Daily Political Wire

George Wenschhof

Neither Side Blinks on Budget - after two budget proposals were introduced yesterday by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), President Obama and Boehner went to the airwaves to defend their positions.

Obama was still focused on the "grand deal" which includes tax increases for the wealthiest Americans and corporations, while Boehner stayed with the "Party of No" theme. Neither offered a hint of compromise as the clock keeps ticking with only one week to go until the nation defaults on it's debt.

However, President Obama did correctly point out the bills coming due were from expenditures approved by members of both political parties. White House Press Secretary Carney got it right when he said the Reid plan gives Republicans what they want, no new taxes and cuts exceeding the amount needed to raise the debt ceiling.

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Double Speak From Republicans On Debt - Bloomberg.com has a good read here which shows Republican Leaders voted for the main drivers of the current debt they blame President Obama for accumulating.

House Speaker John Boehner, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell all voted for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Bush tax cuts and medicare prescription drug benefits, and the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) - this amounted to 3.4 Trillion of the national debt and continues to contribute to the current 1.5 trillion annual deficit.

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Market Holds Steady as Debt Crisis Continues - partly due to new analysis which shows the government has until August 8-10 before they will be unable to make payments. The Dow Jones dropped 0.07 yesterday. Standard and Poor's and NASDAQ dropped a half percentage point. TheHill.com has more here.

The extra week may be needed as Washington politicians continue to show an inability to compromise.

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Blagojevich Files Motion For New Trial - not surprising after the former Illinois Governor was convicted in his second trial of 17 corruption related charges. The second trial verdict came after a first trial resulted in only one conviction of lying to federal authorities and 23 other charges being thrown out. Stay tuned... Politico.com has more here.

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California Latest State to Pass DREAM Act - while the bill failed to pass the U.S. Senate, states have been passing measures which allow children of undocumented immigrants to obtain state tuition fees and earn citizenship by serving in the military or attending college. Governor Jerry Brown signed the bill yesterday. You can read more here.

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Wu Will Not run For Reelection - the embattled Democratic congressman from Oregon will not, according to his press secretary, run for reelection. This announcement comes after David Wu was accused of unwanted sexual contact with a daughter of a campaign donor leading to an ethics inquiry launched by Nancy Pelosi (D- Calf.). Reuters.com has more here.

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