Kay Bailey Hutchison Becomes First Incumbent to Announce That She Won't Run For Re-Election in 2012

Kay Bailey Hutchison has become the first incumbant to declare that she won’t be running for re-election in 2012:

""This is the time to go," she said in an interview.

Hutchison made her announcement at noon in an open letter to Texans. In the letter, Hutchison said she wanted to live "full-time in Texas with my family" and was "forever grateful for the privilege of working for you in the United States Senate."

In the interview, Hutchison said she is proud of her record but "now is the time for a new person to come in."

I have known since 2006 that I would not seek another term," she said. "I just wanted to announce it in my own way in my own time."

Hutchison said the time was right because her junior colleague, Sen. John Cornyn, R-San Antonio, has become a national figure. She said she had not reconsidered her decision after Republicans made gains in the 2010 midterm elections, leaving her in line for the chairmanship of the powerful Senate Commerce Committee in 2013.

Hutchison becomes the first incumbent senator up for election in 2012 to make a retirement announcement. Her decision will set off a wild scramble for the Senate seat the Dallas Republican first won in a 1993 special election against interim Sen. Bob Krueger, D-New Braunfels. She said she wanted to give the large field of potential successors plenty of time to run for an open seat.

She has no plans to run for public office, again, but she won't rule out running sometime in the future. She didn’t endorse anyone but reserves the right to do so before the primary. She, also, said that, unlike her promise to resign her seat in last election’s Texas gubernatorial race, she won’t change her mind this time.

She has been a great Senator from the great state of Texas for almost 20 years. She will be missed.

New 9/11 First Responders’ Bill a Great Improvement Over the Previous Version, Republicans Received Major Concessions /Update: House Passes Bill

It seems that Republicans and Democrats have come to an agreement and have passed a new 9/11 responders bill unanimously that will take care of those that are sick as a result of dust inhaled resulting from the WTC collapse. Republicans, who were never against the main premise of the bill, just were unsure of a how much and how the money should be spent, gained some major concessions, which will help ensure that the money isn’t spent foolishly and will get to those who really need it:

The agreement includes the following changes:

• Reduction in Costs. This agreement saved taxpayers $6.2 billion from the substitute amendment and $7.5 billion from the House-passed bill. In the deal, costs are reduced to $4.2 billion in the 10 year window and eliminated outside the 10-year window.

• Permanently Close the Victims Compensation Fund (VCF) after 5 years. The original bill kept the VCF open through 2031, making it extremely susceptible to waste, fraud and abuse and incurring significant long-term costs. The fund is now open only through 2016 and has language to expressly say that it is permanently closed at after 5 years.

• Limitations on Attorneys Fees. Places a hard cap for attorneys' fees at 10 percent of the total award and allows the Special Master to reduce attorneys fees he believes are excessive

• Prevents Reinstatement of Civil Claims. Prevent claimants who are rejected from the VCF from then pursuing a civil lawsuit. This is consistent with the earlier VCF policy.

• Limitation on Infrastructure Costs. Explicitly excludes construction and capital projects from health care spending in the bill.

• Commitment to ensure eligible individuals cannot "double-dip" on benefits. The Senators all agreed to get in writing from the Special Master that he will include workers compensation benefits in collateral sources of benefits that he must offset from potential compensation awards.

• More Accountability. Require claims-level data reporting to provide accountability and opportunity for oversight, as well as GAO reports to determine less expensive mechanisms to provide nationwide care, pharmaceutical access, and health information technology promotion.

Republicans were never against taking care of these heroes, especially since they are sick because of what happened, when they were in the line of duty. They just wanted to make sure that there wasn’t any money wasted, there would be oversight over the dispensing of funds, and that the people that are supposed to be getting the money are actually getting it. That was the problem with the previous version of the bill that was put forward by the Democrats. Too much money would’ve been wasted and potentially millions more could’ve been wasted through unintended consequences, like rampant fraud. All of this would have been done with very little to no oversight. This bill is much different and has closed many have these concerns.

Senator Coburn spearheaded this effort to make sure that this was done the right way and wasn’t just thrown together haphazardly just to get it pushed through. This compromise is the culmination of his efforts, and he seems pleased with the results.

The bill will now move back to the House, and I fully expect it to pass easily there and move to the White House for Obama’s signature.

Update: House passes the bill.

Breaking: DADT Repeal Passes Cloture, Heads to Passage Vote / Update: DADT Falls 55-31

Repealing of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" military policy, which banned gays from serving in the military openly, has passed cloture. This will lead to a passage vote later on today or next week:

The U.S. Senate voted Saturday morning to end debate on whether to repeal the military's policy banning gay men and lesbians from military service.

The 63-33 vote on the cloture motion sets the stage for a direct vote on ending the policy, known as "don't ask, don't tell."

