Republicans Are Poised for Gains in Key Elections

It's election day and several key races hinge on changing hands to benefit Republicans. NY-23 Congressional race is looking like the conservative candidate will win, as well as the Governor's race in Virginia. NJ Governor's race is still too close to call. Should be an interesting day.

Democrats and Republicans are jostling to glean messages from voters in a race for a U.S. House seat in far northern New York, as well as from contests for governor in New Jersey and Virginia. Republicans, increasingly optimistic, say the contests foreshadow trouble for President Barack Obama and the Democratic Party's ambitious agenda heading toward the 2010 congressional elections.

A Republican sweep in Tuesday's key contests would at minimum show that Democrats face much tougher political terrain than they did a year ago. GOP victories would also help the party's fundraising and candidate recruitment for 2010, providing backing for arguments that Republicans have the momentum, and that voters are turning against the Obama agenda.

But it can be difficult to draw broader conclusions from off-year contests, which often turn on local issues.

Democrats lock Republicans out of committee room

It's comforting to know we have mature adults making decisions for our lives:

Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.) locked Republicans out of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee room to keep them from meeting when Democrats aren’t present.

Towns’ action came after repeated public ridicule from the leading Republican on the committee, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), over Towns’s failure to launch an investigation into Countrywide Mortgage’s reported sweetheart deals to VIPs.

For months Towns has refused Republican requests to subpoena records in the case. Last Thursday Committee Republicans, led by Issa, were poised to force an open vote on the subpoenas at a Committee mark-up meeting. The mark-up was abruptly canceled. Only Republicans showed up while Democrats chairs remained empty.

Republicans charged that Towns canceled the meeting to avoid the subpoena vote. Democrats first claimed the mark-up was canceled due to a conflict with the Financial Services Committee. Later they said it was abandoned after a disagreement among Democratic members on whether to subpoena records on the mortgage industry’s political contributions to Republicans.

Congressional leaders fight against posting bills online

I wonder why they would be against this...since they are the party of transparency.

As Congress lurches closer to a decision on an enormous overhaul of the American health care system, pressure is mounting on legislative leaders to make the final bill available online for citizens to read before a vote.

Lawmakers were given just hours to examine the $789 billion stimulus plan, sweeping climate-change legislation and a $700 billion bailout package before final votes.

While most Americans normally ignore parliamentary detail, with health care looming, voters are suddenly paying attention. The Senate is expected to vote on a health bill in the weeks to come, representing months of work and stretching to hundreds of pages. And as of now, there is no assurance that members of the public, or even the senators themselves, will be given the chance to read the legislation before a vote.

"The American people are now suspicious of not only the lawmakers, but the process they hide behind to do their work," said Michael Franc, president of government relations for the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.

Nearly every Republican has signed on, but the Democratic leadership is unwilling to cede control over when bills are brought to the floor for votes and are discouraging their rank and file from signing the petition. Senate Democrats voted down a similar measure last week for the health care bill.

Special Health Care for Congress: Lawmakers' Health Care Perks

Little known office on Capitol Hill provides quality health care at a low cost:

This fall while members of Congress toil in the U.S. Capitol, working to decide how or even whether to reform the country's health care system, one floor below them an elaborate Navy medical clinic -- described by those who have seen it as something akin to a modern community hospital -- will be standing by, on-call and ready to provide Congress with some of the country's best and most efficient government-run health care.

Through interviews with former employees and members of Congress, as well as extensive document searches, ABC News has learned new details about the services offered by the Office of Attending Physician to members of Congress over the past few years, from regular visits by a consulting chiropractor to on-site physical therapy.

"A member walked in and was generally walked right back into a physician's office. They get good care. They are not rushed. They are examined thoroughly," said Eduardo Balbona, an internist in Jacksonville, Fla., who worked as a staff physician in the OAP from 1993 to 1995.

Members of Congress do not pay for the individual services they receive at the OAP, nor do they submit claims through their federal employee health insurance policies. Instead, members pay a flat, annual fee of $503 for all the care they receive. The rest of the cost of their care, sources said, is subsidized by taxpayers.

If Congress can't bother to meet with their constituents..

then the constituents shouldn't be bothered with voting for them. I seriously don't understand how these members of Congress think ignoring the people who elected them is a good thing.

Senator Sherrod Brown will not be meeting with his constituents.

Rep. Paul Hodes will not be meeting with his constituents.

Rep. Shea-Porter will not be meeting with her constituents.

Sen. Harry Reid will only be doing townhall's by telephone.

Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick will not be meeting with her constituents.

Rep. Tim Bishop will not be meeting with his constituents.

And on, and on, and on. I guess they have forgotten who they work for.

Sheila Jackson Lee Listens to Her Constituents

Fast forward to the 4:00 mark. It's a beauty!

ObamaCare for thee, but not for me

Rep. Nadler tells Cavuto he will not be enrolling himself in the super-great ObamaCare health care plan. He says he is enrolled in his wife's plan, which is better than the ObamaCare plan.


I think any of these politicians who vote for this craptastic bill should be required to enroll in the plan.

Spending on Taxpayer-Funded Trips Rises Tenfold

I need to move to DC. They don't appear to be having a recession there.

The spending on overseas travel is up almost tenfold since 1995, and has nearly tripled since 2001, according to the Journal analysis of 60,000 travel records. Hundreds of lawmakers traveled overseas in 2008 at a cost of about $13 million. That's a 50% jump since Democrats took control of Congress two years ago.

Weren't these the same people who brow beat CEO's for flying in private jets, going on retreats, etc? Seriously, how do they get away with the rank hypocrisy?