Broken Branch

Feb 5, 2010 — Politico

Martin Kady II

ONE BITE AT A TIME: Speaking of going small, don’t expect any big jobs bills. Roll Call’s Tory Newmyer: “Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is signaling new flexibility to tackling joblessness with a series of bills rather than with a single, massive package.

“The top House Democrat on Thursday told reporters that “there may be” several legislative bites at spurring job growth, rather than the comprehensive, $150 billion measure that her chamber cleared at the end of last year. “It depends on what happens in other arenas,” she said. In recent talks with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Pelosi pushed for a catchall measure of tax credits, infrastructure spending and aid to states. But Reid has countered that there is little appetite in his chamber for a single package with a nerve-rattling price tag — and he is hoping to draw some bipartisan support for smaller bills.”

SENATE STRUGGLES: Even bipartisan efforts at a smaller jobs bill in the Senate can’t get on track. Naftali Bendavid and Greg Hitt in the Wall Street Journal: “Democratic and Republican senators struggled to hammer out a modest bipartisan job-creation package Thursday, reflecting how a turbulent political atmosphere is snarling even legislation with popular support.

“The halting cross-party cooperation reflects intense public pressure for the parties to develop legislation designed to tackle the nation's high unemployment. But even if a jobs bill passes in the Senate next week, it faces skepticism in the House, which passed its own comprehensive jobs package in December. An array of more controversial job-creation proposals have been left for later, leaving their fate in doubt.

“But behind-the-scenes disagreements over a range of issues are holding up action. Before signing on to the jobs bill, Mr. Grassley is seeking assurances that the Senate will soon tackle legislation to revamp the estate tax. Democrats, meanwhile, want to inject about $20 billion into the government's highway trust fund, which is facing a shortfall that some lawmakers fear could interrupt highway construction.”

KEEP DREAMING: A group of progressives will meet to try to revive the public option, even though it seems way, way off the table. CongressDaily’s Anna Edney reports: “Progressives plan next week to reach across the Capitol and plot a strategy to revive the public option, the single provision in the healthcare overhaul that dominated the debate for weeks only to die in the Senate at the hands of entrenched GOP opposition and a few Democrats. Progressives have been holding smaller talks, but this is the first time key players will huddle as a group. Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., co-chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said his caucus' health task force and his co-chairwoman, Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Calif., will meet Tuesday evening with a handful of progressive senators. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said he anticipates attending the meeting.

PAYGO POLITICS: Republicans have successfully made Democrats own the debt ceiling vote on a party line vote – even though the GOP voted plenty of times to raise the debt in the past. POLITICO’s David Rogers reports: “Congress approved a record $1.9 trillion debt ceiling increase Thursday together with Democratic-backed legislation to reinstate ‘pay-go’ rules credited with helping to rein in deficits in the 1990s. … With new unemployment numbers out Friday, Democrats now can afford to turn their full attention back to the economy without fear of Republicans bleeding them to death with more painful debt votes before the November elections. By adding statutory pay-go rules, the leadership also hopes to have found a new message — and budget compass — by which to steer in the sea of red ink facing them and President Barack Obama.”

TAXING WALL STREET BONUSES: POLITICO’s Meredith Shiner reports: “A day after news broke that bailed-out AIG was paying out $100 million in bonuses, Sens. Barbara Boxer of California and Jim Webb of Virginia on Thursday introduced legislation that would impose a 50-percent fee on executive bonuses of more than $400,000 from companies that received more than $5 billion [in federal bailout money] … Similar efforts … have gone down in flames in the Senate, but Webb and Boxer are undeterred. ‘This is not class warfare. This is not going to run the gamut of all executive bonuses. And it's a one-shot deal,’ Webb said. ‘This is a pretty narrow bill,’ Boxer added. ‘It's symbolic, but it's also real.”

SHELBY BLOCKS ALL NOMINATIONS: Republicans don’t need 41 senators – one blanket hold on nominees can stop everything. From CongressDaily: “Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., has placed a blanket hold on all executive nominations on the Senate calendar in an effort to win concessions from the Obama administration and Pentagon on a variety of fronts affecting his home state, according to aides to Senate Majority Leader Reid. Reid spokeswoman Regan Lachapelle said Shelby is blocking more than 70 pending nominations. Reid can force a vote on any nomination by filing cloture.

“Because of the time required to vote on multiple nominations, the Senate processes most nominations by unanimous consent. Any one senator can block any of those nominations by objecting to a unanimous consent request to take it up. The nominations will remain stalled unless Reid files cloture.”

‘LOUISIANA PURCHASE; DEFENDED: Roll Call’s David Drucker: “Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) on Thursday took to the Senate floor to rebut critics of the ‘Louisiana Purchase,’ a provision she lobbied to have inserted in chamber’s $871 billion health care package to provide her state with an additional $300 million in Medicaid funding. Landrieu rebutted suggestions that Democratic leaders inserted the provision to secure her vote, calling the accusation an outright lie. The Senator also emphasized that there was nothing secret about the manner in which the measure ended up in the Senate bill, insisting that it was public and included lobbying efforts by all members of the Louisiana Congressional delegation and [Republican] Gov. Bobby Jindal.”

SENATOR SCOTT BROWN: Scott Brown showed his red streak pretty quickly after he was sworn in. Jessica Van Sack in the Boston Herald: “U.S. Sen. Scott Brown wasted no time before railing against a top Democratic initiative yesterday, boldly declaring just minutes after he took the oath of office that the $800 billion federal stimulus package was a big loser that created zero jobs. “The last stimulus bill did not create one new job,” Brown said after his swearing-in by Vice President Joseph Biden. “In Massachusetts, it hasn’t created one new job, and across the country as well.” He cited President Obama’s proposed $3.8 trillion budget and declared, “I am concerned we are living beyond our means.”

SLAINTE: Here’s one Kennedy tradition that Brown seems to have adopted – hitting the Capitol Hill watering holes. The Hill’s Christina Wilkie reports: Scott Brown’s first stop after being sworn into the Senate Thursday afternoon -- the Dubliner. An ITK spy spotted the Republican senator from Massachusetts sitting near the window of the popular Capitol Hill watering hole at 6:45 p.m., less than an hour after Vice President Joe Biden finished administering the oath of office. Brown was drinking Guinness and being serenaded by Irish tenor John McDermott, according to our spy.”

COATS GETS HAMMERED: Virginia resident and Indiana Senate candidate Dan Coats is already having the opposition dump all over his businesss life, with POLITICO’s Glenn Thrush reporting Thursday that the veteran Republican, “who is likely to challenge Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) this fall, lobbied for a Texas-based oil and gas company that partnered with Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez, according to Senate lobbying disclosure forms. The Indiana Republican, a Senator from 1989 to 1999, is listed on electronic lobbying disclosure forms for Harvest Natural Resources, which operates in Venezuela, Russia and Pakistan.”

WJLA WASHINGTON WEATHER: As if you needed to hear it, the forecast: A Winter Storm Warning goes into effect this morning for the entire area and lasts until Saturday night at 10pm. This storm has the potential to drop 18 to 24 inches of snow with some locally higher amounts possible. As compared to the December snowfall, we think this snow will be more of a heavy, wet snow and will have the potential to severely impact the region.

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