Majority of the Majority

Progressives have been mightily unhappy with the performance of the newly elected Democratic Congress. While there have been some successes such as the minimum wage increase, ethics reform and the expansion of SCHIP, the children's health care program, there have been some notable failures and setbacks.

The failure to change course in Iraq and the miserable kneel down to Bush on warrantless wiretapping are two of the biggest failures. And yet these things happened with majorities of Democrats voting against them.

When Dennis Hastert was Speaker of the House, he had a rule. He called it the Majority of the Majority. What was this rule and how could it help the Democrats legislate as Democrats? Follow me below the fold...


In a little noticed speech in 2003 Hastert said:

The job of speaker is not to expedite legislation that runs counter to the wishes of the majority of his majority.

What is the significance of this rule? How did Hastert use it? The rule first gained wide spread notice in late 2004. That is when the House scuttled a vote on a Conference Report on the Intelligence Reform Bill. Here is what the Washington Post had to say:

Hastert elected to keep it from reaching a vote, even though his aides said it could have passed with a minority of GOP members and strong support from the chamber's 206 Democrats.

Hastert was, of course, roundly criticized by House Democrats back then. Then Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi:

(Republicans) like to talk about bipartisanship. But when the opportunity came to pass a truly bipartisan bill -- one that would have passed both the House and Senate overwhelmingly and would have made the American people safer -- they failed to do it.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has apparently not changed her opinion of the Majority of the Majority rule. After the Iraq supplemental funding bill was passed without withdrawal time lines in May, despite 61 percent of House Democrats voting against it, Pelosi said:

I’m the Speaker of the House. I have to take into consideration something broader than the majority of the majority.

Something broader than the majority of the majority? Suppose the Democrats enforced the majority of the majority rule back in May? No supplemental Iraq funding bill without time lines would have been brought to the House floor for a vote. This would have necessitated a decrease in troop levels or a complete withdrawal, something 66 % of Americans support.

Something broader than the majority of the majority? How about the Constitution of the United States? 77% of Democrats opposed the so called Protect America Act giving the Bush administration more warrantless wiretapping powers. Under the majority of the majority rule, this bill would not have even come up for a vote.

Democrats have it within their power to make change in America. They were elected to the majority in 2006 to make change in America. If they would use the majority of the majority rule, we would have change in America.

Shield Law a Step Closer

I posted a diary on Kos some time ago about the Bush administration attacking a proposed shield law that would also cover bloggers. It attracted very little attention from the Kos community - the ones I expected to be most interested in this new law.

The so called "Shield" has not been codified at the federal level and has always been a gray area with many journalists suffering the consequences when refusing to give up their sources.

The fact that this real Federal Shield Law might be extended to cover the blogging community should have, IMNSHO, been of great interest to the blogisphere. Well I've been wrong before and I was wrong yet again. Now that the law is a step closer to becoming a reality I hope the blogisphere will become more interested and who knows maybe even provide some support for the Law.

We have lost some ground already in that the afore mentioned Bush administration attack has resulted in limiting the shield to "ad supported" bloggers. I fear that if we do not become more actively and vocally involved, bloggers will be dropped from the Shield Law altogether.

WASHINGTON--A congressional panel on Wednesday voted, against the Bush administration's wishes, to shield journalists including advertising-supported bloggers from having to reveal their confidential sources in many situations.

Come on folks there has never been a real federal shield law much less one that recognizes bloggers as JOURNALISTS.

In response to concerns raised by the Bush administration and other politicians, the revised bill attempts to exclude the "casual blogger" from reaping those benefits by stipulating the protections apply only to those who derive "financial gain or livelihood" from the journalistic activity, Boucher said Wednesday. That broad rule could, however, include part-time writers who receive even a trickle of revenue from Google Ads or Blogads.com.

LINK to the full story by ZDnet News.

