Congress And Obama Face New Budget Fights
Reuters reports: ” After a narrow escape from a potentially damaging government shutdown, even bigger budget fights lie ahead for President Barack Obama and leaders from both parties in Congress. Obama will offer a long-term plan for deficit reduction on Wednesday as the White House and Congress begin to pivot to looming fights on the 2012 fiscal year budget and on raising the $14.3 trillion limit on government borrowing authority. Those conflicts are likely to dominate the political agenda for the coming months and echo into Obama’s 2012 re-election race, overshadowing Friday’s 11th-hour deal to cut $38 billion in spending for the final six months of this fiscal year.”
Obama’s Day Ahead
President Obama will receive the presidential daily briefing at 10:30 a.m. ET. He will hold a meeting on Libya at 11:30 a.m. ET.
Biden’s Day Ahead
Vice President Biden will attend meetings at the White House today. At 6:30 p.m. ET, he and his wife Dr. Jill Biden will host a dinner for freshman senators at the Naval Observatory.
With A Spending Deal In Hand, Lawmakers Now Turn To The Details
The New York Times reports: “As more details of the budget deal between President Obama and Congressional leaders trickled out on Sunday, lobbyists and lawmakers stepped up their efforts to secure or kill specific provisions benefiting wolf hunters in Montana, profit-making colleges and various public works projects. Mr. Obama, Speaker John A. Boehner and the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, reached the agreement late Friday, just hours before the government would have shut down for lack of spending authority to cover the remainder of the fiscal year. But it became evident on Sunday that they had yet to work out the details of the agreement, which would cut roughly $38 billion from a federal budget expected to exceed $3.7 trillion this year.”
Boehner Gains Credibility, And Will Need It
Roll Call reports: “For Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), the fight over current spending levels was always about the bigger debates still to come…By engaging in a protracted, often ugly partisan fight with Democrats, Boehner not only demonstrated to his Conference his commitment to spending cuts and showed his zeal for imposing conservative policies on the Obama administration, he illustrated with textbook clarity just how difficult it will be to implement a conservative agenda.”
Back From The Brink, Parties Armed For Mega-Battle Over Debt Limit
The Hill reports: “John Boehner and Harry Reid went to the brink of a government shutdown, and turned back at the last possible moment…Despite the tension and the glare of the media spotlight, the fledgling relationship between Boehner and Reid actually grew stronger over the last couple of months, according to sources close to both men. That is important because the next political crisis of raising the nation’s debt ceiling is just around the corner.”
Republican Lawmakers Sour On 2012 Field
Politico reports: “A presidential primary favorite is emerging among the ranks of congressional Republicans: none of the above. The dissatisfaction with the likely GOP field — long whispered among party activists, operatives and elected officials — is growing more audible in the House and Senate. Interviews on both sides of the Capitol have revealed widespread concern about the lackluster quality of the current crop of candidates and little consensus on who Republican senators and House members would like to see in the race.”
