Congress: A busy day…
Posted: Friday, November 09, 2007 8:57 AM by Domenico Montanaro
Filed Under:
Congress
It was a busy day on Capitol Hill yesterday. Mukasey won Senate confirmation as attorney general by a 53-40 vote; the House overwhelmingly approved the Peru trade deal; and Congress -- for the first time -- overrode a Bush veto.
The
Washington Post says the 53-40 Senate vote “gave Mukasey the lowest number of yes votes for any attorney general since 1952, just weeks after lawmakers of both parties had predicted his easy confirmation. Mukasey takes the place of Alberto R. Gonzales, who left under a cloud of scandal in September. He avoided defeat only because a half-dozen Democrats voted in favor of the appointment along with Republicans and Democrat-turned-independent Joseph I. Lieberman (Conn.).”
The
New York Times front-pages how yesterday’s 285-132 House passage of the Peru trade deal exposed divisions inside the Democratic Party, with 109 Democrats voting yes and 116 voting no. That vote reopened “the fissure that developed during the Clinton administration, when much of the party bucked President Bill Clinton as he pressed for the North American Free Trade Agreement and liberalizing trade with China.”
And Congress “
delivered its first override of a veto by President Bush on Thursday, giving final approval to a $23-billion bill that authorizes water projects eagerly sought by lawmakers from both parties. The Senate overwhelmingly voted to override the veto, 79 to 14, with a majority of Republicans and Democrats rejecting Bush's assertion that the bill was fiscally irresponsible. The House voted earlier this week to override the veto.”
