Gay Marriage

Obama Administration Wouldn't Defend Blocking Military Benefits From Same-Sex Couples

Ryan J. Reilly | February 17, 2012, 3:39PM

The Obama Justice Department has concluded that legislation banning same-sex couples from receiving military and veterans benefits violates the equal protection component of the Fifth Amendment and will no longer defend the statute in court, Attorney General Eric Holder wrote in a letter to Congressional leaders on Friday.

"The legislative record of these provisions contains no rationale for providing veterans' benefits to opposite-sex couples of veterans but not to legally married same-sex spouses of veterans," Holder wrote. "Neither the Department of Defense nor the Department of Veterans Affairs identified any justifications for that distinction that would warrant treating these provisions differently from Section 3 of DOMA."

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Payroll Tax Cut

Senate Passes Payroll Tax Bill Over Broad GOP Opposition

Brian Beutler | February 17, 2012, 12:17PM

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

Quick on the heels of the House, the Senate has passed legislation to extend a two percent payroll tax cut through the end of the year.

The final vote was 60-36 with 30 Rs and 6 Ds bucking their leaders to oppose the package. It now goes off to a jubilant White House for President Obama's signature.

The legislation, which also extends emergency unemployment benefits and Medicare reimbursement rates until January 1, 2013.

Payroll Tax Cut

House Passes Payroll Tax Cut Compromise

Brian Beutler | February 17, 2012, 11:41AM

John Boehner

By a comfortable margin, the House of Representatives on Friday passed legislation to extend a two percent payroll tax cut through the end of the year.

The final vote was 293-132, with 91 Republicans and 41 Democrats bucking their party leaders to vote against the package. Five Republicans and four Democrats did not vote.

The bill reflects an agreement between GOP and Democratic leaders in the House and Senate. It also extends emergency unemployment insurance though December, though it reduces the number of weeks in which people looking for work can draw on benefits. And it means that Medicare physicians won't experience a steep pay cut by extending their reimbursement rates for at least 10 months.

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Tom Coburn

The GOP's Tactful Pivot From Ryan Medicare Plan -- And Why It's Important

Sahil Kapur | February 17, 2012, 6:03AM

Republicans are continuing their gradual pivot away from the Paul Ryan Medicare plan they once voted for overwhelmingly -- another tacit admission that the blueprint is too radical to pass. But they haven't given up on the concept -- far from it. In fact, they're searching for more tactful ways to bring it to fruition.

The latest evidence came Thursday, when Republican Sens. Tom Coburn (OK) and Richard Burr (NC) rolled out a sweeping new plan that would transition Medicare to a subsidized private insurance system while giving seniors the option to remain in the traditional government-run program -- think "Obamacare" exchanges with a public option.

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Contraception

'Where Are The Women?' Democrats Go On Offense Over Contraception

Pema Levy | February 17, 2012, 5:58AM

Democrats have a new rallying cry when it comes to the Obama administration's hotly contested contraception rule. Thursday, Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) gazed at an all male panel at yesterday's House Oversight hearing and asked, "Where are the women?" The question is being repeated by Democrats and women's rights groups as they attempt to shape the narrative of the contraception issue.

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Iran

Senators Promise War With 'Nuclear Capable' Iran, Don't Define 'Capable'

Ryan J. Reilly | February 16, 2012, 4:20PM

Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT)

A bipartisan coalition of senators essentially promised Thursday that the U.S. would take military action against Iran if they become capable of producing nuclear weapons. Just don't ask them to define "capable."

Thirty-two senators have signed on to sponsor the six-page resolution that "rejects any United States policy that would rely on efforts to contain a nuclear weapons-capable Iran." Some believe it amounts to a promise that the U.S. would use force against Iran if they become capable of producing nuclear weapons, though what precisely "capable" means is up in the air.

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Payroll Tax Cut

Details Of The Final Payroll Tax Cut Deal

Sahil Kapur | February 16, 2012, 4:02PM

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), President Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV).

TPM has obtained a detailed summary of the payroll tax cut deal, prepared by House GOP. Scroll down to read the document.

The deal caps off lengthy negotiations that achieved a breakthrough this week after House Republicans agreed to extend the payroll tax cut without offsets. Unemployment insurance and the Medicare "doc fix" will be paid for with spending cuts elsewhere in the budget.

