Debt

Crisis Or Opportunity? Leaders Eye Up Paths Ahead After S&P Downgrade

Thomas Lane | August 6, 2011, 4:55PM

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)

It's a staple of business management books that the Chinese character for "crisis" also stands for "opportunity." Despite the fact that this isn't actually true, it has also filtered into the political discourse. The S&P downgrade presents a classic crisis/opportunity situation, namely: will political leaders use this moment to bridge their differences and agree on a credible plan that involves both spending cuts and additional revenues? Or will they simply use it as a chance to say, "I told you so!" and slag off the other side? So far the signs are mixed.

Read more »

2012

Mystery Romney Donor Revealed As Bain Executive

Benjy Sarlin | August 6, 2011, 3:09PM

Mitt Romney Holds Campaign Event In Front Of Valley Plaza Mall in Los Angeles, July 20, 2011

Mystery solved! The person who donated $1 million to a pro-Romney group through a barely existent company, W Spann LLC, has outed himself after campaign watchdogs demanded a federal investigation.

Ed Conard, a former executive at Bain Capital, which Romney co-founded, told Politico on Friday that he had funneled the money to Super PAC Restore Our Future on the advice of his lawyers.

"I am the individual who formed and funded W Spann LLC," he said in a statement. "I authorized W Spann LLC's contribution to Restore Our Future PAC. I did so after consulting prominent legal counsel regarding the transaction, and based on my understanding that the contribution would comply with applicable laws. To address questions raised by the media concerning the contribution, I will request that Restore Our Future PAC amend its public reports to disclose me as the donor associated with this contribution."

Watchdog groups like the Campaign Legal Center and Democracy 21 asked federal and state officials to look into the matter, claiming that the use of shell companies to conceal contributors violated laws prohibiting donors from giving money indirectly through another person. Democratic officials, as well as presidential candidate Jon Huntsman, condemned the donation in recent days.

2012 Presidential Primaries

GOP 2012 Candidates Agree Obama Deserves The Blame For S&P Downgrade... But Disagree Over Why

Thomas Lane | August 6, 2011, 11:55AM

Former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA) and Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN)

S&P's own explanation of their decision to downgrade the U.S credit rating spreads the blame around. Tellingly, It slams the GOP's intransigence over letting the Bush tax cuts expire. Overall, it paints a bleak picture of the whole political system.

However, for the GOP presidential candidates it's pretty clear where the blame really lies. You guessed it: with President Barack Obama.

Read more »

Debt

S&P Downgrades - Full Ratings Agency Statement

Paul Werdel | August 5, 2011, 9:05PM

Below, the full statement from Standard & Poor's, on their decision to downgrade U.S. debt.

Read more »

Bush Tax Cuts

S&P Downgrades U.S. AAA Bond Rating To AA+, Outlook Negative

Brian Beutler | August 5, 2011, 8:38PM

As threatened, the ratings agency Standard & Poors has downgraded the country's AAA bond rating, despite acknowledging, according to multiple reports, that their initial calculations included a $2 trillion error projecting U.S.'s debt-to-GDP ratio over time.

You can read the entire explanation below the fold. But the key is that the use of the debt limit as a legislative bargaining chip, combined with gridlock in Congress, led S&P to publicly conclude that the country will have a hard time restoring gravity to its debt trajectory.

However, while they parcel blame across Congress -- implying Democrats are rigidly opposed to cutting entitlement spending -- they hint that Republican intransigence to raising tax revenues is more troubling.

From the agency's press release:

"We lowered our long-term rating on the U.S. because we believe that the prolonged controversy over raising the statutory debt ceiling and the related fiscal policy debate indicate that further near-term progress containing the growth in public spending, especially on entitlements, or on reaching an agreement on raising revenues is less likely than we previously assumed and will remain a contentious and fitful process," reads a statement from S&P. "We also believe that the fiscal consolidation plan that Congress and the Administration agreed to this week falls short of the amount that we believe is necessary to stabilize the general government debt burden by the middle of the decade."

S&P continues:

The political brinksmanship of recent months highlights what we see as America's governance and policymaking becoming less stable, less effective, and less predictable than what we previously believed. The statutory debt ceiling and the threat of default have become political bargaining chips in the debate over fiscal policy. Despite this year's wide-ranging debate, in our view, the differences between political parties have proven to be extraordinarily difficult to bridge, and, as we see it, the resulting agreement fell well short of the comprehensive fiscal consolidation program that some proponents had envisaged until quite recently. Republicans and Democrats have only been able to agree to relatively modest savings on discretionary spending while delegating to the Select Committee decisions on more comprehensive measures. It appears that for now, new revenues have dropped down on the menu of policy options. In addition, the plan envisions only minor policy changes on Medicare and little change in other entitlements, the containment of which we and most other independent observers regard as key to long-term fiscal sustainability.

Full press release below.

Read more »

2012

DNC, Huntsman Condemn Shadowy $1 Million Pro-Romney Donation

Benjy Sarlin | August 5, 2011, 6:05PM

Mitt Romney Holds Campaign Event In Front Of Valley Plaza Mall in Los Angeles, July 20, 2011

A mysterious corporate donor to a Super PAC supporting Mitt Romney has already drawn the full attention of campaign finance watchdogs, who suspect the barely-existent firm, W Spann LLC, was created to conceal the origins of a giant $1 million contribution. Now Romney's political opponents are taking notice as well.

Read more »

Chris Christie

CAIR: Thanks For Defending Muslims, Chris Christie!

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 5, 2011, 5:58PM

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie just picked up an unlikely ally for a prominent Republican politician these days: the Council on American-Islamic Relation, better known as CAIR.

The group's Garden State branch sent a shout-out to Christie after a video made the rounds showing the governor defending one of his nominees for the state bench against allegation that his Muslim faith meant he'd bring sharia into the legal system.

"Governor Christie's praise highlights the commitment of American Muslims to building a better society," CAIR-NJ Executive Director James Yee said in a statement. "We hope the governor's comments will help stem the rising tide of Islamophobia in our society and help unify our nation."

Read more »

Iowa caucus

Bachmann Slams Obama Birthday Party: I'll Cancel My Barbecue If Stocks Crash

Eric Kleefeld | August 5, 2011, 5:31PM

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN)

Michele Bachmann has joined the ranks of Republicans attacking President Obama for celebrating his birthday on Thursday, which coincided with the 512-point mega-drop in the Dow Jones stock index. And as Bachmann said, she would not "celebrate" the news as she accused Obama of doing -- she would have canceled the barbecue.

"The birthday present he got was huge drop of 512 points in the market and not only that, what was the president's response? He threw a barbecue last night at the White House to celebrate," Bachmann told an Iowa crowd, the Des Moines Register reports.

She added: "One thing I will guarantee you, President Bachmann will be canceling barbecues if we see the market go down and if we see the jobs report going down."

But wait a second: Wouldn't that sort of abrupt reduction in consumer spending result in layoffs of catering employees? That's not the kind of bold move that the ratings agencies are looking for.

Debt

GOP Tries To Shift Blame For S&P Downgrade Of U.S. Creditworthiness

Brian Beutler | August 5, 2011, 5:17PM

An ABC News report suggests U.S. officials are prepping for the credit rating agency S&P to downgrade the country's AAA bond rating to either AA or AA+. This would be a slight reduction stemming from the Congressional circus over the debt limit fight.

According to the initial report, S&P sees the GOP's intransigence on taxes as a reason to suspect the country will not be likely to reduce deficits in the years ahead, and Republicans are already trying to get out from under the blame.

"Dear Mr. Obama, while you blame the GOP for the downgrade, your party controlled all of Washington for two years & extended the Bush cuts," tweeted Red State founder Erick Erickson.

Read more »

Leon Panetta

Dems Take On Panetta For Pushing Medicare, Social Security Cuts Over Defense Cuts

Brian Beutler | August 5, 2011, 4:11PM

Leon Panetta

A fight is brewing on the right, between anti-tax zealots and big military types over who takes the next hit in the continuing fight over deficits. The prospect excites progressives, who see a rare opportunity to force the GOP to slaughter one of their sacred cows, and rip the party apart in the process.

But the left is poised for a similar internal battle.

The tensions on both sides of the aisle were set in motion by the debt deal, which created a powerful, bipartisan deficit committee tasked with finding over $1 trillion in savings over the next 10 years. If it gridlocks, though, it will trigger automatic spending cuts, including about half a billion dollars from defense.

Read more »

Greg Meeks

House Ethics Orders Schmidt to Pay Back $500K In Improper Legal Fees

Susan Crabtree | August 5, 2011, 3:42PM

Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY) and Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-OH)

The House Ethics Committee has cleared Rep. Greg Meeks (D-NY) of charges that he took out an inappropriate loan he received from a businessman but is still investigating whether he disclosed it properly.

Likewise, the panel exonerated Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-OH) of any wrongdoing in accepting $500,000 in legal services from the Turkish American Legal Defense Fund, a Turkish-American interest group, even though they found them to be improper gifts under House rules and are demanding she repay the attorneys. The committee also decided against pursuing an investigation into Rep. Luis Guiterrez' July 26 arrest during a immigration protest in front of the White House. Guiterrez paid a $100 fine for failing to obey a lawful order of a policeman.

