Below The Beltway

The vultures have already started claiming their piece of the $ 700 bailout package:
WASHINGTON (AP) - The bailout is now the hottest lobbying game in town.
Insurers, automakers and American subsidiaries of foreign banks all want the Treasury Department to cut them a piece of the largest government rescue in U.S. history.
The betting is that many [...]

The federal budget deficit has ended the fiscal year with another record:
WASHINGTON (Bloomberg) — The federal budget deficit rose to $455 billion in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30 as financial market strains slowed economic growth while spending rose the most since 1990.
By comparison, the deficit a year earlier was $162 billion, while the [...]

We really appreciate that $ 1.5 billion you just gave us:
The U.S. Senate voted last night to authorize long-sought federal funding for Washington’s cash-strapped and aging Metro system, clearing a major hurdle toward providing $1.5 billion over 10 years to help maintain the nation’s second-busiest rail system.
The Senate passage is the furthest the measure has [...]

She was for it before she was against it:
ST.PAUL — In her nationally televised speech accepting the job as John McCain’s running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said she “championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress” and opposed federal funding for a controversial bridge to a sparsely populated island.
“I told Congress, [...]

Ron Paul endorses Alaska Congressman Don Young (R., Bridge To Nowhere):
Former Republican presidential contender Ron Paul has endorsed Don Young in his bid to win an 18th term in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Paul, the 72-year-old congressman from Texas whose maverick presidential bid drew wide support in Alaska, sent out a letter to his supporters [...]

Bob Barr is calling for an end to the practice of using taxpayer dollars to fund the Republican and Democratic National Conventions:
Atlanta, GA - “My party has already held its convention without a single taxpayer dollar in its support,” notes Bob Barr, the Libertarian Party presidential nominee. But the Republican and Democratic conventions live on [...]

Is it a proper function of Government for the United States Congress to be worrying about the Bowl Championship Series:
WASHINGTON — Forget government corruption or corporate fraud. Three members of Congress want the Justice Department to investigate whether college football’s Bowl Championship Series is an illegal enterprise.
Reps. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii), Lynn Westmoreland (R-Ga.) and Mike [...]

Georgia Senator Johnny Isakson comes up with a really bad idea:
As a longtime realtor in Cobb County, Sen. Johnny Isakson has seen housing downturns before. “We had recessions in 1968, 1974, 1982, and 1991, by every measurement, this is going to be a deeper and bigger recession in residential housing. It’s a significant event.”
Isakson is [...]

Virginia’s two Senators were among 71 other Senators who voted against a proposal by Senator Jim DeMint that would have placed a one year moratorium, an amendment that even Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton could agree on:
Presidential politics swept onto the floor of the Senate yesterday, as the three contenders took a rare break from [...]