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Congress Returns From Recess Facing Dec. 11 Deadline to Avoid a Shutdown

Staff , National Journal — Mon, 30 Nov 2015 10:30:43 -0500

The House and Senate return from recess this week with some pending deadlines and little clarity about the next steps.

On the transportation front, members passed a short-term extension of the highway-funding bill ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday to buy more time for conferees from both chambers to reach an accord on a long-term funding bill. That extension expires Friday, when the House will be out, giving Congress four days to report out and pass a conference deal or push through another short-term bill.

Aside from a Monday vote to confirm a new administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has not announced any other plans for the upper chamber this week, and both chambers will be mulling how to keep the government funded beyond the Dec. 11 expiration of the current continuing resolution.

Here’s what else is on tap:

ENERGY

House Republicans hope to send a message across the Atlantic this week as leaders, including President Obama, gather for make-or-break climate negotiations in Paris. They’re bringing resolutions to the floor that would block major EPA regulations that impose carbon-emissions limits on the nation’s power plants.

The measures have also passed the Senate, but face certain vetoes. Yet Republicans, who oppose the hoped-for global climate accord being negotiated in Paris, hope to sow doubt about whether the U.S. can meet the carbon-cutting pledges it has offered in the multilateral talks, which are designed to reach a final accord.

Across the Capitol, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will gather Tuesday for a hearing about Interior Department offshore-drilling regulations crafted in the wake of the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The hearing will focus heavily on a draft rule floated this year mandating tougher standards for subsea “blowout preventers.”

HEALTH CARE

Reconciliation is still at the top of the Senate’s agenda, and with McConnell’s declaration that a provision stripping funding from Planned Parenthood will remain in the bill, it leaves presidential candidates stuck between a rock and a hard place.

The bill, which passed the House last month, repeals major provisions of Obamacare in addition to defunding Planned Parenthood. Reconciliation is a procedural rule that allows legislation to pass the Senate with only 51 votes and without the threat of a filibuster.

But while the GOP holds 54 seats in the upper chamber, the bill as-is creates problems for those on the campaign trail. Presidential candidates Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, along with Sen. Mike Lee, have pledged to vote against a partial Obamacare repeal, advocating instead for full repeal. But McConnell’s announcement has created a new wrinkle: If the senators vote against the reconciliation bill, they will face the criticism of pro-life groups, and with Cruz and Rubio competing for conservative votes, such criticism would be harmful to either campaign.

Additionally, Republicans might need those votes for the bill to pass. Moderates such as Sens. Mark Kirk, Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, and Kelly Ayotte could struggle to vote against funding for Planned Parenthood, meaning that GOP leadership must pull off a balancing act in order to whip together even the simple majority needed to send the bill to Obama’s desk, where it awaits a certain veto.

Reconciliation, however, comes with a catch. The legislation is subject to a particular set of budget rules, which has already caused hiccups in the Senate. During the bill’s first round with the parliamentarian, its repeal of Obamacare’s individual and employer mandates came into question. Leadership has since been reworking the bill to meet requirements under the Byrd rule, but has not released updated text yet.

They have said the goal is to vote on the bill this week, particularly considering that other deadlines are lined up behind it.

“We’re still trying to get the reconciliation done after Thanksgiving, and then it looks like we’re going to have a highway bill by Dec. 4 now, and then the omnibus by Dec. 11,” said Majority Whip John Cornyn. “But there’s a lot of moving parts. But that, I think, is the general framework.”

TECHNOLOGY

Lawyers for the Federal Communications Commission and the telecom industry will face off in federal court Friday over one of the most significant technology-policy initiatives of the Obama administration: net neutrality. A slew of major Internet providers and associations have sued to repeal the FCC regulations, decrying them as an illegal power grab that will strangle their industry with utility-style government controls. The FCC and digital-rights activists argue the rules, which require that all Internet traffic be treated equally, are essential for preserving a free and open Internet.

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the FCC’s last attempt at net-neutrality regulations last year. But this time, the agency grounded the regulations in a broader legal authority. A three-judge panel of the same court will hear the oral arguments Friday, and the case could ultimately be bound for the Supreme Court.

Elsewhere in tech news, the House Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing Tuesday to discuss whether to require police to obtain a warrant before seizing emails and other electronic records. Lawmakers have been trying to strengthen the protections of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, a 1986 law, for years, but the push has been overshadowed by fights over National Security Agency surveillance.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee’s subcommittee on trade will hold a hearing Tuesday on mobile payment technologies, and the panel’s subcommittee on communications and technology will reconvene a hearing on media ownership regulations Thursday.

WHITE HOUSE

President Obama kicks off his week by heading to Paris for the COP21 climate summit, a gathering of hundreds of world leaders to assess the world’s progress on climate change and hammer out an agreement to curb global warming. While there, he’ll meet with various heads of state, along with French President Hollande. On Tuesday, he’ll return to Washington.

On Wednesday, he’ll attend meetings at the White House, and on Thursday, he’ll participate in the National Christmas Tree lighting. He’ll end his week with yet more meetings at the White House.

Ben Geman, Caitlin Owens and Rebecca Nelson contributed to this article.

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Congress Returns Amid Intensified Focus on Terror Threats After Paris Attacks

Staff , National Journal — Mon, 16 Nov 2015 11:17:44 -0500

Friday’s terror attacks in Paris will weigh heavily on the minds of lawmakers as Congress returns to Washington to hold a quick one-week session before another break for Thanksgiving.

On Wednesday, the House committees on Homeland Security and Foreign Affairs will hold a joint hearing on “The Rise of Radicalism: Growing Terrorist Sanctuaries and the Threat to the U.S. Homeland”—a subject of even greater importance in the wake of Paris. Beyond that, it’s unclear what, if anything, Congress may do to directly address the attacks and their aftermath. On Thursday, a House Judiciary subcommittee will hold a hearing on the Syrian refugee crisis and its implications for U.S. security.

On the floor, meanwhile, the House is expected to take up a handful of financial services bills. And both chambers may have to pass another short-term highway bill if they are unable to quickly agree on a six-year bill to fund the country’s infrastructure projects.

Here’s what else is on tap:

ENERGY

Republicans on Capitol Hill are taking aim at White House efforts to help craft an international accord on global warming, attacks that come ahead of high-stakes United Nations climate change talks in Paris that—despite heightened security concerns after Friday’s terror attacks— are still scheduled to begin in two weeks.

On Wednesday morning the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee—which is led by James Inhofe, who calls global warming a “hoax”—will hold a hearing on the upcoming U.N. summit. The House Science Committee will hold its own hearing that afternoon titled “The Administration’s Empty Promises for the International Climate Treaty.”

The hearings are part of a wider GOP assault on President Obama’s second-term climate-change agenda. A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the Senate will vote “soon” on resolutions to overturn EPA’s carbon emissions rules for power plants, but he did not offer a specific timeline.

FINANCE

The House Financial Services Committee will hold a hearing Wednesday morning, examining the agenda of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Chairwoman Mary Jo White will testify. On Tuesday, the Ways and Means Human Resources Subcommittee will hold a hearing on lessons from other countries’ welfare reform experiences.

HEALTH CARE

Reconciliation is sure to be a buzzword around Capitol Hill this week, after, according to the New York Times, the Senate parliamentarian ruled that some elements of the House-passed bill can’t be expedited, and Democrats say that the upper chamber would need 60 votes to repeal both the individual and employer mandates. But Republicans say that’s not exactly the case.

Additionally, the nomination of Dr. Robert Califf to serve as the Food and Drug Administration’s commissioner is underway with a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing Tuesday. Later that day, the Senate Finance Committee will have a hearing titled “Physician Owned Distributors: Are They Harmful to Patients and Payers?”

Also on Tuesday, the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee will hear from FDA and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services about their roles in the regulation of diagnostic tests. And as the weather chills—and flu season begins—the Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee will examine on Thursday how agencies have prepared for the influenza after last year’s vaccine wasn’t an exact match for a common flu strain, causing many to fall ill.

TECHNOLOGY

All five members of the Federal Communications Commission will appear before the House Communications and Technology Subcommittee on Tuesday morning for an oversight hearing. Republicans have been furious with the FCC since it enacted expansive net neutrality regulations earlier this year that they claim will stifle investment in the broadband industry. The agency is also preparing for a complex auction of TV airwaves to cellular carriers next year and is examining its regulations of the TV industry.

The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee will hold a mark-up of nine bills on Wednesday morning, including one that would encourage federal agencies to sell their airwaves to the private sector, and another that would bar companies from using contracts to prevent their customers from criticizing them.

The House Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade Subcommittee will hold a hearing on Thursday morning on the potential economic impact of commercial drones. Although other congressional panels have examined the Federal Aviation Administration’s efforts to authorize and regulate commercial drones, the trade subcommittee has jurisdiction over privacy and consumer safety issues.

WHITE HOUSE

With the Paris attacks occupying the attention of leaders around the world, President Obama is hopping from summit to summit this week as he spends the week overseas. On Monday, he starts the day in Antalya, Turkey, wrapping up the G-20 summit he began on Sunday. Then it’s off to Manila in the Philippines, where he will attend the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum on Wednesday and Thursday. On Friday, he goes to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, for two summits – the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and then the East Asia Summit, two organizations that include 17 countries important to Obama’s vaunted “pivot to Asia.”

Caitlin Owens, George E. Condon Jr., Eric Garcia, Brendan Sasso and Ben Geman contributed to this article.

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Attention Shifts to House-Senate Budget Conference

Billy House and Staff , National Journal — Mon, 21 Oct 2013 11:48:24 -0400

The Senate is out on recess, but the House returns to session Tuesday for the start of what could be a bellwether week to gauge the political tone in Washington for the rest of the year.

Much of the attention is already shifting to focus on the formal start of negotiations in the joint House-Senate budget conference. And the action will pick up in committees and on the floor as well. Here are some highlights of the upcoming agenda from National Journal. Click here for more.

BUDGET and FINANCE

Finding Compromise

Last week's deal to extend the debt ceiling through Feb. 7 also restarted funding for government agencies, but only through Jan. 15. However, it also called for a bipartisan, bicameral budget conference to get to work on finding compromise on a longer-term spending plan, at least one to last through the end of the current fiscal year on Sept. 30.

The new panel's assignment is a tough one, given the wide differences in the budgets passed separately by the two chambers. Those extend not just to the respective levels of proposed spending, but to the treatment of entitlement programs, the future of the sequester cuts, and the prospect for taxes or other new revenues.

The conferees are due to issue a report on or around Dec. 13. They will be led by Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray, D-Wash., along with House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., who did not even vote in favor of the deal that sets this all in motion. This week, as the Senate is out, staffs are preparing for next week's not-yet-scheduled first official meetings, and conferees are talking by phone, if not in person.

For now, questions abound over relatively simple matters like whether their deliberations will be public—or even perhaps televised. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is among those already calling for live coverage.

"If that table is closed down, if you are excluded from that, if there isn't live coverage," said Pelosi last week, "then it is hard to see how a product can come out of it that we can present to our members to say it was an honest debate.

"And you know what is contingent upon it, of course, is reopening government in January and lifting the debt ceiling in February," she said.

DEFENSE

Spotlight on NSA

As the Obama administration's online and phone surveillance programs continue to get scrutiny with new revelations—including that the agency is collecting hundreds of millions of online contacts and "buddies" from instant messaging services—the House Intelligence Committee is holding a hearing on Thursday to look into National Security Agency activities.

Separately, as the recent deal to alleviate the government shutdown and lift the debt ceiling did not remove sequestration, a House Armed Services subcommittee is holding a hearing on the impacts of a continuing resolution and sequestration on defense acquisition and modernization.

Defense and military officials from the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force will be testifying on Wednesday.

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House Passes Debt Ceiling Deal, Sends to President Obama

Staff , National Journal — Wed, 16 Oct 2013 22:48:00 -0400

National Journal has updates on the deal to end the government shutdown and suspend the debt ceiling. Read below or click here for the latest.

UPDATE (10:30 p.m.): Confusion on the Floor

A House stenographer made an outburst during the vote, and was then dragged off the floor and yelling about "a house divided," members are saying. She was reportedly speaking about God. Members of Congress and staff on the floor were visibly confused and shaken.

The House stenographer, as she was being put into the elevators after being escorted off the House floor, yelled:

"This is not one nation under God, if it were the constitution wouldn't have been it wouldn't been written by Free Masons."

"You cannot serve two masters."

The audio from the floor is here from NPR's Todd Zwillich. (By Elahe Izadi)

UPDATE (10:16 p.m.): The Vote Is Over

The vote is now over in the House, 285-144.

Eighty-seven Republicans voted in favor of the bill, 144 voted against it. All Democrats who voted voted in favor of the bill. Earlier in the day, House Republicans were expecting more like 60 votes in favor, so even though it's not a majority, 87 isn't a bad showing. So much for the Hastert Rule.

One notable no: Rep. Paul Ryan, per Tim Alberta. (By Matt Berman)

UPDATE (10:12 p.m.): The House Passes the Bill

The vote is still happening, but based on the informal C-SPAN count, there are 220 yea votes. Which puts this over the edge, despite a large number of Republican nays. It's over. (By Matt Berman)

UPDATE (9:55 p.m.): House Ends Debate, Moves Onto the Vote

The vote'll take 15 minutes.

