Defense Spending

Top Defense Dem: GOP Must Blink First To Avoid Pentagon Cuts

Brian Beutler | January 26, 2012, 11:59AM

Despite a brewing panic among Congressional Republicans (and some Democrats) over automatic, across-the-board defense cuts set to kick in on January 1, 2013, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee says those cuts must stand unless and until Republicans relent on their anti-tax absolutism, and agree on a balanced deficit reduction package that includes higher revenue.

"The purpose of the sequester is to force us to act to avoid the sequester," Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) told reporters at a Christian Science Monitor roundtable. "It's like a nuclear weapon -- it's totally useless; it can't be used except to accomplish some other goal than its use. It's used to deter."

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Carl Levin

Top Dem Offshoring Expert Smells Something Fishy In Romney's Tax Code

Brian Beutler | January 26, 2012, 11:05AM

Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) says Mitt Romney will have to make his pre-2010 tax returns available. That may sound like a predictable demand from a partisan Democrat. But it's more than that.

Levin may well know more about tax avoidance strategies than anybody in Congress. In his capacity as the Democrats' top investigator he's has made extensive inquiries into the techniques businesses and individuals use, including overseas havens, to hide their money from the IRS. And what Romney's revealed so far troubles him.

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Defense Spending

Defense Budget Hawks To Super Committee: Not In My Backyard

Susan Crabtree | October 14, 2011, 5:59PM

The Republican and Democratic chairmen of the House and Senate defense committees are pleading with the deficit-reduction super committee to spare the Pentagon when it's looking for places to slash spending.

Both Rep. Buck McKeon (R-CA), who chairs the House Armed Services Committee, and Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), who heads the Senate counterpart, sent letters to the super committee Friday urging, if not downright begging, the 12 deficit deciders not to touch the Pentagon's discretionary budget, although Levin suggested the panel propose a commission to look into finding savings in the military retirement and health care systems.

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Debt Ceiling

Levin Expresses Dem Frustration With Obama And The Looming Debt Limit Deal

Brian Beutler | July 31, 2011, 2:49PM

Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI)

Speaking with reporters after Sunday's failed debt limit vote, Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) criticized President Obama for not seizing the initiative and forcing a balanced plan for deficit reduction. He also explained the problems with and merits of a still-forming bipartisan plan that will raise the debt limit.

The key for now, as explained here, is that it avoids default in a way that assures deep spending cuts over the coming decades -- including to entitlement programs -- but provides no guarantees of higher tax revenues.

Specifically the plan calls for a new congressional committee to make and expedite tax and entitlement reform recommendations before the end of the year. If the reforms fail, early leaks suggest that would trigger across the board spending cuts -- including to defense and entitlements -- but no new tax revenue.

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Afghanistan

Obama's Afghan Plan With Will Be Major 2012 Foreign Policy Test

Susan Crabtree | June 22, 2011, 5:45AM

President Barack Obama

President Obama is facing one of the most difficult political challenges of his two and a half years in office in making the case to a skeptical American public and an impatient Congress that the longest war in U.S. history is still worth fighting and funding while he incrementally withdraws troops.

Obama is scheduled to outline his plans for a Afghanistan troop drawdown in a primetime address on Wednesday. The following day he will travel to Fort Drum in upstate New York to begin selling the proposal to the American people, the same day Secretary of State Hillary Clinton testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

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Afghanistan

Panetta Sidesteps Barrage Of Questions On Afghan Drawdown

Susan Crabtree | June 9, 2011, 12:06PM

Leon Panetta, tapped by President Obama to succeed Robert Gates as defense secretary, attempted to dodge the most critical question facing the military and the administration right now during his nomination hearing Thursday.

Panetta faced a barrage of questions about the upcoming drawdown of troops in Afghanistan after signaling that he backed the President's call for a "significant" reduction of U.S. troops beginning in July.

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Pakistan

Sen. Carl Levin: Pakistan Had To Know Osama Bin Laden Was There

Benjy Sarlin | May 6, 2011, 11:17AM

Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI)

Politicians across the political spectrum have been taking digs at Pakistan in the wake of Osama bin Laden's death in that country, but Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) offered up perhaps the toughest assessment yet from a senior lawmaker on Thursday.

