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Why Republicans May Not Win the Senate after All

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Photo Credit: Reuters Establishment Republicans should keep the champagne on ice until after the midterm elections. Too many are already popping corks, pronouncing their strategy of “crushing” the Tea Party during the primaries as a crucial step in their successful takeover of the Senate.

There are increasing signs, however, that the GOP might not take control of the Senate and may only make modest gains in the House of Representatives. In states like North Carolina, for example, the GOP candidate hasn’t shown the ability to wage a major-league campaign. In other key battleground states, the establishment GOP is supporting problematic candidates, like Monica Wehby in Oregon, who can alternatively be described as pro-Obamacare and a plagiarist. The National Republican Senatorial Committee handpicked Wehby over a strong conservative in the primary. She is now running 20 points behind.

In Kansas, the GOP Senate nominee, incumbent Senator Pat Roberts, seems to consider Virginia his home because that is his only permanent residence. A sizable number of Virginia Republican voters, meanwhile, aren’t going for Ed Gillespie, former Republican National Committee chairman, who is the GOP nominee there, either.

National polls show the GOP to be about as popular as the heartbreak of psoriasis. The Democrats, for all their faults (and they are many) remain more popular. Republicans are not for anything. They are defined as simply being against President Barack Obama and certainly not for any form of federalism.

Since the 1950s, beginning with the rise of Senator Barry Goldwater and William F. Buckley’s National Review, there has been a war for the soul of the GOP. But this time is different. The establishment Republicans loath the conservative-Reaganite-Tea Party-reformer-populists, viewing them as a serious threat. They stand as an indictment against the entire GOP insider culture.

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Nancy Pelosi: Civilization ‘In Jeopardy’ If GOP Takes Senate (+video)

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On the one hand, California U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi claims that Democrats are not “fear-mongers;” on the other hand, she believes civilization is doomed if Republicans take control of the Senate from Democrats in November.

The former speaker of the House made those dramatic, incongruous statements on “Real Time with Bill Maher,” which aired live from Washington, D.C. Friday.

Maher asked Pelosi about recent polling which shows that the GOP is likely to take over the upper chamber and asked, given gridlock in Washingon, why it matters that Democrats keep control.

“It would be very important for the Democrats to retain control of the Senate,” Pelosi told Maher. “Civilization as we know it today would be in jeopardy if the Republicans win the Senate.”

Democrats currently hold 53 seats in the Senate. Republicans have 45. Two independents caucus with Democrats.

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Inside Harry Reid’s Senate ‘Plantation’

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Photo Credit: T.J. Kirkpatrick / GettySenate Majority Leader Harry Reid and other Democrats have demanded an apology from Rep. Bill Cassidy after he accused Sen. Reid of running the Senate “like a plantation,” but there is at least some truth to the accusation.

Since April of last year, Sen. Reid has allowed a vote on just 58 amendments — 30 from the GOP — according to Senate records. The Senate majority leader before him, Republican Bill Frist, by comparison, held votes on 231 amendments over a comparable time period (April, 2005 through Sept. 9, 2006), and the Senate majority leader before that, Democrat Tom Daschle, held 174 votes (April, 2001 through Sept. 9, 2002).

“Harry Reid has literally shut down the amendment process,” Brian Phillips, a spokesman for Republican Sen. Mike Lee told The Daily Caller. “Reid allows at most maybe 2 or 3 amendments, mostly no amendments.”

As majority leader, Sen. Reid has the power to decide which bills come to the floor, and when, and he also decides which amendments to those bills are debated and voted on. The minority party often relies on the amendment process to make their voice heard and force the majority to take a position on certain points.

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Poll: Registered Voters Want A Republican House AND Senate

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Photo Credit: REUTERS / Kevin Lamarque

Photo Credit: REUTERS / Kevin Lamarque

By Katie Frates.

Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid may be in trouble.

NBC/WSJ/Marist has published a new poll, conducted July 28-31, that shows a plurality of registered voters want a Republican majority in both the House and Senate.

