted that the channel “will not be another network catering to elite opinion” or the “lame-stream media,” a phrase also used by former Alaska governor Sarah Palin. Peladeau plans to “invest $100 million over five years to tear up Canadian TV’s rule book with [the] conservative all-news channel in a mostly liberal Canuck TV landscape.”

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

threnody Thursday in Congress


The Senate Convenes: 9:30amET June 17, 2010

Updates as needed -the first benefits test vote fell short of passing

Following any leader remarks, there will be a period of morning business until 10:00am with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each. The majority will control the first half and the Republicans will control the final half.

Following morning business, the Senate will resume consideration of the House Message to accompany HR4213, Tax Extenders.

At 10:00am, there will be up to 2 hours for debate equally divided on the Thune amendment #4333 (Republican substitute). Upon the use or yielding back of time, the Senate will proceed to vote on the motion to waive the Budget Act with respect to the Thune amendment

Additional roll call votes in relation to amendments to the Tax Extenders bill are expected to occur throughout the day.

The following amendments are pending to Tax Extenders:

– Coburn amendment #4331 (pay-fors)
– Div 1. Disclosing true cost of Congressional borrowing and spending.
– Div 2. Reducing budgets of members of Congress.
– Div 3. Enacting the White House’s proposed 5 percent cut on government spending.
– Div 4. Eliminating nonessential government travel.
– Div 5. Reducing unnecessary printing and publishing costs of government documents.
– Div 6. Disposing of unneeded and unused government property.
– Div 7. Auctioning and selling of unused and unneeded equipment.
– Div 8. Capping the total number of federal employees.
– Div 9. Temporary one-year freeze on cost of federal employees salaries.
– Div 10. Collection of unpaid taxes from employees of the federal government.
– Div 11. Reducing excessive duplication and overhead within the federal government.
– Div 12. Eliminating bonuses for poor performance by government contractors.
– Div 13. $1 billion limitation on voluntary payments to the UN.
– Div 14. Returning excessive funds from an unnecessary, unneeded, unrequested, duplicative reserve fund that may never be spent.
– Div 15. Rescinding a state department training facility unwanted by residents of the community in which it is planned to be constructed. (Maryland)
– Div 16. Eliminating a wasteful and inefficient government program (Energy Star).
– Div 17. Rescinding unspent stimulus finds.
– Div 18. Reducing wasteful energy costs by the Department of Energy.
– Div 19. Striking an earmark that increases the Medicare payments for some California doctors.
– Div 20. No new taxes.

– Casey #4371 (COBRA)
– LeMieux #4300 (2007 spending levels)
– Senator DeMint moves to refer the House Message to accompany H.R.4213 (Tax Extenders) to the Committee on Finance with instructions to report the same back to the Senate with changes to include a permanent extension of the 15 percent income tax rate on capital gains and dividends under section 1(h) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, and to include provisions which decrease spending or increase net revenues as appropriate to offset such permanent extension.

We are currently working on an agreement to vote at 7:30pm on the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to concur in the House amendment to the Senate amendment to HR4213, with Baucus amendment #4369 (substitute). We will set the filing deadline for second degree amendments to Tax Extenders for 7:30pm tonight. If your senator has a germane second degree amendment and would like to preserve their right to offer, please send a signed copy of the amendment to the cloakroom prior to the deadline so that we may filed it at the desk for you.

Votes:
193: Thune motion to waive the Budget Act with respect to the Thune amendment #4333: (substitute);
Not Waived: 41-57

194: Motion to invoke cloture on the Baucus motion to concur in the House amendment to the Senate amendment to HR4213, Tax Extenders, with Baucus amendment 4369 (substitute);
Not Invoked: 56-40.

Unanimous Consent:
Adopted S.J.Res. 33, a joint resolution to provide for the reconsideration and revision of the proposed constitution of the U.S. Virgin Islands to correct provisions inconsistent with the Constitution and federal law.

—————————————————————————————————

The next meeting in  the House is scheduled for 10:00amET on June 17, 2010

CURRENT HOUSE FLOOR PROCEEDINGS
LEGISLATIVE DAY OF JUNE 17, 2010
111TH CONGRESS – SECOND SESSION

2:16 P.M. –

SPECIAL ORDER SPEECHES – The House has concluded all anticipated legislative business and has proceeded to Special Order speeches.

2:15 P.M. –

Mr. Graves of GA requested the following general leaves to address the House on June 24: Mr. Moran of KS for 5 min, Mr. Poe of TX for 5 min, and Mr. Jones for 5 min.

2:09 P.M. –

ONE MINUTE SPEECHES – The House proceeded with further one minute speeches.

H.J. Res. 86:

recognizing the 60th anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War and reaffirming the United States-Korea alliance

2:04 P.M. –

Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.

On motion to suspend the rules and pass the resolution, as amended Agreed to by voice vote.

