Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, the adult in the room renewed his claim to the title “master political tactician” and still the most important GOPer in DC. VP Joe Biden, the closer who came off the bench when talks broke down. House Min. Leader Nancy Pelosi, who delivered all but...
(First Read): “Yes, liberals and Senate Democrats think President Obama gave up too much for a deal. And, yes, there's another fiscal fight coming up. But he got a deal, proving that the GOP "fever" did break, at least for a while. He also delivered on a campaign promise to...
“Congress will have to raise the Treasury Department’s $16.4 trillion borrowing limit by late winter, and Republicans see the debate as their best opportunity to extract spending cuts out of the White House. That’s why they effectively conceded the tax rate battle to President Barack Obama,” Politico wrote. “So while...
Moody’s Investor Service warned lawmakers on Wednesday that passage of the deal to avert the fiscal cliff does not mean their work is finished. The credit rating agency issued a note reminding policymakers that the U.S. credit-rating outlook is negative and a downgrade could be forthcoming unless debt ratios are...
“Public service was never meant to be an easy living,” Rep. John A. Boehner lamented Thursday, moments after he overcame a Republican insurrection to win re-election as speaker of the House. For Mr. Boehner, it may only get tougher from here. As reported in the New York Times, after a...
The deal offsets its two-month sequester delay with $24 billion in savings, half achieved through a tax gimmick and the other half achieved through discretionary spending cuts. Of those, only about $2 billion would come from DoD and other security agencies during the current fiscal year, according to an analysis...