House

Just hours ago, President Obama's stimulus package passed the House without a single Republican vote. The GOP, as ever, is unified, and they're intent on blocking Obama. The reasons for opposing the legislation surely has nothing to do with governance--the stimulus was less offensive to Republicans than the Medicare plan Bush shoved through the House. They are mouthing platitudes about controlling spending ("More big government spending on liberal government programs won't put Americans back to work"), but this is clearly not about reining in spending.Obama, the President who does actually wish to be the uniter, has tried to make the...

A jobs packaging totaling $176 million passed the Oregon Senate today. The legislation is billed as an economic stimulus package that is expected to create 3000 jobs across the state. The plan targets infrastructure projects in all of Oregon's 36 counties. The vote on the package was bipartisan, but not by much.Predictably, leaders on the Republican side slammed the bill: To make his case, Senate GOP Leader Ted Ferrioli took a jab at one of the projects, a $1,200 job to clear moss from the roof of a Department of Transportation building in Sweet Home. "Why are we including moss...

In all this talk of the stimulus package working its way through Congress, there's a whole lotta billion this and billion that. As Senator Everett Dirksen once famously said, "A billion here and a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking real money!"It can be pretty tough to put all that in real terms. Well, the O has a story that itemizes what the stimulus package might mean right here in Oregon:According to congressional analysts, the House bill would give Oregon:-- $747 million to help the state balance its budget.-- $210 million to modernize, renovate and repair public schools.-- $33...

Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 270 to 155 against the second half of the $700 billion financial services industry bailout. It was, however, essentially a meaningless vote. From the O's Jeff Mapes: The House on Thursday voted 270-155 to "disapprove" releasing the second half of the money. The thing is, the vote was purely symbolic. Because the Senate earlier refused to block the funds, President Obama has all the authority he needs to go ahead with the bailout of the financial system. Rep. Peter DeFazio and Rep. David Wu voted against the bailout last fall, and voted against...

And, politically speaking, a first class jerk.

This AP story ran a few days ago attempting to make Rep. Dave Hunt (Democrat) sound all conciliatory and friendly (House speaker hopes to mend...

I’m not sure if Elana Schor was intending to be humorous or not in her post on TPM yesterday, More House Members Stand Up to Israel Than in '06: The House just approved its version of the praise-filled pro-Israel resolution approved yesterday in the Senate. And though I've yet to see a co-sponsor tally that would show any senator courageous enough to resist the lure of AIPAC, the stiffened-spine caucus in the House reached 26 members today: 4 who voted no and 22 voting "present" in a gesture of stoic disapproval. 26 House votes against 390 voting “Yea” isn’t exactly...

Jeff Mapes has a story in the O today, reporting that current Oregon GOP Chair Vance Day has decided not to run for reelection:Vance Day, a Salem lawyer who has headed the party since 2005, initially planned to run for re-election but has recently told Republican activists he won't seek another term. That leaves former State Rep Bob Tiernan and former House Speaker Lynn Snodgrass to battle it out. I'm still learning about these two, as their historical spotlight in Oregon politics was prior to my engagement. Mapes' writeup on the dynamics of the two candidates is sufficient but not...

Way West of the Beltway readers get an advance peek at my story in Thursday's Oregonian about the GOP chairmanship fight between former House Speaker Lynn Snodgrass and former Rep. Bob Tiernan. AP Photo/Don Ryan/2000Lynn Snodgrass Bob Tiernan After another...