memeorandum: Seeing Its Own Money at Risk, China Rails at U.S. (Mark Landler/New York Times)

9:20 AM ET, October 16, 2013

Top Items:

Jonathan Strong / National Review:

Stunned Republicans React to Canceled Vote — Referring to his plan to preemptively send the Senate a House-passed bill, Speaker John Boehner told his conference this morning that he'd “rather throw a grenade than catch a grenade.” But with his right-wing troops abandoning him again it was the speaker left holding the bomb.

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Reuters, The American Conservative, News Desk, Daily Kos and Taegan Goddard's …

Abby D. Phillip / ABC News:

Senate Leaders ‘Very Close’ to Debt, Shutdown Deal … With less than a day remaining before the debt limit is reached, Congress will need to work feverishly today to pass compromise legislation that would extend the debt ceiling and end the government shutdown.

Discussion: Politico, CNN, Hot Air, NBCNews and ABC News

Wall Street Journal:

It's time to wrap up this comedy of political errors. — The Beltway budget melodrama rolls on to its predictable and dreary end, with both sides now split over increasingly small differences. None of this is worth a partial government shutdown, much less the risk of a debt default, and both sides are looking like losers.

Discussion: ABC News, Talking Points Memo, Guardian, NPR and Questions and Observations

Politico:

Senate leaders finalizing deal — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell are finalizing a deal to avert a debt default and reopen the government, capping a frantic day that had Washington bracing for an economic crisis of its own making.

Discussion: Bloomberg, Outside the Beltway, NPR, NBCNews, The Moderate Voice, Hit & Run, Gawker, The Raw Story, Reuters, CNN, Mediaite, New York Times and The Hill

Tom Cohen / CNN:

Will they make it? Senate rushing deal before debt ceiling deadline — Washington (CNN) — The country crashes into the debt ceiling at midnight, and there is no deal yet in Washington. — The deal-making resumes Wednesday, as the government slides into day 16 of the shutdown.

Discussion: KTLA 5

Politico:
Markets expect a deal — they better get one

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …

Robert Costa / National Review:
Boehner Searches for Votes

Discussion: Hot Air, A plain blog about politics, The Plum Line, The Dish, Defense One, Daily Kos, Taegan Goddard's …, American Spectator and Politico

CNBC:
Fitch puts US AAA rating on rating watch negative

Discussion: Daily Kos and The Hinterland Gazette

Alternet:
US Warned of Credit Downgrade as Republicans Inch Closer to the Brink

Discussion: Guardian

Washington Post:
Senate leaders race to draft debt-limit bill after House effort collapses

Discussion: The Fix, NationalJournal.com, Politico, Right Turn, NBCNews, Shot in the Dark, Independent Journal Review, ProfessorBainbridge.com, FreedomWorks, VodkaPundit, Post Politics, Daily Kos and The Plum Line

Brian Beutler / Salon:
John Boehner makes his final move

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Liberaland, PoliticusUSA and The American Conservative

Josh Barro / Business Insider:

House Republicans Show Themselves To Be Dangerously Incompetent, Again — House Republican leaders canceled plans to call a vote Tuesday evening on a Republican plan to raise the debt limit and reopen the government. They couldn't round up enough Republican votes to pass it.

Discussion: TIME, The American Conservative, Washington Examiner, The Week, Talking Points Memo, The Moderate Voice, The Fix and Daily Kos

Vicki Needham / The Hill:
Conservative groups urge ‘no’ votes on House plan

Discussion: Roll Call and Hot Air

Ajc Blogs: &lsquo:

Hearsay from Hillary Clinton: On Joe Biden and the Osama bin Laden raid — Former U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton was in town today. A few Secret Squirrels, and some not so secret, agreed to be our sources, given that her speech to the National Association of Convenience Stores was encapsulated by a cone of silence.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Politico, Taylor Marsh, Right Turn and Weasel Zippers

Taegan Goddard's Political Wire:

Graham Admits Republicans Went Too Far — Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told TPM that he was “proud” of Speaker John Boehner's handling of the fiscal crisis but thought Democrats should have been more flexible with Republicans. — Said Graham: “We won't be the last political party to overplay our hand.

