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A giant "Eff You" to bumblin' John Roberts
Brilliant at Breakfast — ... For the record, the Republicans who crossed over were Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe, Kay Bailey Hutchison, and Arlen Specter. No male Republicans other than Specter voted for this bill, and no Democrats crossed to the Dark Side, which means that all but one of the thirty-five Republican men in the Senate believes that paying women less than men for EXACTLY THE SAME JOB is perfectly OK. I wonder, then, how they expect these women to feed the babies that Republicans want to force them to have?

It's about time
Political Animal — ... legal help. The vote was 61-36. The House of Representatives approved a similar measure on January 9, three days after the 111th Congress convened. Because the Senate made modest changes in the House version, the House must pass it again. Once it does, as is assured, this will be one of the first bills that President Barack Obama signs into law. The measure passed the House in the last Congress, and enjoyed majority support in the Senate, but was blocked by a Republican filibuster. Looking over the roll call , every Democrat in the Senate (sans Kennedy and the two vacant ...

The Republican War On Working Families Hits A Roadblock-- And Lilly Ledbetter Act Passes The Senate... By A Landslide
DownWithTyranny! — ... Oh, and when the actual Ledbetter Act came to a final vote last yesterday afternoon, it passed 61-36, a nice healthy margin. Every single Democrat voted yes, of course, and they were joined by the 4 Republican women Senators plus Specter. It's 2010 but 36 reactionary Republicans voted against equality for women, including John McCain and, needless to say, the Senate's biggest whoremonger, David Diapers Vitter.

ThinkFast: January 23, 2009
Think Progress — Today, New York Gov. David Paterson (D) will reportedly announce that he has chosen Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand (D) to fill Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s vacant Senate seat. A congresswoman from upstate New York, Gillibrand “is known for bold political moves and centrist policy positions.” Yesterday, the Senate voted 61-36 — with all 16 female senators voting “yea” — to pass the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which makes it easier for workers to fight pay discrimination. The House ...

Timothy Geithner Confirmed as Treasury Secretary - The Roll Call Vote: 60 - 34
FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog — New York Federal Reserve Bank President Timothy Geithner, U.S. President Barack Obama’s nominee for Treasury Secretary, testifies at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Finance Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington,  January 21, 2009. The Senate confirmed Geithner as Treasury secretary on January 26, 2009. Here is the Roll Call Vote in the United ...

Hope And Change: Noted Tax Evader Now Secretary Of The Treasury, Head Of The IRS
Say Anything — Have we ever had a tax cheat heading the IRS before?  Or is Obama making history once again? WASHINGTON — The Senate on Monday confirmed New York Federal Reserve Bank chief Timothy Geithner as President Barack Obama’s treasury secretary despite tax problems that might have sunk his nomination in less desperate times. The 60-34 vote, in which handfuls of Republicans and Democrats voted against their party leaders, put Geithner at the helm of Obama’s economic team as it races to halt the worst financial slide in generations. In swift order reflecting the urgency, Obama was expected to attend Geithner’s swearing in Monday evening at the Treasury ...

Tim Geithner Confirmed By The Senate-- Kind Of Messy Though
DownWithTyranny! — ... Geithner was corfirmed 60-34. Voting against confirmation were the usual rogues gallery of obstructionists like DeMint, Chambliss, Grassley, McCain, Coburn, Isakson, Kyl, McConnell, Thune and, of course, David Diapers Vitter. Of more concern is that 4 trustworthy progressives joined them: Robert Byrd, Tom Harkin, Russ Feingold and Bernie Sanders. Here's Russ Feingold's statement about why he voted against the confirmation: ...

The Senate Republicans Voting to Confirm Tax Cheat Geithner?
RedState: Conservative News and Community — Keep the following names in your wallet just in case the IRS comes knocking at your door to arrest you for any possible “mistakes” in your payment of federal taxes, won’t you? For these are the names of those Republican Senators that one can rely upon to absolve us for being a tax cheat. In fact, if you play your cards right, you might even get a cushy government job out of the deal. These are the Senators that don’t think being a law abiding tax payer is a necessary requirement for being Secretary of the Treasury: Corker (R-TN)  Cornyn (R-TX)  Crapo (R-ID)  Ensign (R-NV)  Graham (R-SC)  Gregg (R-NH)  Hatch ...

House Sends Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act to Obama
News — ... Under today's bill, one can file suit 180 days from the last discriminatory check, effectively extending the filing deadline. Obama used the bill to attack Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) during the 2008 campaign, producing an ad that featured Ledbetter blasting McCain for voting against bringing it to the Senate floor. Obama is expected to sign the measure. The House passed the bill today 250-177 , largely along party lines; it passed the Senate last Thursday 61-36 , drawing support from three Republicans.

Senate Republican “leadership” - FAIL
No Runny Eggs — Shoebox wrote back in the immediate wake of the November election that there was no difference between 57 Democrats in the Senate and 60. Something that John Hawkins tweeted today reminded me of that: “The GOP’s leadership in the Senate is utterly failing. They haven’t stopped ANYTHING yet and Lamar Alexander voted for the Omnibus bill.” I have decided to run with that and see just how big a failure that has been. The Senate has taken 96 votes in this session of Congress. There were 14 votes on items supported by the Democratic leadership (majority leader Harry Reid, majority whip Dick Durbin, vice chair Chuck Schumer and secretary Patty ...