Read more »

Twitter

The Best Of #HipHopBBQActs

Benjy Sarlin | August 5, 2011, 2:45PM

FOX Nation drew some howls of derision for referring to President Obama's birthday bash as a "Hip Hop BBQ" on its website, complete with a picture of Jay-Z, Chris Rock, and Charles Barkley for emphasis. To commemorate the occasion, TPM started #HipHopBBQActs to suggest some grill-themed performers and Twitter users quickly generated thousands of ideas. Here are some of the best.

Read more »

Iowa caucus

Santorum Denounces 'Super-Right' Of 'Sexual Liberty,' And The 'Pursuit Of Pleasure'

Eric Kleefeld | August 5, 2011, 2:27PM

Rick Santorum at the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition's Spring Kickoff Event

Rick Santorum is continuing his staunch opposition to gay rights -- warning that courts have created a "super-right" to sex, which overrides the constitutional right of religious freedom.

In an interview with the Des Moines Register's editorial board, Santorum claimed that same-sex marriage was a threat to religious liberty, alleging for example that government could threaten the licenses of marriage counselors who don't treat gay couples.

"Religious liberty is now trumped because we have now created a super-right," said Santorum. "We have a right [in] the Constitution of religious liberty but now the courts have created a super-right that's above a right that's actually in the Constitution, and that's of sexual liberty. And I think that's a wrong, that's a destructive element."

Also, the paper reports: "Santorum says if 'pursuit of happiness' means 'pursuit of pleasure,' we won't be a country very long."

Jon Huntsman

Huntsman 2.0's Latest Body Blow: Is Mitt Romney A Manchurian Candidate?

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 5, 2011, 2:24PM

Jon Huntsman and former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA)

Jon Huntsman's new groove is going on the attack. The one-time Mr. Nice Guy has been sticking it to Republican presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney over health care, the debt ceiling, and that mysterious $1 million donation in the hopes of tearing down the Romney colossus.

On Friday, Team Huntsman floated a new line of attack: Romney may be too close to the Chinese for comfort.

Read more »

2012

Rick Perry's Lousy Grades On Par With Past Nominees

Benjy Sarlin | August 5, 2011, 1:49PM

Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX)

Rick Perry's newly released college transcript may not look like much, but graded on a curve he's not doing so bad.

Per the Huffington Post, which obtained Perry's college records, he scored mediocre to lousy marks in a broad array of subjects:

While he later became a student leader, he had to get out of academic probation to do so. He rarely earned anything above a C in his courses -- earning a C in U.S. History, a D in Shakespeare, and a D in the principles of economics. Perry got a C in gym.

Perry also did poorly on classes within his animal science major. In fall semester 1970, he received a D in veterinary anatomy, a F in a second course on organic chemistry and a C in animal breeding. He did get an A in world military systems and "Improv. of Learning" -- his only two As while at A&M.

Taken in the broader context of presidential nominees, however, Perry looks much better. President Bush, Perry's predecessor in the Texas governors' mansion, was a famously "meh" student at Yale University and graduated with a 77 average. His highest grade was an 88 which he received in three classes. He only had one "D" however.

Read more »

Barack Obama

Obama on Economy: 'We Are Going To Get Through This'

Susan Crabtree | August 5, 2011, 11:26AM

One day after a precipitous slide in the financial markets spurred new speculation about a double-dip recession, President Obama sought to reassure Americans that the country is slowly recovering from its economic crisis with a light at the end of a very long tunnel.

The President pointed to the slightly better than expected jobs numbers the Labor Department announced early Friday as proof of the nation's steady but fragile economic recovery. The unemployment rate unexpectedly fell to 9.1 percent as July nonfarm payrolls grew by 117,000 jobs - slightly beating expectations.

Read more »

Wisconsin Recalls

Walker On The Recalls: 'If Given The Facts They're Going To Make Good Decisions'

Eric Kleefeld | August 5, 2011, 10:50AM

Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI)

This Tuesday six state Senate recalls will be held in Wisconsin against Republican incumbents, launched in a backlash against Gov. Scott Walker's policies against public employee unions, with the potential for control of the chamber to flip to the Democrats. And for his part, WisPolitics reports, Walker now says that result is "out of our hands" and with the voters.

"I believe if given the facts they're going to make good decisions," Walker told reporters, after a ceremony opening the State Fair in Milwaukee. "Sometimes they're going to be decisions that side with me, sometimes they're going to be with others, but I'm going to respect their decision."

However, Walker stood by his predictions that voters would realize the benefits of his legislation: "I think slowly they will see, and overall the school programs have gotten better."

2012

Republican Presidential Field Bashes Jobs Numbers

Benjy Sarlin | August 5, 2011, 9:06AM

Investors fearing the worst after Thursday's sell-off greeted today's better-than-expected jobs numbers with relief. Republican presidential candidates? Not so much.

Read more »

Jobs

U.S. Adds 117K Jobs In July, Unemployment Ticks Down To 9.1%

Paul Werdel | August 5, 2011, 8:36AM

The U.S. economy added 117,000 jobs in July, beating analysts' expectations in a better-than-expected report, but still not offering much of a sign that a robust recovery was taking shape. The unemployment rate also ticked down from 9.2% to 9.1%.

Private non-farm payrolls actually increased by 154,000, but a loss of 37,000 government jobs dragged the total figure down.

U.S. stock markets, whose futures had been down following sharp overnight losses in Asian and European markets, opened in positive territory on the news.

Jobs numbers were also revised upward for June and May, noting that the economy added an additional 56,000 and 46,000 jobs in those months respectively.

2012

Rick Perry Recommits To Religious Right At Saturday Prayer-Fest

Benjy Sarlin | August 5, 2011, 6:05AM

Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX)

The wait is over! Rick Perry will host his much-buzzed about Christian prayer-fest "The Response" in Houston on Saturday, where participants will ask for divine help to overcome America's myriad problems.

"A historic crisis facing our nation and threatening our future demands a historic response from the church," Perry said in a video recorded to promote the event. "We must, as a people, return to the faith and hope of our fathers. The ancient paths of great men were blazed in prayer - the humility of the truly great men of history was revealed in their recognition of the power and might of Jesus to save all who call on His great name."

It's a far cry from the Perry of 2002, who was described in a Texas Monthly profile as reluctant to discuss his faith in public. Asked how his religion informed his politics, he replied: "I don't think it does, particularly."

Read more »

Kim Simac

Wisconsin Dems Attack Tea Partier For Outsourcing

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 5, 2011, 6:00AM

State Senate Candidate Kim Simac (R-WI)

Here's a tip for the tea party Republican attempting to win a general election: don't let Democrats find out you employed Chinese labor to publish your books about American heroism.

Such is the fate of Kim Simac, a tea party leader founder and Republican party choice to win the Wisconsin state Senate recall election against incumbent Democratic Sen. Jim Holperin. Simac was last seen scrubbing the web of her past writings comparing the public schools to Nazi Germany.

Now she's stuck having to explain away why her uber-patriotic children's books are published in China.

Read more »

Polls

CBS/NYT Poll: Congressional Disapproval At An All-Time High

Kyle Leighton | August 4, 2011, 7:10PM

Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) and President Barack Obama

Well, Congress has done it. It's hit its highest disapproval ratings since the New York Times/CBS News poll was created in 1977. In the wake of the debt debate, a full 82% of Americans are displeased with the legislative branch, with only 14% approval.

It's not so much the deal that was struck on the debt ceiling increase, which Americans were split on: 46% actually approved of the deal versus 45%. It was the perceived motivations that have people upset. 82% of the poll's respondents said that disagreements between parties on the debt ceiling debate were due to "gaining political advantage," rather than "doing what's best for the country," which only 14% saw as the motivator for Congress. Those numbers perfectly mirrored the general Congressional ratings.

Read more »

FAA

Reid: Dems, GOP Have Deal To End FAA Shutdown

Brian Beutler | August 4, 2011, 3:48PM

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)

Senate Majority Leader Reid says he and House Republicans have reached a deal on FAA funding that will end a partial shutdown, which threatened to drag through the month of August.

"I am pleased to announce that we have been able to broker a bipartisan compromise between the House and the Senate to put 74,000 transportation and construction workers back to work," Reid noted in a Thursday statement. "This agreement does not resolve the important differences that still remain. But I believe we should keep Americans working while Congress settles its differences, and this agreement will do exactly that."

Read more »

Wisconsin Recalls

Wis. GOPer: If You Don't Like What We Did, Wait For 2012 Instead Of Recalling Me

Eric Kleefeld | August 4, 2011, 3:20PM

State Sen. Alberta Darling (R-WI)

One of the targeted Republican state Senators in this Tuesday's Wisconsin recalls, Alberta Darling, is headed into the home stretch with an interesting message: That the recall should not even be happening, and voters who don't like the policies that have been enacted under Gov. Scott Walker should wait for the 2012 legislative races.

"We have elections. Elections have consequences. If you don't like what's happening, make a change in the next election," Darling said at a debate on Wednesday, WisPolitics reports. "We did. The (2010) election said, 'make a change,' and we did. We flipped the Assembly, the Senate and the governor's house. And you know what? If you don't like what we're doing, go vote in the 2012 elections. We listened to the people in 2010."

