Meredith Shiner
President Barack Obama is set to unveil "a more ambitious deficit plan" Monday, but it's unclear whether the president's framework — or any other exhortations for the Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction to "go big" — will push it to go further than the original $1.5 trillion target.
Meredith Shiner
The co-chairs of the Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction announced today that the panel’s next public hearing will be Sept. 22 and will feature testimony from a top tax code expert in a session that could set the table for what likely will be the group’s most challenging hurdle: revenues.
Humberto Sanchez
A bipartisan group of more than 30 Senators today urged the Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction to go beyond its mandate and identify more than $1.5 trillion in deficit savings over 10 years.
Humberto Sanchez
Members of the “gang of six” may have more than 30 Senate supporters and the kind of cooperative spirit needed to forge a historic deal on the deficit, but without leadership backing, it’s unclear what, if anything, the bipartisan group can do to advance its cause.
Meredith Shiner
After two public meetings filled with introductory courtesies and little spark, members of the Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction are now taking their first steps toward real negotiations on how to find at least $1.2 trillion in budgetary savings over the next 10 years.
John Stanton
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor today dismissed the demands of some conservatives that the GOP use a looming short-term spending bill to resume its months-long fight with Democrats over spending levels.
Humberto Sanchez
The Senate “gang of six” is trying to remain part of the debate over the debt and deficit, but Members of the bipartisan group said they are mindful that they need to allow the work of the new Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction to proceed undisturbed.
Steven T. Dennis, Jessica Brady
Party leaders are giving the new super committee some space to build a bipartisan deficit plan, but they are staying close enough to the process to continue as the unseen hands behind the scenes.
Humberto Sanchez
House Republican leaders have one more hurdle to clear on the deal that was recently signed into law to raise the debt ceiling: passing a measure that locks in the fiscal 2012 discretionary spending figure agreed to under the law.
Janie Lorber
Rep. Xavier Becerra had been a member of the Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction for a mere two hours before he was fighting off accusations of using his new role to raise money thanks to his K Street friends.
Daniel Newhauser and John Stanton
Leadership barely finished appointing Members to the new Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction before legislators outside the process began chiming in on what a final agreement should look like and what process the panel should use to reach one.
Steven T. Dennis
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) picked three members of her leadership circle as House Democrats’ representatives to the powerful new Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction — Reps. Chris Van Hollen (Md.), James Clyburn (S.C.) and Xavier Becerra (Calif.).
Daniel Newhauser
With House Republicans and both parties in the Senate locking in their picks for the Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction, House Democrats are now in the hot seat to appoint Members to the panel who can personify the Caucus’ assorted constituencies.
Steven T. Dennis
Republican leaders named their picks Wednesday to the powerful new Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction, with Speaker John Boehner naming Republican Conference Chairman Jeb Hensarling as co-chairman of the committee.
Eliza Newlin Carney
Amid a Wall Street panic that sent the Dow Jones industrial average plunging more than 400 points, President Barack Obama sought in a White House address to quell public fears over the nation’s recently downgraded credit rating.
Janie Lorber
Rep. Paul Ryan, the top Republican on the House Budget Committee, said on Sunday he doesn’t have high expectations for the new savings “super committee” because Democrats won’t consider changes to health care reform.
Lauren W. Whittington
Standard & Poor’s announced Friday night it had lowered the long-term credit rating for the U.S. from AAA to AA+ — pointing to the “political brinksmanship” during the recent Congressional debate over raising the debt ceiling as a key factor in the historic downgrade.
Steven T. Dennis, Humberto Sanchez
Democrats and Republicans are already disagreeing about what they agreed to in the recently signed-into-law deal to raise the debt ceiling, and not surprisingly, taxes are at the heart of the dispute.
Janie Lorber
While most of the lobbying surrounding Congress' new deficit committee will be focused on easing the pain of massive cuts, a sliver of K Street will be on the prowl for ways to help clients by sneaking in provisions that might have little chance of passing otherwise.
Steven T. Dennis
With President Barack Obama signing into law the $2.1 trillion debt deal Tuesday, the nation averted a historic default and might have cleared the way for a more productive Congress.
Meredith Shiner, Jessica Brady
The debt deal between the White House and Congress has been law for less than 24 hours, but lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are already expressing skepticism about a new “super committee” and its ability to come through with at least $1.2 trillion in additional budget savings.
Daniel Newhauser
The idea of a fast-tracked Congressional vote on deficit reduction that would be forced by the forthcoming Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction is not entirely unprecedented. But the committee does appear to have more power than any preceding Congressional panel.
