Monday’s death of Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) leaves vacant one of the most coveted and powerful positions in the House of Representatives.
Murtha chaired the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, which decides how the Pentagon spends its money. It’s one of the most influential posts on Capitol Hill. In fact, the chairs of the Appropriations Subcommittees are called “cardinals” in Congressional parlance. That’s a nod to the role cardinals play in the Catholic church because of the sway these lawmakers hold over their area of federal spending.
And with Murtha’s death, there are questions about who might succeed him in that slot.
Rep. Norm Dicks (D-WA) is the next ranking Democrat on the Defense Appropriations panel. First elected in 1976, Dicks chairs the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee.
And House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) says it’s likely Dicks will move into Murtha’s old position.
“Presumably he will take that chairmanship,” said Hoyer.
Still, another name mentioned as a potential candidate to succeed Murtha is Rep. Chet Edwards (D-TX). Though more junior than Dicks, Edwards chairs the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Subcommittee. He represents a large military constituency in his district and is well-schooled in the Pentagon’s budgetary needs.
Because the Appropriations subcommittee chairs wield such dominant authority over the federal purse, the panel typically defers to the next senior lawmaker when an opening occurs. House Democrats require their caucus to approve “cardinals” as well as the Steering Committee, which metes out committee assignments.
A final decision on who may wield the Defense Appropriations gavel might not be settled for a few weeks.
Not a lot of lawmakers were in Washington on Monday due to the massive snowstorm that buried the region over the weekend. But that didn’t stop them from eulogizing the late-Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) in heartfelt statements and emails.
Murtha had perhaps no greater ally than House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). In fact, Pelosi endorsed Murtha over current Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) in a leadership contest to be her deputy when Democrats won control of Congress in 2006. But Hoyer defeated Murtha handily.
“I was privileged to call him friend,” said Pelosi in a statement.
Pelosi applauded Murtha for his stance against the war in Iraq.
“The nation saw his courage writ large when he spoke out against the military engagement in Iraq,” said Pelosi. But she also noted that even though Murtha grew disillusioned with the war, he remained an ardent defender of U.S. troops.
“As a proud Marine, he was always Semper Fi,” the speaker said.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said those in Congress “will miss the tenacity and passion that he brought to his job every day.”
In a statement, President Obama saluted Murtha’s “tough-as-nails reputation” and said the Pennsylvania Democrat “became a respected voice on issues of national security.”
“I am deeply saddened to lose my dear friend,” said Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA). “He was a public servant in every sense of the word and his passing is a great loss to all of Pennsylvania.”
Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-PA) mourned his Keystone State colleague and noted that Murtha “learned the lessons of service to country first as an Eagle Scout.”
Over the years, Murtha certainly garnered his share of critics. He was named an “unindicted co-conspirator” in the FBI’s ABSCAM sting nearly 30 years ago. Alleged ethics breaches dogged Murtha about his earmarking practices and associations with a shady lobbying firm now facing federal scrutiny. Others argued he was wrong to criticize the Iraq war effort with troops on the battlefield.
But some lawmakers used their statements as an opportunity to quash Murtha’s critics.
“I hope I have the courage that Jack showed when he realized how wrong the Iraq war was and stood up to those in the Bush Administration and in the media who did everything they could to detract from his credibility,” said Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA). “History will show how unsuccessful and misguided his detractors were.”
Murtha was a longtime member of the House Appropriations Committee, the panel that determines how the government spends its money.
“Words cannot describe the loss my wife Arlen and I feel for my dear friend,” said Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA), the leading Republican appropriator. “I have never seen a more valiant defender of the men and women of our armed forces, nor a more steadfast advocate for our country’s unequaled national defense.”
Lewis added that “Congress will be a much lesser place without him.”
Rep. Chris Carney (D-PA) said that Murtha “cast a long shadow and so many of us were privileged to seek its shade.”
As the senior member of the Pennsylvania Congressional delegation, Murtha was known to hold court with fellow lawmakers in a back portion of the House chamber during votes. Carney said he would miss Murtha’s “big Irish smile.” But added “he Pennsylvania corner of the House chamber will never be the same."
- Fox’s Trish Turner and Dominique Pastre contributed to this report.
Rep. John Murtha (D-PA), the first veteran of the Vietnam war to be elected to the House and one of the most powerful lawmakers in Congress, died Monday afternoon at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington, VA, after complications from gallbladder surgery. Murtha was 77.
The protesters ambled about for a moment. Then squatted on one of the grand, marble staircases. One hoisted a sign, printed in green marker. As if on cue, they began to chant “Health care now! Health care now!”
Within a few moments, a team of U.S. Capitol Police officers swarms the covey of protesters and forms a human perimeter. A lieutenant steps forward to address the group.
“You are in violation of the law, demonstrating in (the) U.S. Capitol Building. You are ordered to cease and desist at this time or you will be subject to arrest,” the officer barks.
The chanting halts for a moment. But then the protesters resume their verbal assault. The officers again inform the group that if they continue, they’ll be arrested. But after a final warning, one of the protesters tells the officers he wants to be arrested.
And out come the plastic flexi-cuffs.
The officers handcuff the protesters. And then one by one, help them down the grooved stairs, each bowed in the middle from nearly 150 years of human foot traffic.
But after the officers lead the suspects around the corner, the police immediately take off the flexi-cuffs and release their prisoners.
It may look like a health care protest. And the scene may even look like the U.S. Capitol. But it’s not. The police are real. But the protesters are actors portraying parts in a training exercise for the U.S. Capitol Police.
It’s easy for press-hungry Members of Congress to get lost in the shuffle. They have to compete with 534 others, who all clamor for the same ink and airtime. And there are only a few surefire methods to ensure they score some press.