Whatever one's attitude is about recalls as an idea, one thing is still certain: The state constitution provides for recalls under a process that was triggered through sufficient signatures, so the election is on. As such, it is unclear whether such an argument will do much to attract voters in a race that will rely heavily on both parties turning out their base.

Read more »

Debt Ceiling

Pelosi: Boehner Was Supposed To Have 218 Votes For Debt Limit Deal

Brian Beutler | August 4, 2011, 3:10PM

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

In her most candid assessment to date, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said Democrats should have fared better in the debt limit fight. And she was unable to defend the final deal from the suggestion that it will cost the country jobs.

But in a new wrinkle, she also said the deal was crafted with the expectation that Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) would be able to marshal a majority for the bill on his own -- a mark he fell far short of.

Pelosi convened a handful of new media reporters to discuss the Democrats' plans for legislative action on jobs. I asked whether she believed the new law, which will ultimately result in at least $2.1 trillion worth of austerity measures, would cost jobs, and if so, how many.

Her response is worth quoting in full.

Read more »

Campaign Finance

Watchdogs Demand Investigation Into 'Brazen' $1 Million Pro-Romney Donation

Benjy Sarlin | August 4, 2011, 3:08PM

Mitt Romney Holds Campaign Event In Front Of Valley Plaza Mall in Los Angeles, July 20, 2011

Watchdog groups are demanding that state and federal officials investigate a $1 million donation from a mysterious firm to an independent political group backing Mitt Romney's campaign in order to determine whether it violates federal campaign laws.

In a letter to Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, the Public Campaign Action Fund claims that the giant contribution to Super PAC "Restore Our Future" from the firm W Spann LLC is out of bounds. As first reported by NBC's Michale Isikoff, records show the firm was incorporated in the state in March and then dissolved in July with little apparent activity besides its donation and virtually no publicly available information on its owners.

Read more »

Mike Huckabee

How Bush Killed Bin Laden: What's Really In Huckabee's 9/11 Cartoon

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 4, 2011, 2:45PM

TPM watched Mike Huckabee's new children's educational video about 9/11 so you don't have to. What's inside? A lot of talk about how "most Muslims" aren't terrorists, a reference or two to The Kite Runner, more than a couple scenes extolling America's commitment to Israel -- and no mention whatsoever of President Obama authorizing the mission that took out bin Laden.

Plus there's a really weird plot-line centering around a pre-teen girl never having known that her mother, with whom she lives in an archetypal American small town, was the town's mayor just a few years ago. But that's not even the strangest hole in Huckabee's telling of the 9/11 story.

Read more »

FAA

White House Pushes For FAA Solution By Week's End

Susan Crabtree | August 4, 2011, 2:21PM

President Obama phoned Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) Wednesday to urge him to pass a bill extending funding for the Federal Aviation Administration and hopes House Republicans and Democrats can resolve their differences and get tens of thousands of FAA and construction workers back on the job by the end of the week.

White House spokesman Jay Carney confirmed Obama's call to Boehner and said the President wants a resolution to the impasse by the end of the week even though the two sides have yet to make any progress resolving their differences.

"Obama called Boehner yesterday, and said this is one thing we can do for job creation pretty instantly," Carney told reporters Thursday. "It's not resolved, and it needs to be resolved, and we're hopeful that it will by the end of the week."

Read more »

Nancy Pelosi

She Has A Plan: Pelosi Says There'll Be No More Hostage Crises

Brian Beutler | August 4, 2011, 1:30PM

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

Without disclosing details, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) says she has a plan for dealing with the Republicans' legislative hostage-taking strategy. In a meeting with a small group of reporters in her office Thursday morning, she said the dynamics of the debt limit fight -- where Democrats were forced to accept deep cuts to government programs on the threat of default -- will not happen again.

"Suffice to say that you won't see a repetition of what happened last week, taking us to the last minute when they didn't even have the votes -- they didn't even have the votes -- and then saying to us 'You will be responsible for a default," Pelosi said in response to a question from TPM.

Pelosi was reluctant to spell out just how she would stave off this situation, however. "I would say that if I were to tell you...it would be defanged," she said, after being pressed for details. "In terms of what we -- how we would approach where they go from here. And that may be a House Democratic position.... Our members were very unhappy about that vote the other day. Very unhappy."

Read more »

Deficit

Pelosi: No Lines In The Sand On Super Committee Deficit Cuts

Brian Beutler | August 4, 2011, 12:39PM

While Republicans race to set the expectation that they will reject any proposal from a powerful new fiscal committee if it includes higher tax revenues, don't expect Democrats to be nearly as adamant about entitlement programs.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) says her caucus will be broadly united in a fight to protect Medicare and other successful programs from cuts when the committee convenes to reduce deficits by at least $1.2 trillion over 10 years. But neither she nor the people she appoints to that committee will publicly draw bright lines.

"I'm not drawing any lines in the sand because I think it plays into their hand," Pelosi told a small group of reporters invited to her office on Thursday morning. "When 12 clowns are in a ring and a sane person jumps into the ring he looks like the 13th clown.... It is part of their plan to keep the attention on this, and the debt and the who and the rest and I'm simply not going to do it."

Read more »

Veterans

Judge Allows Army Veteran To Sue Donald Rumsfeld

Megan Reback | August 4, 2011, 12:11PM

A federal judge is allowing a suit brought by a U.S. citizen against former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld to proceed. The accuser is a military veteran who claims he was imprisoned unjustly and tortured by the U.S. Army at Camp Cropper, a military facility near Baghdad. Camp Cropper is known for holding "high-value" detainees.

Read more »

Polls

Quinnipiac Poll: Romney Edging Up, Bachmann Being Displaced By Perry In Florida

Kyle Leighton | August 4, 2011, 11:28AM

Former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney may have kept a low profile during the debt debate, only to criticize the final product, but it seems to have worked for him in a new Quinnipiac poll of the key swing state of Florida.

The new poll is really two polls. The report included one survey of registered voters from July 27th to the 31st, before a debt deal was announced, and then a second survey from August 1st to the 2nd. President Obama registered a negative approval rating in both, but fared well in the matchups with GOP presidential candidates. Obama has a lead outside the margin of error in all except for one: the August 1st - 2nd trial heat against Romney, which showed a tie at 44 percent. Obama still leads in the TPM Poll Average of the matchup 44.5% to 43%.

Read more »

Wisconsin Recalls

Liberal Groups' Wisconsin Ad: 'I've Voted Republican In The Past' But Not Now (VIDEO)

Eric Kleefeld | August 4, 2011, 10:35AM

Ad from Progressive Change Campaign Committee, Democracy For America Wisconsin, and MoveOn

The liberal groups Progressive Change Campaign Committee, the Wisconsin division of Democracy For America, and MoveOn have a new ad up in the state Senate recalls, going after one of the higher-value targets, state Joint Finance Committee co-chair Alberta Darling.

The ad features a local resident, introducing himself as a teacher. "To me, nothing is more important than education," the man says. "But Alberta Darling voted for budget cuts that hurt our community schools, all to give tax cuts to the rich and big corporations."

"I've voted Republican in the past. I've voted for Ronald Reagan, George Bush and George W. Bush. And I've voted for Alberta Darling. But we need someone on our side -- I'm voting for Sandy Pasch for State Senate."

Read more »

Campaign Finance

Mysterious Firm Gives $1 Million To Pro-Romney Group, Closes Shop

Benjy Sarlin | August 4, 2011, 9:54AM

GOP Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney (MA)

A firm with no apparent purpose or even clear address donated $1 million to Restore Our Future, a Super PAC supporting Mitt Romney, before closing up shop.

The cash and its mysterious origins, first reported on by NBC's Michael Isikoff, raise significant questions about the limits of campaign money in the post-Citizens United era. Super PACs, which can accept unlimited corporate donations to run independent political ads, are required to disclose their donors. But the firm, W Spann LLC, which was formed in Delaware in March by a Boston lawyer and dissolved in July, is a private company and can thus conceal details of its backers and agenda.

Read more »

Debt Ceiling

Legislating By Crisis: A Chronicle Of The Coming Hostage Dramas On Capitol Hill

Brian Beutler | August 4, 2011, 6:10AM

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) and Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY)

Of the four party leaders on Capitol Hill, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is the most disciplined. So when he says, for instance, his top priority is making Barack Obama a one-term President, it isn't a slip up. With that in mind, here's what he told the Washington Post about the debt limit fight.

"I think some of our members may have thought the default issue was a hostage you might take a chance at shooting. Most of us didn't think that. What we did learn is this -- it's a hostage that's worth ransoming. And it focuses the Congress on something that must be done."

This captures the legislative dynamic on Capitol Hill with blunt honesty. When they won an extension of the Bush tax cuts in December 2010, before their newly elected members were sworn in, Republicans settled on a strategy that works -- and they'll have plenty of opportunities to employ it again in the months ahead.

In fact it's already happening.

Read more »

Polls

The Tea Party Won...Then They Lost

Kyle Leighton | August 4, 2011, 6:00AM

On Tuesday TPM reported on a new Pew study that said the Tea Party and conservative Americans had essentially outworked their liberal counterparts on the debt ceiling debate: Tea Partiers had paid more attention and were more likely to have taken action to influence the outcome of the debt battle.

