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A testy political climate

11 Jan 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The reading from the First Letter of John this Sunday speaks to the reliability of human testimony versus the testimony of God. Testimony in various legal proceedings has played a role in political developments unfolding in Washington--including two disputed U.S. senatorial seats as well as one of President-elect Barack Obama's cabinet choices. Roland W. Burris was appointed to take over Obama's Senate seat by embattled Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich last week. At first, Senate leaders and Obama rejected the appointment because federal prosecutors arrested Blagojevich last month and accused him of trying to sell Obama's Senate seat, among other charges. But this Wednesday Burris met with Senate Democratic leaders who reversed course and opened the door to seating him. Following a private meeting with the former Illinois state attorney general, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, and Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the no. 2 Senate Democrat, said that they were open to recognizing Burris' appointment as long as he meets a series of conditions. Praising Burris, Reid said the Senate is awaiting a court ruling in a case that tests whether the Illinois secretary of state is required to sign Burris' certification. Senate leaders say that signature is required to seat Burris; Reid suggested that securing it would be a step toward seating him. "We don't have a problem with him as an individual," Reid said at a news conference in which he dramatically softened his party's opposition to seating anyone appointed by Blagojevich. Meanwhile, Minnesota's closely contested Senate race remains unresolved, as Republican Senator Norm Coleman announced Tuesday he is filing a lawsuit challenging the results of the recount that declared Democrat Al Franken the winner."Any attempt to seat a senator who is not properly certified violates senate precedent, and usurps the will of the people of Minnesota," Coleman said. Franken was declared the winner Monday after the state's Canvassing Board concluded the recount. The challenge could extend what has already been a prolonged battle as legal action and appeals could take weeks. Franken was not among the new Democratic senators sworn in this Tuesday. Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico, Obama's choice for commerce secretary, bowed out of the confirmation process in a surprise move on Monday. Richardson said he dropped his bid because a federal probe into his state office went on longer than expected without clearing him of wrongdoing."I had hoped that the CDR investigation would have concluded in December with a clean bill of health for my administration," Richardson told reporters at a brief news conference Monday in Santa Fe. "Since the investigation was not finished in December and, as long as the CDR investigation is ongoing, I made the decision to withdraw as the president-elect's nominee for commerce secretary rather than ask for a delay in my appointment."The FBI is investigating whether CDR, a California-based financial services company, engaged in "pay-to-play" activities after it and its CEO gave thousands of dollars to Richardson political action committees and subsequently won state contracts. Source: Articles by Andy Barr for Politico.com, Ann Sanner for the Associated Press, and Carl Hulse for the New York Times

rod blagojevich bill richardson al franken norm coleman senate harry reid richard durbin cdr minnesota illinois roland burris
Mr. Franken goes to Washington

05 Jul 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The Minnesota Supreme Court Tuesday declared media figure-turned-politician Al Franken the winner of the state’s U.S. Senate race, ending an eight-month-long election saga and giving Democrats a 60-seat majority that theoretically would allow them to block GOP filibusters. Political analysts, however, as well as Franken himself, cautioned Democrats not to be “too elated,” to use Saint Paul’s words in this Sunday’s second reading. In a unanimous ruling the court rejected the legal arguments of Franken’s Republican opponent Norm Coleman that some absentee ballots had been improperly counted and that some localities had used inconsistent standards in counting votes. The ruling led Coleman to concede his Senate seat to Franken, who could be sworn in as soon as next week, when the Senate returns from a recess. Democrats now have their largest majority in the Senate since 1978, but their ability to prevent filibusters is likely to prove illusory. A pair of prominent Democrats, Senators Edward M. Kennedy (Mass.) and (W.Va.), have missed many votes this year because of illness. “The idea that you’ve got 60 reliable Democrats for votes for sweeping policy change simply doesn’t work; it’s not the reality of it,” said Norman J. Ornstein, a congressional expert at the American Enterprise Institute. “The larger challenge for [Senate Majority Leader] Harry Reid or Barack Obama is managing expectations of people who are thinking: When you get 60 votes, you get do to whatever you want. And they most assuredly do not.” An article by Perry Bacon, Jr. for the Washington Post

barack obama norman j ornstein filibuster robert c byrd edward m kennedy republicans democrats us senate minnesota supreme court al franken norm coleman harry reid american enterprise institute
Hearings confirm partisan politics

