By The Huffington Post News Editors
Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska) has said little publicly about his views on marriage equality. Until now.
On Monday night, the senator released a statement to Buzzfeed fully endorsing same-sex marriage:
“I believe that same sex couples should be able to marry and should have the same rights, privileges and responsibilities as any other married couple,” Begich stated.
Read More…
More on Gay Marriage
Filed under: U.S. Government, Government Spending, Breaking News
By ALAN FRAM
WASHINGTON (AP) – An exhausted Senate gave pre-dawn approval Saturday to a Democratic $3.7 trillion budget for next year that embraces nearly $1 trillion in tax increases over the coming decade but shelters domestic programs targeted for cuts by House Republicans.
While their victory was by a razor-thin 50-49, the vote let Democrats tout their priorities. Yet it doesn’t resolve the deep differences the two parties have over deficits and the size of government.
Joining all Republicans voting no were four Democrats who face re-election next year in potentially difficult races: Sens. Max Baucus of Montana, Mark Begich of Alaska, Kay Hagan of North Carolina and Mark Pryor of Arkansas. Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., did not vote.
The vote came after lawmakers labored through the night on scores of symbolic amendments, ranging from voicing support for letting states collect taxes on Internet sales to expressing opposition to requiring photo ID‘s for voters.
The Senate’s budget would shrink annual federal shortfalls over the next decade to nearly $400 billion, raise unspecified taxes by $975 billion and cull modest savings from domestic programs.
In contrast, a rival budget approved by the GOP-run House balances the budget within 10 years without boosting taxes.
That blueprint- by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., his party’s vice presidential candidate last year – claims $4 trillion more in savings over the period than Senate Democrats by digging deeply into Medicaid, food stamps and other safety net programs for the needy. It would also transform the Medicare health care program for seniors into a voucher-like system for future recipients.
“We have presented very different visions for how our country should work and who it should work for,” said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., who chairs the Senate Budget Committee. “But I am hopeful that we can bridge this divide.”
A day that stretched roughly 20 hours featured brittle debate at times. The loudest moment came toward the end, when senators rose as one to cheer a handful of Senate pages – high school students – who lawmakers said had worked in the chamber since the morning’s opening gavel. Senators then left town for a two-week spring recess.
Congressional budgets are planning documents that leave actual changes in revenues and spending for later legislation, and this was the first the Democratic-run Senate has approved in four years. That lapse is testament to the political and mathematical contortions needed to write fiscal plans in an era of record-breaking deficits that until this year exceeded an eye-popping $1 trillion annually, and to the parties‘ profoundly conflicting views.
“I believe we’re in denial about the financial condition of our country,” Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, top Republican on the Budget panel, said of Democratic efforts to boost spending on some programs. “Trust me, we’ve got to have some spending reductions.”
Though budget shortfalls …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
WASHINGTON (Official Wire) — As the Senate prepares to begin debating new gun control measures, some of President Barack Obama’s fellow Democrats are poised to frustrate his efforts to enact the most sweeping limits on weapons in decades.
These Democrats from largely rural states with strong gun cultures view Obama’s proposals warily and have not committed to supporting them. The lawmakers’ concerns could stand in the way of strong legislation before a single Republican gets a chance to vote “no.”
“There’s a core group of Democratic senators, most but not all from the West, who represent states with a higher-than-average rate of gun ownership but an equally strong desire to feel their kids are safe,” said Mark Glaze, director of Mayors Against Illegal Guns. “They’re having hard but good conversations with people back home to identify the middle-ground solutions that respect the Second Amendment but make it harder for dangerous people to get their hands on guns.”
All eyes are on a core group of these Democrats, including Sens. Max Baucus of Montana, Mark Begich of Alaska and Mark Pryor of Arkansas, who are up for re-election in 2014.
The Senate Judiciary Committee begins hearings Wednesday.
Read more at Official Wire. By Erica Werner.
Photo Credit: DonkeyHotey (Creative Commons)
Top Senate Republicans said Tuesday they would reserve judgment on Chuck Hagel‘s nomination until after his confirmation hearing next week, a positive sign for President Barack Obama‘s choice to head the Defense Department.
Hagel, who already has drawn strong opposition from six Senate Republicans, continued his outreach to lawmakers on Tuesday, meeting with 11 senators. Among them were Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Sen. John McCain, whose support for the nomination could smooth the way for the former GOP senator and provide political cover for other Republicans to back the nominee.
