Target Trump
Candidates prepare to take on Trump in second GOP debate tonight. Time: "'We kept waiting for him to do himself in. That hasn’t happened, so it’s time to help that process along,' one adviser to a Trump rival said. Added a second campaign’s strategist: 'If we don’t as a party change our posture, we’re looking at another President Clinton.'"
Jeb Super PAC runs anti-Trump ad. NYT: "'One candidate is in a dark place,' reads text at the beginning of the ad ... Mr. Trump’s face emerges, along with many of his most caustic remarks. The spot then switches to the words 'Choose a brighter path' and Mr. Bush talking optimistically as sun-drenched Americana images play on the screen."
Rally For More Dem Debates
Allow Debate to hold rally in DC today, demanding more Democratic debates: " Hours before the second televised Republican debate, Democrats and independents will gather at the DNC's headquarters in Washington to demand they #AllowDebate!"
DNC vice-chairs, O'Malley campaign pressure DNC chair to add debates. Politico: "With the fault lines drawn, many Democrats believe that it would take nothing less than a direct call from Clinton’s campaign headquarters in Brooklyn — or the White House — to change [Chairwoman Debbie] Wasserman Schultz’s mind ... Clinton’s position might change if the campaign of Sanders ... were to push the matter. The Vermonter’s team is instead focusing on cooperating with the DNC ... O’Malley ... took the unusual step of railing against the party leadership on stage at the DNC summer meeting in Minnesota."
Sanders campaign responds to swipe from Clinton-affiliated Correct The Record. The Hill: "Sanders wrote in the email, 'Yesterday, one of Hillary Clinton’s most prominent Super PACs attacked our campaign pretty viciously ... It was the kind of onslaught I expected to see from the Koch Brothers or Sheldon Adelson...'"
W. Post's Greg Sargent rebuts WSJ tally of Sen. Bernie Sanders' spending plans: "The big policy headline today comes from the Wall Street Journal, which delivers this alarming message: 'Price Tag of Bernie Sanders’ Proposals: $18 Trillion' ... [But] almost all of it is on things we’re already paying for; he just wants to change how we pay for them ... $15 trillion of it comes not from an analysis of anything Sanders has proposed, but from the fact that Sanders has said he’d like to see a single-payer health insurance system ..."
Senate Inches Toward Keeping Government Open
Bipartisan agreement in Senate for short-term bill to keep government open. Politico: "Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid backed a short-term measure to fund the federal government Tuesday, putting the chamber’s two leaders on the same page ..."
President open to short-term bill. W. Post: "The White House might be willing to back a short-term budget resolution that keeps the current budget caps, known as sequestration, in place in order to avoid a government shutdown later this month ... Such a deal, WH Press Sec Josh] Earnest said, wouldn't violate Obama's pledge to veto any budget bill that locks in sequestration."
Obama to push GOP to end carried interest loophole in bill to fund government. NYT: "In a speech on Wednesday, Mr. Obama is expected to call on Republicans to end the tax break and use the funds to pay for spending increases on domestic and national security programs, and he will enlist business leaders to help him make his case ... it has gained new political potency in recent days, with two Republican presidential candidates, Donald J. Trump and Jeb Bush, endorsing it."
While House conservatives demand everything. Politico: "The chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee, Texas Rep. Bill Flores, will put forward a package of funding measures Tuesday ... The plan is a wishlist of conservative priorities, including repealing Obamacare, stopping the administration's executive orders on immigration and defunding Planned Parenthood ... [It] would stop [Obama] from lifting sanctions against Iran [and] keep in place the sequester caps passed in the Budget Control Act."
House Majority Whip floats using budget reconciliation to defund Planned Parenthood. Roll Call: "While [Rep. Steve] Scalise can’t promise an override of Obama’s inevitable veto of any bill that scraps funding for Planned Parenthood, budget reconciliation is likely the only legislative route out of the Senate, where Republicans lack the votes to overcome a filibuster."
Some conservatives envision dumping Speaker Boehner for Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy. The Hill: "The discussions among members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus are preliminary and informal ... there is no evidence that McCarthy, Boehner’s current deputy, has been involved in any discussions ..."
Breakfast Sides
Seattle public school teachers settle five-day strike: "...teachers and other school employees will receive pay increases of 9.5 percent over three years, in addition to the state cost-of-living adjustment of 4.8 percent over two years. Test scores no longer will play any role in teacher evaluations, and teachers will have more of a say in how often students are tested. Teachers will be paid for a longer school day..."
Dems attack GOP for lost jobs after blocking Ex-Im Bank. Roll Call: "General Electric announced ... that 500 jobs would be moving outside the United States, directly implying that Congress’ refusal to renew the Export-Import Bank was to blame ... Democrats are seizing on Republican leadership’s Export-Import Bank reticence to hit the opposing party."
