Senate

Requiring senators to file their campaign finance statements electronically rather than on paper seems like such an obvious update that no one could object. And yet someone has. Maybe lots of someones. At least twice last week, Republican senators blocked action on legislation that would conform Senate campaign filings with the electronic measures used by House candidates and presidential hopefuls. In each case, the senator said he was acting for an unnamed GOP colleague. But the absence of outrage from anyone but sponsors of the change suggests broader complicity.

WASHINGTON -- A comprehensive immigration bill that would boost control of U.S. borders and provide a path to citizenship for an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants already in the U.S. was brought back to life yesterday as the Senate voted 64-35 to resume debate on the controversial measure. The move, which had been strongly pushed by President Bush, gave hope to the beleaguered immigration bill's advocates that it was showing new signs of life and could pass the Senate by week's end. "We're back in the ball game," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican.

BILL STRAUSS, 60 Capitol Steps founder Bill Strauss, who founded the political satire group Capitol Steps, died Tuesday at his home in McLean, Va., the musical troupe announced. He had been battling pancreatic cancer since 1999. Mr. Strauss, a Harvard-trained lawyer and Senate subcommittee staff member, got the idea of forming Capitol Steps in 1981 after hosting a party that ended with a jam session around the piano in which partygoers did parodies of Reagan-era newsmakers. Months later, the group made its debut at the office Christmas party of Mr. Strauss' employer, Sen. Charles H. Percy, an Illinois Republican.

Washington -- As the Senate began a new debate on the war in Iraq yesterday, the White House brushed off calls from a growing chorus of Republican lawmakers to change course in the more than four-year-old conflict. "The president wants to withdraw troops based on the facts on the ground, not on the matter of politics," White House press secretary Tony Snow told reporters. "There is no intensifying discussion about reducing troops." Snow also tried to minimize the differences between President Bush and his GOP critics on Capitol Hill by explaining that the president also wants to bring home the troops.

WASHINGTON -- The beleaguered immigration bill makes a much-anticipated return to the Senate floor today, with some senators saying that a critical procedural vote will signal whether the legislation will be defeated or eventually clear the Senate. If today's showdown vote - on a motion to officially revive the bill - fails to procure the 60 votes needed to pass, it will probably be the end of the road for comprehensive immigration reform this year. But if it passes, senators are predicting - some grudgingly - that it would herald Senate passage of the measure by week's end. The bill then would go to the House for further debate.

WASHINGTON -- Telecommunications companies won a skirmish in the Senate yesterday as a bill to protect them from lawsuits for cooperating with the Bush administration's eavesdropping programs easily overcame a procedural hurdle. The Senate voted 76-10, with Democrats divided, to advance the bill for consideration. A measure to block it, which was led by Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat, fell short as those who wanted the bill to reach the floor got 16 votes more than the 60 needed to achieve that goal.

The Maryland Senate approved legislation yesterday that would expand government-funded programs to provide medical coverage to more of the state's 800,000 uninsured, boosting the measure's chances just months after a similar proposal died in that chamber. The Senate voted 30-17 to pass the bill, which was championed by Gov. Martin O'Malley, and the House of Delegates is expected to act on heath care legislation in the coming days. Both versions would allow more adults to be eligible for Medicaid, the state-federal health insurance program for the poor, and extend insurance premium subsidies to small businesses and their employees.

Senate Republican leaders said yesterday that they would not vote for the governor's slots proposal during a special session of the General Assembly, potentially jeopardizing the critical cross-party partnership that has been necessary in the past to get a divisive gambling bill through the chamber. Sen. David Brinkley, the minority leader, chided Gov. Martin O'Malley for not releasing details of his proposal to legalize slot machine gambling in Maryland before his expected call for a special session.

The Maryland Senate unanimously approved a bill yesterday that would require the state to scrap its $65 million electronic-voting system and switch to new machines that have a paper record. If the bill wins final approval and is signed by the governor, voters would not use the new optical-scan equipment until the 2010 election. The measure is contingent on state funding, and the new system is projected to cost $18 million to $20 million. For Maryland officials, the move would mark the second time in five years that the state has overhauled its voter system.

Legislators gave a skeptical reception yesterday to an advocacy group's claim that state funding to help children at risk of academic failure is going instead to teacher salaries, heating bills and other general expenses. Advocates for Children and Youth briefed lawmakers on a report the group released last week saying that while the state has sent an extra $500 million to school districts to help educate at-risk students, the districts are spending less money on programs targeted to them.

