Anthony Weiner

Anthony Weiner Kills With Bachmann, Aqua Buddha Jokes At Congressional Correspondents Dinner

Jillian Rayfield | March 31, 2011, 12:36PM

Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) got some big laughs roasting his colleagues at the Congressional Correspondents' Dinner Wednesday night, and even managed to get in an Aqua Buddha joke at the expense of Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who was also there.

Sample joke: Weiner said he wasn't sure if Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) was at the dinner, "she's probably not -- she's campaigning Iowa and organizing in that important caucus state because she's running for president. That's really all I have for that joke."

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Rand Paul

Rand Paul Zings Newt Gingrich, FOX News, for Libya Flip Flops

Benjy Sarlin | March 31, 2011, 11:27AM

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY)

Newt Gingrich has taken plenty of heat for his shifting positions on military action in Libya, but Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) offered the harshest attack yet from a member of his own party.

To be fair, Paul's comments came at the Congressional Correspondents Dinner, an event where lawmakers typically offer comedic monologues. But even by that standard, there was serious sting to his words, especially given the well-known reputation Paul and his father, Ron Paul, have cultivated as skeptics of Middle East intervention.

"I was happy to see that Newt Gingrich has staked out a position on the war, a position, or two, or maybe three," Paul told the audience, as ThinkProgress reported. "I don't know. I think he has more war positions than he's had wives."

Paul also had some tough words for FOX News.

"There's a big debate over there," he said. "Fox News can't decide, what do they love more, bombing the Middle East or bashing the president? It's like I was over there and there was an anchor going, they were pleading, can't we do both? Can't we bomb the Middle East and bash the president at the same time? How are we going to make this work?"

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2012

Rand Paul Mulling Presidential Run

Benjy Sarlin | March 22, 2011, 12:26PM

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY)

Have 2012 observers been looking at the wrong Paul? According to the Charelston Post and Courier, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) may follow in his father Rep. Ron Paul's (R-TX) footsteps with a presidential bid of his own.

"The only decision I've made is I won't run against my dad," Paul said at an appearance in key primary state South Carolina on Monday.

Paul said that he would also visit Iowa and New Hampshire, because "I want the Tea Party to have an influence over who the nominee is in 2012."

The Tea Party vote will be a hot commodity in the primaries and several candidates with major followings, including Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann, could enter the race. Ron Paul's epic fundraising numbers and intense grassroots following from his 2008 run were a major boost to his son's Senate campaign in 2010 and likely would be a factor in a 2012 bid.

Of note: Rand and Ron Paul are from different states, making a Paul/Paul '12 ticket constitutionally sound should Rand change his mind.

Government Shutdown

Conservatives To Defect On Stopgap Funding Measure -- But It's Still Likely To Pass

Brian Beutler | March 15, 2011, 9:23AM

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) and Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY)

House Republicans will face noticeable defections from the right flank of their party when they vote Tuesday to fund the government for three more weeks -- a stopgap measure meant to buy time while leaders of both parties work out a longer-term solution.

But the mini-revolt won't throw the government into turmoil. The last "continuing resolution" passed the House two weeks ago with almost 340 votes, including over 100 Democrats, and barring major, unexpected defections from both parties, should pass again handily.

"I think in the end the Speaker will work out their differences," said Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL) -- a freshman, and former House member, who Monday night told reporters he is inclined to support the spending measure. "He is very used to how the House ran under previous Republican speakers, of walking on the floor 20 votes short and picking them up on the floor."

If anything, today's situation is significantly less dire than that. "Everything is a lot less dramatic than it looks," Kirk said.

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Debt Ceiling

Republicans Escalate Debt Ceiling Fight

Brian Beutler | March 14, 2011, 9:29AM

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell

Senate Republican leaders in recent days have escalated a showdown that has been lurking in the background of the more immediate fight over funding the federal government through September. While the funding issue remains unresolved, Congress will soon have to turn its attention to the need to raise the national debt limit, or the country will default in just a few weeks.

"There are 53 Democrats and 47 Republicans. My prediction is not a single one of the 47 Republicans will vote to raise the debt ceiling unless it includes with it some credible effort to do something about our debt," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Fox News Sunday. "I think to get any of the 47 Republicans, you've got to do something credible -that the markets believe is credible, that the American people believe is credible, that foreign countries believe is credible -- in addition to raising the debt ceiling."

One of McConnell's top lieutenant's, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), was more direct about this. On Twitter, he wrote "[d]ebt ceiling vote is ultimate leverage to get fiscal reform."

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Energy

Rand Paul: I Have Less Choice In Toilets Than Women Have In Abortions (VIDEO)

Brian Beutler | March 10, 2011, 2:26PM

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY)

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) is upset that the federal government has squelched his right to own a super-toilet, leaving him with less freedom than women, who are still allowed to have abortions. It's an unusual comparison, but it's meant to underline his opposition to the executive branch's involvement in encouraging energy efficiency.

In a Senate hearing, Paul laid in to Kathleen Hogan, deputy assistant energy secretary for efficiency, for imposing restrictions and fines meant to encourage people to use environmentally friendly appliances.

"It's not that I'm against conservation -- I'm all for energy conservation," Paul admitted. "But I wish you would come here to extol me [sic], to cajole, to encourage, to try to convince me that it would be a good idea to conserve energy. But you come instead with fines, threats of jail. ... This is what your energy efficiency standards are."

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Olympia Snowe

Senate Republicans Fall Into Line On Controversial House Spending Cut Plan

Brian Beutler | March 9, 2011, 8:55AM

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) in the Capitol.

It looks like practically all Senate Republicans will vote for a controversial House spending cut plan on Wednesday, notwithstanding the political risk they'll face from endorsing deeply controversial policy riders that hack away at abortion rights, environmental protections, and other policies that typically have bipartisan support.

Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL), a moderate Senate freshman, told reporters Tuesday night that he's a yes on the plan, which is expected to fail on a test vote Wednesday afternoon in the Democratic-dominated chamber.

"I am," he told reporters after a Senate vote.

Kirk acknowledged that liberal Republicans will take a hit for voting to endorse all of the policy measures in the bill.

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Rand Paul

Rand Paul: Banking Collapse Was Caused By Too Much Regulation

Jon Terbush | March 8, 2011, 9:30AM

On the Daily Show Monday night, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) blamed the government for mucking up capitalism, saying that the banking collapse was caused not by too little government regulation of the financial sector, but by too much meddling by the Federal Reserve.

By arbitrarily setting interest rates rather than letting those rates be determined by the free market, the Fed created an unsustainable financial structure, Paul said.

"I don't say that's a failure of capitalism," Paul said. "That's a failure of a central bank getting involved and messing up capitalism."

"We need less of the government manipulating interest rates," he later added. "So it really depends on which way you're gonna go. Did capitalism fail, or did central banking fail?"

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112th Congress

Senate Passes Two-Week Funding Bill, Avoids Shutdown

Benjy Sarlin | March 2, 2011, 12:35PM

Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y.

With a looming March 4 deadline before the government runs out of funding, the Senate voted 91-9 to approve a House measure providing funding for two weeks while making $4 billion in cuts with bipartisan backing.

The move averts a shutdown, but the gulf between the two parties remains wide as Republicans are calling for $61 billion in cuts that Democratic leaders and the White House claim would costs hundreds of thousands of jobs. Democrats say they support scaling back spending, but only if the reductions don't damage the fledgling recovery or essential services.

"At some point we're going to have to come to some finality and not just kick the can down the road two weeks at a time," Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) told reporters after the vote.

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