It is really interesting that Representatives John Culberson and Tim Ryan have started to really use Twitter and post from the House floor. While the Franking Commission reconsiders rules on Internet Use, the Sunlight Foundation wants to make sure they Let Our Congress Tweet.
posted on Jul 10, 2008 - View this thread

Fmr. US Senator Jesse Helms, 1921 - 2008.
posted on Jul 4, 2008 - View this thread

Capitol Words allows you to see what the most often used word was on any given day in the U.S Congress. [via mefi projects]
posted on Jun 21, 2008 - View this thread

"Only Nixon could go to China," and only ex-Republican ex-Senator Lincoln Chafee can explain how George W. Bush set out "to preempt the Congress... on every issue", "turned his back on (his) bedrock campaign pledges", and become simultaneously America's most powerful and least popular President (and why there could never be a "surely this..." moment). NOT just another OMGBUSH commentary, this should be required reading for anybody who honestly wants to know what went wrong.
posted on May 2, 2008 - View this thread

Want to live it up at the U.S. party conventions and get access to Senators and Congressmen? USA Today has posted the campaign committee price lists:
Democratic Senate and Congress
Republican Senate and Congress

If you've got the dough, you may conveniently request a convention package online from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. The National Republican Congressional Committee and the NRSC have other price lists on their sites, but it seems like the DSCC and DCCC sites keep theirs under wraps.
posted on May 1, 2008 - View this thread

One nation under God. The "bold conservative" GOP Congressman Paul Broun from Georgia is intent upon removing a vexing comma from that phrase in the Pledge of Allegiance, which was amended in 1954 when President Eisenhower was moved by a sermon by one Reverend George M. Docherty on the need to defend America from the "militantly atheistic communism that has already enslaved 800 million of the peoples of the earth, and now menaces the rest of the free world."
posted on Apr 15, 2008 - View this thread

Vanity Fair sits down with Larry Flynt --his history and hits and misses, how much he pays for scandals involving hypocritical public figures, and a new (and limp) Nixon anecdote -- and tons of other juicy tidbits, of course).
posted on Dec 20, 2007 - View this thread

Senate kills bill to give D.C. representation (L.A. Times).
posted on Sep 19, 2007 - View this thread

Is there a link between donations given and bills passed? MAPLight.org aims to help you find out, giving you the ability to compare contributions with how legislators voted. [Via]
posted on Aug 15, 2007 - View this thread

The 5 Biggest Pricks in Congress. via
posted on Jun 22, 2007 - View this thread

"I do not recall" --meet Lurita Doan, Administrator of the GSA (Our mission is to help other agencies better serve the public by meeting – at best value – their needs for products and services, and to simplify citizen access to government information and services.), and hear about the powerpoint presentation from Rove's office all about electing Republicans in 08 and how her agency should help. Her office supplied it to Congress--but it was just a (GOP) "team-building exercise" and "brown-bag lunch". (YouTube) Read up on the Hatch Act too.
posted on Mar 28, 2007 - View this thread

A concession e-mail to returning House Rep Satveer Chaudhary from loser Rae Hart Anderson. [via]
posted on Nov 18, 2006 - View this thread

The Democrats' Sonny Bono? When George Bush used the 1970s Orleans hit, Still the One, as a campaign song in 2004, John Hall issued Bush a cease and desist order for using his song without permission. A founder of the antinuclear group, Musicians United for Safe Energy (best known for the 1979 concert film, No Nukes), Hall decided to run for Congress in upstate New York, winning upset victories this year in both the Democratic primary and the general election against GOP incumbent, Sue Kelly. Before his Congressional victory, Editor & Publisher posted From Soundchecks to Soundbites, an interesting discussion with Hall about music journalism vs. political journalism.
posted on Nov 10, 2006 - View this thread

It's official. Democrats have taken control of the United States Congress.
posted on Nov 8, 2006 - View this thread