Then in an interview with CBS, House Speaker John Boehner was happy to be considered the victor in the debt talks, saying he'd been able to get 98% of what he wanted.

Read more »

Wisconsin Recalls

Badger State Bucks: Lots Of Money Spent On The Wisconsin Recalls

Eric Kleefeld | August 4, 2011, 6:00AM

It is now the home stretch of the Wisconsin state Senate recalls, with six elections this Tuesday targeting incumbent Republicans -- which could potentially flip control of the chamber to the Democrats -- to be followed by two more elections targeting Democrats the week after. And the usually obscure world of state legislative races has seen a lot of money flooding into the state.

As the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports, the labor-backed group We Are Wisconsin announced that it raised a total of $9.7 million for the recalls. The numbers are not as clear on the other side, but the paper reports that conservative groups are estimated to have actually spent slightly more than the liberals on the elections, though not by a huge margin.

For example, the Capital Times reports that the Club For Growth's Wisconsin division has spent an estimated $3 million to $4 million on issue ads in the races -- compared to just $1 million they had previously spent in the state in the last four years.

Read more »

Iowa straw poll

Hmm...Pawlenty Pulls Ads For Straw Poll Home Stretch

Eric Kleefeld | August 3, 2011, 6:44PM

Former Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-MN)

Tim Pawlenty is now making an unusual move in the run-up to the politically crucial Iowa Straw Poll: Pulling his TV and radio ads for the 72 hours running up to the event next weekend, focusing instead on his on-the-ground turnout operation.

Politico reports that the Pawlenty campaign insists the redirection of funds is not because they might be short on cash, but is simply a matter of wanting to concentrate on their turnout operation. "It's such a small universe of people, we really want to focus on people we know are supporting us -- focus on turnout mode instead of name ID and recruitment," said campaign adviser Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

Pawlenty had previously reserved $200,000 in TV and radio ads for the Des Moines-Ames media market, which is now being diverted. By contrast, his fellow Minnesotan (and apparent Iowa frontrunner) Michele Bachmann just launched a whole new ad, boasting of her vote against the debt-ceiling increase -- and asking viewers to head to the straw poll in Ames.

FAA

Reid Letter To Boehner Urges Swift FAA Fix Despite Congressional Recess

Susan Crabtree | August 3, 2011, 6:20PM

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has fired off a letter to House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) offering an urgent compromise on Congress' latest impasse: the partial shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration.

The move comes just hours after President Barack Obama slammed the imbroglio for creating a "lose-lose-lose situation" and urged Congress to resolve the matter before the end of the week.

Complicating matters is the fact that many lawmakers are about to leave DC, or have left already, as this year's Congressional recess has now begun.

Read more »

Medicare

Cantor: We Can't Keep Medicare Promise For Young People

Brian Beutler | August 3, 2011, 4:00PM

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA)

Republicans' pledge to never raise taxes is inviolable whereas the government's pledge to provide retirees with health care will have to be broken at some point, according to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. And we'll see evidence of this, he hinted, if and when the House of Representatives refuses to pass future deficit reduction legislation if it calls for bringing new tax revenue into the Treasury.

In a meeting with editors of the Wall Street Journal, Cantor said Americans must "come to grips with the fact that promises have been made that frankly are not going to be kept for many."

Read more »

Iowa straw poll

Santorum To Give Out Free Jelly At Ames

Eric Kleefeld | August 3, 2011, 3:34PM

Former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA)

Rick Santorum may not have raised a lot of money or attracted much support in the polls, but his campaign for the presidency will be trying a new tack for votes at the Ames Iowa Straw Poll: Some delicious homemade peach jam.

The Des Moines Register reports that Santorum told an Iowa audience on Tuesday that his family has fruit trees back home, and he and his children harvested peaches, peeled them, and made them into jelly. And now, they will be bringing 40 jars to Iowa.

"We are bringing them to the Straw Poll and we are going to give everybody a sample," said Santorum, dubbing the product "Pennsylvania Presidential Peach Preserves."

Don't count out this tactic completely. In the 1840 presidential election, one thing the opposition Whig Party did to cement its momentum from the economic depression was to mount a national effort of handing out hard cider at campaign events, tying it to the manufactured image of nominee William Henry Harrison as a rugged outdoorsman. Though come to think of it, 40 jars of peach jelly probably isn't as convincing as hard cider.

Wisconsin Recalls

RNC Chair: Pay No Attention To The Wisconsin Recalls, National Reporters

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 3, 2011, 1:54PM

Reince Priebus

RNC chair Reince Priebus, a former chair of the Wisconsin Republican Party, says there's no need for national political reporters to try and glean anything about the 2012 elections from the state Senate recall fight underway in his home state, where Democrats seem to have the momentum.

"I don't think its a test run," Preibus said on a conference call with reporters this morning. He added that even though some of the key issues on the ballot in the coming weeks in his home state are "a similar debate to what we're having in the country," the "the localized nature of it doesn't allow it to be analogous to the 2012 election."

If the polls are to be believed, that's good news for the GOP.

Read more »

Medicare

Paul Ryan To Dems: Show Us Your Budget...No, The Other One!

Brian Beutler | August 3, 2011, 12:12PM

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)

Before yesterday, Republicans on Capitol Hill liked to feign anger about Senate Democrats' failure to pass a budget in over two years.

Now that the debt limit deal is done -- and it's essentially a 10-year budget, with the force of law -- Republicans are...still attacking Democrats for...not passing a budget!

Read more »

Reince Priebus

RNC Accuses President Obama ... Of Fundraising

Benjy Sarlin | August 3, 2011, 12:05PM

President Barack Obama

RNC chair Reince Priebus is raining on President Obama's 50th birthday fundraiser in Chicago, saying the president is too focused on campaigning.

"I suppose the White House thinks he should stick to the job he really likes, raising money from fat cat donors, while the rest of America struggles with trying to make ends meet," Priebus said in a call with reporters on Wednesday.

The messenger for the attack was a bit odd given that the RNC's primary duty is fundraising for Republican campaigns. In Priebus' case, he campaigned for the job specifically based on his ability to reel in big-money donors that had left during Michael Steele's tenure. "We will work to regain the confidence of our donor base and I will personally call our major donors to ask them to rejoin our efforts at the RNC," he wrote in a letter to committee members last year.

Priebus was asked by a reporter on Wednesday's call why Obama's fundraising crossed the line.

"I think it's another case of this president's rhetoric not matching his deeds," Priebus replied. "He's tried all week to try this spin that now the White House is pivoting to jobs, which they've tried many times before, and the first job Obama is interested in saving is his own."

Barack Obama

Former Top White House Economist: One-In-Three Chance Of Double-Dip Recession

Brian Beutler | August 3, 2011, 10:39AM

Larry Summers and President Barack Obama

For the umpteenth time in the last two years Democrats are going to "pivot to jobs." This time, according to President Obama's former chief economist, they better be serious.

In a Wednesday Washington Post op-ed, Larry Summers issues his most dire public warnings about the economy since leaving the White House.

Read more »

2012

Palin Rips Romney, Praises Bachmann On Debt Ceiling

Benjy Sarlin | August 3, 2011, 10:05AM

Former Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) and former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA)

Flirting with a kingmaker role, Sarah Palin bashed Mitt Romney and praised Michele Bachmann in an interview with Sean Hannity on Tuesday night.

"Bless his heart, I have respect for Mitt Romney, but I do not have respect for what he has done through this debt increase debate," she said. "He waited until it was a done deal that we would increase the debt ceiling and more money would be spent, more money would be borrowed and spent on bigger government, and then he came out and made a statement that he didn't like the deal after all. You can't defer an issue and assume that the problem is then going to be avoided."

Her words echoed similar attacks from Romney rival Jon Huntsman as well as Democratic strategists like Priorities USA's Bill Burton. Like Huntsman, she praised Bachmann for taking an early position on the debt ceiling (she was a firm "no" on any increase from the start).

"She spoke out and she cast her vote according to her principles, she stood true," she said.

Palin has shown little indication she'll enter the race, though she said in the interview she hasn't made up her mind yet. But her direct attack on Romney suggests that she might play a significant role from the outside. It's unclear if she still has the same influence she used to, however, even with her famously loyal base of followers. A heavily promoted pro-Palin film, Undefeated, proved a box office disaster this month even as Palin lent it her personal seal of approval.

2012

Believe It! Bachmann Unveils New Iowa Ad

Benjy Sarlin | August 3, 2011, 9:14AM

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN)

It's all sun and smiles for Michele Bachmann's latest Iowa ad, except for the dialogue. Titled "Believe It," the spot features Bachmann discussing her vote against raising the debt ceiling and slamming her colleagues for "looting the treasury and bankrupting the nation." Like the rest of the presidential field, Bachmann is rallying her supporters for the crucial Ames Straw Poll on August 13, and the ad asks voters to come join her for the big day.

2012

Mitt's Magical Misery Tour: Romney's Top 5 Depressing Campaign Moments

Benjy Sarlin | August 3, 2011, 6:10AM

Mitt Romney Holds Campaign Event In Front Of Valley Plaza Mall in Los Angeles, July 20, 2011

Mitt Romney's jobs-focused message has proven effective thus far, helping him solidify his frontrunner position in the GOP primary while the other candidates are still caught up in the day-to-day chaos of the campaign. But it's also among the more depressing campaigns in recent memory, relying on a constant stream of hard-times imagery ranging from foreclosed homes to unemployed workers (metaphorically) lying down in the road waiting to be run over. The latest campaign video, on joblessness in Chicago, is even timed to kill the mood at President Obama's birthday party.

