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Category: Congress

True Blue New Mexico »

MSNBC has reported that all three of New Mexico’s House seats went to Democrats this year. Along with the victory by Senator Elect Tom Udall, that makes the state’s entire Congressional delegation blue in the 111th Congress.
I imagine there’ll be some heads rolling in the NM GOP in the coming months. Did they win anything [...]

Congressional Twitter Feeds »

A few weeks ago, I wrote a blog entry over on Huffington Post about the need for new congressional rules that would let members of Congress use the same social tools that their constituents are using: Facebook, Youtube, blogs, etc. It was all part of the Sunlight Foundation’s campaign, Let our Congress Tweet. While we [...]

Stuff I Wrote Elsewhere »

There are primaries happening today:
It must be August: Congress is no longer in session and the congressional primary season is again heating up. According to our calendar, there are primary elections every week from now until mid-September. Candidates in three states – Kansas, Michigan and Missouri - are on the ballot tomorrow.
As part of our [...]

Netroots Nation: Future Leaders Liveblogging »

(I’m liveblogging a discussion with four congressional candidates - click the links below to find their Congresspedia profiles, part of our Wiki-the-Vote project)
3:13 Annette Taddeo says that her opponent’s opposition to SCHIP was the biggest reason for getting into the race.
3:17 Dan Seals: I want to see Democrats not blow it - we failed in [...]

Let Congress Tweet »

Sunlight has a new initiative up and running, and if you use Twitter (or other social services, like Facebook or YouTube) you should take notice. I blogged about it over at Huffington Post:
The full value of politicians using social networks and technology is still up for debate — are they just “repackaging,” or can these [...]

Senate Ethics Committee wrist slaps Domenici »

Via TPM. Here’s the Associated Press version:
Retiring Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., created an appearance of impropriety when he called a federal prosecutor in New Mexico to inquire about the timing of corruption indictments, the Senate ethics committee said Thursday.
The committee criticized Domenici in a letter to the senator, but it recommended no punishment.
[...]
“The committee finds [...]

Stuff I wrote elsewhere »

Borrowing a page from John Fleck’s book, here’s a snippet from last week’s Congresspedia review:
Negotiations between the House and Senate regarding the 2007 Farm Bill reauthorization broke down on Thursday evening. That forced lawmakers in both houses to approve a one-week extension of the 2002 version, which had already been extended one month.
The debate remains [...]

New Mexico Congressional Primaries Finalized »

The New Mexico Sec. of State has announced the final ballot for the June congressional primary elections. It doesn’t look like there are any surprises: everybody who prequalified at the party nominating conventions is aready on the ballot. However, I guess everybody else running for the three seats being vacated by Rep. Steve Pearce, Rep. [...]

Follow the (oil) money »

One of the great perks of working for the Sunlight Foundation is finding out about great new tools for increasing transparency in the political process. These tools range from OpenSecrets, which allows you to find out how money is impacting the electoral process, to Open Congress, where you can find info on the latest bills.
Sometimes, [...]

I’m in Wired »

It’s not a huge deal or anything, and I’m not a flashy part of the story, but still, kinda cool.

Surprise Domenici vote on stimulus? Not so fast… »

While reading this The Hill article on the Senate’s efforts to pass a broader economic stimulus package, I was surprised to see Sen. Pete Domenici listed as one of the Republicans voting for cloture. Then, I remembered that energy efficiency tax credits were part of the package (more here at TAPPED) . Domenici, if you [...]

Congresspedia Preview: This Week in Congress »

One of my responsibilities with Congresspedia is to write weekly preview and review posts covering what Congress is up to. My latest post is online:
The same fears of recession that are fueling quick Congressional action on an economic stimulus package are also forcing President Bush to submit a budget that trims spending on popular programs. [...]