Steven T. Dennis
President Barack Obama signed into law a $2.1 trillion budget package Tuesday, capping months of grueling partisan wrangling that brought the nation to the brink of a historic default on its obligations.
John Stanton
In the end, it seems the only people in Washington being forced to eat their debt limit peas will be Democrats, who found themselves swallowing a bitter political deal forced on them by the White House and Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio).
John Stanton and Jessica Brady
The House easily passed a deal to increase the nation’s debt limit Monday evening following the dramatic entrance of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords onto the floor, then promptly began its summer recess.
Daniel Newhauser
In order to cut trillions from the U.S. budget, Congress will have to spend a little money first. The debt deal struck by President Barack Obama and Congressional leaders calls for the creation of a Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction — and with a new committee comes a new set of expenses.
Ambreen Ali
Activists on the far right and far left might be angry at Congress, but they are fracturing with party leadership in a similar fashion, with each side decrying the debt deal for not going far enough.
Janie Lorber, Kate Ackley
Two of the biggest spenders on lobbying, the health care and defense industries, might end up working against each other in a furious four-month campaign focused on the deficit reduction committee-to-be.
David M. Drucker
Less than 48 hours to debate perhaps the most far-reaching budget bill in a generation is not what freshman Republican Senators had in mind when they ran for office in 2010.
Neda Semnani
When HOH thinks debt ceiling kerfuffle, we think fun, fun, fun. So here is a rundown of some of the great moments from the debt ceiling weekend:
Jessica Brady
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords returned to the House floor Monday night to cast a vote in support of the debt ceiling increase after a nearly seven-month absence.
John Stanton
The House easily passed a deal to increase the nation’s debt limit Monday evening, setting up a Senate vote Tuesday to avert a historic default by the U.S. government.
Jessica Brady
Vice President Joseph Biden’s two-and-a-half-hour meeting Monday with House Democrats about a $2.1 trillion deficit reduction package did little to soothe angst in the party, from leaders all the way down to the rank and file.
John Stanton
House Republicans on Monday afternoon will begin the process of voting on Speaker John Boehner’s (Ohio) debt reduction deal — a sure sign that GOP leaders have the votes to pass the bill.
David M. Drucker
The Senate plans to vote Monday on a debt ceiling compromise, but the timing has yet to be worked out, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) confirmed in opening floor remarks.
Humberto Sanchez
Senior White House officials hinted Sunday night at the battle to come in the next few months over tax and entitlement reform in connection with a deal struck between lawmakers and the administration to raise the debt ceiling to avoid a default on the nation’s debt.
John Stanton
The fissures that have split the House Republican Conference for months disappeared at least for one night, as rank-and-file Members united Sunday in praise of Speaker John Boehner (Ohio) and his role in the debt ceiling negotiations.
Meredith Shiner
President Barack Obama announced Sunday evening that after weeks of failed attempts, partisan fights and market trepidation, he and Congressional leaders had reached a deal to avert government default and reduce the deficit by $3 trillion over the next 10 years.
Steven T. Dennis
President Barack Obama’s rightward lurch to reach a $3 trillion deficit reduction deal with no guarantee of additional revenues had liberals fuming and Republicans all but declaring victory Sunday afternoon.
John Stanton
Speaker John Boehner’s right flank might not be the conservative albatross that moderates and Democrats have made it out to be, if last spring’s continuing resolution vote and this summer’s debt fight are any indication.
Meredith Shiner
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) signed off Sunday evening on a deal to avert a government default pending the approval of his Conference, adding that he hoped a vote could be held as early as late Sunday night.
Meredith Shiner
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Sunday that he is “cautiously optimistic” that a deal can be reached to avert a government default before the Treasury’s Tuesday deadline, even as his own proposal was blocked in an afternoon vote.
Amanda Becker
White House officials said Sunday that while the situation is still in flux, both parties and the president are busy working out a framework for a debt ceiling deal that will avert default.
Janie Lorber
The House Republican Conference would be open to the debt ceiling proposal that Senators described during the Sunday morning politics shows, House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy said.
Melanie Starkey
As news trickled out Sunday about a potential deal to raise the debt ceiling, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Republicans “can declare victory in a limited fashion,” but that he’s not ready to vote in support of it.
Amanda Becker
Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) were both cautiously optimistic Sunday that an emerging debt deal would get the support it needs from both parties.
