Clik here to view.
Gabby Giffords Offers Momentary Reprieve from Washington Shrillness
The tone of the past month of debt negotiations has hardly been Washington’s finest hour. In fact, the most popular words to describe the situation, according to a recent survey by the Pew Research...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Mutually Assured Revulsion: Why Americans Hated the Debt Debate and Why It’s...
Pew came out with a new poll on Monday confirming what we all already knew: The American people think the last several weeks in Washington have been a disgrace. In fact, the words most often...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How the Debt Deal Sets Up Washington for a Bitter Tax Fight
Now that a compromise has been reached to raise the debt limit, there is a good chance that the political climate in Washington is going to get worse. And the reason can be found on Page 49 of the bill...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Is the Debt-Ceiling Hostage Scenario Really Bound to Repeat Itself?
The conventional wisdom now dictates that every time a debt-ceiling hike comes up for a vote, Republicans will threaten to torch Uncle Sam’s credit rating unless their demands are met. Just take...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Trillion Dollar Coin Fantasy: GOP Extremism Can’t Be Wished Away
After I spent the last two weeks explaining that the Treasury would mint a second Joe Biden before it minted a trillion-dollar platinum coin, that President Obama would make Kim Kardashian his chief of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Warren Buffett: Debt Ceiling Dispute Is Pretty Damn Dumb
Failing to come to an agreement between Democrats and Republicans on raising the debt ceiling would be “pretty damn dumb,” Warren Buffet said in a CNBC interview aired Friday. The GOP is hoping to use...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Obama to Congress: ‘Knock it Off’ on Budget Brinkmanship
President Barack Obama told Republicans Friday that it’s a fool’s errand for them to use the threat of a government shutdown to gut his signature healthcare law, decrying what he called “political...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Science Asks: Who’s More Pig-Headed, Dems or Republicans?
Forget the ancient Greeks’ advice. In this political climate, it’s more like “nothing in moderation, everything in excess.” Frank Bruni’s column in Monday’s New York Times highlights some of the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Lew Warns Congress: Treasury Out of Options on Debt Limit
Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew warned Congress in stark terms Thursday of the economic danger posed by delaying action on raising the debt ceiling. “Let me be clear. Trying to time a debt limit increase...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Boehner Pushes Short-Term Debt Ceiling Fix
House Speaker John Boehner asked Republican lawmakers Thursday to support a six-week extension of the country’s debt limit, a late attempt to head off a last-minute showdown that economists have warned...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Obama Signs Bill to End Government Shutdown, Avoid Default
President Barack Obama signed a bill to reopen the federal government and lift the debt limit just after midnight on Thursday morning, after an 11th-hour agreement reached on Wednesday by Senate...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Will Republicans Pick a Fight Over the Debt Limit?
Weary veterans of Washington’s budget battles hoped they were finished. But mere hours after House budget chairman Paul Ryan signed a deal to avert another government shutdown, he raised the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Treasury Secretary Jack Lew Warns Time Is Running Out To Lift Debt Ceiling
The Treasury Department will run out of “extraordinary measures” to keep the government afloat by the end of February if Congress does not act to raise the debt limit, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said...
View ArticleClik here to view.
House GOP Eyes Debt-Ceiling Fight Prize
With some House Republicans spoiling for another fight over lifting the country’s borrowing limit, leadership is eyeing a repeal of an obscure provision in the new health law over approval of the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
House GOP Struggles Over Debt Ceiling Strategy
House Republicans’ strategy for the coming fight over raising the debt ceiling remained in flux Wednesday, according to congressional aides, after two demands favored by GOP leadership failed to gain...
View ArticleClik here to view.
House Republicans Get Debt Ceiling Giggles
How to raise the debt ceiling became a source of black humor for House Republicans Thursday, with proposals floated by leadership rising and falling while time ticks down toward a month’s-end deadline....
View ArticleClik here to view.
House Republicans Move Toward Debt-Ceiling Vote
The House could vote as early as Wednesday on legislation to raise the country’s borrowing limit, after Republicans met on Monday night in their latest effort to find elusive consensus on one of the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Boehner Throws in Towel on Debt Ceiling Fight
House Republicans will allow a vote Tuesday on a measure to increase the government’s borrowing limit with no strings attached, a clear concession to Democrats that comes after weeks of GOP wrangling....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Boehner Finds a Successful Strategy in Failing Upward
House Speaker John Boehner on Tuesday yanked his plan to marry an increase in the debt ceiling with the restoration of pension cuts for retired soldiers. After failing to unify his Republican horde...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Cruz’in for a Bruising
The relationship between Senator Ted Cruz and his Republican colleagues has never been warm, but it frosted over Wednesday night when the Texas conservative pulled a procedural stunt that forced Senate...
View Article
