Britain’s last parliamentary election encompassed six weeks of campaigning and cost a pittance compared to the billions to be spent on America’s current presidential election. The recent French presidential election took somewhat longer than Britain’s and again cost a pittance compared to ours. Negative campaign ads fill the airwaves. If you view these ads too …
Sen. Joe Lieberman has not been invited to either the Democratic or the Republican presidential convention this year, a major snub for a lawmaker who played prominent convention roles in the past. Lieberman (Conn.), a self-described Independent Democrat, still has many powerful friends on both sides of the aisle. This week he will manage the …
July 26th, 2012 Read her lips: No new taxes. That’s essentially what U.S. Senate candidate Heather Wilson said last year when she signed lobbyist Grover Norquist’s Taxpayer Protection Pledge. It’s not the only position the New Mexico Republican has locked into. Last year, during the bitter debate over raising the nation’s debt ceiling, she put …
CRITICS: RISE IN POLITICAL ‘PLEDGES’ STONEWALLS POLICYMAKING Read More »
U.S. Rep. Jim Himes became a co-sponsor of the No Labels-backed No Budget, No Pay Act (H.R. 3643/S. 1981), which will suspend pay for members of Congress if they fail to pass a concurrent budget resolution and all 12 annual spending bills on time. Himes’ support brings the total count to 78 co-sponsors for the …
HIMES BECOMES 78TH CO-SPONSOR OF NO BUDGET, NO PAY ACT Read More »
July 20, 2012 Forty years in the newspaper business taught me the importance of meeting deadlines. Miss one and your story didn’t run. Miss two and you might never get a chance to miss another. Students, taxpayers, workers of all kinds know the importance of deadlines — and the consequences of missing them. Presumably, it’s …
July 19, 2012 Encouraged by the traction gained by several of their proposals to “Make Congress Work!”, the No Labels organization has announced another set of proposals to “Make the Presidency Work!” Says the organization, “Almost 40 years after Congress began the post-Watergate roll-back of the ‘Imperial Presidency,’ America’s chief executive now arguably faces too …
Last night, I was one of about 40 people at the home of former U.S. Rep. Jane Harman where I was thrilled to hear four former White House Chiefs of Staff and other political luminaries discuss the future of our country. All of us in attendance have embraced the “No Labels” movement, which is designed …
written by Mark Roth July 3, 2012 In 1957, Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina decided to filibuster a civil rights voting act, even though his fellow Southerners had already agreed to a compromise. For the next 24 hours and 18 minutes, speaking softly so he wouldn’t lose his voice, Thurmond read each state’s election laws, …
SENATE FILIBUSTER NO LONGER REQUIRES LONG FLOOR SPEECH Read More »
July 14, 2012 The public is disgusted with Congress, and for good reason. Some of the most important tasks of Congress — and, consequently, those of the country — are being ignored. Congress doesn’t just fail to get its own work done. It actively blocks the efficient operation of the rest of the federal government …
July 13, 2012 WASHINGTON — In all the discussion these days about how dysfunctional Washington has become, attention usually centers on a fractious Congress riven by partisanship and paralyzed at times by rules and obstruction. Often lost in that conversation is the possibility that the presidency itself may need fixing. At least that is the …
UNSHACKLING THE PRESIDENCY TO FIX THE GOVERNMENT Read More »