Again, this isn't that big of a surprise, either. Based on the votes and overall sentiment in the country that favors repealing the policy, I believe that it will easily get the 50 votes needed.

Update: DADT has been repealed. The vote was 65-31. The bill will now go to Obama to sign.

Breaking: DREAM Fails 55-41

It wasn't much of a surprise, but the DREAM Act failed to get the 60 votes needed to pass the bill:

A measure that would have offered provisional legal status to some adults who came to America illegally as children failed to advance in a Senate vote Saturday.

Democratic backers of the legislation fell short of the 60 votes to move the DREAM Act legislation forward. Democratic Sens. Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Jon Tester of Montana, Max Baucus of Montana, Kay Hagan of North Carolina, and Ben Nelson of Nebraska voted against bringing the bill to the floor; Republican Sens. Richard Lugar, Lisa Murkowski, and Robert Bennett voted for it.

The vote was 55-41.

The DREAM (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors) Act would have allowed illegal immigrants with a high school diploma or a GED to apply for conditional U.S. status if they are under the age of 30 and arrived the U.S. before the age of 16. After a long process -- including two years of service in the military or enrollment in college -- they would then have been eligible to apply for legal immigrant status.

Alabama Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions, who led GOP opposition against the legislation, called the measure “amnesty” and argued that it "incentivizes" illegal immigration. GOP opponents also noted that it would have allowed some illegal immigrants with criminal records to gain citizenship

Nothing about this vote was too surprising. It was close, and all of the likely suspects voted the for and against the bill. So, the DREAM should be dead, at least for this session of Congress.

Senate Republicans Hold It Together, Pork-Filled Omnibus Bill Killed

The Senate Republicans were able to hold it together and force Harry Reid to back down and pull the omnibus bill full of Christmas goodies to various special interests because of a lack of support:

Sen. GOP Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has long been known as an effective whip, and Thursday night he showed his prowess as he effectively stripped Democrats of the GOP votes needed to pass the $1.2 trillion omnibus spending bill, killing the measure for good.

A visibly frustrated and angry Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, lashed out, saying that he had nine GOP senators supporting the measure, but that suddenly the support evaporated.

"This action taken by my friends on other side of aisle going to cause people to lose their job," Reid predicted.

"There's only one reason why cloture is not being filed...He doesn't have the votes.," McConnell chided, as he referred to the term for the process to shut down a filibuster. "And the reason he doesn't have the votes is because members on this side of the aisle increasingly felt concerned about the way we do business."

A McConnell aide said the leader "worked the phones" for days, pressing his members to quash the bill which contains $8 billion in earmarks (1% of the overall bill), several that belonged to the leader, himself, before he agreed to a pork moratorium.

Tempers flared in the chamber quickly, as Republicans gloated.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz, crusader against pork, tweeted all day Wednesday and Thursday with earmarks he found in the bill, from money for disease-resistant wine grapes to a ceramics museum in Biloxi, Miss. And Thursday night, with a big grin, he praised GOP members for ditching the deal.

Two cheers for the Republicans for, actually, standing up for Republican principles. This bill needed to be tossed out and started anew. Hopefully, they will be able to do another one soon. Hold the pork, though.

They needed to do this to keep or regain the confidence of the people that elected them to turn things around. The GOP has been just as bad in this area over the last decade as the Democrats, which is why they got the boot in 2008. Luckily, the TEA Party was able to wake up the Grand Old Party this past year before were exiled into oblivion forever.

They are still are on probation with the voters. So, they need to keep working on being the fiscally responsible and cutting spending, if they ever want to get regain our trust for good.

Breaking: Democrats to Add "Fix" to Tax Cut Compromise That Would Could Seriously Jeopardize Passage, Update: Pomeroy Failed

In order to ensure that the liberal Democrats will vote for the tax compromise, leaders have are attempting to pass an amendment that will likely kill the bill in the Senate:

Moments ago, House Rules Committee chair Louise Slaughter (D., N.Y.) told reporters “we are going to put an extra vote in” to the rule governing debate on the tax deal.

House Democrats say there will likely be a total of four votes tonight related to the tax bill:

1) A vote to amend the existing rule to include a simple up-or-down vote on the tax deal.

2) A vote on the rule itself

3) A vote on the Pomeroy amendment, which would increase estate tax rates from the levels in the Senate bill.

4) A vote on final passage of the bill.

If 1-4 all pass, the bill would go to the Senate, where it is likely dead in the water. If the Pomeroy amendment fails, and the Senate version of the bill is passed unchanged, it would go directly to the president’s desk.

If this passes, they would raising the estate tax in the House version of the bill, which would be an ender in the Senate.

Update: Pomeroy failed:

Opposition in the House crumpled in the face of that overwhelming showing, though House liberals insisted on offering an alternative that would levy a higher tax on estates than the Obama-GOP compromise will impose. That effort failed shortly before midnight, 194 to 233.

