Barney Frank

(Photo/bitzcelt, Flickr)

Dissatisfied with the timing and sweep of new federal rules designed to protect credit card users from the banks that bill them, some well-placed Democrats are vowing to push stronger, more immediate reforms next year. With the banking industry already reeling from the economic downturn, however, the opposition to such a move could be fiercer than ever.

(Photo/bitzcelt, Flickr)

The new regulations, unveiled by the Federal Reserve on Thursday, will prevent credit card companies from increasing interest rates on existing balances; prohibit banks from applying interest to balances already paid; and offer consumers more time to make payments before fees kick in. The changes, which take effect in July 2010, constitute the

Eight months after a leading Senate Democrat ignored warnings of a recession and supported more state spending based on "excellent" budget projections, new forecasts are expected to show dramatic funding shortfalls.

Audio from April 3 uncovered by Face The State reveals Sen. Moe Keller, a Wheat Ridge Democrat and chairwoman of the Joint Budget Committee, optimistically arguing that Colorado’s economic future is a bright one, even though Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke predicted on that same day the country was headed into a recession. "We do not have a projection from our economists that we are going into a fiscal train wreck," she said.

DocJess of DemConWatch passes on the “Most Notable Quotations of 2008,” as selected by Yale Book of Quotations editor Fred Shapiro:

1. “I can see Russia from my house!” — Comedian Tina Fey, while impersonating Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin on “Saturday Night Live,” broadcast Sept. 13

2. “All of them, any of them that have been in front of me over all these years.” — Palin, responding to a request by CBS anchor Katie Couric to name the newspapers or magazines she reads, broadcast Oct. 1

3. “We have sort of become a nation of whiners.” — former Sen. Phil Gramm, an economic adviser to Sen.

U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-Golden) held his own in high-stakes poker Tuesday night – for a while, anyway.

Perlmutter headed to Coors Field for a round of poker with, among others, actor Ben Affleck, U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), and Perlmutter’s daughter.

The poker tournament, which required a $500 buy-in, raised money for Paralyzed Veterans of America.

Perlmutter won some hands early on. But an hour and a half in, his luck run out when he went up against a woman from the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.

Holding a king-high flush, Perlmutter said, “I’m think I’m going to take this gal’s money so bad. So I go all in, and it’s everything I have.

“And she has an ace-high flush. I have a king-high flush – I’m out of the game.”