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U.S House passes deadline bill for Keystone pipeline decision
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill Tuesday that would require the Obama administration to make a final decision on the expansion of the Keystone XL pipeline by Nov. 1. The vote was 279-147, with Colorado’s delegation voting along party lines, with one exception: Democrat Ed Perlmutter voted with Republicans in favor of the bill.
Franken: Rand Paul’s stance on senior hunger reaches ‘absurdity’
Senators discussed the “human toll and budget consequences” of senior hunger at the Subcommittee on Primary Health and Aging Tuesday. Arguing for increased funding for the Older Americans Act of 1965, Sen. Al Franken and committee chair Bernie Sanders said that the act saves money. “It allows seniors to stay in their homes, who wouldn’t otherwise be able to stay in their homes,” Franken said. Sen. Rand Paul countered that “only in Washington, D.C., can you spend two billion dollars and claim that you’re saving money.” His solution: Letting charities deal with senior citizens.
Progressive group: felony streaming bill could ‘stifle innovation, jail ordinary citizens’
As MN Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s bill to amend U.S. copyright law to make it a felony to stream copyrighted material online heads for a vote on the Senate floor, more attention is being paid. The nonprofit government transparency group MapLight notes that backers of the measure — which includes the Recording Industry Association of America, the Motion Picture Association of America, NBC and CBS, among others — have given more than $85 million to sitting senators in the last six years. And the progressive group Demand Progress is challenging Klobuchar’s assertion that the bill will only target “criminals” hoping to make big money from copyright infringement.
Five year prison sentence awaits violators who stream copyrighted performances if new bill passes
A bill introduced last month by Sen. Amy Klobuchar could make it a felony criminal act to stream copyrighted “performances” online without permission. The bill — “To amend the criminal penalty provision for criminal infringement of a copyright, and for other purposes,” or S. 978 — assigns a maximum 5-year prison term for those convicted of streaming “10 or more public performances by electronic means, during any 180-day period, of 1 or more copyrighted works” and in cases where the “total retail value” of those performances to its owner exceeds $2,500 or the value of licensing of the works exceeds $5,000.
VIDEO: Jon Stewart analyzes Pawlenty on O’Reilly
The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart appeared as a guest on Fox’s The O’Reilly Factor last night and ran down his take on GOP presidential candidates. While Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann got mention, more as a punchline — “If Sarah Palin doesn’t run, Michele Bachmann could definitely put on that blazer” — Tim Pawlenty got props for seeming “like a reasonable guy.” But, Stewart added, Pawlenty has left Minnesota in worse shape than did, say, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
Ellison, Muslim leaders hail elimination of bin Laden
Calling Osama bin Laden a “truly evil man,” Rep. Keith Ellison commended the U.S. military, American intelligence officers and President Obama for the raid yesterday that killed the al Qaeda leader. Meanwhile, Muslim groups also applauded the military raid.
VIDEO: Minnesota’s two (count em, two) presidential hopefuls offer more fodder for Colbert
Minnesota’s potential presidential candidates are giving Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert plenty of material these days, from Tim Pawlenty letting news of his candidacy slip on CNN (before backpedaling on the topic) to Michele Bachmann telling Iowa conservatives that the earth is 5,000 years old.
Overdue Indian crime bill passes without support of Colo. Republicans
A bill aimed mainly at bolstering American Indian law enforcement power to investigate rape and other crimes committed on tribal lands passed the U.S. House last week with overwhelming bipartisan support. Rights groups, who have watched similar efforts fail time and again, hailed the move as a major step in stemming the epidemic of violence that plagues Indian women in particular. Some House Republicans, however, including Colorado Reps Mike Coffman and Doug Lamborn objected to the bill, voting against it not based on its substance, which they agree addresses a serious problem, but because of the cursory way they say the Democrats pushed the bill through Congress.
Obama lauds Senate action on unemployment benefits, bashes GOP political gamesmanship
Following the Senate’s reauthorization of an extension to unemployment benefits tonight, President Obama released a statement urging the U.S. House of Representatives to quickly pass its version so he can sign it into law. He blasted Republicans who’d stonewalled…
Proud serial apologizer Joe Barton repeats confused tendency on Twitter
After apologizing to BP for the $20 billion victims’ escrow fund, Rep. Joe Barton unapologized via a retraction. But now he’s unapologizing for that, sort of. David Weigel reports that the formerly penitent Texas Republican has
