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 …
Senate
With Deadline Looming, (Tiny) Signs of Progress for Supercommittee
Just when everyone had written off Congress as too dysfunctional to produce a bipartisan agreement on deficit reduction, the supercommittee is actually showing a pulse. Up until this week there was nary a wonk, flack or politico …
With Debt Deal Reached, Can Congress Swallow Its Own Bitter Medicine?
If the definition of a compromise is something that most folks don’t like, then the $2.4 trillion debt-ceiling deal worked out over the weekend by President Barack Obama and GOP leaders in Congress is a resounding …
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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Harry Reid’s Canny Waiting Game
The House on Thursday is expected to vote on its latest iteration of a debt ceiling increase matched with spending cuts. With less than a week left before the government starts suspending services to avoid default, the Senate has …
Reid Yanks Senate Contingency Plan as House Takes Lead in Debt Talks
Moments after the Senate voted to kill House Republicans’ Cut, Cap & Balance plan by a vote of 51-46, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid took the floor and made a surprise announcement: He will not move to pass legislation to …
A Guide to the Debt-Ceiling Debate: What Each Faction Wants
President Obama challenged Congress on Wednesday to start working with him on a deficit-reduction deal that could be tied to a vote to raise the debt ceiling, which must happen by Aug. 2, according to the Treasury Department. …
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 …
The Libya Conundrum
The House of Representatives on Friday is expected to hold two votes on U.S. action in Libya. One will fail and one will pass. House GOP leaders are hoping that the Democratic-controlled Senate will take up the one that passes. …
McConnell: Obama Has ‘Made It Worse’
Last month, for this story in the dead-tree edition, I asked Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell if defeating President Obama is still his No. 1 priority. “Yeah, sure. I think every Republican in the country would like to elect a Republican president,” McConnell told me. “But that’s next year. The question this year is: what …
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 …
Obama Picks a New Commerce Secretary. Maybe He Shouldn’t Have.
President Obama has chosen a new commerce secretary, former Edison International CEO John Bryson. He sounds like a good choice, a solid businessman with a public policy background and a strong green streak. But you know who would …
Congressional Silliness Over the Memorial Day Recess
Republicans, it seems, really didn’t want the Senate to break for Memorial Day recess. Really, really, really didn’t want them to. Twenty House Republicans sent their leaders a letter asking them not to approve any adjournment measure sent over by the Senate – the Senate’s adjournment is usually OKed by the House as a matter of …
