2015 American Politics Thread: The 114th Congress Is in the House!

Nukes iirc

the Second Amendment

good news:

Trade-friendly Senate Democrats were skeptical about moving "fast track" separate from the renewal TAA, a worker assistance program. Fourteen Senate Democrats supported the two measures last month when they were packaged together into one vote.

Sen. Patty Murray, who brokered a deal to get Democratic support on the trade package last month, said she was "hopeful for a path forward that includes TAA and TPA. We'll see where it is."

Sen. Ben Cardin said his position hasn't changed. "I want it all together. I've said that before."

Sen. Bill Nelson, a strong supporter of the trade package, said he thought moving separate votes on TPA and TAA was a viable option, but wasn't sure how fellow trade-supportive Democrats would consider the votes. "To be determined on the rest of them, but I think at the end of the day we're going to pass them."

ugh Bill Nelson

I called his office last week before the vote.

lol boehner

"I'd describe most of what's gone on in last three weeks as close to bizarre and I don't think I've learned anything from it," he said.

"I'd describe most of what's gone on in last three weeks thirty years as close to bizarre and I don't think I've learned anything from it," he said.

Mere days after Hillary called on Congress to slow down the trade package, Bill went on the Daily Show to offer an unabashedly pro-trade argument: "On balance, the countries that we have trade agreements with, we tend to have a balance of trade, much more than, let's say with China."

Union leaders groaned: "After Hillary toggled to the left to appease labor unions, they said, Bill Clinton's television appearance looked like an attempt to assuage corporate elites," POLITICO's Annie Karni writes. "'It's too cute by half,'" fumed one labor leader, who declined to comment because their union has yet to make an endorsement in the presidential contest."

I had not noticed the specifics on that bad House vote earlier--The House vote was 218-208, with 28 Democrats voting for it.

lol that boehner quote sounds like jk simmons in burn after reading

https://youtu.be/SlA9hmrC8DU

so TPP is a-go?

well today was the cloture vote--but the path is clear.

last ditch brake effort by the sponsors of the Africa bill (AGOA) that they tied TAA to--they'd been threatening that if TPA passed cloture, they'd vote against AGOA/TAA themselves. they're hoping that the threat of killing TAA is enough to persuade Dem Senators to vote no on TPA.

we'll see. i have my doubts, honestly.

is it wrong to assume that the current event news frenzy is giving these guys cover to do nefarious shit or are the opponents to tpp memories longer than that and the uppance will come later? or is there no comeuppance?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEbjpVnLv2c

after Fast Track, we shift our footing to fight on the vote TPP directly--but the truth is that will probably be an ineffectual fight. this is the one where we had the best shot at winning.

are the opponents to tpp memories longer than that and the uppance will come later? or is there no comeuppance?

― panettone for the painfully alone (mayor jingleberries), Tuesday, June 23, 2015 6:14 PM (46 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

there's talk about primarying people who voted wrong, but nobody in our coalition is willing to go on record saying they'll use this as a test on, say, presidential endorsements.

'is it wrong to assume that the current event news frenzy is giving these guys cover to do nefarious shit'

i think it's a mistake to think that tpp was going to get a groundswell of opposition under the most ideal news circumstances, after all americans tend not to pay a lot of attention to trade bills

I like to think once people hear about the details in this turd they'll turn against it but yeah that presumes people actually pay attention =\

they should have tied US citizen consumer/education/medical debt liquidation to passage of this bill but that would be unrealistic. better to practice voodoo

"if you order a pizza i will THROW AWAY MY BIRTHDAY CAKE"

-- house dems, 2015

they should have tacked on a bill to sponsor the perverted arts

there's talk about primarying people who voted wrong, but nobody in our coalition is willing to go on record saying they'll use this as a test on, say, presidential endorsements.

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver

what about House and Senate races?

maybe if we coddle big money more, labor will benefit someday?

what about House and Senate races?

― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, June 23, 2015 8:36 PM (14 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

right yeah, that's who we're talking about primarying

man I would love someone to primary Feinstein but her pockets are insanely deep

a lot of people got spooked when we went hard against like Bera in CA & Polis in CO & MoveOn is even sabre rattling about primarying Wyden--that's part of why we think we got the votes we got in the house a couple of weeks ago.

I assume primarying House members is way easier than Senators

afaict but i mean, i'm still new to this stuff

fucking BLOOMBERG amost lost his 3rd mayoral term to an empty suit w/ no money. it can be done.

mayoral politics are not state politics, smaller footprint

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/06/tpa-trade-bill-democrat-vote-tally-119331.html

Both of my Virginia Democratic senators voted for this. Ugh

New Yorker profile on Feinstein last week packaged her as a centrist.

Ugh:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/24/us/politics/senate-vote-on-trade-bill.html?rref=homepage&module=Ribbon&version=origin®ion=Header&action=click&contentCollection=Home%20Page&pgtype=article

The procedural vote of 60 to 37 just reached the minimum needed, but final Senate passage will require only 51 votes. The House approved trade promotion authority last week.

So I think 32 Dems voted against, 5 Republicans against; 13 Dems for; 47 Republicans for

name names

From a FB post but unable to verify more than Cantwell, Murray, Feinstein, Shaheen & Wyden

Michael Bennet (CO)
Maria Cantwell (WA)
Tom Carper (DE)
Chris Coons (DE)
Dianne Feinstein (CA)
Heidi Heitkamp (ND)
Tim Kaine (VA)
Claire McCaskill (MO)
Patty Murray (WA)
Bill Nelson (FL)
Jeanne Shaheen (NH)
Mark Warner (VA)
Ron Wyden (OR)

Delaware?? I find this easy to believe!

Feinstein I fuckin knew it

interesting that the west coast senators seem up for this.

and Wyden, good on national security, is a weenie on trade

"port" land innit

right. but you might also think they would listen to the unions opposed to this thing

just angers me so much that Feinstein's "liberal" credentials are on two issues (abortion and gun control) on which she's been largely ineffectual or irrelevant - and on p much every other issue she might as well be a party-line Republican.

she likes gays too

it's illegal not to in San Francisco, right?

I just feel like she rode Harvey Milk's corpse all the way to the bank

remind me which awesome pro-LGBT legislation passed the Senate I'm kinda blanking on anything

thanks for the image

Cruz surrogate Chumley (!) weighs in:

Another of Cruz's campaign co-chairs in the Palmetto State, state Rep. Bill Chumley (R), voted against opening debate on the flag. Chumley also told CNN on Tuesday night that he believed it more urgent to debate the fact that no one present at the massacre of nine black Charleston churchgoers was armed.

"We need to be focusing on the nine families that are left and see that this doesn’t happen again," Chumley said in the CNN interview. "These people sat in there, and waited their turn to be shot. That’s sad. But somebody in there with the means of self defense could have stopped this. And we’d have had less funerals than we’re having."

oops wrong thread