Janie Lorber
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Sunday morning that his chamber was “very close” to reaching a deal to raise the debt ceiling via a $3 trillion package that would not include any tax increases.
Meredith Shiner
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) postponed a procedural vote on his budget plan Saturday, just hours after Congressional Republicans announced they had re-entered negotiations with the White House and three days before a Treasury deadline to avoid government default.
Steven T. Dennis
Liberal Senators are "holding their breath" worried that President Barack Obama will capitulate to Republican demands for a large spending-cuts-only package in the final push to avoid a debt default by the Tuesday deadline.
John Stanton, David M. Drucker
A grim-faced Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid returned to the Senate from a meeting with President Barack Obama on Saturday with a deal to raise the nation's debt ceiling nowhere in sight.
John Stanton
The House on Saturday easily rejected Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's debt limit plan 246-173, the latest in an ongoing series of purely political votes both chambers have taken.
Meredith Shiner
A budget plan from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to raise the debt ceiling by $2.4 trillion, which Democrats have called "the last train out of the station" to avert default, appeared in peril Saturday — just three days out from the Treasury's deadline.
Humberto Sanchez
With the deadline to raise the debt ceiling rapidly approaching, this weekend will be decisive on settling whether Congress and the White
House can avoid default.
David M. Drucker
For at least a few days this week, South Carolina was almost the most influential state in the Union.
Steven T. Dennis
The Senate voted 59-41 to kill Speaker John Boehner's (R-Ohio) debt limit package Friday night, and Majority Leader Harry Reid moved forward with a new version of his own bill after efforts to reach a bipartisan deal failed.
John Stanton
House GOP leaders Saturday will bring an old version of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s debt limit bill to the floor for what appears to be a bit of weekend political theater.
Emily Heil
When Republican leaders trucked in a stack of pizza boxes Thursday night as Speaker John Boehner (Ohio) attempted to cajole GOP freshmen into voting for his deficit reduction plan, it was par for the course.
John Stanton
House Republicans Friday finally found a version of Speaker John Boehner’s debt bill they could all agree on, but beyond that, little was clear on how Congress would avert a default on the nation’s debt after Aug. 2.
Janie Lorber
The decision to add a balanced budget amendment requirement to the House debt ceiling plan may have won over several conservative organizations on Friday, but tea party activists and their beltway cheerleaders remained staunchly opposed.
Steven T. Dennis
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said he would be open to allowing a vote on a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution and other compromises if Republicans are willing to cut a deal taking a debt default off of the table through 2012.
Daniel Newhauser
President Barack Obama fired up the bully pulpit Friday, waging an all-hands-on-deck media campaign on Congressional Republicans to urge them to compromise on a debt deal.
John Stanton
Speaker John Boehner entered a closed-door Republican Conference meeting Friday morning facing the stark reality of having to sell a debt deal — any deal — to a group of conservatives dead set on not making one before Aug. 2.
Steven T. Dennis
President Barack Obama on Friday urged the Senate to find a bipartisan solution to the debt limit crisis, with House Republicans still working on a bill he said has no chance of becoming law.
Meredith Shiner
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) announced Friday that he will take action on approving a debt ceiling compromise Friday, beginning the procedural process on a bill that he hopes will avert government default by the Treasury Department’s Tuesday deadline.
Steven T. Dennis
With just a few days before the Treasury Department says the U.S. needs a debt limit increase or risks default on its obligations, both sides were increasing the brinksmanship.
Humberto Sanchez
Republican votes for a debt ceiling deal might be tougher to get after the Treasury Department unveils a priority list that ensures bondholders will be paid in the event that the debt limit is not raised by Aug. 2.
Ambreen Ali
Two years ago, stimulus packages and bailouts fed a nationwide revolt that became the tea party movement. Now, liberal groups say frustration over the debt ceiling talks is fueling a left-wing equivalent.
David M. Drucker
The tea party didn't like Sen. John McCain to begin with. But when the Arizona Republican took to the Senate floor to admonish activists for unrealistic expectations and quote from a Wall Street Journal piece that compared some conservatives to "hobbits," the fight got ugly.
John Stanton, Humberto Sanchez
What for months had been a quiet campaign to pressure the GOP into a more conservative footing has, over the course of the debt limit negotiations, blossomed into a full-blown insurrection, led by Republican Steering Committee Chairman Jim DeMint (S.C.) in the Senate and Republican Study Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (Ohio) in the House.
Janie Lorber
Paul Teller was probably the last person Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) thought he'd have to slap around during the debate over the debt ceiling.
