Congressman Jason Chaffetz, a conservative member of the House Budget Committee, says conservatives are looking for big cuts at the GOP meeting with the president today. He also appears to be inching closer to a Senate run.
Kentucky Congressman John Yarmuth says a vote against raising the debt ceiling is "foreclosing on the United States of America."
Congressman Peter Roskam is the House Chief Deputy Whip, the man in the GOP leadership in charge of counting House votes. He joins the show to talk about the House Republican Conference's commitment to cutting spending.
Senators Dick Durbin, Saxby Chambliss, Kent Conrad, Mark Warner, Tom Coburn, and Mike Crapo have been working behind the scene to reach a deal on the budget for fiscal year 2012. They are the "Gang of Six."
Despite Democratic claims that the argument halting a budget deal is over abortion, Republican Representative Jeff Flake says the final disagreement is over a dollar figure of cuts not policy.
Senator Kent Conrad, Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, says both sides have agreed on a number for cuts and the only hang up remaining is Republican insistence on prohibiting federal funding for Planned Parenthood.
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Utah Congressman Jason Chaffetz says he doesn't want to see a government shutdown, but current cuts don't go far enough. He joins the show to talk about the budget battle and his potential plans for a 2012 Senate bid.
Libya: Anti-Khaddafy forces are closing in on the leader's strongholds in Tripoli and calling for massive demonstrations today that could result in more violence. In other Libyan cities like Benghazi, what began as a chaotic insurrection is turning into a more organized and structured opposition, according to media reports. International leaders, including President Obama, British Prime Minister David Cameron, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, are still discussing what diplomatic actions can be taken that might influence Khaddafy in what could be the last throes of his decades-long rule.
U.S. Weather: A major weather system is stretching across the South and into the Northeast, bringing strong rains and damaging winds with it, as well as at least one occurrence of tragedy so far. Last night, an Amish family of seven was crossing a swollen river in southern Kentucky when its horse-drawn buggy tipped over, sweeping away four of the six children. Overnight, authorities recovered the bodies of three of the kids, including that of a six-month old. A search continues for the one still missing.
Wisconsin: The state assembly in Wisconsin voted to approve the governor's anti-union bill, paving the way for Republicans to take away collective bargaining power from many of the state's public workers. The bill now goes to the state senate.
Tight budgets: In the latest example of the vice tightening on public employees, the school board in Providence, R.I. is sending termination letters to all the nearly 2,000 teachers in the district informing them that they could be fired at the end of the school year.
Terror plot: The Saudi exchange student arrested in that disturbing bomb plot is expected in federal court in Texas today,
Charlie Sheen: CBS is canning the popular sitcom Two and a Half Men after Charlie Sheen went on a rant yesterday, partially against the show's creator. No word on what it means for the dozens of non-millionaires who make a living working on the program.
On the Daily Rundown: The latest from Libya; more from one of those Democratic State Senators from Wisonsin who's left the state to block Governor Walker's Budget Repair Bill; and Chuck Todd's interview with Jeff Immelt, Chairman and CEO of GE and the Chairman of the Presiden't Council on Job Creation.
Miller makes a pretty good point. Poor Americans in need of heating assistance don't exactly have lobbyists fighting their battles in Washington. Don't expect to see cutbacks in tax breaks to hedge funds or big oil subsidies anytime soon.
