Topic: Senate

The GOP Walkout on Obama's EPA Pick Shows Senate Is as Polluted as Earth

AP

Republican members of a key committee announced that they were not going to attend a hearing meant to advance Gina McCarthy to head the EPA. Which problem is trickier to solve: Senate chicanery or environmental pollution?

By Adam Clark Estes

Dec 26, 2012

Hawaii's Governor Disobeys Inouye's Final Wish and Appoints His Lieutenant to the Senate

The late Daniel Inouye didn't ask for much in his last days, only that Congresswoman Colleen Hanabusa would fill his seat in the Senate until the 2014 election.

Comments | 3,479 Views

Who Will Be Senator Daniel Inouye's Replacement?

The governor will announce the replacement as soon as Wednesday, which would give Democrats in the Senate a vote on any fiscal-cliff deal.

Comments

By Adam Clark Estes

Dec 23, 2012

Mormon Senator Arrested for Drunk Driving, Bad Jokes Follow

This holiday season is not awesome for Idaho Senator Mike Crapo, a Republican member of the "Gang of Eight" and a Mormon bishop, after police caught him driving drunk in Virginia.

Comments | 19,553 Views

Senate Passes Defense Authorization Bill on to Obama

Many defense-watchers believe President Obama will sign the final version of the fiscal 2013 defense bill, despite the White House's earlier veto threat of the legislation over some of the more controversial provisions

Comments | 944 Views

By Connor Simpson

Dec 20, 2012

Barney Frank May (or May Not) Delay His Retirement

Frank wouldn't confirm or deny whether he would accept a short-term appointment to replace Sen. John Kerry, should Kerry be appointed Secretary of State, and before other candidates line up for a special election next spring. 

Comments | 983 Views

By Connor Simpson

Dec 18, 2012

Cory Booker Has Been Tied to Cory Booker for Senate Domains for Years

The Newark mayor might have to buy a website for that not-so-secret Senate run he hasn't announced yet from one of his top advisors. Or maybe they could work out a deal, because the advisor has owned the domain name since 2010.

Comments | 544 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Dec 17, 2012

Hawaii Senator Daniel Inouye Has Died

The senior ranking member of the Senate passed away at the age of 88.

Comments | 1,966 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Dec 17, 2012

Nikki Haley Names Tim Scott to Replace DeMint

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley will announce whom she's picked to replace Sen. Jim DeMint in a press conference Monday at noon, and The New York Times now reports that person will be Rep. Tim Scott.

Comments | 1,357 Views

By Connor Simpson

Dec 12, 2012

Look Out, Wall Street: Elizabeth Warren Is Coming for You

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren was officially named to the Senate Banking Committee, and now anyone who is a Warren fan — or just a fan of Gordon Gekko looking more like the Geicho gecko — is officially excited to see what she does next. 

Comments | 1,384 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Dec 11, 2012

Rape Gaffe Candidate Richard Mourdock Blames His Loss on 'Liberal Media'

His campaign may be correct that it's the media's fault that he didn't win his Senate race in Indiana, as it claimed in a fundraising email. If the media hadn't reported that he actually said rape pregnancies are a "gift from God," he might have won.

Comments | 5,393 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Dec 10, 2012

McCain Joins Senate Foreign Relations Committee to Better Pester Susan Rice

John McCain is going to join a Senate committee just in time to vet Susan Rice, or whomever President Obama nominates for Secretary of State.

Comments | 926 Views

McConnell's Floor Flip-Flop Could Cost GOP

In a week of posturing and positioning on Capitol Hill, people on both sides of the aisle acknowledged that McConnell's failed maneuver cost the GOP some precious negotiating ground. The question was how much.

Comments | 3,492 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Dec 6, 2012

Is Jim DeMint's Heritage Foundation Job Kind of a Flip-Flop on Obamacare?

The South Carolina leader is quitting the Senate to run the conservative think tank that invented Obamacare. And if you take a look into his past, well, this guy really hates Obamacare.

Comments | 2,117 Views

By Dashiell Bennett

Dec 6, 2012

Jim DeMint Is Leaving the Senate Four Years Early

One of the most conservative of conservatives leaders in the U.S. Congress and a founder of Washington's Tea Party movement will resign from the Senate to take over the Heritage Foundation.

Comments | 3,811 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Dec 6, 2012

John Kerry's McCain Joke Just Got the Jon Stewart Seal of Approval

As Stewart points out, the only good thing to come of the UN disability vote was the moment when we got to see Senate rivals John McCain and John Kerry troll each other and maybe go a little too far with the jokes.

Comments | 7,744 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Dec 5, 2012

Cliff Diving

Obama Just Gave Boehner a Taste of His Own Fiscal Medicine on McConnell Idea

The president's latest attempt to portray congressional Republicans as unreasonable now boils down to something like this: What? What did I say? It was y'all's idea all along.

Comments | 10,195 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Dec 4, 2012

The UN Will Not Be Messing with Rick Santorum Anymore

He got what he wanted: the Senate did not ratify a United Nations treaty to protect disabled people worldwide from discrimination Tuesday.