LINK to the house bill H.R. 2102

(cross posted on Kos)

Kevin Beckner: Candidate For HCC District 6

Democrat Kevin Beckner is running for the Hillsborough County Commission. He is attempting to unseat Brian Blair. Breckner is a former law enforcement officer and President of Leadership Tampa Bay. He is running on a platform of growth management and environmental protection. Although, his form of environmentalism is very business-friendly.

Listen to him on the wetlands issue: "The wetlands serve this environment in ways we may not understand. If we can streamline this [development approval] process and make it easier for developers, I'm for that. But everybody needs to come to the table" to ensure that wetlands aren't harmed as a result.

Here is his environmental position from his web site.

Our environmental resources are one of our most precious commodities. Once damaged or destroyed, they can rarely be replenished or restored. Each of us are charged with being good stewards of our environmental resources. As a community, we must thoughtfully balance future land use with respect to our environment, develop and implement prudent plans for cleaner air and water conservation, and protect our beaches, rivers, and streams from potentially harmful and toxic waste.

As County Commissioner, I will support economically feasible "green" initiatives that both enhance the quality and preservation of our environment and provide the community with short and long term economic benefits.

"Feasible" means Beckner will view how green initiatives affect corporations.

Beckner is gay and a member of Equality Florida. He participated in a March Gay Pride parade.

Tampa Bay Democrat has a post on Beckner's candidacy.

Beckner is asking supporters to sign the petition to get his name on the ballot. He needs 6,634 signatures.

Susan S Tops The List

Our own Florida Kossack, Susan S has a diary atop the Rec List right now at DailyKos. Susan attended the Pasco County Town Hall meeting of Senator Bill Nelson today. She was all prepared to ask him about his vote on the FISA bill last Friday. He didn't call on her. He did talk about how he was lied to to get him to vote for the Iraq war.

That was it for Susan. She did what any good citizen is supposed to do. She called Nelson to account. You need to read her diary, if you haven't already. As Susan was posting her diary, I was writing one here about Nelson's prior town hall meeting that morning in Pinellas. I was styling my meager effort as a (mostly) straight up news story. That's pretty much how I attended the town hall, just as a reporter. Susan attended the Pasco town hall as a citizen. Susan had the better idea.

Ironically, I ended my story on the Pinellas town hall with this:

Nelson continued his vacation with another Town Hall meeting later in the day in Pasco County. Enjoy your "vacation", Senator Nelson.

I wondered how much he enjoyed it when Susan was done with him.

Susan, you rock!

Bill Nelson Pinellas Town Hall

Bill Nelson started off his August Congressional "vacation" by holding a Town Hall meeting in Pinellas County today. Nelson answered questions for one hour from the over 150 in attendance. One remarkable thing about this event? Nobody asked about Iraq.

The first question Nelson fielded did allude to the Bush administrations trampling of civil rights in the guise of the global war on terror. Nelson professed not to know about a controversial classified Executive Order recently issued by Bush. He did talk about this weekend's FISA vote however. He stressed that what was done was a temporary measure that sunsets in six months. Nelson went on to say that the legislation was meant to protect the warrant requirement for US Persons, but not for foreign sources. Nelson lambasted the "mishandling" of the Terrorist Surveillance Program for the last five years. There was also the chance to bash embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Nelson related that one of the biggest sticking points in the bill was the administrations' insistence that the Attorney General be in charge of certifying compliance for this program. Nelson said this was unacceptable to a bipartisan group of Senators. The solution? Having the Director of National Intelligence share this responsibility.

OK, now we have a man that nobody believes and the man in charge of spying certifying compliance for this spy program. Some compromise. And as the 2008 election will be all that much closer in 6 months, does anybody expect that the Congress will show more backbone then?

