HUFFPOST HILL - The Senate's $43 Million Typo

Progressive activists cheered when a reform-minded AG was named the top enforcement officer of the CFPB. That is, those that could muster a huzzah through all the tears. Congress might deprive housing assistance to thousands of low-income Gulf Coast residents because of a clerical error. The Senate finally transcended partisan gridlock by voting overwhelmingly in favor of a tax bill that everyone hates. And even though Wall Street's behavior makes J. Wellington Wimpy seem like an economic visionary, a group of Republicans tasked with identifying the source of the financial crisis blamed it on the government and poor people. This is HuffPost Hill for Wednesday, December 15th, 2010:

HOUSE PASSES STANDALONE DADT REPEAL BILL...AGAIN - The House of Representatives voted on a bill that would repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell again. After the vote, which was 250-175, the chamber erupted in applause again and Democratic reps, imbued with a deep, warm sense of accomplishment, congratulated themselves on a job well done again. The repeal bill now goes to the Senate for consideration again. While the bill is expected to come to a vote next week, reports indicate that the Senate might not actually be able to pass DADT repeal...again. The House had previously voted on a defense authorization bill that included DADT repeal but that was torpedoed in the Senate.

15 Republicans voted in favor while 15 Democrats voted against.

DADT HAS VOTES IN SENATE: HOYER - Steny Hoyer spoke with HuffPost Hill after the House vote and said that he's been told by Joe Lieberman and Susan Collins that they have at least 60 commitments to support repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Hoyer said that he reached out to Lieberman after the last failed Senate cloture vote and offered to have the House move first. "I called and talked to a number of people. I then called Senator Lieberman and said, 'Joe, my intent will be to talk to Congressman Murphy,' -- who's the sponsor of the amendment that was adopted in the defense bill -- 'and put this in as a free standing bill, because we can probably send it over to you more quickly than you can send to us.' And he agreed and we introduced exactly the same bill that we have in the Senate," Hoyer said.

YOU DON'T SAY: FEDERAL GOVERNMENT FORGETS ABOUT POOR PEOPLE IN GULF COAST - "We only have 15 minutes to correct this mistake," Mary Landrieu declared at 11:45 this morning on the Senate floor. Sadly there were no green wires to be cut, CGI-rendered explosions to run away from or Megan Fox appearances to be had (just think about it, C-SPAN). Landrieu was actually pleading with colleagues to fix a $43 million typo in the tax deal. What happened is that Landrieu and the rest of the delegation representing the Gulf States were given money for construction of low-income housing. But one of the dates in the bill needed to be changed from 2011 to 2012, otherwise the funding would be useless for the projects, which can't be completed by the end of next year. (They're on New Orleans time, people! Wasn't that storm like five and a half years ago?) But Landrieu failed, as unnamed Republicans objected to making the fix. Instead, she secured a promise from Jon Kyl and Max Baucus that the fix would be made in the first tax bill of the next session. After wondering what will happen to the intern who dropped the page worth $43 million, HuffPost Hill's attention was drawn to this intriguing hint from Kyl: "As I also told the senior Senator from Louisiana, there are some other reasons why we have to act quite quickly next year dealing with some technical fixes to other aspects of the tax bill. So there are other reasons to act quickly as well as this particular situation."

TAX CUT VOTE IN HOUSE TOMORROW - The Rules Committee is meeting this evening to rig tomorrow's vote set the confines of tomorrow's debate on the tax deal passed today in the Senate. Steny Hoyer tells us this: "My view is that the Rules Committee will report out - and I don't know exactly how they're going to consider this -- some amendment or amendments that will allow the House to express its view on the tax cuts for the wealthiest in America." When the House is given a chance to "express its view," hide the women and children. "There'll be an amendment or amendments - they haven't completed their work yet--which will allow members to reflect that view," Hoyer said. "I can't predict exactly what the outcome of those amendment will be." But we can: They will lose and the final bill will pass. Congress is an awfully efficient institution when it wants to be.

Peter DeFazio on Parker/Spitzer: "The President is making phone calls saying this is the end of his presidency if he doesn't get this bad deal."

NOW came out today for Cayolyn Maloney for the top spot on the oversight committee in her contest against Elijah Cummings.