Abu Gharib? Feh. The newest Dark Side: telemarketing abuse. The National Republican Congressional Committee has launched a $2.1 million campaign calling individuals, including those on the Federal Do-Not-Call Registry, with automated telephone messages scripted to sound as if they are coming from the Democratic candidate up for election, in the hopes of driving away support come Tuesday's elections. "Hello. I'm calling with information about [Democratic candidate]," the recording begins, and then pauses for the traditional hang-up. If the recipient does indeed hang up, they then receive repeated phone calls back. This manner of scripting violates 47 CFR 64.1200(b)(1), which requires that "the identity of the business, individual, or other entity that is responsible for initiating the call" be "state[d] clearly" "at the beginning of the message." The New Hampshire Attorney General got them to stop calling those on the Do-Not-Call Registry, at least. (In their best interests, perhaps, due to the $5,000 fine per call potentially racking up hefty fines.) This is going on at the very least in the Pennsylvania 6th, the Connecticut 4th, the North Carolina 11th,, the New Hampshire 2nd, and nationwide.
posted on Nov 5, 2006 - View this thread

So, exactly how much do Congressional staffers make? What about their bosses? Regardless of amount, some think it's not enough, and some think it's plenty already.
posted on Sep 19, 2006 - View this thread

Esposing Earmarks: networked journalism's first assignment. Today marks a key moment in the evolution of the Web as a reporting medium. The first left-right-center coalition of bloggers, activists, non-profits, citizens and journalists to investigate a story of national import: Congressional earmarks and those who sponsor and benefit from them. Join the hunt!
posted on Aug 18, 2006 - View this thread

Is Keith Ellison liberal enough? Ellison is currently the representative from Minnesota district 58B. Now, he's the DFL's candidate to replace outgoing DFLer Martin Olav Sabo as representative for Minnesota's 5th district in the US House. Ellison got the nomination pretty easily. If he wins, he'd be the first Muslim in the House of Representatives.

Some people are worried about him, though. He's apparently had links to Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam, but it's mostly only conservatives pointing that out. A better question might be, Is he liberal enough for Minnesota's 5th district? The Fifth District (located in Minneapolis and the western suburbs) has traditionally been a very strong Democratic stronghold. Ellison will probably have little trouble defeating his opponents (who were they again?), so the question for liberals in his district is: Is he liberal enough? One of the few opportunities for liberals to get someone who really goes the whole nine yards -- so does he?
posted on Jul 1, 2006 - View this thread

"If Miller had his way, America would be nothing but one big fiesta for illegal aliens and homosexuals." [mp3; indirect link] We've discussed his TV ad, but Vernon Robinson's new radio ad takes it to the next level, with shocked gasps, a cheesy voiceover artist, and Mariachi music. Mr. Robinson says he's never done any negative campaigning. [via]
posted on May 31, 2006 - View this thread

Watch political ideologies emerge and shift over hundreds of years. ANIMATE is an amazing Java app that lets you track graphically the ideological position of all the representatives to the US Congress, European Parliament, or the UN over every roll call vote in history. The really interesting part is that the application uses DW-NOMINATE data that maps the ideology of representatives, and is pretty good at predicting voting patterns. Voteworld is a related Java application that is a little less dramatic, but allows you to really dig into the data (to access DW-NOMINATE data in Voteworld, click the little orange sphere icon in the application).

On the US side:"There are two major lessons to take away from ANIMATE. First, over time, you see less and less motion of individual legislators, particularly after the Civil War. This shows the stabilization of the American political system. Second, after the Civil War you will see the major party clusters growing further apart until the turn of the century, then come together and overlap, and beginning in the 1970s draw apart again. That is, throughout most of the twentieth century, political divisions blurred but in the last quarter one sees the polarization of American politics."
posted on May 31, 2006 - View this thread

