In a few hours, the 113th Congress will get started. The most obvious potential drama? How many “no” or “present” votes there’ll be for John Boehner, and whether 51 Democrats pass rules reform in the Senate.
Jerry Nadler endorses the Platinum Coin option.
“There is specific statutory authority that says that the Federal Reserve can mint any non-gold or -silver coin in any denomination, so all you do is you tell the Federal Reserve to make a platinum coin for one trillion dollars, and then you deposit it in the Treasury account, and you pay your bills,” Nadler said in a telephone interview this afternoon.
The White House insists that it won’t just “invoke the 14th Amendment” and ignore Congress’s debt limit threats. It also says it will refuse to negotiate over the limit. So nothing too wacky can be ruled out.
Political scientists challenge the popular “Big Sort” theory – that like-minded people have clustered, as seen in the presidential vote swings of counties. I’m not wholly convinced.
An investigation of the Zero Dark Thirty script! That’ll go real well, and set some nice precedent.
Brian Stelter’s scoop here, about the sale of Current.tv to Al Jazeera, shatters the irony-meter.
Mr. Gore and his partners were eager to complete the deal by Dec. 31, lest it be subject to higher tax rates that took effect on Jan. 1, according to several people who insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. But the deal was not signed until Wednesday.
And Rep. Jan Schakowsky’s errant tweet will make your day.