In an interview with ABC News, Levin, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he was opening up an investigation into whether elements of Pakistan's government had foreknowledge of bin Laden's location.

"I think at high levels, high levels being the intelligence service, at high levels they knew it," Levin said. "I can't prove it. I just think it's counterintuitive not to."

The Senator tied the issue to a review of billions of dollar in economic and military aid to Pakistan.

"Some of it is in our interest. Some of it seems to be, is not clearly in our interest, and that's why the questions that we are asking the Pakistan government to answer need to be answered," Levin said.

Sherrod Brown

Senate Dems To Cantor: Walking Away From Medicare Plan Is The Right Move

Brian Beutler | May 5, 2011, 3:40PM

Sherrod Brown (D-OH)

Forty-eight Senate Democrats, led by Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) sent a letter to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) on Thursday, urging him to stick with the conclusion that the GOP's plan to privatize Medicare is a non-starter with Democrats.

"Your conclusion was correct that House Republicans "need to look elsewhere" after President Obama "excoriated" the proposal you and your Republican colleagues adopted to privatize Medicare through a voucher system," the letter reads.

Americans don't want to destroy Medicare in order to give even more tax cuts to millionaires.

While I am sure you are under pressure from your caucus to defend that misguided vote rather than to move away from it, I urge you to maintain the position you took yesterday as reported by The Washington Post. The two parties can and must work together to reduce the deficit, but not if Republicans maintain their demand to end Medicare as we know it. If you need further proof that the House Republican plan is a non-starter, I urge you to review the enclosed letter.

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Osama Bin Laden

Pakistan Under Harsh Scrutiny In Wake Of Raid On Bin Laden Compound

Benjy Sarlin | May 3, 2011, 10:12AM

A successful attack on Osama Bin Laden may mark a satisfying end to one chapter of America's War on Terror, but the circumstances of the operation raise disturbing new questions about the nation's already troubled relationship with Pakistan. On Monday, high-ranking lawmakers and officials openly aired their suspicions that forces within the crucial ally's government deliberately withheld information on the terrorist leader's location.

"They've got a lot of explaining to do," Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told reporters Monday.

TPM SLIDESHOW: Osama Bin Laden: 9/11 Mastermind, Longtime U.S. Enemy Killed In Pakistan

Intelligence officials have long suspected that Pakistan's weak and fractured government may be host to rogue elements either disinterested in catching -- or actively sympathetic to -- anti-Western terrorists. But the presence of Bin Laden's heavily fortified compound in a garrison town near Islamabad magnified concerns that Al Qaeda had help from the inside in concealing its leader's location.

"It's very difficult for me to understand how this huge compound could be built in a city just an hour north of the capital of Pakistan in a city that contained military installations, including the Pakistani military academy, and that it did not arouse tremendous suspicion," Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), ranking member of the Homeland Security Committee, said at a press conference on Monday.

"It was not like a normal house in New Jersey, I can tell you that," Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), who has called for a new review of military and economic aid to Pakistan in light of the Bin Laden raid, told TPM.

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Andy Card

GOP's Tortured Logic: How We Got Osama Bin Laden

Brian Beutler | May 3, 2011, 8:42AM

Former Vice President Dick Cheney and Former President George W. Bush.

Like so many memes that persist in politics, this one started on the Internet. The morning after President Obama announced that Osama bin Laden had been killed in Pakistan, conservatives started crowing that credit should be given to President George W. Bush -- specifically, for having the foresight and courage to torture the people who provided the initial scraps of intel that ultimately led the CIA to a giant compound just north of Islamabad.

The most prominent of these conservatives was Rep. Steve King (R-IA), who took to Twitter to ask sardonically, "Wonder what President Obama thinks of water boarding now?

About two hours later, the Associated Press published a brief story claiming that the CIA obtained the initial intelligence it needed to find bin Laden from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed -- the so-called mastermind of 9/11 -- and his successor, Abu Faraj al-Libi at CIA black sites in Poland and Romania.

Those secret prisons, which the Obama administration contends to have abandoned, were the facilities where Mohammed and al-Libi were waterboarded. There, the detainees supposedly identified by nom de guerre a courier who would years later be located by American intelligence officials, and lead them to bin Laden's compound.