Discussion: The Impolitic

Sahil Kapur / Talking Points Memo: Senate Debt Deal Screeches To Halt As U.S. Looks Over The Cliff

Ben Smith / BuzzFeed:

Exclusive: Glenn Greenwald Will Leave Guardian To Create New News Organization — The reporter who broke the NSA story promises “a momentous new venture.” A “very substantial new media outlet” with serious backing, he says. Updated. — Greenwald in Rio de Janeiro in July. — Sergio Moraes / Reuters

Discussion: Reuters, TechPresident, Taylor Marsh, Business Insider, Mediaite, Politico, New York Times, Guardian, Talking Points Memo, Gawker, Hit & Run, The Verge, BBC, The Hill, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, naked capitalism and The Raw Story, more at Mediagazer »

Jonathan Allen / Politico:

Obama vows veto over Vitter measure — President Barack Obama told House Democratic leaders Tuesday that he would veto debt-ceiling legislation if it includes a provision pushed by Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) and House GOP leaders that would cut health subsidies for congressional …

Discussion: BizPac Review, PoliticusUSA and ThinkProgress

Ryan Lizza / News Desk:
Why Congressional Staffers Hate the Vitter Amendment

Discussion: The Fact Checker

Ed Kilgore / Washington Monthly:

Three Theories of House GOP Brinkmanship—And One More — As we await the next development in the fiscal saga, it's worthwhile to look at three theories kicking around today for exactly why House Republicans are continuing to engage in economy-risking and popularity-damaging brinkmanship …

Discussion: Business Insider, Washington Post, Balloon Juice and Democratic Strategist

John Schwartz / New York Times:

Judge in Landmark Case Disavows Support for Voter ID — It is the kind of thought that rarely passes the lips of a member of the federal judiciary: I was wrong. — But there was Richard A. Posner, one of the most distinguished judges in the land and a member of the United States Court …

Discussion: BillMoyers.com

James Taranto / Wall Street Journal:

As Good as It Gets? — ObamaCare supporters go through the stages of grief. — In a much-discussed post titled “Five Thoughts on the ObamaCare Disaster,” the Washington Post's Ezra Klein manages to cycle through the first three of Elisabeth Kübler Ross's five stages of grief: — • Denial.

Discussion: CNBC, CNN and The Reaction

Dylan Scott / Talking Points Memo:

Senate GOP Aide: ‘Ted Cruz And His Tortilla Coast Republicans Are Leading Us To A Default’ — With the possibility of breaching the debt limit looking more and more plausible as House Republicans struggle to appease their caucus and come up with a plan to re-open the government and increase the debt ceiling …

Discussion: Connecting.the.Dots

Paige Lavender / The Huffington Post:

Antonin Scalia: 14th Amendment Protects Everyone, Not ‘Only The Blacks’ — During oral arguments on an affirmative action case on Tuesday, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said the 14th Amendment protects everyone, not “only the blacks.” — The quote was tweeted by the New York Times' David Leonhardt:

Discussion: Daily Kos, Mediaite and theGrio

Matt Pace / Compete Pulse:

A Bleak First Week: 99.6% of Healthcare.gov Visitors Did NOT Enroll in Obamacare — Since October 1st, Americans living in the 50 states and Washington, D.C. can purchase healthcare through exchanges as part of the Affordable Care Act (also known as Obamacare.)

Discussion: Post Politics, Kantar, Weasel Zippers, Mediaite, National Review, Twitchy and The Daily Caller

Tal Kopan / Politico:

Warren Buffett: No debt limit hike ‘poison gas’ — Billionaire investor Warren Buffett warned Wednesday that failing to raise the debt ceiling would be like unleashing “poison gas” and a political weapon that should not be used. — “If it does happen, it's a pure act of idiocy.

Discussion: Associated Press and Liberaland

Thomas B. Edsall / New York Times:

The Political-Monetary Complex — IN its landmark 1976 decision Buckley v.Valeo, the Supreme Court affirmed the constitutionality of laws aimed at “the prevention of corruption and the appearance of corruption spawned by the real or imagined coercive influence of large financial contributions …

Discussion: Prairie Weather

Investor's Business Daily:

ObamaCare, Like All Central Planning, Is A ‘Big Failure’ — Bureaucratic Tragedy: ObamaCare promoter Ezra Klein admits the law has been a “big failure.” We could say his comments are those of a useful idiot. But what they really do is underscore the perils of central planning.

Discussion: Ed Driscoll