UPDATE (9:21 p.m.): The House Is In

Here we go. Onto the last leg of the evening...

The House has decided to hurry things up a bit by not sending the Senate bill through the Rules Committee. The rule was passed by unanimous consent. Now we're onto an hour of debate before the final vote. (By Matt Berman)

UPDATE (9:16 p.m.): The Congressional Budget Office Weighs In

The CBO is out now with an estimate of the Senate-passed deal. You can get all the spending details here .

UPDATE (8:46 p.m.): Here's What Happens Next

House Rules Committee Chairman Pete Sessions expects the bill, now passed by the Senate, to hit the House floor at 9:30 p.m. From there, there could be an hour of debate before a vote. Which brings us to right around the 11:00 p.m. estimate. Finally, the bill goes to meet Obama's pen.

And tomorrow, in case you want to plan out your life after midnight? The White House has just announced that the president will deliver a statement at 10:35 a.m. (By Elahe Izadi and Matt Berman)

UPDATE (8:28 p.m.): Obama: Thanks for the Deal, Now Let Me Sign It

At a statement from the White House, the president thanked the leaders of both parties, saying he'd sign the deal "immediately" once it gets to his desk. "Hopefully next time, it won't be in the eleventh hour. We've got to get out of the habit of governing by crisis."

He said that there's "a lot of work ahead of us," including gaining back recently lost trust, but he'll speak more on this tomorrow.

Obama again suggested that, "with the shutdown behind us," the U.S. has the opprotunity to focus on not just a "sensible" budget, but also immigration reform and a farm bill.

Some people, like CNN's John King, think that Obama making a statement before the House votes could cost him some votes. We'll soon see. (By Matt Berman)

UPDATE (8:20 p.m.): Obama's Coming

The president will issue a statment from the press room in five minutes. Kinda overshadows the Democratic press conference that's currently going on. It's also not quite clear why the president is talking before the House votes. (By Matt Berman)

UPDATE (8:07 p.m.): The Senate Passes the Deal

The bill passed 81-18. Next up: the House.

UPDATE (7:55 p.m.): The Senate Votes for Cloture

The Senate voted for cloture, 83-16. The no votes, all Republicans, in no particular order:

David Vitter, Ted Cruz, Ron Johnson, Mike Lee, Pat Roberts, Pat Toomey, Marco Rubio, John Cornyn, Richard Shelby, Rand Paul, Dean Heller, Pete Sessions, Mike Enzi, Jim Risch, Mike Crapo, and Chuck Grassley.

Jim Inhofe did not vote.

The most notable no here is Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, the lone member of the Senate GOP leadership voting against cloture. Cornyn is the Senate Minority Whip. On the other hand, the most notable yes may be Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., who replaced Jim DeMint when DeMint left to lead Heritage. Heritage, through it's Heritage Action group, was very much opposed to this deal. (By Matt Berman)

UPDATE (7:33 p.m.): The Senate Is Voting Now. Really!

The Senate is currently voting for cloture. It's a 15 minute vote. From here, there will be another 15 minute vote on the bill itself.

UPDATE (7:30 p.m.): Sen. Patty Murray Starts the Ball on the Budget Conference

The Washington Democrat asked for unanimous consent to set up a bicameral budget conference with a report due by December 13 if the Reid-McConnell plan passes through Congress. There was no objection to the request.

After that, Harry Reid began the process to get to a vote on the bill, starting with a vote for cloture to cut off debate. (By Matt Berman)

UPDATE (7:23 p.m.): The Senate Votes Are Coming

Voting in the Senate is set to start in the next 10-15 minutes, according to a Senate Democratic leadership aide. (By Elahe Izadi)

UPDATE (7:20 p.m.): There's Some Pork Hiding in the Deal

BuzzFeed 's John Stanton has dug through the full text of the Reid-McConnell plan and found some treats for the Republican leader. According to Stanton, the bill features a provision that would send nearly $3 billion in funding to the Army Corps of Engineers for a dam and lock project that would benefit Kentucky, Tennessee, and Illinois. Mitch McConnell, of course, is facing some tough competition in his Kentucky reelection race.

Over at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution , Jamie Dupree finds some more interesting bits from the bill, including a $174,000 death benefit for the late Sen. Frank Lautenberg's wife. Dupree also reports that the dam and lock project didn't come from McConnell's office—at least according to McConnell's office. (By Matt Berman)

UPDATE (7:08 p.m.): Chuck Schumer: "Leader McConnell Stood Up For the Good of the Nation"

The New York Democrat took the floor after Cruz and paid tribute to both Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell. "We have seen that a small faction, in either house, when it says 'my way or no way,' when it says 'I am going to do such hurt to innocent people that you will have to succumb to me,' we saw they failed. Hopefully with large, bipartisan votes."

Schumer said that the "silver lining in this cloud" is that maybe now, after this, "we can go back to the old way of legislating." (By Matt Berman)

UPDATE (6:56 p.m.): Ted Cruz: "This Deal Embodies Everything About the Washington Establishment that Frustrates the American People"

Coming to the Senate floor Wednesday night, Cruz knocked the Reid-McConnell deal as "terrible," largely replaying his previous lines on Obamacare, and its effects on premiums, seniors, and single mothers. Again, Cruz cited Jimmy Hoffa and the Teamsters.

"Today, the United States Senate is saying: you don't have a voice in Washington," Cruz said. "This is a terrible deal."

Cruz also knocked Senate Republicans for not standing united with House Republicans "against the train-wreck that is Obamacare." Cruz said that it is "heartbreaking" that Senate Republicans directed their "cannon-fire" at House Republicans.

But, Cruz wanted to end on an encouraging note for his supporters."Washington is broken, but the answers are going to come from the American people."

"This is a terrible deal today, but it is a terrible deal for the American people...but we're going to turn this around."

(By Matt Berman)

UPDATE (6:47 p.m.): What's Happening in the Senate?

The vote is so far taking a bit longer to happen then was previously thought. But senators are now back on the floor, with Saxby Chambliss, R-Georgia, currently speaking on, of all things, how to process terrorists.

We should be getting there... (By Matt Berman)

UPDATE (5:56 p.m.): Full Text of the Plan to End the Shutdown and Raise the Debt Ceiling

Read it all here .

UPDATE (4:08 p.m.): House GOP Leadership To Vote For the Deal

While many House conservatives are still expected to oppose the Senate's plan, more Republicans than had been anticipated earlier in the day are now expected to help pass it.

During a closed-door meeting of House Republicans Wednesday afternoon, all of the House GOP elected leadership team said they would vote for the measure. That's different from the fiscal cliff package that Boehner allowed on the House floor on New Year's, when both Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., and Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., undercut the speaker by bolting and voting against the measure.

That measure passed, anyhow, with most Democrats joining some Republicans in support.

On Wednesday night, as many as 60 House Republicans are expected to back the Senate debt-ceiling package, including Cantor and McCarthy. And House Democrats say they will be joined by nearly all of the members of their 200-member caucus—meaning there will likely be more than enough votes to pass the bill.

In the afternoon closed-door meeting with rank-and-file Republicans, Boehner was given a standing ovation, and members said he told them, essentially, "we will live to fight another day." (By Billy House)

UPDATE (3:47 p.m.): Heritage Action: Vote Against the Senate Plan

Well, this seemed bound to happen. After key-voting yesterday's failed House GOP plan, the influential Heritage Action group has key voted the new Senate plan. They're calling on Congress to vote no:

"Unfortunately, the proposed deal will do nothing to stop Obamacare's massive new entitlements from taking root—radically changing the nature of American health care."

Heritage Action joins the Club For Growth in opposition to the plan. It may not stop the plan from going through, but it makes it more likely that Boehner won't be able to bring a majority of his caucus with him in passing it. (By Matt Berman)

UPDATE (3:33 p.m.): Speaker Boehner Makes It Press Statement Official

The speaker will allow a vote in the House on the Senate bill, according to a new statement out this afternoon. Here it is in full, with our emphasis:

"The House has fought with everything it has to convince the president of the United States to engage in bipartisan negotiations aimed at addressing our country's debt and providing fairness for the American people under ObamaCare. That fight will continue. But blocking the bipartisan agreement reached today by the members of the Senate will not be a tactic for us. In addition to the risk of default, doing so would open the door for the Democratic majority in Washington to raise taxes again on the American people and undo the spending caps in the 2011 Budget Control Act without replacing them with better spending cuts. With our nation's economy still struggling under years of the president's policies, raising taxes is not a viable option. Our drive to stop the train wreck that is the president's health care law will continue. We will rely on aggressive oversight that highlights the law's massive flaws and smart, targeted strikes that split the legislative coalition the president has relied upon to force his health care law on the American people."

UPDATE (3:25 p.m.): GOP Congressman on Tea Partiers: "I'm Not Sure They're Republicans"

Rep. Charles Boustany, R-Lou., bashed the tea party wing of his party on Wednesday.

"There are members with a different agenda," Boustany told National Journal . "And I'm not sure they're Republicans and I'm not sure they're conservative." You can read the full story here from Shane Goldmacher.

UPDATE (3:19 p.m.): House Democrats Feeling Pretty, Pretty Good

After a caucus meeting, House Democrats say they expect total unity on the Senate deal once it reaches the House. It's "approaching unanimity," says Rep. Steve Israel. (By Elahe Izadi)

UPDATE (3:15 p.m.): John Boehner Does Radio

The House speaker went on a Cincinnati radio show this afternoon to talk about the deal, and what he's thinking. "We fought the good fight," he told 700WLW, "we just didn't win." Boehner said that he's pushing House Republicans to vote for the Senate plan, and he'll bring the bill for a vote in the House. (By Matt Berman)

UPDATE (3:00 p.m.): The House's Plan

The Reid-McConnell deal is expected to reach the House Rules Committee by about 7:00 p.m. From there, the House hopes to vote on it before midnight. So, could be a long night, even if it's not quite as tense now that there's a plan in place. (By Billy House and Matt Berman)

UPDATE (2:40 p.m.): What to Expect for the Rest of Today

Updated plans are for the Senate to now vote first on the deal as early as Wednesday afternoon or early evening.

The House is to follow with a vote in the evening, and then the measure would be sent to the president—all of that occurring within just hours before the administration's Thursday deadline for hiking the nation's $16.7 trillion borrowing cap.

Under an earlier strategy hatched by Senate and House leaders, House leaders had been planning to vote first on the measure as a way around some of the procedural hurdles that could have been put up in the Senate.

Helping to smooth the way for the Senate to be able to take that initial action was Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Tex., who told reporters Wednesday that he would not attempt to block the measure. (By Billy House)

UPDATE (2:16 p.m.): Club For Growth: Don't Vote For This Deal

The Club For Growth has issued a "key vote" on the Reid-McConnell deal. They're a no:

"This announced plan, the details of which aren't completely known, appears to have little to no reforms in it. There are no significant changes to ObamaCare, nothing on the other major entitlements that are racked with trillions in unfunded liabilities, and no meaningful spending cuts either. If this bill passes, Congress will kick the can down the road, yet again."

Heritage Action had key voted Tuesday's House GOP plan as a no, but they haven't come out with a statement on the latest deal. House conservatives were already likely to largely vote against the Reid-McConnell plan, but this move from the Club For Growth just makes going against leadership a bit easier. (By Matt Berman)

UPDATE (1:41 p.m.): Cruz Won't Block Senate Deal, Won't Budge on Obamacare Either

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said in a press conference Wednesday that he would not fight a Senate deal to end the shutdown and raise the debt ceiling. He's not happy about it though, because its devoid of evidence of his efforts to defund the Affordable Care Act, a fight that precipitated the shutdown. "The fight against Obamacare must continue in the face of Washington's apathy," he said in a later statement. "That is where my attention will remain focused." The government shutdown may have erased any leverage Republicans had to weaken health care reform, but it doesn't sound like Cruz is willing to admit defeat. (By Marina Koren)

UPDATE (1:09 p.m.): House GOP Calls Afternoon Meeting in Capitol Basement

House Republican leadership has called for a 3 p.m. closed-doors conference meeting this afternoon in the Capitol basement. He is expected to explain why and how he intends to allow a floor vote on a Senate-prepared plan to end the shutdown and lift the debt ceiling.

Meanwhile, hundreds of House conservatives are currently huddled in the Capitol Visitor Center for the weekly meeting of the Republican Study Committee. In a rare move, RSC leadership removed staffers from the room shortly after the meeting began so there could be a candid discussion among members, according to aides present.

Several RSC members have already stated that they will oppose today's House vote on the Senate plan to reopen government and raise the debt ceiling. But today's RSC meeting, members say, is less about strategizing for that vote and more about how to move forward. (By Tim Alberta and Billy House)

UPDATE (1:07 p.m.): Obama to Congress: Act Fast

The White House applauded the Reid-McConnell agreement Wednesday and urged both houses to approve it to move the nation away from the brink of default. Press secretary Jay Carney said President Obama believes the agreement will reopen the government and remove the threat of economic brinkmanship. The president encourages the Congress to act swiftly, Carney said.

After repeatedly insisting the president would not pay ransom to end the shutdown, Carney said the president does not object to the income verification provision in the agreement. "We're fine with it," said Carney, calling it a "modest adjustment." "Ransom would be a wholly different thing," he said. (By George Condon)

UPDATE (12:35 p.m.): Speaker John Boehner, Hero?

