Politics, Government & Business in California's Inland Empire
By ALEXANDER BURNS | 7/20/14 5:29 PM EDT – Updated: 7/21/14 6:37 AM EDT
LOS ANGELES — The rumblings are early but unmistakable: A political earthquake is — finally — headed to California.
By Dustin Volz
July 20, 2014
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein thoroughly condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin for his role in empowering Ukraine’s pro-Russian separatists, during an interview with CNN on Sunday, largely laying the blame at his feet for the downing last week of a Malaysia Airlines passenger jet.
By Alexander Bolton – 07/12/14 06:00 AM EDT
Immigration reform has fizzled as an issue for Democrats, who are barely mentioning it on the campaign trail despite making the issue their top domestic priority in 2013 and 2014.
By Michael Flaherty and Alistair Bell
WASHINGTON Thu Jul 10, 2014 4:02am EDT
(Reuters) – A surge of Republican pressure is bringing the Federal Reserve’s long-held independence into question again, as conservative lawmakers seek to place the U.S. central bank under tougher scrutiny.
By KENNETH P. VOGEL | 7/7/14 9:00 PM EDT Updated: 7/8/14 5:41 AM EDT
At first, it seemed like just another example of Harry Reid being Harry Reid.
The Senate majority leader, whose unscripted attacks can veer into bellicosity and take liberties with facts, spoke on the Senate floor last October and appeared to blame billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch for the government shutdown.
Michael A. Memoli
July 4, 2014
Democrats headed into the Fourth of July recess facing stiff head winds in their quest to maintain a Senate majority this fall, contending with voters’ unease over the economy and a slew of Washington controversies.
Michael Muskal
June 30, 2014
The poll, released Monday, had good news and bad news for the high court, a unique institution that serves as a check and balance in the United States. People have more confidence in the court than in any other arm of government, but that may not be saying that much when confidence in the presidency stands at 29% and in the Congress at 7%.
By JAMES HOHMANN | 6/25/14 1:16 AM EDT Updated: 6/25/14 7:22 AM EDT
Tuesday night was bad for Democrats, good for the GOP establishment and great for incumbents of both parties.
By MANU RAJU and BURGESS EVERETT | 6/23/14 11:26 PM EDT Updated: 6/24/14 5:26 AM EDT
Harry Reid has a new dilemma on his hands: restless Senate Democrats who are frustrated they aren’t casting enough votes.
Health Care
By Sam Baker
June 23, 2014
A Republican Senate majority wouldn’t be able to fully repeal Obamacare, but it could force some pretty significant changes to the health care law.
The Fix
By Philip Bump
June 20, 2014
Gallup released a new poll on Thursday revealing that only seven percent of Americans have any real confidence in Congress. It’s an historic low, and probably one that 93 percent of Americans think is still higher than it should be.
Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Richard Simon
June 19, 2014
Republicans are challenging the president’s characterization of the surge in young immigrants from Central America across the southern border as an unforeseen crisis, accusing his administration of contributing to the influx and demanding that he deploy National Guard troops and other resources to secure the border.
Transportation
By Ashley Halsey III June 18 at 2:33 PM
A bipartisan Senate proposal emerged Wednesday to rescue beleaguered federal transportation funding by raising the tax on gasoline by 12 cents a gallon.
By BURGESS EVERETT | 6/9/14 8:26 PM EDT – Updated: 6/10/14 6:28 AM EDT
She stood beside President Barack Obama through the politically damaging revelations over NSA data-mining, but Dianne Feinstein can’t seem to stay on the White House’s call list.
By Josh Hicks
June 8, 2014 at 11:58 am
The heads of the Senate Intelligence Committee suggested Sunday that the White House has done a poor job of sharing information with Congress about Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl and his recent release from Taliban captivity.
By JONATHAN TOPAZ | 6/6/14 1:32 PM EDT
Senate Intelligence Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein said she has not seen any evidence that the Taliban would have killed Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl if details of an agreement had leaked, contrary to what Obama administration officials have said.
By EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE and CARRIE BUDOFF BROWN | 6/4/14 7:07 PM EDT Updated: 6/5/14 10:31 AM EDT
President Barack Obama’s Rose Garden appearance Saturday afternoon with Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl’s parents was an attempt to humanize the prisoner swap to deflect potential criticism of letting five Taliban leaders out of Guantánamo Bay, White House aides say.
It didn’t work.
Posted on Tuesday, June 3 at 2:43pm | By Carolyn Lochhead
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, told reporters Tuesday that she got a call from the White House apologizing for not letting Congress know about its exchange of Taliban prisoners for Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, a prisoner of Afghan rebels since 2009.
