I really should have warned Jay before she headed into the hornet’s nest that is debate over funding for Planned Parenthood. There’s a lot of heated rhetoric and misinformation and spin surrounding the issue, so it’s worth taking a look at some of the main questions. Do Federal Funds to Planned Parenthood Cover Abortion Services? [...]
Those of you following Wisconsin’s Supreme Court race will know by now that Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus discovered yesterday during her canvass of ballots from Tuesday’s election a misplaced computer tally that has swung the competition back to justice David Prosser by more than 7,000 votes. As the Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Sentinel detailed, this [...]
Almost all female Democratic Senators filed into a press gallery, at high noon on the Hill, to articulate their response to the current stalemate on budget talks. Washington Sen. Patty Murray summed up their bottom line: “We know we have to keep the government open … but we’re not going to throw women under the [...]
Progressive evangelical leader Jim Wallis is now eleven days into a fast to bring attention to budget cuts in programs that target low-income Americans. He and former Democratic Congressman Tony Hall have been joined by a variety of religious leaders, as well as the leaders of MoveOn.org and SEIU. And now 28 members of Congress [...]
The Wall Street Journal editorial page, an important barometer of conservative thought, leads today with an editorial suggesting that a shutdown would be to President Obama’s advantage: Inviting a shutdown sooner or later has looked to be the White House strategy since Mr. Obama unveiled his own budget in February that increased spending and dodged [...]
Updated, 11:10 AM Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told reporters this morning that he and House Speaker John Boehner agreed last night to $38 billion in spending cuts. The only hurdle left to clear, Reid said, was Republican insistence on the inclusion of a Planned Parenthood policy rider. Reid said he was “very hopeful” the [...]
TIME’s Michael Grunwald says the pundits have it all wrong. Paul Ryan’s budget plan is not courageous. Ryan is a conservative Republican from a conservative Republican district, a committee chairman in a conservative Republican caucus. He was reelected last year with 68% of the vote. . . . I do question whether it was really [...]
This morning Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid called the networks together and gave them an update on the negotiations (as I type this Reid is starting another press conference in the Senate). He said the issues have narrowed to one: abortion. Reid said House Speaker John Boehner is pushing a rider that would make Title [...]
The absurdity of the current moment in U.S. politics is truly astounding. Ezra Klein, as usual, gives a smart, concise account of the current state of play. But it’s important to step back and take a look at the big picture, as I tried to do the other day in this post–unfortunately, more than a [...]