Comments | 2,759 Views

By Dashiell Bennett

Dec 4, 2012

Elizabeth Warren Finally Gets Her Shot to Fight Wall Street, Head-on

After making her name defending the little guy from the greedy clutches of Wall Street's worst villains, Elizabeth Warren will finally have the chance to grill the country's top bankers on the Senate Banking Committee.

Comments | 1,260 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Nov 20, 2012

No, the Senate Will Not Be Voting to Spy on Your Email

The senate proposal set for next week that "now authorizes warrantless access to Americans' e-mail," as CNET and later Drudge exclaimed, doesn't actually do that, according to the Senator actually writing the bill.

Comments | 1,058 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Nov 20, 2012

Rand Paul Doesn't Want You to Go to Jail for Smoking Pot

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul says "I'm not going to deny that I'm interested" in running for president in 2016, and his platform would appeal to not red states or blue states, but green states.

Comments | 6,144 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Nov 16, 2012

Harry Reid Has Ways of Making You Talk

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is flirting with filibuster reform again, floating the idea of making senators suffer for their filibuster by forcing them to actually stand up and talk nonstop for hours, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington-style

Comments | 1,730 Views

By David Wagner

Nov 9, 2012

Today's Best

Five Best Friday Columns

Noreen Malone on Megyn Kelly, Seth Mandel on Republican governors, Margaret Carlson on female senators, Jay Ulfelder on forecasting world politics, Damien Ma on China's last ten years.

Comments | 5,251 Views

By David Wagner

Nov 8, 2012

Today's Best

Five Best Thursday Columns

Amy Davidson on Sasha and Malia, Gail Collins on the fiscal cliff, Maghan Daum on single women voters, Ezra Klein on the filibuster, and Ana Marie Cox on gay equality. 

Comments | 4,061 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Nov 7, 2012

Heidi Heitkamp's Win Gives Democrats 55-45 Control in the Senate

The AP is reporting that Republican Rick Berg has conceded his Senate race to Democrat Heidi Heitkamp in North Dakota—a huge disappointment for conservatives looking to take back the red state and another brutal reminder that they struck out in the Senate. 

Comments | 13,890 Views

By Esther Zuckerman

Nov 7, 2012

Stat of the Day

One in Five U.S. Senators Will Be Women Next Term

Obama may have won the female vote in last night's election, but there will also now be a record number of women serving in the Senate next January when one in five members of the upper chamber will be female.

Comments | 4,046 Views

By Dashiell Bennett

Nov 7, 2012

Not Winning the Senate Stings Republicans Most of All

Among the themes of second-guessing and deep regret that are emerging of rubble of last night's defeats is the thought that the Senate could be under the control of Republicans right now if weren't for their habit of running supremely unlikable candidates. 

Comments | 17,535 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Nov 6, 2012

Obama Wins: Election Recap in GIFs

Obama wins Ohio, and with it, the presidency.

Comments | 118,837 Views

By Dashiell Bennett

Nov 6, 2012

Linda McMahon Turns 'Heel' and Sides with Barack Obama

Running as a down-ballot Republican in a deep blue state has its challenges, but Senate candidate Linda McMahon might have found a last-minute solution: Pretend you're not a Republican! 

Comments | 6,885 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Oct 25, 2012

A Brief History of the Campaign's Outlandish Rape Headlines

To judge by just the headlines from the last few months, you'd think our election was not taking place in enlightened America, where women have been able to vote almost 100 years, but in some distant country that's still struggling with the idea that you should punish rapists, not rape victims.

Comments | 4,101 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Oct 24, 2012

Mourdock Is Sorry You Misunderstood His Rape Pregnancy Comments

Indiana Senate candidate Richard Mourdock says he's sorry if people misunderstood what he meant when he said a rape pregnancy is a "gift from God."

Comments | 2,667 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Oct 24, 2012

Police Carried Todd Akin Away from Abortion Protests in 1980s

Rep. Todd Akin's anti-abortion convictions are not something he adopted recently -- in 1985, he was arrested at least three times at abortion protests, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's Kevin McDermott reports.

Comments | 1,486 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Oct 24, 2012

Scott Brown Says He Doesn't Care if GOP Controls the Senate

Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown says he doesn't actually care whether Republicans win control of the Senate this year, telling ABC News' Jonathan Karl, "For me it doesn't really matter who's in charge."

Comments | 1,551 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Oct 19, 2012

Arizona Senate Candidate Calls Candy Crowley Ugly for No Reason

The debate between Carmona and Rep. Jeff Flake got heated, and moderator Brahm Resnik said, "Now I know how Candy Crowley feels, geez," BuzzFeed's John Stanton reports. Carmona replied, "You’re prettier than her." Resnik raised his eyebrows, laughed and said, "Not sure how to take that." There's really no excuse.

Comments | 10,917 Views

By Dashiell Bennett

Oct 2, 2012

Are Democrats Planning a Fiscal Cliff 'Betrayal'?

The New York Times reports that a group of Senators are quietly angling for a deal to avert mandatory government spending cuts in January, but liberal economic cheerleader Paul Krugman already sees the negotiation as an inevitable Democratic surrender. 