Whether Speaker John Boehner will ultimately face the wrath of hard-line members of his Republican conference for allowing a vote on the Senate-prepared bill to resolve the debt ceiling and government shutdown is open for debate.

But Democratic Rep. John Yarmuth of Kentucky is among those providing glowing endorsements.

"Today, he is my hero," said Yarmuth, standing outside of the House chamber. (By Billy House)

UPDATE (12:17 p.m.): Reid and McConnell Take the Floor to Introduce Compromise

It's never easy to get a deal, the majority leader said as he took the floor. "This time was really hard." But, all the same, here it comes.

Reid announced a conference committee led by Sen. Patty Murray and Rep. Paul Ryan that would help to "chart a course for economic growth" with a long-term budget agreement that would "prevent these frequent crises."

Mitch McConnell followed Reid, saying that it's been a long couple weeks for the nation and Congress, but that they've now "put some of those most urgent issues behind us." McConnell said the deal was "far less than many of us had hoped for," but it is still better than what others had sought.

UPDATE (12:16 p.m.): Ted Cruz Won't Block the Deal

Asked if he would block it, he said "of course not." So there you have it. This obviously makes passage much simpler in the Senate.

UPDATE (12:15 p.m.): Next Step for the House? After a Vote, Everyone Goes Home

After passing the Senate's bill to reopen government and lift the debt ceiling, House GOP leaders will allow members to adjourn for the rest of the week—and possibly into early next week—according to congressional aides familiar with the plans.

Speaker John Boehner and his lieutenants will hold-off on releasing members to leave Washington until after the Senate follows the House in also passing the measure. That's just in case some last-second change force the bill to get sent back Wednesday night.

But once that happens, House members will be given the green light to leave—and get started on spinning what's just happened to constituents back home in their districts.

Before the Senate-prepared debt ceiling and government funding bill can arrive on the House floor for a vote, it must first see the measure go through the House Rules Committee. According to congressional aides familiar with the plan, the committee is expected to pass the rule setting the floor procedures in a "voice vote."

The House will then take a previous version of a House resolution—and disapprove of previous Senate amendments. Then, it will substitute for those a new amendment, which in essence will be the plan worked out are what Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.,have just worked out.

After passage, the bill will be sent to the Senate, passed there, and then is expected to be signed by the president. (By Billy House)

UPDATE (12:03 p.m.): The Senate Is In

Sen. Harry Reid has taken the floor and is waiting on Mitch McConnell before speaking more on their debt-ceiling deal. In the meantime, Reid paid tribute to the Senate chaplain before calling for a roll to buy some time. Oh, and C-SPAN 2 is playing some trumpet. (By Matt Berman)

UPDATE (12:00 p.m.): Even With a Deal, the Damage Has Been Done

Deal or no deal, the country is already paying a price for Congress' brinkmanship, and it's being done to the country's most valuable financial asset: the world's full faith in its credit. Read more here from Patrick Reis .

UPDATE (11:50 a.m.): John Boehner's Speakership Could Be Safe

That's even if he puts the Senate plan on the floor without getting a majority of Republicans to vote for it. House conservative Rep. Raul Labrador said this morning that he is "really proud" of Boehner, and that he has "nothing to worry about right now."

Part of the reason for that? House conservatives may catch a break with the new deal. They get to vote no on the plan, and they don't have to have the weight of a default crisis hanging on them as a consequence.

And as Matt Vasilogambros writes, worries over Boehner's speakership in the past have all been for naught. So far at least, he's proven to be quite resilient. (By Matt Berman and Billy House)

UPDATE (11:35 a.m.): Reid and McConnell to Take the Senate Floor at Noon

In just about a half an hour, the two Senate leaders will speak on the floor about their deal, according to a GOP Senate aide. (By Michael Catalini)

UPDATE (11:24 a.m.): Could the Senate Deal End the Debt-Ceiling Crises?

The deal that the Senate is now getting set to roll out would include language for a "resolution of disapproval" that would allow Congress to disapprove of a debt-ceiling increase, as opposed to approving of one like it does now. That would mean that, as long as the debt-limit increase is not explicitly disapproved by both chambers with a veto-proof majority, the debt-limit would increase.

It's a plan that was originally floated in 2011 by Mitch McConnell, and it's been more recently advocated for by Democrats like Sen. Barbara Boxer. If it goes through and becomes a permanent part of future debt-ceiling deals, it could mean the end of this crisis-cycle.

You can read more details on the Senate deal here . (By Billy House and Matt Berman)

UPDATE (11:00 a.m.): Will Anyone (Read: Ted Cruz) Object to the Deal in the Senate?

The question was put to Rand Paul. His response: "people are ready to vote." (By Matt Berman)

UPDATE (10:39 a.m.): GOP Senator: Deal Is Set

This from the AP:

BREAKING: Republican senator says a bipartisan deal is in hand to reopen government and avoid a default.
— The Associated Press (@AP) October 16, 2013

UPDATE (10:35 a.m.): House GOP Leadership Is Meeting Now

In the Speaker's office . (By Matt Berman)

UPDATE (10:22 a.m.): How Real Is the October 17 Deadline?

If there's no deal to raise the debt-limit by tomorrow, the Treasury Department will no longer be able to borrow money and be left with about $30 billion in cash-on-hand. That doesn't mean that the U.S. will automatically default come Thursday. Part of the reason for that is just the calendar:

Tomorrow is hardly a "deadline" pic.twitter.com/yCOPPks5xd
— Steven Perlberg (@stevenperlberg) October 16, 2013

The real potential for a default crisis kicks in around the end of the month, with nearly $60 billion in payments due to be made on November 1.

But just because the U.S. won't default on Thursday doesn't mean hitting tomorrow's deadline won't be deeply problematic. The credit rating agency Fitch already has the U.S.'s AAA rating under negative review, and hitting that deadline could push markets over the edge and create even more economic uncertainty. Most of Congress, the Obama administration, and many big-time financial investors view October 17 as a serious deadline. That alone would make a breach economically dangerous. (By Matt Berman)

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No House Vote on Shutdown Tuesday Night

Staff , National Journal — Tue, 15 Oct 2013 20:46:00 -0400

Time is running out to hammer out a deal on the debt limit. The government has already been shut down for 15 days. But the end may be in sight.

Stick here for updates from National Journal 's team of congressional reporters throughout the day.

UPDATE (7:23 p.m.): Senate Leaders Say They Will Work Toward Deal

"Given tonight's events, the Leaders have decided to work toward a solution that would reopen the government and prevent default," Michael Bruman, a McConnell spokesman, writes in an email statement. "They are optimistic an agreement can be reached."

Adam Jentleson, Senator Reid's spokesman, echoed the same. "Senator Reid and Senator McConnell have re-engaged in negotiations and are optimistic that an agreement is within reach," he wrote in an email statement.

UPDATE (7:00 p.m.): Confirmed, The House Vote Isn't Happening

There will be no vote on a House bill to end the shutdown Tuesday. Boehner does not have the votes to pass his proposal. Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) tells the Washington Post "We are done for the night."

UPDATE (6:06 p.m.): The House Vote (Probably) Isn't Happening

And just like that, a full day comes to this: National Review 's Robert Costa reports that there will be no vote tonight on the House GOP plan to raise the debt-limit and reopen the government. Meanwhile, a House leadership aide says "no decision has been made at this time. The elected leadership will meet soon."It's not at all clear where House Republican leadership goes from here. If they go further to the right to appease their caucus, a plan would have even less of a chance of being treated seriously by the Senate. And if they don't go more to the right, they risk losing a majority of House Republican votes.

Time is now seriously short, and there aren't any hours left to negotiate, vote, and prevent a debt-ceiling breach. (By Matt Berman)

UPDATE (5:02 p.m.): Credit Rating Watch

The credit rating agency Fitch has put the United States' AAA credit rating under review for a downgrade. In a statement, the agency said that "although Fitch continues to believe that the debt ceiling will be raised soon, the political brinkmanship and reduced financing flexibility could increase the risk of a U.S. default." (By Matt Berman)

UPDATE (4:56 p.m.): Here's the House Bill

Fresh from the Rules Committee . A vote is expected before 8 p.m. (By Matt Berman)

UPDATE (4:40 p.m.): House GOP Plan Goes to the Rules Committee

The House Rules Committee has set its hearing on the new House plan for 5:40 p.m. The bill is being posted now. Once that hearing is over, it's time for a vote. (By Billy House)

UPDATE (4:26 p.m.): House Dems Speak at the White House

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi tried to give a voice of optimism at the White House, saying that the consequences of a debt-ceiling breach would be so "catastrophic" that she hopes some Republicans will "see the light."

Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer called the meeting with the president "very positive." (By Matt Berman)

UPDATE (4:10 p.m.): FreedomWorks Trashes House GOP Plan

The influential (but cash-strapped ) conservative group FreedomWorks has just sent out a release stating opposition to the new House GOP plan."It's a non-starter for grassroots America," writes FreedomWorks' Dean Clancy.

As has been the case for a while now, FreedomWorks wants House Republicans to hold out for a delay of the individual mandate, at the minimum. (By Matt Berman)

UPDATE (3:50 p.m.): The New House GOP Plan

The blossoming plan from the House GOP is a deal that would fund the government until December 15 and raise the debt-limit until February 7, according to National Review 's Robert Costa . That plan would also include the Vitter language that strips health-care subsidies from members of Congress, their staffs and cabinet officials.

House Republicans expect enough Republican members to sign onto the bill to assure its passage in the House as soon as tonight.

And from there? Wait and see what the Senate does. Up to this point, Senate Democrats have not been very supportive of the Vitter plan. As Alex Seitz-Wald's writes, the Vitter plan could pose real problems for Congress. And, the President for the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities writes , the proposal would make members of Congress and their staffs "the only workers in the United States whose employer is barred by law from helping to cover their premiums." (By Matt Berman)

UPDATE (3:33 p.m.): Will House Vote on Bill Tonight?

NBC's Kelly O'Donnell reports that the House is preparing to go to the Rules Committee to prepare for voting Tuesday night a bill that would raise the debt ceiling and reopen the government. But the votes the legislation needs for passage aren't there yet , so Speaker John Boehner is likely spending the few hours before a potential vote whipping support from some Republicans, unhappy with an earlier removal of language calling for a delay on the medical device tax, who are on the fence. (By Marina Koren)

UPDATE (2:50 p.m.): There Goes the Dow

With about an hour to go before markets close, things on the Dow aren't looking too swell. You can see the latest here .

UPDATE (2:05 p.m.): House Plan Throws a Wrench Into Senate Negotiations

The House Republican leadership's latest plan to reopen the government and prevent a debt default has stalled the Senate talks, say lawmakers, and prompted Democratic leaders to shred the proposal on the floor. They criticized on Tuesday a part of Speaker John Boehner's proposal that would limit the extraordinary means currently available to the Treasury.

Read more here from Michael Catalini and Elahe Izadi.

UPDATE (1:04 p.m. ): House Conservatives Iffy on New Plan

"I'm a 'no,'" Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas told National Journal . More here from Tim Alberta and Billy House.

UPDATE (1 p.m.): White House Optimistic About Senate Plans, But Time Is Running Out

The White House voiced cautious optimism about the ongoing Hill talks Tuesday. The president is pleased with the progress in the Senate, said press secretary Jay Carney, and the potential is there for a solution. Still, "we're far from a deal in this point," he said.

Carney refused to get into specific parts of the negotiations. He also declined to express confidence that the votes are there for a compromise measure. "We are very close to a very important deadline and time is of the essence," he said. (By George Condon)

UPDATE (12:41 p.m.): House Republicans Fire Back at Reid

House Republican leadership is sniping back at Reid's characterization of the debt ceiling and CR proposal coming from their ranks. Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said in a statement, "Is Senator Reid so blinded by partisanship that he is willing to risk default on our debt to protect a 'pacemaker tax' that 34 Senate Democrats are on the record opposing, and he himself called 'stupid'?" (By Elahe Izad)

UPDATE: (12:23 p.m.): So, What Is the House GOP Proposal, Exactly?

Right now, it's just a framework. After the plan leaked out this morning (details below), House Republican leadership issued a noncommittal statement on what exactly they are thinking. Other members back this up. Rep. Tom Graves, R-Georgia, explicitly called the plan a framework, and Rep. Mick Mulvaney, R-S.C., told National Review that he expects the bill to be "tweaked" before it makes it to the Rules Committee.

One thing already sounds like it may be changing: According to Robert Costa, the plan now would include the full language of the Vitter amendment, meaning that health care subsidies would be stripped for members of Congress, cabinet appointees AND their staffs. That language alone would likely doom the plan in the Senate.

And, seemingly out-of-the-blue, CQ-Roll Call is reporting that some House Republicans are pushing to add a measure to the plan that would allow employers to opt-out of providing contraception for their employees.

The bottom-line is that we don't yet really know what the full plan will be, as it appears that House leadership hasn't quite decided yet. But that decision will have to come soon. (By Matt Berman)

UPDATE (11:50 a.m.): Nancy Pelosi: I Don't Know Who Boehner Is Talking To

At a press conference, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi shot back against Boehner's earlier claim that he was speaking with House members on both sides of the aisle, saying that she doesn't know what DemocratsBoehner is talking to.

Pelosi did say that she thought "we'd have everyone" from her caucus to vote for the Reid/McConnell plan.

