Over at Huffpost, Tom Edsall has this interesting take on Henry Hyde’s legacy. Hyde, whose most famous legislation was the amendment banning the use of federal funds for abortion, was indeed a complicated person to peg. Unlike many of his fellow abortion foes, he argued that those who oppose abortion have a special responsibility to support AFDC, WIC and other programs that provide a safety net to people after they are born. And he also had a sense of humor: During breaks in the Iran-Contra hearings, he delighted in sneaking over to the press section, pulling his collar up around his neck and doing wicked, dead-on imitaitions of Orrin Hatch’s pronouncements.
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Congressional Budget Office: Yeah Guys, Jumping Off the ‘Fiscal Cliff’ Is as Bad as It Sounds
Breaking up partisan budgetary knife-fights can be perilous business, so in its new report on a cluster of expiring tax breaks and scheduled spending cuts, the Congressional Budget Office, home to Capitol Hill’s weary fiscal referees, exercises restraint. While most Washingtonians call it “Taxmageddon,” the CBO bean-counters refer to the event, set to take place January 1 if Congress doesn’t act, as “the Fiscal Restraint That Is Scheduled to Occur in 2013.” Catchy. But the stakes are high and the CBO’s warning is dire, so just for a second, they really let their inhibitions go:
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Iran Nuke Concession?
The New York Times is reporting that Iran may be about to open its Parchin military facility to international inspections. This is a biggish deal, but not a complete breakthrough. Parchin is where Iran may have been conducting experiments on weaponizing its nuclear fuel; there has been speculation that the facility housed a chamber to test nuclear triggering devices. No doubt, if the inspections are allowed at Parchin, there’s not going to be anything there to inspect. (Although if uranium was present in the past, it will be detectable.) This is part of a flurry of Iranian activity on the eve of the next round of nuclear talks in Baghdad tomorrow.
