Congress punts on debt ceiling: The House of Representatives passed a bill today that extends the nation’s debt limit until May 18th, effectively tabling the issue for another couple of months. This time, the GOP majority didn’t ask for spending cuts in exchange for the increase; rather, it simply demanded that both houses of congress pass a budget before April 15th. Otherwise, per the bill, all members of both bodies will have their salaries withheld (there’s some debate over whether or not this provision is constitutional). Also, while the majority of Republicans did vote for the bill, enough defected that John Boehner had to rally up a couple of Democrats to get it passed. Harry Reid says it’ll fly through the Senate without issue. (Photo credit: AP) source
![“[W]e believe you must be willing to take any lawful steps to ensure that America does not break its promises and trigger a global economic crisis — without Congressional approval, if necessary.” So reads a letter sent to the president today by top Senate Democrats. It’s not every day that members of congress explicitly voice their willingness to be circumvented by the president, but Harry Reid and company clearly believe that the threat of default is a real possibility. Later on in the letter, the Democrats call for “a broad, bipartisan agreement” to reduce the long-term deficit - but only one that puts “the entire budget on the table,” as opposed to policy that only cuts “earned benefits for seniors and middle-class families.” (Photo credit: AP) source](http://24.media.tumblr.com/57435ab51f07e2b184fbf35fee819b29/tumblr_mghnz8UOyU1qas8z9o1_500.jpg)
“[W]e believe you must be willing to take any lawful steps to ensure that America does not break its promises and trigger a global economic crisis — without Congressional approval, if necessary.” So reads a letter sent to the president today by top Senate Democrats. It’s not every day that members of congress explicitly voice their willingness to be circumvented by the president, but Harry Reid and company clearly believe that the threat of default is a real possibility. Later on in the letter, the Democrats call for “a broad, bipartisan agreement” to reduce the long-term deficit - but only one that puts “the entire budget on the table,” as opposed to policy that only cuts “earned benefits for seniors and middle-class families.” (Photo credit: AP) source
Recently, Public Policy Polling sought to discover just how low the public’s opinion of Congress had fallen, testing the popularity of the U.S. Congress against twenty-six different, typically unpopular things. We all know that the American people have a less-than-favorable opinion of Congress (9% favorable and 85% unfavorable), but damn. The results weren’t pretty.
Here’s the outcome of PPP’s survey, in a handy illustrated form, from most to least popular thing:
#1:
vs.
When presented with a choice between Congress or Brussels sprouts, respondents gave a higher favorable rating to Brussels sprouts (69%) versus Congress (23%). [more]
Be sure to check out Meg’s full list, which is freaking awesome.
I need this job like I need a hole in the head.House Speaker John Boehner - WSJ (via brooklynmutt)
10:45 p.m.: The House passes the Fiscal Cliff bill, after a solid day of hand-wringing
11:25 p.m.: Obama wearily speaks to reporters regarding the deal made, after signing the bill.
11:32 p.m.: Obama plots his trip back to Hawaii. “My work is done here,” he was probably saying to himself as he boarded Air Force One.
House is currently voting on Fiscal Cliff legislation. It’s like watching grass grow. It’s mesmerizing. (In case you’re wondering, though there were some rumbles of changing things earlier, it’s a straight vote on the Senate legislation.)
UPDATE: The bill passed. Image has been updated to show the moment where it hit a majority.
Why Does Congress Suck?
In which John Green seeks to explain why the United States congress has become so astonishingly inefficient that it can’t even reach a compromise to avert disaster, and why—thanks to clever redistricting—most congresspeople are now incentivized not to work seriously on policy. Along the way there’s a bit of historical context, a lot of frustration, some screaming, and a celebration of the beginning of the 7th year of the vlogbrothers channel.
Thanks for sticking with us, nerdfighters. (And thanks for reading the entire dooblydoo!)Love this.
Basically, everything in this video.
EDIT: More context here.
First, with the exception of a dozen or so Republicans in the House and Maine’s Susan Collins in the Senate, the number of GOP members of the 113th Congress who see cutting a deal with the president — in the fiscal cliff or, frankly, anything else — as politically advantageous is close to zero.