START TREATY ADVANCING IN SENATE - The "Let's At Least Leave The Cinders Tidy For The Cockroaches" treaty cleared a major hurdle in the Senate today when the chamber voted 66 to 32 to begin debate on the nuclear reduction agreement. To the relief of Democrats, Mitch McConnell announced that the bill would not be read aloud -- an action that could have taken between 12 and 15 hours. Jim DeMint had earlier threatened to do so but...c'mon, who wants to deal with that? Harry Reid announced that the Senate will take up the treaty tomorrow morning.

@ManleySenate: # of hours to read START on Sen. floor = 12-15, # of comm. hearings DeMint missed on START = 7. No wonder he needs to have it read to him.

ALTERNATE ENGINE IN OMNIBUS - The alternate engine for the joint strike fighter, which Obama opposes and has threatened to veto, is back in the omnibus and GE-Rolls Royce is waging an all out campaign to push it through. Wait. We have Rolls Royce making our fighter jets? Rolls Royce?? No wonder the defense budget is blowing up. You telling us that Chevy can't make a decent fighter jet? Or how about one Built Ford Tough. Call it the F-150. It'll have a cup holder.

@SavannahGuthrie: Source in rm says POTUS told CEOs at start of mtg: "I want to dispel any notion we want to inhibit your success."

Christmas Eve sessions really grind John Thune's gears: "The Democratic leadership somehow thinks that by being here Christmas week it's an act of courage ... I think it makes the leadership look incompetent. I think the American people are sitting at home going 'What's wrong with these guys? Why can't they get their work done at a reasonable time?'" Thanks to Elise Foley for the legwork.

Speaking of Christmas, Taxpayers for Common Sense reports that it'll be a good one for GOP senators seeking earmarks, though Reid and Murray didn't do so bad either:

McConnell: 42 earmarks worth $86.1M
Cochran: 263 earmarks worth $522.2M
Wicker: 223 earmarks worth $415.4M
Murray: 184 earmarks worth $219.0M
Reid: 151 earmarks worth $180.3M
Inouye: 141 earmarks worth $325.0M
Landrieu: 114 earmarks worth $143.9M
Hutchison: 74 earmarks worth $135.9M
Cornyn: 51 earmarks worth $93.5M
Thune: 28 earmarks worth $38.5M

PARANOID SELF-LOATHING GOP LOBBYIST - Happy holidays! Our favorite Paranoid Self-Loathing GOP Lobbyist, who only dashes through the snow to flee from IRS agents and to crush hippies with his snowmobile, continues his insane crusade against CREW's Melanie Sloan in the fifth instalment of PSLGOPL's New Year's Resolutions For Other People. On the fifth day of Christmas, PSLGOPLNYRFOP said to me: "Melanie Sloan should donate her Lanny Davis pay raise to the Sunlight Foundation under one condition. That the Sunlight Foundation actually abides by its founding principles and disclose its own contributors." And a partridge in a pair tree! Season's Greetings, PSLGOPL! PS: Here's the handy page where the Sunlight Foundation abides by its founding principles and discloses its own contributors. George Soros isn't on there, but that doesn't mean....HITLER [Sunlight Foundation]

DAILY DELANEY DOWNER - Banks have started foreclosures on more than 2,500 homeowners still in the process of applying for mortgage modifications, according to a new survey of 96 consumer attorneys. "People every single day are being put into foreclosure while they're waiting for modifications," said Ira Rheingold, director of the National Association of Consumer Advocates, which conducted the survey in November with the National Consumer Law Center. "It's all related to the broken mortgage servicing system." The mortgage-servicing system found itself in the spotlight this fall when employees at big banks admitted in sworn depositions to signing off on foreclosure filings without verifying any of the information. Banks and the government have insisted it's just a paperwork problem and no homeowners have been harmed. Rheingold and other consumer attorneys argued that the unverified documentation is yet another symptom of a system that routinely seizes homes under false pretenses. "I'm not sure whether it's incompetence or intentional venality," Rheingold said. "The fact they can't modify someone's loan and at the same time stop a foreclosure is ridiculous." [HuffPost]

