QUOTE OF THE DAY “It’s one thing to say
it’s a crap sandwich and you’ve got to eat it. It’s another thing to say it’s the best thing
ever, you’ll love it.” Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-Kan., who opposed GOP leaders to vote against a bill that will replace some across-the-board federal spending cuts with savings elsewhere but will increase deficits in the short term Article, 1A Senate all-nighter keys on nominees
WASHINGTON - Sen.
Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, kept his chamber in session through Wednesday night and into Thursday afternoon and has vowed to continue calling round-the-clock confirmation votes through the weekend if Republicans continue to delay the process.
Republicans, furious that Democrats changed Senate rules to prevent the minority from filibustering most nominations, say they are intent on drawing attention to what they depict as a power grab, regardless of how strained the final days of the Senate’s 2013 session become.
A long list of nominees for lower courts and executive branch positions are awaiting confirmation, and Reid plans to call each of them on a continuous basis, no matter the hour, until he works through them all.
The Senate started working through nominations by first confirming Cornelia Pillard to the country’s most powerful appeals court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, shortly after midnight by a 51-44 vote. Democratic Sen.
Mark Pryor and Republican Sen. John Boozman, both of Arkansas, opposed Pillard’s confirmation.
As the morning wore on, two other nominees were confirmed: Chai Feldblum to serve as a commissioner on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and Elizabeth Wolford of New York to be a U.S. District Court judge. Boozman opposed both nominations;
Pryor supported them.
High-risk-illness program extended
WASHINGTON - With many people still stymied in their efforts to buy insurance under the new healthcare law, President Barack Obama’s administration said Thursday that it would extend an expiring program for people with cancer, heart disease and other serious illnesses.
The extension provides a one-month reprieve for the program, known as the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan.
About 135,000 people have enrolled in the program, which is essentially a high-risk pool sponsored by the federal government.
The program was to end Dec. 31.
Online gun sales rankle Bloomberg
NEW YORK - An investigation commissioned by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg reported that nearly 244,000 guns could be sold illegally by unlicensed firearms dealers on just one classified ad website.
Bloomberg, a co-founder of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, asked his investigators to spend eight weeks monitoring the ads on Armslist.
com. The classified marketplace, known as a “Craigslist for guns,” is one of the nation’s largest firearms websites.
The inquiry found that nearly one-third of gun ads on the site were posted by high-volume sellers who do not possess the mandatory federal firearms license.
Front Section, Pages 3 on 12/13/2013