April 30th, 2010, Washington, DC–From ALG News’ Capitol Hill Correspondent Derek Baker: 
In the Senate, floor debate began on Dodd’s Wall Street Takeover bill yesterday. The primary reason stated by McConnell and Shelby in allowing debate to proceed was that the Democrats had agreed to consider and address Republican objections to the bill, namely the permanent bailout provisions. On review of the Lincoln/Dodd substitute amendment, it appears that few if any major GOP concerns have been addressed. The bailout provisions are still contained in the substitute. Though Democrats vehemently deny the bill contains a permanent bailout, the very first amendment offered was one by Sen. Boxer attempting to counteract this charge. Boxer’s amendment reads “All financial companies put in to receivership under this title shall be liquidated” and also requires no taxpayer funds are “used to prevent the liquidation of any financial company under this title.” Oddly, the amendment does not remove the $50 billion fund contained in the bill.
Meanwhile, Sen. Schumer (former chair of the DSCC) was joined by gaggle of his Democrat colleagues on the steps of the Supreme Court for the unveiling of the Disclosure Act, their new campaign finance reform bill intended to counteract the Citizens United v. FEC decision by the Supreme Court. Schumer announced at the press conference that “Leader Reid has pledged this bill will be on the floor before July 4. We have designed this proposal so it can take effect by 2010, in every way.” Sen. Cornyn, who chairs the NRSC, responded by declaring the bill would “tilt the political playing field” in the Dems’ direction, and Leader McConnell released a statement that the bill “is about election advantage plain and simple.”
Stepping on their own messaging, Democrats also unveiled comprehensive immigration reform legislation yesterday, led by Sens. Reid and Menendez, though they failed to get a single Republican cosponsor for their effort. Republicans largely denounced it as an empty ploy to score political points in an election year with their pro-amnesty base, since the bill will likely go nowhere this year.
Bottom Line: Though it remains to be seen what the final financial reform product will be after amendments, the package is certain to greatly expand the government’s role in the private financial markets and perpetuate the risk-taking behavior of certain financial firms and speculators, knowing the government will step in rather than let a firm go bankrupt on its own.
In the House, the Puerto Rico statehood bill passed by a vote of 223-169 (with Rep. Slaughter taking the not-so-courageous stand of voting present, for some reason), setting the stage for PR to become our 51st state, and our poorest by far. PRs delegate to Congress, Pedro Pierluisi, stated “It is time for this Congress to hear from the people of Puerto Rico.” It is a bit of an odd statement, since Puerto Rico has actually rejected statehood on three separate occasions and it is currently not supported by a majority of those living on the island. This is precisely why legislation was necessary to accelerate and smooth the process toward statehood going forward. However, opponents of the bill did score a victory by getting an amendment passed that would require a commonwealth option be offered in the second plebiscite question, since the bill sets up a two-step process.
Rep. Chris Van Hollen, chair of the DCCC, is the cosponsor of the Disclosure Act in the House. Though the bill has no Republican cosponsors in the Senate, GOP Reps. Mike Castle and Walter Jones are House cosponsors. Castle is no surprise, since he’s one of the most liberal House members, though Jones’ support may be considered an anomaly by some. However, Jones is often unpredictable, holding a very conservative voting record on many issues, while have a more liberal position on a handful of other issues (such as the war effort and this one).
Bottom Line: The campaign finance reform bill will be one of the highest priorities of the Democrats in the coming months. Nothing is more important, in their opinion, than mitigating the damage of the November elections by gutting the Citizens United case.
At the other end of the Avenue, it was just announced that the economy grew at a rate of 3.2 percent in the first quarter of 2010, news that will be immediately trumpeted by Obama and Democrats. Meanwhile, Obama and his team are busy trying to stay ahead of the unfolding BP oil spill incident in the Gulf of Mexico, taking pains to make sure his Administration is not blamed for a slow government response as was the case with Katrina. Obama has dispatched cabinet secretaries to the scene and called all the surrounding state governors.
Bottom Line: Hind sight is 20-20, and Obama will be certain to take every conceivable step in order to be viewed as the opposite of the Bush Administration in responding to natural and man-made disasters. It’s a much easier task when the issue does not deal with policy, and comes naturally to Obama, a man that embraces government involvement in every conceivable sphere.
BOs task in turning the economy around and creating an environment that encourages private job growth is shaping up to be quite another beast all together. Please note it was not suggested that BOs task is to “create jobs.” In fact, that is his problem. He believes the role of government is to “create” jobs and give handouts, and dictate “good behavior.” Americans just want the government to get out of the way and stop hindering the natural ability of the market to create jobs.
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Amelia Gray
on May 5th, 2010
@ 1:07 am:
the oil spill in Mexico would surely be one of the greatest environmental disasters for this year.;*.