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 …
Senate
Morning Must Reads: Mirage
Donald Trump speaks at the 38th annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington on February 10. (REUTERS/Joshua Roberts)
–President Obama leans on the Egyptian government and asks for clarity in a long statement Thursday night after Mubarak’s defiant and opaque speech.
–”Believe in America” sounds like a …
100 Billion Dollars!
Last year, in the Pledge to America Republicans said if they gained control of the House they would lop $100 billion off the 2011 federal budget. Lo and behold they won. But the week they took office, they said that given that fiscal 2011 was already partly over so they would cut more like $60 billion. I never quite got this move as it …
Rogers’ First Cuts
The House Appropriations Committee today released a preliminary list of 70 programs they intend to trim – or in some places slash. The committee tomorrow is expected to release it’s omnibus appropriations package to fund the government for the rest of 2011. Congress last year failed to pass any of the 2011 appropriations bills and …
Webb Decides to Call it a Day
As Michael Scherer noted, Senator Jim Webb, a Virginia Democrat, announced today he won’t run for a second term. Webb’s decision not to engage in a rematch with former Senator George Allen, whom Webb beat in 2006 by less than half of 1% of the vote, blows open the field for Democrats. Virginia went for President Obama in 2008 53% to John …
Morning Must Reads: Plan
(White House Photo/Pete Souza)
–After missing a Jan. 31 deadline, Treasury could release its housing finance reform proposals as soon as Friday. They are expected to lay out a plan for slowly dismantling government-backed mortgage giants Fannie and Freddie, as well as offer a buffet of options for a diminished federal role in the …
Still No Egypt Resolution
The Senate today adjourned after voting on an amendment to the Federal Aviation Reauthorization bill. Senate Democrats are heading south to Charlottesville, Virginia for their annual retreat. We had expected that they would be back late Wednesday or Thursday for more votes — particularly on a resolution on Egypt. But, the galleries tell …
Morning Must Reads: By the Numbers
President Obama walks to the White House after a speech at the US Chamber of Commerce on Feburary 7 in Washington. (AFP/Getty/Tim Sloan)
–Our colleague Tony Karon writes Egypt’s democracy movement is in a holding pattern as the regime digs in and the Obama administration lines up behind Omar Suleiman.
–More (likely) details …
Is John Ensign a Political Zombie And He Just Doesn’t Know It?
A year ago most reporters were writing John Ensign’s political obituary. The Nevada senator had admitted to an affair with a longtime staffer and was under investigation by the feds for payments his parents made to the staffer’s husband to allegedly keep him quiet. Many in Nevada wondered why Ensign didn’t step aside and allow a …
Old Guard Dems Are Asking Themselves: Should I Stay or Should I Go?
Rep. Jane Harman, a California Blue Dog Dem is going, she announced today, to head up the Woodrow Wilson Center. Also leaving: Senators Kent Conrad and Joe Lieberman.
Staying thus far are Reps. John Dingell, John Conyers and Barney Frank — all of whom have already announced their plans to run again. If this seems rather early, it’s …
The TSA Labor Saga Comes to a Conclusion
Remember when President Obama nominated airport security vet Erroll Southers to run the Transportation Security Administration? And Jim DeMint placed a hold on his nomination because he was worried the guy would allow TSA screeners to unionize? And nothing happened for a long time? And then Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab tried to ignite his …
Ophthalmologist Senator Fights Nanny State Imposition of Non-Blind Pilots
Rand Paul was the sole vote (96-1) against an amendment to the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill that would make flashing laser pointers at airplanes a federal offense. He explained:
“I think that it is a bad idea to point lasers at pilots,” Paul told The Daily Caller. “There are a lot of states that already
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Is the Mac Back?
Senator John McCain is heading to the White House as I type this to meet with President Obama. I have a story out in this week’s dead tree edition, out early here, on the rapprochement of the former rivals as both trek back to the political center.