19 Jul 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

Christ "broke down the dividing wall of enmity," we hear in the Letter to the Ephesians this Sunday. But confirmation hearings for U.S. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor this week have not done the same, as divisions between Republican and Democratic panel members have been front and center. The week-long exchange is only partly about the fate of Sotomayor's nomination, who is widely expected to gain easy confirmation. But Democrats hope that Republican criticism of Sotomayor will alienate Latino voters, while conservatives are looking to use the Sotomayor hearings as a way to motivate their base. During a tough round of questioning from skeptical Republicans on Tuesday, Sotomayor said that she would not let ethnic or gender biases influence her decisions on the court. The appellate court judge backed away from her widely quoted "wise Latina" comments and the suggestion that ethnic identity might sway her decisions. "Our life experiences do permit us to see some facts and understand them more easily than others," she said. But the "law is what commands the result." Senator Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) asked whether Sotomayor would agree with President Barack Obama's statement that suggested there was a place in judicial decision-making for "empathy" for certain disadvantaged groups. But Sotomayor flatly rejected that approach. "We apply law to facts," Sotomayor said. "We don't apply feelings." Source: Articles by Michael D. Shear for the Washington Post and David G. Savageand James Oliphant for the Los Angeles Times

Law judiciary committee nomination confirmation jon kyl us senate sonia sotomayor latinos supreme court us supreme court
The passing of the “Lion of the Senate”

30 Aug 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

As the leader and rule-giver of the Jewish people, Moses speaks to the people in this Sunday's first reading. For nearly a half-century Senator Ted Kennedy (D.-Mass.) was a leader in the Senate who compiled an impressive list of legislative achievements on health care, civil rights, education, immigration, and other issues. Kennedy died Tuesday evening on Cape Cod after a year-long struggle with brain cancer. He was 77. In a brief statement to reporters at his rented vacation home on Martha's Vineyard, President Obama eulogized Kennedy as one of the "most accomplished Americans" in history--and a man whose work in Congress helped give millions new opportunities. "Including myself," added the nation's first black president. Kennedy's own hopes of reaching the White House were critically damaged in 1969 by the scandal that came to be known as Chappaquiddick. He sought the White House more than a decade later, lost the Democratic nomination to President Jimmy Carter, and bowed out with a stirring valedictory: "For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die." More than a quarter-century later Kennedy handed then-Sen. Barack Obama an endorsement at a critical point in the campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, explicitly comparing the young contender to the senator's brother, President John F. Kennedy. Kennedy's death leaves a vacancy atop the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee during the healthcare reform effort. Under Massachusetts law his successor will be chosen by special election. In his last known public act the senator urged Massachusetts state legislators to give Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick the power to name an interim replacement. It is uncertain, however, if that will be done, potentially leaving Democrats in Washington with one less vote this fall. Source: Articles by Glen Johnson and Bob Salsbert for the Associated Press, CNN, and Manu Raju for Politico

barack obama senate democrats edward m kennedy ted kennedy chappaquiddick jimmy carter deval patrick
Testy health care reform passes test vote

18 Oct 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

Jesus, the "high priest" described in this Sunday's reading from the Letter to the Hebrews, was "tested in every way." Contentious health care reform legislation wending its way through the U.S. Congress barely passed a bipartisanship test Tuesday when the Senate Finance Committee bill managed to gain the support of Republican Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine. A second Maine Republican, Senator Susan Collins, signaled Wednesday she's open to voting for sweeping health care legislation this year. The 10-year, $829 billion bill was approved on a 14-9 vote after Snowe broke ranks with her Republican colleagues to support the plan, considered the most cautious and limited of those passed by various Senate and House committees. Collins said that the bill approved Tuesday still needs substantial improvements to make coverage more affordable, contain costs, and protect Medicare. Nevertheless, she joined Snowe in endorsing the goal of far-reaching changes. Source: An article by Ricardo Alonso Zaldivar for the Associated Press

health care reform us congress senate finance committee olympia snowe susan collins
Partisan politics leads to heated climate-bill debate