By BURGESS EVERETT and TARINI PARTI | 6/2/14 5:41 PM EDT
Updated: 6/3/14 10:16 AM EDT
Majority Leader Harry Reid and his caucus are bent on outlawing billionaire Koch-style political spending.
NJ Daily
By Michael Catalini
May 21, 2014
A senior Democratic senator suggested Wednesday that President Obama’s race factored into opposition to the Affordable Care Act, sparking outrage on the part of one of his Republican colleagues.
By Alexander Bolton – 05/17/14 12:59 PM EDT
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) wants to decide what Senate floor amendments Republicans can offer to guard against “gotcha” votes that could cost Democrats their majority.
Kathleen Hennessey, Michael A. Memoli
May 15, 2014
Without quick action by Congress, the U.S. Transportation Department may begin scaling back or halting work on thousands of roads, bridges and other infrastructure projects at the height of the construction season this July, when the nation’s Highway Trust Fund is expected to run dry.
May 5, 2014, 1:46pm PDT
Kathy Robertson
Senior Staff Writer- Sacramento Business Journal
Almost two years since the U.S. Supreme Court approved the individual mandate in the Affordable Care Act, the Sacramento-based Pacific Legal Foundation gets a shot in appeals court this week at unwinding the mandate based on how it was enacted.
David Lauter
Monday, May 5, 2014
Six months out from the November midterm election, Republicans have a strong advantage which, if it holds up, would likely translate into significant gains in Congress, a new nationwide survey indicates.
By Steven Dennis
Posted at 12:21 p.m. on May 5, 2014
These aren’t the poll results President Barack Obama is looking for. A new USA Today/Pew poll has ugly numbers for the president’s Democratic Party ahead of the midterm elections and even uglier figures for the president.
By Timothy Gardner and Thomas Ferraro
WASHINGTON Tue Apr 29, 2014 8:15pm EDT
(Reuters) – Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, in an abrupt election-year shift in strategy, opened the possibility on Tuesday of allowing a vote on congressional approval of the long-delayed Keystone XL oil pipeline.
By Dan Balz and Peyton M. Craighill
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
Democrats face serious obstacles as they look to the November elections, with President Obama’s approval rating at a new low and a majority of voters saying they prefer a Congress in Republican hands to check the president’s agenda, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
By David Lightman
McClatchy Washington Bureau
April 18, 2014
WASHINGTON — Democrats are finding that their path to keeping control of the U.S. Senate this year is getting bumpier.
By JAKE SHERMAN | 4/2/14 10:41 AM EDT
Speaker John Boehner praised the Supreme Court for knocking down aggregate limits on campaign donations, saying “freedom of speech is being upheld.”
Off to the Races
Majority status in the Senate could swerve back and forth over the next few elections.
By Charlie Cook
March 31, 2014
By a quirk of fate, we may be in for some pretty turbulent Senate elections, not only this November but in 2016 and 2018 as well. Majority status could resemble a rubber band as much as anything else. It is entirely plausible that the Senate will tip back into GOP hands in 2014, return to Democrats in 2016, and then flip again to Republicans in 2018. It’s all about how many—and which—seats on each side are up and exposed to losses, not to mention whether it is a presidential or midterm election. Obviously other factors could come into play, chiefly the political environment over the next four years, but also what the presidential tickets will look like in 2016, who will be in the White House come 2018, and how that person is doing.
By Michael A. Memoli and David Lauter
March 31, 2014, 3:00 a.m.
WASHINGTON — Faced with a strong prospect of losing control of the Senate in November, Democrats have begun a high-stakes effort to try to overcome one of their party’s big weaknesses: voters who don’t show up for midterm elections.
Politics
By Alex Roarty
March 30, 2014
Bracing for a rough midterm-election outcome, Democrats aren’t waiting until Election Day to start blaming one another for the party’s problems. Anticipating the possibility that Republicans will flip the Senate, the finger-pointing game is already underway between the party’s warring factions.
By Alexander Bolton
03/30/14 02:00 PM EDT
A new political advocacy group has teamed up with former Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) to argue that the economic inequality agenda of Senate Democrats is a loser with swing voters.
By Daniel Newhauser
Roll Call Staff
March 26, 2014, 5 a.m.
Reid, left, plans to bring the bipartisan unemployment benefits extension to the Senate floor soon. In the House, Boehner and his fellow Republicans plan to hold out for more concessions from Democrats.
By Sean Sullivan
March 24 at 4:00 am
Senate Democrats’ campaign arm is pushing back against data modeling whiz Nate Silver, who projects that Republicans are now favored to win the Senate majority.
