Speaker John Boehner talks during a weekly press conference in March of 2012. To buy this photo, go to: http://roll.cl/cqrcpix
This week’s return to the budget barricades — Speaker John Boehner’s revival of debt limit brinkmanship, the frosty hoagie summit, the Senate’s roll call revulsion at five different fiscal blueprints — has made one reality abundantly clear: The mother of all lame ducks will not come on the scene in November.
Not even the relatively golden light that’s supposed to break over the Capitol between an election and the start of a new year will be sufficient to help Washington’s leaders tackle the fiscal cliff.
It is so high and treacherous that the most Republicans and Democrats will agree on is to back away from the crumbling rock for a few more months. Look for the debt ceiling to be increased by only a few hundred billion dollars, for the across-the-board sequester cuts to be put on hold for a few months and for the Bush tax cuts to be left alone for an equivalent amount of time.
Rep. Sandy Adams is shown in a file photo. To buy this photo, go to: http://roll.cl/cqrcpix
The House passed a Republican version of a domestic violence bill.
On a mostly party-line vote, the GOP majority approved a five-year renewal of the Violence Against Women Act which does not extend protection to gays and lesbians, illegal immigrants and Native Americans, reports Reuters.
The Obama administration prefers a Democratic version of the bill which passed the Senate last month.
Republicans insisted their measure would bolster needed protections to combat domestic abuse. They also accused President Barack Obama and his Democrats of opposing their bill in a bid to rally their liberal base in a presidential election year.
Representative Sandy Adams, one of a number of Republican women sponsors of the measure, said, “We want to make sure that we are not politicizing this issue but just reauthorizing” the law.
Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, left, South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson and Rep. Michele Bachmann talk to reporters on the third day of Supreme Court hearings on the Affordable Care Act. To buy this photo, go to: http://roll.cl/cqrcpix
States have until Nov. 16 to set up health insurance exchanges.
While many states are waiting to see how the Supreme Court rules on the 2010 health care law, the Obama administration is forging ahead, reports Reuters.
One section of the law requires states to create exchanges where the uninsured cna by coverage.
The exchanges would allow consumers to purchase their insurance from an easy-to-understand menu of competing plans, at premiums set on a sliding scale according to the buyer’s income.
But progress at the state level has been uneven, with many states waiting to see how healthcare reform fares in a U.S. Supreme Court ruling anticipated in June that could overturn the law.
Twenty-six states participated in the lawsuit that went before the Supreme Court.
Unemployed circus clown Tim Torkildson, a.k.a. Dusty the Clown, sits on a bench on the north side of the Capitol building holding a sign today. To buy this photo, go to: http://roll.cl/cqrcpix
Mary Arnold, center, intern for Rep. John Tanner, left, takes instruction from Chris Swain, a USC professor, on how to play The Redistricting Game. The game shows players how manipulation of district lines can yield victory for either party. To buy this photo, go to: http://roll.cl/cqrcpix
Redistricting is almost over.
Of the 43 states which have more than one Congressional district, only Kansas has not yet adopted a final map based on the 2010 Census results, reports CQ’s Stacey Skotzko.
The dust still has to settle from legal challenges though — a dozen states still have pending litigation regarding their new congressional districts. And more than 40 states faced a legal challenge of some sort over new maps this cycle; many have since been dismissed. …
Five bills are pending in Congress to change the redistricting process to some extent, most calling for mandatory independent commissions, although none of the bills have been considered in committtee.