Seperation of Power? (newsfilter) In a strange move, both the Rs and the Ds are livid that the FBI raided the congressional offices of Rep. William Jefferson, D-Louisiana, (who may have accepted substantial bribes). House speaker Hastert spoke directly with the president, so, The president steps in an orders the documents sealed as a cooling off period as congress demands this is a separation of Powers issue. Some predict it will go to the SCOTUS.
posted on May 25, 2006 - View this thread

Defend DeLay (link to embedded video). Tom DeLay needs your help to fend off the rabid liberal media. He appreciates the fact that Stephen Colbert is doing his part by taking on Robert Greenwald, maker of the upcoming "The Big Buy: Tom Delay's Stolen Congress" and previously "Outfoxed." (via)
posted on May 24, 2006 - View this thread

Vernon Robinson is a Republican candidate for Congress in North Carolina's 13th District. This is his campaign ad. (Links to 2MB Quicktime movie). Both bitterly racist and homophobic, it's straight out of, err... The Twilight Zone. (Via WFMU)
posted on Mar 9, 2006 - View this thread

editors from the range of IP addresses belonging to the United States Congress have been banned from wikipedia.
posted on Jan 30, 2006 - View this thread

Beyond DeLay: The 13 Most Corrupt Members of Congress. CREW (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington) has released a report detailing the dirty business of many members of Congress.
posted on Sep 27, 2005 - View this thread

Attention Citizens of New York: The illegal searches begin tomorrow. And Congress also voted to keep the PATRIOT ACT indefinitely. I can't say I'm not surprised, but I have to say I'm very disappointed.
posted on Jul 21, 2005 - View this thread

Recording a movie in a theater is now likely to get you more time in jail than if you are found guilty of involuntary mansaughter.
posted on Apr 21, 2005 - View this thread

Peak Oil discussed in the US Congress. Roscoe Bartlett (Rep. 6th District, Maryland - R) delivers a presentation on Peak Oil to the 109th United States Congress. More here and a backup of the full text with a bit more of an introduction by Rep. Gilchrest here (PDF)
posted on Mar 25, 2005 - View this thread

Behind Diplomatic Moves, Military Plan Was Launched. An excerpt from the new book "Plan of Attack" by Bob Woodward. Amongst its claims are that Saudi ambassador Prince Bandar was informed of the plans for Iraq before Colin Powell, and that $700 million designated by Congress for the war in Afghanistan was used to prepare for the war in Iraq.
posted on Apr 18, 2004 - View this thread

HR 3077 - "unprecedented federally mandated intrusion into the content and conduct of university-based area studies programmes."

"There is a great deal at stake for American higher education and academic freedom. If HR 3077 becomes law - the Senate will review the bill next - it will create a board that monitors how closely universities reflect government policy. Since the legislation assumes that any flaw lies 'with the experts, not the policy', the government could be given the power to introduce politically sympathetic voices into the academic mainstream and to reshape the boundaries of academic inquiry. Institutional resistance would presumably be punished by the withdrawal of funds, which would be extremely damaging to Middle East centres especially."

you didn't have reason to call your congressperson tomorrow? you do now. frightening.

via the excellent openbrackets.com
posted on Apr 16, 2004 - View this thread

Politics as usual?...if you're in the mafia, maybe. Pressuring [Republican Congressman] Nick Smith to vote for a Medicare reform bill, House GOP leaders threatened to support candidates running against Smith's son for Congress, Nick Smith said Monday. (via TPM)
posted on Nov 25, 2003 - View this thread

Congress to bicyclists: get a car! A new transportation appropriations bill would eliminate $600 million of annual federal funding for "transportation enhancements" (more info here), such as bike paths and walkways, while increasing funding for highways. Is this a proper reflection of U.S. transportation habits, or just a scheme to deprive alternate transportation of much-needed funding?
posted on Jul 23, 2003 - View this thread

House Democrats Storm Out of Ways and Means Committee Chairman Calls Capitol Police to Restore Order - ARRRGGGGH! This government is so frustrating. No side is right they are all wrong. Is anything being done for the good of the nation anymore or do they all just do what they want? Poor impulse control all around.
posted on Jul 18, 2003 - View this thread

