Al Smith, Contender
October 14, 2011
This week C-SPAN continues its a new American History television series. It will air live each Friday evening at 8:00 PM on C-SPAN. Each program will orginate from a historic site and will feature fourteen men who lost the presidency, but changed history. These contenders were candidates in at least one national election and changed political history as a result of it. This week features Al Smith.
Contenders featured include Henry Clay, James G. Blaine, William Jennings Bryan, Eugene Debs, Charles Evan Hughes, Al Smith, Wendell Wilkie, Thomas E. Dewey, Adlai Stevenson, Barry Goldwater, Hubert Humphrey, George Wallace, George McGovern, and Ross Perot. Watch them live each Friday night or view them in the Video Library at this site. More information is available C-SPAN The Contenders web site.
Senate Vote Extends Two Hours
October 12, 2011
Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) extended a Senate vote on the jobs bill two hours to accomodate Senator Shaheen (D-NH) who was returning from her home state. Every vote is shown in the Congressional Chronicle by length with the outcomes. You can see how long this vote took relative to others by going to the timeline for the October 11, 2011 session. Use the Congressional Chronicle to follow the daily actions of the House and Senate.
Senate Establishes New Precedent
October 7, 2011
In a rare move in the U.S. Senate, Majority Leader Reid (D-NV) moved that a post-cloture motion by Republicans was dilatory. The chair ruled against Reid and he moved to appeal the ruling of the chair. The question of whether the chair’s ruling should stand was put to the Senate. The Senate failed to support the chair, thus supporting Reid, and establishing a new precedent that post-cloture motions to suspend and take up an amendment could be considered dilatory. The vote was 48-51.
The procedure that Reid used was similar to the so-called “nuclear option.” Although Reid said he was opposed to using this option to stop the filibustering of judicial nominees, the procedure used was essentially the same. The majority leader makes a motion, the chair uphold the motion, and the full Senate overturns the chair, and rules in favor of the majority leader.
You can watch the process starting at 1830 in the timeline of the Congressional Chronicle. After the vote and a quorum call, Reid, McConnell, Corker (R-TN), Wicker (R-MS), Leahy (D-VT) and Schumer (D-NY) continue to debate what happened. Click here to go to the program. This debate continues until 2015. You can also watch this reair of the Senate session.
You can follow the Senate (and House) easily by using the timeline of the Congressional Chronicle.
Charles Evans Hughes, Contender
This week C-SPAN continues its a new American History television series. It will air live each Friday evening at 8:00 PM on C-SPAN. Each program will orginate from a historic site and will feature fourteen men who lost the presidency, but changed history. These contenders were candidates in at least one national election and changed political history as a result of it. This week features Charles Evan Hughes.
Contenders featured include Henry Clay, James G. Blaine, William Jennings Bryan, Eugene Debs, Charles Evan Hughes, Al Smith, Wendell Wilkie, Thomas E. Dewey, Adlai Stevenson, Barry Goldwater, Hubert Humphrey, George Wallace, George McGovern, and Ross Perot. Watch them live each Friday night or view them in the Video Library at this site. More information is available C-SPAN The Contenders web site.