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from MacroScope:
Is Ben Bernanke becoming a closet Democrat?
Watching Ben Bernanke testify before Congress in recent years, it’s hard to shake the feeling that this is a Fed Chairman who has been largely abandoned by his own party. Hearing after hearing, Bernanke receives steady support and praise Democrats for his efforts to stimulate a fragile economic recovery – and takes constant heat from Republicans for what they perceive as the possible dangers of low interest rates.
Many people forget Bernanke was first nominated to his current role by a conservative Republican president, George W. Bush. Bush, though he was reappointed to a second term by President Barack Obama. Bush first named Bernanke to the Fed’s board in 2002, then brought him to the White House to lead his Council of Economic Advisors.
In his recent biannual testimony on monetary policy, Bernanke had quite the exchange with Bob Corker, a Republican Senator from Tennessee. The tone of his question was immediately confrontational:
Corker: When the Fed decided it was going to stimulate a global currency war, as it did, did you embark on that thinking, well, you know, our country’s in trouble, and let’s — sort of the heck with everybody else, or did you think it would leverage the wealth effect, if you will, if everybody had a race to the bottom? I know the Fed has been really purposeful in trying to create this sort of faux wealth effect. Did you think it would multiply your efforts?
from MacroScope:
Sen. Warren flags double-standard for criminal prosecutions of banks
Massachusetts' rookie Senator Elizabeth Warren was out making waves again at a Senate Banking Committee hearing on Capitol Hill today. The former Harvard law professor contrasted the legal code affecting drug prosecutions with what she depicted as cushy settlements for large Wall Street firms that committed egregious crimes.
Take Standard Chartered. They were fined $667 million by U.S. regulators for breaching sanctions related to Iran and three other countries. Yet the bank posted a tenth straight year of record profits.
from MacroScope:
Bernanke’s Senate tone not that of Fed Chairman seeking third term
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke may be keeping quiet about his future plans, but he sure doesn't sound like someone planning to seek Senate support for a third term at the helm of the U.S. central bank.
In unapologetic and sometimes testy exchanges before the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday, the Fed chief defended his record and dismissed one Senate critic in unusually blunt terms.
from The Great Debate:
A history (and future) of Congressional polarization
As the 112th Congress came to a close last year, bipartisanship made a rare showing. The U.S. inched its way up to the fiscal cliff, but Congress voted to yank the country back, with 85 House Republicans voting not to reinstate the Bush tax cuts for individuals who earn more than $400,000. It was a rare moment of bipartisanship, however begrudging, for a Congress that has steadily become more polarized in the past 30 years.
Using a statistical analysis of some 35 million individual campaign contributions from 1980 through 2012, we assembled Congress’ polarization ratings. Rather than base legislators’ ideology on how they vote, we instead infer ideology scores from the patterns of contributions made by their supporters. In deciding which candidates to support, the typical donor is strongly influenced by his ideological views. As a result, they give almost exclusively to like-minded candidates with similar voting records. The massive quantities of data on contribution records (with over $6 billion dollars contributed to federal elections during the 2012 election cycle alone) make for an exercise in big-data and politics.
from The Great Debate:
Asserting the Senate’s power
A three-judge panel on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals last week unanimously ruled that President Barack Obama violated the Constitution when he made recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) last year.
The court agreed with the argument outlined in an amicus brief submitted by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), myself and 40 of our Republican colleagues. We argued that the Constitution does not empower the president to determine when the Senate is in recess.
from The Great Debate:
Why Congress can’t deliberate
The new Congress next year will likely inherit high-stakes standoffs over many complicated issues, from financial credibility to immigration. Our elected leaders must be able to make difficult trade-offs and craft policies that reflect the best expert knowledge.
In its current dysfunctional state, however, Congress cannot have nuanced deliberations or make knowledgeable judgments. One big reason is that it no longer has the capacity to produce unbiased public-interest information.
from The Great Debate:
Fighting the filibuster
President Barack Obama recently said Congress should “seize the moment” and summon a majority to push immigration reform. There is only one problem – Congress already did that.
Majorities in the House and Senate backed the DREAM Act, a bill creating a path to citizenship for young illegal immigrants brought to the United States as children, during Obama’s first term. The bill died, however, when a minority of Republicans filibustered it. So even if a new immigration majority materializes next year, Republicans can just filibuster again. Unless Erika Andiola gets her way.
from Tales from the Trail:
Reform-minded Angus King says he’s had warm Senate welcome
Senator-elect Angus King came to Washington preaching bipartisanship and fearing that many of his new colleagues wouldn't go near him, figuring he's "a strange creature."
But to King's delight, a number of Democrats and Republicans stepped forward to say that they share his desire to end congressional gridlock.
from Entrepreneurial:
Senate kills federal innovation research program
-- Robin Enos is a contributor to FindLaw's Free Enterprise blog. FindLaw is a Thomson Reuters publication. This article originally appeared here. --
The U.S. Senate voted this week to kill a bill to reauthorize the popular SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) program, according to the New York Times.
from Tales from the Trail:
Helloooooo out there…. Senator asks if anyone paying attention to speech
Senators go to the Senate floor and make speeches about issues near and dear to their constituents all day long -- but whether anyone is actually listening is another matter. 
Making speeches on the Senate floor gets the words into the official record, but often they are made to a near-empty chamber so it is never quite clear whether the words are heard.
