Tagg Romney is considering a run in the special Senate election now that Scott Brown has opted out, the Truth Squad has learned.
Calls for Romney, 42, to join in the short campaign to replace Secretary of State John F. Kerry have increased since the Herald first reported heavyweight Republicans are urging both Romney and his mother, Ann, to get in.
The eldest son of former governor and presidential candidate Mitt Romney already has statewide name recognition and could quickly ramp up the campaign infrastructure for a short, five-month race.
The father of six was a regular on the campaign trail in both of his father’s failed races for president in 2008 and 2012, which would give him some political know-how while working to win over Bay State voters. But the younger Romney is weighing joining the fray against remaining with his successful venture capital firm, Solamere. Many Democrats also have noted Mitt Romney’s dismal Bay State returns in the most recent presidential election, losing the state by 23 points.
Geraldo Rivera from the Fox News Network signaled that he may run for the Senate representing New Jersey, saying that he’s been in touch with “some people in the Republican party” about running in 2014. But it seems that Geraldo is suffering from short-term memory.
In the 2012 presidential election, Geraldo went against everything Fox News and the Republicans stand for when he openly admitted he was voting for President Obama. In the tweet sent on November 5th right before the election, Geraldo said that he endorses Romney/Ryan, but will vote for Obama/Biden because of their stance on immigration and gay marriage.
Yes, that may have been his best vote yet, but if you really think New Jersey Republicans will forgive him for voting for their enemy and send Geraldo to the Senate, then I have a bridge in Brooklyn I’ll like to sell ya!
Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) said Tuesday that senate leaders are getting close to a deal on filibuster reform and the chamber will take up the issue soon, probably after taking up a bill to award $60 billion in aid to victims of Hurricane Sandy.
“Once we complete that vital legislation,” Reid said of the Sandy bill, “the Senate will take action to make this institution that we all love — the United States Senate — work more effectively.”
“I’m confident we’ll reach an agreement that allows the Senate to operate more effectively in coming months,” he said in remarks on the Senate floor.
Democrats have been vowing to reform the Senate’s rules to make it harder for the minority party to bog down action by requiring nearly every bill to win 60 votes and clear a Republican filibuster. They believe the filibuster, once a legislative tool invoked only rarely, has become abused. Republicans say it is their only way to get a voice in a chamber where Democrats routinely prevent the GOP from offering amendments to key legislation.
Republican House Leader John Boehner played around with this all year. He knew we were quickly approaching a deadline, but instead of working with the President to come to a deal of the Fiscal Cliff, Boehner continued the games and now expects the Senate to solve his problems.
But Senate Leader Harry Reid has something to say about that:
Speaking on the Senate floor, Reid castigated Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) for sending members of the House back to their districts last week after he was forced to scrap his “Plan B” tax plan for lack of support.
The Democratic leader said that even if Boehner agreed to hold a vote extending the Bush tax rates for incomes up to $250,000 — as Democrats have demanded to avoid one part of the fiscal cliff — it might not make it through Congress in time to prevent tax increases from beginning next year.
“I have to be honest — I don’t know, time-wise, how it can happen now,” Reid said.
Boehner said last week that he would give members of the House 48 hours notice if they needed to return for a vote on fiscal matters, but GOP leaders have yet to give the order for them to return.
“[Boehner] should call them back today — he shouldn’t have let them go, in fact,” Reid said.
Senators returned to work on Thursday with time running out to reach an agreement on a slew of tax increases and automatic spending cuts that are set to begin in January.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) may have made United States senate history today when he beat his own legislative baloney, blocking a straight up-or-down vote on a proposal that he, himself, offered for a vote Thursday morning. The bill, which would have taken the debt ceiling gun away from the head of the U.S. economy by requiring a two-thirds majority to override a presidential increase to the debt ceiling, was McConnell’s idea, but when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid agreed with McConnell’s request for a vote on the bill Thursday afternoon, McConnell objected.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) wanted to prove on Thursday that Democrats don’t have the votes to weaken Congress’ authority on the debt limit. Instead they called his bluff, and he ended up filibustering his own bill.
The legislation, modeled on a proposal McConnell offered last year as a “last-choice option” to avert a U.S. debt default, would permit the president to unilaterally lift the debt ceiling unless Congress mustered a two-thirds majority to stop him.
McConnell brought up the legislation Thursday morning. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) initially objected, seemingly proving the Republican leader’s point that it cannot pass the Senate. But then Reid ran it by his members and, in the afternoon, agreed to hold that same vote. This time it was McConnell who objected.
“The Republican leader objects to his own idea,” Reid declared on the floor. “So I guess we have a filibuster of his own bill.”
Rachel Maddow has a very interesting take on why Republicans – led by John McCain and Lindsey Graham – are so against the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice. And according to Maddow’s theory, the reason has absolutely nothing to do with Rice’s ability to do the job and everything to do with another Massachusetts Senator, John Kerry.
