The Columbus Dispatch - Sen. Sherrod Brown was one of a handful of senators picked to question President Barack Obama in a session the president held last week with Democratic senators.
The Ohioan zeroed in on Obama regarding how to aid Ohio manufacturers in the face of increasing competition from China and other countries on alternative-energy technology. Brown has proposed a $30 billion federal revolving loan fund to aid manufacturers.
The Columbus Dispatch - Before she got sick, Cynthia White-Rhoads never had missed a day of work. Now, doctors say the 46-year-old woman has the lung function of someone twice her age.
Rocky Kline was in peak physical condition. Now, even simple tasks leave him gasping.
Dalea and Ed Hawkins loved to go camping on weekends. Now, they can't muster the energy to load up the car.
Firedoglake - While all the hoopla over Richard Shelby’s hostage situation is a little overhyped – if not him, some other Republican would have held each and every one of these nominees – it does amount to what you would call a “teachable moment” about the dysfunctional Senate. Anyone who thinks that the fillibuster is merely a protection of minority rights need only look at the Shelby blanket hold. It is the manifestation of a Parliamentary era of ideological rigidity combined with a supermajority process of veto points, along with a political system that rewards the minority for frustrating a majority. It’s a formula for American decline, to put it as simply as possible. We are all Colorado Springs now.
You’re finally starting to see the White House dip their toe in the water on the question of whether to fix the broken Senate. Vice President Biden, himself a creature of the Senate for 36 years, is willing to discuss reform.