"The news is sure to reignite debate over whether the now-closed interrogation and detention program was successful," the AP wrote. "Former president George W. Bush authorized the CIA to use the harshest interrogation tactics in U.S. history. President Barack Obama closed the prison system."

There's just one problem. The key bit of intel wasn't acquired via torture, according to a more fleshed out version of the same report.

But the myth provided a brief opening. Thus have Republicans constructed a version of events by which they -- and Bush in particular -- deserve some of credit for bin Laden's death. Not all of it. Indeed they have by and large acknowledged Obama's role, and congratulated him on it. And most have not been as brazen as King or the Tea Party Express in attributing the success of the mission to Bush's interrogation policies. But Bush, they argue, played a big part as well, akin to the husband who loosens the lid to a Mason jar only to watch his wife open it effortlessly.

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Afghanistan

Levin: Bin Laden's Death Paves Way For Swifter Troop Drawdown In Afghanistan

Brian Beutler | May 2, 2011, 3:31PM

Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI)

Given that President Obama's not going to bring the war in Afghanistan to an early end as the result of Osama bin Laden's death, a key question is whether his administration will green light a robust troop drawdown starting in July, or whether the withdrawal will happen more slowly, as some in his administration would like.

That's the pivot, and there will be increasing pressure on Obama from Democrats to use bin Laden's death in Pakistan to make the case for a swifter reduction.

TPM SLIDESHOW: Osama Bin Laden: 9/11 Mastermind, Longtime U.S. Enemy Killed In Pakistan

"I think there's going to be a lot of strong feeling on the part of most Democrats and many, I think many independents, and even some Republicans that the decision of the President to reduce the number of troops in Afghanistan should be a robust reduction," Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-MI) told reporters on a conference call with reporters Monday afternoon. "I don't think that's going to change, and I don't expect the decision of the President -- his instinct to have a reduction, and I believe a robust reduction following conversations with him -- that that instinct would be reinforced."

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Osama Bin Laden

Levin: Pakistani Intel and Military Have 'A Lot Of Explaining To Do' For Sheltering Bin Laden

Brian Beutler | May 2, 2011, 12:35PM

Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI)

The Democrats' top armed services expert on Capitol Hill says Pakistan's military and intelligence have grave questions to answer after Osama Bin Laden was killed in an elaborate compound, deep inside Pakistan, near a top Pakistani military facility.

"I think that the Pakistani army and intelligence have a lot of questions to answer, given the location, the length of time, and the apparent fact that this facility was built for bin Laden, and its closeness to the central location to the Pakistani army," said Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), who chairs the Senate Armed Services committee, in a Capitol briefing with reporters Monday morning.

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John Boehner

Boehner To Obama: Please Provide Clear Answers on Libya

Susan Crabtree | March 23, 2011, 7:22PM

Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) is demanding detailed answers from President Obama on the scope and objective of U.S. military action in Libya and his plans for removing Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi from power if he does not voluntarily step down in the next few days.

In a letter (read it here) to the White House sent Wednesday afternoon, Boehner asks Obama to outline the "scope, objective and purpose of the mission in Libya and how it will be achieved."

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Libya

Senior Senate Dems Defend Obama's Decisions on Libya

Susan Crabtree | March 23, 2011, 3:36PM

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL)

Three senior Senate Demorats are coming to President Obama's defense on his decision to seek international support before directing air strikes against Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi.

Sen. Dick Durbin (IL), the assistant majority leader, Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (MI) and Sen. Jack Reed (RI), a senior member of the Armed Services Committee, gave the President a collective pat on the back for his diplomatic and military decisions on Libya in the last week in the face of harsh criticism from both sides of the aisle that Obama's handling of the Libyan crisis was too little too late and did not seek congressional approval for the military action.

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David Petraeus

Petraeus on Afghan War: 'We Have To Remember Why We're There'

Susan Crabtree | March 15, 2011, 12:42PM

General David Petraeus

Gen. David Petraeus urged the American people to remember the reasons why U.S. forces continue to fight in Afghanistan in the face of a new poll showing the lowest level of American support for the longest war in U.S. history.