"The whole world is watching what happens here," Pelosi said, calling the House GOP plan "reckless, irresponsible, radical." The minority leader, speaking of Boehner's press statement, said that "she saw a speaker that didn't have the votes" for his plan.

Speaking with Pelosi, House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer said that House Republicans have managed to "snatch confrontation from the jaws of reasonable agreement." (By Matt Berman and Elahe Izadi)

UPDATE (11:35 a.m.): Harry Reid: House GOP Plan a "Blatant Attack on Bipartisanship"

On the Senate floor before noon, Majority Leader Harry Reid bashed the House GOP plan. "It's a plan to advance an extreme piece of legislation," Reid said, "and it's nothing more than a blatant attack on bipartisanship." The majority leader said that the plan can't and won't pass the Senate.

Reid said that House Republicans would never do this to President Romney, President Bush, or President Reagan. "The tea party driven part of the Republican party does not follow logic."

Reprising a theme, the majority leader said that he is "very disappointed" with Speaker Boehner. (By Matt Berman)

UPDATE (11:12 a.m.): Speaker Boehner: "There Have Been No Decisions About What Exactly We Will Do"

At a Tuesday press statement after a long meeting, House GOP leadership said that they would continue to work on a deal, but have no firm decisions about what they will do next.

"We are working with our members on a way forward," Speaker Boehner said, calling the idea of default "wrong." He wouldn't commit to much more though, just saying that leadership is working with members in both parties to "find a way to move forward today."

This of course doesn't mean that the House plan that was leaked this morning is already done, but with White House support nonexistant and Senate support unknown, leadership isn't uet ready to give a plan a public roll-out. (By Matt Berman)

UPDATE (11:05 a.m.): White House Rejects House GOP Plan as 'Ransom'

A White House spokesperson made it clear that the House GOP's new plan to raise the debt-limit and reopen the government wouldn't get White House support. The spokesperson called the plan a "ransom," and that the proposal is just a "partisan attempt to appease a small group of Tea Party Republicans who forced the government shutdown in the first place."

So, unless the House GOP plan manages to get veto-proof support in the Senate, it seems to be going nowhere. (By Matt Berman)

UPDATE (10:13 a.m.): The Word From Harry Reid

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid did not acknowledge the House plan as he opened the Senate today. Instead, Reid said he's still optimistic that he and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell will come to an agreement "this week" that would prevent default and reopen government.

Patience Wearing Thin Among Those Most Affected by Shutdown

Staff , National Journal — Fri, 11 Oct 2013 09:59:33 -0400

Double Whammy

Carl Triplett, an IT management analyst at the U.S. Department of Transportation, has the dubious distinction of being doubly impacted by the government shutdown. Not only has Triplett been furloughed, but Carolina Q, the food-truck business he co-owns with his partner, has lost some of its customer base.

For Triplett, the primary problem is the uncertainty of when the shutdown will end. "Going without one or two paychecks might not be that bad," he says, "but when you have no end in sight," it is cause for concern. Even the promise of at least partial back pay is cold comfort, as there is no set return date, and thus employees have no idea when to expect payment.

"I can't write an IOU to my car payments, apartment, and credit cards," he noted.

The barbecue business has suffered as furloughed workers remain home, or at least reduce their spending. Triplett had already noticed a downturn during September—one he attributed to the end of summer vacations and the costs associated with children's return to school—but the effect of the shutdown has been immediate and severe.

On Oct. 2, the first full day of the shutdown, Triplett parked the food truck in Washington's Franklin Square, where there were more competitors and fewer customers than they had at the same location in August.

The dearth of federal employees has necessitated some flexibility—this week, Carolina Q made its first stop at the Southwest Waterfront, near the offices of the District of Columbia Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs. The district employees are still on the job, and the waterfront is a "pretty vibrant area." Still, he says, "it makes you kind of worried about what the winter would be like, or what the rest of these days are going to be like."

Triplett is a 26-year veteran of DOT, having spent 22 years with the Federal Highway Administration and the past four years in the office of the secretary. He helps oversee the IT budgets of the department's constituent agencies, but his entire team has been furloughed. Triplett says that while he understands that some congressional Republicans "really do not like government," the shutdown "seems reckless as a way to test your theory that large government doesn't do anything." Were he able to address lawmakers on the issue, he would remind them, "you're actually affecting millions of lives and you're putting us in the middle of it."

Courtney McBride

Strange Happenings

For Kirsten Burgard, one of the strangest parts of the shutdown has been riding nearly empty Metro cars to work each day.

Burgard, 43, works in the IT office at the Department of Veterans Affairs. Her office operated through the first week of the shutdown on carryover funding; this week the funds dried up and she was sent home.

"Last week wasn't too bad," Burgard said. "But you noticed strange things in the building like our elevators malfunctioned and apparently building services staff is nonessential so at one point last week there were two elevators that just weren't working and it stayed like that for a while. Eventually they got them fixed, I don't know how. I've never had that kind of experience at Veterans Affairs before. Normally everything runs smoothly."

Burgard had been working as a Web developer but was slated to start a new position Monday as a management analyst in the same office. For now, that's been put on hold. Burgard has some money saved but is also taking on a few freelance Web-development gigs to hold her over.

"Mostly I'm just tired of feeling like a hostage or a ping-pong ball," she said. "This isn't the first time we've had to deal with this in government. In 2011 we were close to shutting down too and I didn't think it was going to happen, but this time around I just felt like it was going to happen."

Clare Foran

On the Cusp

Twenty-seven tribal nations are drinking water that is not being monitored by the Environmental Protection Agency due to the shutdown.

Meetings to determine whether there would be environmental cleanups of abandoned hazardous waste sites were canceled.

Dave Christenson, 51, an environmental protection specialist at EPA's regional office in Denver, was one of the workers furloughed because of the budget standoff.

"I have, as of this year, 26 years of service with the EPA," Christenson said. "But I'm right on the cusp of starting to look."

A new job isn't what Christenson wants, but after he was sent home for seven days earlier this year due to sequestration—and with the prospect of more cuts next year—Christenson might have to leave.

"I didn't think the government would actually shut down," he said. "I'm anxious about my economic future. It's a disappointing future as a federal-government employee."

Christenson is an officer in his local for the American Federation of Government Employees. He said he's optimistic about the Senate passing a bill that would grant pay retroactively to furloughed federal workers, which garnered support in the House last week.

"Being in the union, we have people requesting financial assistance," Christenson said. "I know employees who are hurting. I hold Congress accountable."

If sequestration continues, Christenson said, he expects EPA will do more furloughs, or even layoffs, which will affect younger, newer employees first.

"Young people are starting to leave, it's true," Christenson said. "And people are retiring sooner. We're already having a brain drain. We're not filling most of the positions as they're vacated."

Clara Ritger

Burned Out

Elliot Volkman is worried the shutdown will cause serious delays in his work.

"Any work that we were doing just came to a complete halt so even if we go back tomorrow there will be a big lag. We can't just pick up where we left off because it will take time for people to get back into the swing of things and get going again."

Volkman, 28, is a government contractor with Tantus Technologies, an information-technology and management-consulting firm. Before the shutdown, he was working in marketing and communications at the Federal Aviation Administration.

In addition to concerns about work, Volkman says the shutdown came at a bad time for him for other reasons as well. "For me personally it's kind of a rough time for this to happen. My apartment recently caught on fire and I lost of a lot of stuff and then had to move again so it's not great timing. I do have money saved so I know I'll be OK for a few months and I assume the shutdown won't last too much longer, but it's certainly not ideal."

What's Volkman doing in the meantime? Working on a few small projects, he says, "just trying to keep busy."

Clare Foran

Gone Fishing

Frank Folb runs a retail tackle shop in Avon, N.C., that is surrounded by federal land on the usually well-traveled Outer Banks. The ocean beaches just east of his business are closed down and most points of access are supposed to be off-limits.

But that's not stopping too many fishermen and beachgoers, he said. The National Park Service's limited staff simply lacks the resources to keep the area closed to the public. "There's no way that three rangers could [enforce] all that," he said.

His business remains open, and he's found Mother Nature to be a more formidable opponent than Uncle Sam. "This weather's affecting me 10 times worse than the shutdown was," he said.

Still, Folb estimates his business is down 17 percent since the shutdown, though a decent portion of that is attributable to the rain hitting the area.

The owner of Frank and Fran's Fisherman Friend has been in business for 25 years, and he says the government has tried to make this shutdown more painful than the last. Unlike the 1995 shutdown, the area's federally owned piers, marinas, and concessions have closed along with the beaches.

Some area charter boat owners had to remove their vessels from a government-run marina and are paying slip fees at private docks just to stay operational. And some businesses that have the misfortune of being on federal land have been forced to close as well.

Perhaps the biggest annoyance is the perception that the shutdown has taken his shop down with it. "We get the calls every day—'When are they going to reopen it?' " Folb said. "It just drives us nuts."

Alex Brown

Helping Hand

Rosa Van Wie, who is supposed to start her new job at a Maine preschool for kids with autism, couldn't get her background check approved due to the federal shutdown.

The preschool needs staff, and Van Wie needs the money. When Rep. Chellie Pingree read her story in National Journal Daily on Wednesday, aides for the Maine Democrat reached out on Facebook to see what they could do to help, Van Wie said in an email.

"I was very grateful they took the time to reach out to me," Van Wie said.

Clara Ritger

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Updates: The Latest on a Republican Debt-Ceiling Deal

Staff , National Journal — Thu, 10 Oct 2013 19:09:00 -0400

A week away from potentially exhausing the U.S. government's borrowing authority, Congress is making moves on the debt ceiling. National Journal has updates on the negotiations, or lack thereof. Check back below or click here to view National Journal for the latest.

UPDATE: (7:09 p.m.) Speaker Boehner Has Left the Capitol

Photo evidence . Destination unknown, and we still aren't quite sure what else to expect from the evening.

UPDATE (6:46 p.m.): House Rules Committee Meeting Canceled?

Rep. Rob Woodall, R-Ga., told National Journal that this evening's Rules Committee meeting has been cancelled.

"I was expecting a Rules Committee meeting tonight, but now I'm told there won't be a Rules Committee meeting tonight," said Woodall. "So maybe that tells you about what went on over there."

Woodall, who did not attend the White House meeting, was quick to note that his speculation was "conjecture" until he learns of what happened in the session. (By Tim Alberta)

UPDATE (6:39 p.m.): The White House Calls GOP Meeting "Good"

Sounds like the New York Times may've been a little hyperbolic. While the White House isn't fully embracing the House plan, they're calling talks overall positive. Here's the full White House statement:

"The President had a good meeting with members of the House Republican Leadership this evening; the meeting lasted approximately an hour and a half. The President, along with the Vice President, Treasury Secretary Lew, Denis McDonough and Rob Nabors listened to the Republicans present their proposal. After a discussion about potential paths forward, no specific determination was made. The President looks forward to making continued progress with members on both sides of the aisle. The President's goal remains to ensure we pay the bills we've incurred, reopen the government and get back to the business of growing the economy, creating jobs and strengthening the middle class."

UPDATE: (6:35 p.m.): Paul Ryan Speaks

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., says negotiations are to continue Thursday night between House Republicans and President Obama.

"We're going to keep talking tonight," said Ryan, as he left Speaker John Boehner's office.

"We made an offer, we're negotiating the rest, we decided to keep talking," said Ryan.

When asked what remains to be discussed – and whether it is an administration demand that a spending bill be passed to reopen government, Ryan would not say.

"We've decided to continue talking, and continue negotiating," reiterated Ryan. (By Billy House)

UPDATE: (6:30 p.m.): The Scene on the Hill After the Rejection

The delegation of nearly two-dozen House Republicans marched stoically into the Capitol foyer, largely ignoring a horde of reporters asking for their reaction to the meeting with Obama.

"We had a very useful meeting, and we're going to have more discussions on both sides tonight," House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said, walking hurriedly toward his office.

Several other Republican lawmakers, including Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, ignored the media throng and marched straight toward the leadership offices without giving any hint of a facial expression.

Rep. Steve Scalise, chairman of the Republican Study Committee, normally quick to engage with the media, was reluctant to give any comment. Pressed for his reaction to the meeting, he finally allowed, "It was a useful conversation, and there's a lot more to discuss."

Then he, along with some colleagues, disappeared down a hallway toward the Speaker's office. (By Tim Alberta)

UPDATE (6:15 p.m.): Obama Rejects House GOP Debt-Ceiling Deal

Well now. The New York Times is reporting that the president, after meeting with House Republicans, is rejecting the six-week extension of the debt-ceiling. We'll have more when it comes in.

UPDATE (6:01 p.m.): The Speaker Has Left the Building

Speaker Boehner and other members of the House GOP left the White House around 6:00 p.m. No one spoke to any reporters. The quick exit is relatively unusual for the speaker.

In other news, National Review 's Robert Costa reports that a six-week debt-limit extension is now likely to pass the House.

UPDATE (4:57 p.m.): The House GOP-Obama Summit Begins

Per the White House pool, the White House meeting between the president and House Republicans has begun.

UPDATE (3:53 p.m.): Harry Reid: Negotiations Aren't Going to Happen

Emerging from an almost-two hour meeting between the president and Democratic senators, Majority Leader Harry Reid had a very succinct answer when asked if there would be negotiations with Republicans as long as long as the government shutdown continues -- "Not going to happen."

