memeorandum: Laurence Kotlikoff: The Government Should Report Its ‘Fiscal Gap,’ Not Just Official Debts (Laurence J. Kotlikoff/New York Times)

8:35 AM ET, August 2, 2014

Top Items:

U.S. House passes border-security funding bill to speed deportations — (Reuters) - Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives voted on Friday to crack down on Central American migrants, including unaccompanied children, who are flooding to the U.S. border with Mexico, as lawmakers passed a $694 million border security bill.

Discussion: TalkLeft

The Hill:

House approves border funding — House Republicans earned a victory Friday night by approving a $694 million border bill, one day after they were on the verge of leaving Washington empty-handed. — President Obama opposes the House measure and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) declared it dead on arrival.

Sahil Kapur / Talking Points Memo:

House GOP Votes To Spurn Obama, Deport Dreamers Before Leaving Town — In a vote likely to exacerbate their party's demographic problems, House Republicans passed legislation on Friday night to effectively require the deportation of everyone in the U.S. illegally, including young people brought …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and Washington Post

Roll Call:

GOP Leaders Pitch Revised Border Package, Hope to Vote Today (Updated) — House Republicans emerged from a closed-door meeting Friday morning with a revised plan to address the child migrant border crisis — one leaders hope to pass later today. — The latest plan will still require …

Discussion: Daily Kos, New York Times, Right Wing Watch and Hullabaloo

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
An upending of reason in the House

Discussion: Capitol Report and The PJ Tatler

Sahil Kapur / Talking Points Memo: House GOP's New Plan: Rebuke Obama With Border Bill Then Leave Town

Pete Kasperowicz / TheBlaze.com:
Dem says GOP wants to send immigrant children ‘to their death’

Discussion: The Hill, Hot Air and Mediaite

Esther Yu-Hsi Lee / ThinkProgress:
Dozens Of Democrats Line Up On House Floor To Stand Up For Children At The Border

Discussion: Hullabaloo

Lucy McCalmont / Politico:
Krauthammer: GOP ‘ridiculous’

Discussion: Taylor Marsh

Igor Bobic / The Huffington Post:
GOP Admits It's Hypocritical To Sue Obama Yet Urge Him To Act Alone On Border Crisis

Discussion: CNN, Daily Kos, Liberaland, Washington Post and ThinkProgress

Tom Kludt / Talking Points Memo:

Obama: ‘We Tortured Some Folks’ — President Obama eschewed the opaque language of his predecessor on Friday and acknowledged that the United States engaged in “torture” after 9/11. — Obama made the comment while discussing CIA Director John Brennan, who was forced to apologize to members …

Discussion: Mashable and Booman Tribune

Josh Gerstein / Politico:
Obama: ‘We tortured some folks’

Discussion: The Hill

Julian Hattem / The Hill:
Key Republican defends CIA head

Discussion: Politico, Washington Examiner and Techdirt

Dan Froomkin / The Intercept:
It's About the Lying — John Brennan at the Council …

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, Booman Tribune, The Dish, The Atlantic Online, New York Times and Discourse.net

John Parkinson / ABC News:

Pelosi Chases Republican Tom Marino Across House Chamber — In an unusual breach of decorum, even for the divided Congress, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi chased Rep. Tom Marino across the House floor, taking offense at comments by the Pennsylvania Republican during debate on the border funding bill Friday night.

Discussion: Power Line, Independent Journal Review and Liberaland

Eleanor Clift / The Daily Beast:
Pelosi to Boehner: I Quashed Impeachment, and So Can You

Discussion: The Dish

Plain Dealer:

Call about suspicious car led Westlake police to Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald and an unidentified woman in 2012, records show — The Mayo Society of Greater Cleveland identifies the woman in this photo as Joanne Grehan, who was found by Westlake Police in a parked car …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Washington Post and Business Insider

Dylan Scott / Talking Points Memo:

BOOM: The Historic Proof Obamacare Foes Are Dead Wrong On Subsidies — The story of whether Congress ever intended to limit Obamacare subsidies to state-based exchanges begins and ends with the Congressional Budget Office. And what it reveals about the latest legal threat …

Discussion: Daily Kos, RedState, The Reality-Based Community, Balkinization, Washington Monthly and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Jeffrey Goldberg / The Atlantic Online:

The Most Dangerous Moment in Gaza — It is too early to say anything definitive about the Hamas decision to apparently break the ceasefire and attack an Israeli position, except that if it is true, as reports indicate, that Hamas militants came through a tunnel and carried underground …

Discussion: Business Insider, Mondoweiss, Gawker, The Dish, rubber hose, Ynetnews, Hot Air and New York Times, more at Mediagazer »

Dr Margaret Chan / who.int:

WHO Director-General assesses the Ebola outbreak with three West African presidents — Director-General of the World Health Organization — Excellencies, honourable ministers, members of the press, ladies and gentlemen, — West Africa is facing its first outbreak of Ebola virus disease.

Discussion: Firedoglake, The Verge, Boing Boing, New York Times and USA Today

Joan Biskupic / Reuters:

U.S. Justice Ginsburg hits back at liberals who want her to retire — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has a message for liberals who have been saying the 81-year-old should step down while Democratic President Barack Obama is in office so he can appoint her successor …

Discussion: Washington Post and National Review

The United States Department of Justice:

Attorney General Eric Holder Speaks at the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers 57th Annual Meeting and 13th State Criminal Justice Network Conference — Thank you, Norman [Reimer], for those kind words - and for your exemplary leadership as Executive Director of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

Discussion: BuzzFeed, TalkLeft and Hit & Run