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That’s what Speaker Boehner told one of our reporters as he was walking into a meeting of his caucus a short time ago. And indeed it is. Boehner’s plan for cutting spending and raising the debt limit is set for a vote late this afternoon, which could mean it won’t come up until this evening. In the meantime, it’ll be a furious day of whipping votes to make sure he gets this bill across the finish line. We’ll bring you all the latest as it happens.

Anti-gay preacher Bradlee Dean and his ministry, You Can Run But You Cannot Hide, are suing Rachel Maddow and MSNBC for $50 million.

Whatever the outcome of Thursday’s projected House vote on Speaker Boehner’s debt plan, this process has already ended the political life of one prominent member of the Washington establishment: John Maynard Keynes.

True, Keynes died in 1946. But his ghost hovered over America’s economic debate until pretty much Monday night. At that time, in their ostensibly dueling speeches, both President Obama and House Speaker Boehner embraced the language of “austerity” and performed an unwitting exorcism. Read More

Jon Stewart identifies the epidemic sweeping through Republican ranks: Conservative Victimization Syndrome (CVS). The prime vector for CVS: Fox News. Watch.

Former Notre Dame football player and current Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA), in this morning’s House GOP meeting: “Put on your helmut, buckle your strap, run onto the field and beat the shit out of ’em.”

If the House does pass the Boehner plan this evening (and vote expected around 6:30 or 7 p.m. ET), it will surely fail in the Senate or face a presidential veto. So what comes after that? Alas, it gets more complicated.

Some reader responses to the “Age of Austerity” post from this morning: Read More

You may have seen that Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL), a tea partying freshman, allegedly owes nearly $120,000 in unpaid child support, according to his ex-wife.

Walsh’s lawyer disputes the amount she claims is owed — in a remarkably cringe-inducing defense: “Joe Walsh hasn’t been a big-time wage-earner politician until recently — he’s had no more problems with child support than any other average guy.”

Since we’re talking about Keynes today and the new Era of Austerity, which I fear is quite real, I thought I’d put in my two cents. There seems little doubt that Keynes has taken a mighty hit. But my read of the situation is that the hit is almost entirely in the realm of politics rather than economics. Read More