Maddow explains: Ambassador Rice is one of two candidates reportedly on the short list to become the next Secretary of State after Hillary Clinton. The other candidate on that short list besides Rice, is Massachusetts Senator John Kerry. And if somehow Susan Rice is disqualified from becoming Secretary of State and President Obama picks John Kerry instead, guess what happens in the United States Senate… Massachusetts suddenly has an open Senate Seat, as well as a certain Republican Senator from that state [Scott Brown] who is basically sitting around doing nothing since he just lost his re-election effort [against Elizabeth Warren].
In her typical way, Maddow breaks it down like this:
For the second time in two days, Senate Republicans on Tuesday blocked legislation aimed at making campaign groups more transparent.
In a party-line 53-45 vote, the Senate killed the DISCLOSE Act. It needed at least 60 votes to move forward.
Republicans said the DISCLOSE Act would discourage free speech by intimidating donors. The bill would have prevented outside campaign groups from hiding their donors by requiring organizations that spend $10,000 or more during an election cycle to file a report with the Federal Election Commission within 24 hours and identify any donors who gave $10,000 or more.
“It is a predictable response,” Lisa Gilbert, Deputy Director at Public Citizen’s Congress Watch division, told Raw Story. “It’s a false claim. Only those who have something to hide think that disclosure harms free speech.”
“Disclosure is obvious, easy and Americans want it,” she added.
Republicans are sticking to their guns on this one. Let’s try to understand exactly what is meant when politicians say “equal pay for equal work.”
Let’s say there are two truck drivers, a male and a female. The both start at the same point, let’s call that point… point A. They drive the same road carrying the same merchandise to point B in another state. When the two drivers arrive at point B, the male truck driver gets paid $10.00 for driving his truck, and the female driver gets $7.77. So two people driving the same vehicle along the same route going the same distance, gets paid differently base on their gender. Males get more, females fall back.
How is this right?
It’s not. But today in Congress, Republicans blocked a bill that would have allowed hard-working women the opportunity to get equal pay for the equal work they’re doing every day. These women are in the workforce, doing the same work that men do, but Republicans are united in their effort to keep women’s paychecks in second class status.
After the bill failed in the Senate, President Obama expressed his frustrations with Republicans, saying “...it is incredibly disappointing that in this make or break moment for the middle class, Senate Republicans put partisan politics ahead of American women and their families.”
And the Republican leader Mitt Romney? What did he have to say about women getting equal pay for equal work? Well, we’re still waiting. Mr. Romney was given many opportunity to respond to reporters’ questions about where he stood on women getting equal pay for the work they’re doing, but still, Romney stay quiet. “We’ll get back to you on that,” was the response from Romney’s Campaign manager.
We can only hope the women of America are listening. Republicans have been on a constant war against women’s rights, women’s health and women’s economic needs. Regardless of where you fall on the political spectrum – from far-left Democrat to far-right Republican – denying hardworking women a fair pay for them doing the very same work a man is doing is wrong. And voting for a Republican who is determined to keep women as second class citizens, is also wrong!
After months of Republican opposition to the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act, it finally passed the Senate yesterday on a 68-31 vote. All 31 votes against the re-authorization of the bill came from Senate Republicans. For the other Republicans who joined with the Democrats to pass the bill, maybe it was this emotional plea from Sen Al Franken that did it.
The bill now goes to the Republican controlled House of Representatives where it will face a much harder time.
President Obama today did what Republicans in Congress refused to do simply because of their political ideology. He bypassed the broken system in Washington and installed Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Protection Agency.
“When Congress refuses to act, and as a result, hurts our economy and puts our people at risk, then I have an obligation as President to do what I can without them,” the President stated as he addressed his supporters in Shaker Heights, Ohio. “I’ve got an obligation to act on behalf of the American people. And I’m not going to stand by while a minority in the Senate puts party ideology ahead of the people that we were elected to serve.”
Congressional Republicans’ refusal to even schedule hearings on Mr. Cordray’s appointment falls in line with their obvious hypocrisy as the Consumer Protection Agency is all about protecting consumers and that is something Republicans will not do. The President said it best today, “The only reason Republicans in the Senate have blocked Richard is because they don’t agree with the law that set up a consumer watchdog in the first place.”
Chalk this one up as a win for the hard-working middle class families. Earlier today, John Boehner, under excruciating pressure from members of his own party, caved and agreed to the payroll tax cut bill the Senate passed last week – a move that would save American families $1000.00 a year.
It was the kind of pressure that could make one appear red in the face!
Under a deal reached between House and Senate leaders — which Speaker John A. Boehner was presenting to the rank and file in an evening conference call — House members would accept the two-month extension of a payroll tax holiday and unemployment benefits approved by the Senate last Saturday, while the Senate would appoint members of a House-Senate conference committee to negotiate legislation to extend both benefits through 2012.
House Republicans — who rejected an almost identical deal on Tuesday on the House floor — caved in under the political rubble that accumulated over the week, much of it from members of their own party, who worried the blockade would do serious damage to the party brand heading into an election year. The new deal makes minor adjustments to make it easier for small businesses with temporary new caps on the wages that are subject to the tax relief.