Is it a dark theme for dark times or just gratuitous misery? Either way, make sure you're far from any sharp objects or ledges before you look at the following lowlights.

Read more »

New Jersey

Poll: Plurality Of New Jersey Voters Thinks Gay Marriage Should Be Legal

Jillian Rayfield | August 3, 2011, 6:00AM

Pro Same-Sex Marriage Parade, Maplewood, NJ

Gay marriage is not likely to become legal in New Jersey as long as Chris Christie is running things, but according to a recent poll, more New Jersey voters would support marriage equality than would not.

Read more »

Steve King

Steve King: Covering Birth Control Will Make Us 'A Dying Civilization'

Jillian Rayfield | August 2, 2011, 6:26PM

Rep. Steve King (R-IA)

Rep. Steve King (R-IA) thinks it's "Orwellian" that the federal government would require health insurance providers to cover birth control, and that if left unchecked the policy could allow the U.S. to become "a dying civilization."

Read more »

Iowa caucus

Santorum: Govt Pre-School Programs Want To 'Indoctrinate Your Children'

Eric Kleefeld | August 2, 2011, 6:13PM

Rick Santorum at the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition's Spring Kickoff Event

Rick Santorum fired a verbal salvo at early-education programs on Tuesday, telling an Iowa crowd that government pre-school programs are part of a hideous plot by the government to indoctrinate children.

"It is a parent's responsibility to educate their children. It is not the government's job. We have sort of lost focus here a little bit," said Santorum, the Des Moines Register reports.

"Of course, the government wants their hands on your children as fast as they can. That is why I opposed all these early starts and pre-early starts, and early-early starts. They want your children from the womb so they can indoctrinate your children as to what they want them to be. I am against that."

In order to shield his own family from indoctrination, Santorum and his wife have home-schooled their seven children through the eighth grade.

Read more »

Debt ceiling

Study: Tea Partiers Outworked Democrats In Debt Fight

Benjy Sarlin | August 2, 2011, 5:49PM

Remember that enthusiasm gap from the 2010 election that was oh-so-deadly for Democrats? It looks like it hung around for the debt ceiling fight as well.

A telephone poll by the Pew Research Center for People and Press found that Republicans and Tea Party-affiliated respondents both paid more attention to the debt negotiations and were more likely to take action to influence the outcome.

Read more »

Pres '12

Cain, Paul And Others Selling Campaign Gear Not Made In U.S.A.

Eric Kleefeld | August 2, 2011, 5:23PM

Presidential candidate Herman Cain (R)

Show us the invoices!

ABC News, which previously revealed that Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum were selling campaign T-shirts and other gear made outside the United States, has now found two other campaigns selling not-made-in-the-U.S.A. merchandise: Herman Cain and Ron Paul.

"No, I wasn't aware it was made in Honduras," Cain said in response. "I was just aware it was Fruit of the Loom ... which is an American company."

Ron Paul did not know, either -- but unlike other candidates, he isn't apologetic about it. "I wasn't aware of it ... but I wouldn't change it," said Paul. "I would argue the case that the market should determine it."

Debt Ceiling

MA GOP Splits With Romney Over Debt Deal

Benjy Sarlin | August 2, 2011, 4:31PM

Mitt Romney Holds Campaign Event In Front Of Valley Plaza Mall in Los Angeles, July 20, 2011

It took a while, but Mitt Romney finally made up his mind and condemned the debt ceiling agreement on Monday, saying that it "opens the door to higher taxes and puts defense cuts on the table." His own state's Republican party, however, came down even harder on Democratic politicians who voted against it.

"Voting to send our country into default represents the height of irresponsibility, and these lawmakers owe their constituents an explanation for their incredibly reckless decision," Jennifer Nassour, chair of the Massachusetts GOP, said in a statement. "Massachusetts voters deserve more than blind ideology and a total refusal to compromise."

Read more »

Federal Aviation Administration

Reid Could Accept GOP Terms On FAA Shutdown

Eric Kleefeld | August 2, 2011, 3:44PM

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)

Please see update to this story here.

With the debt-ceiling crisis now averted (for now), Congress still hasn't settled a lesser, but still quite important, problem: A partial shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration, which has furloughed thousands of employees and hit the pause button on construction projects.

But fear not, Democrats could be on the verge of resolving the situation in a similar manner as they did the debt ceiling: By accepting Republican conditions.

The issue here is that the Republican-led House, which previously passed an FAA funding bill, is about to go on break again, and thus won't respond to counter-offers from the Democratic Senate. Now, Fox News reports that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is signaling a willingness to accept the House version of the reauthorization, which includes the elimination of millions in subsidies for rural airline services.

Read more »

Jon Huntsman

Huntsman On Awkward Bachmann Quote: I Was Trying To Compliment Her

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 2, 2011, 2:48PM

Jon Huntsman

Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman raised a few eyebrows yesterday when he described Rep. Michele Bachmann's press coverage thusly:

"She makes for good copy--and good photography." The quote came in the middle of a massive feature about Huntsman and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney running in the latest issue of New York, and was part of a discussion about the media coverage Bachmann gets versus her potential to actually win the nomination.

On Fox News Tuesday, Huntsman said the quote was a compliment.

Read more »

Harry Reid

Pelosi: My Deficit Committee Members Will Oppose All Entitlement Benefit Cuts

Brian Beutler | August 2, 2011, 2:32PM

The debt limit fight is over, but the fight over entitlement programs will continue for months. In the weeks ahead, the leaders of both parties in both the House and Senate will name three members each to a new committee tasked with reducing the deficit by at least $1.2 trillion.

The ultimate makeup of that committee is key. It will determine whether this Congress will pass further fiscal legislation, and, thus, what the major themes of the 2012 election will be.

At a pre-recess press conference Tuesday afternoon, TPM asked House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) whether the people she appoints to the committee will make the same stand she made during the debt limit fight -- that entitlement benefits -- as opposed to provider payments, waste and other Medicare spending -- should be off limits.

In short, yes.

Read more »

Mitt Romney

Robert Bork And Conservative Legal Philosophy Join The Romney Campaign

August 2, 2011, 1:32PM

The conservative beef with GOP presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney is that he's too centrist. On issues like climate change and health care and social conservatism, Romney has issues convincing the right wing he's one of them.

Could wrapping himself up in some of the most conservative names from the legal sphere help change that image? We're about to find out.

Read more »

Debt

Despite Debt Deal Antics, Obama Not Giving Up On His Agenda

Susan Crabtree | August 2, 2011, 1:29PM

President Obama has signed the debt deal, ending months of gridlock and harried weeks of debt negotiations in Washington that brought the country to the brink of default but averted the crisis at the last minute.

The debt deal hashed out by Congressional leaders and the White House over the weekend raises the debt ceiling and guarantees more than $2 trillion in deficit reduction over 10 years.

Even so, the agreement is only the first step, with the real work beginning this fall when a special committee hand-selected by Republicans and Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill will get to work finding additional costs savings and possibly new revenue streams with overhauls to entitlement programs such as Medicare and Medicaid and the U.S. tax system.

Read more »

Debt Ceiling

The New Default: A Sad History Of The Debt Limit Fight

Brian Beutler | August 2, 2011, 12:49PM

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and President Barack Obama

Well, we didn't default.

That's the most a lot of Democrats can say about the legislation that just passed in the Senate, by a vote of 74-26. Those voting against were 19 Republicans, 6 Democrats and one independent - Vermont's Bernie Sanders.

Although some Democrats are relieved to have at least avoided the doomsday scenario of default, they're also deflated by the fact that the GOP has leveraged its control of one house of Congress into complete dominance of the policy debate.

Democrats lost this fight for many reasons, but chief among them is the fact that the consequences of default are as unfathomable as they are unnecessary. That's why, in the past, raising the debt limit has been a matter of routine, or at worst an occasion for harmless partisan preening. If borrowing authority ever lapses, the country would initially face a major problem, and, soon thereafter, a deadly one.

Read more »

Wisconsin Recalls

Wis. Dems: Internal Polls Show Us Winning The State Senate

Eric Kleefeld | August 2, 2011, 12:20PM

A volunteer waits to gather signatures for a recall petition against Sen. Alberta Darling (R) outside of a polling station at Village Center in Shorewood, Wisconsin, Tuesday, April 5, 2011.

Going into the home stretch of the Wisconsin state Senate recalls, state Democratic Party chairman Mike Tate outlined the party's get-out-the-vote efforts on a conference call with reporters Tuesday -- and claimed that the party's internal polling of the eight races up for grabs shows the Dems favored to win the majority.

The state Senate currently has a 19-14 Republican majority, with Democrats needing to gain at least a net three seats in a backlash against Gov. Scott Walker. (And after that, they hope to recall Walker some time next year.) For next Tuesday, six Republicans will be on the ballot against Democratic challengers, followed the next Tuesday by two more recalls targeting Democratic incumbents.

