Apr 08 Health Care Issues Key in Budget Battle The news this week in Washington is all budget, all the time: Will Congress work out a budget deal before Friday's midnight deadline, or will the federal government close until a compromise can be found? The Obama administration… Continue reading
Apr 08 Ideology vs Idiocy: The Shutdown Showdown As the shutdown showdown approached its third or fourth climax late this week, I found myself in Flint, Mich., the former General Motors manufacturing powerhouse, where the unemployment rate still stands at nearly 12 percent and people can be… Continue reading
Apr 08 Boehner, Reid Tweets Show Disagreement on the Disagreement As the Wall Street Journal's Naftali Bendavid told Jim Lehrer on the NewsHour Thursday night, the two sides in the high-stakes budget debate can't even agree on what they disagree about, in public at least. And after late night… Continue reading
Apr 08 Democrats, Republicans Must Beat Midnight Deadline to Avoid Shutdown Federal employees protest a potential government shutdown outside the Metcalfe Federal Building in Chicago. Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images. The stakes at this point are crystal clear. When the clock strikes midnight Friday the federal government will run… Continue reading
Apr 07 Watch Obama: No Deal Yet to Avert Government Shutdown President Obama says new talks did not yield a deal to prevent a government shutdown. Continue watching
Apr 07 Watch As Shutdown Deadline Nears, Lawmakers 'Can't Agree What They Disagree On' For the third time in three days, President Obama met with congressional leaders but failed to reach a budget agreement to avoid a government shutdown. Jim Lehrer talks to The Wall Street Journal's Naftali Bendavid and Washington Post's Ed O'Keefe… Continue watching
Apr 07 What Does Wisconsin Special Election Mean for Democrats, Republicans? The political world, especially its left side, is abuzz over Tuesday's special state Supreme Court election in Wisconsin. The race was nonpartisan, at least technically. On Thursday, the official count of the election swung back to give the… Continue reading
Apr 07 Making Sen$e: The Need for a Long-Term Budget Fix By Paul Solman Alice Rivlin (seated in green) with Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin, D-Ill., and Andy Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union, during a meeting of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform in late 2010. (Photo By Tom… Continue reading
Apr 07 Watch Reid, Boehner Back to White House Thursday Night for More Budget Talks Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Harry Reid comment on the budget negotiations. Continue watching
Apr 07 The Need for a Long-Term Budget Fix By Elizabeth Shell I wrote yesterday about a chat with the former head of President Clinton's Council of Economic Advisers, Martin Baily, now of the Brookings Institution. Most striking to me, was his suggestion that there could conceivably be an upside to… Continue reading