Daily Political Wire 12-17-2010

George Wenschhof

Weiner's Whiners Lose Tax Bill Fight - after holding up passage of the 858 billion tax compromise bill in the house over procedural issues. The House passed the bill with a vote of 277-148. The bill now goes to the president, who is expected to sign it into law today.

Anthony Weiner (NY), who was among the loudest of the progressive Democrats, held up the vote over procedural issues on how to hold a vote to amend the bill, striking the estate tax provision, which failed. Reuters.com has more here.

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Senate Republicans Block 1.3 Trillion Omnibus Spending Bill - the House version of the spending bill to fund government through the rest of the fiscal year which ends September 30, passed earlier.

The Senate compromise broke down after Republicans complained of the earmarks included in the bill. This prompted Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to call them hypocrites as they had earmarks in the bill themselves.

A stopgap continuing resolution is now needed as the current funding expires today. Politico.com has more here.

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D.A.D.T. and DREAM Act to get Senate Vote Tomorrow - finally, after the House has passed both previously. They will both need to pass a cloture vote first. TPM.com has more here.

My money is on the repeal of D.A.D.T. passing with exactly 60 votes and the DREAM act failing to get the necessary 60 votes to break the filibuster.

Democratic Senator Ron Wyden (Ore.), a "Yes" vote on both will miss the vote due to a previous scheduled surgery for prostate surgery.

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Maryland Congressman Elijah Cummings Appointed to House Oversight Committee - He will be the Ranking Democrat on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee. He won a battle with Carolyn Maloney (NY) for the position. He will be going up against the Republican chair of the committee; Darrell Issa (Calf.), who has promised a slew of investigations. TheHill.com has more here.

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