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.
Congressman Steve Pearce issued a statement Friday blaming the Senate for failing to provide for paying the troops during a likely government shutdown.
New Mexico Sens. Tom Udall and Jeff Bingaman, both Democrats, said today that they want members of the military to continue to be paid in the event of an increasingly likely shutdown of the federal government.
Democrats will still hold a majority in both chambers during the lame-duck session, when leaders hope to pass the DREAM Act to give some undocumented young people and military service members legal status. But after January, immigration reform efforts that include paths to legal status for the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants currently in the United States seem next to impossible, meaning the next few years will see little progress for immigration reform advocates.
The Senate plans to vote Thursday morning on the DISCLOSE Act — which would require organizations involved in political campaigning to disclose the identity of large donors and would bar foreign corporations, large government contractors, and TARP recipients from making political expenditures. The outcome is uncertain.
Environmental groups have participated in a series of meetings in recent weeks to press Senate staff to strengthen the renewable energy standard (RES) included in the energy bill passed by Sen. Jeff Bingaman’s (D-N.M.) Energy and Natural Resources Committee last year. The RES in the bill would require that 15 percent of the country’s electricity come from renewable sources, a standard that most environmentalists think is far too weak.
Here we go again. Last night, Sens. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Max Baucus (D-Mont.), the Senate majority leader and the head of the Senate Finance Committee, introduced a new unemployment extension bill. It is not actually strictly standalone: It includes…
This week, Senate Democrats will attempt to push through a jobs bill that has stalled in the chamber for seven weeks. If Congress does not pass the bill, hundreds of thousands will lose their federally extended unemployment insurance. Doctors will take a 21 percent cut in Medicare reimbursement rates, and states will see less money for Medicaid.
All five members of the New Mexico delegation voiced their support for naming the Department of Interior building after the late Stewart Udall. Not only did Udall serve as the Secretary of the Interior for eight years, but he is…
The U.S. Senate is moving quickly on a financial regulation bill; Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., filed cloture on the bill to reform Wall Street, meaning the bill will come up for a procedural vote Monday.
Hundreds of placard-waving Tea Party activists in Albuquerque weren’t sheepish Thursday about sharing ideas on where to trim government fat. Eliminate the federal Department of Education. Reduce foreign aid. Starve the defense budget. Cut back or phase out big domestic spending programs like Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security. They all came up as potential cost-savings measures.
According to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid Senate, the Senate will work on a jobs bill and financial regulation in the seven weeks before Congress goes on its Memorial Day recess. While Reid wants to work on some…
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., announced yesterday that the Senate would look into reforming the filibuster. The Senate Rules Committee will hold hearings on the potential Senate rule changes, including testimony by Senator Tom Udall, D-N.M.…
Governor Bill Richardson attended the National Governor’s Association annual meeting in Washington D.C. this weekend and while there, he had some advice for President Barack Obama. Finish health care, then move onto the economy, Richardson said, according to an
U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman is pushing for mining law reform that would implement royalties on mining profits and charge fees to help pay for mine cleanup. The existing law has been largely unchanged since the presidency of Ulysses S. Grant.
Though a vote was originally scheduled for Thursday evening, Christmas Eve, the Democratic and Republican leadership in the Senate have agreed to instead push the vote on health care reform forward to Thursday morning.
Democrats will likely strip the Medicare buy-in from the health care reform bill, various news outlets reported Monday night. The Medicare buy-in proposal would allow those from 55 to 64 to purchase Medicare coverage.
Expect for the Senate health care reform bill to be a big topic in Congressional Roundups for the foreseeable future — especially with the news that the Congressional Budget Office scored the Senate version of health care reform.
The…
Much of the news coming out of Washington D.C. today is, unsurprisingly, about health care reform, after the House version of health care reform was unveiled this morning. Two of the three Representatives from New Mexico issued press releases talking…
With Senator Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., saying yesterday that he would filibuster any health care bill that he doesn’t agree with, Congress watchers have been thrown for a loop.
And Lieberman says he will not vote for a bill…
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s announcement about the framework of the Senate’s version of health care reform legislation is the dominant story out of Washington D.C. from yesterday. But we’re following a few other non-public option stories.
