On the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. this week, members of the House and Senate took time to remember his impact in American history.
Lawmakers featured in this video include: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.; Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.; Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.; Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C.; Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga.; and Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, a Michigan Democrat who chairs the Congressional Black Caucus.
The House today narrowly passed a bill designed to improve mine safety despite a veto threat from the White House. The vote was 214-199.
Here are debate excerpts floor speeches by Democrats George Miller of California, Tim Bishop of New York, Rush Holt of New Jersey and John Yarmuth of Kentucky.
The Senate on Thursday voted to confirm former federal judge Michael Mukasey as the next attorney general but not without a pointed debate about his qualifications. The final vote was 53-40.
Courtesy of CapNews.Net, here are excerpts of the debate from: Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.; Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.; Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.; and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
The first time in 20 years that Congress has not sent the president even one annual appropriations bill by this time of the year. The Senate’s longest delay in 20 years to confirm an attorney general. The prospect of unfunded troops in the field without funding. Twenty million more Americans subject to the alternative minimum tax. An outdated intelligence surveillance law.
If you’re a Republican in the Senate and add it all up, as some of them did at a press conference today, it equals Democratic mismanagement of Congress. “It’s time to start doing things that are important to the country,” said Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
The do-nothing-Democrats theme has been embraced by Republicans from President Bush on down in recent weeks. In the past, the GOP has accused the Democratic leadership of fostering chaos and breakingpromises.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has taken his push for a permanent ban on taxing Internet access to the very forum that the ban aims to protect. The Kentucky Republican yesterday released an online video that touts such a ban, and today he made the case for the ban on Internet’s talk radio portal, BlogTalkRadio.
Taxes on Internet have been banned in most states under a moratorium that was first enacted in 1998 and that has been renewed twice since then. The current moratorium is set to expire Nov. 1.
“Letting the moratorium expire is nothing more than a backdoor tax increase,” McConnell said in the video. “Democrats in Congress are hoping you won’t notice when your bill goes up. But I’m here to stop them. We need to permanently ban taxing Internet access now, before it’s too late.”
Past moratoriums have been imposed by bipartisan majorities and key opponents of a permanent ban include Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander, a former governor of Tennessee, but McConnell continued to blame Democrats for blocking a permanent ban in his interview with Heading Right Radio.
McConnell encouraged people to sign his petition against Internet taxes. “I think hearing from people would be very helpful” in ensuring that a permanent ban is imposed before the moratorium expires, he said.
Other issues covered in the interview included:
The veto of a bill to expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. McConnell said the Democratic majority is trying to expand the program to children who are not poor and to adults.
Continued funding of military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. McConnell said that despite Democratic resistance against continuing such funding, Congress will not adjourn for the year without providing more money. “How much is enough for these people?” he said. “The president has already begun the drawdown of troops.”
Iran’s actions in the Middle East. “We know they’re up to no good,” McConnell said.
Trade with China and the safety of the products that nation imports into the United States and other countries. “One thing about the Chinese is they want to do business,” McConnell said, and they are learning that they have to satisy customers by offering products that are safe for consumption.”
The record of the Democratic Congress. He criticized Democrats for their support of tax increases, trial lawyers and even the political philosophies of the French. “They want to turn us into France when even the French are having second thoughts,” McConnell said.
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