Reid was flanked by Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, Charles Schumer of New York and Patty Murray as he talked to reporters outside the West Wing. "The government should be open.... If that happens, we'll negotiate on anything," said Reid.

Asked to respond to a House Republican proposal for a short-term raising of the debt limit, Reid mocked what he called the House's "unique form of legislating -- It is hour by hour.."

He said he would have to "wait and see what the House does." But he left no doubt there will be no negotiations under the threat of a continued shutdown. (By George Condon)

UPDATE (3:51 p.m.): The House GOP Bill's Coming Out Party

The official debut of the House GOP's six-month debt-ceiling extender bill -- arrival at the Rules Committee -- is now pushed to 7 p.m., or later. "7-ish," according to one aide.

That's important because Democrats in both the House and Senate remain skeptical about how "clean" or untied to extraneous Republican policy demands it really might be.

Word that the plan would also include language to permanently ban the Treasury Department from using extraordinary measures to avoid default is already causing concern by Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and others. They question the wisdom of doing that, before understanding what the full ramifications might be. (By Billy House)

UPDATE (3:38 p.m.): The White House Meeting With Senate Dems Has Ended

About an hour and a half after it began, the White House pool reports that Obama's meeting with Senate Democrats has ended. The president is scheduled to meet with House Republicans at 4:35 p.m.

UPDATE (2:35 p.m.): Heritage Won't Block Boehner's Debt Ceiling Plan

Heritage Action says it does not support Boehner's plan for a clean, short-term increase to the debt ceiling, but the conservative group said it would not work to block the proposal either:

"We do not support clean debt ceiling increases, but because Heritage Action is committed to giving House Leadership the flexibility they need to refocus the debate on Obamacare we will not key vote against the reported proposal," chief executive officer Michael A. Needham said in a statement.

If Heritage were to "key vote" the proposal, it would essentially be insisting members vote against it or lose standing with the influential conservative group. By keeping the "key vote" system out of the debate, Heritage is allowing individual members flexibility to vote either way on the proposal without risking significant backlash from Heritage-aligned conservatives. (By Patrick Reis)

UPDATE (2:00 p.m.): The White House Meetings Begin

Senate Democrats are currently meeting with President Obama, according to the White House pool. We'll see how this goes.

UPDATE (1:46 p.m.): Will the White House Negotiate with Congressional Republicans?

Jay Carney's latest answer: "Let's see if they're serious about putting the matches and gasoline aside."

UPDATE (1:15 p.m.): Scalise, Noem to Join Boehner's White House Entourage

Boehner is making late editions to the roster of Republicans set to join him at the White House Thursday afternoon.

Initially, Boehner opted to designate 18 lawmakers -- all of them leadership officials and committee chairmen -- to travel to the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue. But since the announcement, there were late additions made to the Republican roster.

Most notably, Rep. Steve Scalise, chairman of the Republican Study Committee, will join the GOP entourage. This is a significant development, as RSC chairmen have rarely been invited to meetings with the president—regardless of which party holds the White House. Scalise's invitation demonstrates his close working relationship with Boehner, and speaks to how heavily leadership has leaned on him to deliver conservatives on tough votes this year.

Another late addition, as reported by the Washington Post's Paul Kane, is Rep. Kristin Noem of South Dakota. Noem represented her freshman class in leadership meetings during the 112th Congress.

Courtesy of the Speaker's office, here's the list of members who will join Boehner at the WhiteHouse on Thursday:

Eric Cantor, Kevin McCarthy, Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Greg Walden, James Lankford, Lynn Jenkins, Virginia Foxx, Steve Southerland, Ann Wagner, Peter Roskam, Pete Sessions, Paul Ryan, Dave Camp, Fred Upton, Hal Rogers, Jeb Hensarling, Buck McKeon, as well as late additions Steve Scalise and Kristin Noem. (By Tim Alberta)

UPDATE (1:14 p.m.): Will Obama Sign the GOP Plan?

At the daily White House press briefing, Press Secretary Jay Carney said that "the president is happy that cooler heads at least seem to have prevailed in the House." Carney didn't, however, go so far as to say that Obama would sign the House GOP bill, as they've yet to actually see it.

Carney was exceedingly vague about the point at which Obama would agree to budget negotiations. (By Matt Berman)

UPDATE (12:25 p.m.): Will the GOP Deal Go Through?

Some Republican members aren't so thrilled. "I'm not very enthusiastic," says Rep. Steve King. More here on what's in the deal, and what people are saying about it from Tim Alberta and Billy House.

UPDATE (12:08 p.m.): Where the White House (Still) Stands

A White House official reiterated the president's stance following Speaker Boehner's press statement this morning. "The president has made clear that he will not pay a ransom for Congress doing its job," the official said. The official also said that the White House would obviously prefer an up-or-down vote in the House on Senator Reid's one-year debt-limit extension.

But Obama would be open to a short-term debt-ceiling deal, the official said, echoing earlier statements Thursday from the Treasury secretary. The official said though that, in order for the president to agree to broader budget negotiations, Congress would first have to pass a clean debt limit increase and a funding bill to end the shutdown. (By Matt Berman)

Matt Berman, Patrick Reis, Tim Alberta, Billy House and George Condon contributed to this article.

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From Maine to Colorado, Shutdown Puts Federal Employees' Lives on Hold

Staff , National Journal — Wed, 09 Oct 2013 10:01:05 -0400

The government shutdown that is now in its second week is affecting hundreds of thousands of federal employees around the country. While the work stoppage continues, National Journal Daily is asking some of those public servants to share stories of what they and all Americans are missing without their government at full strength.

Flying Low

The Air Force Academy Cadet Field House—a massive structure that houses an indoor playing field and a 2,470-seat ice-hockey rink—is usually abuzz with activity.

But that was before the shutdown, and with it, the suspension of intercollegiate sports at the glittering service academy perched in the foothills north of Colorado Springs, Colo.

“It’s completely disruptive—as you can imagine—to have 1,000 people you rely on to stay at home,” said Lt. Gen. Michelle D. Johnson, superintendent of the Air Force Academy, at a press conference last Thursday on the main quad. “We take it very seriously, because we’re here building a future, building lieutenants who are competent and confident and capable to go out and lead.”

At that time, Johnson had sent home about 1,000 of the academy’s 1,500 civilian workers and suspended 60 of the institution’s 300 courses. Since then, she has reversed course and recalled nearly all of them.

One of the more comical effects—and the one that garnered the most media attention—was a lack of toilet paper in some campus dormitories. “We’re not always aware at a really high level of who has the contract for the toilet paper,” Johnson said. “But we found out pretty fast, and we fixed it, because that’s tremendously [important].”

Other adjustments include bringing in non-academy military personnel to patrol the perimeter of the facility and canceling cadets’ training flights.

Yet, it is the suspension of intercollegiate sports that has taken the biggest toll on morale. Last Saturday, the Air Force Falcons football squad played the Navy Midshipmen in Annapolis, Md.—the Falcons lost 28-10—but the game was possible only because the United Services Automobile Association paid the Falcons’ travel expenses.

“The reason … this particular game is possible, when other activities have been canceled, is that a very generous private donor has provided the funds for the travel and lodging of just the football team, just the bare bones,” Johnson said last week. “It’s only the team. I’m not going, the cheerleaders aren’t going.”

There is no word yet on whether the Falcons will host the San Diego State Aztecs this Thursday, as planned.

Christopher Snow Hopkins

Stuck in Limbo

Rosa Van Wie, 23, has $87 in cash and $2 in her bank account.

“I lived with my parents this summer and saved up enough to cover two months’ rent,” she said. “That, and my grandma gave me $100.”

She’s balancing car payments and $20,000 in student-loan payments by selling painted seashells at a market near her hometown in Maine.

“I made $15,” she said. “But, yeah, feeding myself is tricky.”

When she got a job offer to work at a preschool for autistic kids, she was ecstatic. But the next day, the government shut down.

“Right now, they don’t have enough staff,” Van Wie said. “I probably would have started this week.”

She can’t start until the federal government reopens and completes her background check. She’s been without a job since mid-August, when she wrapped up a stint at a summer camp. Van Wie says she loves her two senators from Maine but is frustrated with Congress -- especially tea-party Republicans -- for acting like “little children.”

“I never really thought they would do this,” Van Wie said.

Meanwhile, the preschool is working on a state background check, contacting places where Van Wie previously worked. She’s filling out more paperwork, and hopes she might be able to start next week.

“It’d be really nice to get a paycheck soon.”

Clara Ritger

Mountain Retreat

Like thousands of government workers, Lisa Jenkins is facing some unexpected time off because of the shutdown, but she isn’t letting it go to waste. She and her husband, Scott, are restoring a historic home in Front Royal, Va., that they plan to convert into a bed-and-breakfast.

“It needed a lot of work. It was kind of a stretch for us in terms of buying and fixing it up,” said Jenkins, who works in IT for the Environmental Protection Agency. But a long shutdown could put some of that work on hold. “We’re really relying on our continued income,” she said.

Jenkins, 54, who has been at EPA for 23 years and experienced the shutdowns in 1995 and 1996, doesn’t believe the current work stoppage is necessary. “There’s just no precedent for tying the budget to anything else,” she said.

She used the time off during the ’90s to complete an adoption, but Jenkins says she’s heard from older federal employees “that they are less likely now to wholeheartedly encourage younger people to enter the federal services.”

Jordain Carney

(Image via Lightspring/Shutterstock.com)

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Backlogs and Worries Grow Among Furloughed Federal Workers

Staff , National Journal — Tue, 08 Oct 2013 10:10:57 -0400

The government shutdown that is now into its second week is affecting hundreds of thousands of federal employees around the country. While the work stoppage continues, National Journal Daily is asking some of those public servants to share stories of what they and all Americans are missing without their government at full strength.

Social Insecurity

Social Security checks are still going out, but woe to those who are appealing denials of their disability payments, said Elisa Wayne, a lawyer with the Social Security Administration’s Office of Disability Adjudication and Review in downtown Los Angeles.

“The cases will be heard, but the vast majority of them won’t be processed,” Wayne said. “They’re calling the judges essential, but none of the case technicians, the attorneys, like me, or the people who do the mailings are essential, so there’s no one to write up the cases and move them along.”

As a result, Wayne anticipates she’ll be buried under a mountain of work when the shutdown eventually ends. “It just kind of puts us back at square one,” she said, adding, “Congress is always asking us to get the backlog of cases down, and now it’s just going to keep building up.”

When the shutdown began on Oct. 1, Wayne went to work as usual -- but only for an hour.

“We were told that if the shutdown happened we would have to come in on Tuesday, finish up whatever outstanding work there was, sign some papers and go home,” Wayne said. “We weren’t allowed to work more than four hours that day.”

Wayne described the mood in the office that morning as one of confusion and irritability. “I don’t think people were surprised that the shutdown happened,” she said. “I think they were more frustrated with the reasons for it and the partisan politics that were going on.”

Wayne, 56, is in the Social Security office that handles appeals cases from individuals whose request for disability benefits has been denied. After a judge approves or denies an appeal, Wayne writes up a legal justification for the ruling.

Social Security disability checks will continue to go out during the shutdown, and judges will hear scheduled appeals cases. But if an individual’s appeal is granted, that person has little chance of receiving benefits until the shutdown ends, Wayne said.

She is cautiously optimistic the shutdown will be resolved soon. But she’s worried that if it isn’t, she’ll have trouble paying rent next month. “I’m one of the lucky ones, and I know that,” she said, “but I’m still concerned about my financial obligations.”

More than anything, Wayne is frustrated with the whole situation. “I just think there’s no accountability. There’s no pain and suffering by the members of Congress. They’re still getting paid. For them, it’s work as usual.”

Clare Foran

Cabin Fever

One week into the shutdown, Rebecca Morrison is running out of housework.

Last Tuesday, on her first unscheduled day off from her job as a survey statistician for the National Science Foundation, she returned books to the library and tossed out unwanted DVDs.

“I purged a bunch of things from my house,” she said.

Apart from housekeeping, Morrison and her husband, who works for the Census Bureau, “watched a few things on the DVR” and, above all, scrimped and saved. “We’re trying not to spend too much money.”

The NSF, perhaps in response to widespread grumbling about the “essential” and “nonessential” labels, instead declared its employees either “accepted” or “non-accepted.” This terminology “feels better somehow,” Morrison said, “Although I really wasn’t offended by ‘nonessential,’ since it’s a legal term.”

Notwithstanding the agency’s linguistic gymnastics, the shutdown is a bitter pill for the couple. “We’re not used to hanging around the house,” Morrison said, who lives in Hyattsville. Md. “This is outside the realm of our normal experience.” With their 2-year-old in day care, they have a mild case of cabin fever.

“Both my husband and I have been steady workers in the federal government since we graduated from college,” she said. “To all of a sudden be out of work is incredibly strange to us.”

Yet, the government shutdown was not entirely unexpected. “It felt somewhat inevitable to me,” Morrison said. “In previous threats of a shutdown, there was some kind of high-level negotiations happening.... But this time around, it felt like a foregone conclusion.”

Morrison, 37, was raised in Fairfax County, Va. After graduating from Mary Baldwin College in Staunton, Va., she spent 14 years rotating though various offices at the Census Bureau.