The questions next turned to domestic issues. Nelson said that a wholesale reform of health insurance delivery would be coming "down the road". Nelson, a former Florida Insurance Commissioner explained that the principle of insurance - spreading risk over large pools of people - was just not working in health insurance. The reason - health insurance pools are too fragmented. The current system only seems to work, if at all, for very large employers. Nelson did tout the recent passage of the children's health care program (SCHIP). Nelson also said that legislation would be introduced soon to induce health insurers to provide more mental health benefits. In response to a question about support for a breast cancer research program, Nelson related how on his space shuttle flight, his primary experiment was for cancer research. He did this shortly after a very dear friend had died from breast cancer.

Nelson got a couple of questions from local elected officials, who were well represented in the audience. The first came from a Gulfport City Commissioner who asked for help regarding changes in the rules for Community Development Block Grants. Nelson responded that his office would be happy to assist in helping communities obtain the grants, but seemed to miss the impact of the change in rules on these communities. He did take the opportunity to point out how the property tax "reform" in the Florida Legislature has impacted his office. He is now getting deluged with requests for Federal funding from local governments. Seems the local governments are turning to the Federal government for funding projects and programs that were once funded by their own property tax revenues or by the state.

The other question was from St. Petersburg City Council Member Renee Flowers, who also is the President of the Florida League of Cities this year. Flowers asked for Nelson's help in securing adequate funds for affordable housing, including the re-authorization of Hope VI grants. Nelson said that the prospects were grim for passage due to the requirement in the Senate to get 60 votes to move a bill. Nelson said that as long as the administration opposed a funding level, Bush's Republican enablers in the Senate would make sure that the 60 votes would not be forthcoming.

Nelson was asked about the upcoming re authorization of No Child Left Behind. His initial response was that he was in favor of fully funding NCLB, something the Bush Administration has not done. As he continued to talk about NCLB, however, he seemed to be talking himself into some major modifications to the program, if he was to vote for re authorization at all.

When asked about outsourcing of jobs, Nelson responded that there were no simple answers in this complicated, interconnected world. He did say he favored changing the tax code to remove rewards for companies off shoring jobs. He went on to say that in order to remain competitive in a global economy, America's advantage would be its intellectual capital, which all comes back to education.

The final question came from Linda Osmundson, Director of CASA (Community Actions Stops Abuse). She asked for help in increasing the availability of FHA Section 8 vouchers. The availability of these vouchers has all but dried up. CASA has used these vouchers to place battered women in temporary housing as a way stop in helping these dislocated victims find permanent housing. Nelson failed to see the particular significance of this question and referred back to his previous answer about affordable housing funding and the 60 vote roadblock. Seems to me the answer is to elect a bigger Democratic majority and get a Democrat in the White House in 2008.

Nelson closed the meeting by noting that no one had asked him about Iraq. He then proceeded to explain his position on Iraq. Mainly, he supports the Iraq Study Group conclusions that the US should have begun a phased withdrawal of troops from Iraq and a change in the mission of the remaining troops. That changed mission would be to provide training for Iraqi forces; to provide border security and force protection and targeted missions against Al Qaeda in Iraq. Nelson also pointed out the ISG's call for increased diplomatic activity to create a regional solution for Iraq. This allowed him to point out his earlier visit to Syria and the criticism he had received. However, he is getting the last laugh as the administration now seems to be talking more to the Syrians, and they are even talking to the Iranian Ambassador in Baghdad.

Overall, this was a good performance for Nelson. He has been doing Town Hall meetings for 35 years and is very comfortable in this format. Despite my nitpicking above, he answered all questions put to him. He talked about what a privilege it was for him to serve. You got the feeling that he meant it. While I do not always agree with Bill Nelsons' votes on specific issues, he is a trustworthy man of his convictions. As Ronald Reagan said, someone who votes with you 80% of the time is your friend, not your enemy.

Nelson continued his vacation with another Town Hall meeting later in the day in Pasco County. Enjoy your "vacation", Senator Nelson.

Yearly Kos

Howard Dean speaks at Yearly Kos and asks the netroots to lobby to improve voting machines.

