7 Days To Shutdown Deadline
"Wild week" ahead. Reuters: "Yet the only certainty is that when the dust settles, Obamacare will still be standing ... The first important [Senate] vote ... could come on Tuesday when Reid might stage a vote on a 'motion to proceed,' which basically asks the Senate's permission to debate a bill ... U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas could make a filibuster stand at that point ... Winning [a] second procedural vote would open the door for Reid to then easily destroy the Obamacare provision ... From there, Reid could push to pass the bill ... and then send the bill back to the House. A somewhat less theatrical turn could see Democrats introduce and approve a straight-forward, six-week extension of spending at the current level and send that over to the House."
Cruz strategy defies logic. Politico: "Cruz is asking Reid to subject the vote on removing the Obamacare provision to a 60-vote threshold instead of 'abusing his power.' That sort of agreement would require the consent of all 100 senators, which isn’t going to happen ... Failing Cruz’s long-shot request, he and Lee want Senate Republicans to vote against opening debate on the House-passed bill so that Reid can’t ultimately send a clean CR back to the House. This tactic has been repeatedly panned by Republicans like Bob Corker of Tennessee and Richard Burr of North Carolina because it would be a vote against advancing a bill that defunds Obamacare."
Former GOP Senator Judd Gregg slams conservatives for playing "Russian Roulette," in The Hill: "The self-promotional babble of a few has become the mainstream of Republican political thought. It has marginalized the influence of the party to an appalling degree ... You cannot in politics take a hostage you cannot shoot. That is what the debt ceiling is. At some point, the debt ceiling will have to be increased not because it is a good idea but because it is the only idea ... These are folks who have never governed and are not inclined to do so. Rather, their goals are improved fundraising and, in some cases, individual advancement."
Climate May Be 2014 Flashpoint
GOP seeks to make campaign issue out of new carbon regs. National Journal: "On Friday, an hour after Obama's EPA chief, Gina McCarthy, formally announced the climate rules, strategists began linking them to 2014 Democratic candidates. The National Republican Senatorial Committee sent out a blast e-mail, titled 'Democrats Side With Obama's Radical EPA over Local Workers, Business and Industry,' to outlets in the home states of seven Democrats in competitive races ... In June 2014, the Obama administration plans to propose a much more controversial regulation slashing emissions from existing coal-fired power plants—a rule that could lead to the closure of operating coal plants. Once that rule comes out, House Republicans can force Democrats to take a vote on that proposal—just five months away from the midterm elections."
WH dismisses. The Hill: "The White House is comparing its regulatory effort and the opposition it has stirred to Obama’s first-term focus on developing new fuel economy standards for cars and trucks, the second largest source of American carbon emissions. 'We saw a lot of the same naysayers who said that this would be really bad for the auto industry,' Josh Earnest, a White House spokesman, said on Friday. 'But over the course of time in which those rules took effect, we have seen the auto industry strengthen significantly in terms of creating jobs and putting forward better products and improving sales and revenue.' The administration is predicting that requiring the carbon capture technology will lead to new advancements, making it cheaper and easier to employ."
Breakfast Sides
Republican governors push tax cuts, "burn surpluses." Bloomberg: "Revenue has topped forecasts in 30 states this year, partly because wealthy taxpayers shifted their income into 2012 to avoid higher rates, says the National Association of State Budget Officers. Some first-term governors, at least eight of them Republicans, have seized on the extra money as evidence of fiscal skill while devoting the cash to election-year rollbacks."
"Supreme Court may strike new blow to campaign funding laws" reports McClatchy: "The issue is whether federal limits, not on contributions to individual races but on how much a donor can give to all candidates for Congress or party committees in a particular election cycle, violate the right of free speech ... If [conservatives] win, a wealthy Republican or Democrat could give as much as $3.6 million in total by giving the maximum amount to all of its party committees and candidates. This money could be funneled by party leaders into a close race or races, tipping the balance of power in Congress."
Conservatives believe in the freedom to starve, says NYT's Paul Krugman: "...the third of [FDR's] famous Four Freedoms — freedom from want — seems to have been turned on its head. Conservatives seem, in particular, to believe that freedom’s just another word for not enough to eat. Hence the war on food stamps, which House Republicans have just voted to cut sharply even while voting to increase farm subsidies."
