Democrats Slam Sen Cotton #39;s Letter To Iran - The Kelly File
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Democrats Slam Sen Cotton's Letter To Iran - The Kelly File - Video
Democrats who could challenge Clinton for 2016 nomination
A fair and balanced debate with Fox News contributor Angela McGlowan and Penny Lee, former senior adviser to Sen. Harry Reid Watch Angela Mcglowan and Leland Vittert talk about Democrats, ...
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Democrats who could challenge Clinton for 2016 nomination - Video
Democrats blocked a bipartisan human trafficking bill Tuesday, launching a filibuster to protest an abortion provision that has turned into a major ideological test for both parties and that threatens to hold up Loretta Lynch, whom President Obama has picked to replace Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.
The flareup that manages to tie together immigration, abortion, gender and race Ms. Lynch would be the first black female to head the Justice Department has quickly escalated into a major test between Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican, and Minority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat.
Mr. Reid won Tuesdays fight, though not without several defections. Four Democrats joined 52 Republicans in backing the trafficking bill and the abortion provision, though that was still four shy of the 60 needed to overcome the filibuster.
The American people will not forget it, Mr. McConnell vowed ahead of the vote, which he said was an embarrassing predicament for Democrats.
Mr. Reid, though, said the Senate should ditch the trafficking bill and instead move straight to a vote on Ms. Lynch, whom the president nominated Nov. 8 but who has seen her backing tumble the longer she remains on the calendar.
Democrats say its wrong to tie the Lynch nomination to finishing the trafficking bill. Mr. McConnell, who as majority leader controls the schedule, has tried to force Democrats to accept something they dont want the abortion provisions in the trafficking bill in exchange for something they do want in the Lynch vote.
Mr. McConnell said Mr. Obama and the White House could get involved and urge Senate Democrats to forgo their filibuster, but they have instead turned their fire on the GOP leader, accusing him of bungling his new role running the Senate and questioning whether his word can be trusted.
Ms. Lynch has seen her support among Senate Republicans tumble after she declined to criticize the presidents Nov. 20 immigration actions, which granted a temporary amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants. In her confirmation hearing she defended the legal reasoning behind the policy.
A federal judge last month ruled the policy likely illegal and has issued an injunction halting it.
The trafficking bill, meanwhile, has stumbled over the GOPs inclusion of the so-called Hyde amendment language prohibiting federal funds from being used to pay for abortions. In this case, the prohibition would apply to penalties collected from traffickers, which are supposed to be used to help victims.
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Democrats filibuster trafficking bill, GOP to delay Lynch nomination
A Senate showdown over a popular anti-human trafficking bill escalated Tuesday, as Democrats filibustered the measure in protest Republican-backed abortion restrictions.
The heated standoff jeopardizes not only passage of the otherwise bipartisan bill to fight human sex trafficking but also leaves Senate confirmation of President Obama's choice for attorney general in limbo.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has refused to consider the confirmation of Loretta Lynch, who would become the first African American woman to lead the Department of Justice, until the Senate dispatches with the human trafficking bill.
But Senate Democrats refused to advance the human trafficking measure until Republicans strip out a provision that would restrict money from a new $30-million victims fund from being used for abortion services except in rare cases. Republicans refused.
The Senate voted, 55-43, failing to reach the 60-vote threshold needed to advance the bill. A second vote also failed.
Civil rights and African American leaders have joined the White House in criticizing Senate Republicans for delaying Lynch's confirmation. She has faced unusually strong opposition from GOP senators despite her professional qualifications as the U.S. attorney for New York's Brooklyn office.
But McConnell said Tuesday that Democrats were to blame for the hold up, as they cater to "left-wing" abortion rights groups.
"Democrats filibustering help for terrified children and abused women would represent a new low here in the Senate," McConnell said shortly before the vote.
Democrats, though, said Republicans should simply remove the abortion restrictions to allow the bill to advance.
Democrats have argued that even though Congress has a longstanding agreement to prohibit using taxpayer funds for abortion except in cases of rape, incest or a threat to the life of the mother, adding the restriction to the trafficking bill's victims fund is an unacceptable expansion.
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Senate Democrats stall anti-human trafficking bill over abortion limits
As Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner tries to win approval for a state budget with severe spending cuts, Senate Democrats have emerged as the loudest opponents, holding news conferences and committee hearings to denounce the governor's proposals as "unworkable" and "unconscionable."
The latest front in that effort unfolded Monday, when lawmakers grilled Rauner's newly appointed social services chief at a Chicago hearing packed with low-income parents, people with disabilities and senior citizens who said they rely on the services that Rauner plans to cut back.
One by one, the Democratic senators questioned Gregory Bassi, acting secretary of the Department of Human Services, which under Rauner's proposed budget would lose an estimated $424 million come July 1.
"When you decide to cut a program (or) you decide to reduce funding, it's one thing when you see it on paper," Sen. Michael Hastings, D-Tinley Park, said as he capped off a tense back-and-forth with Bassi. "But when you look behind you and you come to the suburbs and you see what it's like on the ground, you may think differently about these cuts."
Dozens of people who filled the hearing room were on hand to drive home that point: A eighth-grade student who gave a rave review of her after-school program, a day care provider who begged against cuts to subsidized services, a man using a wheelchair who worried about losing the assistance he said keeps him out of a nursing home.
Many of those who were set to talk at the hearing were made available to reporters beforehand. It's a time-tested way for social service groups to push back against proposed budget cuts putting a human face on what otherwise could remain slices on a budget pie chart. Such groups generally don't have the campaign cash to get lawmakers' attention like other interest groups at the Capitol.
Democratic Senate President John Cullerton tried a version of that last week when he addressed a different crowd at a luncheon hosted by the City Club of Chicago.
"Gov. Rauner sees the budget as merely a math problem. I see the people behind those numbers, people struggling to get ahead," Cullerton said before attempting to play a video featuring a young woman who had benefited from a state scholarship program. But Cullerton's plan to pepper his speech with similar videos to illustrate his point that Rauner's budget is "as unworkable as it is unconscionable" was foiled by a technical glitch.
Cullerton has been on the opposite side of Rauner and Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan, who both said last month that a deal was close on fixing a $1.6 billion shortfall in the current budget passed under former Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn. Talks stalled in the weeks since, and Cullerton's staff indicated a reluctance among the more liberal Senate Democratic caucus to give the governor broad authority to make cuts. Instead, Senate Democrats tooled up their own version that would give Rauner more narrow authority, which Republicans dismissed as a political stunt.
That tension surfaced at Monday's hearing, with Republican Sen. Matt Murphy of Palatine becoming visibly frustrated after Bassi faced tough questioning over this year's still-unsolved budget woes.
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Senate Democrats emerge as top foes of Rauner budget cuts