US Senate Republicans Block Military Aid for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan | DW News

Dec 7, 2023 | US Republican senators have blocked a bill aimed at providing billions of dollars of military aid to Ukraine and Israel. They insist that any aid to Ukraine must be tied to stronger policies to control immigration across the border with Mexico. The result of the vote will send the lawmakers back to the negotiating table. President Joe Biden has signaled he's prepared to make compromises to get the aid approved.

Senator Dianne Feinstein, Trailblazer for Women in US Politics, Dies Aged 90

GUARDIAN – US: Death of longest-serving female US senator, who was due to retire at end of her term next year, has weighty political implications

Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, has died. Photograph: J Scott Applewhite/AP
The California Democratic senator Dianne Feinstein, who blazed a trail for women in US politics, has died. She was 90.

For Democrats, news of the death of the first woman to represent California in the US Senate, who was also the longest-serving female senator in US history, has appropriately weighty political implications.

Faced with growing questions about her age and fitness, Feinstein was due to retire at the end of her term.

The race to succeed her in a safe Democratic seat has attracted high-profile candidates, Adam Schiff, a former House intelligence chair, squaring off against fellow members of Congress Katie Porter and Barbara Lee.

The Democratic governor of California, Gavin Newsom, has promised to install a Black woman in any vacant seat. » | Martin Pengelly in Washington | Friday, September 29, 2023

Dianne Feinstein, 90, Dies; Oldest Sitting Senator and Fixture of California Politics: She achieved remarkable political breakthroughs as a woman, becoming San Francisco’s first female mayor and the first woman elected to the Senate from California. »

Dianne Feinstein, figure historique du Parti démocrate et doyenne du Sénat américain, est morte : Elle a été la première femme maire de San Francisco, avant d’être sénatrice de Californie pendant plus de trente ans. Elle est morte à l’âge de 90 ans. »

Dianne Feinstein gestorben: Zuletzt hatte sie mit gesundheitlichen Problemen zu kämpfen. Nun ist die demokratische Senatorin Feinstein im Alter von 90 Jahren gestorben. Über die Parteigrenzen hinweg genoss sie große Anerkennung. »

Democrats Hold Senate Floor Overnight to Protest Amy Coney Barrett Confirmation

The US Senate on Saturday and Sunday will debate Donald Trump's supreme court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett. Democrats are expressing outrage at the vacancy being filled so close to the election, but with a 53-47 majority, Republicans have the votes they need to approve her

The Rogue Crown Prince & the Dangerous US-Saudi-Israel Alliance

Col. Lawrence Wilkerson and Paul Jay discuss the US Senate resolution condemning Mohamed Bin Salman for the killing of Jamal Khashoggi; there is concern amongst the neocons of both major parties that MBS is undermining the strategy to weaken Iran

Senate Votes To End US Support For Saudi-Led War In Yemen | Velshi & Ruhle | MSNBC

In a stinging rebuke of President Trump and the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the US Senate voted to end military support of the Saudi-led war in Yemen.

Senate Passes Bill to Dismantle ObamaCare

Dec. 04, 2015 - 2:05 - Mike Emanuel reports from Washington, D.C.

Senate Intelligence Head Says CIA 'Searched Computers'

BBC: The head of the US Senate intelligence committee has publicly accused the CIA of improperly accessing computers used by congressional staff.

Senator Dianne Feinstein said on the Senate floor that such activities "may have undermined the constitutional framework" of government oversight.

The Senate panel was investigating allegations of abuse during a CIA detention and interrogation programme.

A CIA internal watchdog has been tasked with looking into the alleged hacking.

"I am not taking it lightly," Ms Feinstein said of the matter on Tuesday, adding that the CIA may have violated federal laws in its alleged conduct. » | Tuesday, March 11, 2014

US Shutdown: Senate Reaches Fiscal Deal

Harry Reid

BBC: Republican and Democratic leaders of the US Senate have struck a cross-party deal to end a partial government shutdown and raise the US debt limit.

Their bill must also pass the House, where a small group of Republicans are expected to join Democrats to send the bill to President Barack Obama.

The bill extends the federal borrowing limit until 7 February and funds the government to 15 January.

It comes just a day before the deadline to raise the $16.7tn (£10.5tn) limit. (+ videos) » | Wednesday, October 14, 2013

Senate Sanctions Syria Strike: 'Jihadists to Thrive in Case of Attack'

Russia has released expert findings showing that a chemical attack in Syria was apparently conducted by the rebels, and not the regime; while in US, Obama's push for a strike on Syria has passed the first hurdle - after the Senate committee voted in favor of the resolution. The US Secretary of State also pitched the case to the House of representatives. One reason for an attack that Kerry cited, was to prevent US allies in the Gulf states from increasing their support to Al-Qaeda cells within the Syrian opposition, which they might do in desperation to topple Assad. Defense analyst and author Ivan Eland says this rhetoric does not stand up to scrutiny.

