memeorandum: Congress Targets Spending (Wall Street Journal)

2:40 AM ET, January 4, 2011

Top Items:

Michael O'Brien / The Hill:

Senate Dems warn Boehner: Don't bother with healthcare repeal — The 112th Congress doesn't begin until Wednesday, but Senate Democrats are already vowing to block any attempts by the new GOP-led House to repeal the healthcare reform law. — The Senate's top Democrats, led by Majority Leader Harry Reid …

Discussion: The Politico, Toledo Blade, Nice Deb, Sister Toldjah, USA Today, Liberty Central, The Political Carnival, Doug Ross and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Aharding / CNN:

House GOP to move this week on health care repeal — Washington (CNN) - CNN has learned that Republicans plan to try to repeal the health care law almost immediately after taking control of the House, setting the stage for an early confrontation with President Obama.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, The Politico, The Huffington Post, Brilliant at Breakfast, Washington Monthly, The Political Carnival, protein wisdom, National Review and Economist's View

Terry / CNSNews:

Republican Congressman: Ban Funding of Obamacare in Every Appropriations Bill This Year — (CNSNews.com) - Rep. Steve King (R.-Iowa) says that House Republicans should include language that prohibits any funding for implementation of Obamacare in literally every appropriations bill that passes …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers

Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:

Dems playing rough on health reform? — More signs Dems are going to get aggressive in the battle with the GOP over the repeal of health reform. — In an interview with me just now, Dem Rep. Anthony Weiner, who is one of the best there is at framing liberal arguments in pugnacious terms …

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, Wonk Room and Daily Kos

Carrie Budoff Brown / The Politico:

House to vote on health repeal next week — The House will vote next week to repeal the new health care law, making good on a top-tier GOP campaign promise and setting up a showdown with President Barack Obama over his signature domestic policy achievement.

Discussion: Hot Air, Swampland, AOL News, Flopping Aces, iOwnTheWorld.com, The Note, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Daily Kos, Right Pundits, Fox News, Firedoglake and Arkansas Blog

Russell Berman / The Hill:
House Republicans schedule vote on healthcare repeal for next week

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, The Politico and Taegan Goddard's …

Paul Kane / Washington Post:
House sets Jan. 12 vote on repeal of health-care law

Discussion: Roll Call

Lauren Hope Vicary / Politics Daily: House Republicans Plan Vote to Repeal ‘Obamacare’ on Jan. 12

Bloomberg:

Obama Said to Consider William Daley for Top White House Post — President Barack Obama is considering naming William Daley, a JPMorgan Chase & Co. executive and former U.S. Commerce secretary, to a high-level White House post, possibly as his chief of staff, people familiar with the matter said.

Discussion: The Politico, Political Punch, The New Republic, Weasel Zippers, Publius Forum, The Page, Right Pundits, The Sundries Shack, The Hill, Hotline On Call, Ben Smith's Blog, The Political Carnival and THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS

Lynn Sweet / Politics Daily:

William Daley at Top of Obama List for White House Chief of Staff … The Obama White House is considering William Daley as the new chief of staff, but no final decisions have been made, and interim chief of staff Peter Rouse still has not finalized whether he wants to stay.

Discussion: The Confluence

Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Great news: New Obama chief of staff might be ... William Daley

Discussion: Oliver Willis and Moe Lane

The Huffington Post:

Scalia: Women Don't Have Constitutional Protection Against Discrimination — WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? … WASHINGTON — The equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution does not protect against discrimination on the basis of gender or sexual orientation, according to Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

Discussion: Hullabaloo and Advocate

callawyer.com:

THE ORIGINALIST — Last October marked the 24th anniversary of Justice Antonin Scalia's appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court. Well known for his sharp wit as well as his originalist approach to the Constitution, Justice Scalia consistently asks more questions during oral arguments and makes …

Discussion: Raw Story and Pam's House Blend

Mark Knoller / CBS News:

National Debt Tops $14 Trillion — The latest posting today of the National Debt shows it has topped $14 trillion for the first time. — The U.S. Treasury website today reported that as of last Friday, the last day of 2010, the National Debt stood at $14,025,215,218,708.52.

Discussion: Raw Story, Weasel Zippers, Hot Air, Patterico's Pontifications and National Review

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
Debt-ceiling vote first test for new Republican majority?

Discussion: The Right Scoop, Right Pundits and The Hill

Daniel Foster / National Review:
Why the Republicans Will Get a Lot in Exchange for Raising the Debt Ceiling

Discussion: Power Line, The Huffington Post, Crooks and Liars and The New Republic

Rachel Slajda / TPM LiveWire:

There's One Huge State Budget Crisis That Everyone Is Refusing To Talk About — You know the story and you know the names: states like Illinois, New Jersey, New York, and California are supposed to be in huge financial trouble thanks to bloated governments, business-unfriendly regulations, and strong public sector unions.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and Arkansas Blog

Charlie Savage / New York Times:

Obama May Bypass Guantánamo Rules, Aides Say — WASHINGTON — President Obama's legal advisers, confronting the prospect of new restrictions on the transfer of Guantánamo detainees, are debating whether to recommend that he issue a signing statement asserting that his executive powers …

Discussion: TigerHawk

Dafna Linzer / ProPublica:

Administration Prepares to Defy Efforts to Limit Obama's Options for Guantanamo — Update (4:25 p.m.): This story has been updated to reflect our latest reporting with the addition of a third sentence in the second paragraph. — Obama administration officials say they plan …

Discussion: Oliver Willis, Emptywheel and TalkLeft

delawareonline:

(2 of 2) — The Marinis home is under construction at the entrance of Battery Park along the Delaware River. — Regina Marini said she wanted to move back to her hometown with her mother. But the fight over construction dragged and her mother died before the home was built.