"As of 4 p.m. a majority of House conferees and a majority of Senate Conferees have signed the conference report for HR 3630," a GOP aide told TPM Thursday.

It's expected to be voted on and wrapped up by the end of this weekend.

Payroll Tax Holiday Agreement-TPM

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Darrell Issa

Birth Control Hearing Not Really About Birth Control, Says GOP

Pema Levy | February 16, 2012, 3:49PM

A House Oversight Committee hearing Thursday morning began with a heated debate and a walkout over witnesses. The question of who could testify was so contentious because it was part of the fundamental political argument at stake over the administration's rule on contraception coverage: whether the issue at stake is access to contraception or religious liberty.

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Payroll Tax Cut

Payroll Tax Drama Exposes Rift Between House And Senate GOP

Brian Beutler | February 16, 2012, 1:05PM

The House and Senate have cut a deal to extend the payroll tax cut, unemployment benefits, and Medicare physician reimbursement rates. But it almost didn't happen. And the near miss is exposing a rift between House GOP leaders and their Senate counterparts.

Late on Wednesday evening, Senate negotiators -- four Democrats, three Republicans -- had a vote count problem. To move the payroll tax cut forward, four of them needed to sign on to the broad agreement. House Dem and GOP negotiators were all lined up. But none of the Senate Republican conferees would put pen to paper. When Democrat Ben Cardin (D-MD) wouldn't sign on either, based on his objection to cuts to federal worker pensions, the Senate found itself one vote shy.

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Paul Ryan

Ryan: Even If Obama Wins We Don't Need To Change Our Tax Philosophy

Brian Beutler | February 16, 2012, 11:06AM

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)

The consensus among GOP leaders, and really leaders of both parties, is that the two biggest issues dividing the parties -- how much wealthy Americans should pay in taxes, and how the health care safety net should be structured -- will be decided by the elections in November.

The implication is that if Republicans win convincingly, the country will have provided them a mandate to further reduce taxes and roll back Medicare, Medicaid and the health care law.

But what happens if President Obama and the Democrats walk away with the prize? Will Republicans agree to increase, fairly significantly, the amount of money flowing into the Treasury?

Er, um. Maybe.

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Payroll Tax Cut

It's A Wrap: Congress Finalizes Payroll Tax Cut Deal

Sahil Kapur | February 16, 2012, 10:20AM

Lawmakers sealed the deal late Wednesday night on yearlong extensions of the payroll tax cut, unemployment compensation and Medicare physician payment rates. It's a political victory for President Obama and the conclusion of a no-win situation for Republicans that they were eager to move past.

The agreement was announced by Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) and Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI), the two lead negotiators in conference committee. Final votes are expected by the end of this weekend.

The conclusion comes at the end of a grueling series of negotiations that spilled over from last year. That led House Republicans to this week drop their demand that the payroll tax cut be offset with spending cuts elsewhere, paving the way for the agreement as the two sides had been deadlocked on pay-fors.

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Payroll Tax Cut

Paul Ryan: Yes, Payroll Tax Fight Hurt GOP

Brian Beutler | February 16, 2012, 10:15AM

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) speaks during a press conference on the debt ceiling in Washington, D.C. on August 1, 2011

With the ink drying on a final deal, one of the highest profile Republicans in Congress said the December and February fights over extending the payroll tax cut and other expiring provisions through the end of the year have hurt Republicans -- at least in the short term.

"It's a tough issue because they had to compromise... But yeah, I think the payroll tax deal, from a political perspective, certainly caused damage because it muddled the differences [between the parties," House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) told reporters at a breakfast roundtable hosted by the Christian Science Monitor. "It got us down into a skirmish, where the differences got muddled, which is I think what the President loves."

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Jon Stewart

Jon Stewart: What?! Congress Did Something Wrong?

David Taintor | February 16, 2012, 9:12AM

Jon Stewart

Jon Stewart had a novel idea Wednesday evening: Congress should be subject to the same laws the American people abide by.

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Birth Control

Dems Accuse GOP Of Denying Fair Hearing On Birth Control Rule

Pema Levy | February 16, 2012, 7:00AM

Calek/ Shutterstock

Democrats are accusing Republicans of denying a witness who holds contrary views an opportunity to testify at a hearing on President Obama's birth control regulation -- a charge the GOP disputes.

