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Obama to unveil $3.77 trillion spending plan — President Obama plans Wednesday to unveil a $3.77 trillion spending plan that proposes modest new investments in infrastructure and education, major new taxes for the wealthy and significant reforms aimed at reducing the cost of Social Security and Medicare.
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Wall Street Journal, Post Politics, The Fix, Hullabaloo, Politico, Talking Points Memo, Wonkblog, The Gateway Pundit, Right Turn, Federal Eye, msnbc.com, The Plum Line, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Hinterland Gazette, Prairie Weather, Patterico's Pontifications, Ballot Box, Right Wing News, Hot Air, Questions and Observations, Shakesville and The Reaction
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Grover Norquist: Chained CPI Violates Taxpayer Protection Pledge — WASHINGTON — Members of Congress who have pledged never to raise taxes will be breaking their promise if they support changing how the government measures inflation for Social Security and tax purposes.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly and Hullabaloo


President Obama's risky ‘goodwill’ gambit — To Obama, curbing entitlement growth has never been a core priority — it's more a means to an end — and the liberal rage against the CPI plan is useful only up to a point: — It makes his CPI plan seem like a major concession instead of the minor baby step Republicans claim it is.
Discussion:
Hullabaloo

House GOP campaign chief: Obama budget is ‘shocking attack’ on seniors
Discussion:
Politico

White House confirms: Obama Budget Contains Middle Class Income Tax Hike
Discussion:
Firedoglake, National Review, NewsBusters blogs and Americans for Tax Reform …

Huffington Post bringing Christie to White House Correspondents' dinner
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Talking Points Memo, Weasel Zippers, Capitol Quickies and Washington Monthly

Paul Ryan Stumped: Can't Name A Single Area Of Compromise In His Budget
Discussion:
msnbc.com, Daily Kos, The Plum Line and The People's View

President Obama's budget targets smokers, wealthy
Discussion:
CNN, The Daily Beast, The Other McCain, Taylor Marsh and The Huffington Post


At Howard University, Rand Paul Falsely Claims He Never Opposed 1964 Civil Rights Act — Following an awkward, earnest speech to an audience at Howard University, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) insisted several times that he did not oppose the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
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Reason, alicublog, Washington Monthly, THEROOT.COM and Rumproast
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Rand Paul: GOP must reconnect with African Americans — (CNN) - Republican Sen. Rand Paul, who's considering a 2016 presidential bid, made a pitch for his party Wednesday at the historically black Howard University, arguing why the GOP and African Americans should fall in the same column.
Discussion:
Politico


Rand Paul Ducks Record On Race In Awkward Howard Speech — As Rand Paul told it, the biggest problem keeping African Americans from voting Republican is that they didn't know Republicans have long been leaders on abolition and civil rights. As students at Howard University heard it …
Discussion:
Mediaite and Little Green Footballs


Rand Paul: 'I've Never Been Against The Civil Rights Act. Ever.'
Discussion:
Esquire, The National Memo and ThinkProgress

Howard Students Didn't Totally Hate Rand Paul
Discussion:
The Hinterland Gazette


Anthony Weiner and Huma Abedin's Post-Scandal Playbook — One day in early February, I met Anthony Weiner and Huma Abedin for breakfast at the Gramercy Park Hotel, one of their regular joints, just a few blocks from their apartment on Park Avenue South. The first thing Weiner said when I sat …
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GUN, IMMIGRATION DEALS IMMINENT — OBAMA BUDGET, 11:15 …
Discussion:
Mediaite, The Daily Caller, CNN and msnbc.com


Top Republican Blasts Obama Budget As ‘Shocking Attack On Seniors’ — Remember those warnings about how instead of welcoming President Obama's adoption of Chained CPI, Republicans would continue to deny him a budget deal and attack him for proposing to cut Social Security?
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Senators unveil deal on background checks — Sens. Joe Manchin and Pat Toomey unveiled a bipartisan deal to expand background checks for commercial gun purchases — including those at gun shows and online — Wednesday morning, opening a pathway for the biggest change in U.S. gun laws in nearly two decades.
Discussion:
CNN, ABCNEWS, Hit & Run, Democracy in America, Taylor Marsh, The Spectacle Blog, JustOneMinute, New Republic and The Huffington Post
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Toomey Refused to Have Schumer at Gun Deal Presser
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Yahoo! News, The Plum Line, Hot Air and Prairie Weather

