Today in Washington D. C. - Feb 1, 2008

On The Floor: The Senate adjourned for the weekend yesterday after holding only one roll call vote all week. Senate will reconvene at 2 PM on Monday. It will then resume consideration of the FISA reform bill (S. 2248). At 5:30 PM, there will be a cloture vote on the motion to proceed to the economic stimulus bill (H.R. 5140).

CQ Today reports that “Senate leaders reached agreement Thursday evening on which amendments to allow” on the FISA bill. The Senate will debate FISA for two days starting Monday and will take up a number of amendments, including at least three Democrat amendments concerning immunity for telecom companies that assisted the government with surveillance programs. Yesterday, ARRA News posted Bradley Blakeman, CEO of Freedom's Watch, call to action to "Help Protect America." With the lack of timely action on FISA, Blakeman asks the American voters to contact their senators to "tell them to give our law enforcement and intelligence agencies the tools they need to keep us safe."

From Senate & News Sources: Political posturing and campaigning have put off Senate action on an economic stimulus bill until next week. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was unapologetic, declaring that Democrats want “the stamp of the Democratic Party” on the stimulus bill. Reid seems to have a continual memory lapse and forgets the House is led by Democrats. He also continues to forget that he is NOT in the "Democratic" but the Democrat party. If Reid had to be on the ballot nationally for his position, he would be out of office -- now that would be democratic!

This presumptuous "stamp" of approval comes with a high price tag. According to the AP, the Senate Democrats have decided they want to add $32 billion to the bipartisan House-passed stimulus package and “attach a multibillion-dollar grab-bag of cherished items.” Democrats scrambled to add their favorite spending ideas to the bill this week, “jeopardizing efforts to speed” passage. Sen. Mitch McConnell criticized the Democrat delays in order to load up spending on the stimulus package, saying, “the temptation to add goodies proved too great. As soon as the bill hit the Senate, it started to look a lot like Christmas over here. McConnell reiterated that the best way to quickly get relief to Americans is to pass the House bill without weighing it down with “endless additional spending proposals.”

The Washington Post noted that another reason for the delay is Reid’s desire to have his party’s presidential candidates, Sens. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Barack Obama (D-IL), around to vote for Democrat proposals on the stimulus. Note ARRA News editorial: Senators for President Failing Their Duties. Meanwhile, CongressDaily reports, “With the window fast closing to add favored initiatives to the economic stimulus measure, Democrats are increasingly touting a second package they say should deal with longer-term economic issues like infrastructure, housing and alternative energy production.”

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