To prevent a government shutdown, House Republicans are crafting a stopgap spending bill sponsored by Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers, R-KY. It would be set at the current level of $1.043 trillion for the rest of the fiscal year. The measure separates a government shutdown from sequestration and specifies that the $85 billion in automatic cuts could occur unless they’re separately turned off. - Read more at The Hill
BOEHNER GIVES THUMBS DOWN ON WAGE HIKE House Speaker John Boehner has shut down the president’s call to increase the minimum wage to $9 an hour. “When you raise the price of employment, guess what happens? You get less of it. At a time when the American people are still asking the question, ‘Where are the jobs?’ why would we want to make it harder for small employers to hire people? Listen, I’ve got 11 brothers and sisters on every rung of the economic ladder. I know about this issue as much as anybody in this town,” Boehner told reporters at a press conference Wednesday. -
Read more at The Fiscal Times
JACK LEW SAILS THROUGH HEARING The president’s nominee for Treasury secretary sailed through his confirmation hearing today, charming GOP Senate Finance Committee members who were set to interrogate him about his brief stint at Citibank as well as about offshore banking accounts. But the promise of a tough showdown never materialized: Lew made the facts of the case as unexciting and vague as possible. -Read more at The Fiscal Times