Petraeus, the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, told the Senate Armed Services Committee Tuesday that he understands the level of American frustration with the Afghan war, but warned of the growth of al Qaeda in the country and region if the U.S. abandons its mission and allows the Taliban to regain control.

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James Clapper

Graham Calls For Ousting DNI Clapper After a Series of Stumbles

Susan Crabtree | March 10, 2011, 6:34PM

National Intelligence Director James Clapper

The Director of National Intelligence is a thankless job. Little wonder why the key administration position, which oversees coordination among the nation's 16 intelligence agencies, has turned over four times in its five-year existence.

On Thursday, President Obama's DNI James Clapper had a particularly rough day of it.

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Senate Armed Services Committee

Counterfeit Electronic Parts Ending Up In DoD Weapons Systems

Susan Crabtree | March 9, 2011, 5:59PM

Senators Carl Levin (D-MI) and John McCain (R-AZ)

Faulty counterfeit electronic parts are ending up in the Defense Department's weapons systems, and the problem poses a critical risk to national security, according to the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Sens. Carl Levin (D-MI), who chairs the panel, and John McCain (R-AZ), its ranking member, on Wednesday called the presence of counterfeit electronic parts in the DoD supply chain a "growing problem" and announced an investigation into just how they are ending up there.

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Libya

Pressure in Congress Mounts For No-Fly Zone In Libya

Susan Crabtree | March 8, 2011, 10:33AM

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI)

As air attacks against Libyan rebels grow more violent, calls for attacking Muammar Qaddafi's Air Force are growing in Congress.

Britain and France are drafting a UN resolution establishing a no-fly zone, which will be considered at a NATO meeting Thursday.

But some in Congress believe time is of the essence and are urging Obama to act independently.

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Iraq

Top Dem Says GOP Spending Cuts Will Screw Up Iraq Strategy

Brian Beutler | February 4, 2011, 11:46AM

Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI)

A House GOP plan to carve State Department spending out of the sacrosanct pool of "security" appropriations, and lump it in with "non-security" appropriations could upend the Obama administration's strategy in Iraq, says the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

"I'm not sure the House folks [considered] it runs flat into our strategy in Iraq," Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) told me Thursday after an evening vote.

The House took its first step in executing the plan Thursday, when Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan introduced spending limits that would leave the State Department with $9.7 billion -- or 17 percent -- less than Obama requested.

The timing couldn't be worse.

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Don't Ask, Don't Tell

More Dems Sign On To Extended Session Plan To Save DADT Repeal

Evan McMorris-Santoro | December 7, 2010, 8:51AM

Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI)

Add Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) to the list of Democrats who say the Senate should stay open long enough to give Republicans the time they require to bring the military's ban on openly gay servicemembers to an end. Asked by TPM yesterday if he supported Sen. Joe Lieberman's (I-CT) call for the Senate to keep the lame duck session going past the scheduled break if necessary to get repeal passed, Levin's office confirmed his endorsement of the idea.

Levin's the chair of the Armed Services Committee, and a powerful backer of repeal. But he's just the latest Democrat to say he'll work through Christmas if it means bringing the military's ban on openly gay servicemembers to an end. Yesterday, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) signed on via her Twitter feed.

A Democratic leadership aide tells TPM that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is working behind the scenes to get Don't Ask, Don't Tell repealed this year, but didn't commit to keeping Senators in town longer than planned to get it done. In order to keep the doors open longer than scheduled, Reid would need the vote of the entire Democratic caucus

"Senator Reid is focused right now on working out an amendment strategy that will get the necessary 60 votes to pass a repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell," the aide said. "This is a law he thinks should be addressed once and for all this Congress, before we adjourn for the holidays."

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Bush Tax Cuts

Schumer Silent On Bush Tax Cut Vote

Brian Beutler | September 22, 2010, 1:45PM

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY)

Whether or not the Senate votes on extending some (or all) of the Bush tax cuts may end up being the key to any pre-election tax cuts vote. The House is reportedly holding its fire until the Senate decides what to do, and the last thing most Democrats want is to go into the home stretch of election season with Republicans warning of a looming tax hike in 2011.

