Senate To Vote On Disclose Act Tomorrow

Despite losing key battles yesterday on repealing ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell,’ and the DREAM Act, the Senate will attempt one more major vote on Thursday.

That’s the day Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has decided to bring the DISCLOSE Act to the floor. The bill, which the House passed in June, would require organizations involved in political campaigning to disclose the identity of their large donors and to reveal their identities in political ads they fund. It would also prohibit foreign corporations, government contractors and TARP recipients from making political donations.

The legislation was crafted in response to a Supreme Court decision in January that allowed corporations and unions to pay for political ads made independently of candidate campaigns.

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), a staunch proponent of the bill, told reporters on Wednesday that unless the Disclose Act is passed, “the winner of every upcoming election this November won’t be Democrats or Republicans; It will be special interests.”

“Passing [the bill] would be a huge win for restoring transparency to our elections,” he added.

Addressing concerns that Democrats are attempting to rush the bill through to help preserve their majority in Congress, Schumer said the legislation would not go into effect until January, two months after the midterms take place. Earlier today, a story that appeared on Politico noted that Democrats are being outspent badly by groups supporting Republican candidates.

Interestingly, Reid decided to schedule the vote on Thursday instead of today partly because a number of Senate Democrats were expected to attend a big-ticket fundraiser this evening in Manhattan, at which the president would be speaking.

Disclose will probably be the last big vote taken in the Senate before members return home in two weeks to campaign for reelection. When asked whether the upper chamber would hold a vote on whether to extend the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, Schumer replied, “It’s being discussed within our caucus now.” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) told reporters yesterday that his chamber would wait for the Senate to act on the tax cuts.

Van Hollen: No Major Legislation During 'Lame-Duck' Session

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), the third-ranking Democrat in the House, told reporters today that he does not anticipate the House voting on anything big during the brief session of Congress following this November’s elections.

“It’s very clear that there’s not gonna be major legislation during that period,” he said, citing Republican “scare-tactics” as the source of such speculation.

Nonetheless, Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), has filed a resolution, to be considered this coming Tuesday - the same day the House will vote on a bill to send emergency aid to states - that would prohibit Congress from voting during the two-month session.

Price defended his resolution on the floor of the House last week.

“Americans are sick and tired of their elected leaders making backroom deals to ram through unpopular, 2000-page bills that no one has read,” he said. “They are sick of out-of-touch politicians, and they are tired of being ignored.”

Van Hollen, however, rebuked Price’s notion, saying the decision by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to call the House back into session was motivated by the need to preserve jobs.

“We’re coming back because it makes no sense from a jobs perspective and…from the prospective of our children’s education to have an insufficient number of teachers in the classroom,” he said.

War Over Health Care Rages On Between Members Of Both Parties

By Sam Wechsler - Talk Radio News Service

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) stated Monday that “when you look at the Democrat proposal [for health care reform], it’s clear that it’s going to drive the cost of health care even higher.”

A few minutes later, down the hall of the Capitol, House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) said, “I don’t think we ought to be talking about what it's going to cost us to do this plan. What we should be talking about is what is it going to cost us if we don’t do this.”

The differing partisan opinions didn't end there.

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) pointed out that the CEO of a top insurance company earned $24 million in compensation this past year. “It’s time to add more competition and more choice,” he said.

“If the Democrats get their way on health care, you’ll probably lose your health insurance and you might just lose your job,” House Republican Chair Mike Pence said Monday (R-Ind.). Pence cited White House chief economic advisor Christina Romer in saying that the business tax hikes alone will kill up to 4.7 million jobs. Boehner added that the tax hikes will disproportionately hit small businesses the most.

Meanwhile, House Democratic Chair John Larson (D-Conn.) estimated that close to 16,000 small business employees in Boehner’s district would be able to get health insurance thanks to Democratic health care reform. Larson also claimed that 91,000 people would have access to health insurance in Pence’s district.

Said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), “This is about the American people. It’s about making them healthier, more economically secure, and to have more choices in their lives.”

Boehner, however, disagreed with the Speaker.

“At a time when most Americans are asking the question ‘where are the jobs?’ we don’t need to be instituting policies that will drive the cost of employment higher....and raise the unemployment rate,” he argued.

How to stimulate the economy while saving the environment

Congressman Peter Welch (D-Vt.) unveiled a new piece of legislation regarding the retrofitting of buildings to increase energy efficiency, which was targeted directly at the middle class. The crux of the bill involves the use of progressive financial incentives to encourage homeowners and small business owners to make their property more energy efficient. The national government would give $10 billion over four years so that the state can decide the type of program that they would like to implement. Mr. Welch found inspiration from a similar plan implemented in his home state of Vermont, and he cited an example where a small family was able to save $1300 merely from retrofitting their home. Asserting that this plan would be another form of stimulus, Mr. Welch stated that families would have more money to spend due to a decrease in energy charges. Additionally, the bill would help increase workers in the construction industry because they would be needed to install materials, such as solar panels.

Several individuals who the bill directly affects spoke after Mr. Welch. Jeff Presswood, an analyst for the Natural Resources Defense Council, commended Mr. Welch for having the foresight to create such legislation because the world is approaching a “point of no return” in regards to the detrimental affect of global warming. Also, Mr. Presswood stressed how such a plan would put money back into the local economy, as the construction jobs could not be sent abroad.

After Mr. Presswood spoke, Michelle Moore of the United States Green Building Council discussed how the legislation would create 2 million jobs in the construction industry. Ms. Moore praised Mr. Welch on creating a bill that did not merely deal with energy efficiency, but also with other natural resources, like water conservation. Additionally, she stated that it is “easier to put granite countertops in one’s house than to retrofit the entire house to become more energy efficient.”

Several other congresspersons spoke in support of Mr. Welch’s bill and other energy efficient legislation that the House of Representatives is crafting. For instance, Congressman Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) remarked that such legislation is not about partisan politics, but about a greater issue confronting the nation--global warming and energy independence. Mr. Van Hollen described how such retrofits would cost nothing in the long-run, as the individual can pay back the cost through the profits they make from becoming energy efficient. This only proved Mr. Welch’s closing statement that “We all want to save the planet, but no one wants to go broke doing it.”

The Hunt for Blue November

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee held a press conference to discuss elections being held in November. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) told the press that Saturday, July 29 begins the 100 day countdown to the November election, saying that the DSCC has overwhelming evidence that Americans are looking for change and finding it in Democrats.

Schumer said polls indicate that Americans are more concerned over topics like health care and education rather than national security and abortion, a concern he said shows a preference for Democratic policies. He noted Mississippi, which he described as the most conservative state, is leaning Democratic in November and becoming a swing state. Schumer, who said that only 3 of the 35 seats contested in the fall are in blue states, said Sen. Barack Obama’s popularity in the Republican Deep South is a valuable asset for Democratic senatorial contests. Schumer said Democratic senatorial candidates are well ahead in Virginia, New Hampshire, Colorado, New Mexico, and Alaska while candidates in Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma, and Nebraska are behind but gaining momentum.

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) stated that elections are also looking promising for Democrats on the House side of the Hill. He said that the DCCC is focusing on early contact and persuasion, launching “Get Out and Vote” campaigns in 50 districts throughout the United States. With a Democratic-controlled White House and Congress, Van Hollen said policies concerning stem cell research, children’s health care, Iraq, and gas prices would be successfully addressed.