By Hugh McQuaid UConn is in the Final Four again and the friendly political wagers have begun. U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney and his colleague in Florida are both betting their teams will emerge victorious from Saturday’s semifinal men’s basketball matchup.Courtney, a UConn Law School graduate, is betting against U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, of Florida, a two-time… Read more »
(JTA) – A bipartisan letter is circulating among members of the House of Representatives calling for the creation of a Holocaust Survivor Assistance Fund.The letter, which is being formally submitted on April 4th to Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), the respective chairman and ranking member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health… Read more »
By Debbie Wasserman SchultzLate last year I was contacted by one of my constituents, Martin West. A small business owner and moderate Republican, Martin wanted me to know that despite his party affiliation, he and his wife Melinda were grateful for the Affordable Care Act.Melinda's successful battle against Stage 4 Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma had left them with a very expensive health… Read more »
By William E. Gibson, Washington BureauThis weekend will bring the last big push to sign up for Obamacare.Volunteers will fan across Florida, urging people to buy health insurance plans, as officials prepare for a surge of applications before open enrollment ends Monday.Don't wait to apply, advisers are telling the uninsured. And ignore the talk about an extended deadline. A grace… Read more »
By Chad PergramMost city police chiefs must only please one mayor.Not U.S. Capitol Police Chief Kim Dine.He has 535 mayors.As in 535 members of Congress. That's 100 senators, 435 representatives. Most with very pointed notions as to how to police their "town." This unique hamlet includes the U.S. Capitol, the adjacent grounds, the House and Senate Office buildings, the… Read more »
By Hannah Hess Pressed to delve into lessons learned from the Oct. 3 shooting of Miriam Carey, Capitol Police Chief Kim C. Dine stood by the department’s use of force Monday.Dine called the high-speed car chase that started at the White House and ended with the Capitol under lockdown a “very, very quick, very fluid set of… Read more »
By David A. Schwartz, Staff WriterU.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, of Fort Lauderdale, recently welcomed about 30 other Congressional Democrats, including Ted Deutch of Boca Raton, Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Weston and Frederica Wilson of Miami, to a breakfast for Black and Jewish members of Congress.The breakfast is "a healthy thing," Hastings said in a phone interview from his… Read more »
By David A. Schwartz, Staff WriterAll that Rosette Goldstein and Kurt Rosendahl of South Florida, and other Holocaust survivors from France living in the United States, want from the French National Railroad is reparations and an apology for the railroad's role in transporting 76,000 European Jews to the Franco-German border where they were taken by German trains to Nazi death camps.… Read more »
By Hannah Hess Around 10 on a recent mid-workweek morning, the line of people waiting to enter the Rayburn House Office Building stretched across the stately cement plaza.School-aged kids waited in front of men and women in suits, who were chatting about appointments on Capitol Hill or gazing at their cellphones. As the long queue neared the… Read more »
By Juliet EilperinJust as she was about to begin a “Pin the Tail on the Donkey” game at her 6-year old daughter’s birthday party last October, White House budget chief Sylvia Mathews Burwell received a call that she couldn’t ignore about the ongoing government shutdown. She handed off the tails to her best friend from college and ducked out.“Then I was back,… Read more »