“Senator Hagel and I are old friends and we had a very frank and candid conversation, and I’ll be looking forward to the hearing and asking him questions,” the Arizona Republican told reporters at a news conference on his recent overseas trip. “He should be given the opportunity of a hearing before any of us make a judgment.”
Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, said he pressed Hagel on a number of issues, but kept returning to the basics.
“Chuck Hagel would be the first enlisted man, the first volunteer to serve in Vietnam” to become defense secretary, Durbin said after a meeting with Hagel. “He served our nation in combat. He was wounded. I can understand why Obama has chosen him.”
Hagel, during a brief conversation with reporters in the Capitol, declined to answer specific questions, simply saying, “we have a hearing next week and I look forward to answering questions.”
The Hagel nomination gained momentum last week as Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., two of the strongest pro-Israel Democrats in the Senate, said the former Nebraska senator had addressed their concerns about his stand on Iran sanctions and support for Israel.
But Hagel still faces ambivalence among Republicans, if not outright opposition, and could emerge from the Senate committee vote with only party-line support. Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, the panel’s top Republican, has announced his opposition as have several other committee members.
Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said earlier in the day that it was too soon to count the votes and he would have a better assessment of the support for Hagel after his confirmation hearing on Jan. 31.
Asked if there were any Republican votes for Hagel, Levin said, “I haven’t seen any, but there may be that I haven’t seen. That doesn’t mean that there won’t be.”
Hagel was scheduled to meet on Wednesday with Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., a committee member who has said she was perplexed by the nomination.
Another panel member, Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., said Tuesday, “I look forward to visiting with him and hearing his testimony and we’ll see where it goes.”
Durbin said Hagel was scheduled to meet with 20 other senators.
Concerns about Hagel replacing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta have centered on whether he is sufficiently pro-Israel, his description of pro-Israel groups as a “Jewish lobby,” and his stand on gay rights. Some GOP lawmakers also are concerned about potential cuts to defense spending and Hagel’s past support for reductions in nuclear weapons.
“That’s of great importance to me,” said Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Corker’s state is home to the Y-12 nuclear facility and significant cuts in the nuclear arsenal would affect his state.
“I want to delve beyond the one-liners and sentences that have been brought forth by groups. It’ll be a very earnest conversation. I always start with an open mind. But I do have concerns,” said Corker, who is scheduled to meet with Hagel on Friday.
Democrats hold a 55-45 advantage in the Senate and would have the votes to confirm Hagel on a simple majority, but they would need five Republican votes for the 60-vote threshold to break a GOP filibuster. A Republican effort to block Obama‘s choice of a former Republican senator would set off a firestorm as Senate leaders try to negotiate new rules on filibusters.
Separately, a GOP-leaning group launched an anti-Hagel ad campaign in the home states of five Senate Democrats up for re-election next year.
“Say no to Chuck Hagel before it’s too late,” said the commercials from Americans for a Stronger Defense. The spots target Sens. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Mark Begich of Alaska, Mark Udall of Colorado, Mark Pryor of Arkansas and Kay Hagan of North Carolina.
___
Associated Press writer Richard Lardner contributed to this report.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News
The rogue security agent whose actions helped spark the downfall of 2010 U.S. Senate candidate Joe Miller, a Fairbanks Republican, has finally revealed what he was thinking when he handcuffed an Alaska Dispatch reporter after a Miller rally in October 2010. What no one but William Fulton and a few federal official knew at the time was that Fulton was a paid informant working for the FBI, and apparently he had an agenda to undermine Miller’s campaign.
The story Fulton tells is now raising new and troubling questions about the behavior of Alaska FBI agents, who were already being investigated in 2010 for their roles in railroading the late U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, from office. Stevens was convicted in 2008 of failing to report more than $250,000 in gifts and subsequently lost election to now Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska. The guilty verdicts against Stevens were tossed the next spring, but his reputation remained sullied. He died in a plane crash in Southwest Alaska in August 2010 while fighting to clear his name.
As the Justice Department was investigating FBI actions in the Stevens case in the summer and fall of that year, the FBI had moved on to investigating Alaska militias. It hired Fulton, the owner of an Anchorage military surplus store called “Drop Zone” and a sometime-security consultant, to infiltrate those organizations. Fulton has now told the Huffington Post that he thought putting the cuffs on Tony Hopfinger, the co-owner and editor of Dispatch, while working for Miller, a conservative Republican, appeared a great idea. Fulton said it bolstered his image with the militias.
Read More at alaskadispatch.com . By Craig Medred.
