Mike Viqueira
from NBC's Mike Viqueira
The Congressional Black Caucus has sent a letter to House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi, expressing support for Representative
Charlie Rangel, the embattled chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee and founding member of the caucus.
Madam Speaker:
As Members of the Congressional Black Caucus, we support our colleague Charlie Rangel, Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, and condemn partisan attempts to ignore the well-established, bipartisan congressional ethics process.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Mike Viqueira
As far as Alan "Die Quickly" Grayson goes, don't expect that resolution of disapproval to hit the floor.
Yesterday Rep. Tom Price, the leader of the House conservative caucus, prepared a resolution demanding that Grasyon apologize to the House. The resolution was never formally taken up by the House, and there was the possibility that Price would try and bring it up today on the floor.
He will not, and here's why, according to an e-mail from his spokesman, Brendan Buck:
"No resolution will be introduced today. Mr. Grayson's actions on the floor were an embarrassment to this Congress and warrant an apology both to his colleagues and, more importantly, to the people of his district who he insulted on the House floor. It is the job of the Speaker to ensure the House runs with proper decorum, and we would hope that she would not tolerate such behavior. As Mr. Grayson has shown no remorse for his antics, we have called on the Speaker to take the appropriate action to resolve this matter. Any future decision on a resolution will rest on the ability of the Speaker to control her members."
From NBC's Mike Viqueira
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said it's time for everyone, including Democrat Alan Grayson, to cool it.
"We have to have a debate that is not distracting" from what they are trying to accomplish in health care, she said, adding later, "The points have been made."
But she isn't calling on Grayson to apologize. Instead, she accuses Republicans of holding Grayson to a higher standard than they do their own members. Several accounts over the last 24 hours have noted similar rhetoric used by Republicans during the health-care debate.
A reporter at her weekly news conference was going through the whole Grayson litany as a prologue to a question. But when he got to "knuckle-dragging neanderthals," a quote from Grayson on MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Show late yesterday, Pelosi cut him off.
"Let's not go through all this," she said, exasperated. It came off as funny, and the room erupted in laughter.
From NBC's Mike Viqueira
Information technology authorities in the U.S. House have sent an e-mail to staffers advising that the house.gov site may be slow due to an "increased volume of vistors on member public Web sites."
The communication offers no further specifics.
From NBC’s Mike Viqueira
Congressional Budget Office chief Douglas Elmendorf's contention this morning the so-called "cost curve" will bend upward and not downward as a result of reform currently being formulated by Democrats is going to go off like a stink bomb in Congress today.
Along with covering the 50 million Americans who are uninsured, the raison d-etre of this whole thing is to do something about the runaway costs of health care, which is closing in on amounting to one-fifth of gross domestic product and is considered a drag on the economy.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi responded minutes later by asserting that the legislation will change during the course of the legislative process, now underway in earnest today on the House side as committees take up and mark up the bill.
*** UPDATE *** Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement:
The Director of the Congressional Budget Office confirmed today what we have been saying for weeks: the health care spending plan that some are trying to rush through Congress would actually make things worse. Americans want reform that makes health care more affordable and accessible, not a so-called reform that leads to rising costs and a government takeover of the whole health care system. Americans saw what happened when some in Congress rushed through the trillion-dollar stimulus bill earlier this year. They don’t want us to make the same mistakes on something as important and personal as health care. Today's CBO testimony should be a wake-up call. Instead of rushing through one expensive proposal after another, we should take the time we need to get things right--especially at a time when hundreds of thousands of Americans are losing jobs every month.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC’s Mike Viqueira
House Minority Leader John Boehner continued to attack stimulus spending and the administration's handling of the economy today.
"No wonder the American people think we're nuts," Boehner concluded.
On behalf of his constituents, he had a question for Vice President Biden, who, of course, was not present, but near Boehner's turf stumping for the stimulus in southwest Ohio today.
"Mr. Vice President, where are the jobs?" Boehner asked.
Ohio's unemployment rate is above 10%.
Video: As lawmakers and analysts debate the effectiveness of President Barack Obama’s economic recovery plan, MSNBC’s Dylan Ratigan and a panel of guests offer their impressions.
And on the dust up between leading House Democrats and CIA Director
Leon Panetta, Boehner encouraged further public debate.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Mike Viqueira
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says that the framed legislative resolution brandished at the Michael Jackson memorial by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee will not be taken up by the House.
House Resolution 600 -- "Honoring an American legend and musical icon" -- praises the life and work of Mr. Jackson and is sponsored by Ms. Jackson Lee. The measure has exactly one co-sponsor, Rep. Dianne Watson (D-LA.)
While Pelosi
says that she encourages members to use to the floor of the House to express sympathy or praise for various individuals that they deem worthy of special notice, she doesn't think it's necessary to have the Jackson resolution on the floor.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Mike Viqueira
Capitol Police have shut down the Capitol Rotunda due to a protest group, numbering about three dozen who have lied down.
They were chanting, "Clean needles save lives."
*** UPDATE *** There were 26 demonstrators arrested -- 15 males, 11 females -- in the Capitol Rotunda and charged with Unlawful Assembly, Disorderly Conduct Loud and Boisterous.
More context... There were about 30 AIDS activists who lied down in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda, chanting, "Clean needles save lives."
The Rotunda, normally full of tourists at this time of day, in this time of year, was cleared by the Capitol Police, who then began to handcuff the protesters and lead them away.
A flyer handed out by an individual, who was with the protesters but standing amongst the press, indicated that the group "decried the Obama administration's failure to make good on a range of AIDS campaign promises," including a pledge to lift a federal ban on funding syringe exchanges. They demand that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid rectify what they see as an oversight in Congress.
From NBC's Mike Viqueira
House Minority Leader John Boehner is golfing out at Congressional Country Club today with Tiger Woods. The occassion is the pro-am before the annual tournament sponsored by Woods, known as the AT&T National.
For at least one hole, anyway, all those hours that the 7.5 handicap Boehner logs on the golf course paid off. Boehner sank a 35-foot putt for birdie on the 8th hole. The near-immortal Woods made a mere par.
Many have speculated that the leader's deep tan is a product of his many hours on the course. He often plays Burning Tree Country Club, about a mile down the road from Congressional in Bethesda, Md.
The foursome today included Tony Romo, quarterback of the locally reviled Dallas Cowboys.
From NBC's Mike Viqueira
Confirming here that Henry Waxman was admitted yesterday to Cedars-Sinai. His committee spokeswoman in Washington says he "felt unwell" and was "admitted for routine testing."
Waxman remains as a patient at the hospital, but "is feeling much better now," says spokeswoman Karen Lightfoot.
When last seen in Washington, Waxman managed the energy bill through the House for that close vote late last Friday. As chairman of the powerful Energy and Commerce committee, he has jurisdiction over both the energy bill and the health care bill.
Waxman ousted fellow Democrat John Dingell, the longest serving member of the House in American history, as chair of the committee last January.
