Published November 21st, 2006
in US Legislative and Military.
In what can only be called an odd role-reversal, Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY), who will chair the House Ways and Means committee come January, said he would seek passage next year of universal draft legislation.
Rangel told CBS’ “Face the Nation” yesterday that “If we’re going to challenge Iran and challenge North Korea and then, as some people have asked, to send more troops to Iraq, we can’t do that without a draft”, adding that the war in Iraq is being fought by American soldiers who disproportionately are from low-income families and minorities and implying a desire to change that.
Published November 13th, 2006
in US Legislative, Military and Iraq.
The Democrats haven’t been sworn in yet as the new overlords of Capitol Hill, but the direction in which they want to take the country is already becoming clear. Several major Democrats spoke out today in favor of withdrawing troops from Iraq as soon as possible.
Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, the incoming chairman of the Armed Services Committee, stated his desire to begin bringing US troops home in phases within four to six months. Joe Biden, the Delaware Senator and incoming chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, joined him in predicting that many Republicans would support such a resolution. Levin thinks that now is the time for Bush to tell the Iraqis that “the open-ended commitment is over.”
And so another election draws to a close in the manner we’ve come to expect: the counting of votes dragging on beyond election night with a few thousand votes separating two flawed candidates in a single state. Our electoral system surely works in mysterious ways that on occasion it seems to thrust the future direction of the nation on the shoulders of a handful of voters. Still, after the smoke has cleared, one thing has become obvious: the Democrats have regained control of Capitol Hill.
After 12 years of Republican control it seems like the reins of both Houses of Congress are passing to the Democrats. The Associated Press has called the Senate race in Virginia for Democratic challenger Jim Webb while a counting of canvass votes in Virginia was still underway. Halfway through the canvass, the count showed incumbent George Allen trailing Webb by about 7.200 votes, leading the AP to call the race in Webb’s favour.
Control of the US Senate has now officially become a nailbiter with CNN and Fox calling the Montana Senate race for Democrat Jon Tester, edging out Republican incumbent Conrad Burns by about 2800 votes with all but 1 precinct reporting.
What this effectively means is that control of the US Senate now rests on the Virginia Senate race between Republican incumbent George Allen and Democratic challenger Jim Webb. The last update had Allen trailing Webb by about 7800 votes with Allen likely to call for a recount.
Recent Comments