Tag: Susan Collins

Budget agreement poised to advance in the Senate

Post Politics

Budget agreement poised to advance in the Senate

  • By Ed O’Keefe and Paul Kane December 13 at 2:48 pm
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). (Jacquelyn Martin/AP)Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) (Jacquelyn Martin/AP)

A bipartisan budget agreement overwhelmingly approved by the House appears likely to survive any procedural challenges and ultimately pass the Senate, according to interviews with key Republican senators.

The House voted 332 to 94 on Thursday night to approve a two-year budget outline, and Senate debate is expected to begin Tuesday, with a final vote expected later next week. While the measure will need just a majority of senators to pass, it first must clear a procedural vote requiring at least 60 votes in support. The 55 members of the Senate Democratic caucus who have signaled general support for the plan will need at least five Republican senators to join them. Continue reading “Budget agreement poised to advance in the Senate”

What Barack Obama, Republicans get with a deal

What Barack Obama, Republicans get with a deal

By: Carrie Budoff Brown
October 15, 2013 05:00 AM EDT

John Boehner (left) and Barack Obama (right) are shown. | AP PhotoIt’s not a perfect deal for the White House — but it’s a worse deal for Republicans.

Democrats won’t say it too loudly just yet, but the emerging budget agreement leaves Republicans with remarkably little to show for forcing the first government shutdown in 17 years: They barely nicked Obamacare and their poll numbers are in tank.

President Barack Obama would get most of what he wanted. He had insisted that Congress reopen the government and extend the country’s borrowing authority without any ideological strings attached. He held the line on the debt ceiling and Democrats are set to hold off Republican attempts to lock in next year’s round of sequester budget cuts early.

But it’s not the squeaky clean bill Obama sought. Continue reading “What Barack Obama, Republicans get with a deal”

Hopes rise for budget deal as leaders head to White House

By Justin Sink – 10/14/13 01:43 PM ET

President Obama will meet top congressional leaders on Monday at the White House amid signs that senators could be nearing a deal to end the government shutdown and raise the debt ceiling.

Obama will meet with House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) at 3 p.m., a White House official said. Vice President Biden will attend as well.

Reid and McConnell, who took the reins of the fiscal talks over the weekend, huddled for 30 minutes on Monday morning. Asked after the meeting whether Senate leaders would have an agreement to present to Obama, Reid said, “[I] sure hope so.”

“We’re working on everything,” Reid said when asked about the scope of the negotiations. “We continue to work on it. It’s not done yet.” Continue reading “Hopes rise for budget deal as leaders head to White House”

Focus on Senate after Obama rejects House plan

Focus on Senate after Obama rejects House plan

By: Jake Sherman and John Bresnahan and Burgess Everett
October 12, 2013 09:10 AM EDT

Mitch McConnell is shown. | M.Scott Mahaskey/POLITICO

Speaker John Boehner told House Republicans Saturday morning that his efforts to strike a deal with President Barack Obama are at a standstill.

There is no agreement, Boehner said in a room in the Capitol Saturday, and there are no negotiations between House Republicans and the White House, since Obama rejected the speaker’s effort to lift the debt ceiling for six weeks and reopen government while setting up a budget negotiating process.

With that, a familiar dynamic has resurfaced 12 days into the government shutdown and five days before Treasury says the nation runs out of borrowing authority: The pendulum has swung back to Senate Republicans, who now look more likely to cut a deal with Obama to end the first government shutdown since 1996, and avoid the first default on U.S. debt in history.

(WATCH: Susan Collins: Meeting with Obama good but inconclusive) Continue reading “Focus on Senate after Obama rejects House plan”

Reid and McConnell talk deal

The Hill Newspaper

By Alexander Bolton and Peter Schroeder – 10/12/13 01:29 AM ET

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) are taking the lead on talks to raise the debt limit and reopen the government, according to senators.

Reid and McConnell are working off a six-point proposal sponsored by Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) that would fund the government for six months and raise the debt ceiling until Jan. 31, 2014.

Senators view discussions between the two leaders as a promising sign of potential bipartisan compromise.

“Reid and McConnell are talking now and those discussions continue so I see that as progress,” said Senate Republican Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas).

“There are a number of different elements,” he added. “The fact that they’re actually talking for the first time represents significant progress.”

Democrats  said they could not accept the Collins offer as it now stands.  Continue reading “Reid and McConnell talk deal”

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