Tag Archives: U.S. Senate

First Special Service Force: Time to Honor Them

It’s nice to see Congress once again working toward honoring the First Special Service Force. The First Special Service Force was a joint World War II American-Canadian unit that fought during World War II. They trained at Fort Harrison near Helena, Montana.

In the short time this unit was active they kicked butt around the world.

Interstate 15 in Montana and Alberta Highway 4 from Helena to Lethbridge, Alberta Canada, was named the “First Special Service Force Memorial Highway” back in September 1999. There are signs along the route.

Congress is working toward legislation that would grant the Congressional Gold Medal for the unit. The U.S. House passed the bill (H.R. 324) yesterday by a 415-0 vote, which included Montana’s Representative, Steve Daines.

Getting 415 votes in the U.S. House on any bill is pretty historical these days. Continue reading →

About these ads

Senate Passes Marketplace Fairness Act

As expected, the U.S. Senate yesterday passed the “Marketplace Fairness Act of 2013” (S. 743). I wrote a commentary about the bill yesterday morning.

According to a website that was created to promote the bill, if passed the bill “grants states the authority to compel online and catalog retailers (“remote sellers”), no matter where they are located, to collect sales tax at the time of a transaction.”

In my opinion, it’s a tax increase no matter how they spin it.

S. 743 passed the senate 69-27. Four senators did not vote. There were 22 Republican senators who voted for the bill (and to increase taxes) which is ironic since Republicans supposedly hate taxes. Here’s a list of the “Yea” and “Nay” votes on passage of the S. 743 with “Yea” votes a vote to increase your taxes:

Continue reading →

Background Checks

It’s not looking good this morning for the legislation to expand background checks for gun sales. The United States Senate is planning to vote this afternoon on the legislation. Several reports say the votes aren’t there for passage.

That is a damn shame. If it does fail, the failure will be the fault of Republicans in the U.S. Senate.

An April 4, 2013, Quinnipiac University poll found that voters “support universal gun background checks 91 – 8 percent, including 88 – 11 percent among voters in households with guns.”

It seems as though a vote for universal gun background checks would be a pretty safe vote politically.   Continue reading →

Bugging McConnell

If you’ve read this blog much then you know that I don’t have the highest regards for Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell. I believe he’s one of the problems with today’s Republican Party.

He’s also the major reason the current senate is controlled by Democrats.

Republican Senators follow McConnell like sheep, and if they don’t (like former fellow Kentucky Senator Jim Bunning didn’t); McConnell will screw them over (big time). Meanwhile since McConnell has been in a leadership position in the U.S. Senate the Democrats have gained the majority.

Democrats may want McConnell to stay around to keep up the good work.

So I had to smile when I heard that McConnell was supposedly secretly recorded in his Kentucky campaign headquarters discussing opposition research against potential challengers, most prominently Ashley Judd.  Continue reading →

Sequestration Week!

Just as we have “Sweeps Week” or “Super Bowl Week” we are now in “Sequestration Week” and it’s exciting. OK, not really, but people are talking about it!

Senators and Representatives head back to Washington, D.C., this week after a 10 day vacation (Did you miss them?).  They have the sequestration deadline of March 1 (Friday) facing them.

The Sunday talk shows showed us that the “blame game” was in full effect with plenty of posturing. I wonder which cable news station will have a “Countdown to Sequestration” clock on their screen first.

If sequestration follows the same course that other big issues facing Congress followed, then they will probably go right by the deadline and come up with a plan for later or find some way to delay it. Continue reading →

Thursday Numbers

Welcome to Thursday! If this is your first time visiting The Western Word, “Thursday Numbers” is my weekly column where I take a look at the numbers in the news (in descending order) and provide commentary sometimes laced with just a little sarcasm.

NOTICE: If you read this column you will probably gain knowledge not found on other websites! You may be able to use this information to impress your family, friends, and co-workers. The information might even be life changing – so consider yourself warned…

This week I write about Kim Jong Un, child abuse, unemployment, settlement checks, U.S. Senate, Ted Nugent, Taylor Swift, Steve Daines, breast implants, blood alcohol level, and much more!

Continue reading →

“Clowns to the left of me, Jokers to the right”

It really was not a surprise to me that Maine’s Senator, Olympia J. Snowe (Republican), announced that she would not run for reelection.  She first ventured to Washington in 1978 as a member of the U.S. House.  She won the Senate seat in 1994.   In 2006, Snowe was reelected with 74% of the vote.

Snowe, like many Americans, has grown tired of the polarizing place called the United States Congress.  Destroying people is considered a sport in Washington, D.C., so I really can’t blame her for getting out – and getting out on her own terms.

The Western Word ranked Snowe as the #9 in my list of the 10 Most Vulnerable Senators up for reelection in 2012, because the far-right members of her party wanted to replace her.

Her decision has given hope to the Democrats of capturing the seat.  Republicans now have to worry about holding on to it. Continue reading →

Tied

First rule of politics:  you can’t win unless you’re on the ballot.  Second rule: If you run, you may lose.  And, if you tie, you do not win.  -Donald Rumsfeld

U.S. Senator Jon Tester (Democrat) rejected Congressman Denny Rehberg’s (Republican) counteroffer on Tuesday regarding campaign donations.  I enjoyed the jockeying and now we can all sit back and watch for even more fun and games over the next nine months.

Yesterday I predicted that Tester would agree to Rehberg’s plan right after Tester became a vegetarian… Continue reading →