Today's Hill Action:
THE SENATE:
The Senate will convene at 11:00 a.m. for a pro forma session.
SENATE COMMITTEES:
No meetings scheduled for today.
THE HOUSE:
No meeting scheduled for today.
HOUSE COMMITTEES:
No meetings scheduled for today.
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| Poll: 'Wave election' could be coming
Less than a quarter of Americans say most members of Congress deserve re-election - the lowest number ever found in the 20-year history of Gallup/USAToday polling - and the dismal numbers could mean another "wave election" is in the cards for Washington.
According to a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll, only 24 percent of the individuals surveyed said most current members deserve re-election. That marks the lowest percentage since Gallup first asked the question in 1991, sparking the possibility that 2012 could be another wave election in Congress - similar 1994 when the GOP seized the House.
People are slightly more favorable about their own representatives, with 56 percent saying their member does deserve another term in office. USA TODAY noted, however, that those numbers are comparable to the polling before the 1994, 2006 and 2010 elections that switched control of the House or Senate.
The poll surveyed 1,319 adults Thursday through Sunday, and has a margin of error of +/-4 percentage points.
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DNC chairwoman blames Tea Party 'tyrants' for US credit-rating downgrade
The head of the Democratic National Committee joined Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) on Monday in casting blame for the U.S. credit downgrade on the Tea Party movement.
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) quoted Kerry's comments made Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press" and noted, "Truer words never spoken."
Kerry, commenting Sunday on Standard & Poor's downgrade of the national credit rating from AAA to AA+ on Friday, cast the downgrade as a reflection of the influence of the Tea Party movement on the deficit negotiations.
"This is the Tea Party downgrade because a minority of people in the House of Representatives countered even the will of many Republicans in the United States Senate who were prepared to do a bigger deal," Kerry said.
Wasserman Schultz noted in a tweet Monday that she agreed with Kerry, calling the Tea Party "tyrants" who blocked a more comprehensive bargain on the debt ceiling.
The White House also indicated on Saturday that Standard & Poor's downgrade could have been avoided if congressional leaders had reached the "grand bargain" promoted by President Obama.
"The president repeatedly called for substantial deficit reduction through both long-term entitlement changes and revenues through tax reform, with additional measures to spark jobs and strengthen our recovery," press secretary Jay Carney said in a statement.
The credit rating agency announced that its decision was based both on last week's debt-limit deal, which it said "falls short" of expectations, as well as doubts as to whether Congress and the White House can reach a broader deficit solution "anytime soon."
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House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced they were ending the House page program.
As of Aug. 31, the program - which employs nearly 70 high school students to serve as messengers and couriers on the House floor and around the Capitol complex - will be no more, according to a joint statement issued late Monday afternoon.
The program has been in existence for nearly 200 years. It gives students the opportunity to work and attend high school in Congress for a semester during their junior year, or for several weeks during the summer.
Citing the "prohibitive cost of the program and advances in technology," Boehner and Pelosi wrote that "this decision was not easy, but it is necessary."
According to a House leadership aide, the decision to eliminate the program has been a year in the making.
While the page program as it previously existed will end, Boehner and Pelosi wrote that they "will work with Members of the House to carry on the tradition of engaging young people in the work of the Congress."
The program came under national scrunity in the fall of 2006, when it was revealed that then-Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) sent sexually explicit messages to at least one former page. Foley resigned a few weeks later as the scandal shook Capitol Hill.
In their statement, the leaders noted the pages, who used to deliver documents around the Capitol complex, are rarely used anymore because most documents are transmitted electronicallly. They also noted the cost to operate the program exceeds $5 million and the "per Page" cost per school year is between $69,000 and $80,000, "more than the most expensive boarding schools, as well as most colleges and universities."
The Senate is not currently reviewing its page program for possible elimination, according to the office of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).
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