President Barack Obama signs the 3 month extension of the Highway bill in the Oval Office. President Obama signed the bill into law to extend transportation funding until October 29, but said that short term extensions are a bad way for the U.S. government to do business
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President Barack Obama signs H.R. 240, the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act of 2015. The president signed a law funding the Homeland Security Department through the end of the budget year.
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Keystone oil pipeline veto override fails in the Senate 62-37. 👏👏👏👏 #NoKXL
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(@KickAssLiberal) March 04, 2015Senate sustains President Obama's veto of the Keystone XL oil pipeline; vote was 62-37 (not two thirds)
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Jamie Dupree (@jamiedupree) March 04, 2015****
Republicans fail to override Obama veto of Keystone XL measure bloom.bg/1zYE1Jh http://t.co/rNrg5F1JqQ
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Bloomberg Business (@business) March 04, 2015NEW: Senate votes 62-37, fails to override Pres. Obama's Keystone XL pipeline bill veto
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CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) March 04, 2015****
Senate Fails In Bid To Override Obama's Veto On Keystone XL Pipeline n.pr/1GTKM3K
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NPR News (@nprnews) March 04, 2015BREAKING: Republican-led Senate fails to overturn Obama's veto of bill approving Keystone XL pipeline.
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The Associated Press (@AP) March 04, 2015
NYT: On the Senate floor and the television airwaves, Senator Mitch McConnell has lambasted the Obama administration over what he has described as its failed efforts to stimulate new jobs through clean-energy projects backed with billions of dollars in federal loans or other assistance.
But Mr. McConnell, of Kentucky, is one of several prominent Republicans who have worked to steer federal money to clean-energy projects in their home states, Energy Department documents show.
Mr. McConnell made two personal appeals in 2009, asking Energy Secretary Steven Chu to approve as much as $235 million in federal loans for a plant to build electric vehicles in Franklin, Ky. “I hope you will realize the importance of such job creation to Kentucky,” Mr. McConnell said in a July 2009 memo supporting an application from Zap Motor Manufacturing.
Federal lobbying disclosure records show that Mr. McConnell’s support for the project came after Zap Motor hired a Kentucky-based lobbyist, Robert Babbage, who has been a frequent contributor to Mr. McConnell’s campaigns and boasts on his own Internet site about his close ties to Mr. McConnell.
…. Another Republican, Representative Lamar Smith of Texas, recently asked Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to appoint an outside investigator to determine how the Department of Energy distributes clean-energy money. But in 2009, Mr. Smith wrote to Mr. Chu asking him to approve loan guarantees from stimulus money for a Texas project proposed by Tessera Solar, documents show.
Full article here
AMERICABlog: So the same person who complained about the stimulus yet kept his state afloat because of the stimulus money is now asking for federal tax dollars to help with wildfires. If Perry had his way, there would be even less federal tax dollars. Where does he think this money is going to come from? It always seems to be the states that complain the most about taxes who are always grumbling for more tax dollars. It’s not that their requests are unreasonable, but when they make it their mission to attack the system and then come forward with hands out, then there’s a big issue. What a complete fraud:
“Texas Gov. Rick Perry sought additional federal help in battling wildfires across his drought-parched state as a woodland blaze gutted at least six homes on Sunday and threatened hundreds more in Austin, the state capital…. Some 220 homes in all have been lost, according to a letter released on Sunday from Perry to President Barack Obama requesting a federal disaster declaration.”
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TexasLiberal: Texas Governor Rick Perry wants President Barack Obama to declare parts of Texas as disaster areas because of ongoing wildfires …This call for help from Washington is being made by a Governor who has engaged in treasonous speculation about secession, and who is pushing savage budget cuts on the most vulnerable Texans.
Why do people suffering the impact of wildfires merit quick help, while many in Texas nursing homes or many Texans who are sick due to no fault of their own merit only sharp cuts?
Of course, it is really no surprise that Rick Perry wants help from Washington. According to a map prepared by former Texas State Comptroller of Public Accounts Susan Combs, Texas took almost $28 billion dollars in federal stimulus money.
…I’d also like to know when the Tea Party volunteer fire companies and the Tea Party disaster relief teams will be rushing to assist people impacted by the fire? Where are county Republican parties in Texas organizing teams of citizen-volunteers to help out our fellow Texans so that they will not have to turn to government?
…Are we going to allow socialized fire companies of public employees team up with Washington to do the job that everyday Texas citizens should be doing?
People who have been harmed by the fires should be helped. However, since many of our political leaders in Texas would rather people die than use the Rainy Day fund or raise the taxes needed to meet the legitimate needs of Texans, it is fair to comment when these same officials declare that some Texans are indeed worthy of help from government.
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Thanks for this news, CEB
Salon: Are you a major corporation that wants to do business with the state of Louisiana? The bad news is you can only donate $5,000 directly to Governor Bobby Jindal. The good news is, you can give an unlimited amount of money to his wife’s charity, the Supriya Jindal Foundation for Lousiana’s Children.
….corporations including Marathon Oil, AT&T, Northrup Grumman, Dow Chemical, Alon USA, and various state contractors have donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the foundation. All of those companies have business with the state. All of them received permits or evaded fines or won contracts.
Everyone involved in this pay-to-play-ish venture claims nothing untoward is going on. The major corporations simply love children. And if, following an oil company’s donation, “state environmental officials [ease] requirements for the company to check for spills of oil, ammonia or other contaminants in waterways,” well that’s just a coincidence.
Supriya Jindal’s foundation reportedly does good work, handing out free “high-tech whiteboards,” to low-income schools across the state….
Full article here
Outside groups made the difference for some Republicans
Independent conservative groups poured cash into districts where GOP candidates lagged behind in fundraising and into Democratic strongholds. The two-pronged approach produced dramatic results.
In a number of key races around the country, aggressive and meticulously targeted spending by independent conservative groups appears to have helped produce dramatic results for Republicans.
Unlike Democrats, who relied heavily on financial assistance from unions and Democratic Party committees, Republican candidates got their boost from advertising, mailers and get-out-the-vote drives financed by more than a dozen newly formed conservative groups….
….In the 74 House and Senate seats that had switched party hands by early Wednesday morning, 57 were won by Republicans who held the advantage in spending by outside groups, according to an analysis by the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen.
Republican Mark Kirk enjoyed the greatest advantage in non-party outside spending in his winning bid to represent Illinois in the Senate. Thanks to large and consistent ad buys by groups such as American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS — big spenders that were formed this year by Karl Rove and other GOP strategists — Kirk held an $8-million advantage in outside money over his Democratic opponent, Alexi Giannoulias.
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