By TAL KOPAN | 3/21/14 7:58 AM EDT
President Barack Obama told Democratic donors that Democrats tend to “get clobbered” in midterm elections, and in order to win in November they need to turn out the vote.
By ASHLEY PARKER
MARCH 21, 2014
WASHINGTON — Senate Majority PAC, a group that supports Democratic Senate candidates, is preparing a $3 million advertising campaign against Charles G. Koch and David H. Koch, the libertarian-minded billionaire brothers who support conservative causes and have already poured millions of dollars into the 2014 midterm elections.
By Dan Balz
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
If President Obama’s 2012 campaign was known for anything, it was its voter mobilization operation, said to be the most sophisticated ever assembled in a presidential campaign. Which makes David Plouffe’s comments over the weekend all the more telling for Democrats as they look nervously toward the November midterm elections.
By BEN WHITE and MAGGIE HABERMAN | 3/18/14 4:59 AM EDT
NEW YORK — Just a few months ago, it looked like 2014 would be the year of the populist, with Democrats running on economic inequality, tea party Republicans bashing banks and newly minted New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio pledging to soak the rich with higher taxes.
By David Hawkings
Posted at 5:50 p.m. on March 12
Few senators wait until their 80s, or the start of their third decade in office, to have their breakout moment. But that’s what this past year has been for Dianne Feinstein.
By Donna Cassata, Associated Press
Posted: 03/11/14, 8:21 AM PDT | Updated: 20 secs ago
WASHINGTON — The head of the Senate Intelligence Committee said Tuesday the CIA improperly searched a stand-alone computer network established for Congress in its investigation of allegations of CIA abuse in a Bush-era detention and interrogation program. She said the CIA’s own inspector general has referred the matter to the Justice Department.
By Beau Yarbrough, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
and Joe Nelson, The Sun
Posted: 03/07/14, 9:48 PM PST |
San Bernardino >> Friday was the filing deadline for candidates vying for seats at the state and local levels for the June 3 primary election.
PolitiCal
On politics in the Golden State
By Evan Halper
March 4, 2014, 1:45 p.m.
WASHINGTON — As Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid resumed his polemic against the Koch brothers Tuesday, Republicans were quick to respond, noting they are not the only ones with a generous billionaire in their corner.
The Take
By Dan Balz
Sunday, March 2, 2014
The tea party movement celebrated its fifth anniversary this past week, but there’s been little to celebrate lately about the performance of some of the conservatives running under the tea party banner who have mounted primary challenges to half a dozen Senate Republicans.
By Seema Mehta
February 20, 2014, 7:00 a.m.
Without offering a hint as to her plans, Sen. Dianne Feinstein on Wednesday lamented the departure of longtime congressional colleagues from California — including retiring Reps. Henry Waxman and George Miller –and said their institutional knowledge and ability to compromise in Washington would be missed.
By Seema Mehta
February 19, 2014, 10:19 p.m.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) offered a full-throated defense of the government’s collection of data on billions of American phone calls, saying Wednesday that the National Security Agency’s practices have safeguarded the nation without trampling on civil liberties.
By Lisa Mascaro
February 12, 2014, 1:59 p.m.
WASHINGTON — Congress gave final approval Wednesday to legislation allowing more federal borrowing to pay the nation’s bills, ending the last three years of partisan brinkmanship over the debt limit, but not without a last-minute protest led by tea party Republicans in the Senate.
Greg Nash
By Alexander Bolton – 02/12/14 06:00 AM EST
Democrats and Republicans are clearing the decks of dangerous political issues that could sink their chances in the midterm elections.
By Dustin Volz
February 4, 2014
The National Security Agency “probably” collects phone records of members of Congress and their staffs, a senior Justice Department official conceded Tuesday.
By BURGESS EVERETT | 2/2/14 11:04 PM EST
President Barack Obama is counting on Senate Democrats to help approve his legislative agenda during his final years in office. And though they are his staunchest allies on most economic issues, many Democratic senators are breaking with him on key issues in very public ways.
By Alexander Bolton – 01/28/14 06:00 AM EST
Senate Democrats are dropping the issue of extending federal unemployment benefits — at least for now — despite intense lobbying over the recess by outside groups targeting Republicans.
By Dan Balz and Peyton M. Craighill
January 26, 2014
President Obama will speak to the nation Tuesday night with approval ratings lower than for any of his previous State of the Union addresses and with Americans broadly pessimistic that he or lawmakers of either party will make good decisions for the future of the country, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
By Mark Z. Barabak
January 19, 2014, 6:34 p.m.
