Democrats’ top candidate to fill the seat of retiring Montana Sen. Max Baucus dropped out Saturday, adding to his party’s challenge to keep control of the chamber next year.
Tag Archives: Max Baucus
Democrat No-Show Could Help GOP Snag Senate
By Ruth Brown
Here’s how it was supposed to go: Max Baucus would vacate his Montana Senate seat next year, and former Democratic Governor Brian Schweitzer would run and, hopefully, win. Schweitzer was a popular leader, and considered the best chance the Democrats had at retaining the Senate seat. But now Schweitzer says… …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Newser – Home
HUFFPOST HILL – Supreme Court Weighs Gay Marriage, Still No White House Tours
By The Huffington Post News Editors
The Supreme Court gave no clear signal where it was headed on Proposition 8, but there was no mistaking Antonin Scalia’s beliefs about septuagenarian breeding (He’s pro.). Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says she doesn’t use email, which means we can say whatever we want about her here. And Chris Christie vowed to keep Prince Harry clothed when the British royal visits New Jersey, even though “Naked Prince” sounds like a brightly colored beverage we’ve consumed on the Shore. This is HUFFPOST HILL for Tuesday, March 26th, 2013:
GUN CONTROL: NO AGREEMENT ON BACKGROUND CHECKS – Sam Stein: “Negotiations over legislation that would extend background checks for gun buyers are still officially on. But aides on the Hill involved in those conversations said a breakthrough remains far off and discussions are unlikely to get serious for another week or so. ‘My guess is after Easter they will all start really talking because then that clock starts clicking,’ said a source close to negotiations who spoke on condition of anonymity. The authors of the bill, set to head to the floor of the Senate after the Easter recess,were casting a wider net for potential Republican co-sponsors, according to a report this week. But one of those who reportedly being wooed — Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) — downplayed the report…That means center stage remains occupied by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.)… Schumer and Coburn remain at odds over two central issues — how those checks are conducted, and whether records should be kept of firearms transactions. Coburn wants new gun sales to use online portals for conducting background checks. Schumer wants a federal firearms license holder to do the work. Coburn doesn’t support keeping sales records for private transactions. Schumer has said he sees that as potentially gutting the purpose of the law.” [HuffPost]
VOTE-A-RAMA BODES ILL FOR GUN CONTROL – Sure, it was nearly four in the morning, but the world’s greatest deliberative body wasn’t afraid to make decisions about firearms. Roll Call: “Senators voted 50-49 in favor of an amendment by Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, to establish a two-thirds requirement for the passage of any gun control legislation in their chamber. While the budget resolution is nonbinding and the amendment did not win the 60 votes needed to be adopted, the outcome underscores how many senators strongly support gun rights, just as the chamber prepares to debate the biggest package of gun control measures in nearly two decades. Six Democrats from gun-friendly states joined a nearly united Republican conference to support Lee’s amendment: Max Baucus of Montana, Joe Donnelly of Indiana, Kay Hagan of North Carolina, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, Joe Manchin III of West Virginia and Mark Pryor of Arkansas.” [Roll Call]
Senate Passes Budget for the First Time in Four Years
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
Pro-gun voters put heat on Democratic senators
U.S. Sen. Max Baucus has been here before. Back during the Clinton era, the Democrat faced a choice: support an assault weapons ban urged by a president from his own party and risk angering constituents who cherish their gun rights, or buck his party.
Singapore reportedly seeks FBI help in US engineer's death
Police in Singapore have reportedly sought the FBI‘s help in a probe into the death of a U.S. engineer last year.
The death of Shane Todd, 31, has been classified as a suicide by hanging, but relatives of the Montana man — who was worried that his employers in Singapore were using him to help China get its hands on sensitive technologies to harm U.S. national security — believe he was murdered to cover up his discovery of the purported plot.
Singapore police have said they asked Todd’s family to share any evidence in their possession related to his death, BBC reports.
