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.

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Debt Ceiling

Urgent White House Meeting Ends Without Breakthrough

Susan Crabtree | July 23, 2011, 1:00PM

An urgent Saturday morning White House debt talks meeting between President Obama and Congressional leaders ended after less than an hour, with both sides remaining in a stand-off and pledging to keep working through the weekend.

President Obama continued to press the leaders for a grander bargain rather than a short-term extension of the debt ceiling so the nation would not default, arguing that such a stopgap step could cause the country's credit rating to be downgraded, harming the economy and causing every American to pay higher credit cards rates and more for home and car loans.

"As the current situation makes clear, it would be irresponsible to put our country and economy at risk again in just a few short months with another battle over raising the debt ceiling," White House spokesman Jay Carney said in a statement after the meeting. "Congress should refrain from playing reckless political games with our economy. Instead, it should be responsible and do its job, avoiding default and cutting the deficit."

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) held a conference call with rank-and-file Republicans in which he said he was hoping to forge a deal to wrangle between $3 trillion and $5 trilion in savings and would prefer to avoid falling back on the so-called "McConnell Plan" that would hand over authority to raise the debt ceiling to the President with Congress able to disapprove only with a two-thirds majority vote, according to a breaking news alert from Politico.

During the call, the Speaker also pledged to help avert a crisis in the Asian markets by making a statement within 24 hours about the status of raising the debt limit.

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Eric Cantor

Cantor's Last Stand? GOP Leader Will Own Debt Talks Gridlock

Susan Crabtree | July 15, 2011, 5:55AM

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA)

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) has the weight of the world -- not to mention the full faith and credit of the United States -- on his shoulders these days.

The House Republicans' second in command has almost single-handedly stymied progress on a grand deal to produce $4 trillion in deficit reductions over the course of the next dozen years by flat-out rejecting any net tax increases be included, leaving no path for Democrats to negotiate a balanced bargain that allows some cuts to programs for seniors and the poor coupled with tax hikes on the wealthy.

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Medicare

Obama Urges Dems To Accept Changes To Medicare, Social Security

Susan Crabtree | July 11, 2011, 1:05AM

President Obama said both sides have to be willing to sustain some political pain in order to reach a deal on cutting the nation's long-term debt, and he urged his own party to accept changes to entitlement programs in order to wrangle some targeted tax increases out of Republicans.

Recognizing that he has a lot of work still ahead of him to convince Democrats to agree to altering Medicare or Social Security, Obama tried to lay some ground work Monday at a press briefing.

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Israel/Palestine

Netanyahu Addresses Supportive U.S. Congress

Susan Crabtree | May 24, 2011, 3:13PM

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rounded out a tumultuous visit to Washington with a speech to a largely sympathetic Congress Tuesday, compared to the tense relations on display with President Obama last week.

During the address, Netanyahu reaffirmed the close ties between the U.S. and Israel and once again rejected any suggestion of redrawing Israel's borders with a future Palestinian state along 1967 lines.

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Gas Prices

Democrats Call Oil Execs On The Carpet For Tax Breaks

Susan Crabtree | May 12, 2011, 6:34AM

The stark differences between Democrats and Republicans on the oil industry and rising gas prices are on vivid display in Congress this week, as Democrats continue to demand an end to tax subsidies for the big-five oil giants while House Republicans pushed through a bill to expand offshore oil drilling.

A group of Senate Democrats gathered at an ExxonMobil station a stone's throw from the Capitol to call on the top five oil producers to voluntarily swear off $25 billion in industry incentives and tax breaks over the next decade.

Against the backdrop of a sign displaying $4.29 for regular unleaded, Sen. Chuck Schumer (NY), Bob Menendez (NJ) and Debbie Stabenow (MI), said oil companies have made a record $125 billion profit, and in tough budgetary times, don't need the tax breaks in order to create incentives for more oil and gas exploration.

"It's time for the big oil companies to give up the subsidies and pay their fair share of the deficit reduction," Menendez said.

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