Daily Political Wire

George Wenschhof

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Dow Jones Hits Record High - The benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average rose to an all-time record Tuesday on news that China was pledging to plow more money into its economy, returning the markets to highs not seen since before the financial crisis.
 
By 10 a.m. Tuesday, the Dow was up nearly 90 points, or 0.74 percent, to 14,216.70, blowing past a record that was set Oct. 11, 2007, during a time when the economy was just peaking and headed toward disaster. The previous record was 14,198.1.  The Washington Post has more here.

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Obama Approval Drops, Americans Split on Blame for Sequestration - A slight plurality of Americans believe that Republicans in Congress are more to blame than their Democratic counterparts for the automatic spending cuts that went into effect last week, according to the latest CBS News poll released Monday evening.

Thirty-eight percent of respondents said they blame the congressional GOP for the failure to reach a deal before last Friday's sequestration deadline, compared with 33 percent who said they blame President Barack Obama and Democrats in Congress.  TPM.com has more here.

President Obama's job approval rating took a hit over the weekend, falling to its lowest level in the Gallup three-day average since his reelection.

His approval rating was 46 percent between Feb 29 and March 2, down from 53 percent a week earlier.

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House Republicans Propose Budget For Remainder of Fiscal Year - House Republicans moved ahead Monday behind a six-month stopgap spending bill that would keep the government funded through September but also lock in appropriations at a far lower level than even Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget envisioned last spring.

President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) insist that neither wants a government shutdown when the current continuing resolution, or CR, runs out March 27. But it is an uneasy truce that will grow more tense as the full impact of the cuts begins to be felt.  You can read more here.

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Senate Intelligence Committee To Vote on Brennan Nomination Today - The Senate Intelligence Committee is set to vote Tuesday on John Brennan’s nomination to be the next director of the CIA, but some Republicans and Democrats alike still have questions.

Particularly, a few senators remain determined to leverage the process to gain more information from the White House on the legal opinions backing U.S. drone strikes and on the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.  Politico.com has more here.

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Universal Background Checks Legislation Stalls in Senate - The centerpiece of President Obama’s gun violence agenda is in peril amid a deadlock among Senate negotiators over how to implement and enforce a proposal requiring background checks for private gun sales.  TheHill.com has more here.

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Jeb Bush Flips on Pathhway To Citizenship - In an apparent reversal from his past statements, former Florida Republican Gov. Jeb Bush said Monday that his immigration reform plan would "fall short" of offering a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants living in the United States -- a key provision being put forward by the bipartisan group leading reform efforts on Capitol Hill.

“Our proposal is a proposal that looks forward, and if we want to create an immigration policy that's going to work, we can't continue to make illegal immigration an easier path than legal immigration,” Bush said on NBC’s TODAY Show.  MSNBC.com has more here.

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Kerry Says Clock is Ticking on Iran Nuclear Talks - The Obama administration is determined to stop Iran from gaining a nuclear weapon and will not let Tehran drag out negotiations indefinitely, Secretary of State John Kerry said Tuesday.

“Iran will not run any clock on this,” Kerry told NBC's Andrea Mitchell. “There is no negotiation for the sake of it, and there will not be a negotiation that turns into an eternal delay.

“The clock is ticking and the president has made that clear. The president's policy is that Iran will not get a nuclear weapon,” he said. “We are working closer with Israel and other allies than has ever taken place in terms of that military and intelligence cooperation.”  You can read more here.

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