“If [the Todd family] were not comfortable handing evidence in their possession to Singapore Police Force, they could seek the FBI‘s help to review the evidence,” they said in an emailed statement. “As there has so far been no response to this request, Singapore Police Force has sought the FBI‘s assistance to engage the family and for FBI to examine the evidence.”
Eric Watnik, a U.S. Embassy spokesperson in Singapore, said Monday that the FBI would comply with the request, BBC reports.
“The request is focused on issues entirely within the United States,” Watnik added. “The investigation into Shane’s death continues to be led by the Singaporean police.”
Todd’s parents met with Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., on Friday and are seeking a congressional investigation in their son’s death.
“He told us that his life was being threatened,” Todd’s mother, Mary, told Fox News Channel on Friday.
Just two days after his final day of work in June and a going-away party with colleagues, his girlfriend found him dead in June 2012, hanging from his bathroom door. Police and the coroner believe Todd hanged himself in the bathroom, leaving two suicide notes on his computer, CBS News reports.
Mary Todd said she immediately doubted the authenticity of the note.
“My son did not write this note,” she continued. “He did not take his own life.”
A spokesperson for Baucus told FoxNews.com on Friday that the lawmaker has arranged a meeting for the family with the State Department.Baucus will meet face-to-face with the Singaporean ambassador to the U.S. this week and has personally weighed in on the issue with top White House officials.
Todd’s relatives have since been pressing U.S. officials to investigate the death following a perceived lack of cooperation from Singapore authorities.
Todd graduated in 2005 with a degree in electrical engineering from the University of Florida and later received his doctorate at the University of California-Santa Barbara. In 2010, he chose a job in Singapore because he was looking for adventure, he told his parents.
He took a position at the Institute of Microelectronics, a Singaporean government research institution, to work on cutting-edge technology involving powerful semiconductors. An investigation by the Financial Times magazine revealed that the technology has other applications desired by China, including applications that can be used to disrupt enemy radar and communications.
Todd’s relatives believe his work was linked to China‘s Huawei Technologies, which was cited as a potential national security threat by a U.S. congressional committee last …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
Parents of engineer who died in Singapore want murder probe
The family of an American who turned up dead in Singapore after expressing fear he was being duped by Chinese spies is calling for a congressional investigation into his death in Singapore.
Relatives of Shane Todd, 31, believe the Montana man — who was worried that his employers in Singapore were using him to help China get its hands on sensitive technologies to harm U.S. national security — was murdered to cover up his discovery of the purported plot.
“He told us that his life was being threatened,” Todd’s mother, Mary, told Fox News Channel on Friday.
Just two days after his final day of work in June and a going-away party with colleagues, his girlfriend found him dead in June 2012, hanging from his bathroom door. Police and the coroner believe Todd hanged himself in the bathroom, leaving two suicide notes on his computer, CBS News reports.
Mary Todd said she immediately doubted the authenticity of the note.
“My son did not write this note,” she continued. “He did not take his own life.”
Todd’s relatives have since been pressing U.S. officials to investigate the death following a lack of cooperation from Singapore authorities. They met with Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., in Washington on Friday.
A spokesperson for Baucus tells FoxNews.com that he set up a meeting for the family with the State Department. He will meet face-to-face with the Singaporean Ambassador to the U.S. next week and has personally weighed in on the issue with top White House officials.
Baucus had staff from his Finance Committee meet with U.S. embassy and Singaporean officials last week, the spokesperson said.
Shane Todd graduated in 2005 with a degree in electrical engineering from the University of Florida and later received his doctorate at the University of California-Santa Barbara. In 2010, he chose a job in Singapore because he was looking for adventure, he told his parents.
He took a position at the Institute of Microelectronics, a Singaporean government research institution, to work on cutting-edge technology involving powerful semiconductors. An investigation by the Financial Times magazine revealed that the technology has other applications desired by China, including applications that can be used to disrupt enemy radar and communications.
“What has to happen is we need a congressional investigation,” Mary Todd said.
FoxNews.com’s Joshua Rhett Miller contributed to this report.
Senate Panel OKs Jack Lew
By Polly Davis Doig 
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Newser – Home