Rep. Tom Price, R-Roswell, is running into trouble getting the House GOP budget out of his own committee, as House GOP leadership tried to go behind his back on defense spending.
Here's National Journal's Daniel Newhauser:
The Hill reports that House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., tried without success to mediate the dispute, and adds this nugget about the composition of the committee:
The Budget panel includes five Republicans who voted against another term for Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) — Rod Blum (Iowa), Dave Brat (Va.), Scott Garrett (N.J.), Gary Palmer (Ala.) and Marlin Stutzman (Ind.).
Price has not yet said when the committee will reconvene.
Via WSB-Radio's Jamie Dupree, here's the audio of Price calling it quits late last night and Democrats mockingly asking when they will be back. "Next century?" wonders Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J.
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The Senate's budget takes a different path. From the New York Times:
"You can't say something is war spending just to get around the caps," a Senate Budget Committee aide told reporters.
Here are Georgia Republican Sen. David Perdue's thoughts from Wednesday's Budget Committee hearing. It's almost an extended version of his stump speech that campaign trail vets will remember. "Full-blown crisis"? Check. "Unfunded liabilities"? Check.
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Democrats are ready to whack former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush as he prepares his first official visit as a likely presidential contender to the Gold Dome.
They're targeting their attacks on Bush's remarks in South Carolina, where he said that minimum wage hikes should be left to businesses and state governments and opposed an increase in the federal rate.
Democratic Party of Georgia spokesman Michael Smith welcomed him to town by predicting that he'll spend "the day rubbing shoulders and raising money with well-heeled Republican legislators and donors."
Added Smith:
"If Bush really wants to connect with Georgia voters, maybe he should spend less time hobnobbing at fundraisers and spend some time talking to the hardworking Georgians who make the federal minimum wage of $7.25/hour—considering that the Republican-controlled state legislature has refused to act."
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We hear the addition of a $25 annual user fee for car owners in the Senate's transportation plan is causing plenty of heartburn in the GOP caucus.
Expect a push to soften the blow down the road.
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U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Atlanta, accompanied British royals Prince Charles and Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, on a tour of Washington's Martin Luther King Jr. memorial. The Associated Press' Carolyn Kaster captured the moment.
Also in the shot: Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Ala., a Selma native; and Rev. Jesse Jackson. There is a whole slideshow on the premium site.
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Adjusted for cost of living, Metro Atlantans' average salary is in the nation's upper tier, according to your cool map of the day from Governing Magazine.
Metro Atlanta's post-adjustment hourly pay is $25.60 per hour. The Average amount is $22.39 per hour. Lowest was Flagstaff, Ariz., at $14.31; highest was an area of the country that will be playing close attention to some basketball contests today -- Chapel Hill-Durham, N.C., at $29.92.
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CNN sent up a drone to cover the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Selma, Ala., this month. That won't fly on the hallowed ground of Augusta National.
Drones "have gotten very sophisticated," and Augusta has a "very big, international event" coming up, said sheriff's Col. Robert Partain.
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