Second, while House Democrats are equally de-incentivized to working across the aisle, there is a large-ish group of Senate Democrats who must find ways of showing their bipartisan spirit if they want to win reelection in states that didn’t favor their party — or even come close to doing so — in the 2012 election.
Those twin political realities make the ground on which the fiscal cliff fight — and future scuffles over gun control measures, etc. — less heavily tilted toward Democrats than you might think.
Cillizza’s argument is based on the fact that few of the Republicans currently in office reside in districts or states where Obama won. Meanwhile, a number of Democrats (especially in the Senate) are in districts or states where Obama lost, big time. Will be interesting to see if this “what’s in it for me” analysis holds up.
In her last days, my mother occasionally became confused....
”The reporter...
I can’t add much to what’s already been (and will be) ...
One of the perks of being an early employee...
Over the last 90 days, the Digg...
#FMMDI (at 30 Rockefeller Plaza)
This may be a moment in Senate history, when a senator made a proposal that, when given an opportunity for a vote on that proposal, filibustered his own proposal…I don’t think this has ever happened before.Sen. Dick Durbin, after Mitch McConnell’s latest scheme blew up in his face. McConnell introduced legislation today that would allow the president to unilaterally raise the debt limit, suspecting that Democrats wouldn’t have the guts to vote for it. When it became clear that Democrats did indeed have the votes to pass the bill with a simple majority, McConnell filibustered it, preventing its passage. The United States Senate, ladies and gentlemen. source
DeMint has been a destructive force, threatening to primary colleagues, resisting all deals and offering very little in the way of attainable legislation. He has contributed more than any current senator to the dysfunction of that body. He has worsened relations between the House and Senate, as he did in the budget fights in recent years, by meddling and pressuring his home state representative. His departure leaves other senators who seemed impressed with his brand of politics free to find their way to a more constructive position in the body.The Washington Post’s Jennifer Rubin • Discussing why Jim DeMint’s departure from the Senate is a good thing for Congress … though it could prove much worse down the road, due to the influence he’ll yield as head of the Heritage Foundation. Rubin suggests he hurts the Heritage brand. “By embracing him, Heritage, to a greater extent than ever before, becomes a political instrument in service of extremism, not a well-respected think tank and source of scholarship,” she writes. “Every individual who works there should take pause and consider whether the reputation of that institution is elevated or diminished by this move. And I would say the same, frankly, if any other non-scholarly pol took that spot.”
The Republican Study Committee, a caucus of Republicans in the House of Representatives, has told staffer Derek Khanna that he will be out of a job when Congress re-convenes in January. The incoming chairman of the RSC, Steve Scalise (R-LA) was approached by several Republican members of Congress who were upset about a memo Khanna wrote advocating reform of copyright law. They asked that Khanna not be retained, and Scalise agreed to their request.
The release and subsequent retraction of Khanna’s memo has made waves in tech policy circles. The document argues that the copyright regime has become too favorable to the interests of copyright holders and does not adequately serve the public interest. It advocates several key reforms, including reducing copyright terms and limiting the draconian “statutory damages” that can reach as high as $150,000 per infringing work.
Mind you, tech scholars and the public thought this idea was great. But content groups? They said no, and now this dude is out of a job. Ouch.
For 16 months, Democrats and Republicans behaved like a husband and wife in an ugly divorce proceeding, not speaking to each other except through invective.
Now they will see if their troubled marriage can be salvaged, for the sake of the children, which in this case is the U.S. economy. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office reiterated last week that jumping off the cliff would boost the jobless rate to 9 percent from the current 7.9 percent.
For Obama, who won four more years in office in Tuesday’s election, this is his moment to bring a “balanced approach” to healing the nation’s fiscal problems.
In the Democrat’s eyes, that means keeping lower tax rates for the poor and middle class, while forcing the rich to pay more income taxes. White House spokesman Jay Carney renewed the president’s vow to veto legislation that simply extends the tax cuts, which originated during the administration of President George W. Bush.
If Republicans were to agree to the higher tax rates on the wealthy, that would open the door to deals on a new round of spending cuts, including sensitive “entitlement” programs, such as the Medicare healthcare program for the elderly, some Democrats say privately.
Get these guys some couples’ therapy. Please.
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