FYI the house is in session C-SPAN

[Reciprocity]

For those of us who are C-SPAN junkies.

[ncrainbowgrrl]

1. in session on a sunday!?

Oh god- I'm scared!
:scared:

[aquart]

2. Could it be a rerun?

[ncrainbowgrrl]

3. nope- says "live" (n/t)

[sallyseven]

5. The Republicans are so disorganized that they

can't get their job done on time. They also need more time to twist
arms to get their bad legislation through. Stevens put the Anwar drilling on the money for the war. What a slime. Got to watch them because they are trying to sneak all kinds of stuff because they can't do it openly. The house is run by stinking lousy criminals. Hastert is the worse along with delay.

[Richard D]

4. It's a wrap up session

for the 109th congress. They go on vacation for the holidays.

[OrwellwasRight]

18. Yeah, they are trying not to come back on Monday.

But the later it gets the more fucked up shit they put on the floor. Remember how the Medicare bill passed, with twisting arms and a three hour vote?

[ticapnews]

6. Am watching football, but I think the two issues up for discussion

in the House (and probably later in the Senate) are the drilling in ANWR and the campaign finance "reform" which will essentially destroy the 527. As nice as it would be to get rid of the Slime Boat Liars, it would also eradicate moveon.org and all of our 527s, which were a key fundraising/awareness tool in the previous election and will be in 2006.

The key issue isn't even the matters up for debate. The issues are that
A) Some GOP members are attaching items to legislation that has already been passed and agreed to. This is what Lindsey Graham said yesterday "would get you disbarred" if you tried it in private practice.
B) They are attaching legislation to the defense appropriations bill which, regardless of how you feel about the war, has to be passed. These are medical supplies, food, etc that our soldiers need, and in more places than just Iraq. It is unprecedented that anyone would attach legislation to this appropriation, and it is particularly destructive because of the controversial nature of the bills. I expect that in the end Stevens and his colleagues in the House will be shot down because of the overwhelming objections raised in the Senate - even among those who support the legislation.

If the Senate allows this, they are essentially ceding authority to the House and White House. The vast majority of Senators simply will not allow it.

Back to football for now... :)

[mahina]

7. Bumped into my congrescritter's wife this morning,

and she told me that this is the latest they've ever run. in the history of the country.
Did I mention that I am sooo proud of my Representative, he is a true blue Democrat.
**go Neil Abercrombie**

I may not agree with everything but I love you for your core Democratic principles and your courage. Imua!

[annabanana]

8. did they just eliminate the 60% rule for

everything that happens today??

[joanski0]

9. After the football game, in tuned in to see

how the House was progressing. There was a pre-recorded press conference going on with Jack Spratt, Ike Skelton, Gene Taylor, Marty Meehan. They were talking about how the Defense Authorization bill has not come to the House floor yet. They talked about the Repuke Leadership, who were not even conferees, adding the Anwar provision. Then then talked about the Sec. 527 campaign finance law provision that the Leadership wants to add. I hadn't known about this. Apparently they are calling this Campaign Finance Reform, but what Marty said it was was that they were stripping out the McCain/Feingold provisions and putting back stuff like no limits on contributions, etc.

After the Press Conference replay, the C-Span guy said that that House was in a recess and would be back later today. They still haven't taken up the Defense Authorization yet. They are either going to do it in the dead of night when no one is watching, or they aren't going to pass the Conference Report at all. Ike Skelton said this was a DISGRACE.

The Senate comes in at 6:00 p.m. tonight on C-Span2. Looks like they aren't going to have anything to do.

[Reciprocity]

10. Who need reality TV when we have weekend madness in congress!

I did listen to the tribute to the 88 year old lady that was retiring. She worked in the GOP cloakroom, making sandwiches and such. I gather she was well liked.

[joanski0]

11. I used to love to read "thriller" novels, but

ever since bush* stole the election I've felt no need to read those novels, because I am living in one. I have never felt so certain as I do at this moment, that democracy in America is gone.:cry:

[FreedomAngel82]

21. Oh I know what you mean

If in a few years someone writes a novel and my younger cousin's have to read it for school and it was based on reality but shown as a fictional novel they wouldn't believe it was real. :crazy:

[FreedomAngel82]

20. Aw that was sweet!

I wonder how my rich congresscritter likes being there at almost 2am est.

[Reciprocity]

12. We are back in session.

[Reciprocity]

13. Obey arguing ANWR

This is getting heated. Way to go Markey.

[TheWebHead]

14. what happened on ANWR

One minute I heard Duncan Hunter talking about ANWR not being in the bill, and now all of the sudden it is... It seems there was some sort of last minute insertion double-cross that I missed while not paying attention to cspan.

[ticapnews]

15. Duncan Hunter lied

Yeah, I am shocked, too...

[oasis]

22. Rep. Markee addressed it. He said Bill Frist came over from the senate and

got Hastert to put ANWR drilling into the defense appropriations bill.

[ticapnews]

16. We're discussing it over here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x5632190

[FreedomAngel82]

17. Wow

Pretty early. It's almost 2am est!!

[FreedomAngel82]

19. Edward Markey up now

Seems they're doing Anwr now. These republicans are disgusting and have no shame.

[FreedomAngel82]

23. The previous democrat

gave a passionate speech. I forgot his name but I believe he's from Virginia. I can't stand to hear the republicans. There was one republican though before the guy in Virginia I believe who said he was against the medical bill whatever that one is.

[ticapnews]

24. Come over to the other thread, we have all the details.

All these items they are talking about are actually attached to the Defense Appropriations Bill.

[Reciprocity]

25. If this passes the house will they drill?

[ticapnews]

26. If it passes here and passes the Senate (not a given), then yes

There are a lot of Republicans opposed to this because of the way it was done, even though they support the bulk of what is in the bill. The problem is that this is the defense appropriations bill. It pretty much has to pass. What the GOP has done to politicize this bill HAS NEVER BEEN DONE BEFORE and they are doing it in the middle of the night. The GOP either isn't afraid of losing power or they are trying to grab as much as they can now in case they do in the future...

[Reciprocity]

27. Thanks. As a Texan I can assure you drilling is a messy business.