Senate Republicans Hold Firm on Promise Not to Support Any Bill Before Taxes, Budget Are Addressed

Harry Reid tried to put two bills up for a vote today that was defeated by almost of the the Republican's voting against the measure. They did this, by-in-large, because they had promised not to let any other bill come up for a vote, until the tax and budget issues are taken care of before the lame-duck session is closed.

The first one rejected was the one that dealt with a bill that was designed to compensate 9/11 survivors' for lingering health issues stemming from inhaling dust from the World Trade Center collapse:

Senate Republicans on Thursday derailed a bill to aid people who got sick after exposure to dust from the World Trade Center's collapse in the Sept. 11 attack.

Supporters were three votes short of the 60 needed to proceed to debate and a final vote on the bill that would have provided as much as $7.4 billion in health care and compensation to 9/11 responders and survivors. The bill failed on a test vote, 57-42.

Fifty-seven Democrats voted for the bill and 41 Republicans opposed it. Sen. Harry Reid, the Democratic leader, switched his vote to 'no' at the last moment, a parliamentary move that allows him to bring the measure up again for a vote.

Backers of the legislation see this lame-duck session of Congress as possibly its last chance. The bill has passed the House.

Republican senators have promised not to consider any other bills until the Senate acts on funding the government and extending tax cuts.

That one is a bit tricky because the Democrats have already used their no votes as a way to label Republicans as not being compassionate to those who survived the tragedies of 9/11. Republicans must speak out on this to make sure that Americans know why they voted against this bill. They can't let the Democrats frame this debate without their side of the story being expressed.

Even in the next Congress, this has a chance to be passed later on, but for now, it is not an issue that must be acted on immediately.

The second bill was on the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" military policy:

The Senate on Thursday rejected a Democratic bid to open debate on repealing the "don't ask, don't tell" policy banning openly gay and lesbian soldiers from military service, possibly killing any chance for it to get passed in the current congressional session.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, called the vote without an agreement from any Republican senators to support the motion, ensuring it would fail.

The vote was 57-40 in favor of the cloture motion that required 60 votes to pass.

While most polls show that the majority of Americans favor the repeal, this won't be as toxic for the GOP because most Americans, also, realize that this issue doesn't need immediate attention.

Harry Reid Wants a Fire-Sale: All Environmental Bills Must Pass Now

Since Republicans will be gaining much more power next month, Democrats know that they have only a limited time to pass their liberal agenda. So, Harry Reid is trying to push over 100 bills on his liberal wishlist all at once before it's too late:

Democratic efforts to push through more than 100 public lands and water bills in the lame duck session are reaching a fever pitch, with the recognition this is the last chance many of them have to become law.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has tasked Democratic leaders on at least three committees to come up with a list of bills that could get past a GOP filibuster.

They may also need to be able to secure the two-thirds support that would be needed if the House tries to expedite the package without amendments in a tight legislative calendar.

Senate Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) told reporters Thursday that she has given Reid a draft list of bills to consider. That evolving list is believed to include plans to provide protection to the Chesapeake Bay, Great Lakes, Lake Tahoe, the Gulf of Mexico and the San Francisco Bay.

“The issue is getting 60 votes, which we think we can,” Boxer said.

This is like having over 100 people try to get out of a building that's on fire through a small window. Having all of them try to get through the window all at once will just ensure that none of them will. It'd cause a major traffic jam.

The same will happen here. Lumping all of the bills is doomed to fail. While a few of the bills may have enough bipartisan support to pass individually on a normal day, all-together, there is no way.

One of the things that enraged voters this election was that Pelosi was having people vote on legislation that she said that she had no idea what was in it, and the only way that they could find out was to pass it. Even though it doesn't look like the Democrats have heard the American people, it seems that the Republicans have, and I don't see them letting that happen. Besides, Senate Republicans have already said that they're going to insta-filibuster any bill that doesn't have anything to the tax cut extensions or the federal budget.

This monster bill will be DOA on the Senate bill.

Senate Republicans Warn Reid of Nuclear Option If Tax Cuts, Budget Aren't Dealt With First

The Republicans in the Senate sent a letter the the Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid warning him that the Republicans will throw a monkey wrench in his agenda, if the extension of the Bush's tax cuts and a federal budget isn't passed before even discussing the liberals' wishlist:

Dear Leader Reid,

The nation’s unemployment level, stuck near 10 percent, is unacceptable to Americans.  Senate Republicans have been urging Congress to make private-sector job creation a priority all year.  President Obama in his first speech after the November election said “we owe” it to the American people to “focus on those issues that affect their jobs.”  He went on to say that Americans “want jobs to come back faster.”  Our constituents have repeatedly asked us to focus on creating an environment for private-sector job growth; it is time that our constituents’ priorities become the Senate’s priorities.