On the call, in response to a question from Greg Sargent, Tate said of next week's races: "I don't know that I would say that we are going to sweep all six races, but our polling tells that we have leads in three of these races and we are dead tied in three."

Read more »

Paul Krugman

Huh? Newt Declares Obama 'A Paul Krugman Presidency'

Benjy Sarlin | August 2, 2011, 12:09PM

Newt Gingrich took to FOX News Monday night to compare President Obama to, of all people, Paul Krugman, one of the White House's fiercest critics.

"This is a Paul Krugman presidency," Gingrich told Bill O'Reilly. "[Obama] believes that stuff. He actually believes in left-wing economic ideas. The only problem with them is that they don't work."

It was an odd comparison, given that the New York Times columnist has staked out a position as Obama's ultimate nemesis on the left since the very earliest days of his administration.

"If only!" Krugman replied by e-mail, when asked about Newt's claim by TPM.

Krugman made the cover of Newsweek in Obama's very first year in office as part of a profile entitled "OBAMA IS WRONG: The Loyal Opposition of Paul Krugman." Politico's Mike Allen labeled him the "anti-Obama."

At the time of the Newsweek story, Krugman was arguing in his column that Obama's stimulus plan was too small to prevent massive, prolonged unemployment and that the White House had failed to get tough enough on big finance. Needless to say, the stalling recovery today and Obama's recent interest in negotiating multi-trillion dollar spending cuts hasn't led Krugman to change his tone. One recent post recast the president as "Barack Herbert Hoover Obama."

"This is truly a tragedy: the great progressive hope (well, I did warn people) is falling all over himself to endorse right-wing economic fallacies," he wrote.

Update: Krugman has a blog post up entitled "Bwahahahaha, Newt Edition."

"Yes, I'm secretly giving Barack marching orders, and only pretending to be deeply frustrated by his actions and rhetoric," he writes. "Incidentally, those 'left-wing economic ideas' are Economics 101; and try stacking up my economic predictions over the past few years against any of Gingrich's favorites."

This story has been updated.

Polls

Quinnipiac Poll: Romney Leads The GOP Field in PA, Beats Obama

Kyle Leighton | August 2, 2011, 11:35AM

President Barack Obama and former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA)

Former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney has been the frontrunner for the GOP nomination in national polls, but we have yet to see much polling that shows him beating President Obama in a crucial swing state. But a new Quinnipiac poll shows that a plurality of GOP voters want Romney in PA, and he now leads Obama 44 - 42, inside the margin of error and therefore a statistical dead heat.

The President bests other GOP contenders, but remains under 50% in all matchups. Obama beats former PA Sen. Rick Santorum 45 - 43, Minn. Rep. Michele Bachmann 47 - 39, and Tex. Gov. Rick Perry 45 - 39. Voters in the state disapprove of Obama's performance by a 54 - 43 margin, and say the President doesn't deserve to be reelected by a 52 - 42 spread, according to the poll.

Read more »

Gabrielle Giffords

Post-Giffords 'New Tone' Already Long Gone

Benjy Sarlin | August 2, 2011, 10:39AM

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ), May 17, 2011.

After Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) was nearly killed in a January shooting spree, talk of a "new tone" was all over Congress as lawmakers from both parties hoped the traumatic event would calm America's increasingly violent rhetoric. Instead, Giffords returned on Monday to find things as bad as ever.

Read more »

Muslims

Gallup Report: Muslim Americans See Hope In Their Economic Future

Kyle Leighton | August 2, 2011, 10:25AM

According to a new study by Gallup, there is one religious group of Americans who are more likely to believe that they will get closer to the best possible life for themselves in the next five years. This same group is also second most likely to consider themselves "thriving," while second least likely to consider themselves "struggling," and far and away more apt say that their standard of living is increasing. It's also the same group of which nearly one in two report experiencing either racial or religious discrimination.

It is an improving time to be a Muslim American, according to the numbers.

Read more »

Debt

HIGH NOON: The Senate Will (Probably) End The Debt Ceiling Crisis At Midday

Thomas Lane | August 2, 2011, 6:00AM

If all goes well in Washington today, then shortly after noon the nation's debt ceiling crisis should be over. Around that time the Senate is due to take up last-minute legislation that the House passed Monday night.

Senate leaders seem confident they have at least the 60 necessary votes to carry the deal. If they're right, then the final bill would move swiftly to the President's desk for his signature. Once the ink is on the page, the the debt ceiling can be raised ahead of the nearing deadline, and the ticking timebomb of default will be defused.

It will be the end of a dangerous game of chicken that shook markets across the world as creditors faced up to the possibility that for the first time in its history America might fail to pay its credit obligations.

Read more »

Wisconsin Recalls

UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES: How The Debt Deal Could Hurt The Wisconsin Recalls

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 2, 2011, 6:00AM

Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI)

Even as Democrats in Washington struggle with what many progressives see as one of the biggest losses their side has suffered in years, liberals in the Midwest are preparing to hand the left one of the biggest wins it has had in ages.

But the perceived progressive failure in DC over the debt ceiling deal could snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in the wild and crazy Wisconsin recalls, leading to the kind of political domino effect left-leaning critics of the debt deal fear most.

Here's how the scenario works: as they're still licking their wounds from a national fight that in the eyes of many Democrats went the Tea Party's way, progressives in Wisconsin will be trying to pull out their voters for a round of recalls on August 9. That electorate could be underwhelmed now, folks familiar with the recalls say. And that could be the difference between flipping the Wisconsin state Senate away from Governor Scott Walker (R) and keeping it in Republican hands.

Read more »

Polls

Disgusting, Stupid and Frustrating: Everyone Hates The Debt Debate

Kyle Leighton | August 2, 2011, 6:00AM

Breaking news. Americans, who were not exactly the biggest fans of Congress and partisan politics in general, are upset about the gridlock in Washington. But a new poll finds that debt ceiling crisis seems to have really pushed the traditional standards of American disgust.

A new Pew Research/Washington Post survey asked 1,001 adults about the words they associated with the debt debate. The most cited? "Ridiculous, disgusting, stupid, and frustrating," along with "terrible, disappointing, childish, and joke."

Read more »

Gabrielle Giffords

Jubilant Congress Greet Giffords: Biden Visits 'To Hug Her'

Benjy Sarlin | August 1, 2011, 7:40PM

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ)

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) entered and left the House on foot to massive applause, limping with the help of her husband, Mark Kelly. On her way out, she was trailed by her friends, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, DNC chair Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, as well as the Vice President of the United States, Joe Biden, who was in attendance just for the occasion.

"I got a tip," Biden said, beaming, when asked by TPM whether he had prior knowledge of the event. "That's why I came up. I wanted to give her a hug."

Rep. John Dingell (D-MI), the longest serving member of Congress, told TPM it was "wonderful" to see Giffords.

"Thank God she's coming along," Dingell said. "Well, we've had people shot but I've never seen them come back like that. But obviously every day around here is something new and different."

For Pelosi, who had just led her caucus through a bitter debate over the debt ceiling that climaxed with the passage of a bipartisan agreement on Monday (Gifford voted "aye"), the moment helped put everything in perspective. Like Biden she also had advance knowledge of the visit, having been informed by her chief of staff John Lawrence, a friend of the Gifford family.

"She and her husband care very much about our country, this was an important vote for them," she told reporters. "I'm so personally thrilled, though, that the vote seems...." She trailed off there.

Pelosi recounted how "We had our girl talk, yes, our girl hugs and all that" before Giffords departed, her total stay only a few minutes. She offered no news as to when -- or whether -- Giffords would return to work.

"I'm not going to talk about her schedule," she said. "Suffice to say, it was one of the thrilling moments for all of us to see this real heroine return to the House and to do so in such a dramatic time."

But Pelosi's heads up was an anomaly. Rep. Rob Andrews (D-NJ) said that members weren't given any sort of warning -- indeed one member told TPM that Giffords wasn't going to vote when rumors started flying on Twitter -- and Andrews said members "didn't know why all the applause went up."

"The board was at 200 votes, and no one knew," Andrews told TPM. "And I've gotta tell you, as low as that Saturday morning was, this was equally high...After all the sourness and bitnerness, it was a moment of real triumph. It reminded us of what really counts."

See VIDEO of Giffords' emotional return to the House floor

Ryan Reilly contributed to this report.

Gabrielle Giffords

GABBY GIFFORDS RETURNS: 'I Had To Be Here For This Vote'

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 1, 2011, 7:18PM

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ)

For the first time since she was shot on Jan. 8, 2011, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) has taken her place as a voting member of Congress.

Walking in on her own to a thunderous standing ovation from a full House, Giffords cast an aye vote in favor of the bill raising the debt ceiling that has been Congress' focus for weeks.

Read more »

Debt Ceiling

House Passes Major Legislation To Raise Debt Limit

Brian Beutler | August 1, 2011, 6:28PM

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH)

The scramble to avoid a catastrophic debt default is almost over -- and with an ending that would make Aaron Sorkin jealous. It was always going to be a dramatic moment, even once it became clear Republican and Democratic leaders had put together the votes to pass a last-minute bill to raise the debt ceiling.

However, the drama was heightened even further by the return of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ), who was shot and nearly killed in January at a constituent event in Tuscon.

