House Approves Spending Bill

CNN reports:

Congress narrowly averted a government shutdown that was slated to take effect at midnight. The House approved a $1.1 trillion spending bill that keeps the government open through September. The Senate agreed to a two-day extension of current funding levels to give itself time to approve the House bill. After a tumultuous day, the House passed the spending bill in a 219-206 vote. Early Friday morning, President Barack Obama signed the deadline extension to midnight Saturday. The Senate will likely vote on the House bill on Friday, though that could slip. President Barack Obama is expected to sign it into law once it passes the Senate. The bill would keep most of the government running through the end of September, but only funds the Department of Homeland Security through February, when Republicans have vowed to pass new restrictions on the agency responsible for carrying out Obama's executive orders on immigration.

The Tea People are furious.

Senate Passes Fiscal Cliff Compromise

While the rest of us celebrated the New Year, the Senate passed a "compromise" fiscal cliff bill at about 2AM this morning.  Eight Senators voted against the bill and three did not vote.

The Senate approved a bipartisan agreement early Tuesday morning to let income taxes rise sharply for the first time in two decades, fulfilling President Obama’s promise to raise taxes on the rich and avoiding the worst effects of the “fiscal cliff.” The agreement, brokered by Vice President Biden and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), passed 89 to 8 in a highly unusual New Year’s morning vote. It now heads to the House, where leaders have not guaranteed passage but top officials believe it could win passage in the next few days. The agreement primarily targets taxpayers who earn more than $450,000 per year, raising their rates for wages and investment profits. At the same time, the deal would protect more than 100 million households earning less than $250,000 a year from income tax increases scheduled to take effect Jan. 1.

House Majority Leader John Boehner has promised to bring the bill to the floor of his chamber by the end of the week.

Dollars & G-Strings

Congress is once again considering doing away with the dollar bill, an issue that comes up and is promptly shot down every few years.  Yesterday the New York Daily News went directly to the people for their opinion.

The proposal won a hearty endorsement Friday night from workers who handle bills as part of their daily grind. At Sapphire New York, a gentlemen’s club on E. 66th St., exotic dancers said ending the dollar bill would lead to better tips. “These ladies are worth five, tens, and twenties,” said a stripper who goes by the name of “Jane Alexander.” She added, “I pity any man who tries giving me a coin.” Dancer Lady Dula also endorsed the proposal, saying it would “weed out cheapskates.” “You want my attention, it begins with a five,” she said.

According to the latest assessment, switching to dollar coins would save the feds about $4.4B over the next 30 years.

Krugman: Paul Ryan Is A Con Man

"The fact is that Ryan is and always was a fraud. His plan never added up; it was never, contrary to what people who should know better asserted, 'scored' by the CBO. What he actually offered was a plan to hurt the poor and reward the rich, actually increasing the deficit along the way, plus magic asterisks that supposedly reduced the debt by means unspecified. His genius, if you can all it that, was in realizing that there was a role — as I said, that of Honest, Serious Conservative — that self-proclaimed centrists desperately wanted to see filled, so that they could demonstrate their bipartisanship by lavishing praise on the holder of that position. So Ryan did his best to impersonate a budget wonk. It wasn’t a very good impersonation — in fact, he’s pretty bad at budget math. But the 'centrists' saw what they wanted to see." - Paul Krugman, in a New York Times "public service reminder."

Obama Shrank The Deficit

From the Maddow Blog:

When the president's critics spin this, they'll say, "The deficit was over $1 trillion again," and that will be accurate. What the criticism fails to note, however, is that (a) the deficit is now much smaller than it was when Obama took office; (b) this is the smallest deficit we've seen in four years; (c) this new figure represents an improvement of over $200 billion since last year; and (d) the main drivers of the remaining deficit are Republican policies.

Only Romney Has Fiscal Discipline

Caption This

(Tipped by JMG reader David)

Another Chart For The GOP To Ignore

Source.

New Attack Ad From The RNC

1-2-3 GOP

Millionaires Group: Raise Our Taxes

The above message is from a group calling themselves Patriotic Millionaires For Fiscal Strength. I'm not seeing any immediately familiar names on the list of co-signers, maybe you do?

Budget Deficits For Dummies

This is a clear explanation, actually.

MSNBC's Dan Ratigan Rants On Political Corruption & The Debt Crisis

Yeah, I'd say this can be filed under "epic."

Teabaggers Cheer S&P Downgrade

"Objectivizing"?

The Tea Party Downgrade

Voiceover by DC Douglas.

Dow Jones Nosedives

Crazy Eyes Blames Obama For Downgrade

Shocking.

Mark Fiore: Mourning In America

Sarah Palin Vs. Joe Biden

McCain: Debt Bill Will Pass Senate

The bill is being debated on the Senate floor at this writing. The vote should take place within the hour. UPDATE: The Senate has passed the bill 74-26.