Daily Political Wire

George Wenschhof

Obama To Meet with al-Maliki Today - the Iraq Prime Minister will meet with President Obama at the White House today. The withdrawal of all U.S. troops is December 31. Presumably, discussions will include future U.S./Iraq relations, including security, trade and education. Time.com has more here.

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1 Trillion Omnibus Spending Bill To Be Introduced Today - to provide funding for most government agencies through September 2012. Details are to be released tonight and agreement in the House and Senate is expected. Existing funding ends Friday. The Washington Post has more here.

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Payroll Tax Extension Remains Elusive - no agreement has been reached on extending the payroll tax cut which ends as of December 31. The NY Times has more here.

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Physician Medicare Cut looms - another bill for Congress to agree on this week is action to prevent a scheduled 27.4% cut in medicare payments to doctors. TheHill.com has more here.

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Gingrich and Huntsman Debate Tonight - the so-called Lincoln-Douglas style debate will be held at St. Anselm College. C-SPAN will televise tonight at 8:00 PM ET. You can read more here.

Huntsman could gain recognition as a result if he performs well. The former Utah Governor is hoping for a good showing in the New Hampshire primary to catapult his campaign.

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Euro Zone Problems Persist - in spite of a new treaty agreement reached last week, the European Central Bank is being pressured to ease rates. Bloomberg.com has more here.

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