As the clock ticked down, Democrats and Republicans had engaged in a standoff. Democrats were withholding their votes to force Republicans to go on the record first -- Democrats had no intention of letting Republicans off the hook on legislation that so closely adheres to their interests.

That all ended when Giffords walked into the chamber to a standing ovation, and proceeded to vote in favor of the measure. After a long applause, the votes cascaded in and the measure passed easily.

Still, scores of progressive Democrats and conservative Republicans voted against the legislation, which ultimately passed 269-161. Democrats split evenly: 95-95. The Republicans broke down 174-66. Though House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and her Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) voted for the legislation, they did allow members to vote their conscience. And in a sign of Pelosi's underlying disapproval of the measure, her top allies, including Reps George Miller (D-CA) and Henry Waxman (D-CA) ultimately voted no.

Read more »

Michele Bachmann

Bachmann Literally Phones It In For Iowa Campaign Event

Eric Kleefeld | August 1, 2011, 5:40PM

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN)

Michele Bachmann has temporarily left the campaign trail, staying in Washington to vote against the debt ceiling deal -- but she's still finding time to talk to her pre-scheduled events in Iowa. What's more, she is even sticking with her vigorous physical campaigning motifs, though it might not translate as well over the phone.

The Des Moines Register reports that Bachmann addressed a rally in Iowa today, speaking to supporters over the phone and the event's P.A. system.

"Let me ask you this question," said Bachmann. "Do you want me to vote 'No' on raising the debt ceiling? Raise your hands."

Of the 30-person crowd, a majority slowly raised their hands -- though Bachmann could not see them.

Read more »

Joe Biden

Report: Biden Told Dems That Tea Partiers 'Have Acted Like Terrorists' In Debt Ceiling Debate

Ryan J. Reilly | August 1, 2011, 5:33PM

Vice President Joe Biden told the House Democrats he met with today that Tea Party Republicans had "acted like terrorists" in the debt ceiling debate, Politico reported.

Read more »

Debt Ceiling

Will Liberal Dems Swallow Debt Deal Slammed As A 'Satan Sandwich'?

Susan Crabtree | August 1, 2011, 5:20PM

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY), Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), and Rep. George Miller (D-CA)

Some of the most senior and well-respected members of the Democratic caucus are simply disgusted with being force-fed the debt deal President Obama, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) hashed out with GOP Congressional leaders, but many will likely hold their noses and vote for it anyway.

The anger and disappointment is painfully obvious when you talk to some of the liberal stalwarts of the caucus. Pelosi told ABC News' Diane Sawyer earlier Monday that she planned on voting for the deal, even though she considered it a 'Satan sandwich with a side of Satan fries" simply because there were no other viable options.

Read more »

Debt Ceiling

Boehner To Pelosi: Hey, A Little Help Here?

Brian Beutler | August 1, 2011, 5:04PM

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) doesn't want Democrats to think they can leave him hanging on the the floor Monday night when the House votes on legislation to raise the debt limit, and slash deficits by at least $2 trillion.

But with Democratic leaders declining to whip for the bill, and wide swaths of their party vowing to oppose it, he's got to be wondering whether they'll come through.

Here's what he told reporters at a Capitol press conference Monday.

Read more »

Debt ceiling

GOP Reps Uneasy About Triggered Defense Cuts

Benjy Sarlin | August 1, 2011, 4:11PM

Emerging from a meeting with party leaders, House Republicans cited potential defense cuts as a top concern in the bipartisan debt ceiling agreement.

Read more »

Defense Spending

Senate GOP Deeply Divided on Cuts To Military

Susan Crabtree | August 1, 2011, 3:21PM

Some of the Senate's most committed hawks are parting company over the debt deal's prospects for broad defense cuts if Congress gridlocks on entitlement or tax reform.

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) is supporting the debt deal despite its potential for severe defense cuts while his usually likeminded colleague, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) says he's a solid no in large part because of the threatened reductions in military spending.

Read more »

Wisconsin Recalls

Wis. Labor Group Local Office Destroyed In Area Fire

Eric Kleefeld | August 1, 2011, 3:21PM

A fire this past weekend in La Crosse, Wisconsin, destroyed several buildings, including six apartments and a warehouse -- plus the local office of the labor-backed group We Are Wisconsin, a major player in the state Senate recalls taking place next week.

The La Crosse Tribune reported that multiple buildings were seriously damaged by the fire, with We Are Wisconsin's office being one of several entities who were affected.

When contacted by TPM, the La Crosse Fire Department said that the investigation is still ongoing, with no determination yet as to the cause or place of origin for the fire.

Read more »

Nancy Pelosi

Biden Meets With Furious House Democrats

Brian Beutler | August 1, 2011, 3:15PM

V.P. Joe Biden

House Democrats convened Monday afternoon in an underground conference room in the Capitol Visitor's Center to hear Vice President Joe Biden explain the debt limit deal he helped broker with Congressional Republicans, and to vent to reporters in the strongest possible terms about the deal many of them are being asked to consider supporting.

"They expressed all their frustrations," Biden told reporters after the meeting. "I feel confident that this will pass."

He must've gotten an earful. The meeting, scheduled to last an hour, dragged on for over two. During that stretch, a steady trickle of Dems, entering and exiting, stopped to complain about the legislation, and the extent to which they'd been closed out of the process of crafting it.

Read more »

Jon Huntsman

Jon Huntsman: The Media Covers Michele Bachmann Because She's Pretty

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 1, 2011, 3:11PM

Jon Huntsman and Michele Bachmann

Since she entered the presidential contest, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) has leaped up the polls and, wowed audiences, and dominated a nationally televised debate. She's taken a strong stand on the central political issue of the day -- the debt ceiling -- drawn a frontrunner's press attention.

Or, as Jon Huntsman puts it, she gets coverage because she's pretty.

Read more »

Wisconsin Recalls

Koch Group Mails Suspicious Absentee Ballot Letters In Wisconsin

Eric Kleefeld | August 1, 2011, 2:08PM

Updated: August 1, 2011, 4:40PM

Is the Koch-backed conservative group Americans For Prosperity up to no good in the Wisconsin state Senate recalls?

As Politico reports, mailers have now turned up from Americans For Prosperity Wisconsin, addressed to voters in two of the Republican-held recall districts, where the elections will be held on August 9. The mailers ask recipients to fill out an absentee ballot application, and send it in -- by August 11, after Election Day for the majority of these races.

"These are people who are our 1's [solid Democrats] in the voterfile who we already knew," a Democratic source told Politico. "They ain't AFP members, that's for damn sure."

There are two other recall elections being held on August 16, targeting two Democratic incumbents, but they are both a distance away from the recipients of these particular mailers.

Furthermore, a close look at the mailer shows a continuation of irregularities that have already involved conservative groups and absentee ballots in the state.

Read more »

Birth Control

Insurers Required To Cover Birth Control With No Copays

Megan Reback | August 1, 2011, 1:36PM

The Obama administration announced on Monday that health insurance plans must cover birth control with no copays, among other reproductive health care services, as preventative care for women. The requirement will apply to health care plans beginning on or after August 1, 2012. The announcement comes just a month after Health and Human Services released a recommendation that sought to expand preventative services for women under Obama's health care law.

Read more »

Harry Reid

Harry Reid: The Debt Ceiling Deal Shows The Senate Works (VIDEO)

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 1, 2011, 12:02PM

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)

The weeks-long slog toward the the very brink of economic disaster -- a slog that may still result in some very serious economic consequences -- was an example of Congress functioning exactly as it should, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says. So quit your whinin'.

Speaking on the Senate floor the morning after a deal was finally reached to raise the debt ceiling and pay bills Congress had already wracked up, Reid pushed back against "all kinds of pundits and commentators who
talk about how the system is broken."

Read more »

Debt ceiling

Obama: We'll Get Those Revenues Next Time [VIDEO]

Benjy Sarlin | August 1, 2011, 12:00PM

President Barack Obama

President Obama admitted in a video message the debt deal is "far from satisfying," but he comforted supporters by suggesting they won't get rolled as badly the next time around.

Under the White House's agreement with Republican leaders, the bulk of its deficit reduction would be determined by a bipartisan commission that must either pass a second package in Congress this year or trigger automatic cuts to defense and Medicare. Obama said this group would be critically important to achieving Democrats' ultimate goal of higher taxes on the wealthy to help cover the budget gap.

"I've said from the beginning that the ultimate solution must be balanced. Big corporations and the wealthiest Americans shouldn't be exempt from kicking in," he said. "That's just fair."

He also hinted at some more bitter pills on entitlements, however, talking up the need "to make modest adjustments to health care programs like Medicare so they're around for future generations."

Both of these issues would be tackled by the committee, he said.

"That's why the second part of this agreement is so important," he said. "It establishes a bipartisan committee of Congress to report back by November with a proposal to reduce the deficit even further, which will be put before the entire Congress for an up or down vote. No tricks, no games, no delays."

He concluded: "This chapter is over. But that work and that debate continues."

Congressional Budget Office

CBO: Debt Limit Deal Reduces Deficits At Least $2.1 Trillion

Brian Beutler | August 1, 2011, 11:40AM

CBO Director Doug Elmendorf

At this point it's just a formality. Just about every agreed-to spending cut and deficit reduction provision in the debt limit bill had already been scored, leaving the outcome in little doubt.

