Jeb Hensarling

Top GOPer On Super Committee Says No New Revenue, Games Out Strategy If Panel Fails

Brian Beutler | November 15, 2011, 8:41PM

Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX)

It's hard to see how the Super Committee can possibly reach a consensus by this time next week after Republican co-chair Jeb Hensarling's appearance on CNBC Tuesday night. The short version is that he left the ball in Democrats court, and hinted that if the committee fails, Congress will spend the next year or so trying to change the terms of an automatic penalty to make sure that hundreds of billions of cuts to defense programs never take effect.

Hensarling claimed that if the committee recommended even a dollar of new net tax revenue -- the kind of revenue Dems are demanding -- it would constitute a step in the wrong direction. He said a GOP plan put forward by Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) -- one which Republicans claim would raise revenues by nearly $300 billion over 10 years, but would also make the Bush tax cuts permanent -- is as far as Republicans are willing to go on revenues. But that's an offer Democrats flatly rejected as unserious. And unless one of the parties breaks cleanly with its publicly stated position, the committee will either fall well short of reducing the deficit by $1.2 trillion over 10 years as required by law, or will fail altogether.

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Flat Tax

Rick Perry's Flat Tax Plan: Not A Flat Tax

Brian Beutler | October 26, 2011, 6:00AM

Rick Perry

The flat tax is such a popular idea in conservative circles that Texas Governor Rick Perry is trying to revive his presidential primary campaign by proposing one.

Except for the flat tax part.

It turns out Perry's plan isn't flat, doesn't eliminate the current tax code, as many conservative elites claim to want, and would likely blow a huge hole in the federal budget.

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BP

Former Defense Dept. Spokesman Signs On To Clean Up BP's Image

Evan McMorris-Santoro | September 5, 2011, 11:05AM

Former Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell

The ever-revolving door of fortune in Washington has landed former Defense Department spokesperson Geoff Morrell at what was recently one of the world's most reviled corporations.

Politico's Mike Allen reports that Morrell has joined BP America as Head of Communications, a hiring move that suggests in BP "an aggressive new effort to recover from past communications debacles and improve its image in an essential market."

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Leon Panetta

Panetta Under Pressure To Slash Defense Spending

Susan Crabtree | July 3, 2011, 2:27PM

CIA Director Leon Panetta

This 4th of July Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who just took over at the Pentagon on Friday, has a lot more on his mind than patriotism and fireworks.

Panetta is already being forced to walk a fine line between those in his party looking for even bigger defense cuts than his predecessor Roberts Gates recommended and critics who worry that too much streamlining will produce a hollow force.

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Afghanistan

Panetta Sidesteps Barrage Of Questions On Afghan Drawdown

Susan Crabtree | June 9, 2011, 12:06PM

Leon Panetta, tapped by President Obama to succeed Robert Gates as defense secretary, attempted to dodge the most critical question facing the military and the administration right now during his nomination hearing Thursday.

Panetta faced a barrage of questions about the upcoming drawdown of troops in Afghanistan after signaling that he backed the President's call for a "significant" reduction of U.S. troops beginning in July.

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David Petraeus

Panetta To Move To Pentagon, Petraeus To CIA

Susan Crabtree | April 27, 2011, 8:52AM

Leon Panetta and David Petraeus

President Obama plans to tap CIA Director Leon Panetta to head the Defense Department to replace outgoing Defense Secretary Robert Gates, and David Petraeus will succeed Panetta at the CIA, according to media reports.

Petraeus, 58, currently serves as the commander of allied forces in Afghanistan and previously led operations in Iraq from 2006 to 2008.

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Earmarks

Congress Shackles Itself, Slashes Earmarks to Nowhere

Susan Crabtree | April 12, 2011, 11:32AM

United States Capitol

Over the last few years in the hotly contested debate over Congress' ability to direct money to pet projects in their district, advocates of the practice, known as earmarking, have repeatedly argued that eliminating earmarks would only amount to a drop in the deficit bucket and have no real impact on overall spending.

The details of the deal to avert a government shutdown go a long way in undermining that point as the government is saving $10 billion by eliminating money usually set aside for earmark spending, including $630 million for so-called earmarks to nowhere, money for earmarks that has never been spent.

The latest measure that funds the government through the end of September even slashes $4.2 billion in Department of Defense earmarks, once a sacred cow of senior lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

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Barack Obama

White House Prepares For the Worst, Outlines Shutdown Plans

Susan Crabtree | April 6, 2011, 1:28PM

President Barack Obama

While President Obama and Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) remain optimistic that Republicans and Democrats can strike a budget deal and avert a looming government shutdown by Friday's deadline, the White House's Office of Management and Budget is planning for the worst.

"From a good housekeeping perspective, we're cognizant that it's Wednesday and the deadline is Friday and so we need to take appropriate steps should appropriations lapse," a senior administration official told reporters on a conference call Wednesday.

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Senate Armed Services Committee

Counterfeit Electronic Parts Ending Up In DoD Weapons Systems

Susan Crabtree | March 9, 2011, 5:59PM

Senators Carl Levin (D-MI) and John McCain (R-AZ)

Faulty counterfeit electronic parts are ending up in the Defense Department's weapons systems, and the problem poses a critical risk to national security, according to the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Sens. Carl Levin (D-MI), who chairs the panel, and John McCain (R-AZ), its ranking member, on Wednesday called the presence of counterfeit electronic parts in the DoD supply chain a "growing problem" and announced an investigation into just how they are ending up there.

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