House Speaker John Boehner today ruled out a short term extension of current levels of government funding, raising the prospect of a government shutdown.
The House tonight or tomorrow is expected to pass funding for the government through the rest of the year. But both chambers of Congress are out next week for President’s Day recess. …
Slashing $100 billion from the 2011 budget may have appeased the Tea Party caucus and the freshman class, but it’s turning out to be not so comfortable for some Republican moderates.
On Monday New York Republicans Pete King and Michael Grimm sent Speaker Boehner a letter protesting cuts to transit security grants, the COPS program …
Protesters fill the Rotunda at the State Capitol building in Madison, Wisconsin on February 16. (Photo by Mark Hirsch/Getty Images)
–Details begin to emerge on the Simpson-Bowles style deficit reduction package being crafted by Senators Durbin, Conrad, Warner, Coburn, Crapo and Chambliss.
–Authorities in Bahrain cracks down …
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 …
Five-term congressman from Arizona’s 6th district Jeff Flake has announced his bid for the Senate seat that will be vacated by retiring fellow Republican Jon Kyl next year. As the former head of the Goldwater Institute, Flake has iron-clad fiscal conservative credentials and is already being cheered on by the Club For Growth. But his …
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 …
Donald Trump speaks at the 38th annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington on February 10. (REUTERS/Joshua Roberts)
–President Obama leans on the Egyptian government and asks for clarity in a long statement Thursday night after Mubarak’s defiant and opaque speech.
–“Believe in America” sounds like a …
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 House Appropriations Committee today released a preliminary list of 70 programs they intend to trim – or in some places slash. The committee tomorrow is expected to release it’s omnibus appropriations package to fund the government for the rest of 2011. Congress last year failed to pass any of the 2011 appropriations bills and …
As Michael Scherer noted, Senator Jim Webb, a Virginia Democrat, announced today he won’t run for a second term. Webb’s decision not to engage in a rematch with former Senator George Allen, whom Webb beat in 2006 by less than half of 1% of the vote, blows open the field for Democrats. Virginia went for President Obama in 2008 53% to John …
(White House Photo/Pete Souza)
–After missing a Jan. 31 deadline, Treasury could release its housing finance reform proposals as soon as Friday. They are expected to lay out a plan for slowly dismantling government-backed mortgage giants Fannie and Freddie, as well as offer a buffet of options for a diminished federal role in the …
The Senate today adjourned after voting on an amendment to the Federal Aviation Reauthorization bill. Senate Democrats are heading south to Charlottesville, Virginia for their annual retreat. We had expected that they would be back late Wednesday or Thursday for more votes — particularly on a resolution on Egypt. But, the galleries tell …
President Obama walks to the White House after a speech at the US Chamber of Commerce on Feburary 7 in Washington. (AFP/Getty/Tim Sloan)
–Our colleague Tony Karon writes Egypt’s democracy movement is in a holding pattern as the regime digs in and the Obama administration lines up behind Omar Suleiman.
–More (likely) details …
