Barack Obama

Centrists Continue To Parse The President's Tax Plan

Susan Crabtree | September 21, 2011, 2:42PM

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT)

Several centrist Democratic Senators have spent the last week wringing their hands a bit over President Obama's deficit reduction plan and its dependence on increasing taxes on the wealthy and closing corporate loopholes.

Some approve of shutting down the corporate subsidies, while others support hiking taxes for the rich, but none reached by TPM embraced the entire package.

Read more »

Government Shutdown

Senate Dems Eye 10 Republicans Who May Flip-Flop On Disaster Aid

Brian Beutler | September 21, 2011, 9:28AM

Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)

Senate Democrats want all eyes on the 10 Republicans, from disaster-affected states, who voted last week for a nearly $7 billion emergency bill to re-up FEMA's relief account. They hold the key to whether or how not just FEMA, but the entire United States government will be funded after its current appropriations lapse at the end of the month.

As noted extensively Tuesday, the questions of how and by what amount to provide disaster relief are the only obstacles to passing legislation to keep the federal lights on into the fall. Senate Democrats (and presumably these 10 Republicans) want to significantly bolster FEMA's account, and do so without arguing over budget cuts to offset the cost.

House Republicans are offering up about half as much, and only on the condition that the funds be matched by nixing a $1.5 billion hybrid vehicle manufacturing incentive. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) says he's not backing down. When the House sends the Senate its government funding bill Reid's going to force a vote on an amendment to swap out the House's FEMA provision with his own.

Read more »