The Commentariat -- Oct. 17, 2013

This victory for common sense is a testament to his profound tenacity, the trust his colleagues have in him and his ability to lead. And it is clear it would not have happened without him. -- Neera Tanden, President of the Center for American Progress, on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid

P.S. Nancy Pelosi did some mighty fine cat-wrangling, too. -- Constant Weader

... Erin McClam of NBC News: "President Barack Obama said Thursday, as the federal government blinked back to life, that the 16-day shutdown and threat of national default had inflicted 'completely unnecessary damage on our economy.'" CW: AND he took a shot at me! It's at 5:45 in that the POTUS calls me a piece of dirt. I'm going to have to think about that:

... Tom Cohen, et al., of CNN: "President Barack Obama signed a bill that ends the 16-day partial government shutdown and raises the debt ceiling, the White House said early Thursday morning." ...

... Russell Berman of the Hill: "Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) split with his party's leadership and voted against the Senate fiscal agreement on Wednesday night.... Shortly after the House vote, Boehner announced four Republican appointees to the conference committee: Ryan, Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), Rep. Tom Price (Ga.) and Rep. Diane Black (Tenn.). Price and Black also voted against the Senate bill." CW: So, one semi-normal ultra-conservative (Cole) and three crazed ideologues. This should work well. ...

... CW: Boehner's continued support for the Tea Party crazies, as evidenced by his budget conference nominees is a terrible sign of times to come. Not only did he not listen to the so-called moderates who urged him to distance himself from the wingnuts, he eschewed advice like this from William Galston, writing in the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday: "It's hard to see how the U.S. can govern itself unless corporate America pushes the Republican establishment to fight back against the tea party -- or switches sides." It would be a mistake to think Boehner somehow redeemed himself by consenting to allow Democrats & some Republicans to spare the nation from default & re-start the government. He is just as horrible a hack today as he was on Tuesday. ...

... Alex Altman of Time: "... while the shutdown fight may be the nadir of congressional dysfunction, things aren't getting better anytime soon." ...

... ** Jonathan Cohn of the New Republic on why Democrats prevailed. ...

... While for Republicans, writes Molly Ball of the Atlantic, "it was basically for nothing."

... If you thought things couldn't get more bizarre.... Politico: "A House floor stenographer was abruptly hauled out of the chamber after charging the dais and screaming during Wednesday's late night vote on raising the debt ceiling and funding the federal government. As the bill sailed toward final passage, the presiding lawmaker suddenly began pounding the gavel. Witnesses on the floor said the woman, identified as Dianne Reidy, seized a microphone and began yelling during the vote." ...

     ... Geoff Earle of the New York Post has more, with video. Thanks to James S. for the link. ...

... David Nakamura, et al., of the Washington Post: "Sixteen days after a federal shutdown began and one day before the United States would have exhausted its ability to borrow money, Congress approved a bill to reopen the government and raise the debt ceiling until Feb. 7. President Obama has promised to sign the legislation immediately, meaning hundreds of thousands of federal workers could be back at work Thursday." ...

... CW: The House is now expected to vote tonight. ...

     ... Update: The house voted on a voice vote; the chair declared the "yeas" won; i.e., the Senate bill passed. There was a call for a recorded vote & a 15-min. vote is ongoing at 9:57 pm ET. ...

     ... Update 2: The vote has passed the 220 mark, with 60 Republicans voting yea at this point. Final vote: 285 to 144; all 198 Democrats in attendance voted "yea"; 87 Republicans also voted "yea" to 144 "nays." President Obama to speak at 10:30 am Thursday.

... Jonathan Weisman & Ashley Parker of the New York Times: "... the Senate voted overwhelmingly, 81-18, on Wednesday evening to approve a proposal hammered out by Republican and Democratic leaders after the House was unable to move forward with any resolution. The House was expected to follow suit within hours and approve the Senate plan, which would finance the government through Jan. 15 and raise the debt limit through Feb. 7. Shortly after the vote, Mr. Obama praised Congress for action and said the vote cleared the way for substantive budget negotiations." ...

... CW: In the Senate the motion to invoke cloture on the bill to re-open the government & raise the debt ceiling passed 83-15 (I think). Update: The bill itself passed 81-18. ...