As the daughter of a Pentagon worker, her public service was in some sense preordained. “When I was coming out of college, it was really important for me to consider being a federal worker, and that’s pretty much the only career path that I fully engaged with, although I did go through some intellectual exercises associated with going into private industry.”

Morrison arrived at the Science Foundation in February.

Christopher Snow Hopkins

(Image via Flickr user republicanconference)

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Furloughed Workers Nationwide Feel the Pain of Congressional Gridlock

Staff , National Journal — Mon, 07 Oct 2013 08:00:00 -0400

The government shutdown that goes into its second week on Tuesday—unless Congress reaches agreement by Monday night on a stopgap spending bill—has more than 800,000 federal workers around the country out of work, out of a paycheck, and out of patience. While the work stoppage continues, National Journal Daily will ask some of those public servants to share stories of what they and all Americans are missing without their government at full strength.

Remember Our Motto, Congress

While Congress continues working to try to end the government shutdown, Sheila Bailey wishes she had that opportunity. "I'm ready to get back to work; I'm tired of housework," she said. "Going to work is a lot more fun than doing laundry."

Bailey's job—when she's not furloughed—is actually fun: She experiments on solar power for NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. Her latest project? Working on a space solar-cell array to power satellites and, perhaps someday, planetary bases.

"It's illegal for me to work [during the shutdown], so I brought home some wonderful, entertaining literature," Bailey said. Her reading material just so happened to include "quite a few papers" on solar power. Laughing, she imagined a potential headline: "Lady Criminally Prosecuted for Taking Home Photovoltaic Literature."

This isn't Bailey's first go-around with a government shutdown: The 28-year NASA veteran was furloughed in 1995 as well. The difference? "There was less surprise this time," she said. "Perhaps there was more of a shock in '95 that this could happen."

Today's gridlocked Congress, she said, made the current shutdown less of a blindside. "It seems like a pretty dysfunctional group of people," Bailey said. NASA funding cuts over the years have caused her to follow politics closely as decisions in Washington affect her own workplace. She has seen staff in her research department cut in half since she started.

Did Congress consider people like her before it went into shutdown mode? Bailey laughed loudly. "Oh, I'm certainly forgotten in that mix," she said.

As a scientist, Bailey said the actions of Congress are baffling to her. "I'm very used to following the laws of physics," she said. "Apparently the laws of politics seem to be this mystical, ever-changing subset."

Though her current frustrations are high, the shutdown isn't the start of her beef with Congress. "It's endemic of the stupidity that's running rampant over there," she said. The "short-sighted" government has made cuts to important programs—like hers—without thinking of the consequences.

"There needs to be a vigorous reinvestment of the research and development part of our country's assets," Bailey said. "They can't seem to get beyond their constituencies and look at the big picture."

She's not optimistic the shutdown will be resolved soon, either. "I'm expecting them, idiots that they are, that it will go down to the wire for the debt ceiling," Bailey said. "I hope I'm wrong."

So what would she tell the politicians that have her on furlough? "I'd try to remind them of our motto: E pluribus unum. Out of many, one," Bailey said. "Can they not get that together?"

Alex Brown

Nonstarter in the Senate

Samantha Williams, 25, was scheduled to begin work as a proctor with the Senate Page Program on Monday, but received word last week that her start date would be delayed indefinitely as a result of the government shutdown. She had planned to move to Washington last Friday, but now will remain in Arkansas, where she has worked for the past year and a half as an outreach and events coordinator for Gov. Mike Beebe.

For now, Williams is in a sort of purgatory—hired, but not officially on the federal employment rolls. "I'm very lucky in that unlike most other furloughed employees, I am able to keep my job until the shutdown's over," Williams said last week. "So I will be staying on with the governor until the page program calls and says the shutdown is over, and we will be able to hire you."

Williams will be provided with housing through her new job—she will oversee the Senate pages in their dormitory in Washington. She recognizes that she is fortunate in this respect, not having to face the prospect of relocating—and finding a home—without income.

Of the shutdown, Williams says that based on news reports, "I don't think anybody at this point has any idea when it's going to end," including lawmakers. She is hopeful that Congress will reach agreement on funding the government before Oct. 17, when Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew has said the country will reach the debt ceiling.

Courtney McBride

Let Them Eat Cake

On day one of the government shutdown, Juri Schauermann made a red velvet cake with cream-cheese frosting.

On day two, the NASA employee caught up on Dexter, a Showtime drama about a homicidal forensic scientist. "That day went by so fast," she said.

On day three, she went to the casino with another furloughed friend. "I did really well."

In short, the shutdown has been like a "surprise vacation," Schauermann says. "I'm not restless at all … although I do wonder if I'll get paid eventually. My husband is a NASA contractor, so I'm pretty sure he won't be."

Like Schauermann, many of her colleagues at NASA are nonplussed. "I went in on Monday to accept my furlough notice and fill in my time sheet. No one there really cared about the shutdown; no one had much of an opinion." The lone exception was one of her superiors, who had been looking forward to residing his house but was required to come in. "He was mad."

Schauermann, 39, attended Johns Hopkins University and has worked at NASA for the last 18 years. She lives outside Washington, in Maryland.

Christopher Snow Hopkins

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Shutdown, Day 3: Updates

Staff , National Journal — Thu, 03 Oct 2013 15:06:00 -0400

As the federal government shutdown enters day three, hundreds of thousands of employees are officially off the job, and uncertain whether they will be paid for their forced time off. Stay tuned here for ongoing updates on the situation from our friends at National Journal.

Congressional action was suspended after an incident at the White House led to a car chase ending at the Capitol building. The suspect has reportedly been shot and killed. The Capitol is no longer on lockdown. The House has resumed action, but the Senate plans to adjourn for the day, according to multiple reports.

UPDATE: 2:31 p.m.—Government Shutdown Puts Congress Between Soldiers and Their Groceries

America's soldiers may be earning their pay during the government shutdown showdown, but they aren't able to buy groceries at military commissaries. All 175 commissaries in 46 states and the District of Columbia were closed indefinitely on Wednesday, a Defense Commissary Agency spokesman confirmed.

The commissaries are military grocery stores that sell food items to soldiers, retirees, and their families at cost plus a modest surcharge. Patrons save about 30 percent on their food bill compared with commercial groceries; little wonder the commissary benefit is consistently rated the most popular perk of military service in customer surveys.

UPDATE: 1:13 p.m.: With Debt Ceiling Deadline Fast Approaching, Boehner May Be Getting Desperate

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, has told colleagues that he is dead set on preventing the government from defaulting on its bills, a risk that becomes reality when the debt ceiling is reached on Oct. 17, reports The New York Times. One House Republican said Boehner is willing to violate what's called the Hastert Rule, which keeps any measure that doesn't have a majority of Republican votes, off the floor, to avoid federal default. (By Marina Koren)

UPDATE: 1:03 p.m.: Senate Republican Skepticism About a Grand Bargain

There is no sign yet of a breakthrough among congressional leaders over ending the shutdown.

Even so, rumors about a grand bargain swarm around the Capitol, as Billy House reported yesterday.

But Republican senators don't see that happening. We've been here before, they say and leaders have come up short.

"No doubt about it," said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. "That approach has failed so many times that no one can have a lot optimism about it.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., also said that he expects the Senate to be in session this weekend. (By Michael Catalini)

UPDATE: 12:10 p.m.—Oops! He takes it back.

Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind., has issued an apology for a Wednesday remark that suggested he and other House Republicans don't know what they are trying to accomplish in the government funding-standoff.

"We're not going to be disrespected," Stutzman said in an interview with the Washington Examiner. "We have to get something out of this. And I don't know what that even is."

But on Thursday, Stutzman's office released a follow-up statement, amid criticism that his comment perfectly sums up why a solution to the crisis is so hard to find.

"Yesterday, I carelessly misrepresented the ongoing budget debate and Speaker (John) Boehner's work on behalf of the American people," says Stutzman. "Despite my remarks it's clear that the American people want both parties to come to the table to reopen the government, tackle this nation's debt crisis, and stop ObamaCare's pain." (By Billy House)

UPDATE: 11:48 a.m.—Obama: Boehner is Keeping the Government Shut Down

Speaking from a construction company in Rockville, Md., President Obama said that Speaker John Boehner is the only one keeping the government shutdown, urging him to bring a clean CR to the house floor. There are enough votes to pass that bill, Obama said. "You don't negotiate by putting a gun to the other person's head," Obama said. "Since they've taken over the House of Representatives we've had one of these crises every three months… I'm tired of it."

Obama, who called the dismantling of the Affordable Care Act an "obsession" of Republicans," struck a defiant tone on that law itself. "The government's now shut down, but the Affordable Care Act is still open for business," Obama said. "There will be no negotiations. The American people are not some sort of pawns in a political game." (By Matt Vasilogambros)

UPDATE 11:30 a.m.—Ted Cruz to Donate Salary to Education Program for Low-Income Students

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, will donate his salary to YES Prep, a group of charter schools that provide education to low-income children in the Houston area, a press assistant told National Journal. One of the first to announce he would donate his pay for the duration of the shutdown, Cruz had kept quiet about which organization he chose for two days, despite "hundreds, maybe even thousands" of calls to his office. (Marina Koren)

UPDATE 10:58—Here Come the Shutdown Ads.

Heritage Action for America announced Thursday it was purchasing $400,000 in digital ads targeting vulnerable Senate Democrats up for reelection in 2014 for supporting Obamacare. The buy targets Mark Begich of Alaska, Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, and Kay Hagan of North Carolina—all states that Mitt Romney won.

The 15-second ads can be seen here. (By Shane Goldmacher)

UPDATE: 10:55 a.m.—Day 3 in the Senate Looks Like More of the Same

Senate leaders took to the floor Thursday morning to repeat similar talking points and hint that the now-three-day-old government shutdown will not likely end for several days. Majority Leader Harry Reid's target: Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. "It's time to defy your tea-party overlord," Reid said. He continued a trope used by the Democratic National Committee during his remarks, saying, "Sen. Cruz is now joint speaker. He lectures the House like he sometimes lectures here."

For his part, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., focused on the supposed failures of the exchange rollout of Obamacare, and said the meeting between congressional leaders and the president "wasn't particularly encouraging." He also took a shot at President Obama, who he said was "campaigning" on Thursday. The president is in neighboring Rockville, Md., visiting a construction company. (By Matt Vasilogambros)

Shane Goldmacher, Matt Vasilogambros, Billy House, Michael Catalini, Marina Koren contributed to this article.

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Updated: Agencies Post Shutdown Plans Online

Staff — Mon, 30 Sep 2013 11:00:00 -0400

This list has been updated.

Agencies on Friday began posting their contingency plans online to prepare for a possible government shutdown on Tuesday, Oct. 1. If the government closes, approximately 800,000 federal civilian employees could be furloughed. Those placed on unpaid leave will receive official furlough notices on Oct. 1, if necessary.

We’re compiling a list of agency shutdown guidance as it’s posted. We’ll continue to update this information over the next few days as agencies publish their plans. The Office of Management and Budget also will link to agencies’ guidance on its website.

Click here to read furlough guidance from the Office of Personnel Management.

The following agencies have posted 2013 contingency plans (click on the agency name to view the plan):

Agriculture Department (84 percent of employees furloughed)

Commerce Department (85 percent of employees furloughed)

Defense Departments (50 percent of civilian employees furloughed)

Education Department (95 percent of employees furloughed)

Energy Department (69 percent of employees furloughed)

Environmental Protection Agency (95 percent of employees furloughed)

Federal Communications Commission (98 percent of employees furloughed)

Federal Labor Relations Authority

General Services Administration (76 percent of employees furloughed)

Health and Human Services Department (51 percent of employees furloughed)

Homeland Security Department (14 percent of employees furloughed)

Housing and Urban Development Department (96 percent of employees furloughed)

Interior Department (81 percent of employees furloughed)

Justice Department (16 percent of employees furloughed)

Labor Department (81 percent of employees furloughed)

NASA

National Science Foundation (99 percent of employees furloughed)

National Transportation Safety Board

Office of Personnel Management

Peace Corps

Small Business Administration (63 percent of employees furloughed)

Smithsonian Institution

Social Security Administration (29 percent of employees furloughed)

State Department

Transportation Department (33 percent of employees furloughed)

Treasury Department (90 percent of employees furloughed)

U.S. Agency for International Development

Veterans Affairs Department (4 percent of employees furloughed)

If you do not see your agency listed here, go to OMB's guidance for more information.

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President's Full 'March on Washington' Remarks

Staff , National Journal — Thu, 29 Aug 2013 09:32:54 -0400

To the King family, who have sacrificed and inspired so much; to President Clinton; President Carter; Vice President Biden and Jill; fellow Americans.

Five decades ago today, Americans came to this honored place to lay claim to a promise made at our founding: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

In 1963, almost 200 years after those words were set to paper, a full century after a great war was fought and emancipation proclaimed, that promise -- those truths -- remained unmet. And so they came by the thousands from every corner of our country, men and women, young and old, blacks who longed for freedom and whites who could no longer accept freedom for themselves while witnessing the subjugation of others.