Lawmakers can get involved in a scandal (have an affair or be probed by the FBI, take your pick). They can wait for hours on the aisle in the House chamber before the State of the Union speech to snare a shot of them shaking hands with the president. Or, they can hope that their local sports team earns a berth in the World Series, Stanley Cup Finals, NBA Finals, Super Bowl or Final Four. They can then place a friendly wager with another lawmaker who represents the other team that qualifies.
The stakes are usually a local delicacy or a signature dish from the region the lawmaker hails from. It makes a great photo-op on TV, shifting politics from the opinion page to the sports page. And the bets give lawmakers positive exposure to potential voters who don’t follow politics. They can tap into a crowd that doesn’t know much about the “public option” in health care reform, but know all about running the spread option on the football field.
Which brings us to Reps. Dan Burton (R-IN) and Joseph Cao (R-LA). And Reps. Andre Carson (D-IN) and Steve Scalise (R-LA).
The House of Representatives voted Thursday to raise the debt limit.
Little was it known that lawmakers also voted to hike the snow limit.
Perhaps if they had only read the bill….
Capitol Hill felt different Friday. Apprehensive staffers trudged their way through the grey morning from the Capitol South Metro station en route to the House office buildings. Many aides left their skirts, heels and pinstripe business suits hanging in their closets. Instead, Uggs, North Face jackets and wool hats were de rigueur Friday. Forecasters predicted that more than 30 inches of snow could crush Washington by Sunday morning.
It was the second meteorological broadside to be christened the “Storm of the Century” in the past six weeks.
The steroid era in Major League Baseball maybe over. Perhaps it’s now moved to weather systems. I don’t know if this storm masquerades as Barry Bonds or Mark McGwire. I have clue if this storm uses “the cream” or “the clear.” But it is definitely juiced.
Congress may be stymied in its efforts to approve a sweeping health care reform bill. But the House of Representatives is poised next week to strip health care insurance providers of their antitrust exemption.
“This should be an easy one,” said freshman Rep. Tom Perriello (D-VA), who co-sponsors the legislation with fellow frosh Rep. Betsy Markey (D-CO).
“For two many years, (health insurance firms) have enjoyed monopoly protections, something enjoyed only by Major League Baseball,” Perriello said.
The federal government has granted many health insurance companies antitrust exemptions since the mid-1940s. At a Capitol Hill press conference Friday, aides handed out mocked-up versions of a Monopoly game board titled “Health Care Monopoly.” Once a player passes “Go” on the mimic game board, they could land on “$95,000 of Health Markets ‘Highly Concentrated’” in place of where Baltic Avenue usually sits. Vermont Avenue was replaced with “In VA. Top Insurer Controls $50% of Market.”
Despite the public relations gymnastics, Perriello promised that the legislation will be short and to the point.
“One page, front and back,” he said, a marked contrast to the massive, nearly 2,000-page health care bill that totaled nearly 400,000 words. “We want a clean bill.” Keep Reading...
Congressional Democrats remain in a stasis over the future of their massive health care reform bill.
But that doesn’t mean they’re not trying to move ahead in bits and pieces.
On Friday, two freshmen Democrats plan to unveil a bill to lift the anti-trust exemption that many health insurance companies now enjoy. House Democratic leaders plan to put that bill on the floor next week.
It isn’t the big health care reform package lawmakers sweated over for more than a year. But the legislation could be the first part of several “piecemeal” bills that Congress tries to move as another run-up to a sweeping health care reform effort or in lieu of a major health bill.
“It doesn’t mean you can’t do some pieces separately,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).
Reps. Betsy Markey (D-CO) and Tom Perriello (D-VA) co-authored the anti-trust exemption plan. In a statement, the duo accuses insurance companies of getting “special treatment” that collusion them to “fix prices.”
Still, the anti-trust exemption legislation is a shadow of the larger bill Democrats were on the verge of passing just a few weeks ago.
“I would like to have had this all done by now,” said Pelosi about the state of limbo for comprehensive health care reform. “The problem is not going away.”
FOX has obtained a letter that Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) has written to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton asking that she demote Rajiv Shah, the Director of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
It’s rare for a lawmaker to write to a cabinet secretary and demand specific action on a personnel matter.
In the letter, Conyers says that he was “alarmed and chagrined” to learn that Shah did not bring any African American staff to a meeting of the Congressional Black Caucus on Wednesday to discuss Haiti.
First elected in 1964, Conyers is the most-senior African American in Congress and the second-most senior House member.
“This is so serious an error in judgment that it warrants his immediate demotion to a subordinate position at AID,” Conyers wrote, noting that there was “under-representation of minorities in key positions at the State Department.”
Conyers also says he “looks forward to meeting” with Clinton to discuss Shah.
Conyers previously raised issues about how the Obama Administration was handling the crisis in Haiti following last month’s devastating earthquake and suggested that USAID has no clear outline for assisting Haiti.
The House of Representatives Thursday voted to raise the debt limit by $1.9 trillion. That vote raises the debt ceiling to $14.3 trillion, a new high for the amount of debt the U.S. has ever carried.
As recently as 2001, the U.S. debt was only at $5.7 trillion. But exploded throughout the past decade after September 11 amid record spending by the Bush and Obama Administrations.
If Congress doesn’t hike the debt ceiling, the U.S. would be unable make good on Social Security and Medicare payments.
The Senate approved the debt limit increase in mid-January on a 60-40 party-line vote.
The House vote was a close one, 217-212. All Republicans and more than 30 Democrats voted against raising the debt ceiling.
Moderate and fiscally-conscious Democrats were suspect of voting to hike the debt.
The debt ceiling increase is part of a broader bill that would impose so-called “PAYGO” rules on the House. In other words, the House would have to pay for all tax cuts or programs it creates so they are budget neutral.
