Political Briefing
November 19, 2014
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Keystone Fails in Senate - Sen. Mary Landrieu showed her ineffectiveness on Tuesday when she failed to get the 60 votes in the Senate required to send legislation to approve construction of the Keystone pipeline to the President on Tuesday. All 45 Republicans voted for the bill. The House passed identical legislation sponsored by Rep. Bill Cassidy, who faces Landrieu in the Louisiana runoff election on December 6. Read more here.
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Leadership Set for 114th Congress - The Senate and House Republicans elected their leadership teams for the 114th Congress on November 13.
In the Senate: Republican Leader, Mitch McConnell (KY); Republican Whip, John Cornyn (TX); Republican Conference Chairman, John Thune (SD); Republican Policy Chairman, John Barrasso (WY); Republican Conference Vice Chairman, Roy Blount (MO), and National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman, Roger Wicker (MS).
| Republican Conference Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers is one of three women in the House leadership. |
Three women are part of the leadership in the House: Conference Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (WA); Conference Vice Chairwoman, Lynn Jenkins (KS); and Conference Secretary Virginia Foxx (NC). Other members of the House leadership team: Speaker, John Boehner (OH); Majority Leader, Kevin McCarthy (CA); Majority Whip, Steve Scalise (LA); and National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman, Greg Walden (OR).
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Unilateral Immigration Action Expected This Week - President Obama is expected to bypass Congress with an Executive Order on immigration this week. According to press accounts, the order would effectively grant some form of legal status, or amnesty, to approximately 5 million people who are in this country illegally.
Such action would fly in the face of earlier statements made by President Obama himself recognizing limitations on his authority to act unilaterally. For example, in March 2011, he said: "There are enough laws on the books by Congress that are very clear in terms of how we have to enforce our immigration system that for me to simply through executive order ignore those congressional mandates would not conform with my appropriate role as President."
Read the New York Times story on Obama's Immigration Turnabout here.
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Midterms Brought "Wave of Firsts"
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| RNC Co-Chair Sharon Day addresses the NFRW Board in Dallas. |
Republican National Committee Co-Chair Sharon Day writes about the historic firsts in the 2014 midterm elections.
"...I'm most pleased to declare another first for American history - the death of the Democrats' supposed War on Women. The voters saw their tactic for what it was - a cheap political gimmick - and one that has now proven to be purely political theater." For the full article, click here.
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