John Boehner has a decision to make. And in some ways it’s akin to choosing between his children. By midnight tonight the government will shut down unless an agreement can be reached between the Speaker and President Obama. Whatever Boehner decides will have long-reaching implications for his Speakership.
Ideally, Boehner would have …
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 …
For a second time this month, Congress faces a weekend deadline to negotiate a stopgap funding measure to keep the federal government open. And as recently as Sunday, it appeared to be a relatively light lift. House Republican leaders and Senate Democrats have signaled support for a three-week continuing resolution that would trim $6 …
As predicted, the Senate this afternoon rejected both the House and Senate versions of a bill to fund the government for the rest of the fiscal year, sending negotiators back to the drawing boards.
The House version, titled House Resolution 1, or H.R. 1, failed 44-56 with three Republican senators voting against it from the right. The …
There used to be an old saying that in Washington there were actually three Parties: Republicans, Democrats and Appropriators. The House and Senate Appropriations Committees were so powerful that the subcommittee chairmen were dubbed “cardinals.” The committees were the most bipartisan on the Hill as both sides moved to protect each …
I have a TIME.com story out today on what’s happening with the potential government shutdown and how 2011 is different from the last time this happened in 1995.
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 …
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 …
The Conservative Political Action Conference, a three-day carnival of Republican ladder-climbers and red meat throwers, convenes Thursday in Washington . The nearly 40-year-old tradition is expected to attract 10,000 activists and set the tone for a party navigating new highs and old divides on its way to a presidential nomination …
The Tea Party doesn’t have a leader, but it does play favorites. Several of them turned up Tuesday night for a Congressional town hall hosted by the Tea Party Express and billed as the first of its kind. Crammed into an airless conference room at Washington’s National Press Club, the standing-room crowd was energized and eclectic. A …
I must beg to differ with my esteemed colleague, Michael Scherer. Michael this morning posted a CNN poll as proof that Republican voters are pragmatists who will bear an open mind to moderate candidates such as former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman in the 2012 presidential primaries. Michael cited John McCain’s selection in 2008 as proof …
The promise to pare back spending propelled Republicans to power in the House. Getting the details on paper has been trickier. Here’s a Time.com piece on how the GOP is trying to get specific about spending cuts, and why a recent proposal could prove to be a problem.
Aren’t we all responsible for the shooting of Gabrielle Giffords? Parents worry about the effect on children of violent movies and bloody video games. But what about violence in our public discourse?
On both sides of the aisle, civility has become the latchkey kid of politics.
“If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a …