... Jonathan Weisman & Jennifer Steinhauer of the New York Times: "Speaker John A. Boehner ... said that the House would not block a bipartisan agreement reached in the Senate that yielded virtually no concessions to the Republicans.... The Senate is expected to vote on the bill Wednesday evening, with final passage coming late Wednesday or early Thursday. ...

... David Nakamura, et al., of the Washington Post: "Boehner, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told Republicans at a closed-door afternoon meeting that they all plan to vote for the deal, said Aaron Schock (R-Ill.).... [Boehner] told conservative radio host Bill Cunningham that he would encourage his caucus to support the Senate measure.... Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has pledged the support of all 200 Democrats, meaning Boehner would have to supply at least 17 votes." ...

... Here's the full text of the bill. ...

... Joan McCarter of Daily Kos has a rundown of the key provisions. As contributor Dave S. points out, "It also includes language allowing President Obama to waive the debt ceiling, which could be overridden by a vote of disapproval by Congress that could then be vetoed by the president." CW: This provision begins on Page 24 of the bill, linked above. As I read it, this presidential privilege expires February 7, 2014. In addition, Rachel Maddow pointed out this evening that the "modification" to the ACA -- verifying income eligibility for ACA subsidies -- is something that's already in the Affordable Care law. So Republicans got nothing, & giving the President the ability to raise the debt ceiling (which I think is an old idea of Mitch McConnell's) is a big plus for the economy. ...

     ... CW Update: Okay, I read the bill right, but I didn't consider this significant wrinkle: Jack Lew can still use "extraordinary measures" after February 7. Ergo, Lori Montgomery & Rosalind Helderman write in the WashPo: "Enforcement of the debt limit is suspended until Feb. 7, setting up another confrontation over the national debt sometime in March, independent analysts estimated." So whether or not there's another debt ceiling debacle in March could depend upon whether or not House Republicans think it's a good for their re-election. However, since the government is funded only till January 15 under the bill, the Next Big Crisis will likely occur in the dark days of winter, & maybe the debt ceiling issue will be worked out then. Democrats probably will demand it as part of the budget deal. ...

... Pete Kasperowicz of the Hill outlines some "surprises" in the bill, including a McConnell kickback: a hefty increase in the "authorization for spending on construction on the lower Ohio River in Illinois and Kentucky." ...

No one should be surprised that this is the response of the Washington establishment. The American people rose up and spoke with an overwhelming voice and at least at this stage Washington isn't listening to them. The House listened, but the Senate has not.... [I] never had any intention to delay this vote. -- Sen. Ted Cruz (RTP-Texas), who yesterday would not say whether or not he would delay the vote

(The dream of keeping poor people from seeing a doctor must never die. -- Ted Cruz [paraphrase by Andy Borowitz])

For the party, this is a moment of self-evaluation, we are going to assess how we got here. If we continue down this path, we are really going to hurt the Republican Party long term.... This has been a really bad two weeks for the Republican Party. -- Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.)

Let's just say sometimes learning what can't be accomplished is an important long-term thing, and hopefully for some of the members they've learned it's impossible to defund mandatory programs by shutting down the federal government. -- Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.)

... Jonathan Strong of National Review about the last House Republican conference before the vote. Boehner received a standing O. CW: Maybe because he didn't "disrespect" the kidnappers. Or maybe because that "respect" cost billions of dollars & untold hardship. Whatever. "Representative Aaron Schock of Illinois said the lesson of the episode was that Boehner should cut out the far-right flank and work with centrist Democrats. Most of the top conservatives who pushed the House GOP into an Obamacare fight weren't very introspective, offering positive words about the fight and hope for victories to come." ...

... M. J. Lee of Politico: "Wall Street cheered a long-awaited deal to re-open the government and increase the nation's borrowing cap that emerged Wednesday, as Congress is poised to end a government shutdown now in its third week and squash fears that the United States may default on its financial obligations. The Dow Jones industrial average, which climbed quickly after the opening bell and remained steady throughout the day, closed 205.82 points higher. The Nasdaq also shot up 45.42 points, while the S&P 500 was up 23.48 points." ...

Something has gone terribly wrong when the biggest threat to our American economy is the American Congress. -- Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.), December 31, 2012, after the fiscal cliff deal

... Annie Lowrey, et al., of the New York Times: "... the cost of Congress's gridlock has already run well into the billions, economists estimate. And the total will continue to grow even after the shutdown ends, partly because of uncertainty about whether lawmakers might reach another deadlock early next year." ...

