Political Moneyline has an interesting round up of what happens to funds left over after campaigning.
They Have a Deal
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) “joined on the Senate floor Wednesday afternoon to formally announce a deal to reopen the government and extend the debt limit,” Roll Call reports.
No senators are expected to object to expediting the path forward for the legislation.
Robert Costa: “Votes on the measure will begin this afternoon. The Senate will vote
first, and then the House will consider the legislation. House
leadership aides predict if 70-plus senators support the deal, it’ll
have an easier chance of winning Republican votes in the House.”
Graham Says ‘Greed’ and ‘Lust’ Plagues Washington
Evangelist Franklin Graham tells CBN News that greed, lust, and wickedness are at the heart of Washington’s woes.
Said Graham: “Our government is in trouble; our country is in trouble. We are in moral decay; we are in economic decay.”
He continued: “Our politicians don’t know right from wrong. And our politicians come to this city and they fight one another and it’s the greed in their hearts, the lust that’s in their hearts and they make all these rules and laws that affect the rest of us.”
Extra Bonus Quote of the Day
“Credit worthiness is like virginity, it can be preserved but not restored very easily, so it is crazy to play around with it.”
— Warren Buffett, in an interview on CNBC.
Driven to the Brink
Rod Dreher: “Yes. I cannot believe I’m saying this, but I hope the House flips to the Democrats in 2014, so we can be rid of these nuts. Let Ted Cruz sit in the Senate stewing in his precious bodily fluids, and let Washington get back to the business of governing.”
Lhota Tries to Scare New Yorkers
New York City mayoral candidate Joe Lhota’s (R) latest television ad warns the city will plunge into violence if Bill de Blasio (D) is elected mayor, Politicker reports.
Predicting the Fallout
First Read: “If the Senate and then the House can pass this deal — which would fund the government through Jan. 15, extend the debt limit until Feb. 7, and require the House and Senate to come up with a budget compromise by Dec. 13 — the story will then turn to the fallout. One prediction is that you will see plenty of GOP infighting. Another prediction (shared by many) is that we could be right back to another fiscal standoff two or three months from now. However, the White House and its allies are counting on the GOP getting almost nothing out of this fight — except for lower poll numbers — as the reason why this fight MIGHT NOT get repeated.”
“No matter the fallout, this is pretty clear: Almost a year removed from
the Obama-Romney presidential election, 2013 has been a lost year for
the Republican Party. Has it improved upon its image problem? Nope. Has
it fixed its shortcomings with women and minority voters? Nope. Is it in
a stronger place than it was in Oct. 2012? No way.”
Jonah Goldberg: “The ugliness of the GOP schism will probably have a long half life… I think conservatives and Republicans would be well-served by putting these disagreements behind us, like family fights at a Thanksgiving table that are best forgotten.”
How to Govern the Ungovernable
Alex Altman: “Stripped of earmarking grease, reluctant to rule by fiat, and with a conference that fears only its right flank, Boehner has long since realized he must be bloodied first before he can steer the country to safety. The process, ugly and messy and infuriating, ultimately works. The strategy of accommodation has repeatedly brought Congress to the brink of a dangerous deadline, but never truly over the cliff.”
Clark On Track to Win Markey’s Seat
Boston Globe:
“Katherine Clark (D) bested six Democratic rivals Tuesday,
winning her party’s nomination in the race to succeed Edward J. Markey
in the US House of Representatives and setting her on course to likely
become the state’s newest member of Congress.”
Cochran May Get Primary Challenge
Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS) is likely to face a pirmary challenge from his right by state Sen. Chris McDaniel (R), the Clarion Ledger reports.
McDaniel announced that he’s holding a special event at noon Thursday to “announce his decision regarding a possible run for higher office.”
Ted Cruz Could Trigger a Democratic Wave
Stu Rothenberg: “Last week I observed that I hadn’t yet seen ‘compelling evidence’ that a Democratic political wave could be developing. I can no longer say that after seeing the recently released NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.”