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Birth Control

GOPers Only Enraged By Birth Control Rule When Obama's Pushing It

Sahil Kapur | February 16, 2012, 5:55AM

What do you do if your party's marching behind an issue that your likely nominee for president has a spotty record on?

That conundrum faces most congressional Republicans right now. When it comes to their push to reverse the White House's mandate to expand access to birth control -- which they argue violates religious freedom -- Mitt Romney's record is unfortunate. As governor of Massachusetts, he presided over the same policy critics are now assailing President Obama for: obliging most employers to provide health insurance that includes birth control for their female employees, even if the employer belongs to a religion that opposes those services. Indeed, because of the White House's compromise, which would allow religious nonprofits to opt out of paying the insurer for those services and demand that the insurer offer them to the female employee directly, Romney's law was arguably even stronger.

On Wednesday more than two-dozen Republican lawmakers ran into this issue head-on. They gathered together in the Capitol to fulminate against President Obama's egregious violation of religious freedom. But none of them would rule out supporting a presidential candidate who had enacted a virtually identical mandate.

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Affordable Care Act

GOP Snatches 'Obamacare' Cuts As Payroll Fight Wraps Up

Sahil Kapur | February 15, 2012, 6:25PM

While Democrats will claim victory in the impending deal to extend the payroll tax cut through 2012, Republicans have also won some fodder for their base on a key issue: They've managed to slice off a piece of the health care reform law -- albeit a fairly small piece.

A summary of the deal circulated to allies and insiders by House GOP leadership boasts that they've extracted concessions worth $11.6 billion from the Affordable Care Act in negotiations with Democrats. The cuts hit the prevention fund and provider reimbursements -- it's not a big chunk of the nearly $1 trillion law, but it's a salient political win for Republicans after Democrats repeatedly resisted efforts to cut the ACA in the Super Committee and December deal.

The Republicans may also have won on what could become an important matter of principle: whether savings from the projected wind-down of war spending could count as offsets. Democrats had wanted the cutbacks from the "Overseas Contingency Operation" (basically, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan) to be able to be used as offsets for the so-called "doc fix." Republicans had been under immense pressure to cave on that as well. However, many argued that since these operations had been scheduled to wind down anyway, then they did not count as real savings. Furthermore, some feared that if they allowed this maneuver for the "doc fix" then Dems would try to use it to bankroll their pet infrastructure projects.

Here's the relevant except from the GOP-written Wednesday document, obtained by TPM and the numbers confirmed by Democratic and Republican leadership aides:

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Birth Control

Snowe & Collins Seem To Be Hedging On Birth Control

Sahil Kapur | February 15, 2012, 1:26PM

Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME)

After indicating that they were placated by President Obama's tweaked birth control regulation, Maine Republican Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins appear to be hedging on it, speaking late Tuesday to Jonathan Riskind of the home-state Portland Press Herald.

They appeared to dance around the issue, not taking a stance but saying they aren't fully with Obama.

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Payroll Tax Cut

Last-Minute Fights Slow Down Payroll Tax Cut Deal

Brian Beutler and Sahil Kapur | February 15, 2012, 11:31AM

Rep. John Boehner (R-OH)

Barring an unexpected collapse in negotiations, a broad deal to extend the temporary payroll tax cut and other expiring measures will be finalized Wednesday. But with time winding down, top Democrats and Republicans are still fighting over key details -- particularly how to pay for over $50 billion of the approximately $150 billion package.

One of the likely financing provisions would require federal workers to provide greater contributions to their own retirement packages.

"I'm very unhappy with the projected pay-fors which hit average working Americans, otherwise known as federal employees, pretty hard," House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) told TPM and one other reporter in the Capitol Wednesday. "I don't know the exact details and the exact details are being worked on. So from that standpoint I'm not happy."

Hoyer represents a Maryland district that's chockablock with federal workers, which underlies his concerns. Asked if he himself planned to vote for the measure, Hoyer proclaimed "I don't know."

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Stephen Colbert

Colbert Performs Dramatic Reenactment Of Obama's 'War On Religion'

David Taintor | February 15, 2012, 11:10AM

Stephen Colbert

Stephen Colbert, devout Catholic, despises President Obama's "war on religion." The administration's rule that health insurance companies provide contraception coverage is basically "forcing priests to hand out condoms at mass," Colbert said Tuesday.

