Patricia Murphy -- Politics Daily

Published: 03/10/11

Emotions Run High at Rep. Peter King's Hearings on Radical Muslims in the U.S.

After a firestorm of controversy, Rep. Peter King pressed ahead with his hearing before the House Homeland Security Committee Thursday examining the threat of radical Islam within the United States. He defended his decision to investigate the role of the Muslim community in homegrown terrorism even as his colleagues accused him of singling out Muslims, suggesting that fanatics from other religions deserve similar scrutiny. "There is nothing radical or un-American about holding these hearings," King, a New York Republican, told the Capitol Hill hearing overflowing with reporters, network ...

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Published: 03/10/11

Keith Ellison, Muslim Congressman, Breaks Into Tears at King's Hearing

Rep. Keith Ellison (R-Minn.), one of two Muslim Americans serving in Congress, broke into tears Thursday as he testified at the controversial hearing convened by Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) to examine the threat of violent extremism within the Muslim community in America. Ellison had been called before the House Homeland Security Committee to offer his perspective representing a congressional district with the largest Somali-American population in the country. In the past, Ellison has accused King of being "McCarthyistic" in his approach to the Muslim community and wasted no time taking the ...

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Published: 03/10/11

Rep. Peter King's Hearing on American Muslims: How Radical? How Dangerous?

Rep. Peter King's controversial hearing today examining the threat of radical Islam will feature two men whose family members became caught up in violent extremism, with tragic consequences. A glimpse of the hearing emerged Wednesday as critics implored the New York Republican to scrap the session or broaden its focus. But King, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, defended his approach even as he faced threats as well as questions about his own past as a supporter of the anti-British Irish Republican Army. On Wednesday, a group of more than 50 Democrats, including the two ...

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Published: 03/9/11

Rival Budget Bills Fail in Senate, Shutdown Countdown Begins

The Senate voted Thursday to defeat two rival plans to cut federal spending through the end of the year, reflecting deep divisions over the best course to tame the country's spiraling debt. The impasse means that lawmakers will continue negotiations ahead of a March 18 deadline. That's when the current short-term spending measure expires and the government could shutdown without a new agreement. The first bill, approved by House Republicans last month, was rejected in the Senate by a vote of 44 to 56. All 53 Democrats and three Republicans voted against it. Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Jim ...

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Published: 03/9/11

Budget Battle Puts Moderate Senators in the Hot Seat

As Democrats and Republicans ready their talking points for the budget battles ahead in Washington, the standoff over federal spending is putting each party's moderates in a political squeeze as they try to navigate between making cuts voters say they want without cutting federal programs their constituents say they need. The first test is expected Wednesday, when senators will vote on two seven-month spending bills -- one proposal each from Democrats and Republicans on funding the government through October 2011, the beginning of the next fiscal year. The GOP bill, passed last month by the ...

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Published: 03/8/11

GOP Whip Kevin McCarthy: Another Stopgap Budget Likely

Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the Republican whip in the House of Representatives, predicted Tuesday that Congress will not come to an agreement on a year-long budget before the current spending agreement expires in 10 days. "Because of the lack of action, Republicans will be prepared in the House to do another two- or three- or four-week [continuing resolution]," McCarthy told reporters at a breakfast sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor. "But each time, we're going to go at it taking more bites, making sure we have cuts out there that will make the economy stronger." McCarthy blamed Democrats ...

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Published: 03/7/11

In Government Shutdown, President and Congress Would Still Get Paid

As government agencies prepare their lists of employees who would be furloughed during a possible government shutdown, one fortunate group of Washingtonians doesn't have to worry about such things. Under current law, the president, who earns $400,000 annually, and members of Congress, who draw $174,000, will still receive a paycheck during a budget impasse because their salaries are paid with mandatory, not appropriated, spending. Not that the law couldn't change. Last week, the Senate unanimously passed a bill sponsored by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) stipulating that the president and ...

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Published: 03/4/11

No Progress on Budget After Biden Huddles With Boehner, Other Hill Leaders

The White House dispatched Vice President Joe Biden to Capitol Hill Thursday in an effort to bring feuding Democrats and Republicans to the negotiating table over funding the federal government through Sept. 30. But an hour after Biden went behind closed doors with the Hill's "Big Four" -- House Speaker John Boehner, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell -- the participants emerged with little more than an agreement to allow the Senate to vote on the parties' wildly divergent budget-cutting proposals and an unusually short ...

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Published: 03/3/11

Nancy Pelosi Raising Cash for Wisconsin Labor Fight

Nancy Pelosi, the top Democrat in the U.S. House and a well-known rainmaker for her party, is lending her fundraising prowess to the ongoing labor battles in Wisconsin, where the Republican governor threatens to eliminate public workers' collective bargaining rights. On Thursday, Gov. Scott Walker also ordered the arrests of 14 Democratic lawmakers who are on the lam to avoid voting on his budget bill. Pelosi sent an e-mail to Democratic supporters nationwide Thursday, asking them to pledge as little as $5 to help fight what she called Walker's "reckless assault on the middle class." "Karl ...

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Published: 03/2/11

Senate Votes, 91-9, to Avoid Government Shutdown -- for Now

With a midnight deadline looming on Friday, the Senate voted, 91-9, to pass a stopgap funding measure Wednesday to keep the federal government operating through March 18. Because the House approved the same bill Tuesday, it immediately went to President Obama for his signature. The legislation, known as a continuing resolution (CR), will keep the lights on at federal agencies for the next two weeks while also retroactively cutting $4 billion from 2010 federal spending levels. The cuts had broad support because they took money from sources that Obama has already proposed to cut, such as ...

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