Three-Minute Briefing: Defensive Wonk, Shutdown Showdown and That's Not My Bag, Baby
The presumed SecDef nominee knows his numbers, and the GOP is still weighing its executive action response.
Career defense policy wonk and trained physicist Ashton Carter is poised to become the new secretary of defense.
Happy Hump Day, the 337th day of 2014 and the 13th day since President Barack Obama announced he’d take executive action to protect millions of immigrants from deportation – a unilateral move that led Republicans to promise some sort of retaliation. We’re still waiting on exactly what that will be (see below), but if the GOP hopes to avoid a government shutdown they’d better hurry: The federal till runs dry and the lights go out in a little over a week. With that, here’s today’s Three-Minute Briefing, all the news you can use in 180 seconds or less:
[ALSO: Ashton Carter, Former Pentagon No. 2, Picked for Defense Secretary]
Revenge of the Nerd: A career defense policy wonk, former Harvard professor, trained physicist and Pentagon bureaucrat, presumed Defense Secretary nominee Ashton Carter is poised to accept probably the worst government job in Washington. But it’s the same gig Carter, a budget and nuclear proliferation expert, apparently wanted but didn’t get when President Barack Obama passed him by to pick Chuck Hagel the last time the job was open.
No-Go: As Ferguson continues to dominate the week’s news, Politico reports that the White House weighed a presidential trip to the troubled Missouri city but decided the logistics would have been too difficult and disruptive – and the tone, they say, would have been hard for the president to get just right.
Any Day Now: We should finally hear today how Republicans on Capitol Hill are going to retaliate for Obama’s executive action on immigration policy. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., have repeatedly insisted a GOP move won’t include a government shutdown, if they can help it.
Or Not: But that might be really hard, according to rock-ribbed conservatives like Rep. Raul Labrador, an Idaho Republican: "I don't think anything is off the table. I don't think anybody is thinking about a shutdown, but in negotiations, you never take anything off the table," Labrador said.
A Little Help, Here: Well, unless Boehner gets an assist from House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. Politico reports there may be enough government shutdown hard-liners on the right that Boehner might need Pelosi to lend him some Democratic votes to keep the government open and help the GOP avoid shooting themselves in the foot.
That’ll Teach Him: Meanwhile, editors at National Review agree with Labrador and believe Boehner should hit Obama, a gifted orator, publicly and where it hurts. They want Republicans to stop the president from delivering the annual State of the Union address before Congress in January.
[ALSO: Mary Landrieu Wins a Battle Before Losing the War]
Holdups: The days left in the year are a precious few, while Obama nominees awaiting confirmation: not so much. While Senate Democrats are trying to push more than 130 nominees through before they lose power in January, Republicans led by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, want to stall the nominees further to demonstrate their anger with Obama over – wait for it – his unilateral executive action on immigration.
Deflated: Two words you don’t hear together every day are “Congress” and “penis pump.” They go together today because lawmakers are about to pass a bill to stop the use of Medicare funds for “vacuum erection devices,” a move that would save more than $444 million over a decade and help revamp government benefits for the elderly.
Something About Mary: Fighting for her political life, Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu has been literally abandoned by the national Democratic Party – a development that has left her short-handed and short-funded in her uphill runoff battle against Republican challenger Rep. Bill Cassidy. It’s left many observers questioning why the Dems bailed on her when she needed them most.
Holiday Cheer: The Capitol Christmas tree was lighted last night, the official kickoff of office-party season here in Washington:
Paging Secret Santas: Vox reminds us that money doesn’t always equal power, but it usually works that way. They’ve helpfully produced a map showing the richest and poorest members of Congress, by state.
Stat of the Day: Amount of improper Superstorm Sandy-relief payments FEMA has attempted to recover through collection letters: $4.9 million. Amount the recipients of those letters have returned to the government: $453,000 (courtesy Harper’s Index).
Duly Noted: On this day in 1828, Andrew Jackson was elected the nation’s seventh president. Tennessee Williams' "Streetcar Named Desire" premiered in New York in 1947; in 1962, Edith Spurlock Sampson was sworn in as the nation’s first African-American female judge. Birthdays: Rock legend Ozzy Osbourne (66), actresses Daryl Hannah and Julianne Moore (both 54), actor Brendan Fraser (46), singer Montell Jordan (46), actress Amanda Seyfried (29).
