Terrorism

Obama Signs Defense Bill With "Serious Reservations"

Kyle Leighton | December 31, 2011, 4:37PM

President Barack Obama

President Obama signed a controversial defense funding bill sent to him by Congress, but did so with "reservations," and in a signing statement gave his administration broad latitude to interpret and apply the bill as he sees fit.

"Moving forward, my administration will interpret and implement the provisions described below in a manner that best preserves the flexibility on which our safety depends and upholds the values on which this country was founded," Obama wrote.

The bill provides funding for the armed services, intelligence services and other components of the federal government devoted to national security. It also adds further financial sanctions on Iran. The President's issue with the bill is not a fight over funding, but with policy issues contained within the legislation, specifically the treatment of terror suspects, and the authority it sought to remove from the executive.

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Debt Ceiling

White House Avoids Fight With GOP Over Debt Limit Hike

Brian Beutler | December 30, 2011, 1:28PM

President Barack Obama

Remember how the Obama administration planned to alert Congress of its intent to raise the debt limit by today? Well, that's getting kicked back a few days.

An aide to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) says the White House has assured Republicans they will not issue the debt limit request this week, heading off a confrontation between the administration and the GOP over Congress' power under the debt limit law to block the increased borrowing authority.

Under the terms of the August debt limit agreement, the administration was given the right to raise the debt limit by $2.1 trillion in three tranches, nearly unilaterally. The catch was that Republicans reserved the right for the House and Senate, within a narrow time frame, to block the increase. This caveat was largely symbolic. Democrats control the Senate and wouldn't undermine President Obama by triggering another debt limit crisis -- and even if they did, Obama would reserve the right to veto the so-called "resolution of disapproval." But it's a ready-made talking point for the GOP.

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Wisconsin Recalls

Judge Rules Against Wis Dems Intervention In GOP Recall Lawsuit

Eric Kleefeld | December 29, 2011, 4:18PM

Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI)

A judge in Wisconsin has ruled that Democratic recall organizers cannot challenge a lawsuit brought by the state GOP against election officials -- a suit that claims Gov. Scott Walker's constitutional rights are being violated by the state's petition review process.

This means that barring a hypothetical appeal, any continuing litigation in this matter will be conducted exclusively between the state GOP and the election board's attorney, without the Dems themselves being able to participate and present legal arguments.

"I was a little surprised," said Jeremy Levinson, the attorney for the recall committee, in an interview with TPM. "It's the first time I can recall -- let me rephrase -- it's the first time I'm aware of a recall-related lawsuit where only the official who is being targeted for recall gets to be a party, and the folks who are working to recall that official are shut out of the process."

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2012

Why The Policy Battles Of 2011 Won't Be Settled Until After The 2012 Elections

Brian Beutler | December 29, 2011, 2:25PM

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and President Barack Obama

When President Obama and the GOP's primary contenders talk up the 2012 election as a choice for voters between two visions for the country's future, it's only about half hyperbole.

We'll see a prelude of this fact in the months between now and November both on the campaign trail and on Capitol Hill as politicians club each other with their past votes and statements on taxes, Medicare, Social Security, and other potent issues. But it's not just rhetoric.

To an unappreciated extent, the legislative whipsawing in 2011 has set the country and the parties up for a major reckoning about the role and size of government at the end of next year. And the outcome of the election will help determine which side of the argument wins.

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John Boehner

What Boehner Faces In 2012 After Payroll Tax Debacle

Brian Beutler | December 29, 2011, 5:52AM

U.S. Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) speaks to the press during his weekly press conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. on December 1, 2011.

In the immediate aftermath of the GOP's payroll tax debacle, a handful of conservative House Republicans publicly attacked their leaders -- particularly Speaker John Boehner (R-OH).

"I am disappointed that our Republican leadership in both the House and Senate chose a course of political expediency rather than standing on conservative principle," said Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) in an official statement.

Others appealed to Fox News, where conservatives and Republicans feel more comfortable expounding on party/movement contretemps.

"He's (Boehner) got a big problem when he comes back," one anonymous congressman claimed. "He may have a hard time keeping his Speakership after this."

"We were hung out to dry by our leadership," said another unnamed member.

