Two little words — “I apologize,” uttered by U.S. Rep. Joe Barton, R-Ennis, to Tony Hayward, the CEO of BP — have upgraded the status of David Cozad’s campaign from Sure Loser to Longer-Than-Longshot.
Texas congressional delegation
Posted in
Congress
Congressmen Push Bill to End Offshore Drilling Moratorium
Congressional Republicans — led by members of the Texas delegation — are poised to file a bill lifting Barack Obama’s moratorium on offshore drilling. Ben Philpott filed this report for KUT News and the Tribune.
Posted in
Energy
Navigating “Navigable”
Congress is known for having arcane battles, but the biggest fight these days in water law is over a single word in a 1970s-era measure designed to reduce pollution in America’s waterways. Texas environmentalists and ranchers are anxiously awaiting the outcome.
Posted in
Health care
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
Thevenot on the ideological backbiting at the internationally famous State Board of Education; Stiles, Narioka and Hamilton plumb employee salary data in Texas colleges and universities; Grissom looks at the problem of insufficient indigent defense; Cervantes on the push for “veterans courts” emphasizing treatment and counseling over punishment; Aguilar finds border congressmen asking the governor for a fair break on federal homeland security dollars; M. Smith on another BP rig in the Gulf; Ramshaw reports on nurse practitioners trying to get permission slips from doctors; Hu follows up with lawmakers poking at whistleblower allegations of trouble in the state’s workers’ compensation regulation; Hamilton stops in on Luke Hayes and his efforts to turn Texas into a political powerhouse for Obama; and Ramsey writes on generation changes at the Capitol and on political pranksters: The best of our best from May 17 to 21, 2010.
Posted in
State Government
Data App: Hey, Big Spenders
It’s not only rich people and lobbyists and interest group activists who make political contributions. Texas congressional candidates gave at least $1.3 million to other campaigns and causes over the last 15 months, according to itemized records of campaign expenditures released for the first time by the Federal Election Commission. Topping the list of big spenders in the Texas delegation were U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Surfside, who contributed at least $240,000 — the highest dollar amount — and Charlie Gonzalez, D-San Antonio, who gave more than 60 contributions — the highest number. Search our database to see who gave what to whom.
Posted in
State Government
On the Records: FEC Drops New Data
On Tuesday, the Federal Election Commission for the first time released detailed records for all congressional candidates’ campaign spending. These records tell us who the candidates hire for advertising, consulting, etc., and can often be more interesting to politics junkies than lists of campaign donations. We’ve made spending by the Texas delegation in the U.S. House of Representatives searchable.
Posted inState Government
Mr. President, Can’t We Have Federal Judges?
The Obama administration is taking heat from Texas Democrats in Congress over its slowness in filling the state’s vacant federal judgeships. Six are open, and a seventh will be next month — with no solution in sight. In his first 16 months in offfice, as Matt Largey of KUT News reports, the President has not nominated a single person to the federal bench in Texas.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
On the Records: Mapping U.S. Attorney Vacancies Nationwide
President Obama and the U.S. Senate haven’t yet installed U.S. Attorneys in any of Texas’ four federal court districts. As our national map shows, more than half of the country is in the same situation.
Posted in
State Government
Texas Sees Red
The Port of Houston Authority is poised to make the Lone Star State the top U.S. trade partner with communist Cuba after gaining permission for its container vessels to sail there.
Posted in
State Government
Net Neutrality Neutralized
FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell on why people who use more bandwith should pay more, what he thinks of the recent court decision preventing restrictions on “information service” providers, and more.
