The federal government currently takes in a lot less revenue than it spends, and U.S. Sen. Bob Corker has a plan to flip that equation on its head. On Tuesday, Corker, R-Tenn., introduced a bill with U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., that would require Congress to cap all spending at a “declining level” of the country’s gross domestic product over the next decade.
The public wake for Peace Corps founder and humanitarian Sargent Shriver is going on now in Washington, D.C. Matt Laslo talked to his friends and admirers in the line that stretched outside the church. Shriver touched millions of lives worldwide in his ninety five years. Many of the attendees never knew him personally but came out because they served around the world in the Peace Corps.
As of December 1, the 72 House Democrats and 24 House Republicans who lost their seats in November or were retiring had to pack up their offices and return their phones, computers, desks, chairs, and couches—all of which lined the hallways while their empty suites were cleaned and readied for the next occupants.
But Rogers didn’t get reelected by eighty four percent purely because of how he votes. He’s helped bolster the economy of southeastern Kentucky from his seat on the powerful Appropriations Committee. That’s Congress-speak for the committee that controls federal spending. Rogers is anything but ashamed of all the “pork” or earmarks he’s brought home from that perch.
Nearly a year after Congress passed new ethics rules, two San Diego Congressmen are fighting for an occasional free beer. Members of the Congressional Small Brewers Caucus say until the rules are tweaked, they’re stuck in prohibition.
Based
on Capitol Hill, Matt Laslo is a freelance reporter who has been
covering Congress, the White House and the Supreme Court for more than
five years.