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House Approves Automaker Bailout Bill
Posted Dec. 11, 2008.

The House approved automaker bailout legislation last night by a 237-to-170 margin. The $14 billion stipulated in the Auto Industry Financing and Restructuring Act would go to help struggling U.S. automakers, and would be provided in the form of bridge loans.

President George W. Bush was able to win some concessions from Democratic House leaders, who inserted a provision that would require the Big Three automakers (Chrysler, Ford and General Motors) to restructure operations, negotiate with labor unions to lower costs, and eliminate debt. Otherwise, the government could withhold or even take back the loans.

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Congressional Week in Preview (Dec. 6 - 12, 2008)
Posted Dec. 8, 2008.

The weekend brought news of an upset down south, where indicted Rep. William Jefferson (D) on Saturday was upset in his re-election big by Anh “Joseph” Cao (R). Also, congressional leaders negotiated a compromise with the White House to tap about $15 billion for an emergency loan to U.S. automakers, and legislation authorizing the funds could come this week.

The Senate is in session today, and it appears as though Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is again trying to advance legislation ending Sen. Tom Coburn reign as the bottleneck of the Senate. The so-called Coburn Omnibus legislation would advance a package of bills being held by Coburn because they do not meet his criteria for passage. We blogged about the hold in July, when the Coburn Omnibus was last heading to the floor.

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Congressional Week in Review (Nov. 29 - Dev. 5, 2008)
Posted Dec. 8, 2008.

CEOs representing the American auto-making industry were in Washington last week testifying before relevant House and Senate committees, as they seek billions of dollars in federal loans. The other main piece of business on the hill was figuring out which anonymous senator was blockading the appointment of an inspector general to oversee the $700 billion financial industry bailout. In the states, however, undecided congressional races in Georgia and California were settled, with Louisiana (two seats), Ohio and Minnesota left to go.

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Wiki the Vote: Winding Down the 2008 Congressional Election
Posted Dec. 1, 2008.

While Congress remains in recess (the Senate is in pro forma session), our attention returns to the outstanding congressional races of the 2008 election. At least three races should be decided this week, including a runoff for one of Georgia’s U.S. Senate seats, between incumbent Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R) and Democratic challenger Jim Martin. Voters in two Louisiana House districts will head to the polls on Saturday to choose the representatives. Meanwhile, votes are still being counted in California, Minnesota and Ohio, as one Senate race and two House races remain undecided.

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Leadership Changes in the 111th Congress
Posted Nov. 21, 2008.

With Democrats expanding their majorities in the House and Senate during the 2008 congressional elections, members of both parties sought to redefine the leadership structure within their respective caucuses. Some of the shuffling was predictable, while political calculation entered into consideration into other leadership campaigns. In addition, freshman members of the House and Senate were forced to take sides in their first actions in Congress, even though they have not been taken office.

Much of the publicity centered around the future of Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) in the Democratic caucus, and over Rep. Henry Waxman’s (D-Calif.) bid to replace Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) as chair of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. Republicans had their own drama, however, with a challenge to Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) and a shift in the Senate leadership.

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Post a new addition  New additions
updated 12/30/2008