Nonetheless, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) won't say whether there will be a vote before the Senate adjourns a week or so from now.

"It's being discussed within our caucus now," Schumer said at a press conference this afternoon. "Talk to leader Reid."

TPM asked Schumer whether he personally wants Harry Reid to move on President Obama's middle-income tax cut plan before the October recess.

"I'm not speculating," he said.

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Bush Tax Cuts

Dem Senator: Tax Cuts Debate Could Start Thursday

Christina Bellantoni | September 21, 2010, 4:19PM

Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI)

Sen. Carl Levin said this afternoon while there is not an agreement finalized yet, the tax cuts debate could begin as early as Thursday.

He said he believes leadership will allow votes on both the Democrats' middle-class only position and the Republicans' plan to freeze tax rates at the Bush-era levels including the rich.

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Sunday Shows

The Sunday Show Line-Ups

Eric Kleefeld | July 30, 2010, 3:58PM

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates

Here are the line-ups for the Sunday talk shows this weekend:

• ABC, This Week: Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.

• CBS, Face The Nation: Chairman Of The Joint Chiefs Of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen, Council On Foreign Relations president Richard Haass, Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-AZ), Mexican American Legal Defense And Education Fund president Thomas Saenz.

• CNN, State Of The Union: Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC).

• Fox News Sunday: Former Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH).

• NBC, Meet The Press: Chairman Of The Joint Chiefs Of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen, New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg (I), former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, Gov. Ed Rendell (D-PA).

Don't Ask, Don't Tell

Levin: I Understand Why Gays Are Frustrated By DADT Survey (VIDEO)

Christina Bellantoni | July 13, 2010, 9:41AM

Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI)

Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. Carl Levin told reporters this morning at a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor that he supports surveying troops about the repeal of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell ban on LGBT people in the military. Levin said it can't hurt to take the temperature of military rank-and-file, but cautioned that troops should not feel like they can influence the policy's outcome.

"The military is not a democracy," Levin said. He also said he "can understand the resentment in the gay community" about the phrasing of the survey.

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Financial Reform

Obama Administration Sided With Scott Brown On Wall Street Bill Loophole

Brian Beutler | June 28, 2010, 4:46PM

President Obama and State Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA)

As the final Wall Street negotiations came to a close last week, the Obama administration quietly sided with Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) against most Democrats in support of a loophole in one of the key provisions of the financial reform bill.

Several Democratic Hill aides tell TPMDC that the Treasury Department, which wielded tremendous influence over the shape of the legislation, changed its position on the Volcker rule during the final deliberations, endorsing an exemption that will allow banks to invest in outside hedge funds.

"Treasury's official position went from opposed to [the loophole] to supportive," one aide says. "They may have [even] overshot Brown's desires by a bit."

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Sunday Shows

The Sunday Show Line-Ups

Eric Kleefeld | June 25, 2010, 2:08PM

Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Jeff Sessions (R-AL)

Here are the line-ups for the Sunday talk shows this weekend:

• ABC, This Week: CIA Director Leon Panetta.

• CBS, Face The Nation: Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI).

• CNN, State Of The Union: Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX).

• Fox News Sunday: Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), former Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-AR).

• NBC, Meet The Press: Sen. John McCain (R-AZ).

Wall Street

Wall Street's Big Day: House And Senate Weigh Gutting Key Financial Reform Proposals

Brian Beutler | June 24, 2010, 10:45AM

Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA)

Today is a pivotal day for Wall Street. Billions of dollars and a tremendous amount of risky trading are on the line in what are perhaps the final hours of negotiations over financial reform.

House and Senate conferees will soon determine whether two of the most important pieces of the legislation are as robust as reformers say they need to be, or whether big banks and other industries prevail in their push for loopholes, carve outs, and other exemptions.

Yesterday, House participants in the conference committee laid down an offer--a package of proposed tweaks--to the far-reaching section of the Senate bill dealing with derivative regulations. They seek a host of goodies for end-users (businesses and industries that trade in derivatives to hedge their risk) who want to be exempt from new transparency rules. But they don't propose any changes to the most controversial part of the bill: a provision, authored by Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) that would require mega-financial firms to break off their derivatives trading desks, and house them in affiliated businesses, where they won't be federally insured against failure.