... Gail Collins: "... it's fair, if you have the urge, to say that this whole ordeal has been for nothing whatsoever." ...

Jeanne B. writes, "Republicans have too many masters":

      ... Daniel Strauss of TPM: Mike Kibbe, "the President and CEO of the tea party group Freedomworks, predicted that House Republicans who vote in favor of the latest plan to avert a debt default and re-open the federal government, will face primary challengers." ...

      ... Igor Bobic of TPM: "Heritage Action announced Wednesday that it will include the Senate deal to avert default and reopen government as a key vote in its scorecard, urging members to vote oppose the measure." ...

      ... Caitlin MacNeal of TPM: "The U.S. Chamber of Commerce announced Wednesday that it supports the new Senate plan to end the shutdown and raise the debt ceiling, and it will include the measure as a key vote."

David Corn of Mother Jones: "About two weeks ago, as tea partiers in the GOP-controlled House were forcing a government shutdown, some House Democrats sent a private and informal message to House Speaker John Boehner: If you need to break with the die-hard conservatives of your caucus to keep the government running and avoid a debt ceiling crisis, we might be able to try to help you protect your speakership, should far-right Republicans rebel and challenge you."

Thanks to contributor Roger H. for this (see yesterday's thread). Speaking of education, you've educated MAG & me:

      ... BTW, wingers repeatedly attribute the saying to Joe Biden; also found one kid-you-not claim it came from Keith Ellison (D-Minn.).

Sarah Kliff of the Washington Post reports on her experience shopping for health insurance on Healthcare.gov

** Beth Reinhard of the National Journal: "Twelve states, as well as the House of Representatives, have voted to outlaw abortion after 20 weeks -- the exact moment when some parents are just learning about severe or even fatal defects. Only Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas include exceptions for fetal impairment.... These 20-week bans...predominantly target women who are carrying gravely impaired babies or whose pregnancies are putting their own health at risk.... The overlap between states with tougher abortion restrictions and lower standards of living is rarely mentioned...."

Dylan Byers of Politico: "James Risen, the New York Times investigative reporter who has refused to testify against his alleged CIA source, has pledged to take his case to the Supreme Court following a federal appeals court decision not to reconsider his case."

Senate Race

Jonathan Tamari of the Philadelphia Inquirer: "Gov. [Chris] Christie [of New Jersey] has until Nov. 13 to certify the results of the special Senate election, though he doesn't expect to take that long. 'The winner of (Wednesday's) election will be sworn in as quickly as possible after the results have been verified and certified. We fully anticipate this to happen before the Nov. 5th election day,' said a statement from Gov. Christie's office." Cory Booker's win means Democrats pick up another Senate seat, which Christie filled shortly after Sen. Frank Lautenberg's (D) death with Republican Jeff Chiesa.

The Commentariat -- Oct. 16, 2013

Lori Montgomery, et al., of the Washington Post: "Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced a bipartisan deal on Wednesday to raise the debt limit through Feb. 7 and end the 16-day-old government shutdown. The bill must be passed by both the Senate and the House of Representatives, and signed by the president, and it is unclear whether all that can happen before the Treasury Department exhausts its borrowing power Thursday. It avoids any major concessions on Obama's signature Affordable Care Act, a major victory for Democrats and a repudiation to House and Senate Republicans who for weeks tried to use the threat of a shutdown and potential default to force changes in the health-care law." ...

... Jonathan Chait: The debt ceiling crisis is over. ...

** Boehner Bites the Bullet? Burgess Everett, et al., of Politico: "The House will vote first on an emerging Senate proposal to open government and lift the debt ceiling, a move that would expedite bipartisan legislation developed by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. The move means that there is now a clear path to end the first government shutdown in 17 years, and the country now appears closer to avoiding the first potential economy-shaking default on U.S. debt.... The fact that House Republicans are now planning to go that route marks a stunning reversal for the speaker...." ...

