Weekly Round Up – September 27, 2013

Before we get to the good reads!

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A Few Good Reads

Here are a few of my favorite reads from the past week.

1. With No Talks on Debt Ceiling, Risks Mount:

As the nation approached its legal borrowing limit more than two years ago, President Barack Obama entered long and messy negotiations with Republicans in Congress. Amid the debate, his job-approval ratings fell to record lows. Now, Mr. Obama is trying a new strategy, refusing to negotiate over terms for raising the debt ceiling and arguing it is up to Congress to give government the authority to pay its bills. But the president’s new stance carries risks to his political standing, as well. Open this article

2. Stock market anxieties turn to debt ceiling:

Now that the expected tapering of $85 billion a month in asset purchases fizzled out at the Federal Reserve’s September policy meeting, investor attention has shifted to the brewing showdown over the budget and the debt ceiling. Already the House has thrown down a gauntlet to the Obama Administration, passing a budget bill that keeps the government running through mid-December but guts funding for Obama’s health-care law. Without a budget by Oct. 1, when the government’s fiscal year 2014 begins, a shutdown becomes a real possibility. Open this article

3. U.S. Congress turns attention to debt limit battle:

The U.S. Congress, already struggling to avert a government shutdown next week, turned its attention on Wednesday to the other fiscal bullet it had to dodge: a federal debt default. Republican leaders in the House of Representatives notified members that a vote on raising the debt limit could come as early as Friday. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew pleaded for quick action in the deeply divided Congress on raising the $16.7 trillion statutory limit on government borrowing, as he projected an October 17 date when borrowing capacity would be nearly exhausted and only $30 billion would be left in his agency’s checking account. Open this article

4. House Democrats want clean debt limit bill:

House Democrats have a message: They want to see a clean debt ceiling bill come up for a vote. Still weeks away from hitting the ceiling but possibly days away from a House vote, the Democratic leadership had harsh words for Republicans, who are considering attaching a one-year delay of the individual mandate to the hike. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) compared the need for Republicans to back a clean debt hike with Democrats voting in 2008 to authorize the TARP bailout of large banks. Open this article

5. Obama fires up case for raising the debt limit:

After weeks of dealing with hairy foreign policy issues and grave conflicts overseas, President Obama appeared ready to get back to more familiar political territory – a fiscal fight with House Republicans. Obama, looking feisty and loose for the first time in weeks, served up some new lines and a harsh assessment of his Republican opposition on Capitol Hill on Friday at a Ford plant in Liberty, Mo. “They’re not focused on you. They’re focused on politics. They’re focused on trying to mess with me,” the president said from the plant near Kansas City. Open this article