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Carl Levin

Levin: Lightning Quick Confirmation For Petraeus

Brian Beutler | June 23, 2010, 5:43PM

Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI)

General Petraeus won't have to wait long.

Senate Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin says his committee will take up Petraeus' nomination to serve as Afghanistan commander within days.

"It would be no later than next Tuesday," Levin told reporters this afternoon. "We're going to try make it out obviously as quickly as we possibly can."

There are some technical issues that need to be sorted out before the entire Senate can take up Petraeus' nomination, though Levin predicted he'd be confirmed before the July 4 recess. But the first steps are poised to proceed smoothly. Levin's minority counterpart, ranking member John McCain told reporters today that the hearings and vote on Petraeus' nomination might well be "the fastest in the history of the Armed Services Committee."

Financial Reform

Feingold: I Will Not Support Weak Wall Street Reform

Brian Beutler | June 22, 2010, 3:38PM

Sen. Russell Feingold (D-WI)

Democrats are in hot pursuit of Russ Feingold's vote for Wall Street reform. But in a statement sent my way this afternoon, Feingold says he's told the White House and key congressional leaders that he's still a no unless the bill gets significantly stronger.

"During debate on the financial regulatory reform bill, I made it clear that I would only support a strong bill that can prevent another financial crisis," Feingold's statement reads. "Neither the House bill nor the Senate bill pass that test."

I have spoken to Senate leaders, the Obama administration, and members of the conference committee and made my concerns well known. I opposed deregulating Wall Street and eliminating the protections of the Glass-Steagall Act, a position which put me at odds with many in Washington who supported the very policies that contributed to the financial crisis, and who now support these bills that simply don't get the job done. Without including stronger reforms, we're simply whistling past the graveyard.

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Wall Street

Levin Presses Dems To Buck Big Bank Push For Wall Street Reform Loophole

Brian Beutler | June 22, 2010, 10:49AM

Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI)

In a last-ditch effort to block Wall Street lobbyists from securing another major loophole in financial reform legislation, one of the authors of the so-called Volcker rule is publicly and privately pressuring top negotiators to buck the banks and keep the proposed new rules as strict as possible. He's also casting doubt on those who say the bill won't pass if they don't do as the bankers say.

"There's people [on the conference committee] who favor it," Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) told TPMDC yesterday evening in a brief interview. "I hope they're not going to accept it."

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Financial Reform

On Financial Reform, White House Frustrates Wall Street And Progressives

Brian Beutler | May 28, 2010, 1:38PM

President Barack Obama

The White House's heavy hand continues to guide financial reform negotiations as they enter their last days, creating a dynamic that has been frustrating to those who want to truly change the way business is done on Wall Street. As House and Senate principals put their heads together to iron out the differences between their two bills, the Obama administration is closing off most opportunities to impose the sorts of new rules that critics say will be needed in order to prevent another financial crisis.

And though the Obama administration is on guard against some of the flagrant efforts on the part of lobbyists to weaken the bill, it has also set strict parameters on the extent of the legislation, leaving some of the bill's supporters concerned that the overall approach simply isn't strong enough.

Perhaps the best example of this dynamic revolves around a far-reaching proposal to regulate derivatives. The White House and its lieutenants in the House and Senate are prepared to scale back or remove a provision that would require big financial firms to spin off their derivatives trading desks. And they're arguing to members that a different measure, limiting the extent to which those firms can engage in speculative trades with their profits, will accomplish the same goals as the spin off plan.

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Don't Ask, Don't Tell

Behind The Scenes: How The Deal To Repeal DADT Got Done

Brian Beutler and Christina Bellantoni | May 26, 2010, 10:45AM

Clockwise, from top left: President Barack Obama, Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-PA) and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates

After months of being accused by gay rights supporters of not pushing aggressively enough for the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell, what finally got the White House moving and sealed the deal on a DADT compromise?

From interviews with those deeply involved in the issue over the past few weeks, including people on the Hill and in the advocacy groups in Washington, the picture that emerges isn't one of a single catalyzing event that suddenly moved the process forward. Rather, according to participants and close observers, there was a confluence of political conditions and practical considerations that gave those pushing for repeal the upper hand in dealing with a reluctant White House.