... Jonathan Weisman, et al., of the New York Times: "House Republican leaders, who had appeared stymied in their efforts earlier in the day, rushed out a new proposal Tuesday afternoon that would reopen the government through Dec. 15, extend the government's borrowing authority until Feb. 7 and eliminate government contributions to lawmakers, White House officials and their staffs for their purchases of health insurance on the new insurance exchanges. Under the new plan, the Treasury Department would be forbidden to use 'extraordinary measures' -- juggling government accounts -- to extend its borrowing capabilities. Speaker John A. Boehner was hoping to bring a bill to a vote as early as Tuesday evening." CW: Sounds as if they want the government to default; otherwise, why prevent extraordinary measures, which has been the only thing keeping Treasury afloat while Congress fiddles. ...

     ... Update. New Lede: "On the brink of a historic default, House Republicans on Tuesday abruptly postponed a vote on their latest proposal to reopen the government and raise the debt limit, as a major credit agency warned that the United States was on the verge of a costly ratings downgrade. Hard-line conservatives and more pragmatic Republicans were in open revolt Tuesday evening, after the House Republican leadership rushed out a new bill in the afternoon, forcing a postponement of any vote on the measure. With the latest delay, chances increased that a resolution would not be reached before the Treasury exhausted its borrowing authority on Thursday." ...

     ... Update 2. According to the latest version of the story, Reid & McConnell are back to negotiating with each other, to what end I know not....

     ... ** Update 3. Clusterfuck Strategy. Let's hope Zeke Miller & Alex Altman of Time are right: "... in the perverse ways of modern Washington, [John Boehner's] Tuesday-night defeat may soon be marked in the history books as a step forward.... The path forward, which looked murky for a moment on Tuesday afternoon, now looks clear: the Senate will cut a bipartisan deal, and Boehner will be forced to pass it with Democratic votes. He has said repeatedly that the U.S. will not and cannot default." ...

... CW: My big mistake -- & I wasn't the only one to make it -- was believing that John Boehner & some of his House colleagues had the fortitude to stand up the the Tea Party. Maybe Boehner & Co. will pull something out of a hat Wednesday, but I don't know that today is so much different from two-plus weeks ago when they allowed the shutdown. Maybe nobody's using firearms, but this is a civil war, & the revolutionaries include ALL the House Republicans, not just the Tea Party tail that's wagging the dog. From Boehner on down, they're all traitors. Saul Jackman of the Brookings Institution just wrote a post urging President Obama to sign an executive order raising the debt ceiling, & he cites the President's emergency powers. I have been thinking along those lines exactly. The President no longer has the luxury of standing around making sandwiches for a few poor people. He has a duty to act on behalf of the country. Impeachment is a small price to pay. ...

... Jackie Calmes of the New York Times: "Obama's debt ceiling gamble may be paying off.... Scorched by the July 2011 fight that hurt the economy and his political standing (though not so badly as the Republicans'), Mr. Obama was determined to undo the precedent he had set by making concessions -- in that case, more than $2 trillion in spending cuts over 10 years, including the across-the-board reductions known as sequestration -- so that Congress would ensure that the government paid its bills." ...

... Wall Street Journal Editors urge the House to throw in the towel: "Republicans can best help their cause now by getting this over with and moving on to fight more intelligently another day." ...

I ran on defunding, burying and getting rid of Obamacare ... a lot of the members of our house, of our conference, ran on the same thing. So for us not to speak up is not to speak up for the American people. -- Rep. Ted Yoho (RTP-Fla.), defending his refusal to vote for any House bill that doesn't defund the ACA

... CW: During the interview (by Jake Tapper of CNN), economist Yoho claimed that "... You know, we hit the debt ceiling in 1985. We didn't raise the debt ceiling. We hit it and we didn't raise it for three and a half months. We're still here. We hit it again in 1995. For four and a half months, they didn't raise the debt ceiling. We survived that. We will survive this." What that genius Yoho doesn't understand is that in 1985 & 1995 the Secretary of the Treasury took extraordinary measures to pay the bills, something Jack Lew began doing months ago. ...

... Jonathan Bernstein in the Washington Post: "It's extortion for the sake of extortion," as it has been all along. ...

... Josh Barro, a self-described Republican, of Business Insider: "There is no serious argument for Republican governance right now, even if you prefer conservative policies over liberal ones. These people are just too dangerously incompetent to be trusted with power." ...

... Dana Milbank captures some of the absurdity of the moment, including House Republicans joining in a few choruses of "Amazing Grace." ...

