I have a TIME.com story out today on what’s happening with the potential government shutdown and how 2011 is different from the last time this happened in 1995.
Democratic Party
Bingaman Bows Out
Democratic Senator Jeff Bingaman is expected to announce his retirement today, deepening the difficulty the party faces in its efforts to hold the chamber in 2012. Bingaman, who is in his fifth term, joins colleagues Virginia’s Jim Webb and North Dakota’s Kent Conrad in declining to run for re-election. (Sen. Joe Lieberman of …
A Grand Bargain? You Show Me Yours…
Showing a little leg on deficit reduction is a highly risky proposition these days: display the scantest hint of skin and you risk losing a limb. The ink was still drying on the final edition of the Wall Street Journal‘s Thursday story detailing a grand bipartisan plan for deficit reduction when the angry missives began. Grover Norquist …
Boehner Raises the Stakes on a Government Shutdown
House Speaker John Boehner today ruled out a short term extension of current levels of government funding, raising the prospect of a government shutdown.
The House tonight or tomorrow is expected to pass funding for the government through the rest of the year. But both chambers of Congress are out next week for President’s Day recess. …
The GOP’s Big Budget Tent?
Slashing $100 billion from the 2011 budget may have appeased the Tea Party caucus and the freshman class, but it’s turning out to be not so comfortable for some Republican moderates.
On Monday New York Republicans Pete King and Michael Grimm sent Speaker Boehner a letter protesting cuts to transit security grants, the COPS program …
Morning Must Reads: March
Protesters fill the Rotunda at the State Capitol building in Madison, Wisconsin on February 16. (Photo by Mark Hirsch/Getty Images)
–Details begin to emerge on the Simpson-Bowles style deficit reduction package being crafted by Senators Durbin, Conrad, Warner, Coburn, Crapo and Chambliss.
–Authorities in Bahrain cracks down …
Morning Must Reads: Baseline
Rep. Paul Ryan checks his watch during a House Budget Committee hearing on President Obama’s 2012 budget on February 15. (REUTERS/Jason Reed)
–Citing economic drivers and defense, the White House issues a veto threat over Republican cuts for this year’s budget.
–Stan Collender thinks a government shutdown is likelier than …
House Will Not Move to Defund Health Care Reform in 2011 Budget
The House GOP leadership has allowed a rare open amendment process to the FY2011 budget on the floor this week. Thus far 403 amendments totaling 459 pages have been filed with more to come. Most of the Democratic amendments will try and reinstate many of the $100 billion in cuts. Many of the Republican Study Committee amendments will …
Morning Must Reads: Opportunities
President Obama visits Parkville Middle School in Maryland on February 14. (REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque)
–Secretary of State Clinton on protests in Tehran: “We wish the opposition and the brave people in the streets across cities in Iran the same opportunities that they saw their Egyptian counterparts seize.”
Sleeping Bag Sessions
Senator Jeff Sessions, an Alabama Republican and ranking member on the Budget Committee, is an avowed free trader. Yet, Sessions is holding up the renewal of the Generalized System of Preferences, a trade agreement that has been around since the mid 1970’s. The GSP gives preference to 131 developing nations to sell certain goods in the …
Morning Must Reads: Budget Day
–The Obama administration released its FY 2012 budget proposal today. As Jay explains, it’s really the opening bid in a back-and-forth between the White House and House Republicans that will last for months., You can read it here at 10:30 a.m. ET. Of the $1.1 trillion in deficit reduction proposed over the next decade, roughly …
The Four Pieces of the Great Spending Debate
Starting this week deficits and spending will take center stage in Washington. And barring a total meltdown in the Middle East, they will hog the stage for the next three months. The stakes are high. Odds of a government shutdown are getting better as are the chances the U.S. could default on its debt. Odds that President Obama will …
Has Obama Lost Wall Street and Business Donors?
Four years ago, I did a story about how three “pioneers,” or top bundlers for President George W. Bush, were giving money to Barack Obama.
[Madison Dearborn Partners founder and then deputy chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago John] Canning says he’s fed up with the Republican Party. “It’s become a party that’s taken
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