The New York Times: “Congressional Republicans are moving to gut many of President Obama’s top priorities with the sharpest spending cuts in a generation and a new push to hold government financing hostage unless the president’s signature health care law is stripped of money this fall.”
New York Times lead front-page subhead on the story: “Panels threaten to hold programs hostage to health care.”
Roll Call: “Budget brinkmanship is on tap again this fall, if this week’s renewed finger-pointing over a potential government shutdown is any guide. Though Congress and the White House have just more than two months to strike a deal keeping the government running — and a little longer before the debt ceiling hits — they appear set to engage in a full-fledged messaging war over the August break before returning to the negotiating table in September.”
David Rogers: “Having reluctantly agreed to 15 minutes of debate, the House Republican establishment came into Wednesday, working overtime to contain a floor amendment that seeks to rein in the National Security Agency’s authority to collect private call records and metadata on telephone customers in the U.S. The White House and NSA’s top brass are willing allies for the GOP, all matched against a 33-year-old Michigan conservative, Rep. Justin Amash, who has kept up a running commentary on his Twitter account and loves the limelight of a grassroots fight. A vote could come late Wednesday as part of a lumbering $512.5 defense appropriations bill, which includes funding for intelligence agencies. And it will be the first real test of political sentiment since former systems analyst Edward Snowden leaked documents that revealed the NSA program.”
Roll Call: “As the student loan endgame neared, Democrats grumbled about the budget rules that make the bipartisan package work. With an extra push from the White House, however, the bill seemed on track for passage.”
USA Today: “House Education Committee Chairman Rep. John Kline, who saw a dramatic upsurge in campaign contributions from for-profit colleges in recent months, is pushing legislation that would help the industry preserve its access to federal student loans. … A 2012 investigation by the Democratic-controlled Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee slammed the for-profit industry over its recruitment practices, high costs and student debt. For-profit colleges educate about 10% of college students, but account for nearly half of student-loan defaults.”
More: “A USA TODAY analysis of newly filed campaign reports shows Kline raised $138,350 from April 1 through June 30 from the political action committees, employees and lobbyists of for-profit schools for his reelection campaign and his leadership PAC. That's nearly one-quarter of his total receipts and up from $20,700 that the industry gave to Kline during the first three months of the year. … The bill's other authors are Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., who heads a subcommittee on higher education and workforce training, and Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Fla. Foxx received $34,450 from for-profit colleges and career schools during the second fundraising quarter of the year….”
Stay Klassy… “Rep. Steve King is defending his comments that children who were brought to the U.S. illegally don’t deserve ‘amnesty’ because they’re not ‘all valedictorians’ despite a firestorm of criticism from Republican leaders and Democrats,” Roll Call writes. “Speaker John A. Boehner called the comments ‘wrong’ and his language ‘hateful.’ Majority Leader Eric Cantor called them ‘inexcusable.’ Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., called the remarks ‘reprehensible.’ And Florida Democrat Joe Garcia said they were ‘beneath the dignity’ of a member of Congress.”