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upporters of the health care bill were ecstatic over the finding of the Congressional Budget Office, released last week, that the federal budget deficit will come in lower over the next 10 years should the bill become law. When news of the CBO forecast came in over the airwaves, invariably the reports noted that the CBO is a “nonpartisan” institution. It’s funny that public radio and the mainstream newspapers have a reflex making them call CBO nonpartisan, because a little knowledge of the CBO’s founding and history would dispel this myth right away. The CBO began life in 1974, the...

WASHINGTON – A new congressional report released Friday says the United States' long-term fiscal woes are even worse than predicted by President Barack Obama's grim budget submission last month. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office predicts that Obama's budget plans would generate deficits over the upcoming decade that would total $9.8 trillion. That's $1.2 trillion more than predicted by the administration. The agency says its future-year predictions of tax revenues are more pessimistic than the administration's. That's because CBO projects slightly slower economic growth than the White House. The deficit picture has turned alarmingly worse since the recession that started at...

Virginia's 10th District Congressional Election - Help Get Jim Trautz On The Ballot 84rules March 5, 2010

Congressional Vote Score Card -Feb. 2010 2008 Bailout$ Auto$ Progressive 2009 Cap&Trade FDA/Food Healthcare Representative HR1424 District HR7321 District . Representative HR2454 District HR2749 District HR3962 District Alabama Alabama . . Alabama Alabama Alabama Bonner, Jo [R] Nay AL-1 No AL-1 . Bonner, Jo [R] No AL-1 Nay AL-1 No AL-1 Everett, Terry [R] Nay AL-2 Not Voting AL-2 . Bright, Bobby [D] No AL-2 Yea AL-2 No AL-2 Rogers, Michael [R] Nay AL-3 No AL-3 . Rogers, Michael [R] No AL-3 Nay AL-3 No AL-3 Aderholt, Robert [R] Nay AL-4 No AL-4 . Aderholt, Robert [R] No AL-4...

Texas House members facing challenges from Tea Party-affiliated candidates in March or potentially in November: Ralph Hall, R-Rockwall: Five GOP challengers, including Tea Party-linked candidates Steve Clark and Jerry Ray ("Tea") Hall. Kevin Brady, R-The Woodlands: Three GOP challengers, including Tea Party-tied Tyler Russell.Ron Paul, R-Lake Jackson: Three GOP challengers, including Tea Party-linked Tim Graney.Kenny Marchant, R-Coppell: One challenger, Tea Party-affiliated GOP challenger Frank Roszell. Pete Sessions, R-Dallas: One challenger, Tea Party-linked GOP challenger David Smith. Chet Edwards, D-Waco: Will face the winner of a five-way GOP nomination that includes Tea Party-linked Republican Timothy Delasandro. Others listed at the...

a CBO memo ... was released with little fanfare over the weekend.... the "smoking gun" showing that there has been a concerted effort among Democrats to make sure the CBO does not start taking into account the cost of mandates and new regulations. The memo concerned a proposal by Sen. Jay Rockefeller -- reportedly part of the now defenct Medicare expansion "deal" reached last week -- that would require insurance companies to spend 90 of the money collected in premiums on medical claims. Their conclusion was: "In CBO's view, this further expansion of the federal government's role in the health...

Republican candidates have bounced back to a seven-point lead over Democrats in the latest edition of the Generic Congressional Ballot...Support for GOP candidates is up just one point over the past week, but support for Democrats slipped two points.

Congressional Vote Score Card 2008 Bailout$ Auto$ 2009 Cap&Trade FDA/Food Healthcare Representative HR1424 District HR7321 District Representative HR2454 District HR2749 District HR3962 District Alabama Alabama Alabama Alabama Alabama Bonner, Jo [R] Nay AL-1 No AL-1 Bonner, Jo [R] No AL-1 Nay AL-1 No AL-1 Everett, Terry [R] Nay AL-2 Not Voting AL-2 Bright, Bobby [D] No AL-2 Yea AL-2 No AL-2 Rogers, Michael [R] Nay AL-3 No AL-3 Rogers, Michael [R] No AL-3 Nay AL-3 No AL-3 Aderholt, Robert [R] Nay AL-4 No AL-4 Aderholt, Robert [R] No AL-4 Nay AL-4 No AL-4 Cramer, Robert [D] Yea AL-5 Aye...