The list goes on. But the holidays calmed the backlash, and with a week's hindsight a consensus of sorts has emerged among party strategists, aides (current and former) and congressional scholars. Not all agree on the question of how well or poorly Boehner handled the situation. But though Boehner's 2012 won't be easy, those House conservatives who were seeing blood last week are likely to be disappointed again.

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Government Shutdown

The GOP's Year Of Living Dangerously: What Did Its Hardline Strategy Produce?

Brian Beutler | December 28, 2011, 5:33AM

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Houser Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA)

When the House GOP's enormous freshman class arrived on Capitol Hill in January, it wasn't uncommon to hear them sound off on the mistakes their predecessors made in 1995. Despite having shut down the government -- twice! -- House Republicans under Newt Gingrich had caved too easily, didn't push hard enough, didn't embody the true spirit of conservatism.

But the new House leadership wasn't so sanguine. Many had lived through the Gingrich revolution and its aftermath. Others had been around long enough to hear tales of it. And so they mapped out a strategy specifically designed to avoid what they believe were the party's '90s-era mistakes.

In other words, the two factions -- the newly energized backbenchers and the veteran leadership -- were pulling each other in opposite directions. The tug of war left the House GOP's strategic center of gravity stuck in an unstable position. The party was committed to fighting as hard as possible, but stopping short of its most conservative members' slash and burn instincts.

The 2011 version of the House GOP, in not always easy coordination with Senate Republicans, would approve must-pass bills, but only after dragging negotiations down to the wire and extracting as many concessions as possible from Senate Dems and the White House each time. We saw that strategy play out over and over again this year, with mixed results for both parties and largely poor results for the country at large.

Here's a quick lookback at a year of living dangerously -- and the series of recurring crises that it produced.

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Debt Ceiling

Debt Limit Hike Causes Behind The Scenes Commotion On Capitol Hill

Brian Beutler | December 27, 2011, 3:40PM

President Barack Obama

We're trying to sniff out exactly how this happened and what's being done to sort it out. But the Obama administration's announcement that it will certify this week its intent to raise the debt limit didn't sit well on Capitol Hill.

The key issue is the 15-day deadline Congress has to vote on a resolution of disapproval of the President's request to raise the debt ceiling. The timing of the administration's planned certification implies that the 15 days would be up before Congress returns in January from its holiday recess. Whether this was an accident or not, we're told that the calendar issue created a behind-the-scenes mess -- with Republicans threatening to return early from recess -- and that the administration is trying to figure out a way to keep it from spilling out into the public.

I've reached out to the administration for further guidance on both questions. It's still unclear whether this was a hardball political move, a dumb mistake, or just a misunderstanding -- or what, if anything, can be done to avoid a public clash with the GOP over the timing.

Debt Ceiling

Is The White House Jamming Republicans Over The Debt Ceiling?

Brian Beutler | December 27, 2011, 1:00PM

President Barack Obama and Senior Adviser David Axelrod

Is the White House taking advantage of the holiday recess to thumb its nose at Congressional Republicans over the nation's debt limit?

That's one interpretation of an announcement Treasury Department officials made today, which sets in motion an automatic increase in borrowing authority while Congress is out of session.

All of this dates back to the destructive summer fight over whether, by how much, and under what conditions to raise the national debt ceiling. Back then, the White House sought over $2 trillion in new borrowing authority -- enough to assure the country avoided another debt limit fight in the middle of election season, when members of Congress might be even more willing to put the country's creditworthiness at risk for short-term political gain.

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Wisconsin Recalls

Walker On The 'Koch' Call: 'It Was Stupid'

Eric Kleefeld | December 27, 2011, 10:35AM

In an interview last Friday with the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, Gov. Scott Walker (R) gave perhaps his most blunt show of contrition yet for the mega-gaffe that could haunt him in the coming recall: His 20-minute phone call in February, at the height of the protests against his anti-public employee union legislation, with a blogger posing as conservative financier David Koch.

The interviewer said that a friend of Walker's has said that the "Koch" call was the only time he saw Walker rattled, to have done something so "stupid."

"Yeah, that's a good way to put it, an accurate summary," Walker responded. "It was stupid. It was stupid -- you know, the call in and of itself, the whole fact that something like that would happen -- it diverted attention from, you know, a debate that needed to be focused on the facts, and instead got off into this hysteria and everything."

Walker also said the controversy served as a wake-up call to him, to stay focused on the issues at hand and not let the story become focused around himself.

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