CBO: Baucus Bill Would Cut Deficit by $81B

Mitch McConnell, Tea Party at the forefront: Chris Cillizza

(NEWSER) - The debt-deal dust has yet to settle, but that's not stopping anyone from analyzing its political consequences. In the Washington Post , Chris Cillizza notes the winners:

• Mitch McConnell was “the Mariano Rivera of the debt deal. He waited until the game was in its final moments, came onto the field and helped close things down.”
• The Tea Party showed its sway, driving John Boehner to delay his bill and “add conservative sweeteners to get the 217 votes he needed.”

House speaker reworking debt measure to meet projections

(NEWSER) - John Boehner's debt ceiling plan has had a lousy day: In the latest setback, the Congressional Budget Office says it doesn't cut as much as Boehner thought—the CBO puts the figure at $850 billion over a decade, instead of the $1.2 trillion promised by the House speaker, reports the Washington Post . (Read the CBO letter here .) As a result, Boehner and his aides were scrambling to rework the measure. A House vote scheduled for tomorrow has been delayed and now might take place Thursday. Whenever it arrives, however, there's no guarantee it will pass. More»

Emotions ran high during health reform debate

(NEWSER) - As the health reform debate reached a fever pitch last year, so too did the threats against lawmakers. The FBI investigated at least 26 threats last year, according to documents obtained by the Hill, a significant upswing from the previous year, and more than any other year on record. Nearly half of those cases came in the weeks surrounding the health care vote in March, with many threats seemingly intent on influencing lawmakers' votes on the bill. More»

They don't really believe it will kill jobs, writes Paul Krugman

(NEWSER) - In their effort to repeal health care reform, the GOP has produced “some numbers and charts to wave at the press”—but they’re not part of any “rational discussion,” writes Paul Krugman in the New York Times . Their figures are, in fact, part of the GOP's "war on logic." They blame health reform, for example, for costs that would exist anyway and dismiss the nonpartisan CBO's figures—which show that a repeal will boost the deficit—as mere "opinion." More»

Time for 'great respect' on Hill: Sen. Alexander

(NEWSER) - The tragedy in Arizona won’t stop the health care debate, but it has pushed back a repeal vote and prompted calls to cool the rhetoric, Politico reports. The House majority leader postponed the week’s lawmaking agenda—including a vote on repeal set for Wednesday—following the attack. Meanwhile, Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander told CNN that “We ought to cool it, tone it down, treat each other with great respect.” More»