Most House Rs agree w/ most Senate Rs and Americans. Trusting Obama w/ border security is like trusting Bill Clinton w/ your daughter #tcot
— Cong. Tim Huelskamp (@CongHuelskamp) July 10, 2013
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Quote of the Day
“Boy, I’ll tell you. I hate to see a dictatorship come into this country, but it sure looks like that’s what’s happening with health care.”
— Rep. Sam Johnson (R-TX), quoted by the Washington Post.
House Won’t Pursue Comprehensive Immigration Reform
“Meeting for the first time as a group to hash out their approach to immigration, House Republicans on Wednesday came down overwhelmingly against a comprehensive overhaul of the nation’s immigration laws, putting in jeopardy the future of sweeping legislation that includes a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants,” the New York Times reports.
Roll Call notes GOP leaders “released a joint statement declaring that the chamber would move forward on immigration in a piecemeal fashion, rather than attempting the comprehensive approach taken by the Senate.”
“But upon exiting the nearly two-hour meeting, lawmakers said they were no closer to setting a timetable for action, formulating a strategy or building consensus on how to deal with a pathway to citizenship for the nation’s roughly 11 million undocumented immigrants.”
Spitzer Leads in New York City Comptroller Race
A new Wall Street Journal-NBC 4-Marist Poll finds former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D) leads Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer (D) by nine percentage points in the race for New York City comptroller, 42% to 33%.
Nearly a quarter of voters were undecided, but two-thirds of Democrats, or 67%, said they believe Mr. Spitzer, who resigned as governor five years ago after he was caught patronizing prostitutes, should be given a second chance.
San Diego Mayor Pressured to Resign
At least three staunch supporters of San Diego Mayor Bob Filner (D) have asked him to resign over allegations of sexual harassment, KPBS reports.
The three “each hand-delivered letters to Filner requesting his immediate resignation” with one saying she has “received credible evidence of more than one woman being sexually harassed by you.”
No Comeback Planned for Fossella
“A scandal-scarred former congressman is running for mayor. A fallen ex-governor is running for comptroller. But Vito Fossella, a former congressman who has mused about his political return since becoming embroiled in his own sex scandal, says he isn’t planning to follow in the footsteps of Democrats Anthony Weiner and Eliot Spitzer,” Politicker reports.
Said Fosella: “I am always humbled by folks who have asked me to reconsider and run again. Who knows what tomorrow brings? But for now, I look at it that the people who matter most are in good shape, that I am at a point I need to be and frankly, very simply … I don’t have that desire to run right now.”
Gay Rights Gets Boost in Committee Vote
David Hawkings: “Three Republicans joined all the Democrats on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee as it endorsed legislation that would ban workplace harassment and job discrimination nationwide based on sexual orientation or gender identity. The 15-7 approval vote makes clear that a majority of senators support passage, and that the roster of supporters is no more than a handful short of the 60 necessary to overcome a guaranteed filibuster from Republican cultural conservatives.”
“Nonetheless, the vote is the most significant federal legislative victory of this decade for advocates of gay rights. It also is a signal that, at least at the federal level, the rapidly changing political attitudes are affording them a viable chance for a legislative success before the 2014 midterm elections, something as important as the victories they just won in the courts.”
The GOP Gets Redder
Andrew Sullivan: “In the US, after being trounced in the last election, the GOP is actually veering even further right in their nihilism and sabotage. There is no figure in that party able to control the forces daily goosed by Ailes et al. It looks as if the fever hasn’t broken but intensified: they are waging war now on every front – from new anti-abortion laws across the country to sabotaging the president’s universal healthcare law, to preventing any functioning executive branch, and to go down screaming on immigration reform. Their bet now is the same bet as 2010: total opposition by all nonviolent means on all fronts, using the midterm elections, where their base turns out more reliably, to ratchet up the effect.”
Bonus Quote of the Day
“We have within us all drives, urges which should be tempered, controlled, modulated, held in check that I did not. And I don’t know if I can or should be a whole lot more specific than that.”