Considered as unfinished business.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS – The Chair announced that the unfinished business was the question on adoption of a motion to suspend the rules which had been debated earlier and on which further proceedings had been postponed.

H.R. 5486:

to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide tax incentives for small business job creation, and for other purposes

2:03 P.M. –

Pursuant to the provisions of H. Res. 1436, H.R. 5486 is laid on the table.

H.R. 5297:

to create the Small Business Lending Fund Program to direct the Secretary of the Treasury to make capital investments in eligible institutions in order to increase the availability of credit for small businesses, and for other purposes

Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.

On passage Passed by recorded vote: 241 – 182 (Roll no. 375).

1:54 P.M. –

On motion to recommit with instructions Failed by recorded vote: 180 – 237 (Roll no. 374).

1:36 P.M. –

The previous question on the motion to recommit with instructions was ordered without objection.

1:26 P.M. –

DEBATE – The House proceeded with 10 minutes of debate on the Neugebauer motion to recommit with instructions. The instructions contained in the motion seek to report the same back to the House with an amendment to add a new paragraph and subsection pertaining to SIGTARP.

Mr. Neugebauer moved to recommit with instructions to Financial Services.

1:25 P.M. –

The House adopted the amendment in the nature of a substitute as agreed to by the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union.

1:24 P.M. –

The House rose from the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union to report H.R. 5297.

1:23 P.M. –

On agreeing to the Miller (NC) amendment Agreed to by recorded vote: 418 – 3 (Roll no. 373).

1:14 P.M. –

On agreeing to the Cao amendment Agreed to by recorded vote: 414 – 0, 1 Present (Roll no. 372).

1:07 P.M. –

On agreeing to the Israel amendment Agreed to by recorded vote: 420 – 0 (Roll no. 371).

12:39 P.M. –

UNFINISHED BUSINESS – The Chair announced that the unfinished business was the question of adoption of amendments which had been debated earlier and on which further proceedings had been postponed.

POSTPONED PROCEEDINGS – At the conclusion of debate on the Miller (NC) amendment, the Chair put the question on adoption of the amendment and by voice vote announced that the ayes had prevailed. Mr. Miller (NC) demanded a recorded vote and the Chair postponed further proceedings on the question of adoption of the amendment until later in the legislative day.

12:30 P.M. –

DEBATE – Pursuant to the provisions of H.Res. 1448, the Committee of the Whole proceeded with 10 minutes of debate on the Miller (NC) amendment.

Amendment offered by Mr. Miller (NC).

An amendment printed in House Report 111-508 to expand the definition of `small business lending’ used in the bill to include loans made to small business concerns for the purpose of acquiring, constructing, or improving industrial, commercial, residential, or farm buildings.

12:29 P.M. –

On agreeing to the Schrader amendment Agreed to by voice vote.

12:20 P.M. –

DEBATE – Pursuant to the provisions of H.Res. 1448, the Committee of the Whole House proceeded with 10 minutes of debate on the Schrader amendment.

Amendment offered by Mr. Schrader.

An amendment printed in House Report 111-508 to authorize the establishment of the Small Business Borrower Assistance Program which will create a fund for 7(a) loan borrowers to use if they need help paying the principal or interest payments of their small business loans.

12:19 P.M. –

The House resolved into Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union for further consideration.

Considered as unfinished business.

12:18 P.M. –

The House received a message from the Senate. The Senate passed S.J. Res. 32.

H. Res. 1429:

celebrating the symbol of the United States flag and supporting the goals and ideals of Flag Day

12:17 P.M. –

Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.

On motion to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution Agreed to by the Yeas and Nays: (2/3 required): 418 – 0 (Roll no. 370).

12:10 P.M. –

Considered as unfinished business.

12:09 P.M. –

UNFINISHED BUSINESS – The Chair announced that the unfinished business was the question on adoption of a motion to suspend the rules which had been debated earlier and on which further proceedings had been postponed.

H. Res. 1448:

providing for further consideration of the bill ( H.R. 5297) to create the Small Business Lending Fund Program to direct the Secretary of the Treasury to make capital investments in eligible institutions in order to increase the availability of credit for small businesses, and for other purposes

Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.

On agreeing to the resolution Agreed to by recorded vote: 237 – 179 (Roll no. 369).

12:01 P.M. –

On ordering the previous question Agreed to by the Yeas and Nays: 241 – 179 (Roll no. 368).

10:30 A.M. –

DEBATE – The House proceeded with one hour of debate on H. Res. 1448

Considered as privileged matter.

10:06 A.M. –

ONE MINUTE SPEECHES – The House proceeded with one minute speeches which by direction of the Chair, would be limited to 10 per side of the aisle.

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE – The Chair designated Ms. Foxx to lead the Members in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.

The Speaker announced approval of the Journal. Pursuant to clause 1, rule I, the Journal stands approved.

10:05 A.M. –

Today’s prayer was offered by the House Chaplain, Rev. Daniel Coughlin.

The House convened, starting a new legislative day.