C-SPAN to Cover 100+ Midterm Election Debates

C-SPAN, the nation’s public cable station dedicated to televising government-related events, will be broadcasting over 100 House, Senate and gubernatorial debates. Steve Scully, the network’s senior executive producer and political editor, said in a press release, “With the balance of power at stake in Congress, especially in the closely watched U.S. Senate races, C-SPAN will be the one place where you can see all the debates in the most competitive races.” The first debate will be on Sunday, September 7, at 7:00 p.m. ET, featuring North Carolina Senator Kay Hagan, a Democrat, versus the state’s House Speaker, Thom Tillis, a Republican. The station will promote viewer participation through the social media platforms Twitter and Facebook by allowing them to say who they thought won or lost. Viewers will also be able to call into C-SPAN after some debates to express their opinions.

Mediabistro-TV Newser: C-SPAN Gearing Up for Midterm Elections

C-SPAN: C-SPAN’s Campaign 2014: More than 100 Debates for the Control of Congress

President Reportedly May Sidestep Congress on International Climate Change Deal

The Obama Administration is working on a new international accord to combat global warming and may be searching for ways to enter into an agreement without requiring Senate confirmation. Approval of a treaty with a foreign nation requires a two-thirds supermajority in the Senate, but it is virtually guaranteed that the Senate would reject a treaty on global warming. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters that the agreement had not been brokered yet so he could not comment on what would be in it, nor what kind of approval it would need from Congress. However, he did say,  “We would not want to enter a situation where we did try to broker an agreement that did require some sort of Senate ratification and then have that fall victim once again, as so many priorities have, to dysfunction in Congress.” According to The New York Times, “American negotiators are instead homing in on a hybrid agreement — a proposal to blend legally binding conditions from an existing 1992 treaty with new voluntary pledges. The mix would create a deal that would update the treaty, and thus, negotiators say, not require a new vote of ratification.”

Members of Congress have criticized the reported Administration moves. Senator John Cornyn of Texas tweeted, “Any attempt by POTUS to by-pass Senate’s treaty authority [is] unconstitutional and bound to fail”.  Democratic Representative Nick Rahall of West Virginia, a state whose large coal industry is usually harmed by climate change regulations, issued a statement saying, “It is fruitless for this Administration—or any Administration—to negotiate agreements with the rest of the world when it cannot even muster the support of the American people…Whether it’s the regulatory overreaches that would shut coal out of our energy mix, or this latest end-run around Congress on climate change, these actions cannot stand, and I will work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to do everything we can to stop them.”

Any attempt by POTUS to by-pass Senate’s treaty authority unconstitutional and bound to fail: http://t.co/8gYALLTfHx

— JohnCornyn (@JohnCornyn) August 27, 2014

New York Times: Obama Pursuing Climate Accord in Lieu of Treaty

NBC News: White House May Pursue Climate Deal Without Congress

Time: Obama Mulls Circumventing Congress for International Climate Change Agreement

Representative Nick Rahall: Rahall Slams Obama Move on Climate Negotiations

The White House: Press Briefing by Press Secretary Josh Earnest, 8/27/2014

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