But the Congressional Budget Office has weighed in and confirms that the debt limit deal will reduce deficits by over $2.1 trillion at a minimum over 10 years.

Read more »

Debt Ceiling

The Four Big Problems With -- And Four Silver Linings Around -- The Debt Limit Deal

Brian Beutler | August 1, 2011, 11:00AM

President Barack Obama

Progressives are furious. Conservatives are somewhat less furious. And for the most part all anybody knows about the budget plan is that it cuts a lot of spending over 10 years, and includes no guarantees that anybody -- particularly the well-off -- will pay more in taxes. Thus, the anger: after huge tax cuts for the rich, two unfunded wars, and a financial crisis triggered by Wall Street greed exploded budget deficits, the people asked to narrow the gap are overwhelmingly regular folks.

All of this while the economy is still reeling. It might not be as bad as this, but there's certainly a lot missing here.

So with that background in mind, here are the four worst problems with, and four silver linings around the debt limit deal.

Read more »

Mitt Romney

Romney Breaks Debt Ceiling Silence: 'Cannot Support This Deal'

Benjy Sarlin | August 1, 2011, 10:45AM

GOP Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney (MA)

After a week of attacks from left and right alike over his failure to take a position on the latest round of Republican debt ceiling proposals, Mitt Romney has made up his mind on the final deal: he's against it.

"As president, my plan would have produced a budget that was cut, capped and balanced - not one that opens the door to higher taxes and puts defense cuts on the table," he said in a statement. "President Obama's leadership failure has pushed the economy to the brink at the eleventh hour and 59th minute. While I appreciate the extraordinarily difficult situation President Obama's lack of leadership has placed Republican Members of Congress in, I personally cannot support this deal."

Read more »

Rick Scott

Florida Gov. Rick Scott Hosts Anti-Abortion Law Celebration

David Taintor | August 1, 2011, 10:28AM

Rick Scott

Gov. Rick Scott (R-FL) knows how to throw a party. The conservative governor on Saturday hosted pro-life activists and Florida lawmakers at the governor's mansion to celebrate a handful of new anti-abortion laws, the Miami Herald reports.

But the laws actually went into effect about a month ago, so why host the ceremonial bill-signing event now?

Read more »

Debt

Grover Norquist Backs The New Debt Deal

Thomas Lane | August 1, 2011, 6:00AM

Grover Norquist

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) has at least one powerful ally in his latest effort to sell the GOP on a debt deal: tax hater extraordinaire, Grover Norquist.

Read more »

Benjamin Cardin

Cardin On Debt Ceiling Deal: Disappointed On Revenues, But 'Priorities Have Been Protected'

Ryan J. Reilly | July 31, 2011, 8:56PM

Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD)

TPM caught up with Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) just after Senate leaders announced a deal to raise the debt ceiling limit.

Read more »

Debt Ceiling

IT'S A DEAL! Obama, Congressional Leaders Announce Deal To Avoid Default

Brian Beutler | July 31, 2011, 8:48PM

President Barack Obama meets with Democratic and Republican leaders

We'll know in a few hours whether the major and controversial deal to raise the national debt limit and advance major cuts to government services, announced by President Obama and Congressional leaders on Sunday evening, will make its way smoothly to law.

After an intense day of direct and shuttle negotiations, and after a tentative agreement nearly fell apart, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) took to the floor of the Senate late Sunday to announce an agreement in principle.

"The compromise we have agreed to is remarkable for a number of reasons, not only because of what it does, but because of what it prevents," Reid said.

Read more »

Republicans

GOP Seeks To Weaken Defense Cuts In Key Part Of Debt Limit Deal

Brian Beutler | July 31, 2011, 7:02PM

One of the last sticking points in the debt limit fight comes down to how to guarantee future deficit reduction. Democrats and Republicans have agreed broadly that the question should fall to a new Super Committee, but that if Congress does not pass yet another fiscal package in the coming months, spending should be cut across the board, including from the military and Medicare.

In other words, no automatic tax increases -- nothing to really focus Republican minds on compromising with Democrats on deficit reduction.

Read more »

Debt Ceiling

Pelosi: 'None Of Us' May Support Debt Limit Deal

Brian Beutler | July 31, 2011, 6:46PM

Like Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has to consult her caucus before fully buying into a still-forming debt limit deal.

But unlike Reid, she's not keeping completely silent. In a statement to reporters outside her office moments ago, she sounded a strong note of doubt about the prospects for members of her caucus supporting the bill.

"We all may not be able to support it," she said. "And maybe none of us will be able to support it."

Read more »

Harry Reid

Reid Agrees To Major Debt Limit Deal -- Here's What He's Signed Off On

Brian Beutler | July 31, 2011, 5:52PM

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has signed off on a deal to raise the debt limit pending the approval of his caucus -- and of course if can win the backing of Senate GOP leaders and then a majority of the House.

His spokesman confirms that Reid will present the deal to his caucus shortly, with the hope of holding a vote on it Sunday night, giving House leaders some running room to pass the plan before the nation's borrowing authority expires late Tuesday.

The deal works like this:

Read more »

Debt ceiling

NOT GOOD ENOUGH: Conservatives Still Want More In Debt Ceiling Deal

Evan McMorris-Santoro | July 31, 2011, 4:38PM

RedState's Erick Erickson

Over on the progressive side of politics, they're nursing their wounds and drowning their sorrows as details of the deal to increase the debt ceiling emerge. They feel like they lost to a Republican party that dug in and used the debt ceiling to achieve their goal of dramatically shrinking government spending and solving the deficit problem without raising a single penny in new revenue.

So they might be surprised to know that conservatives don't think they won, either. The right, despite apparently negotiating Obama into a corner that pits him against large parts of his base, still isn't satisfied.

Read more »

Debt ceiling

Progressives Recoil At Reported Debt Ceiling Deal

Evan McMorris-Santoro | July 31, 2011, 3:45PM

President Barack Obama meets with Republican and Democratic leaders

Progressive groups are speaking out against the debt ceiling deal currently being hashed out in Washington. The response from two of the nation's largest organizations goes essentially like this: really?!?

Progressives are more than a little upset that the deal does not include new revenues upfront, a line in the sand President Obama drew early on in the process and apparently had to abandon as the cogs of the legislative machinery turned hours before the nation went into default. They're casting the deal outlined on the Sunday talk shows this morning as a huge win for Republicans -- and (yet another) agonizing defeat for the left.

Read more »

Debt Ceiling

Levin Expresses Dem Frustration With Obama And The Looming Debt Limit Deal

Brian Beutler | July 31, 2011, 2:49PM

Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI)

Speaking with reporters after Sunday's failed debt limit vote, Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) criticized President Obama for not seizing the initiative and forcing a balanced plan for deficit reduction. He also explained the problems with and merits of a still-forming bipartisan plan that will raise the debt limit.

The key for now, as explained here, is that it avoids default in a way that assures deep spending cuts over the coming decades -- including to entitlement programs -- but provides no guarantees of higher tax revenues.

Specifically the plan calls for a new congressional committee to make and expedite tax and entitlement reform recommendations before the end of the year. If the reforms fail, early leaks suggest that would trigger across the board spending cuts -- including to defense and entitlements -- but no new tax revenue.

Read more »

Dianne Feinstein

Feinstein: Current Debt Ceiling Plan Is A 'Very Different Sausage Than When We Started'

Ryan J. Reilly | July 31, 2011, 2:45PM

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) told reporters on Sunday that she wasn't thrilled with the way the negotiations to reach an agreement to raise the debt ceiling were happening, but thinks the final outcome could be good.

Read more »

Dick Durbin

Durbin: Defense Cuts Should Stay On The Table In Debt Ceiling Deal

Ryan J. Reilly | July 31, 2011, 2:30PM

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) told reporters on Sunday afternoon that military cuts should be on the table as part of a deal to reduce spending and raise the debt ceiling.

Read more »

Debt Ceiling

Senate Votes Down Reid Bill, Awaits Obama/McConnell Spending-Cut-Only Debt Limit Bill

Brian Beutler | July 31, 2011, 1:29PM

Shortly after 1 p.m. Sunday, the Senate voted down Majority Leader Harry Reid's debt limit bill.

That plan has been outmoded by a new one, hammered out by the White House and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, that's still being finalized. When it's completed, it will be attached as an amendment to Reid's bill (Reid will be able to recall that legislation by voting to filibuster his own plan, knowing it's doomed anyhow).

As noted here, the McConnell/Obama plan is likely to contain an enforcement mechanism comprised entirely of spending cuts -- both to domestic and defense programs -- that will kick in if a bipartisan fiscal committee doesn't report a package of entitlement and tax reforms later this year.

Read more »

Debt Ceiling

Dems, GOP Float Eye-Popping Debt Limit Compromise

Brian Beutler | July 31, 2011, 9:20AM

Senators Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Harry Reid (D-NV)

Very late on Saturday, multiple reports sketched out the framework of a debt limit compromise President Obama has struck with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).

As noted here, the issue under contention was the design of a so-called "trigger," -- a penalty written into the bill meant to encourage Congress to pass further bipartisan deficit reduction legislation, authored by a new Special Committee, later this year. Here's what they've reportedly come up with, pending approval from Congressional Democrats and Republicans.

Read more »