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Nancy Pelosi to guest star on “30 Rock” season finale

Fri, 04 Jan 2013 13:13:00 +0000

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has revealed that she will make an appearance on the hour-long season finale of Tina Fey's NBC comedy "30 Rock." Pelosi joins the ranks of Al Gore, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg, all of whom have guest starred on the show. (And, if their cameos are any indication, Pelosi would play herself.)

But the politician didn't reveal any other details to the Washington Post, who had the exclusive news. “I would do almost anything Tina Fey asks me to do," she said, adding, "I’m flattered that they asked me to make a cameo in the series finale. I had a lot of fun."

The final episode will air on Thursday, Jan. 31 at 8 p.m., wrapping up seven seasons of the Emmy Award-winning show.

Boehner holds on to speaker post

Thu, 03 Jan 2013 18:44:00 +0000

John Boehner squeaked by in a vote for speakership this afternoon, getting 220 votes of 426 cast, just a handful of votes over the number needed to hang on to his seat.

There were, however, a total of 14 defections from both Boehner, and Nancy Pelosi, who got 192 votes.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, Va., got three votes. Reps. Louie Gohmert, Texas, and Paul Broun, Ga., both cast votes for ousted Rep. Allen West, Fla.

Tim Huelskamp, Kan., one of the four conservatives Boehner ousted from his committee spot, cast a vote for Jim Jordan, Ohio. Dave Schweikert, Ariz., another one of those conservatives, did support Boehner.

Both Michael Grimm and Peter King of New York, who had been at odds with Boehner over Hurricane Sandy relief funding, both voted for the speaker to keep his seat.

Biggest fiscal cliff lessons

Wed, 02 Jan 2013 20:16:00 +0000

Despite boasting on both sides that Congress finally made a deal on the so-called fiscal cliff, people looking for details about the deal's ultimate outcome are going to have to wait until March. (A lot of important people had vacations ruined, so they have a stake in pretending something big got accomplished.)

There's no way to know how bad or good a deal Democrats cut until the conflict they postponed is resolved, and we know what it takes to lift the debt ceiling, keep the government running and deal with the "sequester" – the combination of automatic spending cuts to defense and to social programs baked into the original debt ceiling deal back in August 2011.

As someone who believed, and still believes, that it was best for the country if Democrats stood up to Republican hostage takers and went over the cliff, I have to admit President Obama and his chief negotiator Vice President Joe Biden got some good things with this deal. Unemployment benefits were extended for 2 million Americans and so were tax credits that help the working and middle class. The deal also kept student-loan interest rates low. Lots of Democrats are also celebrating the fact that Republicans voted for their first tax-rate increase in 20 years. But since the White House got far less in revenue than it originally asked for, we'll see how great a concession that turned out to be, since the deal kept tax rates low for millions of wealthy Americans, and ceded crucial hikes on estates and investment income for the super-rich.

If cut, fiscal deal will pale against expectations

Sun, 30 Dec 2012 14:44:00 +0000

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Whether negotiated in a rush before the new year or left for early January, the fiscal deal President Barack Obama and Congress cobble together will be far smaller than what they initially envisioned as an alternative to purposefully distasteful tax increases and spending cuts.

Instead, their deal, if a deal they indeed cut, will put off some big decisions about tax and entitlement changes and leave other deadlines in place that will likely lead to similar moments of brinkmanship, some in just a matter of weeks.

Republican and Democratic negotiators in the Senate were hoping for a deal as early as Sunday on what threshold to set for increased tax rates, whether to keep current inheritance tax rates and exemptions and how to pay for jobless benefits and avoid cuts in Medicare payments to doctors.

An agreement would halt automatic across-the-board tax increases for virtually every American and perhaps temporarily put off some steep spending cuts in defense and domestic programs.

Gone, however, is the talk of a grand deal that would tackle broad spending and revenue demands and set the nation on a course to lower deficits. Obama and Republican House Speaker John Boehner were once a couple hundred billion dollars apart of a deal that would have reduced the deficit by more than $2 trillion over ten years.

Congressional leaders quietly leave White House

Fri, 28 Dec 2012 21:45:00 +0000

After meeting for little more than an hour, Congressional leaders left the White House, mostly offering no comment to the press. John Boehner and Mitch McConnell were seen leaving but offered no comment, while according to reports, Nancy Pelosi gave a brief statement, noting "I think it moved us forward."

While Pelosi described the meeting as "candid and constructive," little sense was given about concrete progress on the unlikely task of reaching a palatable deal.

According to Bloomberg News, President Obama "is seeking an up-or-down vote on his proposal to extend tax cuts for annual income up to $250,000, absent a counteroffer from congressional leaders" -- which basically means that if no counteroffer is put forward that is mutually agreeable, the president will seek a vote on his proposal that everyone must take part in and that cannot be procedurally evaded -- which doesn't sound wildly desperate at all.

Newtown residents fought against gun control

Mon, 17 Dec 2012 17:19:00 +0000

Newtown, Conn.'s gun-owning residents had forcefully resisted attempts by local law enforcement in recent years to put tighter gun controls in place, the New York Times reports. The Times noted how the the legislative battle in the quiet New England town "shows how even the slightest attempts to impose restrictions on guns can run into withering resistance, made all the more pointed by the escalation in firepower."

