Nancy Pelosi

Biden Meets With Furious House Democrats

Brian Beutler | August 1, 2011, 3:15PM

V.P. Joe Biden

House Democrats convened Monday afternoon in an underground conference room in the Capitol Visitor's Center to hear Vice President Joe Biden explain the debt limit deal he helped broker with Congressional Republicans, and to vent to reporters in the strongest possible terms about the deal many of them are being asked to consider supporting.

"They expressed all their frustrations," Biden told reporters after the meeting. "I feel confident that this will pass."

He must've gotten an earful. The meeting, scheduled to last an hour, dragged on for over two. During that stretch, a steady trickle of Dems, entering and exiting, stopped to complain about the legislation, and the extent to which they'd been closed out of the process of crafting it.

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Israel

Andrews Stands By Remark That Obama 'Tilting Towards Hamas'

Susan Crabtree | May 25, 2011, 5:23PM

Rep. Robert Andrews (D-NJ).

Rep. Robert Andrews (D-NJ) is sticking to his statement made Tuesday that President Obama is "tilting towards Hamas" -- and went further on Wednesday complaining that the President's comments last week about the starting point for peace negotiations, and the subsequent uproar, has bolstered the Palestinians' standing.

Andrews said Obama had given Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, whose Fatah party has entered into a unity agreement with their rivals Hamas, an excuse to insist on preconditions before sitting down at the negotiating table with Israel. He was referring to comments Obama made during a major speech last week that the borders of Israel and a future Palestinian state should be based on 1967 lines with agreed upon swaps.

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BP

BP To Cut Tax Bill By $13B But Won't Say What It's Paying IRS For 2010

Susan Crabtree | April 20, 2011, 4:54PM

An explosion at the Deepwater Horizon oil rig

BP plans to cut its overall tax bill by nearly $13 billion by writing off costs related to last year's mammoth oil spill as the Gulf Coast continues to grapple with the devastating environmental and economic costs of the disaster one year later.

The international oil giant suffered a $40.9 billion loss as a result of the oil spill, making its net losses for 2010 a total of $4.8 billion (BP had $36.1 billion in profits before factoring in the spill), according to its annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and analysis by several tax experts consulted by TPM.

Under U.S. corporate law, companies can take credits on up to 35 percent of their losses. In this case, that means U.S. taxpayers are indirectly subsidizing at least part of cleanup cost and the $20 billion fund BP created to compensate people, fisherman and businesses along the Gulf Coast hurt by the spill.

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Spending

Dems Fight To Protect For-Profit Colleges From Disclosure Rules

Brian Beutler | February 17, 2011, 12:19PM

Dep. of Education Sec. Arne Duncan

There's a fight brewing between Democrats over whether to allow the government to crack down on for-profit colleges and universities.

The Department of Education is tired of federally subsidized student loans going to shady for-profit colleges that have poor track records of getting the students who do graduates good work -- often leaving them stuck with mountains of debt. To curb this phenomenon, the agency has been moving along with a new regulation they call the "Gainful Employment" rule.

Under "Gainful Employment" rules, for profit schools would have to show that their students can find work without getting stuck with unreasonable debt in order to qualify for federal loans.

But behind the scenes, a bipartisan bloc of House members see things differently. They say the rule would reach too far and clamp down on institutions that do a decent job of educating and preparing students. But they want to tie the Department of Education's hands completely, and block the funds they'd need to implement the rules at all.

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Health Care

Engel Declares Himself A Yes

Rachel Slajda | March 19, 2010, 10:36AM

Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY)

Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY) announced on MSNBC this morning that he will vote for the health care bill.

Engel, who voted yes in November, had been holding back his vote over Medicaid reimbursements to New York. Engel was worried that the Senate bill would reimburse states with under-performing Medicaid programs at 100 percent, while keeping New York's reimbursement level the same. New York offers Medicaid to those earning up to 200% of the poverty level.

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Medicaid

Assured Of Equal Treatment On Medicaid, Engel Says He Could Vote For Health Care

Rachel Slajda | March 18, 2010, 11:36AM

Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY)

Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY) has, in recent days, said he can't vote for health care reform unless his state is reimbursed by the federal government for expanding Medicaid benefits as are other states. Today, after hearing a summary of what's in the reconciliation package, Engel tells Brian Beutler and other reporters that he could vote for the bill.

"I want to vote for health care reform," Engel wrote in an op-ed last week in the New York Daily News. "However, my vote cannot be taken for granted if my home state is getting a bad deal."

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