Respondents were first asked if they thought Congress had been very productive, somewhat productive, somewhat unproductive or very unproductive. 50 percent of registered voters said they thought Congress had been very unproductive, with only 3 percent saying Congress had been very productive.

Even though the 50 percent who think Congress was very unproductive are in part talking about the Republican House, they don’t want the majority to change.

They were asked if they would like to see the majority in the House stay Republican, or become Democrat. 43 percent of registered voters wanted Republicans in the majority and 41 percent wanted Democrats in the majority, with 16 percent unsure.

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Photo Credit: AP / J. Scott Applewhite

Photo Credit: AP / J. Scott Applewhite

Border crisis shows why Senate needs new GOP management

By Washington Examiner.

House Republican leaders on Thursday last week had to pull from the floor their bill to deal with the current crisis of child migration at the border. The Beltway media pounced instantly with a stale narrative about how this was embarrassment to the new House leadership team.

Then late Friday, the House actually passed a border bill. It won’t become law as written, but it’s still one bill more than the Democrat-controlled Senate – by then already out of town for the August recess – had approved in response to the deteriorating situation on the border.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., had already declared that the border was secure and no legislation was needed. He followed through on his stated indifference by blocking all amendments to a Senate border bill. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a strong advocate of comprehensive immigration reform, took to the floor and berated Reid for this, repeatedly shouting, “Shame on you!”

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Senate Passes VA Overhaul in 91-3 Vote

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

The Senate on Thursday easily adopted a $17 billion bill meant to revamp the troubled Veterans Affairs (VA) Department.

Senators voted 91-3 in favor of a conference agreement that provides $10 billion in funding to pay for veterans to get healthcare at private facilities and another $5 billion to allow the VA to hire more doctors, nurses and other medical staff.

The House backed the proposal in a 420-5 vote on Wednesday. The bill now goes to President Obama for his signature.

“Right now veterans in many parts of this country are on very long waiting lists before they get VA healthcare,” Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said ahead of the vote. “Obviously this is an expensive proposition but it is one we have to address.”

Sanders negotiated the legislative deal with his House counterpart Rep. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.).

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CIA Director Apologizes to Lawmakers as Probe Finds Officers Read Senate Emails

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Photo Credit: TownHall

Photo Credit: TownHall

The director of the CIA, offering a rare apology, has acknowledged an internal probe’s findings that CIA employees in the Executive Branch improperly spied on the Legislative Branch by searching Senate computers and reading staffers’ emails earlier this year.

According to a declassified CIA inspector general’s report, CIA officers improperly accessed Senate computers, read the emails of Senate staff, and exhibited a “lack of candor” when interviewed by agency investigators. The document, released Thursday by the CIA, is a summary of an internal CIA investigation — which prompted CIA Director John Brennan to abandon his defiant posture in the matter and apologize to Senate Intelligence Committee leaders.

Brennan also has convened an accountability board that will investigate the conduct of the CIA officers and discipline them, if need be.

But the admission already has led to fierce recriminations from Senate lawmakers.

Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., said he has “lost confidence” in Brennan, and urged the administration to appoint an independent counsel to investigate.

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Senate Republicans Block Energy Bill, Forfeit Keystone Vote

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Photo Credit: shannonpatrick17

Photo Credit: shannonpatrick17

U.S. Senate Republicans on Monday blocked an energy-efficiency bill backed by manufacturers and environmentalists, forfeiting a chance to vote on the long-delayed Keystone XL oil pipeline.

On a nearly party-line vote of 55-36, President Barack Obama’s Democrats fell short of the 60 votes needed to advance the bipartisan energy bill supported by the White House.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, had offered a vote on a separate bill to take the final decision on Keystone out of Obama’s hands and give it to Congress if Republicans allowed passage of the energy bill.

But Republicans refused. They complained that Reid barred them from offering amendments to the bill, including one that would have reined in emissions-cutting regulations on coal-fired power plants, a top strategy in Obama’s fight against climate change.