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Contraception

Poll: Americans Overwhelmingly Favor Contraception Coverage Mandate -- Including Catholics

Eric Kleefeld | February 15, 2012, 11:08AM

Calek/ Shutterstock

The new CBS/New York Times poll shows that the White House's fight over contraception in health insurance plans is in fact on the winning side with the public -- and among Catholics, too, the group whose church leadership has mounted the mount vigorous campaign against it.

The poll of American adults asked: "Do you support or oppose a recent federal requirement that private health insurance plans cover the full cost of birth control for their female patients?" The answer was: Support 66%, Oppose 26%.

A follow-up question then specifically brought the religious element into the equation: "And what about for religiously affiliated employers, such as a hospital or university -- do you support or oppose a recent federal requirement that their health insurance plans cover the full cost of birth control for their female employees?"

The answer was still a very sizable majority: Support 61%, Oppose 31%. And on that followup question, Catholics were essentially identical to the top-line at 61%-32%. Women also supported it by 66%-28%, and men by 55%-38%.

Barack Obama

CHART: Don't Buy The GOP Hype On Obama Budget Deficits

Brian Beutler | February 15, 2012, 5:40AM

President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden

Republicans have taken to describing President Obama's budget as "deficits built to last" -- a play on Obama's call for an economy built to last. The implication: hand the government over to us, and we'll rid the budget of this deficit scourge. Put aside for a moment that wiping out deficits too fast would be economically disastrous, leading to rocketing unemployment rates. The truth is there are plenty of budget proposals out there, including Paul Ryan's "Path To Prosperity," which was endorsed by nearly every Republican in Congress. And these also project significant deficits well into the future.

Of course, Obama's budget is very substantively different from Paul Ryan's Path to Prosperity. Obama's would draw down deficits over the coming decade with a mix of proposed tax increases on high income earners and corporations, already enacted spending cuts, and additional cuts to health care spending and other programs. But it maintains the basic shape of the existing safety net over the long term. Ryan's calls for huge cuts to the safety net, for making Medicaid a block grant program, and, after a decade, for phasing out Medicare. But he proposes significant tax cuts at the same time.

And even with all that slashing, just what does that do to the projected deficit? The chart below tells you quite starkly:

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Payroll Tax Cut

Lawmakers Strike Tentative Deal On Payroll Tax Package

Sahil Kapur | February 14, 2012, 9:05PM

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

Top Democratic and Republican negotiators have struck a broad tentative agreement to extend the payroll tax cut, unemployment insurance and Medicare physician payment rates through the end of the year, aides from both sides who are familiar with the deal tell TPM. Some of the details have yet to be ironed out, but Congress appears to have had a critical breakthrough in negotiations to prevent the three provisions from lapsing.

The payroll tax cut will be extended through 2012 without an offset, at a cost of $185 billion. House Republicans paved the way for it this week by dropping their demand that continuation of the tax holiday be matched with equal spending cuts elsewhere.

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Contraception

Blunt: Contraception Mandate Not 'Only Litmus Test' For Presidential Candidate

Brian Beutler | February 14, 2012, 4:23PM

Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO)

You'd think the GOP's ongoing, dogged push to allow any employer to deny female employees contraceptive coverage is an indication that Republicans take a strong stance on the issue.

But it's not. On Tuesday afternoon, I asked Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) whether he could support a Republican presidential candidate who had required religious institutions to provide female employees with contraceptive coverage.

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Harry Reid

As Payroll Fight Wraps Up, Dems Prepare For Next Battle

Brian Beutler | February 14, 2012, 3:47PM

House Democrats will support a GOP bill to extend the expiring payroll tax cut through the end of the year, when Republicans bring it to a vote later this week. That basically puts to rest any remaining doubts that the provision will expire at the end of the month.

Now the fight is on between the parties over whether and how to renew two other expiring provisions -- extended unemployment benefits, and Medicare physician reimbursement rates (the "doc fix") -- before March. And the balance of power in this battle is much less clear.

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Highway Bill

Dems To GOP: Keep Birth Control Out Of Highway Bill

Sahil Kapur | February 14, 2012, 2:05PM

Sensing a political upper-hand in the brewing culture war, Senate Democrats had their guns blazing against the GOP's birth control amendment Tuesday, vowing to fight Republicans' best efforts to tack it on to the bipartisan highway bill and warning that the measure would take women's health in America back to the "dark ages."

