Contraception

'Where Are The Women?' Democrats Go On Offense Over Contraception

Pema Levy | February 17, 2012, 5:58AM

Democrats have a new rallying cry when it comes to the Obama administration's hotly contested contraception rule. Thursday, Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) gazed at an all male panel at yesterday's House Oversight hearing and asked, "Where are the women?" The question is being repeated by Democrats and women's rights groups as they attempt to shape the narrative of the contraception issue.

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unions

GOP, Dems Square Off Over NLRB Case Against Boeing

Susan Crabtree | June 17, 2011, 4:17PM

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA)

Republicans and Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee repeatedly clashed Friday over the politically charged National Labor Relations Board complaint against Boeing Co. and its decision to locate a nonunion plant in South Carolina.

Even before the field hearing in Charleston, S.C., got underway, Democrats were accusing Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) of trying to intimidate the NLRB by hauling the agency's top lawyer, Lafe Soloman, before the panel.

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Elizabeth Warren

Number Of Democrats Calling For Warren Recess Appointment More Than Doubles

Evan McMorris-Santoro | June 2, 2011, 8:48AM

Chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel created to oversee the expenditure of TARP, Elizabeth Warren.

As Republicans have stepped up their attempts to prevent Elizabeth Warren's confirmation as head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Democrats and progressives are building steam behind their call for President Obama to go around the GOP's obstruction.

In the past week, the number of Democratic lawmakers who have signed a letter calling on Obama to use his recess appointment powers to install Warren at the head of the newly-created CFPB has more than doubled from the 36 who were on the list last week.

The formal announcement of the new number of signatories -- which is expected to include some members of House Democratic leadership -- will come at a Capitol Hill press conference on Thursday. Progressive groups are already calling the amped up recess appointment support a victory for their pro-Warren grassroots organizing efforts.

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Elizabeth Warren

Dems Press Obama To Recess Appoint Elizabeth Warren To Run Consumer Bureau

Brian Beutler | May 19, 2011, 8:28AM

Elizabeth Warren

With Senate Republicans committed to blocking all potential directors of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, congressional Democrats are pressing President Obama to accept reality and offer Elizabeth Warren a recess appointment to head the agency she conceived of.

"Regretfully, Republicans in the Senate have now made it clear that they oppose reform," reads a letter from House Democrats that will be delivered to President Obama.

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Abortion

Democratic Reps. Unimpressed With New House Abortion Bill

Evan McMorris-Santoro | February 3, 2011, 2:30PM

Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY)

Pro-choice activists and politicians may have scored a victory with the news that the House abortion bill won't contain a redefinition of rape, but that hasn't made several prominent House Democrats any happier about the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act.

"Look, my reaction is this is not really changing things that much," Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) told TPM in an interview today. "This exposed them for what their true intentions are. Now that they're exposed they're trying to put the genie back in the bottle, and it's not going to work."

Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) wasn't interested in giving the sponsors of H.R.3 much credit for altering their bill under pressure from pro-choice groups.

"It's still a totally flawed bill," Maloney told TPM. "I would call it the deepest attack on a woman's right to choose in my lifetime."

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Carolyn Maloney

Carolyn Maloney: Giffords Attack A Reminder To Prevent Unstable People From Having Guns

Brian Beutler | January 8, 2011, 7:00PM

Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY)

Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) was with Gabrielle Giffords on Wednesday, the first day of the 112th Congress. As the two waited to be sworn in, they talked shop -- and they even made tentative plans to meet up in Arizona for an upcoming event.

"I was telling her that I'd been invited to come out to Arizona for a sex trafficking conference, and that I was thinking about going and that I'd like to see her out there. She said, 'That's great,'" Maloney said in an interview Saturday night.

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Oversight Committee

Pelosi Power Play Doomed Towns On Oversight Committee

Brian Beutler | December 16, 2010, 5:09PM

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

Rep. Ed Towns (D-NY) surprised everybody Tuesday afternoon when he announced that he'd dropped out of the race to be ranking member on the House Oversight Committee next year.

The move did not reflect his personal preferences though. On Tuesday, according to two sources close to Towns, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called Towns and told him, essentially, that she could not support his candidacy.

Towns had all but locked down the position last month. But that was over the wishes of congressional leadership and the White House, both of whom want the ranking member to be a bulldog, who can stand toe to toe with incoming chairman, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA).

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Oversight Committee

Towns Will Back Maloney Over Cummings In Oversight Committee Fight

Brian Beutler | December 15, 2010, 1:30AM

Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY)

After unexpectedly dropping out of contention to be the Ranking Member on the House Oversight Committee next year, Rep. Ed Towns (D-NY) has thrown his support to fellow New Yorker, Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) -- the next-most senior Democrat on the committee -- who will fight it out for the panel's top spot with Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD).

"I support Carolyn Maloney to become Ranking Member of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee," Towns says in a statement sent my way. "She is next in line on the Committee, she has the seniority and competence to serve the Caucus well."

Initial reports this evening suggested that Towns also supported Cummings. But both Cummings and Maloney say that's not the case.

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Elijah Cummings

Switcharoo: Towns Out Of Oversight Spot, Kucinich Backs Cummings

Ryan J. Reilly | December 14, 2010, 7:14PM

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD)

Rep. Ed Towns (D-NY) made the surprise announcement on Tuesday night that he'll be stepping down as ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, setting up a fight between Reps. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Elijah Cummings (D-MD) for the right to square off with incoming Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA).

"After much thought, Chairman Towns today made the decision not to seek the Ranking Member position on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee," a spokesman said in a statement.

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Cordoba House

The Dems Who Have Spoken For Cordoba House

Eric Kleefeld | August 24, 2010, 8:45AM

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL)

With all the attention we've given to politicians who have attacked the Muslim community center set to be built near Ground Zero in New York, let's take a different look at the story: A list of the Democratic politicians who have stood up in support of it.

Opposition to the project has been brewing for weeks, and the issue came to a head a week and a half ago, when President Obama voiced his support for the right of organizers to build it.

[TPM SLIDESHOW: Hundreds Protest Islamic Center In Downtown Manhattan]

Since, some Dems have come out and said that the project should be moved -- most notably Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), who nevertheless affirmed the right of Muslims to build it. So let's look at the other side of the equation: Dems who have spoken out on the project's behalf, both before and after Obama's remarks.

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Democrats

Where Do NY Dems Stand On The 'Ground Zero Mosque'?

Jillian Rayfield | August 5, 2010, 11:51AM

Clock wise from top left: NY Democratic Senators Kristen Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer, NY Democratic Reps. Anthony Weiner and Carolyn Maloney.

A lot of attention has been paid to what Republicans are saying about plans to build a Muslim community center near Ground Zero in New York City, but many New York Democrats have been relatively silent on the issue.

Here's a round-up of what some prominent New York Democrats are saying -- or not saying -- about the Cordoba House plans, which won a key legislative approval earlier this week.

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