... Maureen Dowd writes perhaps her worst column ever, tho she does have a few good grafs about Cruz & Palin & Vitter. ...

... Greg Sargent: "Dem Rep. Chris Van Hollen, a key ally of the Dem leadership and White House, told House Democrats at a private meeting today that a vote for the new House GOP plan is a vote for a deliberate Tea Party effort to sabotage the emerging Senate deal. In an interview with me, Van Hollen strongly suggested it will get no Democratic votes, which could call into question the ability of Republicans to pass this plan through the House, as some conservatives are already balking at it because it raises the debt limit 'This has no Democratic support,' Van Hollen told me." ...

... Neil Irwin of the Washington Post explains the "sunk cost fallacy" to House dimwits. "If there is to be a successful resolution of the debt ceiling and government shutdown standoff, it will be because House Republicans come to grips with an important concept that they have, to date, showed little appreciation for. It is called the sunk cost fallacy. A sunk cost is something you're not going to get back.... The fact that House Republicans have 'fought so hard' is irrelevant to the future costs and benefits of any deal. The more the caucus is making decisions based on what happened in the past, the less likely they are to make strategy decisions that are best for both the country's and their own future prospects." ...

... CNBC/Reuters: "Fitch Ratings put the US government's 'AAA' credit rating on 'rating watch negative' Tuesday, saying that the standstill on the U.S. debt ceiling negotiations risks undermining the effectiveness of the country's government and political institutions. U.S. stock index futures fell." ...

... Jim Tankersley of the Washington Post: The impending default could cause delays in distribution of Social Security payments.

Issa Unaware Government Shutdown Means Government Shuts Down. Andrew Restuccia of Politico: "Closing national monuments to make life difficult for the public during a government shutdown is 'disgusting' and 'despicable,' House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa said at the start of a hearing Wednesday on the National Park Service's decision-making. Democrats responded by asking who shut down the government."

Frank Rich: "The present-day anti-government radicals in Congress, and the Americans who voted them into office, are in the minority, but they are a permanent minority that periodically disrupts or commandeers a branch or two of the federal government, not to mention the nation's statehouses. Their brethren have been around for much of our history in one party or another, and with a constant anti-­democratic aim: to thwart the legitimacy of a duly elected leader they abhor, from Lincoln to FDR to Clinton to Obama, and to resist any laws with which they disagree. So deeply rooted are these furies in our national culture that their consistency and tenacity should be the envy of other native political movements." ...

... Harold Meyerson of the Washington Post: "Today’s tea party-ized Republicans speak less for Wall Street or Main Street than they do for the seething resentments of white Southern backwaters and their geographically widespread but ideologically uniform ilk. Their theory of government, to the extent that they have one, derives from John C. Calhoun's doctrine of nullification -- that states in general and white minorities in particular should have the right to overturn federal law and impede majority rule. Like their predecessors in the Jim Crow South, today's Republicans favor restricting minority voting rights if that is necessary to ensure victory at the polls."

Paul Krugman on "the GOP tax": researchers at Macroeconomic Advisers have bound that bad fiscal policy promulgated by Republicans has cost the country billions & has resulted in a 1.4 percent higher unemployment rate. (And they're not even talking about the effects of the shutdown & looming default.)

Karen Tumulty of the Washington Post: "The greatest threats to the ultimate success of the new health-care law come not from the technical problems that have plagued its rollout, but from a hostile political climate in many individual states and from potentially serious weaknesses in its design. Those are the conclusions of a cautionary report just published by the Brookings Institution's new Center for Effective Public Management."

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear a major case challenging Environmental Protection Agency regulations concerning greenhouse gases. The case is a sequel to Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency, a 2007 decision that required the agency to regulate emissions of greenhouse gases from new motor vehicles if it found they endangered public health or welfare. Two years later, the agency made such a finding, saying that 'elevated concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere' pose a danger to 'current and future generations.' It set limits on emissions from both new vehicles and stationary sources.

Tom Edsall of the New York Times on campaign finance: "... more than a quarter of the money spent on political campaigns in 2012 came from 0.1 percent of the American population.... Corruption and the appearance of corruption are here to stay. The difference now is that the squalid character of the system has become institutionalized. It's so deeply integrated into the routine of Congress that, McCutcheon [-- the case before the Supreme Court --] notwithstanding, the American political-monetary complex provokes cynicism and apathy rather than outrage, protest or indignation. It is also kindling for fiery populists on both the left and the right."

