Obama Goes Holiday Shopping

President Obama succeeded in taking care of some very urgent business on Wednesday.

No, he didn’t convince Congress to pass a payroll tax cut extension. But, he did do some holiday shopping for the rest of the First Family.

Needing to get out of the house, as his Press Secretary, Jay Carney, put it, Obama and First Dog Bo ventured out across the Potomac River to make some seasonal purchases.

During a roughly 50-minute trip around nearby Alexandria, Virginia, the President managed to hit Pet Smart and Best Buy, where he bought a large bone for Bo, and a couple video games and a pair of iTunes music gift cards for his daughters, Sasha and Malia. In all, the President spent about $235 at the two retailers.

Hungry from all the shopping, Obama concluded his brief expedition by patronizing a local pizzeria, where he emerged from afterwards with a trio of large pies.

White House Shrugs Off Complaint From Payroll Group

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters Tuesday that President Obama isn’t worried about potential issues stemming from how to implement a short-term payroll tax cut extension.

In a letter this week to both the House and Senate Ways and Means Committees, the National Payroll Reporting Consortium, an independent payroll processing trade organization, said it might not be possible to make a two-month continuation of the two percent tax cut work.

“With the first of January now only two weeks away and payroll departments trying to meet year-end compliance mandates and reconciliation, there simply is insufficient time to implement this major change in withholding requirements,” wrote NPRC President Pete Isberg.

When asked about the letter during today’s briefing, Carney acknowledged the group’s concern, but said that Obama “is committed to asking his administration to work with American businesses to overcome whatever complications this might cause.”

“He’d rather do that…then ask Americans to spend the holidays worrying about how they’re gonna deal with $1,000 less next year,” Carney added.

No Budget, No Paycheck Say Lawmakers

A bipartisan duo of Hill lawmakers believe they have finally found a way to motivate Congress into passing a budget.

The No Budget, No Pay Act, sponsored in the House by Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.), would halt congressional pay if Congress fails to pass appropriations bills on deadline. The legislation would also negate retroactive pay.

Cooper’s plan is featured in a new proposal by the centrist group “No Labels” called, “Making Congress Work.”

“This would not necessarily cut congressional pay, it would make every Congressman or Senator a forceful advocate for getting our work done on time,” Cooper told me during a phone interview today.

“I bet you we would get our work done on time,” he added.

(Click here to listen to clips from our conversation)

Sen. Dean Heller (D-Nev.), who introduced the bill in the upper chamber, said “if Congress does not do its job, then Congress should not get paid.”

The federal government has been operating under a series of temporary spending bills since 2009, the last year Congress passed a budget. Lawmakers are reportedly close, however, on sending a nearly $1 trillion “omnibus” spending package to President Obama’s desk by the end of the year.

The current fiscal year began on October 1.

Education Secretary Angered By Penn State Scandal

U.S. Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Tuesday morning that he was “extraordinarily angry” over the sex abuse scandal involving former Penn State University football coach Jerry Sandusky.

Duncan told a Washington Times radio affiliate this morning that his department has a “legal obligation” to investigate whether school officials attempted to cover up alleged sex crimes committed by Sandusky over the last several years.

Sandusky, who retired from his position as defensive coordinator of the football team in 1999, was arrested ten days ago and charged with 40 counts relating to sexual abuse of minors, after being indicted by a grand jury. The allegations have rocked Penn State and have led to the ousting of the school’s president as well as Sandusky’s former boss, legendary head coach Joe Paterno. An assistant coach who told the grand jury that he witnessed Sandusky raping a young boy nine years ago in a school shower facility has been placed on administrative leave.

As was previously reported on this site, DOE will be looking into whether school officials violated the Clery Act, a 1990 law that requires all state colleges and universities to go public with reported crimes that occur on campus.

“If [Penn State] was not forthcoming with criminal activity, there will be a price to pay,” Duncan said.

Obama: GOP Beholden To Millionaires

President Obama took a page right out of the Occupy Wall Street playbook on Friday, characterizing Republicans in Congress as being in the pockets of the nation’s wealthy.

During a press conference in France, the site of this week’s G20 economic summit, Obama accused GOP leaders who have unified their party against Democratic efforts to raise taxes of taking “rigid, ideological positions.”

Yesterday, Senate Republicans and a pair of Democrats blocked a phase of Obama’s American Jobs Act that contained $60 billion for transportation and infrastructure projects. The cost of the measure was offset by a small surtax on annual income over $1 million.

“If that’s their rationale than that doesn’t fly,” Obama said. The president later argued that Republicans are placing the nation’s 300,000 millionaires ahead of the millions of people who are currently out of work.