memeorandum: Boehner Agonistes (again) (The Fix)

12:50 PM ET, September 18, 2013

Top Items:

Mario Trujillo / The Hill:

White House gets ready for shutdown — The White House told federal agencies on Tuesday to prepare for a government shutdown. — President Obama's budget director Sylvia Matthews Burwell in a memo to agencies said they should set their plans in case Congress fails to pass a funding measure by the end of the month.

Discussion: CNN and The Moderate Voice

Sheldon Alberts / The Hill:

House Republicans going ahead with bill to defund ObamaCare — House Republicans are moving forward with a government funding bill that would defund ObamaCare. — But Senate Democrats and the White House have promised to reject any legislation that would defund the healthcare law …

Discussion: Politico, E2-Wire and Booman Tribune

New York Times:

The Money Behind the Shutdown Crisis — Representative Aaron Schock is a conservative Republican from Illinois, but not conservative enough for the hard-right activist group Club for Growth, which is seeking someone to run against him in next year's primary. — His crime?

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Politico, The Week, BillMoyers.com, Salon, Prairie Weather and FOX News Radio

The Fix:

Boehner Agonistes (again) — By Sean Sullivan and Aaron Blake, Published: September 18 at 6:30 am — House Republican leaders appear intent on holding a vote on a measure that would fund the government beyond Sept. 30 and defund President Obama's signature health-care law …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Post Politics, Business Insider and Daily Kos

Robert Costa / National Review:

House to Vote on Defunding Obamacare — Leadership sources tell me the House GOP will soon vote on a continuing resolution that simultaneously funds the federal government and defunds Obamacare. Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor are expected to announce the decision at Wednesday's closed-door conference meeting.

Ramsey Cox / The Hill:
Reid: GOP doing ‘everything they can’ to get rid of government

Discussion: Politico

Washington Post:
Government shutdown moves closer to reality

Discussion: First Read, Taegan Goddard's …, Politico, Los Angeles Times, Right Turn, Post Politics, Prairie Weather, New York Times, Salon and The Week

Robert Costa / National Review:
Boehner: 'We're Going to Put Obamacare Defunding Directly Into the CR'

Discussion: Hot Air and Daily Kos

Emma Dumain / Roll Call:
Conservatives to Unveil Obamacare Replacement Bill

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Politico:

And what's right with Obama? — The British have a saying about the twin rules of journalism: first simplify, then exaggerate. — Perhaps Barack Obama can comfort himself with the reality that his current travails are both more complicated in their causes and less dire in their consequences …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Pirate's Cove, Althouse, Jammie Wearing Fools and Connecting.the.Dots

Maureen Dowd / New York Times:

Losing the Room — WASHINGTON — On the most deadly day here since Sept. 11, 2001, with the capital reeling over the sadly familiar scene of a mass shooting by a madman, the chief executive stepped to the microphones and captured the heartbreak. — It wasn't the chief executive of the nation.

Discussion: The Dish, No More Mister Nice Blog and TheBlaze.com

New York Times:

As Budget Fight Looms, Obama Sees Defiance in His Own Party — WASHINGTON — For four years, President Obama counted on fellow Democrats to rally to his side in a series of epic battles with Republicans over the direction of the country. But now, deep in his fifth year in office …

Discussion: Politico, The Plum Line, Washington Monthly, NationalJournal.com, The Week, Jammie Wearing Fools, First Read, Taegan Goddard's … and Wall Street Journal

Wall Street Journal:
The President finds an enemy he's willing to bomb—Republicans.

Discussion: Power Line, Betsy's Page and Fox News

Starbucks Coffee Company:

An Open Letter from Howard Schultz, ceo of Starbucks Coffee Company — Posted by Howard Schultz, Starbucks chairman, president and chief executive officer — Few topics in America generate a more polarized and emotional debate than guns. In recent months, Starbucks stores and our partners …

Discussion: New York Times, ThinkProgress, Democracy in America, Washington Free Beacon, Business Insider, The Daily Caller, The Verge, HyperVocal, Mediaite, The Week, Weasel Zippers, National Review, NPR, msnbc.com and The Raw Story

Amie Parnes / The Hill:

Obama distress signal: President seeks help from first-term A-Team — A struggling President Obama is calling for help from members of his first-term A-Team, who have left the White House for other jobs. — With his poll numbers falling and his second-term floundering so far …

Discussion: CNN, Hot Air, Weekly Standard, Taylor Marsh, Taegan Goddard's …, National Review and Booman Tribune

Michael S. Schmidt / New York Times:

State Law Prevented Sale of Assault Rifle to Suspect Last Week, Officials Say — WASHINGTON — The gunman who killed 12 people at the Washington Navy Yard on Monday test-fired an AR-15 assault rifle at a Virginia gun store last week but was stopped from buying one because state law there prohibits …

Discussion: Mediaite, Taylor Marsh, NewsBusters, NPR, Business Insider, Hot Air, The Stranger … and Los Angeles Times

Washington Post:

Buddhist community ponders apparent link between their faith and Navy Yard shooter — In the aftermath of the Washington Navy Yard shootings, gunman Aaron Alexis's interest in Buddhism seemed at odds with conventional Western stereotypes of serene, nonviolent meditators.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, The Hinterland Gazette, Gawker, Althouse and Post Politics

Emily Miller / Washington Times:
New York Times gets it wrong, media obsessed with linking AR-15 with Navy Yard shooter

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, National Review, Twitchy, Ace of Spades HQ, Daily Mail, Michelle Malkin and Hot Air

Wall Street Journal:

Walgreen to Give Workers Payments to Buy Health Plans — Drugstore Chain's Move Underscores Shifting Burden on Insurance — Rising health-care costs and a climate of change brought about by the new federal health law are prompting American corporations to revisit the pact they've long had with employees over medical benefits.

Discussion: National Review and Pirate's Cove

Elise Viebeck / The Hill:
Walgreens, Blue Cross launch effort to promote ObamaCare

Discussion: Weekly Standard

Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times:
Reaping Profit After Assisting on Health Law

Discussion: OpenSecrets.org

Stephen Dinan / Washington Times:

IRS officials thought Obama wanted crackdown on tea party groups, worried about negative press — IRS employees were “acutely” aware in 2010 that President Obama wanted to crack down on conservative organizations and were egged into targeting tea party groups by press reports mocking the emerging movement …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers

Gregory Korte / USA Today:
IRS list reveals concerns over Tea Party ‘propaganda’

Discussion: Sister Toldjah, Hot Air, Weasel Zippers and The Daily Caller

Quinnipiac News + Events:

Release Detail — September 18, 2013 - Virginia Voters Dislike Mcauliffe Less Than Cuccinelli, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Libertarian Could Be Key In Tight Race — With 7 percent of likely voters, Robert Sarvis, the Libertarian candidate in the too-close-to call Virginia governor's race …

Discussion: Yahoo! News, Washington Post, Associated Press, CNN, Politico, First Read, Taegan Goddard's … and msnbc.com

The Raw Story:

Muslim beauty pageant challenges Miss World — Muslim women in headscarves and elaborately embroidered dresses took to the stage Wednesday for the finale of an Islamic beauty pageant in Indonesia, a riposte to the Miss World contest that has sparked hardline anger.

Thomas L. Friedman / New York Times:

The Man With Pink Hair — I was at a conference in Bern, Switzerland, last week and struggling with my column. News of Russia's proposal for Syria to surrender its poison gas was just breaking and changing every hour, forcing me to rewrite my column every hour.

Discussion: Daniel W. Drezner

Damian Paletta / Washington Wire:

White House Shifts Debt-Ceiling Tone, Warning of Fiasco — In 2011, then-Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner repeatedly brushed off questions about whether Congress would raise the debt ceiling. He wasn't worried, he would tell audiences. Congress would raise it sooner or later.

Discussion: Wonkblog

CBS Los Angeles:

Undocumented LA County Parents On Pace To Receive $650M In Welfare Benefits — LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — A projected $650 million in welfare benefits will be distributed to illegal alien parents in 2013, county officials said Monday. — Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich announced …

Discussion: Scared Monkeys, Right Wing News, Weasel Zippers, Power Line and Doug Ross

Lucy McCalmont / Politico:

Darrell Issa: I can call Hillary Clinton back — Rep. Darrell Issa says the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee can “certainly” call back former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to testify on Benghazi. — “We can certainly have Mrs. Clinton back; our view is that we need to get to the facts …

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Elise Viebeck / The Hill:

Appeals court rules in favor of ObamaCare birth control mandate — The decision from the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals represents a victory for the Obama administration in a series of ongoing fights over the contraception policy, which critics see as a violation of religious freedom.

Melanie Eversley / USA Today:

Federal government to seize NYC skyscraper tied to Iran — A federal judge cleared the way for the government to seize a 36-story building owned by Iran. — CONNECT — It was once known as the Piaget Building because the Swiss jeweler used to have offices in the skyscraper near Rockefeller Center.

Discussion: Yahoo! News