— Eliot Spitzer (D), quoted by Politicker, explaining the sex scandal that forced him to resign as governor five years ago.
Romney Raising Money Again
Mitt Romney will headline a fundraiser for the New Hampshire Republican Party next month, in what is believe to be his first political fundraiser since last year’s presidential campaign, WMUR reports.
Braley Leads for U.S. Senate in Iowa
A new Public Policy Polling survey in Iowa finds Rep. Bruce Braley (D) leading potential GOP challengers in a U.S. Senate race by margins ranging from 9 to 13 points.
Braley tops Matt Whitaker (R), 43% to 34%, beats Joni Ernst (R), 45% to 33%, leads Mark Jacobs, 44% to 32% and beats Sam Clovis (R), 43% to 31%.
Key findings: “Part of the reason for Braley’s early leads is that he’s a solid candidate. He has a +10 net favorability rating with 34% of voters rating him positively to 24% with a negative opinion. It also has a lot to do with the Republican candidates being so unknown at this point though. Whitaker is the best known but still has only 23% name recognition and from there it’s 20% for Ernst, 19% for Clovis, 18% for Young, and 16% for Jacobs.”
Lee Says Obama Shouldn’t Fill Court Vacancies
Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) attacked President Obama “for seeking to fill three judicial vacancies on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, arguing that those seats need not be filled before the court can function without them,” TPM reports.
Lee said he sees “no pressing need to fill those vacancies” and that Obama “appears to have targeted the D.C. Circuit in the hope that he can stack the deck to his advantage.”
Romney Campaign Going Strong in Africa
BuzzFeed finds leftover swag from Mitt Romney’s failed presidential campaign is being put to good use.
Lawmaker Sorry for Comparing Obamacare to Plane Crash
New Hampshire state Sen. Andy Sanborn (R), who is running for governor next year, said he is sorry for comparing Obamacare to the plane crash at the San Francisco airport that killed two people and injured dozens more, WMUR-TV reports.
Will McDonnell’s Woes Hurt Cuccinelli?
First Read: “The question now becomes whether McDonnell’s fall from grace hurts gubernatorial nominee Ken Cuccinelli, who Democrats point out also has close ties to Jonnie Williams (including accepting gifts from him). The Cuccinelli campaign responds that Cucinelli’s AG office initiated this investigation, and they don’t believe McAuliffe will be a credible messenger to attack them on this issue. But it’s hard to see how this doesn’t hurt Cuccinelli, because he needs to court moderates and the GOP business community, and right now McDonnell looks to be toxic to help him with those groups.”
Quote of the Day
“As Americans, we need to beat back this notion that when somebody’s poor, somehow they are lazy.”
— Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R), quoted by the Columbus Dispatch, urging state lawmakers to extend tax-funded health coverage to tens of thousands poor, uninsured Ohioans.
Immigration Reform Heads for Slow Death
“Republicans walked away from their 2012 debacle hell-bent on fixing their problems with Hispanics. Now, they appear hell-bent on making them worse,” Politico reports.
“In private conversations, top Republicans on Capitol Hill now predict comprehensive immigration reform will die a slow, months-long death in the House. Like with background checks for gun buyers, the conventional wisdom that the party would never kill immigration reform, and risk further alienating Hispanic voters, was always wrong — and ignored the reality that most House Republicans are white conservatives representing mostly white districts.”
Rick Klein: “As unfathomable as it seems that a bill supported by two-thirds of
senators never comes up for a vote in the House, that’s now clearly the
path we’re on. Which means immigration reform will not happen without
backers finding new pressure points.”
Roll Call notes House GOP leaders meet with their rank and file today but “members acknowledge it’s unlikely to produce a unified path forward.”
Video Shows FDR in a Wheelchair
A college professor “says he has found film footage showing President Franklin Delano Roosevelt being pushed in his wheelchair, depicting a secret that was hidden from the public until after his death,” the AP reports.