A University, far away. Tens of thousands of U.S. students will lose most or all of their financial aid.
posted on Jul 18, 2003 - View this thread

The New Chosen. After reading about six Congressmen living in unbelievably cheap housing owned by a religious organization called "The Fellowship Foundation" (or "The Fellowship" or "The Foundation") (via Fark), I became curious about the group. They sponsor the National Prayer Breakfast, but they'd rather you didn't know that - they go to great pains to give the impression that it's an official government function. (President Bush's remarks from 2002, and Rev. Rob Schenck's take on missing the same breakfast.) In March, Harper's Magazine ran Jeffrey Sharlet's first-person account on being a Fellowship neonate, in which he describes the group's organizational structure (which takes its clues from terrorists, Hitler, and the Mafia). In 2002 the Los Angeles Times published an examination of the Foundation's political activities (hosted at toobeautiful.org, which recounts an interesting episode in which three Congressmen, all Fellowship members, take the opportunity to proselytize to a foreign head of state while on official government business. [more inside]
posted on Apr 22, 2003 - View this thread

Homeland Security "Goodies". "The bill the president supported was 35 pages long. The bill that I've been asked to vote on on Monday or Tuesday is 484 pages long, filled with special-interest legislation, loaded up by the House Republicans in the last few days," Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) The most egregious, Democrats say, is language to protect pharmaceutical companies from lawsuits over the vaccines they create and their side effects, including wiping out lawsuits already in court.
posted on Nov 18, 2002 - View this thread

Data Archives from the American Presidency Project Fascinating statistical data about a variety of subjects, and not just trivia either. Includes data, for example, about Congressional concurrence with the President, number of Presidential vetos, number of first-year requests, etc. Good information for acquiring an overall understanding of our current political situation.
posted on Nov 6, 2002 - View this thread

An Open Letter to Congress from the editors of The Nation. All the makings of a final plea.
posted on Sep 26, 2002 - View this thread

Have you told the powers in Washington what kind of world you want? You're busy. You don't have time to be a professional "Congress watcher." So we'll be your eyes and ears. We'll track the debates and compromises and bills that will shape the world.
posted on Sep 3, 2002 - View this thread

Administration Says It Can Attack Iraq without Congressional Approval Not a new story, per se, but this Post article lays out pretty well the arguments behind the administration's case, one being simply Bush's role as commander-in-chief. It's strange how closely this issue reflects earlier attempts by the administration to avoid Congressional and/or public scrutiny (Cheney's Enron meetings, for example). Why this aversion, and why fight so hard? And I have a sneaking fear that Bush will seek Congressional approval only after invading, and he will bully votes by claiming that reps have a patriotic duty to support a president in a time of war.
posted on Aug 26, 2002 - View this thread

"They're already calling her the Weblog Candidate." Tara Grubb is running for Congress against P2P bill cosponsor Howard Coble. She has a weblog, and she's getting a lot of support from the weblog world.
posted on Aug 24, 2002 - View this thread

You Opportunity To Jump For Joy At the Defeat of a Dreadful, Icky, Arguably EVIL person. No more Bob Barr!
posted on Aug 20, 2002 - View this thread

The U.S. Army pays for lapdances. "In addition to the inappropriate purchases, the GAO said more than 1,200 Army employees wrote bad checks to pay their government credit card bills. Last year alone, that cost taxpayers $3.8 million in higher fees and lost rebates." You mean, the government practices bad accounting? Ron Paul points out that the Congress commits the worst accounting fraud of all. But the most important issue of all is, with the government paying for Strip Club tips, gambling, and wine, does this mean that God will no longer bless America?
posted on Jul 18, 2002 - View this thread

