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Archive (2009)

Massa's First Votes

Tue, 01/06/2009 - 21:51 — Rottenchester

Eric Massa's first major vote of the 111th Congress occurred this afternoon, when he voted to support his party's rules package. The major change in this session's rules was a significant limitation in the use of the motion to recommit.

The motion to recommit requires that an amendment be added to a bill and the bill be reported back to the House. The sticking point is how quickly the bill will come back. In House jargon, "promptly" means that the bill will go back to committee and perhaps never be seen again. The alternative, "forthwith", means that the bill must come back to the floor in a few minutes for a vote on the amendment.

In the 110th Congress, Republicans would offer desirable amendments in their motions to recommit, but they would require that the motion contain the language "promptly", which killed a number of bills. The new rule, which Massa supported, requires that motions to recommit use the "forthwith" language.

Hitting the Ground Running

Tue, 01/06/2009 - 21:11 — Rottenchester

Eric Massa's official site is now live, and the press releases have begun.

In additon to confirming that Massa will serve on Armed Services, his office also announced that he's co-sponsored his first piece of legislation. Massa joins Ron Paul in sponsoring a bill eliminating automatic pay raises for Congress.

Massa also made Politico's list of 13 up-and-comers sworn in for the first time today.

Last Night's Reception

Tue, 01/06/2009 - 12:27 — Rottenchester

Rochesterturning has video of Eric Massa's address to supporters at a reception last night in Washington, DC.

Morning News: Committee Assignments and Leader

Tue, 01/06/2009 - 11:49 — Rottenchester

According to CongressDaily (subscription required), Eric Massa has been assigned to the Armed Services committee. Other assignments are still up in the air.

Reader Elmer sends today's Corning Leader story [pdf] on Massa's trip to DC, which includes a picture of Massa with the GM fuel cell vehicle.

Today's Activities

Tue, 01/06/2009 - 08:30 — Rottenchester

Eric Massa will be sworn in today at noon on the floor of the House. Seating is limited for that ceremony, and only his wife and parents will attend in person. A live feed will be available in Massa's House office (1208 in the Longworth building), and it will be broadcast live on C-SPAN.

Filling Up

Mon, 01/05/2009 - 21:15 — Rottenchester

Michael Parks sends this photo of Eric Massa and Monica Murphy from GM filling up the fuel cell vehicle he drove to DC. According to this WETM story, the fuel cell portion of the car is about the size of a microwave oven. WXXI has an 15 minute interview with Massa, and their story reports that the prototype is worth $1.3 million. Massa is just paying mileage. Syracuse News 10 has some video of Massa's departure from Corning.

Eric Massa (c) Michael Parks

Massa's Car

Mon, 01/05/2009 - 17:29 — Rottenchester

The Star-Gazette has a story about and picture of the fuel-cell car Eric Massa drove to DC today.

Leader Interview and Rules Shenanigans

Sun, 01/04/2009 - 10:03 — Rottenchester

Reader Elmer sent in a link to a Corning Leader interview with Eric Massa. It's lengthy and wide-ranging.

Massa says that committee assignments are open, and that he'd only consider the Armed Services committee as leverage to get his number one choice, Agriculture. Massa also pledged to hold weekly teleconferences, "real town-hall meetings", host a radio show and discuss his votes in advance.

Randy Kuhl is mentioned in a Congressional Quarterly inside baseball analysis of the Democrats' effort to limit the motion to recommit. The motion to recommit has been used by the minority to kill bills, and Democrats want to make it tougher for that to happen. Randy's efforts to help kill the AmeriCorps volunteer program are mentioned as an example of the use of that motion.

Update: Elmer sent the Leader front page [pdf] to give an idea of the kind of play this interview got. It's huge.

News10 Massa Interview

Sat, 01/03/2009 - 10:09 — Rottenchester

Syracuse News 10 has an interview with Eric Massa. Massa stresses the importance of the stimulus package, and thinks that Obama has done almost everything right so far.

Driving Mr. Massa

Fri, 01/02/2009 - 16:20 — Rottenchester

Eric Massa's office has released his final itinerary for his trip to Washington, DC for his swearing-in. Massa will drive to DC in a hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicle. Some parts of that vehicle were manufactured by a GM facility in Honeoye Falls.

Here's the full itinerary:

1/5/09

8:00 -9:00 am:

Press availability in Corning New York

Press is invited to view the Fuel Cell vehicle Congressman-Elect Massa will be driving to Washington for his swearing-in and conduct interviews.

Corning Library Parking Lot
300 Nasser Civic Center Plaza, Corning, NY 14830

9:00 -3:30 pm:

Road trip from Corning, NY to Washington, DC

Press is invited to follow and join the Congressman-Elect for stretches of the trip. (Please call Communications Director Jared Smith for details)

6:00 -8:30 pm:

Evening Reception to celebrate the start of the 111th Congress

The Monocle
107 D Street, N.E.
Washington, DC 20002

1/6/09

9:30 am

Congressman-Elect Massa and family arrives at the Capitol Building for Swearing-in. There will be a press availability with Congressman-Elect Massa upon arrival along with the GM hydrogen fuel cell vehicle.

LOCATION TBD