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When asked about the roots of political partisanship in Washington, retiring Senator Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) traces the issue to Newt Gingrich. “I can see it very directly going back to 1994 and Newt Gingrich,” Conrad told C-Span in an interview. “He had a view, to take over the House of Representatives one had to bring down the institution and things have never been the same since.” …

It appears that four current members of the United States House of Representatives received loans via the VIP program of Countrywide Financial Corporation. Once again the motives of the former giant mortgage institution have been brought into question. Where they trying to peddle influence with these loans? Congressman Darrell Issa (R-CA) is the Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and he has been investigating the VIP program for a number years. Issa reportedly learned about the four loans after issuing a subpoena to Bank of America. Countrywide was purchased by Bank of America in 2008 and...

Dem Keystone support creates tougher fight for Reid, ObamaBy Alexander Bolton - 12/16/11 04:08 PM ET Republicans want to jam Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on the Keystone oil sands pipeline and the Democratic leader will have a tough time resisting, given support within his caucus for the project. GOP leaders have made clear to Reid that they will not approve an extension of the payroll tax holiday unless it includes language to speed up construction of the pipeline. Senate Republicans estimate as many as 14 Senate Democrats support the project. Labor unions have also voiced strong backing, complicating...

Senator Kent Conrad, the allegedly “pragmatic” and “common sense” budget leader (according to his sycophants at the Fargo Forum) was upset recently when a Republican dared showed up to a meeting about one of Conrad’s many budget proposals. Because how dare the opposition party think they get a say in the budgeting. ... “Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., is steadily emerging as the voice of pragmatism and common sense in the overheated federal budget debate in Washington,” wrote the Fargo Forum in an editorial. That doesn’t mesh with the reality of Kent Conrad’s actions on the budget, which has been to...

Freshman Rep. Rick Berg (N.D.) made his Senate campaign official Monday, providing Republicans with a top candidate for retiring Democratic Sen. Kent Conrad’s seat. “To change Washington, we need to change the Senate,” Berg said in an online video announcement circulated to supporters. “Washington could learn a lot about the way we do things in North Dakota. Unfortunately, President Obama, Harry Reid and Senate Democrats have stopped real reforms. That’s why I’m running to be North Dakota’s Senator, to bring much-needed change to the Senate.” Republicans view Berg as a top candidate for the open Senate seat in 2012. Although...

Obama floats plan to tax cars by the mile By Pete Kasperowicz - 05/05/11 07:45 AM ET The Obama administration has floated a transportation authorization bill that would require the study and implementation of a plan to tax automobile drivers based on how many miles they drive. The plan is a part of the administration's "Transportation Opportunities Act," an undated draft of which was obtained this week by Transportation Weekly. This follows a March Congressional Budget Office report that supported the idea of taxing drivers based on miles driven. Among other things, CBO suggested that a vehicle miles traveled (VMT)...

Angelo Mozilo, former boss of Countrywide Financial, has been charged with civil fraud and insider trading by the Securities and Exchange Commission. He is the highest profile executive to face charges relating to the US sub-prime mortgage crisis in 2007. --snip-- Mr Mozilo has denied doing anything wrong. Two other former executives have also been charged with civil fraud. --snip -- The SEC published extracts from e-mails sent by Mr Mozilo. "The bottom line is that we are flying blind on how these loans will perform in a stressed environment of higher unemployment, reduced values and slowing home sales," he...

Countrywide’s VIP program is the first subpoena target for House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), said a committee aide. The “Friends of Angelo” program, named for former Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo, has been under committee investigation since 2008 for allegedly granting generous mortgage deals to influential government officials, lawmakers and employees at Fannie Mae. “Countrywide orchestrated a deliberate and calculated effort to use relationships with people in high places in order to manipulate public policy and further their bottom line to the detriment of the American taxpayers even at the expense of its own lending standards,”...

Issa demands details on Countrywide's VIP loan programBy Peter Schroeder - 02/16/11 06:31 PM ET Bank of America will have to turn over all documents and records tied to Countrywide Financial's VIP lending program after House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) issued a subpoena for them Wednesday. Issa announced the far-reaching subpoena, his first as chairman of the panel, and made clear that he wanted to know specifically what public employees or elected officials may have benefited from the program. Issa is looking for all documents about the program, and is particularly interested in what "covered borrowers" were involved...

North Dakota Sen. Kent Conrad's retirement plans underscore a big problem for Democrats in 2012 and beyond. Farm Belt and Southern voters who prefer a Republican president but have often backed moderate Democrats for Congress seem increasingly inclined to vote GOP in all federal races. Republicans rejoiced at Conrad's announcement this week, convinced they can win the open seat in 2012 and hold it for years to come. They see it as a replay of last fall's North Dakota election, in which Republican John Hoeven easily won the Senate seat vacated after 18 years by Democrat Byron Dorgan. They also...