Across the land, congregations sent them off with food and with prayer. In the middle of the night, entire blocks of Harlem came out to wish them well. With the few dollars they scrimped from their labor, some bought tickets and boarded buses, even if they couldn't always sit where they wanted to sit. Those with less money hitchhiked or walked. They were seamstresses and steelworkers, students and teachers, maids and Pullman porters. They shared simple meals and bunked together on floors. And then, on a hot summer day, they assembled here, in our nation's capital, under the shadow of the Great Emancipator -- to offer testimony of injustice, to petition their government for redress, and to awaken America's long-slumbering conscience.

We rightly and best remember Dr. King's soaring oratory that day, how he gave mighty voice to the quiet hopes of millions; how he offered a salvation path for oppressed and oppressors alike. His words belong to the ages, possessing a power and prophecy unmatched in our time.

But we would do well to recall that day itself also belonged to those ordinary people whose names never appeared in the history books, never got on TV. Many had gone to segregated schools and sat at segregated lunch counters. They lived in towns where they couldn't vote and cities where their votes didn't matter. They were couples in love who couldn't marry, soldiers who fought for freedom abroad that they found denied to them at home. They had seen loved ones beaten, and children fire-hosed, and they had every reason to lash out in anger, or resign themselves to a bitter fate.

And yet they chose a different path. In the face of hatred, they prayed for their tormentors. In the face of violence, they stood up and sat in, with the moral force of nonviolence. Willingly, they went to jail to protest unjust laws, their cells swelling with the sound of freedom songs. A lifetime of indignities had taught them that no man can take away the dignity and grace that God grants us. They had learned through hard experience what Frederick Douglass once taught -- that freedom is not given, it must be won, through struggle and discipline, persistence and faith.

That was the spirit they brought here that day. That was the spirit young people like John Lewis brought to that day. That was the spirit that they carried with them, like a torch, back to their cities and their neighborhoods. That steady flame of conscience and courage that would sustain them through the campaigns to come -- through boycotts and voter registration drives and smaller marches far from the spotlight; through the loss of four little girls in Birmingham, and the carnage of the Edmund Pettus Bridge, and the agony of Dallas and California and Memphis. Through setbacks and heartbreaks and gnawing doubt, that flame of justice flickered; it never died.

And because they kept marching, America changed. Because they marched, a Civil Rights law was passed. Because they marched, a Voting Rights law was signed. Because they marched, doors of opportunity and education swung open so their daughters and sons could finally imagine a life for themselves beyond washing somebody else's laundry or shining somebody else's shoes. Because they marched, city councils changed and state legislatures changed, and Congress changed, and, yes, eventually, the White House changed.

Because they marched, America became more free and more fair -- not just for African Americans, but for women and Latinos, Asians and Native Americans; for Catholics, Jews, and Muslims; for gays, for Americans with a disability. America changed for you and for me. and the entire world drew strength from that example, whether the young people who watched from the other side of an Iron Curtain and would eventually tear down that wall, or the young people inside South Africa who would eventually end the scourge of apartheid.

Those are the victories they won, with iron wills and hope in their hearts. That is the transformation that they wrought, with each step of their well-worn shoes. That's the debt that I and millions of Americans owe those maids, those laborers, those porters, those secretaries; folks who could have run a company maybe if they had ever had a chance; those white students who put themselves in harm's way, even though they didn't have; those Japanese Americans who recalled their own internment; those Jewish Americans who had survived the Holocaust; people who could have given up and given in, but kept on keeping on, knowing that "weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning."

On the battlefield of justice, men and women without rank or wealth or title or fame would liberate us all in ways that our children now take for granted, as people of all colors and creeds live together and learn together and walk together, and fight alongside one another, and love one another, and judge one another by the content of our character in this greatest nation on Earth.

To dismiss the magnitude of this progress -- to suggest, as some sometimes do, that little has changed -- that dishonors the courage and the sacrifice of those who paid the price to march in those years. (Applause.) Medgar Evers, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner, Martin Luther King Jr. -- they did not die in vain. Their victory was great.

But we would dishonor those heroes as well to suggest that the work of this nation is somehow complete. The arc of the moral universe may bend towards justice, but it doesn't bend on its own. To secure the gains this country has made requires constant vigilance, not complacency. Whether by challenging those who erect new barriers to the vote, or ensuring that the scales of justice work equally for all, and the criminal justice system is not simply a pipeline from underfunded schools to overcrowded jails, it requires vigilance.

And we'll suffer the occasional setback. But we will win these fights. This country has changed too much. People of goodwill, regardless of party, are too plentiful for those with ill will to change history's currents.

In some ways, though, the securing of civil rights, voting rights, the eradication of legalized discrimination -- the very significance of these victories may have obscured a second goal of the March. For the men and women who gathered 50 years ago were not there in search of some abstract ideal. They were there seeking jobs as well as justice -- not just the absence of oppression but the presence of economic opportunity.

For what does it profit a man, Dr. King would ask, to sit at an integrated lunch counter if he can't afford the meal? This idea -- that one's liberty is linked to one's livelihood; that the pursuit of happiness requires the dignity of work, the skills to find work, decent pay, some measure of material security -- this idea was not new. Lincoln himself understood the Declaration of Independence in such terms -- as a promise that in due time, "the weights should be lifted from the shoulders of all men, and that all should have an equal chance."

And Dr. King explained that the goals of African Americans were identical to working people of all races: "Decent wages, fair working conditions, livable housing, old-age security, health and welfare measures, conditions in which families can grow, have education for their children, and respect in the community."

What King was describing has been the dream of every American. It's what's lured for centuries new arrivals to our shores. And it's along this second dimension -- of economic opportunity, the chance through honest toil to advance one's station in life -- where the goals of 50 years ago have fallen most short.

Yes, there have been examples of success within black America that would have been unimaginable a half century ago. But as has already been noted, black unemployment has remained almost twice as high as white unemployment, Latino unemployment close behind. The gap in wealth between races has not lessened, it's grown. And as President Clinton indicated, the position of all working Americans, regardless of color, has eroded, making the dream Dr. King described even more elusive.

For over a decade, working Americans of all races have seen their wages and incomes stagnate, even as corporate profits soar, even as the pay of a fortunate few explodes. Inequality has steadily risen over the decades. Upward mobility has become harder. In too many communities across this country, in cities and suburbs and rural hamlets, the shadow of poverty casts a pall over our youth, their lives a fortress of substandard schools and diminished prospects, inadequate health care and perennial violence.

And so as we mark this anniversary, we must remind ourselves that the measure of progress for those who marched 50 years ago was not merely how many blacks could join the ranks of millionaires. It was whether this country would admit all people who are willing to work hard regardless of race into the ranks of a middle-class life.

The test was not, and never has been, whether the doors of opportunity are cracked a bit wider for a few. It was whether our economic system provides a fair shot for the many -- for the black custodian and the white steelworker, the immigrant dishwasher and the Native American veteran. To win that battle, to answer that call -- this remains our great unfinished business.

We shouldn't fool ourselves. The task will not be easy. Since 1963, the economy has changed. The twin forces of technology and global competition have subtracted those jobs that once provided a foothold into the middle class -- reduced the bargaining power of American workers. And our politics has suffered. Entrenched interests, those who benefit from an unjust status quo, resisted any government efforts to give working families a fair deal -- marshaling an army of lobbyists and opinion makers to argue that minimum wage increases or stronger labor laws or taxes on the wealthy who could afford it just to fund crumbling schools, that all these things violated sound economic principles. We'd be told that growing inequality was a price for a growing economy, a measure of this free market; that greed was good and compassion ineffective, and those without jobs or health care had only themselves to blame.

And then, there were those elected officials who found it useful to practice the old politics of division, doing their best to convince middle-class Americans of a great untruth -- that government was somehow itself to blame for their growing economic insecurity; that distant bureaucrats were taking their hard-earned dollars to benefit the welfare cheat or the illegal immigrant.

And then, if we're honest with ourselves, we'll admit that during the course of 50 years, there were times when some of us claiming to push for change lost our way. The anguish of assassinations set off self-defeating riots. Legitimate grievances against police brutality tipped into excuse-making for criminal behavior. Racial politics could cut both ways, as the transformative message of unity and brotherhood was drowned out by the language of recrimination. And what had once been a call for equality of opportunity, the chance for all Americans to work hard and get ahead was too often framed as a mere desire for government support -- as if we had no agency in our own liberation, as if poverty was an excuse for not raising your child, and the bigotry of others was reason to give up on yourself.

All of that history is how progress stalled. That's how hope was diverted. It's how our country remained divided. But the good news is, just as was true in 1963, we now have a choice. We can continue down our current path, in which the gears of this great democracy grind to a halt and our children accept a life of lower expectations; where politics is a zero-sum game where a few do very well while struggling families of every race fight over a shrinking economic pie -- that's one path. Or we can have the courage to change.

The March on Washington teaches us that we are not trapped by the mistakes of history; that we are masters of our fate. But it also teaches us that the promise of this nation will only be kept when we work together. We'll have to reignite the embers of empathy and fellow feeling, the coalition of conscience that found expression in this place 50 years ago.

And I believe that spirit is there, that truth force inside each of us. I see it when a white mother recognizes her own daughter in the face of a poor black child. I see it when the black youth thinks of his own grandfather in the dignified steps of an elderly white man. It's there when the native-born recognizing that striving spirit of the new immigrant; when the interracial couple connects the pain of a gay couple who are discriminated against and understands it as their own.

That's where courage comes from -- when we turn not from each other, or on each other, but towards one another, and we find that we do not walk alone. That's where courage comes from.

And with that courage, we can stand together for good jobs and just wages. With that courage, we can stand together for the right to health care in the richest nation on Earth for every person. With that courage, we can stand together for the right of every child, from the corners of Anacostia to the hills of Appalachia, to get an education that stirs the mind and captures the spirit, and prepares them for the world that awaits them.

With that courage, we can feed the hungry, and house the homeless, and transform bleak wastelands of poverty into fields of commerce and promise.

America, I know the road will be long, but I know we can get there. Yes, we will stumble, but I know we'll get back up. That's how a movement happens. That's how history bends. That's how when somebody is faint of heart, somebody else brings them along and says, come on, we're marching.

There's a reason why so many who marched that day, and in the days to come, were young -- for the young are unconstrained by habits of fear, unconstrained by the conventions of what is. They dared to dream differently, to imagine something better. And I am convinced that same imagination, the same hunger of purpose stirs in this generation.

We might not face the same dangers of 1963, but the fierce urgency of now remains. We may never duplicate the swelling crowds and dazzling procession of that day so long ago -- no one can match King's brilliance -- but the same flame that lit the heart of all who are willing to take a first step for justice, I know that flame remains.

That tireless teacher who gets to class early and stays late and dips into her own pocket to buy supplies because she believes that every child is her charge -- she's marching.

That successful businessman who doesn't have to but pays his workers a fair wage and then offers a shot to a man, maybe an ex-con who is down on his luck -- he's marching.

The mother who pours her love into her daughter so that she grows up with the confidence to walk through the same door as anybody's son -- she's marching.

The father who realizes the most important job he'll ever have is raising his boy right, even if he didn't have a father -- especially if he didn't have a father at home -- he's marching.

The battle-scarred veterans who devote themselves not only to helping their fellow warriors stand again, and walk again, and run again, but to keep serving their country when they come home -- they are marching.

Everyone who realizes what those glorious patriots knew on that day -- that change does not come from Washington, but to Washington; that change has always been built on our willingness, We The People, to take on the mantle of citizenship -- you are marching.

And that's the lesson of our past. That's the promise of tomorrow -- that in the face of impossible odds, people who love their country can change it. That when millions of Americans of every race and every region, every faith and every station, can join together in a spirit of brotherhood, then those mountains will be made low, and those rough places will be made plain, and those crooked places, they straighten out towards grace, and we will vindicate the faith of those who sacrificed so much and live up to the true meaning of our creed, as one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

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Americans Don’t Trust Government to Do What Is Right, Poll Finds

Staff — Mon, 22 Jul 2013 11:58:00 -0400

Only one in five Americans say they trust the government to do what is right most of the time, according to a new poll.

More than two-thirds of those surveyed say societal change is best achieved through volunteering and working with charity organizations, rather than working in government, according to the poll by USA Today and the Bipartisan Policy Center.

Young people under the age of 30 were significantly less likely than their parents to rate political participation as something they value, the poll found.

Increasingly negative views toward government make it more difficult to recruit the ablest young people, USA Today warned, citing analysts. “As a result, government and politics are likely to work even less well -- presumably prompting perceptions to fall further,” the paper said.

Forty-two percent of those surveyed view the federal government as an advocate for themselves and their families, while 38 percent view it as a an adversary, the poll found. These views fell largely along partisan lines, with those who identify themselves as Democrats more likely than Republicans or Independents to see the government as an advocate.

Nearly 60 percent surveyed favored requiring one year of service from every American between the ages of 18 and 25 through the military, the Peace Corps or a community service organization such as Habitat for Humanity. Young people under the age of 30 were the only group to oppose this idea by a narrow margin of 50 percent to 48 percent. More than two-thirds of respondents over 50 favored the idea.

Fourteen percent of respondents said they had seriously considered running for public office. If the poll is representative, that would mean some 40 million people have, USA Today said, citing analysts.

Republican pollster Whit Ayres and Democratic pollster Mark Mellman conducted the survey in late June, reaching out to 1,071 respondents by landline and cellphone. The margin of error is +/- 5 percentage points, the paper said.

