Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid this afternoon made a second pass at starting debate on financial reregulation but to no avail: the vote ended exactly as it did yesterday 57-41, mostly along party lines. The scene is starting to feel a bit like Groundhog Day: isn’t doing the same thing repeatedly expecting different results the …
Economy
Morning Must Reads: The Show
President Barack Obama participates in a town hall meeting on health care insurance reform at Gallatin Field in Belgrade, Mont., Aug. 14, 2009. (Official White House photo by Pete Souza)
–Obama departs on a two-day Midwest trip today with townhalls and business tours on the agenda. Jeff Zeleny writes it’s an effort to shore up …
Thank You, Sir, May We Have Another?
The cloture vote to stop a GOP filibuster on the Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd’s bill to overhaul just failed in the Senate 57-41. The vote took nearly an hour as Senators rushed through Washington traffic to make the first vote of the week. All Republicans voted Nay. Republican Senators Bob Bennett of Utah and Kit Bond of …
Morning Must Reads: Green Shoots
JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images
–As I noted yesterday, Democrats have Senate Republicans in somewhat of a headlock over financial reform. From the Wall Street Journal:
Nerves appeared to be fraying among Republicans faced with the increasingly unappetizing prospect of opposing new curbs on Wall Street.
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Republican aides
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Some Reflections on Being Stranded (Twice) in London
I finally head home tomorrow but before I do, here are some reflections about being stranded in London. Nearly the exact some thing happened to me nine years ago during 9/11, though there are some marked differences.
Who Won the 2nd UK debate?
I need say nothing else. From Time’s London Bureau Chief Catherine Mayer:
Who won the second of the televised debates between the three men battling to be Britain’s next Prime Minister? The current Labour PM Gordon Brown? His Conservative challenger David Cameron? The Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg, elevated by last week’s d
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RE: Playing Politics With Goldman
Republicans have been crying foul over the timing of last Friday’s Securities and Exchange Commission announcement of an investigation into wrong doing by Goldman Sachs. Yes, the timing – just as the Democratic push for financial regulatory reform seemed doomed and just as Goldman’s stock was approaching something close to where it …
Britain Re-Opens Airspace
Planes have returned to British skies starting at 10pm GMT tonight (5pm ET) as the United Kingdom allowed a phased reboot of its airports. A quote from the delightfully-named Transportation Minister Lord Andrew Adonis: “It is essential that we guarantee to the travelling public that the airlines are safe and that planes can safely fly.” …
Clinton’s Critique of Overheated Rhetoric
With the 15th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing approaching on Monday, former president Bill Clinton gave an eloquent speech this morning at the Center for American Progress. Clinton compares the poisonous political climate that sent Timothy McVeigh to the Murrah building and the debates raging today. He warned political …
Fillibusters, Fights, Fundraising: We’re in an Election Season
This morning Washington woke up to reports on how the White House was going to go after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s opposition to the financial reregulation bill. “McConnell’s arguments that the Democrat’s plan for Wall Street reform will perpetuate bailouts is pure fantasy cooked up by Frank Luntz in a right wing focus …
Morning Must Reads: Stargazing
Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy
–The administration is trying to pick off individual Republican Senators to cross the aisle on financial reform. On their list: Olympia Snowe, Scott Brown and Kit Bond.
—Judd Gregg says he wants back at the negotiating table. Much of the GOP’s current argument is that opposition is …
Morning Must Reads: Hu’s In Town?
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
–Leaders from 46 countries have descended on Washington for this week’s nuclear summit. Whether anything beyond mere symbolism can be achieved is not yet clear.
–The meeting to watch today? Obama’s sit-down with Chinese President Hu Jintao. He needs to lock up China’s support for U.N. …
Morning Must Reads: The Hot Hand
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
–Bart Stupak is expected to announce his retirement today. The heat generated from an arduous year of health reform debate and his role in forging a compromise on abortion language seems to have taken their toll on the 18-year vet.