Unhappy Families

As others have observed, keeping up with political commentary in the Age of Trump is a challenge. I work on blog posts, only to have their relevance wiped out before I finish my edits. Some weeks, nuanced political happenings are overshadowed by tweets that carry no actual policy directives. Sometimes, the President brings us to the brink of a possible nuclear war. It's hard to figure out what line to walk.

But I started this blog primarily to explain Congress, and that's what I will continue to do, even if this may be our last week on earth. Since the healthcare bill failed spectacularly only several weeks ago, President Trump has expressed frustration with Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and the Majority Leader's inability to bring key legislation to his desk.

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Reconciling With Defeat

The most challenging blog posts to write are the ones about political processes that I know nothing about. Having to admit there is something I do not know always creates a hurdle to actually sitting down and writing a piece, which was the case with this post.

Since the election, my friend Maya and I have been developing a project to encourage, among other things, the protection of Obamacare. We were informed by someone that our strategy may not work for Obamacare, since it was likely to be repealed through a process called reconciliation. Cue me furiously Googling to find out what exactly reconciliation is and how it can relate to Obamacare.

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The Mustache of Justice

The back of Representative Henry Waxman's book, The Waxman Report: How Congress Really Works has quotes from people talking not about the book, but about Henry Waxman. There are quotes describing Waxman as "a famed tightwad with a righteous streak," "the mustache of justice" and "the best argument against term limits."

All true points, if I do say so myself. With Trump's recent talk of "draining the swamp" of government by imposing Congressional term limits, I thought it would be fun to use Representative Waxman as a case study against term limits. And when I say fun, I mean fun for me, the undisputed Number One Fan of former Los Angeles Congressman Henry Waxman.

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Another Primary?!

Until someone corrected me on Facebook, I thought the New York State primary election was Tuesday the 6th, instead of Tuesday the 13th of September, because I am only human. This was embarrassing to me, because for all I tout the importance of state and local elections, this is my second time getting confused by them.

Back in June, I tried to go vote for my Congressman (Representative Hakeem Jefferies, currently one of the Hill's 50 Most Beautiful People, and a truly beautiful soul) only to find out he was running unopposed. I arrived at the school polling site to find it closed, and had to call 311 and the Board of Elections to find out that Congressman Jefferies didn't have a primary challenger!

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Just a Bill

This week, I could talk about how I was wrong when I tried to predict who Trump would pick for his Vice President, but believe me, the shame of my political prediction failures is enough. I could give you a summary of Governor Mike Pence, but just check out #PeriodsForPence and the Indiana Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and you'll get the idea.

Instead, this week, I thought I would talk about something simpler. I'm in the process of switching jobs, and presenting at a conference this week, so this week is as good as any to talk about how a bill becomes a law!

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Good Trouble

Welcome one and all to the brand-new, official, real life website of West Wing, Best Wing! Like the Italian sculptors of yore, I have found myself a patron who gave me the funds necessary to make this blog official.

For my inaugural post, I was going to write about abortion. On Monday, the Supreme Court will be handing down a decision on Whole Women's Health v. Hellerstedt, and their decision on this could impact abortion laws across the country. But then I remembered that I've already written that post. Several times. And I promise to write another one explaining the decision when it is released on Monday.

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Thanks, Federalism

My friend Jason recently messaged me requesting a post on electors, the people who make up the electoral college. My first response was "silly Jason, the electoral college isn't actually made up of people who vote for a nominee. That would be insane, and could possibly lead to the electoral college voting for someone who did not win the popular vote. Our country would never let that happen."

Wow, was I wrong. It only took a couple of Google searches for me to go from "the electoral college is just a way of easily showing who won the election" to "THERE ARE NO LAWS GOVERNING ELECTORS WHY ARE WE NOT RIOTING IN THE STREETS?!" So let's follow that trajectory, shall we?

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In Their Defense

Remember when this blog was just about complicated Congressional bills instead of my opinions about the election and sexism? After trying (and mostly failing) to write about polls and why they're flawed, I decided to tackle a far easier subject and discuss the most recent defense bill that just passed the House, but will probably be vetoed.

The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 allocates money to the Department of Defense, which in turn, funds the military. I'll spare you an exhaustive account of everything that's in the bill, because the bill is hundreds of pages long, and I don't have time to read it all. The bill appropriates 23 billion dollars in funding, to allow current military campaigns to continue through April of 2017, at which point, the new president will have to request supplemental funding.

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What Do You Meme?

I can't overstate how tired I am of those Clinton/Sanders memes. You know, the ones that give the candidates fake positions on things like Radiohead or Pokemon, and while making Sanders look cool and Clinton look lame.

I'm tired of them for several reasons. One, neither of these candidates are cool. They're career politicians, old enough to be our grandparents, who have spent their lives considering the intricacies of foreign and domestic policy. There's no way either of them has an opinion on Pokemon.

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It's Democracy, No One is Happy

If you feel like the government has been on the brink of a shutdown since 2013, you're right! The government has not had a long-term spending and taxation bill since they averted the fiscal cliff, and tonight at midnight, the government is set to run out of money. Predictably, the House plans to pass a small funding bill (known as a stop-gap bill) that will keep the lights on until December 22nd.

But this time is different! Congress is nearing the end of negotiations on the biggest and broadest tax and spending bill since the fiscal cliff debacle of 2013. 

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Actions Speak Louder Than Prayers

The actions following a mass shooting seem chillingly predictable now. Representatives and Senators take to Twitter to express their thoughts and prayers, President Obama holds a press conference saying that he can't keep holding press conferences after tragic events like this, the Democrats blame guns, the Republicans blame the mentally ill. A week later, the news media have moved on. Another mass shooting. Repeat.

