“Mary Landrieu” on The Daily Caller

Senate Republicans blocked progress on small-business legislation Thursday morning, handing Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) his second legislative defeat of the week. (more)

Little does he know, but Hef has a D.C. doppelganger: former Service Employees International Union (SEIU) President Andy Stern.  While one sports the union bug and the other a Playboy bunny (or three), these big-time bosses have more than just gray hair in common. (more)

The White House’s “National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling” finished its first set of hearings Tuesday with its chairmen indicating they would encourage the administration to rethink its moratorium on offshore drilling. Testimony and public comments from locals slammed not only the moratorium, but also federal obstructionism on key engineering projects and the use of one chemical oil dispersant. (more)

Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh famously said he hoped President Obama would “fail” in January, 2009. Almost a year later, when Limbaugh was rushed to the hospital with chest pains, Washington Post reporter David Weigel had a wish of his own. “I hope he fails,” Weigel cracked to fellow liberal reporters on the “Journolist” email list-serv. (more)

There is a tragedy unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico, a tragedy made purely of political calculus. Unfortunately for the Obama administration, this tragedy is wholly their doing and cannot be blamed, much as they would probably prefer, on George W. Bush. (more)

Attorney General Eric Holder, at the behest of his boss, President Obama, is looking to file criminal charges over the BP oil rig explosion. Naturally, we all wait to see if he’ll name the Secretary of the Interior as co-defendant. Americans were shocked to learn of the Interior’s cozy relationship with the industry it’s supposed to regulate. (more)

If it’s Sunday, it’s Meet the Press… and Fox News Sunday… and Face the Nation… and This Week… (more)

Following the tragic explosion and oil spill that rocked the Gulf coast on April 20, President Obama responded to the crisis by announcing a six-month moratorium on offshore oil drilling in the region. This impetuous response was comparable to that offered by the president and his Democratic colleagues following the mortgage crisis and subsequent credit crunch that struck the American economy and ushered in a phalanx of legislation designed to address its root causes. Each incident evoked a strong reaction from the public, nearing what sociologists refer to as a “moral panic,” and each incident equally saw the president attempt to advance his own legislative priorities throughout the crises. (more)

Though the President and BP are allotting $20 billion for the Gulf Coast recovery effort, lawmakers from the Gulf Coast region are fighting for more. And they have a viable plan for obtaining the needed funds. (more)

As the president attempts to curb the nation’s spewing anger over the Gulf oil spill in Tuesday’s national address, leaders and experts in Louisiana say the administration is continuing to strike out. (more)

Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, a key Democrat on the Senate energy committee, blasted Obama’s top offshore drilling official for the administration’s ongoing ban of deepwater drilling in the Gulf Coast, charging the decision could cost her home state more than 300,000 jobs. (more)

A bipartisan group of senators will move after the Memorial Day recess on a resolution to block the Environmental Protection Agency’s regulation of greenhouse gases. (more)

Sometime before June 7, the so-called Murkowski resolution to block EPA regulation of greenhouse gases will be voted on in the Senate. Democrats up for re-election this fall may want to think twice about a knee-jerk “no” vote. (more)

Race to the Top is hitting the wall. (more)

This week in the Senate may prove to be a big week for the cap-and-trade issue even though most Hill watchers will see the Senate debating the highly publicized financial reform bill. Ever since Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) pulled his support and co-sponsorship in late April of the soon to be unveiled cap-and-trade bill by Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and John Kerry (D-Mass), most believed the prospects for this issue coming up in the Senate this year were severely jeopardized by the senator’s withdrawal. If you add to that, the recent and very tragic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, that disaster would seem to serve to further put at risk the scheduling of any bill in the Senate this year. Finally, in a May 5, 2010 CBO report, the Congressional Budget office reported that capping and reducing U.S. greenhouse gases would result in large decline of employment, specifically saying the coal industry would suffer a decline between 10 percent to 18 percent by 2015. Combining all of these factors together, most logical people would bet that the issue was completely dead this year. However, actions this week in the Senate might just prove that assumption wrong. (more)

According to the Center for Responsive Politics and financial disclosures, over the last twenty years of oil-giant BP’s political action committee, the largest recipient has been President Obama. (more)

The National Safety Council has estimated that in 2007, Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) participants saved more than $300 million in private sector injury costs, not to mention the pain avoided. They also saved the government more than $59 million by avoiding injuries. When employers make the significant commitment to safety required by VPP, it allows OSHA to focus its resources where they are most needed. Adding 35 additional inspectors at OSHA won’t do much to improve workplace safety, but a nationwide effort like VPP actually builds cohesive relationships between federal regulators and employers – if it’s allowed to keep working. (more)

As President Barack Obama prepares to nominate a Supreme Court justice to replace John Paul Stevens and Republicans are likely preparing to filibuster someone they consider too liberal, it’s worth remembering the “Gang of 14” and consider the situation that exists today in the Senate. The result: The shared hypocrisy and double standards of both Democratic liberals and Republican conservatives will be all too obvious. (more)

An airline's plan to charge up to $45 for passengers to store carry-on luggage in overhead bins has riled two Democratic senators enough for them to write legislation banning such a practice. (more)

President Obama wants a health care bill now.  And this time, he swears it will be corruption-free. (more)