With Congress possibly unable to pass a debt ceiling increase by August 2nd, the push for President Obama to use the 14th amendment grew significantly today. From The Hill: Addressing the Democratic Caucus Wednesday morning, Rep. James Clyburn (S.C.) the third-ranking House Democrat, told members that Obama should veto any short-term debt-limit increase that lands [...]

I spoke with Barney Frank today about the current debt ceiling debate. He said he would not vote for any bill that raised the debt ceiling which included cuts to Social Security or Medicare benefits, including a chained CPI, which is included in the Gang of 6 deal.

Writers like, Ezra Klein and Greg Sargent, who have bought into the idea that that debt ceiling must be raised by August 2nd to avoid catastrophe, are very worried about this new Pew poll that found the country evenly divided on the dangers of the debt ceiling. The poll found that 39 percent thought we [...]

Bill Clinton came to praise the health insurance industry, not criticize it, as the keynote speaker at its Las Vegas convention.

Robert Menendez, head of the DSCC, released a memo celebrating Blanche Lincoln’s victory over “powerful special interests in Washington DC,” the labor unions. The AFL-CIO’s Eddie Vale responds: The tens of thousands members of the Arkansas AFL-CIO are certainly not a DC special interest.  They poured their hearts and souls into supporting a candidate who [...]

The commentary regarding the Lincoln/Halter race continues, ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous. Glenn Greenwald: “What happened in this race also gives the lie to the insufferable excuse we’ve been hearing for the last 18 months from countless Obama defenders:  namely, if the Senate doesn’t have 60 votes to pass good legislation, it’s not [...]

Yesterday Larry Summers weighed in on the financial regulation bill before the Senate: “If you vote for cloture right now and don’t add any more amendments, we will have solved the issues that led to crisis. Had this been law, as is, in 2007, we would not have had the crisis.” Bill Clinton recently blamed [...]

After Steven Gillon’s book salon on FDL the other day, I went back and listened to what Bill Clinton had to say about his efforts to reform Social Security at the Pete Peterson confab last month: CLINTON: The reason we didn’t get Social Security reform is because the Chairman of Ways & Means Committee, Bill [...]

Bill Clinton kicks off his discussion at today’s Pete  Peterson “fiscal summit” by fawning over Peterson and complaining that the two of them had been attacked by “liberal blogs” because they’re not on board with “just spending like crazy.”  (CSPAN video starts at 2:02)   It must be hard out here for an oligarch these [...]

The Stupak anti-abortion amendment reaches far beyond what most reports indicate, and could effect tens of millions of people. And still, Americans United For Change is thanking representatives who voted for it. Fortunately, Boxer thinks the Stupak language will not be part of the Senate bill. The House vote on health care has already become an [...]