Free Republic

Sarah Palin's belief that the House health-care reform bill would create "death panels" might be particularly extreme, but she's hardly the only person to wildly misunderstand the section of the bill ordering Medicare to cover voluntary end-of-life counseling sessions between doctors and their patients. One of the foremost advocates of expanding Medicare end-of-life planning coverage is Johnny Isakson, a Republican Senator from Georgia. He co-sponsored 2007's Medicare End-of-Life Planning Act and proposed an amendment similar to the House bill's Section 1233 during the Senate HELP Committee's mark-up of its health care bill. I reached Sen. Isakson at his office this...

Saxby Chambliss returned to the Senate after winning a hotly contested election in which many Georgia conservatives, disgusted with his votes for the bailouts and stimulus and his stance against domestic drilling, voted for the Libertarian candidate, Allen Buckley. The number of votes acquired by Buckley did not allow Chambliss to gain a majority and forced a runoff with his Democrat challenger. Chambliss eventually won the runoff, helped a great deal by support from talk radio and national Republican leaders who were all apparently willing to sacrifice their conservative principles to save the Senate from a filibuster-proof Democratic majority. And...

Senate Republicans, from the rank and file to the leadership, are supporting the inevitable move to the center that comes with backing Florida Gov. Charlie Crist for the state’s open Senate seat. GOP senators accept that Tuesday's endorsements of Crist by Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Cornyn (Texas) is more about pragmatism than principle. The popular centrist governor faces a GOP primary from former state House Speaker Marco Rubio of West Miami, a protégé of former Gov. Jeb Bush and a more conservative candidate.

Sen. Johnny Isakson is looking a mite vulnerable as the 2010 election season begins, according a Research 2000 poll for the Daily Kos that shows possible challengers close on his heels. The Georgia Republican was paired against several possible Senate contenders, including former Democratic Gov. Roy Barnes and Democratic Rep. Jim Marshall. According to the poll of registered voters conducted April 27-29, Isakson would pull 47 percent of the vote against Barnes' 43 percent if the election were held this week, while doing better against Marshall, 48 percent to 40 percent. The poll also found Isakson's "favorable" ratings to be...

Key Republican senators say they wouldn't be opposed to a homosexual taking Justice David Souter's seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, told The Hill Wednesday he wouldn't consider homosexuality to be "an automatic disqualification."

Georgia’s two U.S. senators spoke with The Augusta Chronicle today, giving their insight into national hot button issues and stating where they stand on them. ***snip** Everyone knew what Mr. Obama wanted to do when he ran for president, Mr. Isakson said. “I don’t think anybody in Washington expected him to put all of it on the table in the first 90 days,” he said, adding concerns about some of the actions the president has taken. “Government does a lot of things well. Running a business isn’t one of them.”

When he announced the other day that he was switching to the Democratic Party, Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter offered to return campaign donations from any contributors who might take offense. Turns out that includes a lot of his Senate Republican colleagues who lent money to the cause. Georgia Republican Johnny Isakson was first in line -- asking Specter to return his $5,000 leadership political action committee contribution. Other Republicans requesting refunds on behalf of their PACs: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky ($10,000), Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander ($5,000), Texas Sen. John Cornyn ($5,000) and Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker ($5,000)....

Sen. Arlen Specter's switch to the Democratic Party is prompting his campaign donors large and small to demand their money back, including several Republican senators whose political action committees gave tens of thousands of dollars to the Pennsylvania lawmaker. Sen. Johnny Isakson didn't waste any time putting himself at the front of the refund line. The Georgia Republican asked Mr. Specter for a return of his leadership political action committee's $5,000 contribution Tuesday on the Senate floor - just hours after Mr. Specter announced he was changing his political stripes. "Senator Specter readily agreed to return the contribution," said Isakson...

* E-mail * Print * Reprints * o Yahoo Buzz o Facebook o Digg o DEL.ICIO.US o Newsvine o Reddit ajc.com > Business Updated: 5:21 p.m. January 22, 2009 Banking crisis needs 9/11-style investigation, Isakson says Georgia senator wants to create commission to find out why banks have lost trillions By BOB KEEFE The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Thursday, January 22, 2009 WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson of Georgia wants to launch a full-scale congressional investigation into the near-collapse of the banking system that has roiled financial markets worldwide. Isakson, a Republican, and Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) introduced legislation Thursday that...

Other senators touted the plan's affordability to U.S. taxpayers and its efforts to provide energy in environmentally friendly ways. The plan is estimated to cost $85 billion, but would be offset with "loophole closers and other revenues," including money from the new leases and from closing a oil industry manufacturing tax credit. Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., said the oil drilling portion of the plan would open up areas of the eastern Gulf of Mexico as well as areas off the eastern United States. He said the plan calls for a 50-mile buffer zone. Virginia, North and South Carolina and Georgia...