President Obama awarded the Medal of Honor to former Capt. Will Swenson. Quite a moving ceremony & the President got in a dig at Republican obstructionists:

... BUT. Jonathan Landay of McClatchy News: videos show that the story told by Marine Sgt. Dakota Meyer, who also received the Medal of Honor for his part in the battle for which Swenson received his, is inaccurate & "show no Taliban in that vicinity or anywhere else on the floor of the Ganjgal Valley at the time and location of the 'swarm.' The videos also conflict with the version of the incident in Marine Corps and White House accounts of how Meyer, now 25, of Columbia, Ky., came to be awarded the nation's highest military decoration for gallantry." Swenson's account, and others, contradict Meyer's story. Landay does not question Swenson's actions. Via Charles Pierce, who writes glowingly of Landay.

President Obama made remarks Monday at Martha's Table about the government shutdown:

Local News

Greg Moran of the San Diego Union-Tribune: "Former San Diego Mayor Bob Filner’s professional and personal collapse continued Tuesday when he pleaded guilty to three criminal charges that he grabbed and fondled women during his brief time at City Hall. The 71-year-old Filner pleaded guilty to one felony charge of false imprisonment and two misdemeanor charges of battery at a hearing in San Diego Superior Court. The former 10-term congressman's pleas came just two days before a criminal grand jury was set to hear evidence against him. As part of the plea deal with the state Attorney General's Office, Filner will not face any jail or prison time. Instead he will be sentenced to three years of probation. He will also have to serve three months of home confinement and will be banned from ever seeking or holding public office again."

News Ledes

New Jersey Star-Ledger: "After an abbreviated but heated two month campaign, polls are now open and voters can cast their ballots in the special U.S. Senate election between Democrat Cory Booker and Republican Steve Lonegan." ...

     ... UPDATE: Election results at nj.com (No winner called as of 8:30 pm ET) ...

     ... UPDATE 2: The Associated Press has called the vote for Booker.

New York Times: "A month after JPMorgan acknowledged that 'severe breakdowns' had allowed a group of traders in London to run up $6 billion in losses, the bank has preliminarily reached a rare agreement to admit that the trading blowup itself represented reckless behavior, according to people briefed on the negotiations." ...

     ... UPDATE: "... the Commodity Futures Trading Commission ... announced on Wednesday that JPMorgan Chase, the nation’s biggest bank, agreed to pay $100 million and admit wrongdoing to settle an investigation into market manipulation involving the bank's multibillion-dollar trading loss in London."

The Commentariat -- Oct. 15, 2013

CW: Sorry about not posting yesterday. I clocked 1,400 miles on the road in 31 hours (Sunday pm to Monday pm) & couldn't fit in much else. Came home after three months away to a series of minor disasters, which is to be expected. Luckily, I didn't arrive home till -- too late to begin trying to mitigate any of the disaster Monday night. So for now anyway I'm back in business here. One thing that's working, to my surprise -- my Internet connection!

NEW. Jonathan Weisman, et al., of the New York Times: "House Republican leaders struggled late Tuesday morning to forge a new proposal to reopen the government and change the president's health care law, after a plan presented behind closed doors to the Republican rank and file failed to immediately attract enough support to pass. About two hours after the plan was presented Tuesday morning, Republican leaders backed off it. Speaker John A. Boehner told reporters that there were 'no decisions about what exactly we will do.'" ...

     ... CW: BTW, I saw Chuck Todd on the teevee saying he couldn't understand why House Democrats were so upset by the House blowing up the Reid/McConnell plan. Even Luke Russert, who is a pretty dim bulb, gets it. ...

... NEW: Jonathan Weisman & Jennifer Steinhauer of the New York Times: "In a Senate still dominated by men, women on both sides of the partisan divide proved to be the driving forces that shaped a negotiated settlement." ...

... Lori Montgomery & Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post: "House Republican leaders plan to put forward their own plan to reopen the federal government and raise the debt ceiling, lawmakers said Tuesday, casting new doubts on efforts by a bipartisan group of senators as they tried to finalize a deal that could be approved by both houses of Congress and the White House." ...

