Page 264 - C Span News Today

Can be almost indescribably complicated. it might look like the senate was unwilling to pass the debt ceiling without those amendments but in fact, probably most of the senators had no idea that the debt ceiling was the underlying vehicle, the chassis on which these amendments were sitting. a lot of times members of the senate dont even know what the senate is. if youre playing very close attention on c-span you may not realize that the amendments are

>> it went up 18 times under ronald reagan. six times under president bill clinton and seven more times under president george w bush. now lets sit back and enjoy this c-span video montage of the horrible fights on the house and senate floor over raising the debt krooeling. >> yeah, there is no footage of c-span debt ceiling wars because, of course, raising the debt ceiling was never, not for one day, in doubt in those days.

To sleep. they caught him taking a snooze in the speakers house. the watchful eye of the c-span cameras. theres holden counting sheep. did we turn the government back on? no? okay. and back to sleepy time. nighty night, functioning democracy. the second awesomest thing on the internet today, our new favorite head banger. until now humans were the only known mammals that could keep the beat with music. aside from the occasional monkey puppet from old levis commercials. but now theres a california...

Fill out the rest of hours. in the niche world of cabled, c-span has been such a hit there are three of them. three different c-span channels if you can believe that. in 1984, c-span was five years old. cable television itself wasnt much older. that is where newt gingrich comes in. the significance of cable television, significance of having a cable tv showing the house floor sharing everything. he was an outsider, irritant to republican leaders. congress was a very different place back then too...

That a where newt gingrich comes in. the significance of cable television, significance of having a cable tv channel she v sharing everything. he was an outsider, irritant to republican leaders. congress was a very different place back then too. there were real authentic moderate republicans, liberal republicans. lots of them. gingrich took charge of a small band of conservative back benchers. the mission was ideological, but tactical. no more compromising with democrats. just open partisan warf...

But when c-span turned its cameras on, that changed the equation. the chamber was still empty. for the first time ever, any american will cable television could watch at home. gingrich got this. he got it right away. he and his crew, a bunch of back benchers, they started gobbling up special orders time. night after night they would stand on the house floor and take turns railing against democrats. and preach the gospel. >> i will pick up whats the matter with the democratic foreign policy. >> r...

That is where newt gingrich comes in. the significance of cable television, significance of having a cable tv showing the house floor sharing everything. he was an outsider, irritant to republican leaders. congress was a very different place back then too. there were real authentic moderate republicans, liberal republicans. lots of them. gingrich took charge of a small band of conservative back benchers. the mission was ideological, but tactical. no more compromising with democrats. just open pa...

But when c-span turned its cameras on, that changed the equation. the chamber was still empty. for the first time, ever, any american will cable television could watch at home. gingrich got this. he got it right away. he and his crew. bunch of back benchers they started gobbling up special orders time. night after night. stand on the house floorturns r democrats. and preach the gospel. >> i will pick up whats the matter with the democratic foreign policy. >> remember, no fox news back then. rush...

Last week, cruz in the senate, ramble on the senate floor for 21 hours. does that remind you of any one? try to give you the answer. his name, style, tactics in congress are rooted in something that happened years ago. back when ted cruz was just 13 years old. back in may of 1984. this is "nbc nightly news." here is john palmer. >> theyre having a family feud on capitol hill over television, and who will be on it. house sessions have been carried on a special cable tv channel lately. and house s...

Years old. back in may of 1984. this is "nbc nightly news." here is john palmer. >> theyre having a family feud on capitol hill over television, and who will be on it. house sessions have been carried on a special cable tv channel lately. and house speaker tip oneill, trying to control this particular airwave. >> that special cable tv channel john palmer, the anchor you saw, special cable tv channel he was talking about was c-span. delivered gavel-to-gavel coverage of every session and public af...