Daily Political Wire 6-28-2010

George Wenschhof

Supreme Court justice Nominee Elena Kagan begins Confirmation Hearings today - expect the Republican Senators to attack her in areas of gun control, campaign finance reform and a woman's right to choose. Yesterday, Senator John McCain was noncommittal when he appeared on NBC "Meet The Press". He added he was troubled by her stance against allowing military recruiters on campuses. The vote is likely to be closer than one would want, but Kagan should be confirmed. The Washington Post has more here.

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Longest Serving Senator; Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) passes away - His ideology evolved from that of being a member of the Klu Klux Klan in his early life to being opposed to the U.S. involvement in Iraq in 2003. He opposed the civil rights Act in 1964 and also opposed the voting Rights Act of 1965. Time.com has more here.

His vote in the Senate will be missed immediately by Democrats as the Wall Street reform bill just reported out of conference committee will be a very close vote in the Senate.

West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin (D) will appoint the successor. Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post is reporting state Democratic Chair Nick Casey is a possible replacement.

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G-20 Meetings produce little results - continued discussion took place on the implementation of tougher global rules on financial institutions, but no rules were adopted. Meetings are to be held again in November of the year with a goal of adopting changes by 2012. However, even then, banks will have up to five years to abide by the changes. The NY Times has more here.

Also agreed upon was a lofty goal of reducing deficits of countries by 50% by 2013. Spirited debate took place between the U.S. and the Obama administration who believe continued stimulus is needed and those who wish to reduce deficits, TheHill.com has more here.

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Vice President Joe Biden continues "Recovery Summer" Tour - aimed at highlighting the success of the 800 billion Stimulus bill, Biden will travel to Louisville, Kentucky to visit a GE manufacturing facility. You can read more here.

Unless, nationwide employment figures drop prior to the mid term elections, expect the Stimulus bill to be touted as a huge failure by the Democrats and the Obama administration.

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Sunday morning "Talking Heads" highlights - In case you missed them, Politico.com has a quick review below.


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