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."

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Pres '12

Dem Group Makes Quick Use Of Gingrich's Words About Medicare (VIDEO)

Eric Kleefeld | May 20, 2011, 12:11PM

Newt Gingrich's declaration that any ad quoting his words about Medicare would be "a falsehood" is clearly not stopping Dems from making just such a spot.

Priorities USA Action, the new big-money independent expenditure "Super PAC" launched by former Obama White House spokesman Bill Burton, has a new plan taking on big-name Republicans over Rep. Paul Ryan's (R-WI) proposal to privatize the program.

"Newt Gingrich says the Republican plan that would essentially end Medicare is too radical," the announcer says. "Governor Haley thinks the plan is courageous -- and Gingrich shouldn't be cutting conservatives off at the knees.

"Mitt Romney says he's 'on the same page' as Paul Ryan, who wrote the plan to essentially end Medicare. But with Mitt Romney, you have to wonder: Which page is he on today?"

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2012 elections

In 2012 Money Race, Democrats Say Game On!

Susan Crabtree | April 29, 2011, 12:22PM

President Barack Obama

Democrats, still smarting from the 2010 midterm defeats, are determined not to sit on the fundraising sidelines and be caught flat-flooted again. Leading Democratic strategists are building a new arsenal for control of the White House and Congress in 2012, employing the same unlimited, secret donor activities that President Barack Obama and many Democrat have vociferously opposed.

Two new groups, Priorities USA and Priorities USA Action, have launched to counter deep-pocketed GOP groups and are planning to raise $100 million to keep Obama in the White House and elect more Democrats to Congress, according to a report in Politico.

The twin Priorities committees will mimic the example of Karl Rove's American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS, the two groups that drew widespread criticism from Obama and Democrats during the 2010 cycle for taking full advantage of the Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United that allowed unlimited, undisclosed corporate and union donations to outside groups. One will disclose its donors while the other will not.

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Stem cell research

Harkin Will Hold Hearings On Court Ruling Ending Funding For Stem Cell Research

Christina Bellantoni | August 24, 2010, 3:49PM

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA)

As Democrats in Congress scramble to figure out their options in the wake of a judge's decision to halt federally funded embryonic stem cell research pending trial, TPM has learned that Sen. Tom Harkin's Labor-HHS Appropriations subcommittee will hold hearings next month when the Senate comes back into session.

Harkin spokeswoman Bergen Kenny said the hearings will be held Sept. 16. Congress returns from recess earlier that week. They are still in the very early planning stages, so no title or witness list is yet available. The hearings will be raised in this subcommittee because it handles funding for the Department of Health and Human Services. The Dickey-Wicker amendment central to District Court Judge Royce Lambreth's ruling yesterday is attached to the HHS budget.

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