July 27th, 2010, Washington, DC–From ALG News’ Capitol Hill Correspondent Derek Baker: 
In the Senate, the cloture motion to proceed on the DISCLOSE Act is scheduled for today. Sen. Schumer’s revised attempt to move the Democrat’s new campaign finance bill contains much of the same constitutional concerns as the House-passed bill, including the NRA exemption and union carve-outs. The House bill passed in June by a 219-206 vote with 36 Democrats voting no and two Republicans voting yes.
Since all Republicans are expected to oppose the cloture vote, it should fail and Reid – having fulfilled his commitment to House Democrats to bring up DISCLOSE for a vote – is expected to move on to the Small Business bill. Reid may also attempt to move a scaled-back energy bill this week as well, though unlike the House, the Senate will also be in session next week.
Bottom Line: Today’s DISCLOSE Act vote is pure, unadulterated political theatre. Taking up floor time for a bill that has no chance of passing is just a hat-tip to the Democrats’ liberal conspirators across the country frothing at the mouth to reverse the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision. It’s not going to happen.
In the House, amid other forgettable suspension bills scheduled for floor consideration today is the $59 billion War Supplemental Appropriations Act. Though Obama threatened to veto the package last week when the Senate stripped out the $10 billion teacher union bailout (and another $13 billion in domestic spending unrelated to the war effort), it looks as if the scaled-down bill will easily garner the necessary two-thirds vote to pass the House today and go to Obama’s desk.
Meanwhile, though the Ethics Committee trial on Rep. Rangel doesn’t start until Thursday, there is no lack of drama leading up to the event. Now two Democrat House members have publicly called on Rangel to resign amid the ethics scandal. Rep. Betty Sutton first called on the now-deposed Ways and Means Chairman to resign last Friday, and Rep. Walt Minnick did so yesterday.
Bottom Line: It appears as if Pelosi and the most liberal members of her caucus realize they have been beaten on the issue of tacking on $10 billion for teachers to the War Supplemental. Likely the most infuriating point for her is that the defeat was essentially at the hands of her Democrat counterparts in the Senate. Never fear, the teacher bailout will rise again, if not before November, then certainly immediately after in the ugly lame-duck session.
At the other end of the Avenue, though it’s widely known that the DISCLOSE Act will fail on a party-line vote in the Senate today, this did not deter Obama from hosting a Rose Garden press conference demanding that the Senate pass the restrictive campaign finance bill. In his prepared remarks, Obama attacked Republicans for opposing the bill, stating “the Republican leadership in the Senate is once again using every tactic and every maneuver they can to prevent the DISCLOSE Act from even coming up for an up-or-down vote.” Obama went on to say “On issue after issue we are trying to move America forward and they keep on trying to take us back.”
Meanwhile, in a meeting that’s not likely to go smoothly, Obama will host a bipartisan meeting this morning with House and Senate leadership, including Speaker Pelosi, Majority Whip Hoyer, Minority Leader Boehner, Senate Majority Leader Reid, and Minority Leader McConnell. Obama will reportedly speak from the Rose Garden after the meeting.
Bottom Line: It is interesting that Obama claims to simply want transparency for all, yet the bill itself has multiple exemptions for certain desirable groups, yet specifically imposes new requirements and regulations on political ads Democrats do not like. Furthermore, Obama himself has refused to “disclose” the names of his own donors, either from his official campaign or his Organizing for America PAC. This stands in stark contrast to President George W. Bush. Who’s the hypocrite now, Mr. President?
P.S. – Check out America Speaking Out and share your thoughts on how we can return to a limited, constitutional government.
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