08 Nov 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

Because of their pretentiousness, the scribes will receive "severe condemnation," Jesus warns in this Sunday's gospel. Republican senators who oppose climate-change legislation working its way through the U.S. Congress condemned it in the strongest way possible Tuesday by refusing to show up for a committee hearing on the bill. Only one of the seven Republicans on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee--Sen. George Voinovich of Ohio--showed up for the panel's opening session. He then left the meeting after delivering an opening statement. Committee rules require at least two minority party members to be present to reach a working quorum. An exception, however, could allow the committee to proceed without any Republicans, according to committee staff members. Matt Dempsey, a spokesman for the committee's Republicans, warned that applying the exception would be a "nuclear option" on the part of Democrats that would worsen the panel's already strained political climate. In his remarks Voinovich asked the committee to hold off its debate until getting a full Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) analysis of a bill that he said would affect every American. Committee chairwoman Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) responded that the panel had held dozens of hearings on the issue and that she had taken the unprecedented step of scheduling a session with EPA experts later Tuesday to answer any questions by committee members. When the hearing proceeded, Voinovich exited the room, leaving only Democratic members at the table. Boxer said the panel would continue to meet, including the session with the EPA representatives later in the day. "We're going to just be here every day until they join us," Boxer said. She criticized the Republican boycott, saying, "The reason they give to not work on it just doesn't hold up to the light of day in fairness and objectivity." Source: An article by Lesa Jansen, Evan Glass, and Tom Cohen for CNN

senate republicans democrats legislation climate change environmental protection agency congress
Mass exodus from Democratic agenda?

24 Jan 2010 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The opening verses of Luke’s gospel this Sunday set out the intention to write a narrative of events just as they had been handed down by “those who were eyewitnesses from the beginning.” The largely Democratic and independent voters of Massachusetts handed down a stunning mandate on Tuesday when they elected Scott Brown, a little-known conservative Republican state senator, to fill the U.S. Senate seat long held by the late liberal icon Edward M. Kennedy. Republicans are rejoicing and Democrats reeling nationwide in the wake of Brown’s triumph, a devastating Democratic defeat that triggered soul-searching within President Barack Obama’s party over how to stem further losses in November’s midterm elections. Obama himself grimly faced the need to regroup on Wednesday, the anniversary of his inauguration, in a White House shaken by the realization of what a difference a year made. The most likely starting place will be finding a way to salvage the health-care overhaul Democrats have been trying to pass. The election of Scott deprives Democrats of their filibuster-proof majority of 60 members. They also will need to determine how to assuage an angry electorate, in particular independent voters, after a year of Wall Street bailouts, economic stimulus spending, and enormous budget deficits. The president suggested the same forces that elected Brown “swept me into office” in 2008. People are frustrated “not just because of what’s happened in the last year or two years, but what’s happened over the last eight years,” he said in a Wednesday interview. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters at his daily briefing: “That anger is now pointed at us because we’re in charge. And rightly so.” Brown, in his first meeting with reporters after the special election, portrayed his victory as less a referendum on Obama or the president’s health-care proposal and more of a sign that people are tired of Washington politics and deal-making. He said his victory sends “a very powerful message that business-as-usual is just not going to be the way we do it.” Source: Articles by Michael Cooper for the New York Times and Glen Johnson and Liz Sidoti for Associated Press

barack obama senate robert gibbs health care reform us senate democrats republicans massachusetts scott brown
Mass exodus from Democratic agenda?