Comments | 5,556 Views

By Adam Clark Estes

Oct 1, 2012

Scott Brown Got a Little Testy in His Debate with Elizabeth Warren

Sen. Scott Brown had a hard time hiding his contempt for challenger Elizabeth Warren at their second debate in Lowell, Massachusetts on Monday evening.

Comments | 5,518 Views

By Connor Simpson

Sep 29, 2012

Republicans Are Now Buying Todd Akin Lunch

The rehabilitation of Todd Akin has been steadily moving along this week. One of the leaders of the renewed interest in Akin, Sen. Jim DeMint, is one of four prominent Republicans hosting a lunch for the Missouri Senate candidate in Washington this week. 

Comments | 4,138 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Sep 28, 2012

Akin's GOP Rehabilitation Proceeding Quickly

Todd Akin will get the endorsement of Kit Bond, former Missouri governor and senator, on Friday, CBS News' Scott Conroy reports, even though in August Bond signed a letter with all the other living Republican former senators of Missouri calling on Akin to quit the race after his "legitimate rape" comments.

Comments | 345 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Sep 27, 2012

Akin Nostalgic for a More 'Ladylike' McCaskill

Todd Akin says opponent Sen. Claire McCaskill was "very aggressive" at their debate last week, a change from 2006, when she was more "ladylike."

Comments | 2,023 Views

By Esther Zuckerman

Sep 26, 2012

Poll Watch

Romney's Weak on His Biggest Strength: The Economy

Today in Poll Watch: Voters are seeing President Obama as the way to go for the benefit of the economy, Mitt Romney is seen unfavorably by half of Americans, Democrats lead Senate races in Florida and Ohio, and the Arizona Senate race might be tighter than expected.

Comments | 3,849 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Sep 26, 2012

The Republican Rehabilitation of Todd Akin Has Begun

Until the absolute last deadline passed for Todd Akin to drop out of the Senate race in Missouri, his opponent, Sen. Claire McCaskill, had to pretend she wasn't all that interested in campaigning against him, and Republicans had to pretend they had zero interest in winning control of the Senate by any means possible.

Comments | 5,345 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Sep 25, 2012

Brown Staffers Dispute Warren's Native American Heritage with Tomahawk Chops

Sen. Scott Brown's staff find it so insensitive that his challenger, Elizabeth Warren, may have mislead people about having Native American heritage that they showed up at one of her campaign rallies to express their outrage with war whoops and tomahawk chops.

Comments | 7,422 Views

By Dashiell Bennett

Sep 18, 2012

Latest Projections Have Democrats Keeping the Senate

As we get closer to November 6 and polls start to look more and more like predictions, new numbers from the ongoing Senate races show the Democrats clinging to their slim majority this fall. 

Comments | 6,919 Views

By Connor Simpson

Sep 6, 2012

The Bankers Are Coming for the Senate

The banks are starting to rally their support for the Senate. The American Bankers Association are going to start funding super-PACs anonymously in an effort to help the Republicans take back the Senate and they can rid of the pesky financial regulations holding them back. 

Comments | 2,416 Views

By Connor Simpson

Aug 25, 2012

Congress Can't Even Fix a Hole in the Roof

Everyone talks about how Congress can't accomplish anything anymore. It's become a punchline, for goodness' sake. You might like the one about Congress not fixing over 1,000 holes in the roof of the Capitol building. Wait, that's not a joke at all. That's real life.

Comments | 1,292 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Aug 23, 2012

Huckabee Says He and a 'Quiet Army' Back Akin

Mike Huckabee declared his support for Todd Akin staying in the race against Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill in an email Thursday, Politico's Alexander Burns reports.

Comments | 5,521 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Aug 23, 2012

Todd Akin's Perfectly Rational Strategy

Todd Akin must be nuts to still be in the Missouri Senate race after all those Republicans said mean things about him, right? He must be doing this out of spite, or the belief that God wants him to be senator? Actually, no. Though Akin appears to be easily fooled by fake science, he is acting perfectly rationally. What would he gain by dropping out?

Comments | 2,414 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Aug 22, 2012

Remember When the Tea Party Killed the Culture War?

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell spoke at his very first Tea Party rally Tuesday, the same day the Republican Party added a plank to its official platform calling for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to ban all abortions, no exceptions, as well as a plank backing abstinence-only education.

Comments | 2,930 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Aug 21, 2012

Akin's Staying in the Race

Rep. Todd Akin says he's staying in the race for Senate against Missouri Democrat Claire McCaskill despite the controversy over his rape comments.

Comments | 907 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Aug 21, 2012

The Candidates Who Could Cost the GOP the Senate

Todd Akin isn't the only candidate who could cost the Republicans the Senate.

Comments | 5,828 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Aug 20, 2012

Todd Akin Acknowledges That No Rape Is Legitimate

Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin had to explain that he thinks "No rape is legitimate—it is an evil act committed by violent predators," in an interview on Mike Huckabee's radio show Monday.

Comments | 1,633 Views

  • The Atlantic Wire on Twitter
  • The Atlantic Wire RSS Feed
  • The Atlantic Wire iPhone App