Discussion: AOL News, Right Pundits, The Politico, Mediaite and The Gateway Pundit

Fox News:
Cops: Former Bush Aide Murdered, Found in Landfill

Discussion: The Atlantic Online and The Other McCain

James Fallows / The Atlantic Online: John P Wheeler III

Ronald Bailey / Hit & Run:

Women or Wine? Monogamy and Alcohol — The headline is the title of an intriguing new working paper [PDF] by two University of Leuven economists Mara Squicciarini and Jo Swinnen. The two note an interesting correlation between societies that practice monogamy and those that drink alcohol.

Discussion: Mediaite and Hot Air

Erick Erickson / RedState:

Pence for President — If confession is good for the soul, let me pour out my soul for you. As I stood at the beginning of 2008, I find myself in the same position here as we now begin the very real discussions of who should be the candidate for the GOP in 2012.

Discussion: Hot Air, Conservatives4Palin, Ballot Box, GOP 12 and Salon

Lee Fang / ThinkProgress:

Allen West Says New Congress Should Prioritize Threat Of ‘Infiltration Of The Sharia Practice’ In U.S. — Rep. Allen West (R-FL), a newly-elected member who has loudly scapegoated Muslims and campaigned on a promise to oppose religious diversity, appeared on Frank Gaffney's radio program last week.

Discussion: Booman Tribune, The Right Scoop and Weasel Zippers

Ben Armbruster / ThinkProgress:
Allen West: Obama Should Put His Life On The Line When He Visits Afghanistan

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, USA Today and Weasel Zippers

Ezra Klein:

Some thoughts — and graphs — on inequality and income — I've been spending some time thinking about income inequality for a piece I'm writing. As part of it, I made this graph comparing trends in inequality — as measured by the share of pre-tax income that goes to the top 1 percent …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, The Maddow Blog and The Moderate Voice

Robert Mackey / The Lede:

Ahmadinejad Was Slapped by General, Leaked Cable Says — Last January, as Iran's leadership struggled to contain postelection protests, nerves frayed to such an extent that the country's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was slapped in the face by a military commander at one contentious meeting …

Discussion: Mediaite

Amie Ferris-Rotman / CANOE:

Church set on fire in Russia's Muslim Caucasus — MOSCOW — Unidentified attackers set a church ablaze with a grenade in Russia's mainly Muslim North Caucasus late on Sunday, media reported, in the latest act of violence in a region where Moscow is struggling to contain an Islamist insurgency.

David Cole / New York Times:

Chewing Gum for Terrorists — DID former Attorney General Michael Mukasey, former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, Tom Ridge, a former homeland security secretary, and Frances Townsend, a former national security adviser, all commit a federal crime last month in Paris when they spoke in support …

Discussion: Mother Jones, Salon, ACS Blog, TPMCafe, Wonk Room, Gawker, Raw Story, Hit & Run, Emptywheel and Scrutiny Hooligans

Felix Salmon:

Replacing Summers with a Wall Street millionaire — From today's WaPo report it seems that the shortlist to replace Larry Summers at the NEC has been whittled down to three men — Gene Sperling, Roger Altman, and Richard Levin. — The first thing to note here is that, as Brad DeLong notes …

Discussion: Mother Jones, Grasping Reality …, Capital Gains and Games blogs, Washington Post, Hot Air and Oliver Willis

Myglesias / Yglesias:

Drug Legalization and the Labor Market — Via Ta-Nehisi Coates, John McWhorter is very enthusiastic about the ability of drug legalization to improve the state of black America. I think there's a lot to be said for laxer drug laws, but this strikes me as too optimistic:

Discussion: The Atlantic Online

Emily Pierce / Roll Call:

Reid Set a Filibuster Record — Sen. Harry Reid set a record during the 111th Congress by becoming the chamber's most successful Majority Leader in history at killing attempted filibusters. — Though the Nevada Democrat's batting average took a nose dive in 2010, Reid won 69 percent …

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland and TPMDC

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:

WHAT RNC LEADERS READ.... The five main candidates vying for the chairmanship of the Republican National Committee met today for a debate, which by most accounts, was of greater interest to political reporters than RNC members. One of the lighter moments, however, was arguably the most interesting.

Discussion: TPMDC and The Fix

Jason Millman / The Hill:

Poll: Nearly half of voters don't believe key healthcare promise by Obama — Nearly half of voters with health insurance do not believe President Obama's promise that they will be able to keep it under the new healthcare reform law, according to a poll released Monday.

Discussion: PERRspectives, Weasel Zippers and Prairie Weather