Wonkmeme

Tweet More Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is increasingly focused on the month of July as the time to exercise the so-called “nuclear option” and revisit filibuster reform, and he has privately told top advisers that he’s all but certain to take action if the Senate GOP...

Tweet More Greg Sargent over at Plum Line has a big scoop today: Harry Reid is planning to devote July to nominations and will “go nuclear” if necessary — using majority-imposed reform to end the ability of minorities to block executive branch and judicial nominations. This is...

Fewer groups sought recognition as 501(c)(4) social welfare organizations that year than in 2009, according to the Treasury Department. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration A number of people have sought to explain the IRS targeting of Tea Party, patriot, and 9/12 group applications...

President Barack Obama’s administration announced this week that it is throwing its support behind the press shield law that has been stalled in Congress since time immemorial. Critics insist that the administration, suddenly mired in scandal, is simply trying to curry favor with the news media,...

Flickr/Captain Orange In "What Do You Desire?" Emily Witt travels to San Francisco, attends a shoot for a pornographic video about "women bound, stripped, and punished in public," reflects on her own unsuccessful search for romantic love, and ponders the implications of a sexual culture where no...

Tweet More Okay, I don’t really know whether Barack Obama was involved in his business of subpoenas to get phone records of Associated Press reporters in order to track down leaks (and note that it’s not just presidents; Republican senators wanted the leaks investigated). And...

Tweet More House negotiators announced yesterday that they’d reached a bipartisan agreement on an immigration bill. But as Ed Kilgore colorfully points out today, there’s not really any actual deal. Instead, on key items such as guest workers and health care, they’ve agreed to...

The Campaign Spot Election-driven news and views . . . by Jim Geraghty. Lew: IRS Investigation Was On Inspector General Web Site in Fall 2012 Well. AL HUNT, HOST, BLOOMBERG NEWS: We’re going to get to larger economic questions in a little bit, but first the IRS, which reports to Treasury. ...

Associated Press I suppose it's only natural to evaluate a president by comparing him or her to previous presidents, and President Obama has been the subject of quite a few of these analyses over the years. Is he Clinton (modern, two-term Dem who bounced back after a rough midterm cycle) or maybe...

by Justin Green  | May 17, 2013 3:00 PM EDT The Washington Post's Greg Sargent has a major scoop that Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid is seriously thinking about ending the filibuster on executive and judicial branch nominations. Given Reid's history of crying wolf, I'll believe it when I see it...