Here's your copy of the bipartisan budget deal released overnight. The Washington Post has the basics:
A vote could come as early as Wednesday in the House, the same day House Republicans meet to anoint Paul Ryan as their next speaker.
The exiting Speaker John Boehner explained the bill to House Republicans last night in a closed-door meeting, and Rep. Tom Price, R-Roswell, was reportedly not pleased. From Roll Call:
"He says, 'If our committee chairman had done their work or if they had been allowed to do their work' — he made it sound like in some cases they didn't want to and in some cases they were blocked somehow; I don't know how they would be blocked — but, 'if they did their work early enough that this wouldn't be necessary,'" Fleming told reporters.
House Budget Chairman Tom Price, R-Ga., took exception to that. According to Fleming, Price "got up and said, 'With all due respect, I worked on this for months and I was told by leadership to stand down.' And so we got a real moment of candor there and transparency."
This is Part B of Boehner falling on his sword. Expect the usual coalition of Democrats and moderate or retiring Republicans to back this one. Sounds like Price will not be one of them. The Post also quoted Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, R-Coweta County, denouncing the deal before it was made public:
"I can't vote for something where we spend the money today and save it 10 years from now," said Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-Ga.). "That to me is crazy."
There's already been some chuckling about the final provision, a massive victory for the conservative House Freedom Caucus: "The first floor of the area of the House of Representatives wing of the United States Capitol known as the small House rotunda is designated the 'Freedom Foyer'."
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Meanwhile, don't look for U.S. Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., to join colleague and presidential candidate Ted Cruz in any push for a federall shutdown over raising the debt ceiling. From Dave Williams and the Atlanta Business Chronicle:
"We've done that 55 times and to what end?" Perdue told reporters before giving a luncheon speech to members of the Atlanta Rotary Club. "We still have $18.5 trillion in debt."
…."We have to have adults in the room," he said. "We can't default on this federal debt."
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A new accounting rule is about to make governmental budgeting in Georgia, from top to bottom, more interesting.
So you have the Governmental Accounting Standards Board, an independent organization that "establishes and improves standards of accounting and financial reporting for U.S. state and local government."
GASB has handed down a new rule that will require state and local governments, for the first time, to include footnotes in their annual financial reports that disclose information about tax breaks they give to private businesses.
State officials are already predicting it will give them grief when it takes effect in 2017.
Tom Crawford of Georgia Report caught Miller Edwards, an accountant whose firm audits the Georgia Building Authority's finances, as he briefed the board last week on the new rule. From Crawford's piece:
"It really does lend itself to political exploitation," Deal said.
In other words, political opponents of an elected official could have a potent weapon to use against that officeholder in the next election: detailed information on the tax exemptions promised to private businesses and how much it costs the taxpayers.
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Jason Carter's public image since he lost his bid for governor last year has so far largely revolved around talking about his grandfather's health. That's about to change.
The former state senator will speak on Dec. 2 to an Atlanta Press Club luncheon about his new role as chairman of the Carter Center, the global human rights organization founded by former President Jimmy Carter.
He's set to travel to Myanmar in early November to monitor elections there, and the December speech will be one of his first big public splashes since taking charge of the organization.
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Down in middle Georgia, 13WMAZ reports that businessman Michael Reece, one of six candidates in a special election contest to replace state Sen. Ross Tolleson, R-Perry, has a criminal history and a pardon in his background:
According to Pardons and Paroles records, Reece's pardon also included restoration of all civil and political rights and the right to bear arms.
The import: Reece is one of five candidates in the race from Houston County, which dominates District 20. Tolleson has endorsed Larry Walker III, son of the former House majority leader.
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For the first time, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson has topped GOP rival Donald Trump in a national poll -- this one by CBS and the New York Times. From the CBS website:
The rest of the Republican presidential candidates lag far behind in single digits. Marco Rubio is now in third place (eight percent), followed by Jeb Bush (seven percent) and Carly Fiorina (seven percent). All other candidates are at four percent or lower.
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Earlier this week, Politico featured the Houston gathering of Bush family alums who gathered to "rescue" Jeb Bush's flailing campaign. But one Georgian who was in the room took issue with the story's characterization of a somber mood.
Eric Tanenblatt, the former Mitt Romney adviser and current Bush supporter, called it a "very positive, upbeat gathering" that featured Bush and his famous father and brother.
Said Tanenblatt:
"The meetings reinforced that Jeb is the only Republican in the race who can win the general election. He can attract women and Latino voters like no other candidate and has a proven track record in Florida as a disruptor to the status quo which is exactly what we need right now in Washington, DC."
The meeting also identified fellow Floridian Marco Rubio as a likely rival. "The GOP Obama" is the phrase that Bushies have adopted.
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Speaking of Marco Rubio. You know we've got a Wednesday debate of GOP presidential candidates in Boulder, Colo. The one following will be a Fox News/Wall Street Journal affair in Milwaukee on Nov. 10.
Rubio's campaign manager, Terry Sullivan, will be in Atlanta two days later for a well-timed, post-debate reception. That's the invite above. We'll warn you now -- he's likely to say that Rubio won.
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Despite scraping the bottom of the polls, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., is sending signals that he intends to stick around until the March 1 SEC Primary. He reported Monday that he paid the fee and gathered 1,000 signatures (double the required amount) to get on the ballot in Alabama.
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Ahead of her visit to Atlanta on Friday, Hillary Clinton blasted out a list-building email from the pen of Rep. John Lewis, D-Atlanta -- her most prominent Georgia backer. Wrote Lewis:
I was proud to hear Hillary reaffirm her commitment to protecting voting rights in Alabama last week at the Alabama Democratic Conference Convention -- as well as to reforming our criminal justice system and advocating for funding for historically black colleges and universities.
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The U.S. House is set to revive the controversial Export-Import bank, which helps finance U.S. companies' exports and has been accused of "crony capitalism" on the right. A Democrat-driven procedural maneuver with moderate Republicans resulted in Monday night's vote to bring it to the floor.
Of Georgia's 10 House Republicans, only freshman Rep. Buddy Carter of Pooler backed the bank.
A couple of things worth noting: Gulfstream (located in Carter's district) backed the bank, while Delta Air Lines did not; and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which came in for Carter in his runoff election last year, supports reauthorizing the bank.
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The New York Times takes a deep look at the conservative PACs behind efforts such as Paul Broun's "Fire Paul Ryan" and finds that the beneficiaries are -- surprise, surprise -- consultants:
But Mr. Ward also has a financial stake in the fight. He runs Political Media, a Washington-based firm that will charge Constitutional Rights PAC a fee for sending out the blast email with the dual purpose of asking conservatives to help dump Mr. Ryan and to donate to Mr. Ward's political action committee.
"Help us fund the fight by making an emergency donation of $30, $50 or even $100 today," the email said, even though records show that Mr. Ward's PAC spends every dollar it gets on consultants, mailings and fund-raising — making no donations to candidates. Mr. Ward defended his use of his own firm, saying he gave his PAC a discount on his company's regular service charges.
Peach Pundit's Charlie Harper has also opined on this topic, dubbing the groups "false prophets for profit."
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