- No Summer of Love With Republicans in Obama's Final Year.
The White House is hitting congressional Republicans with ever-sharper rhetorical blows as years of ill will and election-year posturing threaten to kill what was already shaping up to be a slim legislative agenda.
As the extended congressional summer break approaches, both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue are echoing with insults, catty tweets and fiery accusations.
. . . With so much venom, Obama’s top spokesman didn't disagree with one reporter’s assessment that his boss has lost any remaining leverage to persuade lawmakers to take up many of the issues on his final-year agenda.
Though Press Secretary Josh Earnest blamed GOP members and asserted that Obama “certainly hasn’t given up,” some lawmakers and longtime Washington hands say the discord bodes ill for getting anything done before the elections.
- Benghazi Report Describes Inertia, Failure to Recognize Risks.
The U.S. ambassador killed in Benghazi in 2012 had traveled there to lay the groundwork for a visit from Hillary Clinton a month later and the eventual opening of a permanent U.S. consulate, a report released Tuesday by a Republican-led House panel concluded.
The finding is among the few new pieces of information in sections of the 800-page report that were released to several media outlets overnight, after a two-year and $7 million investigation into the deaths of Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans.
- Senate Democrats Block $1.1 Billion to Fight Zika: Object to provisions on birth control, pesticide use, Confederate flag.
The Senate blocked a plan Tuesday to spend $1.1. billion to fight the Zika virus, as Democrats objected to added provisions that would limit funding for birth control, allow pesticide spraying near water sources, and raise the Confederate flag.
The conference report on Zika spending, which Democrats said was developed without their input , failed to receive the 60 votes needed to shut off debate.
- Top GOP Super PAC Ups Spending in Senate Races: Ad buys indicate where group believes candidates will be competitive.
The Senate Leadership Fund plans to spend big money defending Republicans in a quartet of battleground seats this fall, the super PAC said Tuesday, a strong indication of which states the group expects — and doesn't expect — to be competitive in November.
Headlining the fund's list of TV ad reservations is a $15.8 million buy in New Hampshire, where Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte and Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan are expected to face off in one of this election cycle's marquee races.