... Rosalind Helderman, et al., of the Washington Post: "In a long-awaited breakthrough, Senate leaders closed in on a deal Monday to raise the federal debt ceiling and end a two-week-old government shutdown as Washington scrambled to avoid the nation's first default on its debt. With leaders of both parties optimistic that they will soon come together to end the political crisis that has paralyzed Washington, details of the possible agreement began to emerge. It would raise the debt limit until Feb. 15 and fund federal agencies until Jan. 15, with the two sides holding budget talks before a new round of sequestration budget cuts take effect in January, according to people in the Senate familiar with the talks. The deal would also make minor tweaks to the new health-care law, though nothing along the lines of what some conservative Republicans have been demanding. It would require additional safeguards to ensure that people who receive federal subsidies to purchase health insurance under the law are eligible to receive them, the people said." ...

... The New York Times story, by Michael Shear & Jeremy Peters, is here. The Politico report, by Manu Raju & others, is here. ...

     ... Update. In their latest report, Shear & Peters write, "Republican senators prepared to meet on Tuesday morning to hear from their leadership about a potential deal with Democrats that could resolve the standoff with President Obama, reopen the government and lift the threat of an American default by raising the debt ceiling." ...

... Robert Costa of National Review: "... the approximately 50 Republicans who form the House GOP's right flank [are] furious with Senate Republicans for working with Democrats to craft what one leading Tea Party congressman calls a 'mushy piece of s--t.' Another House conservative warns, 'If Boehner backs this, as is, he's in trouble.' But that's unlikely to happen. As of 8:30 a.m. [Tuesday], House conservatives believe the leadership is well aware of their unhappiness, and they expect Boehner to talk up the House's next move: another volley to the Senate, which would extend the debt ceiling, reopen the government, and set up a budget conference, plus request conservative demands that go beyond the Senate's outline." ...

... Jennifer Epstein of Politico: "President Obama's meeting with congressional leaders [scheduled for Monday afternoon] has been postponed to allow Senate leaders more time to work out an agreement, the White House said in updated guidance." ...

ThisAP photo appeared in Politico over the caption: "President Obama puts sandwiches into bags with volunteers as he visits Martha's Table, which assists the poor and where furloughed federal employees are volunteering, in Washington, Oct. 13."... Whaddaha think? Rubbing Republicans' nose in it, OR bad optic of pathetic, helpless Leader of the Free World with nothing to do except hope Ted Cruz doesn't blow up the world? ...

... Joshua Green of Business Week: "... Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), who basically forced the shutdown and whose own private polls have convinced him that it has been a glorious success, at this point could probably force a default and global economic calamity on his own -- if he were so inclined.... the Senate can move quickly when necessary, but only by unanimous consent. Let's say Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) strike a deal today [Monday].... Cruz surely won't like it and has said repeatedly, 'I will do everything necessary and anything possible to defund Obamacare. If he's true to his word, he could drag out the proceedings past Thursday and possibly well beyond." Green provides the particulars. CW: Hope Ted & his staff don't read this. ...

... Oops, Too Late. Ted is already thinking about forcing a default. Burgess Everett of Politico: "Ted Cruz is waiting to decide whether to hold up a potential deal in the Senate that would reopen the government and avert a breach of the debt ceiling. With the debt limit deadline looming Thursday and quick Senate action needed to beat it, Cruz would not divulge whether he'd allow a quick vote on an emerging deal to reopen government and raise the debt ceiling." Neither Cruz nor his ally Mike Lee (RTP-Utah) would reveal to reporters whether or not they will cause the Treasury to go into default. Rand Paul (RTP-Ky.) said he would not obstruct a vote. CW: If Cruz & Lee pulls this stunt, McConnell should strip them of every committee assignment & -- if he can -- strip them of their seniority. Enough is enough. ...