The blocked energy-efficiency bill would cut electricity use by imposing tough building codes and requiring federal data centers to find ways to consolidate and become more efficient.

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GOP Senate Candidate Thrown Out Of Press Meeting After Calling Out Disrespectful Reporter (+video)

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Photo Credit: Daily Caller

Photo Credit: Daily Caller

Oregon Republican candidate for Senate Mark Callahan was thrown out of a meeting with reporters from local alternative newspaper Willamette Week after chastising a reporter for writing “blah blah blah” in his notepad as another candidate explained her policy positions.

A group of GOP Senate hopefuls each seeking the Oregon paper’s endorsement sat down with a group of Willamette Week reporters. One candidate, Joe Rae Perkins, called into the meeting to explain her political platform. But not all the journalists were interested — and Callahan happened to notice.

“You want to talk about disrespect, I see what you’re writing down there,” he angrily accused reporter Nigel Jaquiss. “You just wrote down ‘blah blah blah blah blah’ for everything that Joe Rae said. Joe Rae is a respectable woman. Why are you not respecting her by writing ‘blah blah blah blah blah’ on your notepad?”

The moderator suggested that Callahan “move on” and answer the next question “respectfully.”

“You have to give respect in order to get respect,” he shot back. “Right now on that side of the table, you’re not giving very much respect to the five of us and our time here.”

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Is Obama Sacrificing the Senate for Executive Power?

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Photo Credit: Larry Downing-Pool/Getty Images

Photo Credit: Larry Downing-Pool/Getty Images

Almost two decades ago, Bill Clinton stood before the nation and declared that “the era of big government is over.” Tuesday night, President Obama proclaimed himself the Big Man on Campus.

The contrast was stark: Obama’s Democratic predecessor used the language of restraint. This president, on the other hand, spoke of doing more in a campaign-themed “Year of Action”—and doing it on his own.

The White House is gambling with this new message, betting that a public disheartened by years of gridlock and distrustful of government will welcome a president vowing to act unilaterally, particularly to help the economy. Obama’s team is hoping, guessing, that the public won’t fear him.

It’s a risk—one the White House may not fully appreciate. As one frustrated Democratic strategist put it: “People are suspicious of executive power, so you have to tread carefully.”

But worse yet for Obama, whether he realizes it or not, is the effect this approach could have on Democrats trying to hold onto the Senate. Indeed, while the White House aims to demonstrate that this president remains large and in charge (and aims to boost his flagging stock as a result), the tactic poses a not insignificant chance of denigrating the role of Congress, and by extension the Senate Democrats fighting to preserve his party’s majority rule. Obama may end up hurting that cause more than helping it.

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Senate Republicans Pitch ObamaCare Alternative on Eve of Presidential Address

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Photo Credit: Fox News

Photo Credit: Fox News

Seizing on the public’s continued anxiety over the ObamaCare rollout, a trio of Republican senators on Monday unveiled a sweeping alternative proposal they say would gut the law’s mandates and taxes while preserving consumer protections.

Sens. Orrin Hatch, of Utah; Tom Coburn, of Oklahoma; and Richard Burr, of North Carolina, announced their plan one day before President Obama delivers his State of the Union address. It is his first such address since the launch of the state and federal health care exchanges.

The GOP proposal, dubbed the Patient Choice, Affordability, Responsibility and Empowerment Act, would repeal the president’s marquee legislative achievement while instituting new reforms the senators say would give states and individuals more flexibility and purchasing power.

“Americans deserve a real alternative, and a way out,” Coburn said.

Under the plan, insurances companies would not be able to impose lifetime limits on patients and would be required to allow dependent coverage up to the age of 26, as ObamaCare currently does. The Republican proposal would address the issue of pre-existing conditions by creating a new “continuous coverage” standard that would prevent any individual moving from one insurance plan to another from being denied on the basis of a pre-existing condition so long as that individual was continuously enrolled in a health plan.

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