At a White House meeting on July 7 when President Obama told congressional leaders he wanted a grand bargain on deficit reduction, Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Senate Democrat and a member of the bipartisan so-called Gang of Six, began …
House
Is Obama Playing Politics With His Debt-Limit Veto Threat?
President Obama has managed to claim the moral high ground in his battle with Republicans over raising the debt ceiling by appearing to put good fiscal policy ahead of short-term political considerations. By putting a bigger …
No Grand Bargain: Boehner Walks Away From Big Deficit Deal
After days of hype in Washington, House Speaker John Boehner threw cold water on the prospect of a grand bargain on deficit reduction Saturday night, effectively scaling back negotiations on a deal tied to the effort to raise the …
Has Nancy Pelosi Been Marginalized in the Debt Debate?
At Thursday’s White House meeting between President Obama and congressional leaders, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner laid out in stark terms the awful economic repercussions of allowing the debt ceiling to lapse. Everyone in …
A Guide to the Debt-Ceiling Debate: What Each Faction Wants
President Obama challenged Congress on Wednesday to start working with him on a deficit-reduction deal that could be tied to a vote to raise the debt ceiling, which must happen by Aug. 2, according to the Treasury Department. …
Debt-Ceiling Kabuki
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and No. 2 Senate Republican Jon Kyl want you to know they are taking a principled stand. They are against raising taxes. They will not recommend to their conferences that taxes be raised. They …
The Libya Conundrum
The House of Representatives on Friday is expected to hold two votes on U.S. action in Libya. One will fail and one will pass. House GOP leaders are hoping that the Democratic-controlled Senate will take up the one that passes. …
As Weiner Takes Leave of Absence, Democratic Brass Call for Him to Go
Top Democrats including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chairman Steve Israel called for the resignation of New York Congressman Anthony Weiner on Saturday, less than a week …
Explaining the House Debt Ceiling Vote Charade
The House of Representatives voted 97-318 against increasing the federal borrowing limit by $2.4 trillion without preconditional spending cuts on Tuesday night. The Republican leadership designed the vote to fail: They used a …
House Republicans’ “Clean” Debt Ceiling Vote
The GOP majority in the House is poised to move ahead with a vote on a no-strings-attached $2.4 trillion increase of the federal borrowing limit next week. Treasury Department officials have been warning Congress for months that the government is coming dangerously close to scraping up against the debt ceiling, risking market catastrophe …
Republicans Press for Rangel, Waters Trials Before November Elections
House Republicans on the Committee on Standards and Official Conduct are demanding the panel move forward with open hearings on ethics charges against two Democratic lawmakers, Charlie Rangel of New York and California’s Maxine Waters. The panel’s five Republicans sent a letter to the committee’s chair, Rep. Zoe Lofgren of …
Tim Pawlenty Sure Looks Like a Presidential Candidate
Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty hasn’t announced he’s running for president, but his recent actions regarding health care reform certainly seem to suggest he is.
Today, the governor signed an executive order prohibiting state offices from applying for voluntary federal grant programs created by the Affordable Care Act – unless they …
Today’s Races
Today’s Tuesday and that means voting. Colorado, Connecticut and Minnesota are holding primaries and Georgia’s GOP gubernatorial races holds a run off. By tonight we’ll know if another incumbent scalp, that of Colorado’s Michael Bennet, has been claimed or if the throw-the-bums-out mentality this cycle is abating somewhat. Here’s a …