Economists solve riddle of income inequality! - Here's a way around the problem of exploding income inequality: "Attacking the problem from a different angle, other economists are challenging whether there is much growth in inequality at all below the super-rich." Hooray! But seriously, Wall Street is hogging all the money. [The American Interest Magazine]

Don't be bashful: Send tips/stories/photos/events/fundraisers/job movement/juicy miscellanea to [e-mail]. Follow us on Twitter - @HuffPostHill

FINANCIAL CRISIS COMMISSION REPUBLICANS GO ROGUE...FOR TRUTH - Actually not. Not at all. The four GOPers on the panel tasked with pinpointing the genesis of the financial meltdown released their own findings today. HuffPost's Shahien Nasiripour originally reported that the panel's Republicans grew impatient with the findings and tone of the commission's five Democrats and one independent and were also irked by the leadership of Phil Angelides. Their breakaway report places the blame squarely on the government for creating a legislative environment they claim encouraged the reckless borrowing that helped begat the subprime crisis. Yeah, that's what did it. Not the firms leveraging at a rate that would make Randy Johnson's batting average look impressive with about as much on-hand capital to buy a knish at one of the vendors staked outside their Park Avenue offices. No, not that. Not the Brioni-clad, S-Class-driving, St. David's parents association running, well-Olivia-and-I-used-to-summer-in-Montauk-but-it-has-become-such-a-zoo-don't-you-think? douchenozzles who oversaw the the complex bundling of junk mortgages yet somehow couldn't anticipate that a junior manager for a c-rate flooring company in South Apopka, Florida can't afford a 5,000-square-foot mansion complete with a steam room, a guest apartment above the garage, three walk-in closets, a game room, a steam room annex, heated basement floors, a wine and charcuterie cellar and a swimming pool in the shape of Geddy Lee's favorite double-neck guitar. NO NOT THOSE GUYS AT ALL. NOT ONE BIT. It's OK to come out now, Dick Fuld. [HuffPost]

Read the report

BANK CRITIC GETS CPFB POST -"Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray, a banking-industry critic fighting major lenders embroiled in a foreclosure paperwork mess, will lead enforcement efforts for a new consumer protection agency currently being formed, the Obama administration announced Wednesday. Cordray is among three joining the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's implementation team. He had been up for re-election last month but lost to former U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine." [Market Watch]

MIKE ROGERS TO CHAIR INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE - Holding hearings on just how evil Julian Assange is is hard work (How many synonyms for "traitor" could there possibly be!?!) but somebody's gotta do it! Molly Hooper: "House Speaker-designate John Boehner (R-Ohio) selected Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) to head the House Intelligence Committee in the 112th Congress.Rogers, a former FBI agent, defeated Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) to take the gavel atop the lower chamber's secretive select committee. The Michigan lawmaker, serving his fifth term in the House, has grown close to Boehner in recent years. Boehner tapped Rogers to head the Republican leader's pet "State Solutions" project, which entails coordinating with GOP governors on policy matters." [The Hill]

WORLD FALLING APART - Riots broke out in Greece and Moscow today. Without endorsing Russia Today, we will say they have good video of both. Or you could just wait a few years and take video yourself here. Footage of Greece and Russia

HARKIN PLANNING MAJOR FILIBUSTER REFORM PUSH IN JANUARY - Describing his intentions at a gathering of rules-reform types, the Iowa senator predicted that things might get a little cray-cray. "There could be some fireworks. There could be some fireworks on January fifth. I'm going to be there. I'm armed. I'm armed with a lot of history, and I know the rules, and I know the procedures too, so we will see what happens on the fifth," Harkin said, employing the same kind of inflated language and feigned enthusiasm that fathers use when trying to convince their kids that game night will be fun ("C'mon, you'll love it! We've got Cranium! We've got rice cakes and peanut butter! We've got a six-pack of Diet Pibb! Mom put out all the beanbag chairs in the living room! Who knows what'll happen! Right, kids?!). Sam Stein: "Essentially, that path to reform requires Vice President Joe Biden -- who supports weakening the filibuster -- to rule on the first day of the next session that the Senate has the authority to write its own rules. Republicans, presumably, would immediately move to object, but Democrats could then move to table the objection, setting up a key up-or-down vote. If 50 Democrats voted to table the objection, the Senate would then move to a vote on a new set of rules, which could be approved by a simple majority." [HuffPost]

