News Roundup: May 5

Here are some stories being reported on your United States Senate and its members today.

General News

• McCain Moving Away from PAYGO - Congressional Quarterly reports on Senator McCain’s (R-AZ) shifting views on pay-as-you-go, or PAYGO, policies in legislation. The premise behind PAYGO is to offset any tax cut with an increase in revenue, usually a tax increase, somewhere else or a cut in spending somewhere else to “pay” for the reduction.
• War Supplemental Update - The Huddle reports that Democratic leaders in Congress, led by Speaker Pelosi (D-CA) and Majority Leader Reid (D-NV), are struggling to reach a consensus agreement on how to move forward with an upcoming war supplemental bill. Members see this bill as one of their last opportunities to deliver domestic relief to their constituents back home. House and Senate leaders are trying to work out how much to add to the bill in domestic spending with the Senate reportedly looking to add more than the House. It remains a possibility that the bill will begin in the House by going directly to the floor without a markup in the Appropriations Committee.
• Republicans Call for Ethanol Review – Some 23 Senate Republicans as well as Senator McCain (R-AZ) wrote a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency today requesting that they review ethanol policy and consider waiving recent mandates for its use.  This is in response to rising food prices which some blame on these “food-for-fuel” mandates.

Election News

• Cornyn in Trouble? - The Crypt reports that Senator Cornyn (R-TX) may be in a tighter race for re-election this Fall than was previously expected. A poll released by Rasmussen today shows Senator Cornyn ahead of his main opponent, Democratic state legislator Rick Noriega, by a slim margin of 47% to 43%. Any candidate up for re-election that does not poll above 50% is considered vulnerable. The seat was recently listed as “Republican Favored” by Congressional Quarterly. No Democrat has won a U.S. Senate seat in Texas since 1988.
• Another Democrat Running in Idaho - David J. Archuleta, of the Shoshone-Bannock Native American tribe, has jumped into the race for Senator Craig’s (R-ID) retired seat in the Senate this Fall. He will be matched up against Democratic Congressman Larry LaRocco in a primary scheduled for May 27. The seat is widely considered to be retained by Republicans this Fall.
• Warner Makes it Official In Virginia - Former Virginia Governor Mark Warner officially began his bid for Senator Warner’s (R-VA) retired seat in the Senate this past weekend. A popular governor in the state, Warner has showed signs of pulling away from his Republican opponents thus far. The open Virginia seat is listed by Congressional Quarterly as “Democrat Favored.” Interestingly, Politics Nation reports that Warner is seen as a possible presidential candidate in four years if Senator McCain wins this Fall.
• Senate Republicans Slow in Support of McCain - The Huddle cites an article in Roll Call that finds only 17 Republican members of the Senate have donated to Senator McCain’s campaign fund. Senator McCain’s campaign views the situation positively, however, as most of those members have donated the maximum amount. Additionally, they point out that members sometimes like to wait until the candidate visits their state before donating money. On the House side, 21 members have donated.