The stock market has hit sky-scraping highs, the unemployment rate has dipped to a five-year low and any number of economic statistics — new car sales, home prices, consumer spending — point to a perked-up economy that is steadily growing.
By Ed O’Keefe
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Congress is on the verge of adopting a federal budget this week without the threat of a government shutdown or any other form of economic or political crisis, a development so unusual that the institution suddenly does not resemble its most recent partisan self.
By David G. Savage This post has been corrected. See below for details.
January 13, 2014, 11:52 a.m.
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court hinted Monday it may move to limit a presidential power used since the days of George Washington to fill high-level vacancies during Senate recesses.
By Lori Montgomery and Ed O’Keefe
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
Congressional negotiators unveiled a $1.1 trillion funding bill late Monday that would ease sharp spending cuts known as the sequester while providing fresh cash for new priorities, including President Obama’s push to expand early-childhood education.
Hawkings Here
By David Hawkings
Posted at 8 p.m. on Jan. 12
One of the biggest congressional stories of the decade starts unfolding Monday — not at the Capitol, but across the street.
By Alexander Bolton – 01/11/14 12:00 PM EST
Democratic senators are pleading with President Obama to abandon his proposal to trim Social Security benefits before it becomes a liability for them in the midterm elections.
By Richard Cowan
WASHINGTON Thu Jan 9, 2014 7:20pm EST
(Reuters) – Senate Democrats on Thursday offered a new plan to revive federal unemployment benefits until mid-November and pay the $18 billion price tag with new spending cuts, but hopes of a bipartisan deal dissolved into bickering by day’s end.
Monday, January 6, 2013 – 08:30 a.m.
Here’s some news of interest flowing across the transom Monday morning.
The Deep Freeze
Most of the nation is adrift in snow and freezing cold weather Monday. The average U.S. temp is reportedly at 12.8˚F.
By Lisa Mascaro
January 5, 2014, 7:28 p.m.
WASHINGTON — Congress comes back to session this week with leaders of both parties planning a war of words in 2014 — dueling agendas that promise little substantive legislation but lots of messages aimed at establishing clear contrasts for voters heading toward the midterm election.
December 26th, 2013 – 09:00 AM ET
Posted by CNN Political Editor Paul Steinhauser
Washington (CNN) – Democrats have lost their advantage and Republicans now have a slight edge in the battle for control of Congress, according to a new national poll.
By David Lightman
McClatchy Washington Bureau
December 23, 2013 Updated 18 hours ago
WASHINGTON — A three-month extension of emergency unemployment benefits is gaining momentum.
By Brian Sumers, Daily Breeze
Posted: 12/19/13, 6:07 PM PST | Updated: 3 hrs ago
Los Angeles should work with Ontario to improve passenger traffic numbers at L.A./Ontario International Airport, Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein charged in a letter this week sent to L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti. The letter dated Wednesday did not address a lawsuit filed in June by the city of Ontario, which is seeking to regain control of the airport from Los Angeles, the facility’s manager since 1967. Earlier this month, the two sides agreed to put the suit on temporary hold as they work out a solution.
Political news, election updates, for San Francisco CA and national politics
Posted on December 14, 2013 | By jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com (Joe Garofoli)
It’s no surprise that only 11 percent of California registered voters who represented in the new Field Poll think Congress is doing a good job. (Who are THOSE people, and will they share their happy juice?)
By Lori Montgomery
Thursday, December 12, 2013
House Republicans appeared Wednesday to be rallying around an $85 billion deal to avert another government shutdown, brushing off complaints from their right wing that the effort would trade immediate spending cuts for less-certain long-term savings.
NJ Daily
By Billy House, Tim Alberta and Sarah Mimms
December 10, 2013
After weeks of closed-door talks, House and Senate negotiators finally unveiled a two-year budget deal Tuesday that attempts to calm the long-fought feud over spending on Capitol Hill. But the question remains whether they can sell it to rank-and-file lawmakers.
Related Stories
December 10, 2013, 09:32 am
By Mario Trujillo
President Obama’s disapproval rating has shot up to 53 percent, the highest rating the McClatchy-Marist poll has recorded for him in nearly 30 surveys.
Obama’s approval rating stood at 43 percent in the poll released Monday night.
By Alexander Bolton – 12/09/13 06:00 AM EST
Heading into an election year, Democrats and Republicans are trying to figure out how to salvage their brands after a bruising 2013.
