Senate

By John Terrett in Americas on February 17th, 2011
Photo by GALLO/GETTY

The heads of US National Intelligence, the CIA and the FBI testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee in Washington DC in a rare public appearance together in one room.
 
At times, President Obama's Director of National Intelligence - his point man in the intelligence community - was forced to answer for his staff's past performance, in particular accusations that they failed to properly alert the White House to the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt.
 
James Clapper, director of national intelligence told the select committee: "What intelligence can do in such cases is reduce, but certainly not completely eliminate, uncertainty for decision makers whether in the White House, the Congress, the embassy or the foxholes as we did in this instance but we are not clairvoyant."

Senators took the opportunity to press Clapper on the future make-up of the Egyptian government, especially the role that might be played by the Muslim Brotherhood.

By Al Jazeera Staff in Middle East on January 28th, 2011

File 4690

By Camille Elhassani in Americas on January 5th, 2011
Photo by Reuters

The 112th US Congress has opened. Republicans hold the majority in the House of Representatives, and Democrats remain in control of the Senate but with a smaller majority. The balance of power in Washington changed after last November’s Congressional Midterm Elections. The American public, angry at the state of the economy and high unemployment, voted for change.

On Wednesday, the new members of Congress were sworn-in.  Republican John Boehner has taken over the job of Speaker of the House from Democrat Nancy Pelosi.  In assuming the third highest position in the US government, Boehner said, “Hard work and tough decisions will be required of the 112th Congress. No longer can we fall short. No longer can we kick the can down the road.

By Camille Elhassani in Americas, Europe on November 16th, 2010
Photo: EPA

As the US Congress makes its to-do list for the last few weeks of the year, one piece of legislation that is not likely to be on it is the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, known as START.  The White House has been pressing the Senate to ratify the treaty with Russia which would reduce both countries' nuclear arsenals and deployment systems.  

The Senate Republican tasked with negotiating with the Obama administration threw cold water on the treaty on Tuesday. 

Jon Kyl put out a statement saying he didn't think START would be considered this term, "given the combination of other work Congress must do and the complex and unresolved issues related to START and modernisation".  Republicans have been pressing for a multi-billion dollar modernisation of the US nuclear arsenal. 

Kyl's statement means the treaty will likely be shelved for the year.

That means next year, the ratification process will begin all over again in the Se

By Camille Elhassani in Americas on November 15th, 2010

The US Congress is back to work in Washington for the lame-duck session meant to finish the last bits of legislative business before handing the gavel over to the new Congress in January. 

Lame-duck refers to legislators who lost in the midterm elections two weeks ago but come back for a few weeks to complete the session (and pack up their office). 

Democrats lost more than 60 seats in the House of Representatives two weeks ago and control of the lower chamber.

They also lost six seats in the Senate.

By Camille Elhassani in Americas on November 2nd, 2010
Photo from AFP

As the political sage of Al Jazeera’s US Midterm election coverage, the question I get asked most is: "When will we know who wins?" The answer I usually give is: "When we know it."

Tuesday is Election Day in the United States. All 435 members of the House of Representatives are being contested, so are 37 Senate seats, and a number of governor's offices. Lots of factors affect when we'll know the outcome – lines at the polls, counting time, how close the race is, weather delays ... after polls close in each state, it could be minutes, it could be hours. Or in the case of a recount, maybe even weeks.  

I passed by a local polling station on my way to work this morning. There were only a few people in line, a far cry from 2008 when the queue was around the block. That's typical for a midterm election.

By Al Jazeera Staff in Americas on November 2nd, 2010
Tea party supporters rally in Connecticut the day before the election. [AFP]

21:39 GMT: A witty (and vulgar) website - "What the f___ has Obama done so far?" - is going viral on Facebook, with more than 53,000 fans. It presents a long list of various achievements in Obama's two years in office, and seems aimed at refuting Republican arguments that Obama has failed to bring his promised "hope and change".

21:21 GMT: BBC World News interviewed Democratic political consultant Peter Fenn just now. Fenn said that he expects Obama will act pragmatically and extend an "olive branch" to Republicans after the election and noted that Obama's approval rating is higher now than Clinton's in 1994, when Republicans won a huge midterm victory. Clinton was re-elected in 1996. 

By Casey Kauffman in Americas on November 2nd, 2010
Photo by AFP

It's one of America's hottest senatorial races. And Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev) is not up against the usual Republican candidate.

He's running against Sharron Angle - a Christian conservative whose views are extreme by moderate Republican standards. She opposes abortion after rape, widely accepted social welfare programmes, and has said that Sharia Law is spreading in American cities.

Angle is a lifelong school teacher with a short political career in Nevada's state assembly. She became the Republican nominee for Nevada's Senate race after she was backed by the Tea Party Express – a  national group supporting conservative candidates.

By Camille Elhassani in Americas on October 19th, 2010
Picture from AFP

In two weeks, Americans will vote in mid-term Elections.  Here’s a look at where things stand ahead of the November 2nd vote.

Candidates are busy trying to sway undecided voters and push their base to get out and vote in the last two weeks.  Early voting has begun in the majority of states, and there are multiple indicators that this will be the second mid-term election in a row where one or more Chambers of Congress switched parties, proving just how volatile the electorate is. 

A number of debates between the candidates have take place in the last week.  None of them were game changers though.  The much anticipated face-off between Nevada Senator Harry Reid, who is the Senate Majority Leader, and his Republican rival Sharron Angle, backed by the Tea Party was inconclusive.

By Camille Elhassani in Americas on October 14th, 2010
Photo by EPA

Barack Obama, the US president, is trying to energize young people to vote to help him keep Democratic majorities in the House and Senate during this year's midterm election on November 2.

But it's a tricky strategy. They're a group of people who never vote in large numbers, especially in midterms.

Obama has concentrated his energy in the last two and a half weeks until the election on them.

He's avoided other typical campaign stops - like union halls and retirement communities.

He's given an interview to Rolling Stone magazine, held numerous rallies on university campuses and participated in town hall events for young people, all in an effort to enthuse a key voting bloc that helped propel him to victory in 2008.

And he's dusted off many of the arguments that worked with young people in the past.

The Democratic National Committee has a new ad out which looks a lot like his ads from 2008, even down to similar music.

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