NORM COLEMAN NIXES RNC CHAIRMANSHIP RUN - It takes a special breed of man to think that HE is the one to play spoiler to Michael Steele in an election but, gosh darnit, Norm Coleman is going to give it a try. "I've been pretty consistent on this, it's very simple," Coleman said to MinnPost. "I've said if Steele was running, I wouldn't run against him. He strongly supported me in the past; I made that commitment to him a number of months ago - if he's in I'm not in." Well there ya go, Norm! [MinnPost]

REPORT: WIKILEAKS WHISTLE-BLOWER BEING TREATED LIKE CONTENTS OF TYPICAL WIKILEAKS LEAK - Glenn Greenwald took a break from the Glenn Greenwald beat this week to publish a jaw-dropping piece on the mistreatment of Bradley Manning, the Army private accused of passing on classified information to WikiLeaks. According to G-squared, Manning has been subjected to psychologically traumatizing mistreatment. Manning "has been detained at the U.S. Marine brig in Quantico, Virginia for five months -- and for two months before that in a military jail in Kuwait -- under conditions that constitute cruel and inhumane treatment and, by the standards of many nations, even torture. Interviews with several people directly familiar with the conditions of Manning's detention, ultimately including a Quantico brig official (Lt. Brian Villiard) who confirmed much of what they conveyed, establishes that the accused leaker is subjected to detention conditions likely to create long-term psychological injuries." [Salon]

Speaking of Wikileaks: Really, Time Magazine??? Mark Zuckerberg??? You could power Jeffrey Bewkes' Manhattan hideaway apartment for a year with the force of Richard Stengel's desire to please.

Sarah Palin Talk Pretty One Day: "Brad Phillips, an alum of ABC News and CNN, has posted an interesting study on his Mr. Media Training site, rating 18 potential Republican challengers to Barack Obama in 2012 based on their effectiveness communicating in front of the camera. It's a mighty subjective study, based on reviewing video of TV interviews. [Marco] Rubio earns a solid A, compared to A- for Haley Barbour and Mike Huckabee, B for John Thune, B-for Jeb Bush and C + for Sarah Palin and Jim DeMint." [St. Petersburg Times]

JEREMY THE INTERN'S WEATHER REPORT - Tomorrow: First snow for some of us! (Pre-emptive note to some members of HPH: I didn't see snow this weekend, so there). Showers are popping up, and with highs in the upper-20s, it looks promising. Plus, with the recent long cold snap, we'll see it sticking. Still, it's pop-up snow, so don't expect a need to shovel. Tomorrow: More snow showers popping up. Don't be surprised if you see the white stuff, then again, given the nature of these isolated storms, don't be surprised if you don't. Thanks, JB!

COMFORT FOOD

- In case you've ever wondered what it looks like for Usher to get kicked in the face, here you go [http://bit.ly/fYUzSM]

- An infographic presenting the settings of the greatest movies of all time [http://bit.ly/gGRul1]

- A study finds rich women prefer attractive older men. Doh. [http://aol.it/gDbgE6]

- Mark Whalberg REALLY wants to distinguish the different between himself and you. [http://aol.it/gDbgE6]

- If dance-offs only occurred in Spike Jonze's nightmares, dance-offs would only look like this. [http://bit.ly/dR0ZUt]

- Gnocchi explodes when you fried it. [http://bit.ly/dY9Lai]

- HuffPost Comedy compiles a list of great gifts for the funny person in your life [http://huff.to/f1LJ6c]

- Yesterday we wrote that the best thing in the world would involve Monty Python, Bacon and Angry Birds. If we could do that to the docile tones of this epic jug band, that'd be fantastic. [http://bit.ly/gM6wsN]

TWITTERAMA

@TomCoburnsBeard: it's chilly outside, good thing i'm keeping tom's face warm.

@Andydaglas: Everyone expected @Time's POTY to be a guy dedicated to the proliferation of private information on the Internet, and sure enough.

@pourmecoffee: Newsweek's Person of the Year kind of sad - "Our Creditors" with glowing bios of each one.

