Senate May Speed Up Vote To Avert Shutdown
Senate expected to vote Friday to give House more time before shutdown deadline reports TPM.
Unclear if House Dems will support Senate stopgap bill that extends sequester. The Hill: "The lawmakers are adamantly opposed to the across-the-board spending cuts ... but they're not ruling out the possibility of supporting them in a continuing resolution (CR) to keep the government funded beyond Sept. 30 ... Many Democrats, [Rep. Jim Moran] said, are now leaning toward supporting a funding extension at the current sequester level through Nov. 15. 'We'll accept the 988 [billion-dollar level], I expect, to get through the next 45 days,' he said ... '"if we continue to have assurances from the White House that they're not going to accept the sequester level for the next seven years.'"
GOP May Swap Shutdown For Debt Default
House Republicans may make debt limit demands before voting on stopgap bill. HuffPost: "One top GOP aide said putting [a delay ObamaCare] provision into the next draft of a continuing resolution (CR) to fund the government was not "at all likely," in part because the party has already decided to make a delay to the mandate a part of their proposal for lifting the debt ceiling in mid-October ... One possibility, speculated on by multiple Hill sources, is that he quickly unveils a debt limit bill to placate that faction of his caucus; or even holds a vote on such a bill next week. After that, he could pass a 'clean' continuing resolution."
Final list of demands unclear. CNN: "House Speaker John Boehner and other top leaders briefed their members last week on plans for the debt bill. Their proposal would include a one year delay of Obamacare, tax reforms, some entitlement reforms, approval of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, and other measures. But there are signs GOP leaders may be running into resistance from conservatives. Some don’t want to authorize any new borrowing; others want to add new items to the measure; and still others question the strategy of taking up the debt bill in the middle of fight over a spending measure and possible government shutdown."
House stopgap bill may only last a week. The Hill: "Senate Republicans emerging from a meeting Wednesday said they expect Boehner to pass a short-term stopgap, possibly lasting only a week, to avoid a shutdown on Tuesday ... A spokesman for Reid said he would wait to see what the House can pass before taking a position on a weeklong stopgap."
Breakfast Sides
Tension among Dems about immigration strategy. Politico: "...during a party meeting ... at least two House Democrats voiced concerns about the new approach on immigration that was made public earlier this week ... Rep. Luis Gutierrez ... questioned why House Democrats were giving up on fighting for immigration visas based on diversity and family reunification."
Obama energy regulator nominee may not clear cmte. Bloomberg: "Senator Tim Scott will vote against President Barack Obama’s nominee to lead the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, virtually erasing the possibility of a Senate panel approving the nomination ... With half the panel prepared to vote against him, [Ron] Binz doesn’t have enough support for the committee to recommend him for a full Senate vote ... [Opponents] have said Binz displayed a bias toward renewable fuels at the expense of coal as head of the Colorado regulatory authority."
Broad coalition backs gas tax hike to save highway trust fund. McClatchy: "The federal highway trust fund will run out of money by 2015 ... road builders and engineers, state transportation officials and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are pleading with Congress to raise the federal gasoline tax for the first time in 20 years ... taxpayers are paying the bill anyway. The highway fund hasn’t had enough money to cover what states need since 2008, so Congress has bailed it out with more than $50 billion in general revenues."
Gov. Jerry Brown signs $10/hr minimum wage. AP: "Federal law sets a minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, but California is among 19 states and the District of Columbia that sets higher minimums. Some cities have higher rates, including San Francisco, which has the nation’s highest minimum wage, $10.50 an hour."
