It's still too early to reach definitive conclusions about the debt-ceiling compromise yet because nobody has seen the actual legislative text that will be voted on by the Senate and House today. But it seems clear that tax reform is about to become a key issue on the national public policy agenda and it is not at all clear what the compromise does on that front. Read More
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, has nixed the idea of holding debt limit negotiations at Camp David this weekend.
President Obama had been considering the change in venue for the talks, which have yielded few agreements and have become more tense and angry in recent days.
But Boehner spokesman Michael Steel told reporters Thursday morning that Camp David is out.
“The Speaker has told the White House he sees no need to go to Camp David this weekend,” Steel said. Read More
RedState.com's Erick Erickson says the time for talking about cutting federal spending and stopping the growth of the national debt is over, the time for actually doing something about them is here. And Erickson thinks too many conservative organizations in the nation's capital are part of the problem because they are addicted to talking instead of acting.
In a post this morning, Erickson declares:
"The time for nuancing and diplomatic niceties in Washington are over. Read More
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., just announced he will not support future short-term spending bills unless the Defense Department appropriations are funded for the remainder of the year.
The Senate as early as tomorrow will take up a bill that would keep the government operating for another three weeks while both parties try to work out a deal on a spending plan that would last until the remainder of the fiscal year ending on Sept. 30. Read More
Senate Republicans have announced they will move to block President Obama's pick to replace Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, unless he sends three free trade agreements to Congress.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., sent a letter to Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., signed by all Senate Republicans, telling him the GOP would withhold any support for a new nominee to replace Locke, who Obama has tapped to become the next U.S. Ambassador to China. Read More
Most Americans believe things are going to become even more partisan in the nation's capital in the year ahead, according to the latest national opinion survey by Rasmussen Reports.
"A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 59% of Likely Voters say politics in Washington, DC will become more partisan over the next year. That’s the highest level measured since early September of last year," Rasmussen said. Read More
Looks like that two-week, stop-gap Continuing Resolution containing $4 billion in spending cuts will be adopted by the Senate this morning. This is the same CR that passed the House earlier this week on a 335-91 vote that included ays from 104 House Democrats.
A Republican friend in the Senate is cheered by these developments, but, being a bit of a curmudgeon on occasion, also notes some of the statements being made by Senate Democrats about this same CR just last week: Read More
Mother Jones Washington Bureau chief David Corn is among a group of liberal and left-win journalists who more than two years ago filed an Alaska Freedom of Information Act request for all emails sent or received by then-Gov. Sarah Palin.
Their request was part of the Left's unprecedented assault upon Palin following her meteoric rise to national political stardom after being named Sen. John McCain's vice-presidential running mate in 2008. Read More
President Obama and congressional Republican leaders have agreed on a framework for a compromise that would extend all of the Bush tax cuts for two years and keep unemployment checks flowing to two million jobless Americans for another 99 weeks.
The deal also provides for a one-year, two-percent cut in the Social Security payroll tax, and revises the death tax - aka "estate tax" - to 35 percent of all estates valued above $5 million. Read More
Kim Strassel has a meaty piece in today's edition of The Wall Street Journal on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's game plan through the 2012 election. For the most part, it ought to be encouraging for anybody who hopes to see Leviathan cut down to size.
But then comes this paragraph: Read More
