As Obama’s reelection effort gets underway, Democrats today announced their pick of Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, a gifted fundraiser with a lively TV presence, to head the Democratic National Committee. Her experience in the crucial swing state she calls home was said to be a factor in her selection. Former Ohio Governor Ted …
Democratic Party
Are We Heading for a Government Shutdown?
The odds of a government shutdown were raised significantly this morning after House GOP leaders and President Obama failed to reach an agreement to continue funding the government.
“While there was a good discussion, no agreement was reached,” Speaker John Boehner’s staff wrote in an e-mail to reporters following the White …
1,000 Words
WW W. D?
Regular Swamp readers will have noticed that I have been on a bit of a hiatus of late. My mother died suddenly and two weeks ago. While I’m still immersed in family issues, I couldn’t watch the flood of GOP responses to President Obama’s speech on Libya go through my inbox unremarked. I received statement after statement hammering …
With a Shutdown Looming, Budget Bickering Intensifies
Rested from its weeklong recess, Congress returns on Monday for its latest round of budget brinksmanship. After a half-dozen stopgap funding bills in as many months, the threat of a government shutdown looms once more, with the lights set to go off on April 8 — unless the two parties can hammer out a deal that runs through the end of …
Obama Defends His Record on Gas Prices, Budget Talks and Libya
President Obama today rejected GOP criticisms that he has not done enough to address the rising price of oil and that his Administration had helped cause the spike by limiting domestic oil and gas production.
“Last year, American oil production reached its highest level since 2003,” Obama told reporters in a wide-ranging press …
The Third Rail
You wanna cut? We’ll show you cuts. That seems to be the new mantra Democrats have adopted in response to the GOP’s assault on spending. Dems this week have suggested expanding the debate from discretionary spending to taking on all of the sacred cows: farm subsidies, Medicare, Medicaid, taxes and the Pentagon. Well, almost all. What’s …
Senate Rejects Spending Bills
As predicted, the Senate this afternoon rejected both the House and Senate versions of a bill to fund the government for the rest of the fiscal year, sending negotiators back to the drawing boards.
The House version, titled House Resolution 1, or H.R. 1, failed 44-56 with three Republican senators voting against it from the right. The …
The Decline of the Cardinals
There used to be an old saying that in Washington there were actually three Parties: Republicans, Democrats and Appropriators. The House and Senate Appropriations Committees were so powerful that the subcommittee chairmen were dubbed “cardinals.” The committees were the most bipartisan on the Hill as both sides moved to protect each …
Cowboy Poetry
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid took to the floor this morning to yet again rail against the House’s 2011 omnibus bill. He listed a number of the bill’s evils.
The last few days I’ve come to the floor and explained at length the damage that this Tea Party plan would do on the short term and on the long term. Let me now just again
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Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush
The Senate tomorrow is scheduled to begin deliberations on the long-term omnibus to fund the government for the rest of the year. In an example of why this will surely take longer than two weeks to decide, Dems aren’t even sure they can dispense with votes on both the House and Senate versions until Friday – even though every one …
Anteing Up in the High Stakes Game of Cutting Spending
For any kind of camel trader, used car salesman or politician the first bid in a negotiation is rarely the number they actually expect to get. Some suckers may agree to pay that price, but most people bargain. House Speaker John Boehner’s first bid was $32 billion in cuts, a number his freshmen laughed at. They jacked their bid up to …
Shut Down Averted, Now What?
Updated
Stop the presses! The federal government won’t shut down on Friday!! Okay, for anyone paying even a modicum of attention to the news in the last week, this shouldn’t come as much of a shocker. But, the two-week deferral passed by the Senate today 91-9 does nothing to bridge the $60 billion gap between the two chambers. So, …