Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said over the weekend that Senate control hinges on Iowa.

“It’s the definition of a political stunt,” said Rep. Rob Woodall, R-Ga., who was recently named the interim chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee.

Wasserman Schultz predicted Democrats would retain a majority in the Senate and pick up seats in the House — although she stopped short of predicting that they would gain the 17 seats needed to capture the majority. Explaining her reasoning, Wasserman Schultz said the midterm election will be driven by individual campaigns and she believes a strong Democratic candidate pool will help the party outperform expectations.

The speaker is planning to sue the president because he allegedly “created his own law” by waiving the employer mandate under the Affordable Care Act.
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All that’s needed is a simple majority of the House of Representatives to impeach a president and put an asterisk next to his name in the history books.
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The House impeaches, but the Senate convicts with a two-thirds majority or 67 votes. 

At a monthly panel discussion with conservative lawmakers, members were asked if they would support impeaching President Barack Obama for selective enforcement of some laws and dramatic reinterpretations of others.
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“I think it’s debatable,” Barton said. “I certainly think the president has gone out of his way to not enforce some of the laws that the Congress thinks he should be enforcing. Impeachment is for high crimes and misdemeanors. The Constitution doesn’t really define what that is.”

The stock market continues to test and make new highs, and the housing market is much improved. All in all, there is plenty of reason for optimism about the overall economy and the job market.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) trail Hillary Clinton by only 6 percentage points in 2016 hypothetical matchups in Iowa, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Monday.

Lankford leads Shannon 43 percent to 35 percent in the automated survey conducted by SoonerPoll for News9. State Sen. Randy Brogdon was taking 4 percent, which could deny a candidate an outright win; if neither candidate reaches 50 percent there will be a two-month runoff.

Mr. Scalise, 48, was not a shoo-in to succeed Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, who was elected majority leader. (Mr. McCarthy will replace Representative Eric Cantor, who is stepping down after losing his primary bid for re-election in his Virginia district.)

The most tart exchange came as Berwick, a former federal Medicare and Medicaid chief, pressed for a single-payer health care system in the state, in which the government would provide health insurance, rather than private firms. The push for what he often calls “Medicare for all” has been one of his banner issues.

The jury’s still out on whether Majority Leader Eric Cantor lost his primary Tuesday night because he was perceived by voters to be in support of rewriting the country’s immigration laws.

“All the focus, all the hope, in the conservative world now rests with convincing Jim Jordan to make a majority leader run,” according to a senior GOP aide.

Re: Julian Castro

 President Barack Obama will make it official Friday afternoon, when he will announce his intent to nominate Castro to be the secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

He’ll still have to navigate the Senate confirmation process, but Republicans will not be able to filibuster either nomination after Democrats last year detonated the “nuclear option” getting rid of the 60-vote rule for nominations.

Having successfully defied the Tea Party on the debt ceiling, now it is time for Boehner and McConnell to use that momentum to pass three bills: An extension of unemployment benefits for people suffering long-term joblessness; a minimum wage hike; and, most important of all, immigration reform.

“All modern presidents have done this,” said Kenneth Mayer, a University of Wisconsin political science professor who has studied the presidency extensively. “All presidents utilize the tools of executive power to implement policies.”

Landrieu has voiced her displeasure that Louisiana has not accepted federal aid to expand Medicaid.
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“Yes. I have talked about it,” Sen. Mary L. Landrieu, D-La., said Tuesday between votes. “I have been trying to lead a broad coalition of Democrats and Republicans, rich and poor, business interests and consumers alike, to explain to Governor [Bobby] Jindal that the decision he made was not right. It is not in Louisiana’s economic interest, leaving $16 billion on the table.

Re: Ron Wyden

All of that may be true, but so is this: On Thursday the Oregon Democrat will become the most liberal chairman in the modern history of the Finance Committee, the most powerful panel in the Senate.

Whitehouse has given a “time to wake up” floor speech about climate and environmental issues each week the Senate’s been in session for the past 58 session weeks.

The Senate voted 96-0 Thursday to confirm Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) as U.S. ambassador to China.
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Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Baucus would go down in history for his work on the “landmark” Affordable Care Act, also known as ObamaCare.

Obama signs $956 billion farm bill

Sen. Jon Tester, MT-D

President Obama risks muddling his message when he heads to Michigan on Friday to sign a farm bill that cuts $8 billion in funding for food stamps.

The NRCC also announced Tuesday that Schock will serve as chairman of the NRCC’s March dinner — one of the committee’s top fundraising events of the year. Schock pledged to raise an additional $1 million for the committee before the March 26 event.

The funds will go toward aiding the NRCC’s efforts to keep control of the GOP’s House majority. Republicans have boasted they want to expand their 17-seat advantage over Democrats in the upcoming midterm elections.

Coburn is resigning at the end of 2014 

The House Ethics Committee is reviewing allegations that one of the House GOP’s rising stars violated ethics rules by mingling taxpayer and political money during a competitive campaign for a party leadership position, according to several sources.

House Republican Conference Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers, who delivered the GOP response to the State of the Union address, is accused of hiring political operatives to work alongside her official staff during her bid for the chairmanship.

At an afternoon panel moderated by GOP leaders and former Congressional Budget Office Director Doug Holtz-Eakin, members expressed support for tying a one-year increase to the nation’s borrowing limit to a repeal of the health law’s so called risk corridors, a provision that mitigates risk for insurance companies.

Rep. Chris Van Hollen, (MD)

One of those members, Rep. John Fleming of Louisiana, said he thought leadership would cool its efforts to push an immigration rewrite this year.

“My sense is that the consensus here is that we should not move forward and that leaders will abide by that,” Fleming told CQ Roll Call. “On a political basis, this is a suicide mission for Republicans. Why would we want to change the topic for a very toxic problem Democrats have with Obamacare?”

Fleming said Financial Services Chairman Jeb Hensarling of Texas, Science Chairman Lamar Smith of Texas, and Budget Vice Chairman Tom Price of Georgia — all of whom are influential in conservative circles — spoke in front of the conference to say an overhaul should not move forward this year.

A proposal by Sen. Rand Paul to allow guns in post offices is being met with skepticism by the chairman of the committee that oversees the Postal Service.

Senior appropriator and progressive stalwart James P. Moran will step down at the end of this year, making him the third House Democrat in just three days to announce his retirement.

Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon, R-Calif., announced on Thursday that he will not seek a 12th term in California’s 25th District.

“For me, it’s time to walk away,” McKeon, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said at a hearing Thursday morning.

Re: Finance Committee

Wyden is in line to become chairman following the departure of Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., who has been tapped by President Barack Obama to be ambassador to China.

Oklahoma GOP Sen. Tom Coburn plans to leave the Senate early and will resign his seat at the end of the current Congress.

“Nothing would have been possible without Sen. Mikulski and her determination to get the green light on because people … in my state are tired of yellow and red,” said Sen. Mary L. Landrieu, D-La.