Updated, 11:10 AM
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told reporters this morning that he and House Speaker John Boehner agreed last night to $38 billion in spending cuts. The only hurdle left to clear, Reid said, was Republican insistence on the inclusion of a Planned Parenthood policy rider. Reid said he was “very hopeful” the parties …
Updated, 9:55 PM
As negotiations over the federal budget crawl toward a conclusion, the process has taken on something of a surreal flavor. Members of Congress busy themselves by putting out statements assigning blame for an …
John Boehner, who often meets the press flanked by a team of deputies, took the podium alone on Thursday. With a week left before the government shuts down April 8, the House Speaker took pains to dispel rumors of a deal. “There is no agreement” on a pact that would cut $33 billion from the federal budget, Boehner insisted, despite …
Even in the job’s toughest moments, presidents never stop campaigning. As President Obama grapples with war abroad and political strife at home, he is also preparing to pivot to his re-election bid. Tuesday’s tour of New York City offered a glimpse at how he will juggle the burdens of his office with the challenges of keeping …
TPM’s Brian Beutler reports that House Republicans are prepared to reject a White House offer to cut more than $30 billion from the federal budget over the remainder of the 2011 fiscal year. The sticking point, Beutler writes, is a dispute over whether some of the money should come from mandatory spending programs:
Democrats are pushing
…
Rested from its weeklong recess, Congress returns on Monday for its latest round of budget brinksmanship. After a half-dozen stopgap funding bills in as many months, the threat of a government shutdown looms once more, with the lights set to go off on April 8 — unless the two parties can hammer out a deal that runs through the end of …
Obama Administration officials will hold a classified briefing for members of Congress on Wednesday, a session scheduled as criticism of the President’s handling of the Libyan conflict builds to a crescendo.
As Obama returned from his Latin American swing yesterday afternoon, House Speaker John Boehner released a letter that raises a …
Since late last week, members of Congress have leveled a steady stream of criticism at President Obama’s handling of the Libyan conflict. With the U.S. mired in a sluggish economic recovery at home and two grinding wars abroad, the prospect of another protracted conflict on Arab soil has forged an alliance between skeptics on both sides …
It’s not surprising that Congress is split on how to handle the situation in Libya. But the divisions don’t break neatly along party lines. No-fly zone advocates include Democrats John Kerry and Bob Menendez, Republicans John McCain and Lindsey Graham, and Joe Lieberman, an independent who caucuses with Democrats but is hawkish on …
–In an 87-13 vote, the Senate passed the three-week stopgap measure to fund the government through April 8, sending the bill to the President’s desk.
–Meanwhile, the House Republicans passed a bill de-fund NPR, but the measure is expected to die in the Senate.
–It didn’t take long for Jim DeMint, through an anonymous proxy, to …
As Adam noted below, Carlos Alvarez, the mayor of Miami-Dade county, was ousted in a recall election yesterday. Less striking than the result was its margin: 88% of the more than 200,000 voters who cast ballots wanted Alvarez gone.
For Alvarez, a Republican elected in 2004, it was an ugly fall. As our Miami-based colleague Tim Padgett …
The House of Representatives has passed a stopgap spending measure to keep the government running through April 8. The continuing resolution, which passed by a 271-158 margin, includes $6 billion in discretionary spending cuts. Now it heads over to the Democratic-controlled Senate, whose leaders have been receptive to a short-term fix …
