I’m not sure House Republicans realized how large an error they made by kidnapping and then releasing the debt limit earlier this year. By admitting their bluff, they effectively confessed to having misled conservative members, and those members needed to be mollified.

That created a new problem: How could they appease conservatives while lacking the power to satisfy any of their substantive demands? So they offered up grandiose symbolism: A raincheck on the brinksmanship (the current fight over the sequester) and a promise to pass a budget that would wipe out the deficit in 10 years if enacted.

But it’s not clear that they counted their votes, or considered the budget math when they made that promise. Read More

More to come on this, but federal prosecutors announced charges this afternoon against former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-IL). For now, you can read the documents, and his statement.

Update: Prosecutors have also charged Jackson’s wife, former Chicago Ald. Sandi Jackson.