Tag: Mark Udall
PMA pork-for-pay and the old nontransparency
Republican Rep. Jeff Flake from Arizona is making a name for himself rooting out earmarks to indict the professionalized "pay-to-play" culture of Congress. His Web site tracks the fruits of his investigation so far, listing earmarks tied to clients of embattled big-time lobbying firm PMA, which doled out campaign contributions to members of Congress across the country, including Colorado's Ed Perlmutter, Mark Udall and Doug Lamborn. This morning Flake had an op-ed in the New York Times on the unspooling scandal.
Perlmutter, Udall, Lamborn among lobby firm’s lawmaker friends
In case you missed this news in our nation's latest major lobbying scandal, Congressional Quarterly posted a list of the more than 100 members of Congress who secured earmarks -- basically money for special projects -- for clients of the embattled lobbying firm PMA. Three Colorado lawmakers made the bipartisan list: Democratic Rep. Ed Perlmutter, Democratic Sen. Mark Udall and Republican Rep. Doug Lamborn.
Schools emerge as big loser in Senate stimulus bill
Details are slowly dribbling out on the key differences between the House and Senate versions of the proposed stimulus bill. But one thing remains true: One man's pork-barrel funding is another man's life-sustaining job.
Bennet, Udall part of group weighing cuts to Senate stimulus package
Colorado's two freshman senators, both Democrats, are part of a bipartisan group that spent Thursday forging a proposal to trim up to $100 billion in spending from the economic stimulus bill in hopes of winning support from moderate Republicans and Democrats who have complained the package devotes too much money to programs that won't create jobs fast enough.
"The American people are expecting this to be a recovery bill, not a Christmas list," said Sen. Michael Bennet Thursday evening between votes on the bill.
Udall pushes Defense Secy Gates on counterinsurgency
Newly arrived Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) asks a question close to my heart: How can Defense Secretary Bob Gates institutionalize the counterinsurgency lessons of Iraq and Afghanistan?
Udall to introduce Senate version of ‘Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights’
Newly-minted Sen. Mark Udall (D-Col.), has scheduled a press call this afternoon to announce his plans to introduce legislation to end the abusive practices of credit card issuers. This isn’t enormous news — as a member of the House, Udall had strongly supported the lower chamber’s version of the Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights, sponsored by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), and he has vowed since the election to introduce the same bill in the Senate.
But his push in the Senate is interesting for several reasons.
LIVE VIDEO NOW: Energy security experts talk to Salazar, Udall
The U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources is taking testimony at 7:45 a.m. Thursday on the nation's challenges on energy security and reducing its dependence on foreign oil. Both Colorado senators will participate — Secretary of the Interior-nominee and Sen. Ken Salazar and newly elected Sen. Mark Udall though he has not been formally installed on the committee.
Big 3 bailout votes split by party lines, campaign contributors
It doesn't come as much surprise that the Colorado congressional delegation's votes on the $14 billion financial bailout of the U.S. auto industry split along party lines. The House Dems supported the bill while their Republican counterparts, CD 5's Doug Lamborn and CD 4's Marilyn Musgrave, rejected the plan. Retiring Rep. Tom Tancredo did not vote.
Where it gets interesting is the apparent correlation between partisan vote splitting and which special interest group supports said lawmaker.
Jay Marvin vowed to move beyond Udall — and he has
Everyone, it seems, is atwitter over Denver radio talk show host Jay Marvin’s rant on U.S. Sen-elect Mark Udall, who apparently slighted not only Marvin but his wife Mary and is a “cold removed man.” But Marvin himself is way past all that — after removing the Udall-bashing blog that he posted Dec. 5, Marvin opined that it is time to move on — and move on he has. Sen. John Kyl of Arizona, who allegedly is “so full of shit it will make your head spin,” is officially Marvin’s new punching bag.
Is the era of Dick Wadhams’ ‘thug politics’ over?
On Friday, Sen. Tom Daschle was in Denver to talk of the paralyzing effects of a failed health care system. Among the realities: “One half of all bankruptcies, one half of all home foreclosures are related to medical costs.” Daschle’s appearance was a reminder of the sharp-tongued Dick Wadhams, who made his name known on the national stage by unseating the former Senate Minority Leader from South Dakota, employing, among other things, nasty name-calling. Sound familiar?