In the Senate, it nowadays apparently takes a self-appointed, biparitsan "gang" of senators to get past the partisan gridlock. For instance, there was the Gang of 14 group of senators who helped the Senate get beyond an impasse on judicial appointments a few years ago. Today, a new group of senators calling itself the Gang of Ten, announced that it had arrived at a compromise energy proposal meant to break the partisan logjam that exists on the issue. The group's members are: Sens. Kent Conrad (D-ND), Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), John Thune (R-S.D.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), Mary Landrieu...

McCain is also set to receive the endorsements of Georgia's two Republican senators, Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss, in the next two days, according to two GOP sources involved in the planning. California and Georgia are two of the 22 states holding nominating contests on Super Tuesday next week.

Just got off a conference call with the Georgia Employers for Immigration Reform, the only big group in the state to come down on the side of the bill now being torn apart in Washington. These are the people that put up the 60-second radio spot on WSB this week. With the immigration bill coming up for a second round of debate, the ad’s intended to offer some encouragement to U.S. Sens. Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss, who had been deeply involved in negotiations — though they’ve begun to pull away after harsh reaction at home. “These two senators have...

Georgia Republicans Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss will vote against moving the Senate’s immigration overhaul measure forward, the senators said today. “I think everybody did a noble effort to try to deal with the problem in a comprehensive way,” Isakson said. “But it became apparent that the confidence level was not there.” Isakson said he and Chambliss had heard from voters back home that they didn’t have faith in another measure that promises border action because past promises have yet to be fulfilled. Neither senator was viewed as a must-have vote by bill supporters, but losing them makes the task...

Georgia Republicans Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss will vote against moving the Senate’s immigration overhaul measure forward, the senators said Wednesday. “I think everybody did a noble effort to try to deal with the problem in a comprehensive way,” Isakson said. “But it became apparent that the confidence level was not there.” Isakson said Wednesday that he and Chambliss had heard from voters back home that they didn’t have faith in another measure that promises border action because past promises have yet to be fulfilled.

U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss was on WGAU (1340 AM) in Athens this morning, talking about the immigration reform bill and his non-relationship with Ted Kennedy. Chambliss may have actually made some news. Talk host Tim Bryant sent us a sound clip. The senator begins by distancing himself from Ted Kennedy, the lead Democratic negotiator on the issue. “Ted Kennedy and I are at opposite ends of the spectrum, philosophically. We share nothing in common when it comes to politics. I don’t hang around with the guy,” Chambliss said. “But there are times when you can’t pick and choose your partner...

This is the letter GA Senators sent to POTUS this week.. We were "pretty loud" down here... I think they at least heard some faint noise emanating outside the beltway. DISCLAIMER: I still don't trust 'em... a'Tall ************* Dear Mr. President: Although the Senate's effort to reform our nation's immigration laws through the Secure Borders, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Reform Act of 2007 is stalled, illegal immigration remains our nation's number one domestic issue. We therefore believe it is incumbent upon us and our colleagues to tackle this issue and not leave this problem for future generations to solve. As...

Johnny Isakson’s chief contribution to the immigration reform package now stalled in the Senate is the concept of border security as a trigger for other measures, including the granting of legal status to illegal immigrants through “Z” visas. But opponents of the measure have told us that they view Isakson’s trigger mechanism as so much whitewash. Given the federal government’s past record of border enforcement, they don’t trust it. Apparently, they’ve told Isakson the same thing. On Tuesday, Isakson and U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss (an earlier post about his situation is below) sent a letter to the White House, offering...

A sign that democracy works: Chambliss and Isakson were at the press conference announcing the Senate Grand Compromise, but now they are singing a different tune. Here's the entire release: WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) and Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) today sent a letter to President Bush urging him to send an emergency supplemental spending bill to Congress to fund border security. Chambliss and Isakson believe emergency supplemental funds to secure the border will go a long way towards restoring the confidence of the American people in the federal government’s commitment to border security. The text of the letter...

Washington — Angry Georgians on Monday continued to inundate the state's U.S. senators with phone calls and e-mails opposing the immigration compromise bill the two Republicans helped craft. "The phones are still ringing," said Lindsay Mabry, a spokesman for Sen. Saxby Chambliss. Chambliss, ranking member of the Senate agriculture committee, was primarily involved in negotiating provisions of the bill dealing with migrant farm workers. But the provision that has riled most callers is one that would allow existing illegal immigrants to gain citizenship relatively quickly and without being required to return to their home countries first. Conservatives have tagged the...