Newtown police logged more than 50 gunfire complaints this year through July, double the number for all of 2011, the Times reported, noting that in recent years that the typical presence of gunfire from hunting had been augmented with the noise of automatic weapons and explosives near residential areas. "Near a trailer park. By a boat launch. Next to well-appointed houses. At 2:20 p.m. on one Wednesday last spring, multiple shots were reported in a wooded area on Cold Spring Road near South Main Street, right across the road from an elementary school," reported the Times.

Sunday show round up

Sun, 18 Nov 2012 18:05:00 +0000

As Congress investigates what the Obama administration knew, and when, about the Benghazi consulate attacks, the topic once again took up considerable Sunday show focus.

Benghazi:

Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), the top Republican in the Senate Intelligence Committee, told "Fox News Sunday" that he expects Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, will testify before the Senate about the Benghazi attacks. "At some point [Rice] needs to come in and say what the president or the White House directed her to say," Chambliss said.

On NBC's "Meet the Press," host David Gregory also pushed chair of the Senate's Select Committee on Intelligence, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and chair of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI), on whether the White House and Rice had misled the public in saying early on that the attacks were spontaneous protests, while intelligence pointed to a terrorist plot.

Pelosi: Fiscal cliff deal must include tax hikes for rich

Sun, 18 Nov 2012 16:30:00 +0000

Nancy Pelosi, who this week announced she would stay on as Democratic House leader, told ABC's "This Week" that a fiscal cliff deal will have to include tax hikes for the rich.

“Just to close loopholes is far too little money,” Pelosi said in the interview. “If it’s going to bring in revenue, the president has been very clear that the higher income people have to pay their fair share.”

Liberals need Nancy

Wed, 14 Nov 2012 22:20:00 +0000

This morning, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi announced she’s staying on in her current role as minority leader after months of speculation that she would step down if Democrats didn’t win a majority in last week’s election. Indeed, her decision to run for the leadership spot in 2010 after Democrats lost the House was a highly unusual one, and predicated on the possibility of reclaiming the gavel in 2012. That obviously didn’t happen, and Pelosi may never be speaker again, but it’s probably a very good thing for progressives that she decided to stay on at a time when Democrats may face deep divisions over what do about the so-called fiscal cliff. (Technically, Pelosi has to win an election for the spot, but she's expected to win overwhelmingly.)

Pelosi to stay on as House Dems’ leader

Wed, 14 Nov 2012 15:08:00 +0000

WASHINGTON — A congressional official said House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi told her party caucus Wednesday that she will remain as minority leader in the new session of Congress.

This official said the 72-year-old Pelosi made the decision to remain at the helm of the party’s House leadership even though Democrats failed to win the necessary 25 additional seats to become the majority party again.

The official, who is close to Pelosi, revealed her decision on condition of anonymity because she hadn’t yet publicly announced it.

Pelosi’s quarter-century of service in Congress representing a San Francisco area district in the House includes becoming the first woman in history to serve as speaker. The tea party-fueled political wave of 2010 forced the gavel from her hand to Rep. John Boehner, an Ohio Republican.

Key quotes from DNC Night 2

Thu, 06 Sep 2012 01:30:00 +0000

Here are some of the best quotes from Wednesday's speeches at the DNC:

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.:

"This year, we are determined to re-elect an extraordinary president who, in no ordinary time, led America back from the brink of depression—while Republicans tried to block him at every turn. This election offers the clearest choice of our time. Many names are on the ballot. So, too, is the character of our country."

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack:

"Last week, we heard folks at the other convention say they want to "take our country back." But here's what I noticed: they didn't say back to what. Well, we know what backwards looks like. We know what happened to middle-class families after two tax cuts for people who didn't need them; after deregulation of the banking and housing sectors; after the historic recession that followed."

"Rural Americans want leaders who help middle-class communities to plan and prosper over the long-term—not opportunists who reap the rewards for themselves, leaving nothing for the people who do the sowing. They deserve leaders who appreciate their contributions, who believe in their potential, and who care enough to invest in their communities."

Quote of the day

Mon, 06 Aug 2012 21:26:00 +0000

It is apparently futile to expect gun-related violence to spur a change either in Obama's position or in Congress'. Today, nearly 24 hours after Wade Page shot and killed six people in a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wis., Jay Carney, the Obama administration's press secretary, reiterated in the daily press briefing that the president's stance toward gun control hadn't changed. Citing "common-sense measures that protect the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens," Carney said that the president wasn't going to push for further reforms. "[W]e cannot lose sight of the fact that there is violence all the time in America and that we need to take concerted action to deal with it," he also said.

Did Romney want to get booed?

Thu, 12 Jul 2012 14:56:00 +0000

The big news out of Mitt Romney’s speech yesterday at the NAACP was that the audience booed his pledge to repeal “Obamacare." The jeers have been cast as a rude slight against a candidate making a good-faith effort to step outside his comfort zone and appeal to a skeptical audience, but what if Romney went to Houston intending to spark boos all along?

That’s what some top Democrats are alleging. “I think it was a calculated move on his part to get booed at the NAACP convention,” House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi told Bloomberg TV yesterday in an interview.

Romney himself hinted at this in an interview with Fox News after the event, saying he anticipated all along that he’d get booed. "I think we expected that, of course,” he told host Neil Cavuto. Democratic strategist Kombiz Lavasany suggested "Romney's press staff was bragging about getting booed," noting that his traveling press secretary had retweeted multiple news stories about the incident.