Lame Duck Session

1. What must be the current Dem/Rep breakdown of the U.S. Senate?

Republicans have 42 and Democrats have 58

2. Why are the Republicans sending their letter to Harry Reid?

They vow to block all Democratic legislation unless the Bush tax cuts are extended

3. What are some things Democrats are trying to get done in the Lame Duck Session?

Extend long term jobless benefits and delete Bush tax cuts

4. What "tax increase" are the Republicans talking about?

The Bush tax cuts if they are deleted

5. How will Republicans block legislation?

Democrats need 60 votes but they only have 58.Republicans will band together depriving them of their 60 votes.

6. What are the Democratic plans for the lame duck session?

They plan to repeal the "dont ask, dont tell" policy, delete the Bush tax cuts, and extend jobless benefits

7. Using what you know about budget bills, what kind of bill must a continuing resolution be?

8. The last paragraph makes it seem like Republicans will be able to do whatever they want when the lame duck session is over. Is this true? why?

Yes, because GOP will have 60 votes, whoch is enough to pass any legislation they choose.

 

I think that the Democrats should of handled all the legislation while they had power in Congress. Now that GOP is in power, mostly all their bills and policies will be passed. If the Democrats want to get some last minute legislation passed, i think they should allow the Bush tax cuts to stay in order to please the Republicans. After the lame duck session, Gop will probably extend Bush tax cuts in their own. The administration has gotten a few laws passed during this period although.

Mid Term Campaigns

1.Republicans are going to overthrow alot of Democratic governors and could cause problems in future elections.
2.Governors can make it hard for Obama to campaign in 2012 and they can get Republicans in the House after redistricting.
3.States redraw lines after the Census that will either help or hurt a certain party.
4.He is trying to help Democrats keep their seat bacuse if they lose them it will cause problems for him.
5.Pennsylvania,Michagan,New Mexico,Maine,Wisconsin,Oregon,Illinois,Ohio,and Iowa.
6.Governors have the power to veto plans they do not like so Republicans can make the House more GOP.
7.They will lose House seats and new maps can determine which party's candidate is let loose.
8.Governors can help their party's nominee.They can also fight the presidents initiatives.

Importance of Midterm Elections

1. Media only cares who wins but not about what the winner does after he/she wins.

2.The Republicans will no longer be moderate. The Tea Party will become part of the GOP
3.Reduce spending by cutting education funds,repeal health care reform,and repeal financial reform.

4.He thinks they only care about business instead of people.Basically he thinks they're selfish

5.John Boehner will not change anything in Washington.He freely admits that he is cozy with its current status.Boehhner passes out checks on the House floor from the tobacco industry.

6.It is a complete success.The banks are doing better and have paid the people back with interest.

7.They want to impress their constituency because they have to go up for reelection so they are giving them what they want

8.Congress wont get anything done because Obama will veto all GOP bills.

Congress Adjourns

1.Some of the Congress had to return to their constituency to campaign for the upcoming elections.
2.A ban on insurance companies setting lifetime limits on children with preexisting conditions, $70 billion boost to clean energy, and $19 billion to digitize medical records in 2009 stimulus package.
3.Tehy have alot of stuff thats undone.
4.They wanted to renex tax cuts.
5.So they could comfortably review the tax cuts.
6.Progressive moments are very rare and usually very limited in duration in American politics.
7.Vote on the tax cuts and write a budget.

Democrats accomplished very little while in power. They should have done mor instead of playing around. Most likely the Democrats will lose power.Republicans will become the majority and most likely will extend Bush's tax cuts. The Democrats are fragmented. They have different views and are not together. Democrats are acting foolishly and probably have missed their chance to pass some bills.

Obama and Public Opinion blog

1)People believe that barack is a Muslim,terrorist,and hasn't fixed the economy.
2)He rejected advice to nationlize banks.
3)His approval rating is 47 percent.I guess it means 47 percent of Americans are satisfied with him.
4)Obama's religion was more in the public's eye when he was running but now it rarely is if any.
5)
6)Fox presents all the negative so that thier ratings can rise.
7)They tell about Obama going to church at a camp.
8)He is too busy and that stuff doesn't really matter now because he's not campaigning for office anymore.
9)They can do weekly vidoes of him in the community or his common life.
10)Obama's religion and social life
11)Show more of his personal life to the people.

People think Barack was not native born. Opinions say that he is Muslim not Christian even though he attends a Christian camp. They also think he is a socialist although he wants the gov't out of GM and Chrysler. People think he is aiding terrorism but he has ordered the killing of Qaeda targets. Since Obama's personal life is not in the media, people think he is distant. The media may make it seem worst than it really is.People will belive the media because it has a great influence on them.

1)I think Obama's greatest accoplishment was passing health care.He gave hope to lower class Americans.Without health care, many people would not be able to afford medical visits.
2)Klein thinks he is not getting credit because Democrats still want more out of Obama even though he is already doing an outstandig job.
3)White Americans think that AMerica is being stolen from them because of Latinos,Muslims,gays,etc.
4)They want Obama to be more "progressive" and restore the Democrats status.
5)
6)Klein views Obama's presidency as nothing less than perfect. He praises it to the fullest and has nothing negative to say about it.
7)He thinks the issue on public relations should be improved.

Klein thinks very highly of Obama.He dissaproves of the way Democrats think about Obama.Some say the president hasn't done much since he's been in office.Klein says that everything he has done has benefited America.Klein likes the fact that he is not following the views of past presidents.Democrats should be proud of what Obama's done in Klein's opinion.Obama has entered in a government that is already in bad condition so he can't just change everything at once.

Opinions on the Ground Zero Mosque Assignment

1)Muslims have the right of freedom of religion.But families of 9/11 think it should not be conducted.
2)Muslims want a mosque bacause it is their place of worship.
3)Some people believe it is promoting terrorism in America.
4)When a moderate version of Islam overshadows the views of Osama bin Laden.
5)Their role should be just to suppress terrorism and make sure it doesn't spread.
6)The U.S. promotes diversity and freedom among religions.
7)The president of ADL says they must respect the feelings of the families of 9/11.
8)Because the ADL did not side with the Muslims.He wants them to admit they made a mistake.

Fareed Zakaria is a Muslim that is opposed to Osama bin Laden.He speaks out against terrorism,wants all religions to live among each other,and even is for women's rights.Zakaria wants to be able to build mosques.The ADL is for the rights and equal treatment of all,but they chose to respect the families of 9/11.Fareed does not agree on this matter and returns rewards previously given to him.

14th Amendment Assignment

1.The 14th Amendment guarantees the citizenship of anyone born on U.S soil.
2.The House Minority Leader protechs the rights of minorities, and creates strategies for maximizing the influence of the minority party on legislative outcomes.
3.John Boehner will have to protect the rights of illegal immigrants in upcoming November concerning the 14th Amendment.
4.If an illegal immigrant has a child in the U.S.,then that child is granted citezenship.
5.American courts apply pieces of the Bill of Rights to states.It also applies to local gov't.
6.Barron vs. Baltimore
7.I think it has changed because of the cost of doing it.

The gov't plans to change the 14th Amendment.It states "anyone born in the U.S. is a citizen".The problem is that illegal immigrants give birth to their children on U.S. soil so they can become citizens.Senators want the amendment changed so that this can't happen anymore.Boehner is going to argue against this in November.