Good morning . . .
The 109th Congress will convene today. While there were hopes of partisan cooperation following the November election, recent statements by the Minority Leaders in the House and Senate will dash all hope of cooperation.
Today will be a day of mostly ceremony rather than work. Newly elected members will be sworn in and both houses will pass a resolution expressing sympathy for tsunami victims.
One notable absence from the first session will be Senator John Kerry. Instead of working for the people of Massachusetts, Kerry will be on a 13 day "fact-finding" trip to the Middle East. Reports are that the senator wants to retain a high public profile in domestic and foreign policy. He is, of course, doing this at taxpayer expense. Shouldn't the junior senator from Massachusetts and failed presidential candidate be doing the job he was elected to do and not the job he wasn't elected to do?
Boston.com / News / Politics / Presidential candidates / john Kerry / Kerry's skills on display in Mideast trip
Republican leaders in the House have decided not to change ethics rules. In a closed-door meeting House Republicans decided to retain a rule that would remove members from leadership positions if indicted. This has particular ramifications for House Leader Tom DeLay. A Texas Grand Jury is expected to indict De Lay later this month. De Lay has said that the prosecutor has a political agenda.
Republicans did propose a rule change that would make it harder to start an investigation against a member. The new rule would require a majority vote by the members of the Ethics Committee to proceed. The Ethics Committee has an equal number of Democrats and Republicans. Current rules allow an investigation to begin after 45 days if no action is taken by the Committee.
ABC News: House GOP Giving Ground on Ethics Rules
Is there any reason to believe that the internal investigation into Rathergate will be completed and released to the public? It has been over two months since CBS said it would be released and yet they have not.
More later in the Afternoon Update.
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