THE TUBE

TONIGHT: Jeff Merkley speaks with Ed Schultz. Rush Holt stops by Countdown. John Kerry discusses START and Patrick Murphy postgames the DADT vote on Maddow. Anthony Weiner, Anthony Weiner, Shelley Berkley and Tom Harkin are on Last Word.

ON TAP

TONIGHT

5:30 pm - 8:30 pm: NEI has its holiday party at Charlie Palmer Steak.
Break some bread. Split some atoms. Have a great time [Charlie Palmer Steak, 101 Constitution Ave NW].

6:00 pm - 9:00 pm: Dow Lohnes Government Strategies celebrates all the work it does helping the little guy [Sonoma, 223 Pennsylvania Ave SE].

6:00 pm - 10:00 pm: If the Wine & Spirits Wholesalers Association can't have a raging holiday party, no one can [The Source, 575 Pennsylvania Ave NW].

TOMORROW

6:00 pm - 8:00 pm: Third Way's holiday party will feature good, moderate fun. Not too much one way or the other. Just a pleasant time [Sonoma, 223 Pennsylvania Ave SE]

7:00 pm - 9:00 pm: iConstituent, which provide communications services for Congress, provides a different kind of service with its open bar holiday soiree [L2
Lounge, 3315 Cadey's Alley NW].

6:30 pm - 9:30 pm: The Center for American Progress holds its annual holiday fete at the 9:30 Club. Word is no one dances until John Podesta dances. Words to live by [9:30 Club, 815 V Street NW].

Got something to add? Send tips/quotes/stories/photos/events/fundraisers/job movement/juicy miscellanea to Eliot Nelson ([e-mail]), Ryan Grim ([e-mail]) or Arthur Delaney ([e-mail]). Follow us on Twitter @HuffPostHill (twitter.com/HuffPostHill). Sign up here: http://huff.to/an2k2e

Comments

[MysticInd]

01:45 PM on 12/16/2010

"McConnell: 42 earmarks worth $86.1M
Cochran: 263 earmarks worth $522.2M
Wicker: 223 earmarks worth $415.4M
Murray: 184 earmarks worth $219.0M
Reid: 151 earmarks worth $180.3M
Inouye: 141 earmarks worth $325.0M
Landrieu: 114 earmarks worth $143.9M
Hutchison: 74 earmarks worth $135.9M
Cornyn: 51 earmarks worth $93.5M
Thune: 28 earmarks worth $38.5M"
Always worth repeating.

[maxfax]

04:20 PM on 12/16/2010

Cochran taking care of the homeboys on the homefront, namely Haley Barbour, #1 homeboy.

[NOV42008]

10:39 AM on 12/16/2010

Someone said that the Republican Senators who are looking at working during a Christian Holiday is un-christian, but our soldiers do not get that day off, so why should they? I think this statement should be said over and over until the Republicans are required to work the same days as our soldiers.

[Sooladgaf]

11:44 AM on 12/16/2010

And Im sure you'll be working as well instead of spending time with your family. How courageous of you

[Donns]

12:45 PM on 12/16/2010

I believe these politicians should be home over the holidays. If they are home getting their orders from their corporate owners then they are not in Washington doing damage to the country. Any break from them is good for we the people.

[NOV42008]

03:18 PM on 12/16/2010

I don't have a government job, who are paid by the American people. Since I am an American and pay their salary, I think I should get to tell them when they can go on vacation and how many vacation days they can take. If a business that require that require extra hours/days to fulfill a need for profit, employees will be asked to stay overtime to complete, this should be no different.

[jsgaetano]

10:25 AM on 12/16/2010

That's ok.  "Fiscal Conservatives" are experts at squandering money, as their $14+ Trillion National Debt more than adequately proves.

[Lost Nation]

02:49 PM on 12/16/2010

Good to know Democrats had no hand in spending any of that

[jsgaetano]

10:42 AM on 12/17/2010

I just got through saying conservatives, but for some strange reason you're mentioning Democrats, as if "conservatives" were a political party?
 
Care to explain your seeming political ignorance on this subject?