"In 2012, I stand here in complete amazement," said Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), "that in a country known for its medical breakthroughs and advancements, Republicans would have us go back to the medical dark ages." She said the energy and transportation bill otherwise has strong bipartisan support, and deemed the contraception amendment both a poison pill and irrelevant.

The amendment by Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) purports to focus on contraception, but it goes well beyond that. As written, it would permit all employers to deny any health services in their insurance plans that aren't in accordance with their "religious beliefs and moral convictions." The measure states no limitations or criteria, which means employers have free rein to decide what medical care their employees may or may not receive.

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Barack Obama

Obama Urges Public To Keep Up The Payroll Tax Pressure On GOP

Sahil Kapur | February 14, 2012, 11:29AM

President Barack Obama during his 2012 "State of the Union" address

President Obama on Tuesday suggested that the House GOP's recent willingness to extend the payroll tax cut without offsets is "good news" but warned that it can't be taken for granted -- and capitalized by demanding an extension of the tax break and unemployment insurance without "ideological sideshows."

"The good news is over the last couple of days we've seen some hopeful signs in Congress that they realize that they've got to get this done. And you're starting to hear voices talk about how can we go ahead and make this happen in a timely way on behalf of the American people," Obama said at the White House. "That is good news."

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Budget

The Truth Behind The GOP's '1000 Days Without A Budget' Canard

Brian Beutler | February 14, 2012, 10:17AM

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

Turn on any cable news channel this week and you'll very likely hear a top Republican froth in anger over the fact that Senate Democrats haven't passed a budget in more than 1000 days.

This particular talking point has been around for months -- long before the Senate crossed the 1000 days threshold. Now that it's budget season, Republicans hope it pops, filters up into mainstream news coverage, and sows doubt in the minds of voters who don't understand the Congressional budget process, and don't realize how unimportant, and in most crucial respects false, the line is. Alternatively, they hope Senate Dems get spooked and move ahead with a budget document that exposes their differences and leaves them open to political attack -- but has no impact on policy whatsoever.

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Jon Stewart

Jon Stewart Mocks GOP Opposition To Birth Control Rule

David Taintor | February 14, 2012, 9:08AM

Jon Stewart

Jon Stewart on Monday caught himself up on the growing controversy over the Obama administration's rule that employers provide birth control coverage in their health care plans.

President Obama last week announced a compromise that would require insurance companies to pay for coverage if employers oppose contraception on "moral" grounds.

Great, Stewart said. "So I guess we're done here. Compromise made, everybody happy."

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Contraception

Obama Shatters GOP's United Front On Birth Control

Sahil Kapur | February 14, 2012, 5:35AM

Schisms are emerging within the Republican Party after President Obama's announcement last Friday that he would tweak his contraception mandate to ensure that religious nonprofits aren't forced to pay for an employee's birth control coverage. And as GOP leaders push to repeal the requirement entirely, the White House is welcoming that battle.

The shift is looking like an act of political jujitsu as Obama has not only unified his base but splintered the GOP coalition, which initially appeared united against the President's rule. Obama won over the Democrats and moderate Catholics who criticized him, while maintaining the support of those who backed the original rule. As an added bonus, he has turned some Republicans who initially opposed his policy against their own leaders.

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Payroll Tax Cut

Dems Plot Payroll Tax Cut End Game

Brian Beutler | February 13, 2012, 5:29PM

Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV)

After a few hours of thought, Democrats have decided the GOP's blink on the payroll tax cut is an unvarnished good, not some devious trick.

Republicans have all but agreed to renew the payroll tax cut through the end of the year without paying for it -- a huge tactical swing for them. But they're still insisting that the other expiring measures -- extended unemployment insurance (UI), and Medicare physician reimbursements (the "doc fix") -- are somehow offset with cuts elsewhere.

Having taken the most politically important, and most costly item off the table, are Republicans in the driver's seat in negotiations over extending the other two items? Not necessarily.

A senior Senate Dem aide explains how Democrats might well proceed from here.

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Payroll Tax Cut

Why The GOP's Payroll Tax Cut Cave Is An Even Bigger Deal Than You Think

Brian Beutler | February 13, 2012, 4:40PM

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

The GOP's accession to reality on the payroll tax cut is being cast as a key victory for Democrats and President Obama. Republicans caved, the payroll tax will almost certainly be renewed, and the economy won't take a tough hit just as the recovery's beginning to accelerate.