A Comedy of Political Errors
The Wall Street Journal editorial page has had enough: “It’s time to wrap up this comedy of political errors.”
“President Obama called their bluff, no doubt in part to blame the disruption on the GOP and further tarnish the party’s public image. Now the most Republicans will get out of this is lower public approval and a chance to negotiate with Mr. Obama again before the next debt-limit deadline. If the Senate passes its compromise, Mr. Boehner will have little choice other than to bring it to the floor and let it pass with votes from either party. Mr. Obama will have to deliver enough Democratic votes to pass it.”
“At least that’s better than getting the blame for whatever happens if Treasury stops sending out Social Security checks in order to prioritize debt repayments. The politics of that are little better than defaulting on debt. Republicans can best help their cause now by getting this over with and moving on to fight more intelligently another day.”
Bonus Quote of the Day
“I am pro-choice; they are not. I am pro-gay rights as well as marriage equality; they are not. I have been outspoken about these issues over and over again. Do not lump me with the national Republicans. It’s unbecoming.”
— New York City mayoral candidate Joe Lhota (R), quoted by Gawker, at his debate last night with Bill de Blasio (D).
Now What for Boehner?
The Fix: “The only role Boehner has to play now is to decide whether or not to put a deal cut by the Senate — assuming there is one — on the House floor, given the likelihood that a number of his fellow Republicans will oppose it. Combine the high political and economic stakes with Boehner’s repeated insistence that he will not let the country slide into default by missing the deadline to raise the debt ceiling and it’s hard to imagine he wouldn’t allow a compromise deal that had passed the Senate to be voted on in the House.”
“The longer term prognosis for Boehner is far fuzzier — and in conversations with a handful of longtime Republican hands in the wake of Tuesday’s flop, almost no one predicted that things would end well for the Speaker.”
Quote of the Day
“Republicans have to understand we have lost this battle, as I predicted weeks ago, that we would not be able to win because we were demanding something that was not achievable.”
— Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), quoted by the New York Times, on the debt ceiling standoff.
Averting Default May Hinge on Senate Rule Shortcuts
“Even if U.S. Senate leaders reach a deal today to extend the debt limit, there’s no guarantee that a final vote would take place before the government’s borrowing authority ends tomorrow. Any senator who wants to slow down action on an accord has the ability to insist that the Senate follow rules that would add days to the process of approving it,” Bloomberg reports.
“It’s possible that the delay scenario would be avoided if the House sent to the Senate a rewritten version of H.J. Res. 59, a bill initially designed to keep the government running after Sept. 30 and defund the 2010 health-care law… Recycling the number means that the measure would be treated in the Senate as though it’s a tweak instead of a whole new piece of legislation. In that case, Senate rules provide fewer opportunities to filibuster, or stall action on a bill.”
Markets Expect a Deal
Politico: “Wall Street has so far mostly shrugged off the latest Washington political crisis, assuming an 11th hour deal will materialize to raise the debt limit and stave off a potentially ruinous default. But if the final act, which starts Wednesday, does not quickly produce the expected ending, the markets’ vengeance could be swift and severe.”
Herding Cats
New York Times: “It was yet another moment of decision for Mr. Boehner, who finally finds himself at the crossroads he has been marching toward for weeks: an imminent financial default on the one hand, and on the other an unyielding conservative rank and file that persists with the futile effort to take down President Obama’s health care law even if they also take down the speaker in the process.”
“While his colleagues sang about how what once was lost had now been found, Mr. Boehner did not tell them a more dispiriting truth: With less than 48 hours left before the nation is set to exhaust its authority to borrow money, he and his lieutenants were running out of ideas — a fact made starkly evident by the mad and fruitless scramble on Tuesday to come up with a measure that could win enough support from his members. Around 7 p.m., he sent the House home and canceled all votes for the day.”
Said Rep. Tom Price (R-GA): “He’s herding cats.”
Byron York: “Senate Republicans knew the House GOP conference was divided, and they
knew Boehner’s hold on his conference was shaky, but they were still
stunned by the GOP’s utter failure to accomplish anything.”