  • Rep. Ray LaHood accepted an offer to become Barack Obama's new Secretary of Transportation.
  • Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.) has announced he will not seek re-election in 2010.
  • Rep. Tom Cole(R-Okla.) stepped down as the Chairman of the National Republican Campaign Committee. Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) will fill the post for the 111th Congress.
  • Ted Kaufman (D-Del.) was appointed to fill Sen. Joe Biden's (D-Del) Senate seat by Gov. Ruth Ann Minner (D-Del.) on Nov. 24.
  • Between 2004-2007, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) allegedly funneled nearly $80,000 in campaign cash to a company run by his son to build and operate a pair of websites one expert valued at no more than $1,000.
  • On December 8, 2008, Rep. Vito Fossella (R-N.Y.) was sentenced to 5 days in a Virginia cell after being found guilty of drunken driving.
  • The Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled that Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) cannot withdraw his original guilty plea in his 2007 disorderly conduct case.
  • John Fleming, Jr. (R) defeated Paul Carmouche (D) in the Dec. 6 general election for the Louisiana 2nd House seat.
  • Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) was arrested on federal corruption charges for allegedly trying to sell an appointment to the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by President-Elect Barack Obama.
  • Mary Jo Kilroy (D) defeated Steve Stivers (R) in the congressional election for the 15th District of Ohio.
  • Anh Cao (R) defeated Rep. William Jefferson (D) in the Dec. 6 congressional election in the Louisiana 2nd Congressional district.
  • Tom McClintock (R) defeated Democrat Charlie Brown in the race for the open seat in California's 4th congressional district.
  • Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Florida) has announced he will not seek reelection in 2010. He has yet to decide if he will serve out the rest of his term in Congress.
  • President Elect Barack Obama named New York Sen. Hillary Clinton his Secretary of State.
  • Democrats in the House selected Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) as chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. He replaces former chairman John Dingell (D-Mich.).
  • Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) was defeated by Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich (D) following a count of absentee ballots.
  • Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) will retain his chairmanship of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs, following a vote by the Democratic caucus.
  • President-Elect Barack Obama (D) resigned his seat in the United States Senate.
  • Rick Renzi of Arizona has been further charged with racketeering, falsifying a tax return, among other wrongdoings.
  • Sen. Bob Byrd announced that he will voluntarily step down from the chairmanship of the Senate Appropriations Committee. (Nov. 7, 2008)
  • Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) was named by president-elect Barack Obama as his incoming chief of staff. (Nov. 6, 2008)
  • All incumbents in Oklahoma were re-elected.
  • Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) was elected President of the United States. He won more than 330 electoral votes.
  • Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) was convicted on seven federal counts of "knowingly and willfully" making false statements on his Senate personal financial disclosure forms.
  • The judge overseeing Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens' (R) federal trial granted prosecutors an extension, a day after he threw out evidence because it had been withheld from defense attorneys.
  • The House and Senate approved a financial recovery bill designed to prop up the struggling financial sector of the U.S. economy, by using $700 billion in federal funding to purchase and insure troubled assets.
  • Rep. Peter Welch (D) received both the Democratic and Republican nominations following last week's congressional primary in Vermont.
  • Following weeks of delay while absentee ballots were tallied, Rep. Don Young (R) was declared winner of the Republican primary for Alaska's At-large congressional district.
  • On September 13, 2008, the Virgin Islands held their congressional primaries.
  • On September 6, 2008, Guam held their congressional primaries.
  • On September 4, 2008, lobbyist Jack Abramoff received a four-year prison sentence for his role in lawmaker corruption.
  • On September 2, 2008, Arizona held their congressional primaries.
  • On August 26, 2008, Alaska and Florida held their congressional primaries.
  • On August 15th, former House Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio) was released from jail after serving 17 1/2 months of a 30-month sentence stemming from his involvement in the Jack Abramoff corruption scandal. Ney received early release from a Cincinnati halfway house for good behavior and participation in a drug and alcohol program.
  • In an August 14th ruling, a U.S. district judge rejected two lines of argument offered by Rep. William Jefferson's legal defense team, upholding racketeering charges brought against the Louisiana Representative. The legal defeat for Jefferson was the latest development in the legal battle surrounding a 16-count indictment.
  • On August 14th, federal prosecutors revealed new evidence against Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) in the ongoing VECO corruption case. Among the allegations was the claim that Stevens offered to use his Washington connections to push a stalled pipeline project in his home state of Alaska.
  • On August 7, 2008, Tennessee held their congressional primaries.
  • On July 29, Federal investigators announced Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) had been indicted on seven counts of making false statements on financial disclosure forms.
  • On July 25, a day after House Democrats fell short of moving forward legislation to release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, Senate Republicans successfully blocked the Senate's Democratic majority's attempt to gain cloture for its energy speculation legislation.
  • In a press conference July 17, Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) vehemently denied any wrongdoing regarding his use of congressional stationery to write on behalf of a school that bears his name.
  • The Senate voted overwhelmingly to authorize new surveillance powers for President Bush, and to provide immunity to phone companies that helped the government listen in on Americans' phone conversations without a warrant.
  • On July 15, 2008, Georgia held their congressional primaries while Alabama held primary runoffs in two districts.
  • Former North Carolina Sen. Jesse Helms (R) died Friday, July 4th in Raleigh, North Carolina. He was 86.
  • Congress approved emergency 2008 Iraq War funding spending legislation for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and included money to fund an extension of unemployment insurance, a new veterans' education benefit and flood recovery. President Bush is expected to sign the bill this week.
  • An expansion of the country's Global AIDS program, which provides monetary assistance for impoverished nations affected by the disease, was blocked by a group of Republican Senators prior to the July 4th recess. The Senators sought more input in crafting the legislation.
  • The main housing and mortgage crisis bill got stuck in the Senate before the 4th of July recess as Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) demanded a vote on his renewable energy amendment in the face of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's (D-Nev.) efforts to pass the bill without amendments.
  • The Senate this week confirmed five nominees to the Federal Election Commission, ending a months-long standoff between Senate Democrats and the White House.
  • In reaction to the Countrywide loan scandal, all six members of the Senate Ethics Panel proposed that there should be stricter mortgage disclosure requirements for lawmakers.
  • Rep. Chris Cannon (R-Utah) became the third House incumbent to lose a primary this year, falling to former gubernatorial aide Jason Chaffetz in Utah’s 3rd district.
  • Francis “Frank” Powers, 67, the millionaire endorsed by Republican leaders as their candidate for the New York congressional seat being vacated by Rep. Vito Fossella (R-N.Y.), died Sunday in his sleep of natural causes.
  • Donna Edwards was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives during a special election in Maryland's 4th congressional district.
  • As his legal troubles mounted last year, Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.) began to pay off a loan to an executive of a Maryland-based global satellite company who was cooperating with prosecutors and could potentially testify against him.
  • A magazine has revealed that some politicians, including Sens. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) and Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), may have received favorable mortgage deals from Countrywide Financial Corporation.
  • The House approved the extended unemployment (H.R.5749) bill Thursday by capturing a slim two-thirds majority of votes.
  • The House failed to "fast track" the extended unemployment (H.R.5749) The bill would extend emergency unemployment compensation for 13 weeks beyond the 26 weeks already authorized under law.

New additions archive


Disclaimer: Congresspedia is not a place to discuss the relative merits or qualifications of candidates for public office, nor to solicit support or opposition to such candidates. The Sunlight Foundation and the Center for Media and Democracy do not support or oppose candidates for public office and, as with all contributor entries to the Congresspedia, to the extent a contributor entry appears to support or oppose a candidate, the speech is that of the individual contributor and not that of either the Sunlight Foundation or the Center for Media and Democracy. Read the full disclaimer.

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