[brightlightincloset]

09:10 AM on 12/16/2010

"Progressive activists"

read: communists

[tacevad]

10:01 AM on 12/16/2010

stuck in the 50's?

[brightlightincloset]

10:06 AM on 12/16/2010

yes. thanks to legislation offered by those controlling the congress....I'm ready to move on. you?

[joceeco]

08:42 AM on 12/16/2010

Why are the republicans crying about working? They are always trying to school the American people on what it means to work hard, and "pull yourself up by your bootstraps." now they are crying because they must put on a suit and tie in order to yell at, and call Democrats bad names on what they call a work day. I work all the days leading up to Christmas and all of the days after Christmas...always have and probably always will. I don't even get New Years off. These republicans are a bunch of p*%%ies!

[mdsman]

08:11 AM on 12/16/2010

maybe had our leaders followed established processes by reading and debating legislation, this would not have happened.
maybe had our leaders actually taken this issue up, sometime in the past 5-6 years, this would not have happened.
maybe had our leaders acutally lead, this would not have happened

but know, they didn't....they were to busy trying to ram "crisis legislation" down the throat of the american people
legislation that is so filled with irrellevant expenditures that it makes one cry....
and then we are shocked to find the dodd amanedmant legislating for aig bonuses, college loans in the HCR, and typos in tax legislation

sad.....
Happy Holidays

[LeaderofMen]

07:37 AM on 12/16/2010

Once again, your Christianist country has religion taking precedent over human rights.

[rougebaisers]

05:55 AM on 12/16/2010

What? Only 43 million?

[Paul Andrews]

08:40 AM on 12/16/2010

Is there any truth to the report that president OBAMA wants to switch parties?

[rougebaisers]

09:42 AM on 12/16/2010

Nah. He is playing out his role as the republican in dem clothes just fine as is. This way the repubs have a win/win situation.

[polishlogician]

03:26 AM on 12/16/2010

"(They're on New Orleans time, people! Wasn't that storm like five and a half years ago?)"

....why did HUD close housing projects and leave residents homeless?

"New Orleans activists and residents have condemned the federal government’s refusal to re-open the city’s public housing projects and point out that while tourist areas are being developed, affordable housing is not being built."
http://www.democracynow.org/2006/8/29/one_year_after_katrina_new_orleans

In the five years since Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf coast, the New Orleans metropolitan area lost 75,000 housing units or nearly 13% of its housing stock.
http://rismedia.com/2010-09-14/hud-releases-first-comprehensive-housing-survey-of-new-orleans-metropolitan-area-since-hurricane-katrina/

...oh well, but something happened in January 2009:

January 27, 2009 - The United States Senate confirmed Shaun Donovan as President Barack Obama's secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

Donovan was previously the New York City's commissioner of Housing Preservation and Development.

Donovan was influential in implementing the New York City mayor's plan to create 165,000 units of affordable housing in the city, which was expected to be completed by 2013 but has been pushed back to 2014 because of the recession.
http://therealdeal.com/newyork/articles/shaun-donovan-confirmed-as-obama-s-hud-secretary

...guess that's just New York time?

[LeftLeanWing]

03:24 AM on 12/16/2010

The Senate's $43 Million Typo

Landrieu was actually pleading with colleagues to fix a $43 million typo in the tax deal.

But Landrieu failed, as unnamed Republicans objected to making the fix. Instead, she secured a promise from Jon Kyl and Max Baucus that the fix would be made in the first tax bill of the next session.

It's always UNNAMED REPUBLICANS saying "NO" just for the Hell Of It !

[asiclilpup]

03:15 AM on 12/16/2010

Well Holloween is long past but the reFUGLYkins are still knobgobblin.

[namewithheld]

07:42 PM on 12/15/2010

I have to go run some errands. Please do your service to the country by tro//ing here:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/12/15/house-schedules-vote-militarys-dont-ask-dont-tell-policy/#content

[Ioan Lightoller]

08:47 PM on 12/15/2010

Fanned and faved. Just did. The homophobia is absolutely on the level of psychotic over there...as in all gays should be gassed, or put in camps or both.

[melton244]

02:15 AM on 12/16/2010

Fanned and faved! But I value my sanity too much to wade into the Sea of Pea