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Balancing Act

There's a lot of moments from the Republican debate I could fact-check, dispute, and tear apart for my many blog readers (all 12 of you). But while there has be article after article about Marco Rubio's flip-flopping, Donald Trump's sexism, and the Christie/Paul debate, no one has written about the incredibly interesting and sexy issue of John Kasich and balancing the federal budget.

If you watched the debate, you may remember John Kasich, current governor of Ohio, touting numerous times that he balanced the federal budget. It's certainly correct that John Kasich was the Chairman of the Budget Committee in 1997, which was the last time we had a balanced Federal budget. It's true that this was the first time the United States had a balanced budget since 1970. It's true there was a Republican-controlled Congress at the time. And yes, it's true that Bill Clinton was the President the last time the Federal budget was balanced.

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Wait For It

167 days. That’s how long new Attorney General Loretta Lynch waited to be confirmed. After sailing through a confirmation hearing, the extremely qualified lawyer waited longer than the past seven attorney generals combined to have her nomination be voted on by the Senate. Unsurprisingly, she sailed through the vote, with 56 Senators voting for her, and 43 voting against. Ten Republicans joined all the Democrats in confirming Attorney General Lynch at the nation’s first African-American female Attorney General. Only Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) did not vote.

Interestingly, Senator Cruz also abstained from a vote held yesterday on S.B. 178, the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act. This bill, in contrast to the somewhat close vote to confirm Attorney General Lynch, passed with the other 99 Senators voting in favor of the bill. How did a bill that was previously contentious enough to create an unprecedented delay for a presidential nominee pass with the support of almost every Senator?

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Hyde Your Amendments

There has been gridlock around the anti-human trafficking bill in the Senate, and I promise that is the last traffic-based pun I will make at the expense of human trafficking.

The debate about the anti-human trafficking bill came to a standstill today when the Senate failed to achieve the necessary 60-vote cloture to end debate on the bill, and put the bill up for the real vote. Unlike the cloture votes of years passed, this one was tanked by Democrats, not Republicans.

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The Most Secure Shutdown

It’s been awhile since I’ve updated the blog, but it’s also been awhile since Congress was on the brink of a shutdown of necessary government services, so I guess we both just had other things on our plates. Now, after over a year since the last government shutdown, Congress is once again flirting with the possibility of ending funding to a government agency. This time, it’s the Department of Homeland Security, and the Republicans are in charge. What a difference a year makes!

The Department of Homeland Security was created in the aftermath in the 9/11 attacks, and oversees border patrol, emergency responses, cybersecurity, and other industries that protect our nation from foreign threats. Their funding is running out, though Congress did pass a one week extension last Friday to fund the department for another week. But once this funding expires on March 6th, another bill will have to be passed to continue to keep our country safe.

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Going Nuclear

The nuclear option has been deployed! We're all going to have to duck and cover!

If you're nervous about the frighteningly named "nuclear option" that you've been hearing so much about, you shouldn't be. The "nuclear option" is a dramatic name given to a rare procedural rules change the Democrats in the Senate implemented on Thursday. The measure prevents the minority from filibustering presidential nominees for cabinet positions and all judicial posts except ones on the Supreme Court.

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The Shutdown is Over!

This post is several weeks too late, but if Congress taught me anything during the government shutdown, it’s that you can refuse to do something, and then blame others when it isn’t done. Which will be my strategy when my papers aren't turned in on time.

If you didn’t notice, the government shutdown ended several weeks ago after the House and the Senate finally passed a bill. The bill, created by the Senate, fund the government until January 7th, and raised the debt ceiling until February 7th. Obamacare was not defunded or delayed. The only provision that related to Obamacare is that now the government is required to make sure people are eligible for subsidized healthcare. For those of you keeping score, this means the Democrats were able to have what they asked for, while the Republicans did not end the shutdown with anything they wanted.

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Raise the Roof (or the Ceiling)

Negotiations to raise the debt ceiling for six weeks were over almost as quickly as they began. Late Thursday night, we started to hear that Congressional Republicans were going to meet with the White House to discuss possible negotiations. But early Saturday morning, House Republicans left their meeting with no deals and no plans for the coming days.

With the threat of the nation’s default hanging over their heads, Senate Majority Leader Reid (D-NV) and Minority Leader McConnell (R-KY) met to negotiate. On Saturday, Senator Reid introduced a bill that would raise the debt ceiling to 1.1 trillion which would keep our country from defaulting until after the elections in 2014. Unfortunately, fewer than sixty senators voted to proceed to debate which means that cloture on the motion to proceed was not achieved.

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October Crisis Part 2: Our Debt

At last, like a light in the darkness, we are starting to hear whisperings of the possibility of debt limit negotiations.

Friday, GOP leaders met with President Obama to talk about raising the debt ceiling for six weeks This bill will include a short-term debt limit increase as well as a promise to go to conference, in exchange for a promise from Obama to discuss long-term deficit reduction solutions. Speaker Boehner (R-OH) also hopes the talks will include negotiations to end the government shutdown.

That’s right. There are no current plans to end the government shutdown, merely a promise to raise the debt ceiling for a short six weeks.

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Ending the Shutdown

It’s very easy to look at the government shutdown and feel an overwhelming sense of anger and despair. I would know. I’ve been feeling that way for almost a week. It can seem like there is no end in sight, and that Congress will never reach a compromise and reopen the government.

But do not despair blog readers (all two of you)! This shutdown could end tomorrow if Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) would allow the House to vote on the clean continuing resolution that the Senate has passed.

But Bella, you say, that’s not possible. The House is controlled by Republicans!

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