While generally not a fan of news links, this story about entertainers speaking on Capitol Hill was too good to resist. Hmmm...The Backstreet Boys as lobbyists. That's even scarier that what we have now. Although entertainers have long championed political causes, it seems as though the legitimacy of this practice is growing. Is this part of the ongoing merger between politics and entertainment?
posted on Jun 6, 2002 - View this thread

Department of Peace vs. Bob Barr's war with the world... I found this really funny, but even I question what a DOP could hope to achieve, any ideas in a realistic sense.
posted on Feb 1, 2002 - View this thread

Is this a real chance at campaign finance reform or are we just in for more partisan back and forth that in the end won't change much of anything? (NY Times link) And how long will the "Enron effect" last?
posted on Jan 25, 2002 - View this thread

I'm Running. How stupid is this man? Does anyone think Gary Condit could/should win reelection to Congress?
posted on Dec 8, 2001 - View this thread

It seems as though Gary Condit will quit Congress - but not until his current term expires (he'll get a bigger pension that way).
posted on Sep 8, 2001 - View this thread

Quid pro quo anyone? Secretary of State Katherine Harris, who was at the center of Florida's disputed presidential election last year, will run for Congress in 2002, a top Republican official said Tuesday.
posted on Jul 24, 2001 - View this thread

It's that time of year again! Yes kids, it's time once again for the annual introduction of the Flag-Protection Amendment, currently being debated in the House of Reps. Last year the bill passed the House 305-124 and was defeated in the Senate by only six votes. It's again expected to pass the House and again expected to get shot down in the Senate, but considering the zany sitcom that 21st century American politics has become, who knows what that wacky Legislative branch will do?
posted on Jul 17, 2001 - View this thread

HR 1542, the so-called Internet Freedom and Broadband Deployment Act, will do exactly the opposite of what its name implies, reducing Internet freedom and broadband deployment by eliminating many regulations designed to force the Bells into being more competitive, and also by outlawing voice over IP.

From the article: "This bill ... does nothing more than strip-mine the remaining competitive safeguards of the current law, green-lighting the Bells to bludgeon any remaining competitors into oblivion."
posted on May 8, 2001 - View this thread

The first cut is the deepest: Smithsonian to take massive money cuts Under the budget submitted to Congress this week, deep cuts to be made in Smithsonian programs and divisions, as well as personnel. It is, I believe, cuts, seldom making big media stories, that give us an idea of what is viewed as important by our political figures
posted on Apr 10, 2001 - View this thread

A giant loophole in McCain-Feingold will give oil companies a total exemption from all its propsed spending restrictions. This is levelling the playing field?
posted on Mar 27, 2001 - View this thread

US Census not to be adjusted for undercounts. (NY Times, req'd registration)
Many political strategists, Democrats and Republicans alike, say that reliance on unadjusted population figures favors Republicans in the drawing of Congressional districts, since, they say, adjustment through statistical sampling would add to customarily Democratic neighborhoods most of those who have been uncounted.
They visited my home/office four times and never once brought the Long Form. Damnation.
posted on Mar 2, 2001 - View this thread

Colin Powell to become the secretary of state, which seems ok on the surface, but after looking at the functions of the position, wouldn't he make a better secretary of defense instead? I can't say I'm comfortable with the thought of the leading US diplomat and negotiator being someone so closely tied with military force (side question: would a war man negotiate peace treaties or get us into more bombing missions?). I also find it odd that in the acceptance speech, he can speak of the horrors of Iraq's "weapons of mass destruction" and in the same breath talk about how the US should build up a missile defense system (our missiles aren't capable of mass destruction?). What do you think about the appointment?
posted on Dec 16, 2000 - View this thread

Another day, another piece of unconstitutional net-censorship legislation in Congress. And this time it's authored by your pal and mine, John "Watch Out for Charlies!" McCain. Perhaps we should start a deadpool for all these bills, giving out some cash to whoever guesses the dates on which the courts throw them out?
posted on Jun 27, 2000 - View this thread