memeorandum: Dems: Thanks Ted Cruz And Mike Lee For The Extra Help Advancing Nominees (Daniel Strauss/Talking Points Memo)

9:00 PM ET, December 13, 2014

Top Items:

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

Cruz center of Senate meltdown — Sen. Ted Cruz, the firebrand conservative freshman from Texas, has blown up the Senate leadership's plans to have a peaceful weekend by forcing round-the-clock votes on President Obama's nominees and the $1.1 trillion omnibus.

Discussion: Politico, Vox, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, The Moderate Voice and PoliticusUSA

Daniel Strauss / Talking Points Memo:

Other Senators Fume Over Cruz's Push For Vote On Obama Immigration Action — Other members of the Senate fumed Saturday over objections by Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Mike Lee (R-UT) that held up a $1.1 trillion omnibus bill meant to keep the government open.

Discussion: Politico and Daily Kos

Associated Press:

Senate Clears Way for Vote on $1.1 T Spending Bill — The Senate unexpectedly cleared the way Saturday night for swift passage of a $1.1 trillion government-wide spending bill that highlighted fissures inside both political parties in an era of divided government.

Discussion: Politico

Daniel Strauss / Talking Points Memo:

Dems: Thanks Ted Cruz And Mike Lee For The Extra Help Advancing Nominees — While Republican senators were fuming at Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) for holding up a $1.1 trillion spending bill aimed at preventing a government shutdown, Democrats saw a silver lining …

Discussion: NBC News, msnbc.com and Daily Kos

Niels Lesniewski / Roll Call:

Reid Announces Weekend Votes After Blockade (Updated) — Conservatives late Friday stalled action on the Senate floor as leaders scrambled to wrap up the 113th Congress. — Senators will reconvene at noon Saturday for a series of up to 40 roll call votes after conservatives sought …

Discussion: The World's Greatest …, Political Wire and Booman Tribune

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Warren makes her mark

Discussion: Politico, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Taylor Marsh, PoliticusUSA and Bloomberg

Tara Palmeri / New York Post:

Cops tell de Blasio: Stay away from our funerals — Not over their dead bodies. — Cops are warning Mayor de Blasio and Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito to stay away from their funerals should they be killed in the line of duty. — The Patrolmen's Benevolent Association distributed …

Discussion: Hot Air, The PJ Tatler, Liberty Unyielding, New York Magazine and CBS New York

Brendan O'Connor / Gawker:

NY Police Union Doesn't Want De Blasio At Cop Funerals — New York City's largest police union, the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association (PBA) is encouraging its members to sign a form letter asking Mayor Bill De Blasio and City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito not to attend their funerals if they are killed while on active duty.

Discussion: FOX News Radio, Mediaite and Mike the Mad Biologist

Danielle Avitable / WJTV:

Pastor Dresses Horse in Wedding Dress to Protest Same-Sex Marriage — It's not something you see every day, a horse in a wedding dress standing outside the federal courthouse. — “I thought it was laughable and I believe he was going for a ridiculous protest and he certainly got one,” says Eddie Outlaw, LGBT advocate.

Discussion: The Clarion-Ledger, The Moderate Voice, Hinterland Gazette, Advocate, Liberaland and Raw Story

Joanne Lipman / Wall Street Journal:

Women at Work: A Guide for Men — Even the most well-intentioned male managers can be clueless when dealing with women in the workplace — We are flooded with career-advice books for women. There are women's networking groups and leadership conferences galore.

Discussion: Dr. Helen and Vox Popoli

Nicholas Confessore / New York Times:

G.O.P. Angst Over 2016 Led to Provision on Funding — The secret negotiations that led to one of the most significant expansions of campaign contributions in recent years began with what Republican leaders regarded as an urgent problem: How would they pay for their presidential nominating convention in Cleveland in two years?

New York Times:

Thousands March in Washington to Protest Deaths by Police — WASHINGTON — Tens of thousands of Americans marched along the National Mall in Washington on Saturday to protest the deaths of unarmed black men and boys at the hands of the police. The demonstrators — many of them wearing T-shirts that read …

Discussion: FOX News Radio and DCist

Matt Wilstein / Mediaite:

Justice Scalia: Constitution Doesn't Prohibit Torture — In an interview with Radio Television Suisse this week following the release of Senate Intelligence Committee's CIA torture report, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said he doesn't “think it's so clear at all” …

Discussion: FOX News Radio