NRA Says Background Check Compromise Won't Work
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Washington Free Beacon, Weasel Zippers and The Hinterland Gazette

In Blow To NRA, Senators Reach Bipartisan Agreement Expanding Background Checks
Discussion:
p m carpenter's commentary and Crooks and Liars

Senators Reach Bipartisan Deal on Checks of Gun Buyers
Discussion:
The Hill, Above the Law, Addicting Info and Outside the Beltway

NRA rejects deal on background checks
Discussion:
Daily Kos and protein wisdom


Republican Congressman Cites Biblical Great Flood To Say Climate Change Isn't Man-Made — “If you believe in the Bible, one would have to say the Great Flood is an example of climate change. That certainly wasn't because man had overdeveloped hydrocarbon energy.” — View Video ›


The GOP's Gun Control Misfire — The filibuster threat is giving political cover to Senate Democrats. — 'This is about these families and families all across the country who are saying, 'Let's make it a little harder for our kids to get gunned down,'" President Obama declared Monday …
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Firedoglake, CNN, The Hill, Hot Air, RedState, Mediaite, The Daily Caller, The Moderate Voice, The Raw Story, National Review, The Huffington Post, Betsy's Page, Roll Call, TheBlaze.com and msnbc.com
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Rubio joins GOP colleagues for Obama dinner at White House
Discussion:
CNN

Who likes taxes? Democrats, and no one else.
Discussion:
Reuters, The Hill, Weekly Standard, USA Today, Business Insider and Ballot Box

First lady chokes up during speech on gun violence in Chicago — Michelle Obama on Wednesday choked up as she delivered an impassioned speech about gun violence in her hometown of Chicago. — The first lady became emotional as she talked about addressing the classmates of Hadiya Pendleton …
Discussion:
CNN
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Michelle Obama: ‘Hadiya Pendleton was me, and I was her’
Discussion:
The Hinterland Gazette and Weasel Zippers


Grassley Proposes Eliminating 3 Seats On Powerful Court To Keep Obama From Filling Them — As ThinkProgress has previously explained, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is the second most powerful court in the country. It's also a bastion …
Discussion:
Senator Chuck Grassley and The Plum Line


Photos: Bachmann aides hustle her out of Medicaid press conference — Congresswoman Michele Bachmann and State Senator Sean Nienow (R-Cambridge) held a joing news conference to discuss problems with Medicaid reimbursement rates paid to doctors in Minnesota. Both are introducing legislation increasing accountability and transparency.
Discussion:
The Raw Story
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Bachmann Hustled Out Of Press Conference When Asked About Ethics Problems
Discussion:
FishbowlDC and Alan Colmes' Liberaland


New Documents Suggest IRS Reads Emails Without a Warrant — Everyone knows the IRS is our nation's tax collector, but it is also a law enforcement organization tasked with investigating criminal violations of the tax laws. New documents released to the ACLU under the Freedom of Information Act reveal …
Discussion:
VentureBeat, The Raw Story, The Hill, TechCrunch and emptywheel


The Power of Talking to Your Baby — By the time a poor child is one year old, she has most likely already fallen behind middle-class children in her ability to talk, understand and learn. The gap between poor children and wealthier ones widens each year, and by high school it has become a chasm.

Senate votes 87-11 to confirm Sally Jewell as secretary of the Interior — The Senate approved Sally Jewell to be the next Interior Secretary on Wednesday, placing her atop an agency at the center of intense political battles over energy throughout President Obama's tenure.
Discussion:
Politico


Mitch McConnell aide: ‘Gestapo’ tactics — Sen. Mitch McConnell's campaign manager charged Wednesday that whoever obtained audio of the Kentucky Republican's strategists discussing opposition research on Ashley Judd was engaging in “Gestapo kind of scare tactics.”
Discussion:
First Read, CNN, Daily Kos, Post Politics and Mediaite