24 Jan 2010 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The opening verses of Luke’s gospel this Sunday set out the intention to write a narrative of events just as they had been handed down by “those who were eyewitnesses from the beginning.” The largely Democratic and independent voters of Massachusetts handed down a stunning mandate on Tuesday when they elected Scott Brown, a little-known conservative Republican state senator, to fill the U.S. Senate seat long held by the late liberal icon Edward M. Kennedy. Republicans are rejoicing and Democrats reeling nationwide in the wake of Brown’s triumph, a devastating Democratic defeat that triggered soul-searching within President Barack Obama’s party over how to stem further losses in November’s midterm elections. Obama himself grimly faced the need to regroup on Wednesday, the anniversary of his inauguration, in a White House shaken by the realization of what a difference a year made. The most likely starting place will be finding a way to salvage the health-care overhaul Democrats have been trying to pass. The election of Scott deprives Democrats of their filibuster-proof majority of 60 members. They also will need to determine how to assuage an angry electorate, in particular independent voters, after a year of Wall Street bailouts, economic stimulus spending, and enormous budget deficits. The president suggested the same forces that elected Brown “swept me into office” in 2008. People are frustrated “not just because of what’s happened in the last year or two years, but what’s happened over the last eight years,” he said in a Wednesday interview. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters at his daily briefing: “That anger is now pointed at us because we’re in charge. And rightly so.” Brown, in his first meeting with reporters after the special election, portrayed his victory as less a referendum on Obama or the president’s health-care proposal and more of a sign that people are tired of Washington politics and deal-making. He said his victory sends “a very powerful message that business-as-usual is just not going to be the way we do it.” Source: Articles by Michael Cooper for the New York Times and Glen Johnson and Liz Sidoti for Associated Press

barack obama senate robert gibbs health care reform us senate democrats republicans massachusetts scott brown
The heat is on in Florida senate race

02 May 2010 - Preaching the News for Sunday

This Sunday's gospel begins with the dramatic moment at which Judas leaves the Last Supper in order to betray Jesus. Republican Governor Charlie Crist of Florida will stir election-year drama and likely be accused by some of betraying his party for deciding to run for one of Florida's U.S. Senate seats as an independent rather than risk losing the party primary, in which he trails badly. On Wednesday two sources close to Crist said the governor would launch his independent bid Thursday in his hometown of St. Petersburg, portraying himself as a candidate more interested in serving "the people" than partisan politics. His long-rumored break from the GOP will turn Florida's Senate race into the hottest political ticket in the country--a three-way scramble pitting Crist against Marco Rubio, the charismatic darling of movement conservatives and Tea Party activists, and likely Democratic nominee U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek."It'll be the number one headline race in the country," said University of Virginia political analyst Larry Sabato. "It's going to capture the national imagination, because there's nothing out there comparable." Source: An article by Jim Stratton and Aaron Deslatte for the Orlando Sentinel

senate florida charlie crist marco rubio kendrick meek larry sabato
Senate to debate whether Kagan is supremely qualified

16 May 2010 - Preaching the News for Sunday

Justice and judgment are the foundation of the Lord's throne, we read in this Sunday's psalm. Justice and judgment are in the news this week with the announcement that Solicitor General Elana Kagan has been nominated to become the nation's 112th justice of the Supreme Court. The Senate confirmation hearing may prove contentious, observers said. At a ceremony with Kagan at his side in the East Room of the White House Monday, President Obama called Kagan--the first woman to serve as solicitor general and as dean of the Harvard Law School--a "trailblazing leader" and "consensus builder" known for "her openness to a wide range of viewpoints." Kagan said she was proud to be chosen to succeed Justice John Paul Stevens, who is retiring after 35 years. She said that the court serves the country "by upholding the rule of law and by enabling all Americans, regardless of their background or their beliefs, to get a fair hearing and an equal chance at justice." Her selection touched off a debate about her background. Although many justices through history have joined the court with no prior service as a judge, Kagan would be the first in nearly four decades. On Wednesday Kagan went to Capitol Hill for her first meetings with senators who will vote on her nomination. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D.-Nev.) promised to make the confirmation process "as smooth as possible," but Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R.-Ky.) warned the confirmation would not be a "rush to judgment." Republicans said Kagan must prove she will not be a "rubber stamp" for the administration and cautioned that a lack of candor could be detrimental to her getting bipartisan approval. But those who want to know Kagan's views on hot-button legal issues such as the legality of the new health care law, the constitutionality of gay marriage, or Arizona's new immigration law are unlikely to learn much, observers predicted. If Kagan follows the playbook for recent nominees, she will decline to comment on current political or social issues or hypothetical legal cases. Source: Articles by Perry Bacon, Jr. for the Washington Post, Julie Hirschfeld Davis for the Associated Press, and Peter Baker and Jeff Zeleny for the New York Times

harry reid senate supreme court elana kagan mitch mcconnell

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