Archive
It's Time. Make Voting A Constitutional Right.
Two weeks ago, with two rulings in two days, the Supreme Court gave a whole new meaning to what W.E. DuBois described as a "double consciousness" or a "two-ness" of being. When the Court's decision in Windsor ruled a major part of the Defense of Marriage Act...
48 Senators In The Hall Of Shame For Rejecting Student Loan Rollback
Once again, Congress has failed our students. Today, the bill to roll back student loan interest rates to 3.4 percent proposed by Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) failed to get cloture, meaning it will not be able to move forward for full floor consideration and an up-or-down...
Still Sequestered: DOD Furloughs Start
Remember the Washington Post article claiming that the "bad stuff" that was supposed because of the sequester didn’t, and thus sequestration can’t be all that bad? Well, the sequester is still on, and still doing harm. Just ask the 650,000 DOD...
What If You Gave A Midsession Budget Review And Nobody Noticed?
In this era when almost all federal budget process deadlines are routinely missed or completely ignored, it's hard to believe that the fiscal 2014 mid-session review of the budget was released yesterday, a full week ahead of the July 15 statutory deadline.
The mid-session review was released with virtually no fanfare. In fact, many of my budget geek friends who, trust me on this, live for the release of federal budget documents, didn't know it had been released until this morning.
From the Up is Down files: Southern style
I don't think I need to point out just how obvious these people are being, do I?
Progressive Breakfast for July 10, 2013
Reid Readies Filibuster Ultimatum "Sen. Harry Reid ready to go nuclear on executive branch nominations" reports Politico: "Reid appears to have enough support within the Democratic Caucus to go forward with the proposal, several Democratic senators and aides said....
The Republican Chance To Govern Like Grown-Ups
The January deal on Senate rules forged by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell has actually held. It just wasn't very ambitious in its scope. The deal was designed to cut down on dilatory tactics so they could, in the words of one senator, "get back...
Mitch McConnell Put On Notice: Stop Blocking Labor Board Nominations
House Democrats joined with victims of unfair labor practices today to deliver a letter to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, signed by 201 Democratic House members, asking him to stop the obstruction in the Senate and to allow votes on President Obama’s National...
Will Portugal Be Austerity's Next "Catastrophic Success"
I’ve written a few times about how austerity has done a number on Portugal. It’s increased inequality, shrunk the economy, increased the country’s death rate, driven unemployment to record highs, led to a mass exodus of educated-but-unemployed young Portuguese (much...
Progressive Breakfast: Join The Student Loan Rate
Student Loan Vote Soon Student loan vote expected tomorrow, but no deal in sight. Roll Call: "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., filed cloture Monday on a Democrat-sponsored one-year extension of the expired fixed rate of 3.4 percent for subsidized Stafford...
