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US Senate Tag

Posted by Mary Chastain on December 13, 2018 23 Comments
In December 2017, The Washington Post reported how the Office of Compliance for Congress paid over $17 million for 264 settlements and awards over various violations, including sexual harassment. Now Congress has agreed on a bill that members of Congress will be responsible for their own settlements instead of the tax payer. As of now, "settlements are paid through taxpayer-funded accounts members use to pay for office salaries and expenses."

Posted by Mary Chastain on December 11, 2018 8 Comments
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) finally decided to pick up the criminal justice reform bill, the FIRST STEP Act, that has the approval of President Donald Trump. From The Washington Examiner:
“At the request of the president and following improvements to the legislation that have been secured by several members, the Senate will take up the recently-revised criminal justice bill this month,” McConnell said in a Senate floor speech. “I intend to turn to the new text as early as the end of this week.”

Posted by Mary Chastain on December 05, 2018 18 Comments
The government needs to come up with spending bills by Friday or the government will shut down. Border wall funding has halted the talks as disagreements between the Democrats and President Donald Trump continue. Trump wants $5 billion, but the Democrats will not budge from their demand of only $1.6 billion.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on November 18, 2018 28 Comments
Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) has conceded to Florida Governor Rick Scott (R).  Scott will become Florida's junior senator, making this the first time in over a century that Florida has had two Republican senators.  This flipped Senate seat will also strengthen the Republican majority in the Senate to 52-48.  Prior to the midterms, the GOP held a slightly slimmer majority of 51-49. Scott announced that Nelson, who has held public office since 1972, conceded in a phone call Sunday after the second mandatory recount showed Scott leading by approximately 10,000 votes.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on November 17, 2018 28 Comments
U.S. District Judge Mark Walker upheld Florida law that "forbids county election offices from counting vote-by-mail ballots received after 7 p.m. Election Day." This was the last best hope for Democrats after suffering several setbacks in recent days, including Florida Governor Rick Scott gaining over 800 votes in the mandatory recount, yet as of this writing Nelson has yet to concede.

Posted by Mary Chastain on November 16, 2018 6 Comments
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) has decided to leave the Senate Judiciary Committee, which he chaired, to lead the Senate Finance Committee. From Politico:
“The economy is better than it’s been in years and there’s a sense of optimism about the future of our country that people haven’t felt in a long time thanks to the pro-growth policies of a Republican President and a Republican majority in Congress,” Grassley said. “Looking ahead, at the Finance Committee, I want to continue to work to make sure that as many Americans as possible get to experience this good economy for themselves."

Posted by Mary Chastain on November 15, 2018 25 Comments
I'd say I can see Sen. Kamala Harris's (D-CA) 2020 presidential aspirations go down the drain, but something tells me this won't affect her. During the confirmation hearing for Ronald Vitello, the acting ICE director, to become the permanent director, Harris asked him if he sees any parallels between ICE and the KKK after she cited a tweet he sent in 2015 where he claimed "the Democrat Party was comparable to a 'liberal-cratic' or 'neo-Klanist' entity."

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on November 11, 2018 22 Comments
As the mandatory recount kicks off in Florida, insults and accusations fly between Democrats and Republicans. As of Sunday morning, Governor Rick Scott (R) leads Senator Bill Nelson (D) by 12,562 votes (by 0.15%) in the Senate race.  Representative Ron DeSantis (R) leads Tallahassee mayor Andrew Gillum by 33,684 votes (by  0.41%)) in the gubernatorial race.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on November 10, 2018 51 Comments
Attorneys for Democrat candidate for Florida governor Andrew Gillum and Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) objected Saturday to the exclusion of a vote by a non-citizen. Despite their objections, the vote was not counted, and the Nelson campaign has disavowed their own attorney, claiming that the attorney "was not authorized" to make such a decision and iterating that "non-citizens cannot vote in U.S. elections.”

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on November 10, 2018 28 Comments
From joy and relief to oh-em-gee. Florida's Republican Secretary of State has been forced to order a recount of Tuesday's election results for both the Senate and the gubernatorial races.  The recount is mandatory and automatically triggered when the vote margin is less than 0.5%, as it has become since initial results were announced. The recount results are due by 3 p.m. EST on Thursday, November 15th, 2018.  If there is a margin of less than 0.25% following this recount, there will be a second recount, this time by hand. The results of this second recount (which seems likely in the Senate race since the margin is already less than 0.25%) will be due three days later, on the 18th.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on October 27, 2018 19 Comments
It's hard to believe, but the midterm election is less than two weeks away.  This is a high-stakes midterm election, the likes of which in terms of national import we've probably not seen since the 1994 or 2010 midterms.  Both Democrats and Republicans are keenly aware of the stakes, and there have been more than a few developments over the past few days that are worth noting. We have separate READER POLLS as to whether Republicans can hold the House and Senate.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on October 20, 2018 21 Comments
Earlier this week, James O'Keefe's Project Veritas revealed that Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) conceals her actual position on issues such as gun control in order to get elected. McCaskill is now demanding that state Attorney General Josh Hawley open an investigation into O'Keefe's investigative journalism, charging that Project Veritas engaged in "fraud" under Missouri's Merchandising Practices Act.
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