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How Well Do You Know Your Administration? A Quiz

Staff , National Journal — Fri, 19 Jul 2013 16:14:08 -0400

1. James Gandolfini portrayed the occupant of this administration post in the movie Zero Dark Thirty.

2. This top official at the Commerce Department was the first American woman to walk in space.

3. The Associated Press once called this homeschooled White House official “Goat Boy” because he raised goats as a child.

4. Which department has the highest concentration of Ivy League graduates in its top ranks?

5. For a time this year, these two brothers were both running Cabinet departments.

6. This White House official played power forward for the University of Vermont basketball team.

7. Which head of an independent agency is the daughter of the Tootsie Roll CEO?

8. This State Department official was a senior adviser to Henry Kissinger in the Nixon administration.

9. In his younger days, a top intelligence official worked as a rodeo cowboy and lived in a funeral home. Who is he?

10. Bono was effusive in his praise when President Obama nominated this person for a top post earlier this year.

11. Which financial regulator has climbed both Mount Rainier and Mount Kilimanjaro?

12. The mother of which Obama nominee founded the retail firm Lillian Vernon?

13. A top White House adviser was the recipient of a $500,000 MacArthur Foundation “genius grant.” Who is she?

Answers: 1) CIA director; 2) Kathy Sullivan; 3) Grant Colfax; 4) OMB; 5) John Kerry, Cam Kerry; 6) Ed Pagano; 7) Karen Mills; 8) Robert Hormats; 9) Al Tarasiuk; 10) Michael Froman; 11) Gary Gensler; 12) Fred Hochberg; 13) Cecilia Munoz

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Feds Ordered to Report James Bond Wannabes, Night Owls and Other Suspicious Colleagues

Staff — Wed, 10 Jul 2013 11:42:02 -0400

In an effort to prevent leaks and other security violations, the Obama administration has asked federal employees to report suspicious behavior among their coworkers, according to a McClatchy story published Wednesday.

Under the Insider Threat Program -- which was mandated by a 2011 executive order following Pfc. Bradley Manning’s alleged leaks to anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks -- federal employees and contractors have been directed to watch their colleagues for unusual lifestyle behaviors and attitudes. Red flags include financial troubles, odd hours, unexplained travel and divorce, according to the McClatchy report, which was based on documents and interviews.

The Obama administration wants to train federal employees and contractors in spotting these indicators, which it aims to use to predict whether workers intend to “do harm to the United States,” the news service said.

The McClatchy report cited a 2008 National Research Council publication on detecting terrorists that found no consensus on whether behavior and physiological monitoring techniques are “ready for use.”

Still, the insider threat initiative requires nearly 5 million federal workers and contractors with clearances to be trained to spot behavior indicators and allows departments to extend the training to their entire workforces, McClatchy said.

Employees’ online activities also factor into threat assessments under the program and information gleaned from monitoring online behavior “could be used against them in criminal, security, or administrative proceedings,” administration documents said, according to McCatchy. Suspicious online behavior likely includes accessing information that isn't necessary to an employee's job and downloading material to a thumb drive.

Agencies have some discretion in deciding what behaviors to include on their lists of threat indicators, McClatchy said. An FBI threat detection guide advises managers to watch for “a desire to help the ‘underdog,’” a “James Bond Wannabe,” and a “divided loyalty” -- meaning allegiance to another company or country, according to the news service.

Although the program aims to protect national security, Obama’s 2011 order applies to nearly every agency, including those not directly related to national security, such as the Peace Corps and the Education Department, McClatchy said.

McClatchy asked numerous agencies to comment on the the program. The agencies sent “virtually identical email statements directing inquiries to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, declined to comment or didn’t respond,” the news service said.

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Poll: Too Much Government Power Is Scarier Than Too Little

Staff — Fri, 05 Jul 2013 14:43:41 -0400

Sixty-three percent of Americans see a too-powerful government as a greater danger than a government without enough power, according to a recent Rasmussen poll.

Twenty-one percent said governments that are not powerful enough are the greater threat, and 17 percent said they weren’t sure.

Researchers surveyed 1,000 adults on June 19 and 20, asking: “What is the bigger danger in the world today…a government that is too powerful or a government that is not powerful enough?”

The question was the sixth of seven in a survey that did not establish what might be considered “enough” power for a government.

Rasmussen described the margin of sampling error as +/- 3 percentage points, with a confidence level of 95 percent.

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Some Military Bases Cancel July 4th Fireworks

Staff — Mon, 01 Jul 2013 11:09:06 -0400

Sequestration budget cuts and furloughs are forcing a number of military bases across the country to cancel Fourth of July fireworks displays, the Associated Press has reported.

Officials at Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base in North Carolina, for example, said they couldn’t justify paying overtime to employees for the celebration when Defense civilians and other federal workers face smaller paychecks this summer due to furloughs, AP said. Last year, Camp Lejeune spent about $100,000 on Independence Day, including $25,000 for the fireworks, AP said.

The base’s commanding general, Brig. Gen. Thomas Gorry, said canceling the events would “ensure that we can mitigate the fiscal challenges we are currently facing,” according to the AP report.

In addition to the Camp Lejeune cancelation, AP said, fireworks and celebrations have been canceled at the Army's Fort Bragg base, also in North Carolina, as well as at the Marine Corps Logistics Base in Albany, Ga.; Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina, which is planning a smaller party on Wednesday; the Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii; and at New Jersey's Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst.

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Pregnant Suspect Indicted for Mailing Ricin to Obama

Staff , Global Security Newswire — Mon, 01 Jul 2013 09:16:18 -0400

A pregnant mother and occasional television actress was indicted in federal court on charges of mailing ricin-filled letters to President Obama and other leading public figures, USA Today reported on Friday.

Shannon Richardson is charged on three counts that involve threatening the U.S. commander-in-chief and sending two other threatening communications. Each of the charges carries with it a five-year prison sentence.

The 35-year-old New Boston, Texas, resident reportedly mailed ricin-laced envelopes to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the head of the mayor's gun safety organization.

John Delk, the lawyer for her estranged husband, Nathan Richardson, accused Shannon Richardson of trying to make it look as if his client had sent the letters.

The May 20 letter to Obama, which never reached him, reads, "You will have to kill me and my family before you get my guns. Anyone wants to come to my house will get shot in the face."

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State Dept. Disputes Need for Senate Approval of Further Nuke Cuts

Staff , Global Security Newswire — Mon, 24 Jun 2013 09:31:19 -0400

The Obama administration has asserted it would not necessarily have to seek Senate backing of a potential deal with Russia to remove hundreds of nuclear warheads from long-range missiles and aircraft, the New York Times reported last week.

President Obama called for new bilateral talks aimed at cutting deployed strategic nuclear warheads by up to one-third. An existing treaty commits each side to hold no more than 1,550 launch-ready warheads by 2018, and the proposed reductions might ultimately lower that ceiling to roughly 1,000 weapons.

Senator Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) previously said Secretary of State John Kerry had assured him "that any further reductions would occur in bilateral treaty negotiations subject to the advice and consent of the Senate.”

A State Department insider, though, said Kerry had only said "the [Senate Foreign Relations Committee] would be consulted as we moved forward into discussions with the Russian Federation."

Kerry "did not indicate that the administration had decided to codify any results in a treaty,” the State Department source said by e-mail.

A new deal could be worded less formally to sidestep the need for Senate approval, according to prior reporting.

In a Wednesday letter to Kerry, 24 GOP senators said Leon Panetta and Joseph Biden had each referenced a strong precedent for Senate approval of arms control treaties during their respective tenures at the Defense Department and in Congress.

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Obama Directs Military to Prepare Plans for No-Fly Zone in Syria, Officials Say

Staff , Global Security Newswire — Wed, 29 May 2013 10:27:54 -0400

President Obama has directed the Defense Department to draft plans to establish a no-fly-zone in Syria that would be enforced by NATO members, the Daily Beast reported on Tuesday, citing two anonymous U.S. officials.

The White House issued the directive prior to last week's visit to the Middle East by Secretary of State John Kerry, according to the website. Washington is seeking to build up regional support for a planned international conference in Switzerland that aims to find a political resolution to the Syrian civil war that has killed an estimated 80,000 people and reportedly involved a number of chemical-weapon strikes.

"The White House is still in contemplation mode but the planning is moving forward and it's more advanced than it's ever been," a U.S. official said in an interview. "All this effort to pressure the [Bashar Assad] regime is part of the overall effort to find a political solution, but what happens if Geneva fails? It's only prudent to plan for other options."

Defense Department spokesman George Little on Tuesday said the White House had not requested any "new military planning effort" regarding possible intervention in Syria, The Hill newspaper reported. "The Joint Staff, along with the relevant combatant commanders, continue to conduct prudent planning for a range of possible military options."

The European Union's decision to lift a prohibition on exporting weapons to Syria is aimed at signaling to the Assad regime and to its ally Russia that if the planned peace talks in Geneva are not productive, Western nations are resolved to help opposition forces win, high-ranking European envoys told the New York Times on Tuesday.

The easing of the arms embargo is also aimed at strengthening moderate rebel factions, which have lagged behind better-armed opposition Islamist militias, according to the diplomats.

The State Department on Tuesday said it welcomed the lifting of the arms ban, Agence France-Presse reported. "We do support the easing of the EU arms embargo as part of the international community's effort to demonstrate its full support for the Syrian opposition," spokesman Patrick Ventrell said.

The United Kingdom and France are seen as the most open to supplying the rebels with weapons but they are being urged to hold back over the short-term, according to the Washington Post. Austrian Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger said Paris and London have promised not to send any arms to the rebels before August so as to give internationally sponsored peace negotiations a chance to succeed.

Ventrell also castigated Russia's announcement that it would export S-300 air-defense batteries to Damascus, United Press International reported. "We condemn the continued supply of Russian weapons to the regime, and this includes all class of weapons," Ventrell said. "We've seen how the regime uses those arms."

Moscow has said the air defenses would serve regional stability and has lashed the EU withdrawal of the arms embargo.

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Obama Seeks Senate Confirmation for Top Arms Control Post at State

Staff , Global Security Newswire — Fri, 10 May 2013 10:20:28 -0400

President Obama on Thursday asked senators to confirm a key State Department arms control official to a post she has filled on a provisional basis for more than a year.

The administration in February 2012 announced it had tapped Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control, Verification and Compliance Rose Gottemoeller to also serve as the department's acting undersecretary for arms control and international security, succeeding Ellen Tauscher in that role. Obama last September announced he would nominate Gottemoeller for formal appointment to the position.

The assignment requires Gottemoeller to oversee operations by the arms control bureau she has headed since April 2009 as well as two other offices: the International Security and Nonproliferation Bureau and the Political-Military Affairs Bureau.

Gottemoeller is an arms control veteran who served as the Obama administration's lead negotiator for the U.S.-Russian New START nuclear treaty.

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Obama Fills Out His Cabinet

Staff , Quartz — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 10:09:07 -0400

Billionaire Obama fundraiser Penny Pritzker is the president’s likely pick for Commerce secretary, Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx will reportedly be his new Transportation secretary, and White House staffer Michael Froman is expected to be nominated as the new US trade representative. Now they just have to survive the Senate confirmation process.

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Furlough Solidarity: Officials and Lawmakers Offer Voluntary Pay Cuts

Staff — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 17:13:06 -0500

A handful of lawmakers and federal executives who are exempt from taking forced, unpaid leave due to sequestration have pledged to stand with the downtrodden and the furloughed. The following is a list of people in government whose pay is unaffected by the automatic, across-the-board cuts, but who have discussed taking pay cuts if other federal employees are furloughed:

Ashton Carter, Deputy Secretary of Defense: Carter told a Senate committee he would cut his own salary by 20 percent if his employees face the equivalent pay reduction through furloughs.
Rep. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill.: Duckworth said in a statement she will take an 8.4 percent pay cut to match the reduction on most discretionary programs.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.: After Carter volunteered to have his salary cut, Graham said, “We should follow your model. We should have our pay docked and the president should have his pay docked.”
Sens. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., and Bill Nelson, D-Fla.: The two senators have introduced legislation to make congressional salaries vulnerable to sequestration cuts. “The federal workforce is looking at furloughs that would result in a sizeable pay cut -- and there’s absolutely no reason members of Congress should exempt themselves.”
Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md.: Mikulski took to the Senate floor to call for congressional pay cuts to match federal employee furloughs.
Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C.: The non-voting representative from Washington, D.C., said she will donate a day’s pay for each day federal employees are furloughed -- matching the highest number of furlough days by any agency -- to the Federal Employee Education and Assistance Fund.

Not all members of Congress favor a pay cut. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., recently said, when asked about the possibility of a trimmed salary because of sequestration, "I don't think we should do it; I think we should respect the work we do."

(Image via Flickr user studio08denver)

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Who will be the next president racing at Nationals baseball games?

Staff , National Journal — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 17:00:44 -0500

As Teddy Roosevelt crossed the finish line at that fateful October Nationals game, it not only ended his 525-game losing streak, but it also marked the start of a new era in foam-headed presidential racing.

Now that the “Let Teddy Win” campaign is complete, Washington's baseball team has decided to add another president to the famed President’s Race. But who will the team announce as the fifth president on Saturday? William Henry Harrison? Taft racing in a bathtub? Millard Fillmore?

Click here for some of the recommendations from the writers and editors of the National Journal.

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