Boehner pulls out of discussions of a potential $4 trillion debt deal over insistence on zero new taxes, says talks should focus on smaller deal.

The White House responds with new statement after the jump … Read More

Lawyers for MLK Day bombing suspect question (not altogether unreasonably I might add) whether the bomb he had was really a “weapon of mass destruction.”

Former First Lady Betty Ford has died at the age of 93.

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) won’t identify the two economists he was sharing $350 bottles of pinot noir with. But maybe readers will recognize them: Read More

TPM reader snaps pics of House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) kicking back with economist buddies and two $350 bottles of pinot noir in Capitol Hill bistro.

Rep. Barney Frank says Minority Leader Pelosi reassured House Democrats that the COLA change (which amounts to escalating cuts to Social Security over time) floated in the press will not happen.

The General Counsel of the Treasury Department has just sent out an email to the New York Times which seems to say definitively that Secretary Geithner believes that only Congress can raise the debt limit and has full authority to force the country into default. In other words, nothing President Obama or the Treasury can do about it.

Text after the jump … Read More

Mitt Romney knocks Huntsman on his heels with a series of high-profile Utah endorsements.

Probably wasn’t the hottest idea for DSCC Chair Sen. Patty Murray to hit up the to-Dems-infamous Koch brothers for a five figure contribution to the DSCC.

Speaker John Boehner tells reporters on Capitol Hill that failing to raise the debt ceiling poses a grave risk to the economy and could push unemployment even higher.

It does make you wonder why he’s threatening not to do it unless he gets exactly what he wants in the debt negotiations.