But it also reveals a flaw -- a potentially huge flaw -- in the conservative movement's generational strategy to roll back the federal safety net.

These might sound like two wildly disparate issues, but they're actually variations on a years-long theme. And the outcome of the payroll tax debacle bodes poorly for the GOP on the rest of their long-run goals.

Here's why.

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Payroll Tax Cut

GOP Drops Demand For Offsetting Payroll Tax Cut

Brian Beutler | February 13, 2012, 2:10PM

Speaker John Boehner (R-OH)

Facing emboldened Democratic negotiators and a quickly thinning legislative calendar, House Republican leaders have offered to extend the payroll tax holiday through the end of the year without paying for it. The development represents a dramatic reversal for GOP leaders, who nearly allowed the payroll tax cut to lapse in December in part because of their insistence that the package be financially offset.

"Because the president and Senate Democratic leaders have not allowed their conferees to support a responsible bipartisan agreement, today House Republicans will introduce a backup plan that would simply extend the payroll tax holiday for the remainder of the year while the conference negotiations continue regarding offsets, unemployment insurance, and the 'doc fix,'" said GOP leaders in an official statement Monday afternoon.

That's a huge concession to legislative and political realities, and a tacit admission that Republican leaders desparately want to avoid another no-win fight over renewing a tax cut that overwhelmingly benefits the middle class.

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Budget

How Obama's Budget Throws A Big Punch At The GOP

Brian Beutler | February 13, 2012, 1:47PM

President Barack Obama during his 2012 "State of the Union" address

President Obama's fiscal year 2013 budget envisions the economy healing steadily after years of hemorrhaging and stagnation -- and key government services surviving mostly despite the violence done to the federal ledger by the Bush tax cuts, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the 2008 financial crisis.

It also shows federal deficits declining steadily over the coming decade, and the national debt stabilizing as a share of GDP over the same period.

These are the consequences of multiple, competing strategic ideas:

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Barack Obama

Has Obama Cornered Republicans On Contraception?

Sahil Kapur | February 13, 2012, 5:47AM

President Barack Obama and Senior Adviser David Axelrod

Republicans are doubling down in their assault on President Obama's birth control requirement, insisting that his accommodation of religious nonprofits does not address religious concerns. But by attempting to keep the heat on Obama, the GOP might be diving head-first into a culture war over contraception that social conservatives lost long ago in the minds of the public.

Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) said the House will push to repeal the rule entirely, while Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said Republicans will force a vote on legislation permitting any employer to deny birth control coverage in their health insurance plan by claiming a moral or religious objection. "This issue will not go away until the administration simply backs down," McConnell said Sunday on CBS' Face The Nation.

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Mitt Romney

Tax Avoidance Questions Continue To Haunt Romney

Brian Beutler | February 13, 2012, 5:45AM

Reporters covering the GOP primary horse race may have moved on, but a key question continues to dog Mitt Romney's presidential campaign -- one that will loom large if he wins his party's nomination. Has he avoided U.S. taxes by investing a fortune offshore?

At a town hall event in Maine on Friday, an antagonistic questioner asked Romney, "Do you think it's patriotic of you to stash your money away in the Cayman Islands?"

In response, Romney correctly noted that money U.S. taxpayers invest offshore is largely taxed just as it would be if they invested it in the states. But he once again denied avoiding any U.S. taxes by investing offshore -- a claim tax experts openly doubt.

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Budget

Obama To Draw Contrast With GOP In Budget

Brian Beutler | February 13, 2012, 5:43AM

President Barack Obama

Though required by law, White House budgets are largely political documents that tend to become more and more political as reelection time gets closer and closer.

This year's will technically be no different -- but the long-term stakes will be much higher than they usually are and clarifying that fact for voters will be key to President Obama's appeal in 2012.

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Contraception

McConnell: GOP Will Fight To Let ANY Employer Deny Birth Control Coverage

Sahil Kapur | February 12, 2012, 11:47AM

Not satisfied with President Obama's new religious accommodation, Republicans will move forward with legislation by Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) that permits any employer to deny birth control coverage in their health insurance plans, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said Sunday.

"If we end up having to try to overcome the President's opposition by legislation, of course I'd be happy to support it, and intend to support it," McConnell said. "We'll be voting on that in the Senate and you can anticipate that that would happen as soon as possible."

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