Constitutional Law

CapHill Round-Up: 4/20/09

Coming back from a two-week spring recess, Congress's breakneck pace of Obama's first hundred days in office is giving way to the long-term work of pushing large projects through committees. Among them are bills for energy, climate change, and healthcare.

The Wall Street Journal sees the Democratic majority leaning towards making healthcare Congress's number one priority. Politico offers this analysis: 'Republicans look across the health reform battlefield and see the Democrats organized energized and flush with cash – with several groups lined up to promote the president's plan, and a message honed by years of preparation. Then they look into their own camp – and get nervous. There's no Republican plan yet.'

IN the HOUSE

The slower legislative pace on Capitol Hill is coming to fruition in this week's House schedule having 22 suspension bills and little to no legislation facing substantial debate. In fact, the House is not even in session on Monday or Friday of this week.

One controversy from the spring recess, however, continues to bear news. After recent revelations that the National Security Agency (NSA) has been exceeding legal boundaries in domestic wiretapping operations, commentary swirled around reports that the NSA tried to wiretap one unnamed congressperson without a warrant.

Without that mystery resolved, the latest revelation is that – with a warrant, as required by law – the NSA recorded Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) discussing a potential quid pro quo with lobbyists. CQ Politics reports that Harman was 'overheard on an NSA wiretap telling a suspected Israeli agent that she would lobby the Justice Department to reduce espionage-related charges against two officials of the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee, the most powerful pro-Israel organization in Washington.' Harman was a strong proponent of President Bush's domestic wiretapping program.

IN the SENATE

This week, the Senate's slim schedule includes confirmation votes on the following legal nominees: Tony West to head the DOJ's civil division, Lanny Breur for the criminal division and Christine Varney to head the DOJ's antitrust work.

To filibuster or not to filibuster legal nominees – this question presents no conundrum for Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Penn.) 'The word filibuster should not come out of the lips of Republican senators,' Santorum recently told the Republican National Lawyers Association. Referring to his party's slim chances of sustaining a filibuster, Santorum concluded, 'You don't pull out a gun if everybody in the room knows it's not loaded.'

While the mid-term elections remain nineteen months away, heralded polling analyst Nate Silver sees slim chances of shrinking the Democratic majority in the Senate and thereby improving Republican chances to successfully filibuster nominees or legislation. Silver offers his latest seat-by-seat examination here, including rankings for whose seats are most likely to change parties in 2010.

Full post as published by ACS Blog on April 20, 2009 (boomark / email).