The Hill: Dems push plan to subsidize lost hours

Senate Democrats crafting a job creation bill are considering a proposal to give money to workers who cut their hours in order to avoid layoffs.

A bill sponsored by Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) would give unemployment compensation to employees who accept a reduced work schedule to allow their companies to avert layoffs or to hire more employees. Reed’s proposal for work-sharing was mentioned during the Senate Democrats’ lunch Tuesday, when Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) announced that an initiative focusing on jobs would soon be a priority, Reed’s office said.

The Hill: Secret Service motorcade was involved in a fatal accident Wednesday

Two Secret Service employees driving along the Suitland Parkway struck and killed a man early Wednesday morning in the vehicles the agency uses to transport Vice President Joe Biden.

Biden was not in either the armored SUV or limousine at the time of the crash.

The vehicles had just been flown back to the D.C.-area from Fort Lewis, Wash., where they had driven the vice president before and after he spoke to a crowd of troops for Veterans Day.

The Hill: Obama stares down Patriot Act criticism

The Obama administration is standing firm in its support of several George W. Bush-era Patriot Act powers in the face of sharp criticism from civil rights groups, liberal Democrats and a Dec. 31 deadline to extend key provisions of the bill.

The Justice Department recently reiterated its request for Congress to extend with few changes key provisions of the Patriot Act: sections that allow roving wiretaps on multiple phones, seizing of business records and a never-used authority to spy on non-Americans suspected of being terrorists even though they have no connection to a recognized terrorist group.

Orlando Sentinel: GOP continues courting others to challenge Grayson

WASHINGTON – National Republicans met with two potential challengers to U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson on Wednesday as the GOP establishment continued to search for a candidate who can topple the outspoken freshman Democrat from Orlando.

State Rep. Eric Eisnaugle, R-Orlando, and businessman Bruce O’Donoghue sat down with GOP lawmakers and strategists from the National Republican Congressional Committee in meetings that participants described as productive — although no verdict was reached.

The Hill: Coal group, grassroots firm knew of forged letters before climate vote

Working on behalf of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE), the firm Bonner & Associates has acknowledged that it sent about a dozen forged letters to three House Democrats who were seen as critical swing votes.

The head of the ACCCE also acknowledged learning of some of the forgeries the day before the vote, a discovery he said “appalled” him.

The Orlando Sentinel: National GOP vets new challengers for Grayson

WASHINGTON – National Republicans met with two potential challengers to U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson on Wednesday as the GOP establishment continued to search for a candidate who can topple the outspoken freshman Democrat from Orlando.

State Rep. Eric Eisnaugle, R-Orlando, and businessman Bruce O’Donoghue sat down with GOP lawmakers and strategists from the National Republican Congressional Committee in meetings that participants described as productive — although no verdict was reached.

Politico: Tears, tempers fly in Nancy Pelosi’s campaign

One by one, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had leaned on her rank-and-file Democrats for months to cast off personal prerogatives for the sake of a history-making health care bill.

But for Connecticut Rep. Rosa DeLauro, this was too much to ask.

So when Pelosi announced late Friday that she would allow an amendment strictly limiting insurance coverage of abortions, it touched off an angry yelling match between DeLauro and another Pelosi confidant, California Rep. George Miller, and tears from some veteran female lawmakers, according to people in the room.

Politico:Republicans take aim at vulnerable Democrats in health war

Within minutes of Saturday’s historic House vote on health care reform, Republicans pronounced the political death of Rep. Thomas Perriello (D-Va.), pointing to the vulnerable freshman congressman’s vote in favor of the bill.

And in the aftermath of the politically charged vote, Perriello wasn’t the only Democratic congressman whose fortunes were being reassessed. The GOP, which voted nearly in lock step against the measure, began crowing about the demise of various other vulnerable members and seized on the moment as a milestone in the path back to a House majority.

The Hill: GOP tells businesses to speak up

Senate Republicans have grown frustrated with large and small business trade associations for not helping enough to oppose the Democratic healthcare overhaul.

GOP lawmakers have turned their focus on two groups in particular, the Business Roundtable and the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), which they say should be playing a more active role.

The Orlando Sentinel: National GOP vets new challengers for Grayson

WASHINGTON – National Republicans met with two potential challengers to U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson on Wednesday as the GOP establishment continued to search for a candidate who can topple the outspoken freshman Democrat from Orlando.

State Rep. Eric Eisnaugle, R-Orlando, and businessman Bruce O’Donoghue sat down with GOP lawmakers and strategists from the National Republican Congressional Committee in meetings that participants described as productive — although no verdict was reached.