As Capitol Hill enters a critical 48-hour stretch, the sense on the Hill is that momentum is gaining, however incrementally, for a supercommittee deal on deficit reduction. Negotiations kicked up a level as House Speaker John …
Mitch McConnell
With Obama Jobs Bill Vote, Democrats Seek to Prove Congressional Dysfunction
The Senate Tuesday night is expected to vote down President Obama’s jobs bill. Democrats aren’t even sure they can get 51 votes, let alone the 60-vote threshold needed to overcome a Republican filibuster. And even if it …
Before a Rusty Bridge in Ohio, Obama Hits Republicans on Their Home Turf
Aboard Air Force One
Before a rusty old bridge in Cincinnati, Ohio, Thursday, President Obama threw a political punch at his foes. “Mr. Boehner, Mr. McConnell, help us rebuild this bridge. Help us rebuild America,” the President said, just up river from the Brent Spence Bridge. The crowd before him, a couple hundred strong with …
All Eyes on the Senate: Can Two Veterans Deliver a Debt Deal?
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell are not chatty men by nature. Notoriously monosyllabic, either man could probably compete for a world record in shortest average phone conversation. But
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With Debt Talks Stalled, Democrats Try to Divide and Conquer the GOP
A day after a testy exchange between Barack Obama and Eric Cantor capped debt-limit negotiations at the White House, Democrats launched a coordinated attack against the House Majority Leader, portraying him as a primary obstacle …
Debt-Limit Divide Deepens as Talks Approach the Brink
As the U.S. hurtles toward a potential debt-limit default that would shake the fragile economy, the chasm between the two parties widened on Tuesday, as Republican opposition to tax increases calcified and Democrats bristled at …
Accept McConnell’s Debt Ceiling Deal
Mitch McConnell proposes simply raising the debt ceiling. This is supposed to be some sort of brilliant political move. Obama will be blamed for the ever-increasing debt ceiling. The Republicans will be able to hammer him with it …
Debt-Ceiling Kabuki
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and No. 2 Senate Republican Jon Kyl want you to know they are taking a principled stand. They are against raising taxes. They will not recommend to their conferences that taxes be raised. They …
Republicans Ask: Where’s Obama? But, Where Are The GOP Leaders?
Updated 12:30pm
Republicans are demanding to know why President Obama isn’t at the table pin the deficit talks. Today, Jon Kyl, the No. 2 Senate Republican, and Majority Leader Eric Cantor abruptly withdrew from the talks saying they have gone as far as they can and now presidential leadership is needed – particularly on the …
Selling a New Stimulus
While Mitch McConnell is betting that the economy will bring down President Obama, Democrats are betting that Republicans aren’t immune to the bad jobs numbers either.
Senate Democratic leaders held a press conference this morning calling on Republicans to include a short-term stimulus package as part of the deficit reduction deal. …
Q&A: Mitch McConnell Explains How to Get a ‘Really Big Deal’ on the Debt Ceiling
One day after Congress rejected a $2.4 trillion increase of the federal borrowing limit without preconditional spending cuts, House Republicans are visiting the White House on Wednesday to negotiate directly with President Obama …
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 …
The Liberal Rebellion That Wasn’t: 65 Percent Support McConnell Tax Deal
The Pew Research Center comes through with the number of the day: 65, as in the percentage of self-identified liberals who support the tax deal Barack Obama made with Republican Mitch McConnell over the objections of House Democrats. Despite the noise by some on the left, this is not a sign that Obama is jeopardizing the support of his …