Friday, February 29, 2008

Goings-On in Congress This Week

Attorney General Michael Mukasey refused Friday to refer the House's contempt citations against two of President Bush's top aides - White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and former presidential counsel Harriet Miers - to a federal grand jury. As promised, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that she has given the Judiciary Committee authority to file a civil suit against Bolten and Miers in federal court.

The U.S. House of Representatives voted 236-to-182 to repeal $18 billion in tax breaks for big oil companies to help pay for developing renewable energy sources, but Bush has threatened to veto, of course.

In the Senate, Republicans blocked a vote on legislation that would let bankruptcy judges erase some mortgage debt and spend more money on fixing abandoned properties, in an effort to curb rising home foreclosures. They also disallowed a vote on a bill by Sen. Russ Feingold to get most U.S. troops out of Iraq by July and cut off funding for the war, after first allowing discussion on it to play up the "success" of the surge.

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