Morning Must Reads: December 13

In the news: House passes budget agreement; Farm Bill becomes symbol of "ideological ineptitude"; presidential task force recommends big changes at NSA; Senate hits rock bottom; CIA agent went rogue in Iran and disappeared

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Mark Wilson / Getty Images

The early morning sun rises behind the US Capitol Building in Washington, DC.

  • Budget agreement passed the House 332 to 94
    • How Patty Murray won over Dems on budget fight [Politico]
    • Senate GOP opposition grows [Roll Call]
    • Will accord pave the way for immigration reform? [Hill]
  • How the farm bill went from a beacon of bipartisanship to a stalled-out symptom of ideological ineptitude [Atlantic]
  • “A presidential task force has drafted recommendations that constitute a sweeping overhaul of the National Security Agency…The panel’s draft proposals would change the spy agency’s leadership from military to civilian and limit how it gathers and holds the electronic information of Americans.” [WSJ]
  • “If there is a rock bottom in the frayed relationship between Senate Republicans and Democrats, it seemed uncomfortably close as the final days of 2013 on Capitol Hill degenerated into something like an endurance contest to see who could be the most spiteful.” [NYT]
  • “An American man who disappeared in Iran more than six years ago had been working for the CIA in what U.S. intelligence officials describe as a rogue operation that led to a major shake-up in the spy agency.” [WashPost]
  • Gun Control Activists Seek to Reboot After Newtown Shooting Momentum Fades [TIME]
  • “The Defense Department wants a radical new airship designed to cut the cost of lobbing a satellite into orbit by 90%.” [TIME]