For that reason, we write to inform you that we will not agree to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to any legislative item until the Senate has acted to fund the government and we have prevented the tax increase that is currently awaiting all American taxpayers.  With little time left in this Congressional session, legislative scheduling should be focused on these critical priorities.  While there are other items that might ultimately be worthy of the Senate's attention, we cannot agree to prioritize any matters above the critical issues of funding the government and preventing a job-killing tax hike.

Given our struggling economy, preventing the tax increase and providing economic certainty should be our top priority.  Without Congressional action by December 31, all American taxpayers will be hit by an increase in their individual income-tax rates and investment income through the capital gains and dividend rates.  If Congress were to adopt the President’s tax proposal to prevent the tax increase for only some Americans, small businesses would be targeted with a job-killing tax increase at the worst possible time.  Specifically, more than 750,000 small businesses will see a tax increase, which will affect 50 percent of small-business income and nearly 25 percent of the entire workforce.  The death tax rate will also climb from zero percent to 55 percent, which makes it the top concern for America’s small businesses.  Republicans and Democrats agree that small businesses create most new jobs, so we ought to be able to agree that raising taxes on small businesses is the wrong remedy in this economy.  Finally, Congress still needs to act on the “tax extenders” and the alternative minimum tax “patch,” all of which expired on December 31, 2009.

We look forward to continuing to work with you in a constructive manner to keep the government operating and provide the nation’s small businesses with economic certainty that the job-killing tax hike will be prevented.

###
SENATE REPUBLICAN COMMUNICATIONS CENTER

This is going to be a bit of a risky move for the Republicans. The left has already leaped onto this claiming that the Republicans are obstructionists. However, I believe that this will ultimately be seen as a bold, but needed move by most of Americans.

The tax cuts and the budget are far more urgent than repealing DADT, START, DREAM Act, or anything else that the Democrats can up with in between now and the end of the year.

Business, especially small businesses, are waiting to hear from Washington. Until they do, they will know how much their taxes will be next month, and they will be holding off on doing any major hiring until they know exactly how much taxes will should be taken out of their hiring budget.

Businesses aren't the only ones that will have their taxes go up in January, if nothing is done. The taxes of ALL Americans will go up in less than a month. Since we're already two months into the fiscal year, the budget is already way past due, too.

Considering that for a bill to pass it must go through the House, Senate, and Congressional Reconciliation before it even gets to the White House, there is only a limited amount of items that can actually be achieved in just three weeks. They won't be able to address them all, no matter how much they say otherwise.

The only reason why they are pushing for the more liberal bills to be passed ahead of the tax or budget bills is because it'll be much harder for them to pass it in a month, when the Republicans gain the House and a few seats in the Senate. If the election results were reversed, and the Democrats would have huge gains, it would be a completely different story. The Democrats would be waiting until January for all of those non-essential bills. They are playing politics and pandering to their base at the expense of our economy and all of our livelihoods.

Oh My! DeMint: Michael Steele Is Reason Why GOP Didn't Take Senate Too

There is a growing movement to oust Michael Steele out of the RNC Chair. Yesterday, Jim DeMint (R-SC) added his voice to the chorus:

The lack of a well-organized voter mobilization effort by the Republican National Committee could have cost the GOP “a few Senate seats,” Sen. Jim DeMint suggested Sunday.

Partly as a result, the South Carolina Republican suggested he wouldn’t support a second term for controversial RNC Chairman Michael Steele, saying on "Fox News Sunday" “I’m looking for some alternatives right now.”

“I haven’t decided who would support," DeMint said, "but we need a strong national Republican organization to help organize the energy of the tea parties and the other citizen activism that we are seeing out there right now. We need to make sure that we have a lot of boots on the ground.”

The senator said, “I appreciate Michael Steele’s service.” But he added the party’s get-out-the-vote effort lagged under Steele, asserting “where we lost a few Senate seats, our ground game was not as strong as it could have been. We were actually out manned on the ground.”

I actually think that it is a bit unfair to blame Steele for not taking back the Senate. There was hardly anyone before election day that thought that the Republicans would be able to overcome the 9-seat deficit to take back the Senate. Only 1/3 of the Senate was up and about half of those we'ree Republican incumbents. They would've had to flip almost all Democratic incumbents to do it. Three of those seats that were lost were from very heavily blue states of California, Delaware, and Connecticut, and Colorado leans Democratic most of the time. The only loss that was a complete waste of a seat was Sharron Angle's loss to Harry Reid in Nevada.

Now, he has been prone to gaffes during his 1st year, but he has seemed to have toned it down, over the past few months. I don't know, if I would agree with it, but his departure seems more and more likely with every passing day.