Senate

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Senate Launches 'Vote-a-Rama' on $3.5T Budget Blueprint

Amendment against defunding police passes 99-0

(Newser) - Democrats pushed their expansive $3.5 trillion framework for bolstering family services, health, and environment programs toward Senate passage Tuesday, as Republicans unleashed an avalanche of amendments aimed at making their rivals pay a price in next year’s elections. Congressional approval of the budget resolution, which seems assured, would...

Senate Passes Massive Infrastructure Bill, 69-30

It's seen as a bipartisan win for President Biden

(Newser) - With a robust vote after weeks of fits and starts, the Senate approved a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure plan on Tuesday, a rare coalition of Democrats and Republicans joining to overcome skeptics and deliver a cornerstone of President Biden's agenda, per the AP . The 69-30 tally provides momentum for...

Old World Meets New in Latest DC Hangup

Infrastructure bill is stalled by disagreement over cryptocurrency

(Newser) - An old-school political issue—infrastructure—is getting bogged down by the most newfangled of topics. Cryptocurrency. It seems that the giant, bipartisan infrastructure bill is hung up because senators can't agree on how much to regulate the burgeoning field, reports the Hill . The details get convoluted, both in terms...

Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill Is In—and It's Massive

Senators unveil $1T package Sunday night

(Newser) - After much delay, senators unveiled a nearly $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package, wrapping up days of painstaking work on the inches-thick bill and launching what is certain to be a lengthy debate over President Biden’s big priority. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act clocked in at some 2,700...

Senators Vote to Work on $1T Infrastructure Plan

Package passes test vote, 67-32, and moves toward debate

(Newser) - Senators of both parties voted Wednesday night to get started on President Biden's $1 trillion infrastructure plan. The 67-32 vote puts the Senate on schedule to begin debate on the package this week, the Washington Post reports, a full month after Biden had announced that a deal had been...

Top Democrats Push to Legalize Pot at Federal Level

They're calling for an end to prohibition

(Newser) - Top Senate Democrats have unveiled draft legislation to legalize marijuana, remove federal penalties, and erase nonviolent federal cannabis-related criminal records. The proposal from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, and Sen. Cory Booker, dubbed the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act, would remove marijiuana, now fully...

Senate Republicans Block Voting Rights Bill

Vote on For the People Act was 50-50

(Newser) - The biggest voting rights bill in decades met its widely expected fate in the evenly divided Senate Tuesday, with Republicans unified in opposition. Senators voted 50-50 on advancing the For the People Act, the Hill reports. Democrats needed 60 votes to overcome the GOP filibuster and advance the bill to...

Kyrsten Sinema Op-Ed Dooms Chances to Kill Filibuster
Democrat
Sinema:
Forget About
Killing Filibuster
the rundown
Jun 22, 2021 2:11 PM CDT

Democrat Sinema: Forget About Killing Filibuster

Senator makes clear she is opposed to the idea

(Newser) - A Democratic effort to pass voting rights legislation was on track to fail in the Senate on Tuesday because it won't get the 60 votes necessary to overcome a Republican filibuster, reports the Hill . The issue is calling new attention to a push from some Democrats to try abolish...

Marco Rubio Gets a High-Profile Challenger

Val Demings enters Florida Senate race

(Newser) - No Republican senator from Florida has ever been elected to a third term—and Rep. Val Demings is going to try to stop Sen. Marco Rubio becoming the first in the 2022 election. The Democrat officially launched her campaign Wednesday, tweeting a video in which she criticized the "same...

GOP Uses Filibuster to Derail Jan. 6 Inquiry

Measures comes up short of necessary 60 votes in the Senate

(Newser) - The bill to create a bipartisan commission to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the US Capitol attracted the support of six Republican senators Friday, but it wasn't enough. The vote was 54-35, Politico reports. No Democrat was opposed, so the procedural vote would have needed 10 GOP votes...

