Capitol Report: Embattled Democrats turn against Nancy Pelosi
Bloomberg Pouncing on Pelosi: Some embattled Democrats are turning against the House minority leader.
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) Here are five stories you should be reading Thursday.
Turning against Pelosi: House Republicans have company in attacking House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi: some of her fellow Democrats. National Journal reports three Democrats running in GOP-leaning House districts have used late-stage television ads to distance themselves from the Californian. Both parties Republican and Democrat are to blame, says Gwen Graham, a top Democratic Party recruit, in a recent TV ad, as a photo of Pelosi and House Speaker John Boehner flashes on the screen. The others are Rep. John Barrow of Georgia and Irv Halter, a House candidate in Colorado.
Fund shift: The Wall Street Journal reports House Democrats are pulling advertising money from 11 congressional races where hopes of victory are dimming. The races include several in Michigan, California and New York. In place of those races, theyre shifting cash to a half-dozen different contests where party leaders want to protect vulnerable incumbents or see solid odds of winning. The spending shift was confirmed by a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee aide, who said it involved a few million dollars.
Meanwhile, in South Dakota: South Dakotas Senate race was largely considered a lost cause for Democrats. But now, as the New York Times reports, with former Gov. Mike Rounds showing weakness in recent polls, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is aiming to make the race competitive. A committee official said a $1 million ad buy is planned in the state to boost the prospects of Rick Weiland, the Democrat running against Republican Rounds.
Sink the sequester: President Barack Obama used a visit to the Pentagon Wednesday to renew a call for freeing the military from the draconian budget strictures that would return in the next fiscal year under the so-called sequester. He said Congress must make sure that if were asking this much of our armed forces, that theyve got the equipment and the technology thats necessary for them to be able to succeed at their mission, Politico writes. Obama hasnt spoken much about the sequester since last years budget compromise relaxed the spending limits for two years. The restrictions will return in fiscal 2016, unless theres an agreement on averting them.
New Obamacare showdown? Roll Call reports a group of Senate Republicans have their eye on another Obamacare showdown when Congress returns for the post-election lame-duck session. The 14 Republicans, led by Marco Rubio of Florida, wrote a letter to House Speaker John Boehner urging him to prohibit the White House from spending money on an Obamacare taxpayer bailout. Thats a reference to a recent legal opinion that said extra funding authority would be needed to make payments to insurance companies under the risk-corridor component of the Obamacare health-insurance exchanges. The Republicans say taxpayers could be on the hook for bailing out insurance companies that suffer losses, Roll Call writes.
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Capitol Report: Embattled Democrats turn against Nancy Pelosi