On news of Boehner’s reversal, President Obama issued a statement, saying “Because of this agreement, every working American will keep his or her tax cut – about $1,000 for the average family. That’s about $40 in every paycheck. And when Congress returns, I urge them to keep working to reach an agreement that will extend this tax cut and unemployment insurance for all of 2012 without drama or delay.”
January 1st is right around the corner, and for many hard-working Americans struggling to make ends meet, what may happen on that day, may be the last thing you want to hear about.
The same Republicans who, time and time again, put the necks of the middle class on the chopping block to protect tax cuts for the rich, voted today to raise taxes on the poor and middle class Americans, beginning the first day in January.
After seeing how House Republicans are so blatantly against the hard workers of this country, an obviously upset President, Mr. Obama, interrupted a press briefing to deliver this statement.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Good afternoon, everybody. It is no secret that there hasn’t been an abundance of partisanship in Washington this year. And that’s why what happened on Saturday was such a big deal.
Nearly the entire Senate — including almost all of the Republicans — voted to prevent 160 million working Americans from receiving a tax increase on January 1st. Nearly the entire Senate voted to make sure that nearly 2.5 million Americans who are out there looking for a job don’t lose their unemployment insurance in the first two months of next year. And just about everybody –Democrats and Republicans — committed to making sure that early next year we find a way to extend the payroll tax cut and unemployment insurance through the end of 2012.
But now, even though Republicans and Democrats in the Senate were willing to compromise for the good of the country, a faction of Republicans in the House are refusing to even vote on the Senate bill — a bill that cuts taxes for 160 million Americans. And because of their refusal to cooperate, all those Americans could face a tax hike in just 11 days, and millions of Americans who are out there looking for work could find their unemployment insurance expired.
Now, let’s be clear: Right now, the bipartisan compromise that was reached on Saturday is the only viable way to prevent a tax hike on January 1st. It’s the only one. All of the leaders in Congress — Democrats and Republicans — say they are committed to making sure we extend the payroll tax cut and unemployment insurance for the entire year. And by the way, this is something I called for months ago.
The issue is, is that the Republican and Democratic leaders of the Senate worked on a one-year deal, made good progress, but determined that they needed more time to reach an agreement. And that’s why they passed an insurance policy — to make sure that taxes don’t go up on January 1st.
In fact, the House Republicans say they don’t dispute the need for a payroll tax cut. What they’re really trying to do, what they’re holding out for, is to wring concessions from Democrats on issues that have nothing to do with the payroll tax cut — issues where the parties fundamentally disagree. So a one-year deal is not the issue; we can and we will come to that agreement, as long as it’s focused on the payroll tax cut and unemployment insurance and not focused on extraneous issues.
The issue right now is this: The clock is ticking; time is running out. And if the House Republicans refuse to vote for the Senate bill, or even allow it to come up for a vote, taxes will go up in 11 days. I saw today that one of the House Republicans referred to what they’re doing as, “high-stakes poker.” He’s right about the stakes, but this is not poker, this is not a game — this shouldn’t be politics as usual. Right now, the recovery is fragile, but it is moving in the right direction. Our failure to do this could have effects not just on families but on the economy as a whole. It’s not a game for the average family, who doesn’t have an extra 1,000 bucks to lose. It’s not a game for somebody who’s out there looking for work right now, and might lose his house if unemployment insurance doesn’t come through. It’s not a game for the millions of Americans who will take a hit when the entire economy grows more slowly because these proposals aren’t extended.
I just got back from a ceremony at Andrews Air Force Base, where we received the flag and the colors that our troops fought under in Iraq, and I met with some of the last men and women to return home from that war. And these Americans, and all Americans who serve, are the embodiment of courage and selflessness and patriotism, and when they fight together, and sometimes die together, they don’t know and they certainly don’t care who’s a Democrat and who’s a Republican and how somebody is doing in the polls and how this might play in the spin room. They work as a team, and they do their job. And they do it for something bigger than themselves.
The people in this town need to learn something from them. We have more important things to worry about than politics right now. We have more important things to worry about than saving face, or figuring out internal caucus politics. We have people who are counting on us to make their lives just a little bit easier, to build an economy where hard work pays off and responsibility is rewarded. And we owe it to them to come together right now and do the right thing. That’s what the Senate did. Democrats and Republicans in the Senate said, we’re going to put our fights on other issues aside and go ahead and do what’s right on something we all agree to. Let’s go ahead and do it. We’ll have time later for the politics; we’ll have time later to have fights around a whole bunch of other issues. Right now, though, we know this is good for the economy — and they went ahead and did the right thing.
I need the Speaker and House Republicans to do the same: Put politics aside, put aside issues where there are fundamental disagreements, and come together on something we agree on. And let’s not play brinksmanship. The American people are weary of it; they’re tired of it. They expect better. I’m calling on the Speaker and the House Republican leadership to bring up the Senate bill for a vote. Give the American people the assurance they need in this holiday season.
We use cookies to improve your experience on our site. By agreeing to this, we can analyze browsing behavior and unique IDs on this site. Declining or revoking consent may affect certain features.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
