Today in Washington D. C. - April 16, 2008

On The Floor: The Senate will resume consideration of the highway technical corrections bill (HR 1195). Roll call votes are expected later in the day. The Senate Appropriations Committee will hold a hearing on fiscal 2008 war supplemental funding at noon.

Yesterday, Senate Republicans brought the chamber to a standstill until Democrats agreed to move forward with judicial nominees. Democrats have failed to responsively confirmations to circuit courts evidenced by the fact President Bush has not received the same average number of circuit court nominees approved for the President Clinton in the final two years of his term, Republican tensions peeked tensions with Republican . That number is around 15 to 17 judges, but since last January only 7 have been confirmed. By the end of the day, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced an agreement that he would commit to confirming three more circuit court nominees by Memorial Day.

From Senate & News Sources: Unfortunately, this compromising spirit was not extended to confirming nominees to the Federal Election Commission. The Wall Street Journal reminded Reid today that he has no one to blame for the FEC meltdown but himself and Democrats’ refusal to “return to the protocol of confirming nominees in groups or in bipartisan pairs.”

Democrats are planning to hold an Appropriations Committee hearing on the upcoming supplemental request for funds for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. According to CQ Today, “Democrats are prepared to emphasize what they say is the connection between the costs of the Iraq War and the weakening U.S. economy.” Reid, DSCC Chairman Chuck Schumer, and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer have scheduled a press conference for the same time to emphasize the same issue. However, The Washington Post already ran a story yesterday declaring that such an “analysis strains credulity.” The Post even noted that Martin N. Baily, former chairman of President Clinton’s Council of Economic Advisers said, “[T]he current problems the United States is facing have very little to do with the war in Iraq.”

The Democrats’ problems with math aren’t new. Prior to reaching an agreement on judges yesterday, Senate Democrats were unhappy about the stalled highway bill and took to the floor for their usual denunciations of Republicans for “obstruction.” Once again, they brought out charts with big numbers supposedly representing “Republican filibusters,” but as Duane Patterson pointed out, the Democrats simply can’t get their numbers straight. Ed Morrissey noted the they were unable to distinguish actual filibusters from cloture votes or cloture motions filed.

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