Senate Coverage -- (February '05)

Senate & House ^ | 2-01-05 | US CONGRESS

[OXENinFLA]

Since "Free Republic is an online gathering place for independent, grass-roots conservatism on the web. We're working to roll back decades of governmental largesse, to root out political fraud and corruption, and to champion causes which further conservatism in America.", I and others think it's a good idea to centralize what the goes on in the Senate (or House).

So if you see something happening on the Senate/House floor and you don't want to start a new thread to ask if anyone else just heard what you heard, you can leave a short note on who said what and about what and I'll try and find it the next day in THE RECORD. Or if you see a thread that pertains to the Senate, House, or pretty much any GOV'T agency please link your thread here.

If you have any suggestions for this thread please feel free to let me know.

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Here's a few helpful links.

C-SPAN what a great thing. Where you can watch or listen live to most Government happenings.

C-SPAN 1 carries the HOUSE.

C-SPAN 2 carries the SENATE.

C-SPAN 3 (most places web only) carries a variety of committee meetings live or other past programming.

OR FEDNET has online feed also.

A great thing about our Government is they make it really easy for the public to research what the Politicians are doing and saying (on the floor anyway).

THOMAS where you can see a RECORD of what Congress is doing each day. You can also search/read a verbatim text of what each Congressmen/women or Senator has said on the floor or submitted 'for the record.' [This is where the real juicy stuff can be found.]

Also found at Thomas are Monthly Calendars for the Senate Majority and Senate Minority

And Monthly Calendars for the House Majority and Roll Call Votes can be found here.

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OTHER LINKS

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Congress.org <<< Good resource

The Founders' Constitution

THE WHITE HOUSE

THE WAR DEPARTMENT (aka The Dept. of Defense)

LIVE DoD Briefings

NEWSEUM: TODAY'S FRONT PAGES

THE HILL

TALON NEWS

CNSNEWS

Iraqi Blogs

CANADIAN PARLIAMENT

[OXENinFLA]

Next Senate meeting: Wednesday, Feb 2, 2005

9:15 a.m.: Convene.

9:30 a.m.: Proceed to Executive Session and resume consideration of the nomination of Alberto R. Gonzales to be Attorney General.

8:40 p.m.: Proceed as a body to the House Chamber for the President's State of the Union Address.

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Title: Nomination Hearing

Date: 2/2/05

Time (EST): 10:00 AM

Place: Dirksen Senate Office Building, Rm. 342

Hearing to consider the nomination of the Honorable Michael Chertoff to be Secretary of Homeland Security. The nominee will be introduced by Senator Jon Corzine and Senator Frank Lautenberg

Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs (live link here)

[ken5050]

Good morning..do they vote today on Gonzales? I know that Dheets has an hour scheduled to bloviate..I won't be here this morning.. I think you should start a live thread..it was popuar yesterday..and put it in BREAKING...regards..

[OXENinFLA]

C-span 2..Debate on Gonzales Day 2 ~ Vote today [LIVE THREAD]

[OXENinFLA]

Next Senate meeting: Thursday, Feb 3, 2005

9:00 a.m.: Convene and begin a period of morning business.

Thereafter, proceed to Executive Session and resume consideration of the nomination of Alberto R. Gonzales to be Attorney General.

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SENATE ARMED SERVICES ~ U.S. Operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. (C-span 10am) [Live thread]

C-span 2..Debate on Gonzales Day 3 ~ Vote today (maybe) [LIVE THREAD]

[OXENinFLA]

OMG

"THE WHEEL OF MISFOUTUNE"

Mikulski was up with a Roulette poster.......

[OXENinFLA]

Dems on the war path against privatizing SS today........

[OXENinFLA]

Boxer on the floor..............

[Bahbah]

Boxer on the floor..

She thinks the stock market might just go away. I was there for the first SS fix. I am no genius and pretty much a dunce when it comes to numbers, but I said even then, this is not fixed, it is just delayed.

[OXENinFLA]

Ya know what I think the dems really fear about private SS accounts?

I think they're scared that when people die the money they have doesn't go to the Gov't but rather it gets passed on to their kids.(As long as the death tax get abolished for good!)

So over time people will become less and less dependent on the Gov't.

[Bahbah]

I have no doubt you are correct. It's even more than that though, I think. All of this money pouring in through the FICA tax is completely at the disposal of the government. The diversion of even a little bit of that is just not acceptable to them. It is THEIR money after all.

[OXENinFLA]

HILDABEAST on the floor.............

[Bahbah]

HILDABEAST on the floor.........

How infuriating to have gotten a business call just as she rose to speak. I could hear her shrieking in the background but did not catch anything of it. ;(

[OXENinFLA]

Bennett up..........

I'll have to post this, he's nailing the dems to the wall........

[Bahbah]

He correctly interprets the booing. We are not willing to talk. I agree it's a big mistake.

[OXENinFLA]

And everyone watching saw it too.........

[Mo1]

I'm late to the show .. what did I miss??


Santorum is up now

[Mo1]

So over time people will become less and less dependent on the Gov't.

BINGO

Same reason why they freaked out about Welfare Reform

[OXENinFLA]

And I heard her heiney saying that the President stated that Social Security was in IMMINENT danger of collapse.

Yup, I caught that. I'll probably post her comments tomorrow.

[FLCowboy,]

I noticed the other day in an article re Hillary Clinton's fainting spell, that she had assembled her entire staff, from New York and Washington, to a luncheon at a hotel in Westchester. The number cited was 60 staffers.

I also recently read where top staffers of legislators earn upwards of $155,000. So, if I were to assume that Hillary's 60 staffers average $100,000 per year in a loaded wage, (cost of benefits included), then her staff costs the US public $6,000,000 per year.

Assuming all senators spend a like amount on staffers, then the cost to the American public for senator's staff is $600,000,000 per year.

I don't know how large a US Representative's staff is, but for the sake of the argument, assume it to be 25 people. That equates to $2,500,000 per US Representative. With 435 US representatives representing their constituents, the cost to the US Public is $1,087,500,000.

Combining both houses of government the cost is staggering. It exceeds $1,687,500,000 per year. This is for wages alone, not mention business expenses, office space, computer support, computer hardware, parking spaces, etc.

I would venture a guess that no ill effects to the general populace would be felt if legislators' staff were cut in half. The savings would be significant.

[OXENinFLA]

Are you suggesting that these Congressmen/women actually WORK?!?!? Bite your tongue!!