I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
When the U.S. Senate voted 83-15 to end debate on the compromise unemployment and tax cut extension — an astonishing result for a session that has seen little agreement between the parties — liberal Democrats in the House that wanted to change the agreement may have resigned themselves to the bill passing in its current form.
Many Democrats object to the bill because it would extend the Bush tax cuts, including those for the richest Americans, for two years while only extending federal unemployment benefits through the end of 2011. Once the Senate approves the bill on Wednesday morning, the pressure will be on the House to get the bill passed so the money can begin flowing to those who have lost their unemployment benefits.
The Hill reports that the House Democrats may vote on a non-binding caucus resolution calling for an amendment to extend the unemployment benefits for the same two year period that the tax cuts are being extended. But at the same time, they are also reporting that most of the strong opposition to the bill is dissipating as legislators become resigned to the bill’s inevitable passage.
Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.), who just a week ago circulated a letter signed by 54 Democrats urging opposition to the deal, now says the “die is cast.”
“It is academic, OK. The bottom line is that it is a fast moving train and that has become clear and Washington is doing what it is finding easy to do,” he said in an interview with The Hill.
“Once the president entered into that agreement with the Senate Republicans even while talks with the House were supposedly under way, that set the tone for the weekend and now you got Americans excited about a trillion dollars that is going to be in effect given away,” Welch said.
The overwhelming vote for cloture in the Senate clearly gave the bill momentum that could very well overcome that opposition in the House.
