Official White House photo by Pete Souza
–Mega-scoop from Ben Smith: Andy Stern reportedly plans to step down as president of the Service Employees International Union. Stern is a titan of the labor movement and the American left, not to mention an intimate ally to the White House. Marc Ambinder
US President Barack Obama (R) toasts with his Czech Republic’s counterpart Vaclav Klaus (C) and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev after signing the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) in Prague on April 8, 2010. JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images
–Obama and Medvedev signed the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty today in …
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
–As Kate mentioned, parliamentarian Alan Frumin ruled early this morning that two minor clauses relating to Pell Grant funding in the health care reconciliation bill don’t make the cut for budget rules. It’s a minor hiccup and won’t radically alter the legislation. The Senate is expected …
As the Massa implosion fades, Capitol Hill returns today to health care reform with both chambers considering obscure parliamentary procedures in order to pass legislation before Easter recess, which officially starts March 28. The House is on a shorter leash, with the White House pushing them to get something done before President Obama …
More than five days after he began but two days too late to prevent a cut off in services that will now have to be fixed retroactively, Senator Jim Bunning gave up his one-man filibuster of a $10 billion bill to extend unemployment benefits for 30 days. The measure passed with large bipartisan support 78-19. The Kentucky Republican said …
I didn’t think it was possible for Senator Jim Bunning, a Kentucky Republican, to get more unpopular with his colleagues: he was forced, feet dragging, to announce he wouldn’t run for reelection after fellow Kentuckian and minority leader Mitch McConnell wouldn’t even endorse him. But tonight, he is pariah to a whole new level. …
The meeting has begun, between Republicans Mitch McConnell and John Boehner, Democrats Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer, and the senior White House staff, including President Obama.
This is the first of what Obama has promised to be monthly gatherings between Republicans and Democrats, and basically nobody has much hope that …
The Grand Ole Opry may have been next door but Sarah Palin preached to the choir on Saturday at the National Tea Party Convention and brought down the house. The two-day event, held at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Hotel, had been a relatively placid affair – Tea Partiers learned how to social network and reach out to young …
Another budget drop, another round on the Tilt-A-Whirl of political spin. On CNBC this morning, New Hampshire Republican Sen. Judd Gregg did not hold back. “I think it was Einstein who said that the definition of insanity was doing the wrong thing over and over again and expecting change,” says Gregg, who almost became Obama’s Commerce …
On February 26, 2009, President Obama declared “A New Era of Responsibility” when he released his 2010 budget. Except it wasn’t.
According to the president’s own bean counters’ calculations, the 2010 Obama budget left the U.S. economy with unsustainable deficits in the out-years, from roughly 2012 to 2019, even before the big boom in …
As Karen noted earlier today, she and I have a story in this week’s magazine about how much states will be on the hook if and when federal health reform passes.
The impetus for the story was, in part, the growing number of governors across the country publicly slamming the idea of expanding insurance coverage to millions of …
A story from me about the logjam of spending Congress will spend the next three weeks chewing through. The spending issue is becoming increasingly sensitive, especially since three Blue Dogs — fiscal conservative Dems who usually come from swing districts — have now announced their retirement. CW states that Dems weren’t likely to lose …
The Senate health reform bill is in a procedural holding pattern right now. Even though the body will be in session over the weekend, Majority Leader Harry Reid has put off votes on the bill while he waits for the Congressional Budget Office to evaluate a new Democratic proposal that could strip the public option out of the bill. In my …