Army Secretary Confirmed for 2nd Time in 12 Hours

Christine Wormuth had been confirmed, then unconfirmed, for reasons unrelated to her

(Newser) - Christine Wormuth is off the Senate confirmation merry-go-round and ready to start serving as America's first female Army secretary. She was confirmed by the Senate Thursday, having been confirmed and then unconfirmed in the previous 12 hours, reports Politico . The Wednesday night reversal of Wormuth's confirmation, which Senate...

GOP Poised to Block Capitol Attack Probe

They're expected to filibuster bill to create bipartisan commission

(Newser) - Senate Republicans are poised to block the creation of a special commission to study the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, dashing hopes for a bipartisan panel amid a GOP push to put the violent insurrection by Donald Trump’s supporters behind them. Broad Republican opposition was expected in...

Senate Confirms, Then Unconfirms, First Female Army Secretary

Christine Wormuth was briefly the first woman confirmed in Army's highest civilian post

(Newser) - On Wednesday, Christine Wormuth became the first woman confirmed by the Senate as Army secretary. Hours later, she unexpectedly became the first woman to be unconfirmed as Army secretary. In what analysts believe was the result of a procedural issue, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer asked for the confirmation to...

Democrats Nearly Sink Capitol Security Upgrade

Passed by a single vote, after objections over more funding for police, bill goes to Senate

(Newser) - Without any help from Republicans and a group of their own members, House Democrats on Thursday approved a $1.9 billion plan to improve security at the US Capitol by a one-vote margin. Several progressive Democrats either sat out the vote or voted no, arguing that the Trump supporters who...

Senate Passes Bill on Anti-Asian Crimes, 94-1

Missouri's Josh Hawley is the lone nay vote

(Newser) - The Senate overwhelmingly approved legislation Thursday intended to counter violence against Asian Americans, which has increased during the pandemic. Majority Leader Charles Schumer said passage sends a message to Asian Americans that the government is listening and reassures them that "hate crimes will not be tolerated." The bill...

Sen. Sinema's Explicit Ring Gets Plenty of Attention

Centrist Kyrsten Sinema shared photo of her wearing ring that said 'f--k off'

(Newser) - On a weekend in which photos of her exaggerated thumbs-down "no" vote on an incremental minimum wage were projected on City Hall in Flagstaff, Ariz., Sen. Kyrsten Sinema projected an image of her own—which included the words "f--k off." The Arizona Democrat posted a photo on...

Report: Ted Cruz Is Done With the Mask

CNN reports he joins Rand Paul in his stance

(Newser) - Ted Cruz is reportedly done with mask wearing, and CNN has jumped all over it. The network reports the Republican senator from Texas is going maskless on the floor of the Senate, which has no mask requirement , and in the halls of the Capitol complex. It questioned him about this,...

Lone Dem Likely Has Doomed Plans to Dodge Filibuster

Joe Manchin says reconciliation process will cause 'drastic swings in federal policymaking'

(Newser) - With the Senate split 50-50, the success of Democrats' legislation depends on having a unified caucus—and one member may have dashed hopes of getting around the filibuster another time this year. In a Washington Post op-ed, Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia criticizes the use of the budget reconciliation...

New Senate Rule Could Be a Game-Changer

Reconciliation process can be used multiple times

(Newser) - A ruling on the budget reconciliation rules from the Senate parliamentarian may not sound like a particularly exciting development—but it could have massive implications for the future of President Biden's agenda. Elizabeth MacDonough's Monday night ruling could be a game-changer because it gives Senate Majority Leader Chuck...

Biden Supports Return of 'Talking Filibuster'

He says under current rules, 'democracy is having a hard time functioning'

(Newser) - Remember when filibusters meant lawmakers who wanted to hold up a bill actually had to talk on the Senate floor for a long time? President Biden does. The president, who was a senator for 36 years and has generally seemed resistant to changing its rules, says he would support a...

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