South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint (R) is turning his attention to 2012 and using the vote this week on an earmark moratorium to pick his Democratic targets. DeMint sent an email to the supporters of his Senate Conservatives Fund early Wednesday highlighting four Democrats who voted against the earmark ban, are up for re-election in 2012 and sit in states that John McCain (R) carried in 2008: Sens. Jon Tester (Mont.), Ben Nelson (Neb.), Kent Conrad (N.D.) and Joe Manchin (W.Va.). In the email, DeMint called for unseating Tester, Nelson, Conrad and Manchin. "These senators are nice folks but...

Like millions of Americans, Delaware Republican Senate nominee Christine O'Donnell has had trouble covering her mortgage and other bills over the years. Her opponents consider this a scandal. But there's a bigger disgrace: all the sanctimonious Democrats who've exploited their political incumbency to pay for manses and vacation homes -- while posing as vox populi. Vice President Joe Biden has a house in Delaware's ritziest Chateau Country neighborhood worth at least $2.5 million. He secured the estate with the help of a corporate executive who worked for Biden's top campaign donor, credit-card giant MBNA. In 1996, Biden sold his previous...

Back when he was running for president, Barack Obama vowed he'd never, ever raise taxes on individuals earning less than $200,000 a year or families earning less than $250,000. But of course he wasn't speaking for his allies in the Senate, who last Wednesday revealed a plan that would hit more than 30 million people with tax increases averaging $3,700 a year, starting in 2012. The vehicle would be the alternative minimum tax. Enacted four decades ago, the AMT was never indexed for inflation, so every year it potentially applies to more people who would have been considered wealthy in...

Sen. Kent Conrad, speaking to Roll Call and Fox, says the Senate will likely be unable to pass unchanged the reconciliation bill the House passes, even if the House can pass it: Conrad said the Senate Parliamentarian has declined to make rulings on several issues in the bill that Republicans are likely to challenge under the “Byrd rule.” That rule states that, among other things, every provision of a budget reconciliation bill must have a budget impact and cannot be “extraneous.” “Although we’ve spent many, many hours with the Parliamentarian, some things he has not yet rendered a conclusion” on,...

Bye bye, Cornhusker Kickback. Hello, special treatment for Tennessee and North Dakota. Democrats unveiling revisions Thursday to their health care overhaul bill decided to kill the extra $100 million in Medicaid funds for Nebraska that has become a symbol of backdoor deal making. But the 153 pages of changes to the massive health care package include extra money for hospitals in Tennessee that serve large numbers of low-income patients. And though the bill would revamp the nation's student loan system to make the government the only lender, one bank — the state-owned Bank of North Dakota — would be allowed...

In the recent annals of senatorial vote-buying, there have been the Cornhusker Kickback and the Louisiana Purchase. Now make way for the Bismarck Earmark. Sen. Kent Conrad, North Dakota Democrat, seems to be demanding a sop for the Bank of North Dakota to guarantee his support for President Obama's proposed federal takeover of the entire student-loan industry, known as the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act. The senator is willing to impose this awful idea on the rest of the country so long as North Dakota's own program is spared. Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, Vermont Democrat, is seeking additional exemptions,...

American ThinkerNovember 26, 2009Senator Conrad's insulting defense of trying KSM in New York David Jeffers:Democrat Senator from North Dakota, Kent Conrad, while defending the Obama Administration's decision to try al Qaeda terrorists in civilian courts, said: "If people don't believe in our system, maybe they ought to go somewhere else."  Really Senator Conrad? Would you like to retract that statement? I am a Gold-Star Father, meaning my son Sergeant Eddie Jeffers was killed in Iraq.  I am opposed to terrorists being tried in civilian courts.  Did I mention that I am a 22 year Army veteran?  Is it okay with...

Democrat Senator from North Dakota, Kent Conrad, while defending the Obama Administration's decision to try al Qaeda terrorists in civilian courts, said: "If people don't believe in our system, maybe they ought to go somewhere else." Really Senator Conrad? Would you like to retract that statement? I am a Gold-Star Father, meaning my son Sergeant Eddie Jeffers was killed in Iraq. I am opposed to terrorists being tried in civilian courts. Did I mention that I am a 22 year Army veteran? Is it okay with you if invoke my free speech rights?

CNSNews.com) – Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) told CNSNews.com that civilian courts are well-suited to prosecute al Qaeda terrorists and that "if people don't believe in our system, maybe they ought to go somewhere else.” Conrad also dismissed a question about the rights of terrorists captured on foreign battlefields and the rules of evidence in terms of a civilian court trial as not serious. Attorney General Eric Holder announced on Nov. 13 that five suspects in the 9/11 attacks would be tried in a civilian court in New York City instead of facing a military trial. On Capitol Hill on Nov....

A new one from CNS featuring Kent Conrad, who’ll be spared a “worst person in the world” award on Olbermann’s show for this bit o’ demagoguery solely by virtue of his party affiliation. Consider this a sequel to Lindsey Graham’s grilling of Holder last week: In both cases, we’ve got a Democrat who’s (a) absolutely confident that civilian trials are the way to go and (b) plainly unprepared to address the rather significant constitutional implications of his preference. The search warrant question here is bait but the underlying point isn’t: FrumForum interviewed former FBI and CIA agents to get their...