Senate Democrat Remains Wary Super Committee Can Meet Deadline

Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) said Tuesday that he remains wary a deal will materialize from a 12-member panel tasked with cutting the nation’s deficit by at least $1.2 trillion. 

With just over a week before its Nov. 23 deadline, Udall said “it’s very hard to tell” whether Republicans and Democratic members of the Joint Select Committee will be able to hash out an agreement.

“There have been points that we’ve seen it looking like it would just dissolve into partisan bickering,” Udall said during his weekly conference call with reporters. “[But] I wouldn’t count them out yet.”

Widely known throughout the upper chamber as an advocate of changing the Senate rules, with specific regard to the filibuster, Udall argued that one thing the “super committee” must do is to put together a bill that will garner bipartisan support which would prevent it from being procedurally held up. 

“I’m trying to stay focused on getting [the super committee] to produce something because, if they do, then it gets to the floor without the procedural hurdles and we get to really work on it and tackle this issue like it should be tackled,” Udall said. 

House Set To Ease Gun Restrictions

The House will vote later today on a measure that would allow concealed gun holders to travel with their firearms across most state lines.

The National Right to Carry Reciprocity Act would “provide a national standard in accordance with which nonresidents of a State may carry concealed firearms in the State.”

As the Daily Caller reports:

“The legislation would allow those with permits to carry a concealed handgun in any state where concealed carry is not restricted. Forty nine states currently allow some form of concealed carry.”

The measure is expected to pass the GOP-led House. Interestingly, Senate Democrats are pushing legislation today that would fix errors in the federal background check system. The bill is aimed at keeping weapons out of the hands of drug abusers and those who are mentally ill.

Boehner: House Will Approve Super Committee Plan

By Mike Hothi

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio ) said Tuesday that the so-called “super committee” has done “good work,” but “there isn’t an agreement.”

The bipartisan deficit reduction panel must propose a $1.3 trillion plan by Thanksgiving to avoid automatic cuts to the budget.

Boehner told reporters that he’s confident House Republicans will support a deal if there is one.

“I’m convinced if in fact there is an agreement, that it can in fact pass.”

Boehner also said that he expects his chamber to pass a pair of jobs bills in the coming days. A measure to strike a law requiring the federal government to withhold three percent of payments to contractors and a bill to provide tax credits to businesses that hire returning vets have already cleared the Senate.

“We will pass them this week and send them to the President for a signature,” Boehner said.

McCain At Odds With GOP Candidates Over Waterboarding

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) fired back Monday against a handful of Republican presidential candidates who said over the weekend that they support the practice of allowing federal law enforcement officers to waterboard suspected terrorists.

“Very disappointed by statements at SC GOP debate supporting waterboarding. Waterboarding is torture,” McCain tweeted this morning.

The 2008 GOP presidential nominee was responding to comments made by a few current candidates during Saturday night’s debate in South Carolina.

Businessman Herman Cain said he would bring back the controversial method. “I don’t see it as torture,” he said. “I see it as an enhanced interrogation technique.”

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) and former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) also said they favor waterboarding.

Under former president George W. Bush, U.S. officials used the technique several times on terror suspects that were detained at the military’s facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. President Obama, however, banned waterboarding in 2009.

Boehner Disappointed By Keystone Postponement

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) released the following statement in response to the Obama administration’s announcement that it would delay approving the Keystone XL oil pipeline until after the next election:

“More than 20,000 new American jobs have just been sacrificed in the name of political expediency. By punting on this project, the President has made clear that campaign politics are driving U.S. policy decisions – at the expense of American jobs. The current project has already been deemed environmentally sound, and calling for a new route is nothing but a thinly-veiled attempt to avoid upsetting the President’s political base before the election. It’s a failure of leadership.”

“The production of American-made energy has a direct link to American job creation. That’s why House Republicans will soon introduce and pass jobs legislation that ties the permanent expansion of American energy production to an increase in new infrastructure projects. Today is another reminder that the President’s energy policy is destroying American jobs while Republicans are focused on using American resources to put people back to work.”