“It’s too bad the election isn’t today.”
— Ann Romney, quoted by USA Today.
Career Turning Point for Paul Ryan?
Rep. Paul Ryan “stepped to a podium Tuesday night for a defining moment in his legislative career,” USA Today reports.
“For the better part of the past decade, he has carved out a niche as a leader in the Republican Party based in part on the ideological purity of his budget blueprints, but this week he played a co-starring role in cutting a budget deal with liberal Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington.”
New York Times: “With
a modest, bipartisan blueprint on taxes and spending, Mr. Ryan is
taking a risk he has previously shied away from, putting what party
leaders see as a crucial need — ending the debilitating budget wars in
Washington that have crippled the Republican brand — over his own
self-interests with the conservative activists that dominate the early
Republican presidential primaries. For the first time, the conservative
wunderkind and former vice-presidential nominee is taking withering fire
from movement conservatives who see the deal as a betrayal by a former
ally. Potential rivals for the Republican presidential nomination in
2016 immediately went on the attack, blasting the deal and challenging
Mr. Ryan’s status as the thinking man’s conservative.”
Top GOP Aide Fired for Leaks
Politico:
“The conservative Republican Study Committee, the bastion of right-wing
strategy on Capitol Hill, has fired its longtime executive director
Paul Teller, accusing him of leaking conversations with lawmakers.”
A Year After Newtown
CBS News Poll:
“Forty-nine percent advocate stricter gun laws, while 36 percent think
gun laws should be kept as they are, and 12 percent think they should be
made less strict.”
House Republicans Rallying Behind Budget Deal
“House Republicans appeared Wednesday to be rallying around an $85 billion deal to avert another government shutdown, brushing off complaints from their right wing that the effort would trade immediate spending cuts for less-certain long-term savings,” the Washington Post reports.
“After conducting a series of closed-door briefings and polling members during a late-afternoon vote, GOP leadership aides confidently predicted that the deal struck between House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Senate Budget Committee Chairman Patty Murray (D-WA) would sail through the House when it comes to a vote Thursday.”
Wall Street Journal: “Many Democratic leaders were noncommittal, because they were
disappointed the deal didn’t include a renewal of expanded unemployment
benefits due to expire Dec. 28. Still, even those inclined to oppose it
predicted the budget deal would pass.”
Jonathan Chait: “So the deal will probably pass. But conservative opposition signals
that deal-making of any kind is painful enough that Republicans
shouldn’t dare try it again.”
FBI Subpoenas Georgia Ethics Officials
At least five current and former Georgia ethics officials have been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.
Deal Limits Senate GOP’s Ability to Block Tax Hikes
“Senate Republicans scrubbing the Ryan-Murray budget deal have come across a little-noticed provision that will limit the GOP’s ability to block tax increases in future years,” National Review reports.
“The bill includes language from the Senate Democrats’ budget to void a budget ‘point of order’ against replacing the sequester cuts with tax increases. The process is quite complicated, but in practice it grants Harry Reid the authority to send tax increases to the House with a bare majority, rather than the 60 vote threshold that would be required under the point of order.”
New Hampshire Republicans See Brown as Best Shot
Former Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) “has toyed with running for the Granite State’s Senate seat. But only in the last two weeks have many GOP leaders there begun taking Brown seriously. Whereas before they saw a fallen political star desperate for attention, they now see a possible first-tier contender genuinely contemplating a campaign,” National Journal reports.
Dylan Byers: “But here’s the thing: It doesn’t matter what the New Hampshire GOP says, or even what Brown himself says. The surest indicator of Brown’s political ambitions is what Roger Ailes, the Fox News chief and the man who writes Brown’s paycheck, decides to do with his contract.”
Fossella Urged to Challenge Grimm
“Republicans are so nervous about Staten Island Rep. Michael Grimm’s re-election chances that they’ve quietly reached out to former GOP Congressman Vito Fossella — who quit five years ago after confessing to having a secret second family — to make a comeback for his old seat,” the New York Post reports.
“Grimm is currently the subject of an ongoing Justice Department probe that centers on whether his campaign solicited illegal donations from foreigners during his 2010 campaign.”
Meanwhile, Politicker reports Grimm bashed the report and other “baseless rumors.”
McConnell Will Vote Against Budget Deal
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) will vote against the deal brokered by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), the Daily Caller reports.
“While the budget proposal is expected to pass the Democratic-controlled Senate, McConnell joins a growing list of Republican senators — including Marco Rubio of Florida, Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and Rand Paul of Kentucky — who oppose the deal.”
Obama Needs to Fire Someone
Ezra Klein: “Somewhere in this chain of colossal, consequential screwups, there are surely a few people who deserve to be fired. The White House tends to dismiss such criticism. Indeed, Obama aides pride themselves on rising above it, viewing it as politically motivated or, when proffered by administration allies, derived from a crude desire for retribution. There might, at times, be truth to that. But firing and replacing underperforming staff is also a key element of effective management.”
“Of late, President Obama has shown a worrying preference for ad hoc, patchwork solutions. The White House recognizes that its health-care law hasn’t been well executed. That’s why it has been throwing new staff at the problem. But the new arrangements are temporary.”
Senate Prepares for an All-Nighter
“It may be time once again for senators to pull out the cots,” Roll Call reports.
“The Senate looked poised for an all-night session Wednesday to work through the process of confirming an assortment of President Barack Obama’s nominees to posts ranging from federal judgeships to the top official at the Department of Homeland Security.”
The Hill: “Senate Republicans will hold the floor throughout the night, speaking out against Reid’s use of the nuclear option.”
Gun Control in the States
Wonk Wire looks at gun legislation passed since the Newtown massacre last year.
Why Lawmakers Reached a Budget Deal
Jonathan Chait: “Optimists are presenting the very small budget deal agreed to by both parties as a new day in Washington, a down payment that can clear the way for further dealing down the road. In truth, it’s the end of the road, a small salvage operation for a grand failure of governance and political strategy stretching over three years.”
“The parties have reached a deal because the cuts to next year’s budget run so deep that Republicans themselves cannt tolerate them. The budget process in the House simply collapsed because even conservatives couldn’t implement the slated levels of spending. The impasse threatened to require more temporary votes to keep the government open, and possibly another shutdown, which is the GOP’s worst nightmare. And so Ryan and Murray scrounged together enough savings to offset the cost of a small two-year fix. But since the savings they agreed upon were, by definition, the most agreeable cuts, any future deals will become much harder. The low-hanging fruit is all gone.”
Landrieu Highlights Health Care in First Ad
Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) “is up with her first ad, and it’s about the health-care law. It stresses her work — and sometimes tough talk to the president — to fix the law to make sure Obama’s promise that people who like their insurance can keep it,” NBC News reports.
“The ad, to air in key markets around the state, highlights the hurdle the law presents for Democratic incumbents running in red states.”
Judge Will Not Overturn Rangel Censure
A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit by Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) that had sought to overturn the 2010 House censure of the New York congressman for financial wrongdoing, the AP reports.
The judge ruled that Rangel’s demands implicate “insurmountable separation-of-powers barriers” to the court’s authority.
Top GOP Aide Faces Child Pornography Allegations
Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TV) announced that his chief of staff, Ryan Loskarn, is being put on leave over allegations involving child pornography, National Journal reports.
Said Alexander: “I am stunned, surprised and disappointed by what I have learned.”
The Picasso of Gerrymandering
The Daily Show interviews redistricting guru Kimball Brace on “the art of gerrymander.”
