Daily Political Wire 4-29-2010

George Wenschhof

Today, President Obama will nominate three to the Federal Reserve Board - this would be the first time in four years the seven member board had operated at full strength. the three will be Maryland State Banking Regulator Sarah Bloom Raskin, MIT Economist Peter Diamond and Janet Yellen; President San Francisco Federal Reserve Board.

They will help Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke shape future U.S. monetary policy. Bloomber.com has more here.

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Debate to finally begin on Senate Financial Reform bill - the thirds failed vote in three days proved to be the charm to move the bill forward as Republicans agreed by unanimous consent to begin debate of the bill. CNN.com has more here.

It is expected there will be up to two weeks of debate and vote on various amendments sure to be offered. Unfortunately, due to procedural methods used to move this debate forward, Republicans will still have the opportunity to filibuster, prior to the final vote to approve.

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Representative Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) set to introduce campaign finance legislation today in the House - this as a result of the narrow 5-4 "Citizen's United" Supreme Court decision that allows for unlimited corporate spending in political campaigns.

The New Disclosure Act would hopefully go into effect prior to this fall's mid term elections.The bill would ban contributions from corporations with 20% or more foreign ownership and force organization to inform donors how they were spending money on political campaigns.

Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) has indicated Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) will schedul his senate version of the bill prior to July 4. TheHill.com has more here.

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Obama signals Immigration bill may not happen this year - yesterday, the president indicated Congress may not be ready to move forward on Immigration reform. This statement coming after Republican Senator Lindsey Graham threatened to withdraw his support and co-sponsorship of an Energy bill set to come before the Senate. MSNBC.com has more here.

Immigration reform and the energy/climate bill can be considered by Congress at the same time. So far, this has been a lot of public posturing. Both bills are needed now. Stay Tuned...

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