Dean: “This is not a one day or one election struggle. This is something we have to do every single day for the rest of our lives… And when we get knocked down, we’re going to stand up again for the core principles of America, because America was knocked down by the far-right wing of the Republican Party in the last eight years. And by God, we’re going to get up and recover and stand up for what we used to stand up for. We are going to regain the moral leadership that made America a great country. And we are going to live again in America and stand up and lead the world to the promised land.”

Dean gets the crowd going talking about forcing Republicans to vote on Iraq.

Update: Jill Filipovic is liveblogging a Q and A session with Democratic presidential candidates at YK.

Update: Jill reports that Mike Gravel's tax plan bombed with the crowd.

Sen. Gravel was just asked about his tax structure, which would eliminate the IRS and institute a 23 percent sales and service tax. Joan asks him how low-income people are going to survive waiting for their rebate check every month.

Gravel responds that “you need to know how politics works.” Everyone hisses. He says not to worry about the Fair Tax, because it will never pass Congress. He discusses the corruption and the structural flaws in Congress. “The answer is with you, the American people, to acquire law-making power. That is where the power lies.”

Gravel's national sales tax program is horrible.

Update: Amanda Marcotte reports that Hillary Clinton got slammed by Edwards and Obama.

Jill and I were sitting together at the Presidential forum, and she liveblogged the whole thing. Check it out. Hillary Clinton got the worst of it, I think, because Edwards and Obama tagged her for taking money from Washington lobbyists and she couldn’t squirm out of it. That said, I felt that her first attempt to answer accusations about taking lobbyist money was honest and reasonable—she feels the system puts you in this situation and that it’s hardly a singular, personal failing. Fair enough, but in the end, she had a hard time convincing the admittedly tough crowd at Yearly Kos that she was sincere in wishing that it could be different. Then she blew it completely by denying that the money lobbyists spend has the amount of influence that it does, giving Edwards and Obama a chance to pounce and point out what’s obvious—lobbyists would not spend billions of dollars if they weren’t buying influence.

It's amazing how Hillary always tries to say something to please everyone and ends up alienating all.

Update: It gets better. Ezra Klein has a great take on the crowd's reaction to Hillary's lobbying money defense. This is comical.

Hillary Clinton on Edwards' challenge to stop taking lobbyist money: "I certainly think thats a position Sen, Edwards has taken." Yes, indeed it is. She then says that "I've been in politics for 35-years, and I think it's silly for anyone to think that money impacts my positions." The crowd laughs at her then boos.

Hillary's a horrible candidate. Having a great campaign staff and famous last name doesn't hide it. There are so many women in the Democratic Party more worthy of the attention Hillary is receiving.

RoadBlock Republicans Vote AGAINST Health Care for Children

Tampa Bay's Roadblock Republicans showed their true colors once again yesterday. How did they do it this time? They voted against Hr 3162 a bill

to extend and improve the children's health insurance program, to improve beneficiary protections under the Medicare, Medicaid, and the CHIP program

Here is the list of Tampa Bay's Roadblock Republicans who voted against health care for children:

• Gus Bilirakis
• Ginny Brown-Waite
• Vern Buchanan
• Adam Putnam
• Bill Young

What is the matter with these people? Why would they vote against expanding health care for children? Here is the red herring that Ginny Browne-Waite threw out responding to a letter from Charlie Crist supporting this initiative:

"I am disappointed that your letter fails to mention that SCHIP funding should not come at the expense of Florida's seniors."

Where is Ginny Brown-Waite getting this idea? Here is what the far right Human Events Magazine reports:

cutting $157 billion from the Medicare Advantage ... This scenario could result in seniors losing their current health care provider or being subjected to increased costs and decreased services.

But what is Congress really doing? They are cutting subsidies to Medicare Advantage HMO's. These are the insurance industry darlings who pushed through the Republican controlled Congress the hare brained scheme that they should be paid more than traditional Medicare benefits for denying more services.

So these Roadblock Republicans are not really standing up for seniors. They are standing up for insurance companies instead of providing more health care for children.

Isn't it time to get rid of these people?