Sen. Minority Leader McConnell reiterated his position this morning: Government will shutdown unless President makes dramatic cuts to Medicare and Social Security.
In other words, big cuts to key social insurance programs are not only the price of avoiding what would likely be a catastrophic government shutdown (a real one, not like what we had back in the 90s). But Democrats must also shield Republicans from the political consequences of cutting these programs by cutting them on the Republicans behalf.
That’s a pretty big ask, no?
I feel like it’s time for John Kerry to lay into John McCain over Hagel smears. Is he up to it?
I’m watching a lot of neoconservative policy activists and a lot of people in the press telling me that it’s a very up in the air thing whether Chuck Hagel gets confirmed as Secretary of Defense. These folks should stop smoking crack. Because crack isn’t good for you. Read More
Evan McMorris-Santoro talks to Max Cleland about Chuck Hagel and the possibility of Vietnam combat vets leading both State and Defense.
We don’t focus on it anywhere near as much post-election but President Obama’s solid approval rating is a key backdrop to the on-going fiscal and budgetary standoff. Latest chart after the jump … Read More
President Obama receives first briefing on Sandy Hook shootings from Counterterrorism Advisor John Brennan, morning of December 14th, 2012.
We’ve been telling you the story of Rep. Steve Palazzo (R) who represents coastal Mississippi, one of the regions hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina. He voted against disaster relief for Hurricane Sandy and explained his vote here.
Tom Kludt just found this press release less than 6 months ago, in which Palazzo welcomed federal disaster relief for Hurricane Isaac.
Biloxi, MS – Congressman Steven Palazzo, Mississippi’s Fourth Congressional District Representative, today welcomed news that a major disaster declaration has been issued for the state of Mississippi to help communities recover from Hurricane Isaac.
Earlier we reported that the Rep. Steven Palazzo, the congressman from coastal Mississippi, one of the districts most ravaged by Hurricane Katrina, voted against Sandy relief.
He’s now released a statement explaining his vote.
The jumping off point for this piece is an observation that the GOP is articulating two equally wrong, though directionally opposite arguments to advance its debt limit strategy.
The first is that raising the debt limit is some huge cession of power to President Obama, rather than a perfunctory exercise in authorizing payment on bills Congress has already racked up. The second is that not raising the debt limit might not be so bad.
These arguments interact elegantly. Read More
Really not sure there’s anything to add on this one. Bennington, Vermont school teacher turns in a Bushmaster semi-automatic rifle and voluntarily checks himself into a hospital for a mental health evaluation. Read More