The final push came from the Hill, where key members of Congress who support repeal, like Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), the powerful chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, made it clear that they were moving forward with repeal legislation with or without the White House's blessing.

"Levin and others made it clear that the train was leaving the station and the White House not only was not conducting but they weren't even on board," Alex Nicholson, executive director of Servicemembers United, an advocacy group for gays in the military, said in an interview with TPMDC. "They were backed into a corner and and it was blatantly obvious so they finally decided to get on board."

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Barack Obama

Levin: White House Got Serious About DADT 'In The Last Few Days'

Brian Beutler | May 25, 2010, 9:13AM

Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI)

For months, supporters of repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell had been, it's fair to say, deeply unhappy with President Obama, who had punted on their promise to end the policy, and, many believed, had simply decided not to act on it. But last night, Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), chair of the Armed Services Committee, told me and a few other reporters that the White House got religion on the issue "in the last few days."

What changed? That remains unclear. According to Levin, "there's a great deal of feeling that it's a discriminatory policy. And all the public opinion polls--it's a policy which the public does not favor and you've got the support for ending the policy at the highest levels of the military." All true. But those two facts have been valid for months. How does that explain the White House's change in posture?

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Financial Reform

Dems Delay Wall Street Bill After Republicans Block Amendments

Brian Beutler | May 19, 2010, 2:02PM

Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI)

A scheduled 2 p.m. vote to end debate on the Senate financial reform bill had to be pushed back this afternoon because of objections by Democrats.

The exact sequence of events is a bit unclear, but it centered around an attempt by Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), who's managing the bill on the floor, to call up some final amendments before the 2 p.m. cloture vote. But Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), who's trying to secure a vote on his own amendment, and who is one of several progressives dismayed by Democratic leadership's unwillingness to allow votes on consumer-friendly amendments, objected.

Dodd and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid could try and cut off debate anyhow, but their decision to delay, at least for now, may indicate that they're shy of the 60 votes they'd need to prevail. Democrats will be caucusing shortly, to figure out a way around the impasse. The way things work around these parts, that could take hours...or much longer.

Blanche Lincoln

Down To The Wire: Democratic Leaders Scramble To Keep Financial Reform From Unraveling

Brian Beutler | May 19, 2010, 9:06AM

Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT)

What had been a fairly non-contentious debate over Wall Street reform legislation nearly came off the rails on Tuesday after Republicans--tacitly backed (or at least unimpeded) by top Democrats--used Senate rules to block votes on far-reaching, consumer-friendly amendments, portending a potential progressive revolt.

This afternoon at 2 pm, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will attempt to bring debate on the financial reform bill to a close, though it remains unclear whether he has the 60 votes he'll need to prevail.

A big reason for that? A number of Democrats--most vocally, Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND)--have threatened to vote against ending debate until their flagship amendments get a vote on the floor. But Republicans are standing in the way, saying they'll filibuster those amendments, subjecting each to a 60 vote requirement, and, more importantly, several days' worth of delay. Faced with a choice between picking a fight with Republicans over those amendments and simply moving ahead with the bill, Democratic leadership has, for now, chosen the latter.

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Carl Levin

Levin Becomes 24th Senator To Sign Public Option Letter

Eric Lach | February 24, 2010, 4:36PM

Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI)

Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) has signed Sen. Michael Bennet's (D-CO) letter calling on the leadership to pass a health care public option via reconciliation.

Levin is the 24th senator (and sixth committee chairman) to sign the letter, which was originally signed by Bennet, Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR).

Health Care

Carper: 'I Expect I Will' Sign Public Option Letter; Levin Wants To Check Wording First

Rachel Slajda | February 23, 2010, 2:36PM

Sen. Thomas Carper (D-DE)

Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) tells TPMDC that he plans to sign a letter urging Senate leadership to pass a public option via reconciliation.

"I expect that I will" sign, Carper said. The letter, written by Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO), has been signed by 23 senators so far.

That's a bit of a departure from his position just yesterday. Asked by TPMDC if he thought passing a public option via reconciliation was appropriate or desirable, Carper said he thought it wouldn't fly procedurally.

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