Chicago politics, where voting is such a revered civic duty that people do it even after they're dead, cold, stiff, stuffed, boxed and buried beneath the permafrost for years, has now come to D.C. with the Obama administration. This afternoon comes the most encouraging economic news, courtesy of our keen-eyed buddy Rick Klein over at ABC, that the Obama administration's $787-billion economic stimulus has, for example, thankfully created 30 new jobs in a little-known rural corner of Arizona at a cost to American taxpayers of only $761,420. That works out to only $25,380.67 spent to create each individual job. Seems...

Will the man who questioned Sen. Arlen Specter and Health and Human Services Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius...run for Congress? Rob Mitchell, seen in this video posed this question...Rob, a grass-roots, concerned citizen, Air Force ROTC, served in the Air Force, small-business owner and former military medical law attorney wants to run for Congress to unseat Patrick Murphy, a self-proclaimed, Blue Dog Democrat who takes marching orders from Nancy Pelosi. http://www.rob4congress.com/

The GOP advantage over Democrats increased from two points to five in the latest edition of the Generic Congressional Ballot. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 42% would vote for their district’s Republican congressional candidate while 37% would opt for his or her Democratic opponent.

The media is all over the new Siena poll which shows Dede Scozzafava's support collapsing in New York's 23rd Congressional District. This is a special election in November in a district that has elected a Republican since 1871. But party bosses saw fit to nominate a woman who is not only pro-gay marriage and pro-abortion, she has an economic record that has lead the Club For Growth and the American Conservative Union to target her and endorse the Conservative party candidate Doug Hoffman, in spite of Newt Gingrich's endorsement.... What's at stake in this race? As Michelle Malkin has written,...

•The Honduran Congress appears to have acted properly in deposing President Manuel Zelaya. Unlike in the United States, the Honduran Congress has the last word when it comes to interpreting the Constitution. Although there is no provision in Honduras's Constitution for impeachment as such, the body does have powers to disapprove of the president's official acts, and to replace him in the event that he is incapable of performing his duties. Most importantly, the Congress also has the authority to interpret exactly what that means. •The Supreme Court was legally entitled to ask the military to arrest Zelaya. The high...

ENCINITAS — Francine Busby is telling supporters that Friday night's disruption by sheriff's deputies of a fund-raiser for her congressional campaign shows that she is a “right-wing” target. Busby is asking for campaign contributions to reach a goal of $200,000 by the end of Tuesday. “I am going to fight even harder to stop this hateful intimidation,” Busby said in a letter e-mailed to supporters late Monday. “I hope that I can count on you to fight this battle with me ... Your contribution will show that you aren't afraid to stand with me.”

Seven members of the board of Catholic Charities announced their resignations. They were protesting the effort by Massachusetts bishops to prohibit gays from adopting children from their Catholic social service agencies. The seven who quit said prohibition ''threatens the very essence of our Christian mission." Church doctrine states that allowing children to be adopted by same-sex couples ''would actually mean doing violence to these children...gravely immoral." If you agree with those principles, according to the Vatican, a Catholic in good standing. If you don't, you're not. Liberals raised as Catholics refuse to accept this reality. We think we can be...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama's Democratic allies in Congress have agreed to let his signature $400 tax cut for most workers expire after next year but are moving to give him a better chance at passing his health care bill

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama wants Congress to act quickly on his $83.4 billion request for U.S. military and diplomatic operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, an appeal that's disappointing the most liberal, anti-war wing of his party. But with the president promising to remove all combat troops from Iraq by the end of August 2010, his Democratic allies in control of Congress are sure to approve the spending without the type of tortuous battle that characterized their dealings with former President George W. Bush.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is a nationwide effort to create jobs, jumpstart growth and transform our economy to compete in the 21st century. The compromise package of $789 billion will create or save 3.5 million jobs over the next two years. Jobs created will be in a range of industries from clean energy to health care, with over 90% in the private sector. 1 The table below outlines the impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act compromise package on employment by congressional district.

California Rep. Henry Waxman said Thursday the environment and U.S. economy depend on congressional action to confront the threat of climate change. Waxman, chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, spoke as he opened Congress' first hearing on climate legislation. A group of 14 corporate

Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, was announced as chairwoman-elect of the Congressional Black Caucus at a Capitol Hill news conference Wednesday. She takes the 42-member caucus' reins as its power seems ascendant. Members will lead the House Judiciary, Homeland Security and Ways and Means committees in the 111th Congress; another, Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., will be the majority whip; and all of them will work in tandem with the nation's first black president, Barack Obama, of whom Lee was an early and ardent supporter. "We have many, many challenges, but those challenges do present historic opportunities," she said Wednesday. "When you...