By SEUNG MIN KIM and JENNIFER HABERKORN | 12/8/13 6:19 PM EST
Staring down a deadline to sign up for Obamacare, some lawmakers are getting hit by technical glitches or sticker shock. Others are breezing through the website, elated by lower premiums and better health services. And at least one won’t sign up at all — opting to pay a penalty instead.
By JONATHAN WEISMAN
Published: December 5, 2013
WASHINGTON — House and Senate negotiators on Thursday closed in on a budget deal that, while modest in scope, could break the cycle of fiscal crises and brinkmanship that has hampered the economic recovery and driven public opinion of Congress to an all-time low.
By Ashley Halsey III
Thursday, December 5, 2013
With Congress facing a major shortfall in transportation funding next year, a House bill introduced Wednesday would raise the federal gasoline tax by 15 cents per gallon to close the gap.
By Alex Roarty
December 2, 2013
More than anything else, voters would be happiest if Congress and President Obama focused on creating jobs, according to the latest United Technologies/National Journal Congressional Connection Poll. And they don’t care if lawmakers use Republican or Democratic ideas to do so.
By David Morgan
WASHINGTON Wed Nov 27, 2013 4:22pm EST
(Reuters) – The Obama administration says it is on target to make its problematic health insurance website work smoothly for the “vast majority” of users by this weekend, but some Americans who want coverage by January 1 may not be able to get it – even if they successfully navigate the portal and sign up for a plan.
Democrats in Congress worry that Obamacare’s rollout has left them vulnerable in 2014.
By JONATHAN ALLEN | 11/25/13 4:56 AM EST Updated: 11/25/13 6:52 AM EST
Some Capitol Hill Democrats are preparing to launch broadsides against President Barack Obama if the Affordable Care Act website isn’t fixed by the end of the month.
By ALEX ISENSTADT | 11/21/13 6:09 PM EST
Elections, as the saying goes, have consequences. And Thursday’s historic vote in the Senate to obliterate the filibuster for most presidential nominees makes Election 2014 that much more consequential.
NJ Daily
Insurance cancellations and the employer mandate will both hit just before the 2014 midterms.
By Sam Baker
November 20, 2013
Some of Obamacare’s most damaging political narratives will be getting a fresh look right before next year’s midterms, thanks to delays in the law’s implementation.
The Caucus – The Politics and Government blog of The New York Times
November 19, 2013, 8:40 pm
By JEREMY W. PETERS
WASHINGTON — Americans for Prosperity, the political group backed by the billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, is targeting three of the most vulnerable Senate Democrats who are up for re-election next year. The group’s efforts are part of a new $3.5 million attack advertising campaign that hammers lawmakers for supporting President Obama’s health care law.
Hotline On Call
It’s hard to take back the Senate without candidates in place to exploit voters’ sour mood over Obamacare.
By Kevin Brennan
November 18, 2013
Republicans are giddy about their chances to retake the Senate on the back of a disaster known as Obamacare. There’s just one problem: The GOP doesn’t have the right candidates to make it happen.
Post Politics
By Sean Sullivan
November 17 at 11:56 am
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) sought Sunday to downplay the impact of the 39 House Democrats who broke ranks to vote for a Republican bill that would alter the federal health-care law, as one of her top lieutenants said most of the defectors were trying to “insulate” themselves.
By Ezra Klein
Published: November 13 at 1:44 pm
1. The Affordable Care Act’s political position has deteriorated dramatically over the last week. President Bill Clinton’s statement that the law should be reopened to ensure everyone who likes their health plans can keep them was a signal event. It gives congressional Democrats cover to begin breaking with the Obama administration.
By Sam Baker and Elahe Izadi
November 13, 2013
Congressional Democrats are quickly losing patience with the White House as the deeply flawed Obamacare rollout drags on.
Posted on November 12, 2013 |
By clochhead@sfchronicle.com (Carolyn Lochhead)
Sen. Dianne Feinstein on Tuesday joined the ranks of worried Democrats demanding that President Obama allow people to keep their current insurance policies. Feinstein’s move is bad news for an administration desperate for good news following the roll-out debacle of the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance exchange on Oct. 1, which has been plagued by technical problems.
By Steven Dennis
Posted at 2:40 p.m. on Nov. 6, 2013
Updated 3:50 p.m. | President Barack Obama heard an earful at the White House Wednesday from Senate Democrats running for re-election next year who are fuming about the Affordable Care Act’s rocky rollout.
Off to the Races
Democratic dreams of long-term Republican fallout may be fading as Obamacare rollout issues grab the spotlight.
By Charlie Cook
November 4, 2013
The noise you hear is the grinding of Democratic teeth over the botched launch and arguably deeper design problems of the Affordable Care Act.