Maryland consumers who buy new cars will receive state and federal tax breaks, lawmakers decided Saturday - a reversal from their position a day earlier. With just one day left of the General Assembly session, the reinstated car benefit was part of the state's nearly $14 million budget given final approval Saturday evening by the House of Delegates. The Senate will take up the budget on Monday, the last day of the session. Meanwhile, the Senate signed off on an emergency bill giving the state the eminent domain authority to keep the Preakness and other horse racing assets in Maryland as their Canadian owner prepares to liquidate in a bankruptcy proceeding.

Maryland senators rejected an attempt Wednesday morning to tie up funding for public university construction projects if their governing bodies do not set policies on how and when pornographic material may be shown on campus. In the latest legislative reaction to the screening this week of hard-core pornography at the state's flagship university campus, Sen. Andy Harris, a Republican representing Baltimore and Harford counties, tried to amend the state's $1.1 billion capital budget to prevent public universities from accessing their share of the money unless they develop and put in place a porn policy by July 1. Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller ruled the amendment out of order, and senators - including several Republicans - concurred, ending Harris' attempt.

The Maryland Senate approved its version of the state's annual budget Thursday, drawing vocal opposition from education advocates who warn that lawmakers are shortchanging schools. Amid plunging state tax revenues, the Senate voted 40-7 for the $13.8 billion spending plan that incorporates hundreds of millions of dollars from a federal economic stimulus package while trimming local government aid and various programs. The budget is now in the hands of a cross-chamber conference committee with the House of Delegates, which made fewer spending cuts than the Senate.

Automated cameras that result in $40 citations for owners of vehicles caught speeding could be coming to many parts of Maryland under a plan that surfaced Tuesday in the state Senate and appears likely to become law. Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley has been seeking a statewide expansion of speed cameras, which generated nearly $10 million in fines last year through a pilot program in Montgomery County, the only jurisdiction where they are now allowed....

Battle lines have been drawn over competing state spending proposals after the House of Delegates decided overwhelmingly Thursday night to approve a $13.9 billion operating budget with key differences from the Senate plan. The House voted 116-21 for a budget that preserves education and health care funding with federal stimulus money while cutting local aid and other programs. Democratic leaders contend that they pared the budget while maintaining a social safety net and averting worker layoffs and higher taxes.

Gov. Martin O'Malley is urging members of the Maryland House of Delegates to abandon their effort to repeal the death penalty and instead adopt an alternative that limits capital cases. Even though a majority of the House appears to back repeal, key delegates are joining the governor's call, including the speaker of the House and the lead sponsor of a death penalty abolition bill. Their support could mark the end of the repeal effort for at least the next two years. O'Malley, a Democrat who made repeal a top priority this year, acknowledged yesterday that abolishing the death penalty would not be possible unless the closely divided Senate gained new members after 2010 elections.

Maryland senators delayed a vote yesterday on a proposed texting-while-driving ban to give time for a Republican lawmaker to offer a change that would reduce the suggested $500 maximum penalty to a warning. The legislation is expected to come up again today, as lawmakers discuss banning the practice of sending and receiving text messages while behind the wheel. Maryland now bans texting and cell-phone use only by drivers younger than 18. Sen. Andrew P. Harris, a Republican who represents Baltimore and Harford counties, said he worried that the maximum $500 proposed fine was too onerous because it could require drivers to miss a day of work and hire an attorney to appear in court.

Del. Craig Rice called his mother Tuesday morning to tell her the Maryland Senate was about to begin a discussion of the death penalty. Vivian Rice reminded her son that the date had even more significance. It was 16 years ago on March 3 that his aunt, quadriplegic cousin and his cousin's full-time nurse were killed in their Wheaton home. Vivian Rice lived five doors away. She found the bodies. Stunned by the symbolism of the timing, Delegate Rice, a 36-year-old freshman lawmaker from Montgomery County, dashed off an e-mail to all 47 senators.

Maryland senators advanced a plan yesterday to make the state's capital punishment statute one of the most limited in the nation. Although the proposal is far short of the full repeal sought by Gov. Martin O'Malley, the governor said it might be the best that death penalty opponents could hope for this year. The new requirements - if they become law - would mean that the death penalty could be applied only in murder cases in which there is DNA evidence, a video recording of the defendant committing the crime, or a voluntary, videotaped confession.

Lobbying efforts by death penalty opponents will intensify this weekend, even though a bill to abolish state executions died yesterday in a key Senate committee. Ordinarily, the "unfavorable" vote by the Judicial Proceedings Committee would end debate. But because of a major push this year by the governor, Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller said he will entertain a rarely used parliamentary maneuver to allow the full chamber to resurrect the bill "as early as next week." That sets up a fierce debate on capital punishment that could tie up business in the Senate for hours, if not days.