Word: caucus
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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After a weekend of intense consultations with fellow Democrats, Senate majority leader Harry Reid has decided he has the votes to get a health-reform bill with a public option to the Senate floor. "I believe we clearly will have the support of my caucus to move to this bill and start legislating," Reid declared at a news conference Monday afternoon. The real question, however, is whether he has the votes it will take to get it out of the chamber...
...Indeed, the real significance of his move is tactical. Both procedural hurdles ahead of Reid - bringing up the bill and cutting off a promised Republican filibuster - will require him to muster every one of the 60 Democrats in his caucus. But the motion to proceed is far easier for the Democrats; to block their leader on that would be a gratuitous slight. What is questionable is whether they will vote with him when the time comes to cut off a filibuster, a procedural move that is known as invoking cloture. At this point, it appears that Reid could be three...
...filibusters and rarely, if ever, using his 60-seat majority to ram through legislation. "I'm not so sure we have very many sticks available to us," says Jim Manley, a senior adviser to Reid. Reid is "an expert at the gentle art of persuasion. The members of his caucus see him as an honest broker and a straight shooter...
...Congress, home to a still-powerful caucus of gay -marriage opponents, were to issue a joint resolution of disapproval, and if President Obama, who too opposes same-sex marriage, were to sign it, DC’s measure, no matter how resoundingly approved by the City Council, would be overturned. This underscores the lamentable nature of DC’s current situation in which it finds itself presided over by a body of officials for whom no DC residents voted...
...longtime nemesis on campaign-finance reform, and the two men inveighed against the evils of Obamacare. "He's been constructive. He's been part of the team," says Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee. "He's provided the kind of adult, grownup leadership that we need in the Republican caucus." When asked for examples of McCain's maverick nature, Alexander flashes a smile, saying, "I can't think of any." Does that mean Republicans are at last falling in love with McCain? "John dove back in on his issues," says Senator Johnny Isakson, a Georgia Republican...