U.S. Senator Scott Brown (R-Mass.) walks towards the Senate Chamber in Washington. Photograph: The Globe and Mail
Naked Ambition: Ex-Cosmopolitan Centrefold Is Now a Congressional Powerhouse
THE GLOBE AND MAIL: Republican Scott Brown’s legislative vote is a key to deal makers on both sides of the aisle

As captain of his Senate office softball team, Scott Brown wears the number “41” on his uniform. But the figure applies only episodically to the Massachusetts Republican’s batting record in Congress.

Instead of hewing faithfully to the Tea Party forces that fuelled his January election as the 41st GOP senator needed to block Barack Obama’s ambitious legislative program, Mr. Brown can regularly be found lining up with Democrats – or at least talking to them – to become the critical 60th Senate “yea” in favour of the President’s agenda.

In today’s Washington, where rabid partisanship rules, that makes him highly unorthodox. It also makes him indispensable to deal makers on both sides of the congressional aisle, not to mention the head honcho in the White House.

“He is definitely one of the most powerful people in government right now,” Gabriel Lenz, a political science professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said in interview. “If you put senators on a spectrum from the most liberal to the most conservative, the 60th most liberal member just has so much power. And he’s that person.” >>> Konrad Yakabuski | Tuesday, July 2010

Related articles and video here, here, here, here, here, and here

Historic Wall Street Overhaul Passed by US Senate
TIMES ONLINE: The US Senate has passed legislation that will usher in the biggest overhaul of Wall Street since the Great Depression, fulfilling President Barack Obama’s vow to toughen regulation of the financial sector following the credit crisis.

The Senate voted 59 to 39 to pass the 1,500-page Restoring American Financial Stability Act overnight, after months of argument between Democrats and Republicans over President Obama’s reform proposals.

The House of Representatives passed its own bill based on the President’s ideas last December. Now lawmakers from both branches of Congress must meld the two bills into one piece of legislation.

The Senate’s yes-vote is a significant achievement for President Obama, who made reforming America’s financial regulatory system one of his key domestic priorities. Since passing his historic healthcare reform bill in March, the President has thrown much of his energy into urging Republicans and Wall Street to support the changes, which attempt to plug the holes in America's patchwork of financial monitoring. Read on and comment >>> Christine Seib, New York | Friday, May 21, 2010

NZZ ONLINE: Der US-Senat verabschiedet Obamas Finanzreform: Mehr Kontrolle über die Banken und besserer Schutz für Konsumenten >>> sda/dpa/afp | Freitag, 21. Mai 2010

LE MONDE: La réforme de Wall Street adoptée par le Sénat américain >>> LeMonde.fr avec AFP et Reuters | Vendredi 21 Mai 2010

Democrats Fear Every Seat Up for Grabs After Massachusetts Defeat
TIMES ONLINE: Fear and recrimination ricocheted through the Democratic Party today after the loss of a safe Senate seat left Congressmen feeling none of them was secure in the upcoming midterm elections.

Barbara Boxer, a Democratic senator for California, confirmed the sense of alarm spreading through the party. “Every state is now in play,” she told Politico.

Tuesday night’s Massachusetts by-election defeat, in one of the most liberal states in America, stripped President Obama of his 60th, filibuster-proof vote in the US Senate.

Claire McCaskill, senator from Missouri, said: “If there’s anybody in this building that doesn’t tell you they’re more worried about elections today, you absolutely should slap them.”

Mr Obama was scrambling yesterday to save his entire domestic agenda after losing the late Edward Kennedy’s Senate seat, a defeat that dealt a devastating blow to hopes of reforming the US health system.

The loss of an almost sacred Democratic seat, which Mr Kennedy had held for 47 years, was a humiliating upset that showed Mr Obama how the popular mood has turned against his policies and his party, a year to the day after he took office. >>> Tim Reid in Washington and Times Online | Thursday, January 21, 2010

US Senate Asked to Probe Lockerbie 'Oil Deal'
TIMES ONLINE: A veteran United States senator has asked Congress to investigate whether negotiations for a lucrative Libyan oil contract played a role in the release of the Lockerbie bomber.

The call from Frank Lautenberg, a New Jersey Democrat, will add to the pressure on Gordon Brown, who has been accused of damaging - or even killing off - the transatlantic "special relationship" by backing the release of Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi.

The Prime Minister insisted yesterday that there had been nothing underhand in the decision by the Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill to free al-Megrahi. The 57-year-old is dying from prostate cancer.

“There was no conspiracy, no cover-up, no double-dealing, no deal on oil, no attempt to instruct Scottish ministers, no private assurances by me to Colonel Gaddafi,” Mr Brown told an audience in Birmingham.

The former Libyan intelligence office served just eight years of a life sentence for his role in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, killing 270 people including 11 on the ground. Two-thirds of the victims were American and their relatives reacted with fury to the news that he was to be freed.

Mr Lautenberg called for a Senate investigation into the decision in a letter to Senator John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Richard Lugar, the ranking Republican member. He said that the congressional panel “must expose the truth" and “uncover whether justice took a back seat to commercial interests". >>> Philippe Naughton | Thursday, September 03, 2009