Bill to help small firms raise money stalls

(wikimedia)

Following a full court press by the Obama administration, and specifically gun tzar Joe Biden, to legislate "stronger" gun law in the last several months ever since the Sandy Hook massacre, the initiative may have just suffered a terminal defeat following a failure to even pass a bipartisan background check amendment in the democrat-controlled Senate.

Denying decorated war hero and foreign policy luminary Chuck Hagel the Pentagon’s top job will be a daunting task for his opponents. But Republicans are spoiling for a fight against President Obama over the nomination of the former GOP senator for secretary of defense.

Back in 2012, amid "intense pressure from Obama" including an appeal for its passage in his 2012 State of the Union address, Congress passed the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act (with 96-3 theatrical votes in the Senate, and 417-2 even more theatrical votes in the House) - a bill prohibiting the use of non-public information for private profit, including insider trading by members of Congress and other government employees.

President Barack Obama said he wants to reach a “big deal” on the budget that will cut the nation’s deficit without slashing spending on education and research that is needed to ensure future growth. Obama said negotiations with congressional Republicans over avoiding the $1.2 trillion in automatic, across-the-board spending reductions set to begin March 1 shouldn’t push aside the effort for a broader plan to cut government debt.

The U.S. House of Representatives doesn’t plan any votes on the federal budget Monday night, meaning that Congress for now will fail to avert US$600-billion in tax increases and spending cuts set to start at midnight. Taxpayers and investors won’t see immediate effects of the changes, which would accumulate over a matter of months. Congress could reverse them by acting retroactively early in 2013. There are signs they may do just that. It appears that an agreement to prevent this New Year’s tax hike is within sight, but it’s not done

Republicans today announced that Rep. Charles Boustany (R-LA), a cardiothoracic surgeon, will be delivering tomorrow’s response to President Obama’s joint address to Congress on health care. House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) sent out a press release heralding Boustany’s experience and lamenting that Democrats have refused to work with him:

Republicans have offered more concessions including an agreement to hike taxes on those making as little as $400,000 (up from the $250,000 sought by Obama). They also backed down on a proposal to slow the growth of Social Security benefits. They may as well throw out the white flag at this point. While I do not know if they reach a compromise today, it appears Senate Republicans are willing to do more than they should. The fact remains this is pathetic effort by both parties to rein in unsustainable budgets.