At a Saturday session, Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), ranking member of the House Budget Committee, protested a Republican-imposed rules change to a standing rule that allows any member to bring matters to the floor for a vote. Under the "new rule," no member can exercise the standing rule unless the Majority Leader or his designate approved it:

Chris Wilson of Time posts "Uncle Sam's Bank Statement," an interactive chart that exposes how low the account is. "As one can see, there is only $25 million left on the federal government's credit card before it hits its current borrowing limit of $16,699,421,000,000 -- a drop in the bucket. The U.S. had $36.5 billion in its account as of Thursday evening, but it is difficult to say exactly when this reserve will run out since new cash flows in every day. That amount may last a few days beyond the widely cited Oct. 17 deadline for a deal to raise the borrowing limit. But it won't last long." ...

... Gene Robinson: "A crazy thing is happening in shuttered, dysfunctional Washington: Democrats are pushing back. This phenomenon is so novel and disorienting that many Republicans in Congress, especially the tea party bullies, seem unable to grasp what's going on." ...

... That's because, according to conservative Michael Gerson of the Washington Post, the Tea Party has abandoned "the contours of reality." The latest Republican maneuvers represent an "effort [that] had little to do with governing and everything to do with positioning -- the ideological maneuvering of tea party leaders." ...

... CBS DC: "Frustrated veterans and their friends and families gathered at the World War II and Lincoln Memorials on the National Mall [Sunday], pushing past barriers to protest the memorial's closing under the government shutdown before turning their attentions to the White House." ...

... Evan McMurry of Mediaite: Apparently the organizers of the march are upset that Ted Cruz (who caused the shutdown) & Sarah Palin (she called for President Obama's impeachment) were among the uninvited speakers & "hijacked" the march for "political gain." I guess the organizers also weren't crazy about Confederate Flag guy & "Freedom Works' Larry Klayman [who] told Obama to 'put the Quran down' and leave town [as] the crowd invoked 'brown shirts' and Kenya...." Just your average Wingers Sunday in the Park. ...

I will not be timid in calling out any who would use our military, our vets, as pawns in a political game. --Half-Gov. Sarah Palin (RTP-Alaska) using our military, our vets as pawns in the political game during the veterans' protest

A good example of what I mean by sociopathic behavior: When I do it, it's noble and just; when you do it, its reprehensible & calls for extraordinary measures (say, impeachment!). -- Constant Weader

... Andrew Kirell of Mediate: "On his radio show Monday morning, Bill Press took on this weekend's Million Vet March by denouncing the participants as 'idiots' who've been used by 'right-wing organizations' to protest against their own best interests. Ultimately, he said, they shouldn't be following people like Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), they should be expressing public odium towards him":

I mean, how dumb can they be? Don't they realize that the guys that they were cheering yesterday, Ted Cruz, is the guy behind the shutdown? He's the guy, doesn't everybody know that? Not those idiots.... They should have been hanging him in effigy at the Memorial. They should have been booing him. -- Bill Press ...

... David Atkins, in Hullabaloo, explains to the White House press corps what a "metaphor" is. P.S. "No one would need to resort to the metaphors if the press would simply accurately relate the situation. Is it really so necessary to lie in the interest of 'balance'?" Quite a good read, with actual metaphors from Paul Krugman & Jon Stewart who try to explain the debt ceiling crisis to dummies -- include the WH press corps. CW: I don't know if any of you ever listens to those live White House press briefings I embed. I often listen, & I am repeatedly stunned by how many of the press, including those representing major media outlets, are out-and-out dimwitted. ...

... John Sides, who is out with a new book on the subject, writes an interesting post on media coverage of the 2012 presidential race. Sides & his co-author Lynn Vavreck treat the media as players, not observers, and include, um, facts & statistical analysis. ...

... CW: On partisan hostility to the media. There's a difference, that I've never seen remarked on: the right falsely accuses the press of liberal bias (see Sides' data), while the left, usually accurately, accuses the press of being dumb and/or dedicated to false equivalency.

Be Careful Who Your Friends Are. Barton Gellman of the Washington Post & Ashkan Soltani: "The National Security Agency is harvesting hundreds of millions of contact lists from personal e-mail and instant messaging accounts around the world, many of them belonging to Americans, according to senior intelligence officials and top secret documents provided by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. The collection program, which has not been disclosed before, intercepts e-mail address books and 'buddy lists' from instant messaging services as they move across global data links."

News Lede

Washington Post: "... former Army Capt. William Swenson ... will accept the Medal of Honor from President Obama before 250 guests at the White House on Tuesday afternoon, the first Army officer to receive the U.S. military's highest valor award since the Vietnam war."