From The Dish: The Disagreement Gap

The Dish flags a story that attempts to measure which pieces of major legislation over the past 100 years have been most controversial. The author looks at the difference between the Republican and Democratic vote in both the House and Senate and calls this the disagreement gap.

Here's is how it looks graphically - you can see the stimulus bill and the Affordable Care Act have been the most divisive in the past century.



And a chart with greater detail.

The Most Polarized Congress Yet

From the National Journal, regarding last year's Congress.

House Judiciary Committee Hearings on Wikileaks

C-Span video here. Is legislation adjusting the Espionage Act necessary to deal with the ease at which secrets can be made public?

- ReadWriteWeb.

Tax Bill and DADT Blocked

An example of how legislation can be stopped -- even though majorities support them -- by blocking bill form reaching the floor.

- The Senate and DADT.
- The Senate and Aid for 9/11 Workers.
- The House and the Tax Bill.

The Tax Cut Deal

CNN breaks down what was cut:

The Tax Deal as Stimulus

From the NYT:

A year ago, President Obama and the Democrats made the mistake of assuming that an economic recovery was under way. This week’s deal to extend the Bush tax cuts shows that the White House’s top priority is avoiding the same mistake again — even if it has to upset many fellow Democrats in the process. |

Mr. Obama effectively traded tax cuts for the affluent, which Republicans were demanding, for a second stimulus bill that seemed improbable a few weeks ago. Mr. Obama yielded to Republicans on extending the high-end Bush tax cuts and on cutting the estate tax below its scheduled level. In exchange, Republicans agreed to extend unemployment benefits, cut payroll taxes and business taxes, and extend a grab bag of tax credits for college tuition and other items.

111th Congress' Civil Rights Scorecard

For this week's discussion on civil rights, the Leadership Conference on Civil Right's scorecard for the 111th Congress.

Did the White House Blow it on the Climate Change Bill?

TNR says yes.

U.S. House Frustrated by U.S. Senate

The House is waiting for Senate action on more than 420 bills it has passed this session.

NYT Updated Votes - 9/29/10

For my 2302s as we wrap our discussion of the legislative branch: NYT's Inside Congress page with its review of recent votes in thr House and Senate.
For information about activity in our out of session state legislature, go here for the House and here for the Senate.

Major Votes of the 111th Congress

For a future discussion in 2302 about Congress: NYT has a list of the major legislation passed by the 111th Congress.

Travelling the Ozarks

I've been driving through the Ozarks the past few day (I'm sitting in a motel in Hot Springs Ark at the moment) so I've no had time to keep up on posts. I'll fill in blanks when I come back home.

- Here's a start: Finance Reform Legislation is signed into law.

Finance Regulation Bill Passes

NYT story here.

Initial analysis here.

Click here for bill summary of the Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010.

Finance Reform

Financial regulatory reform passes the Senate.

Andrew Sullivan has links that break the bill down.

Graphics from the NYT.

Health Care Reform's Costs Adjusted

upward.

The American Power Act

That's the name given to the climate change bill introduced into the Senate by Liberman and Kerry. Ezra Klein argues that recent events give it less chance of passing this Congress.

- Info on the bill from Open Congress.
- and from Thomas.

Framing Financial Reform

From Politico, a story about a debate regarding where the idea emerged that opposition to financial aid reform is best done by framing it as being a "permanent bailout."

Congressional Hispanic Caucus Pressures Obama to Move on Immigration Reform

Story in the National Journal.

Democrats believe that even if the bill does not pass this session, the issue will help split the Republican Party. Republican business interests tend to like the cheap labor, but grassroots activists see newly arrived immigrants as a threat to themselves and to national sovereignty in general.

Democrats also almost certainly hope for violent opposition by Republican grassroots -- perhaps the Tea Partiers? - that they can use to solidify Latino support for Democrats and mobilize the community to vote in November. The goal of the Republican leadership will be to contain the grassroots, but this has proven difficult to do.

Reconciliation Bill Passes, So Does Student Loan Bill

The NYT covers the HCR vote, as well as the vote on the Student Loan bill. This was the bill removed from the reconciliated health care bill. The bill effectively removes banks as middle men in the guaranteed federal student loan process.

Again there was unanimous Republican opposition to both bills.

Responsible Party Model

For my 2301's, as we begin to discuss political parties:

Political science types tend to argue that parties must provide clear alternatives to the voters in order to provide them a choice. This allows the population to collectively influence the direction of public policy, enhancing the democratic nature of the republic. If this is true, then the division of the parties on health care provides such an opportunity -- assuming nothing else comes up between now and November to overshadow health care.

William Saletan says as much in Slate. He wonders whether there might be risks for Republicans in opposing the bill after Democrats are able to shift to campaign mode presenting the bill in a positive light:

This is the risk Republicans have taken by voting unanimously against health care reform. They've bet their whole party against it. If the public hates the program, they'll be rewarded at the polls. But if the public likes it, they're in trouble. And if the public fears it might be taken it away, they could suffer a beating, as they did in 1996 when voters feared cuts in Medicare.