* Fiscal cliff talks are at an impasse.
* Van Hollen says we need a deal by Christmas.
* If it’s true, this doesn’t bode well for a deal.
* An undocumented sex offender interned for Sen. Menendez.
* And Chris Christie is not too fat.
Not a great year for Patrick Moran, son of Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.). First the younger Moran was caught giving advice on how to commit voter fraud while running his father’s field operation. And now he’s pleaded guilty to assaulting his girlfriend outside a bar in Columbia Heights.
Moran was initially charged with assault with significant bodily injury, a felony. The woman was bleeding “heavily” from her nose; according to court records; her nose and right eye were “extremely” swollen. The woman was taken to a hospital, and a paramedic told police her nose appeared swollen and her right eye socket was fractured.
“They are both very embarrassed by the situation, which involved drinking, and they are looking to move past it, and ask for their privacy to be respected,” a spokesman for the congressman said.
Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) holds a news conference with leaders from Latino legal organizations in the LBJ Room at the U.S. Captiol, Aug. 5, 2009 in Washington, D.C. (Chip Somodevilla — Getty Images)
The AP reports that Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) employed as an unpaid intern a registered sex offender who was in the country illegally, and that the Department of Homeland Security told federal agents not to arrest the teenager until after Election Day.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie told ABC’s Barbara Walters that even though he is “more than a little” overweight, it’s “ridiculous” to think that he is too heavy to be president of the United States.
Walters said she was “very uncomfortable asking” Christie about his weight, but she did so anyway in an interview for her “10 Most Fascinating People of 2012″ special.
In another sign of deteriorating relations between the House Republican leadership and the White House, a Democratic official close to the talks said Speaker John Boehner’s latest offer to avoid the “fiscal cliff” included a demand for a permanent extension of expiring tax breaks for the wealthiest 2 percent of taxpayers.
If true, that would represent a huge insult to President Obama, whose central goal is the expiration of the tax cuts for the wealthy adopted during the George W. Bush administration.
House freshmen may be keeping quiet about the recent shakeup in GOP committee leadership. But Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.), who lost his seat on the House Budget Committee, is not.
“If Speaker Boehner wants to come back to my district, he’s not going to be met with very much welcome,” he told reporters Wednesday, according to the National Review.
Military officials on Wednesday spilled some details of the elaborate plans for President Obama’s second inauguration, using a gym-sized map to show how thousands of active duty troops and National Guard members will support the event’s pomp and nitty-gritty.
U.S. Air Force Senior Master Sergeant Scott Hinds briefs the media on the upcoming 2013 Inauguration in Washington, December 12, 2012.
Strolling over the 40 by 60-foot floor map with what he quipped were “God-like powers,” Senior Sgt. Scott Hinds demonstrated the paths that units would take from various staging areas and command posts to the Pennsylvania Avenue parade route and dispersal area.
Punctuating the map were dollhouse-like models of the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials and an ankle-high Washington Monument.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has again said she is not planning another presidential bid.
“I’ve said I really don’t believe that that’s something I will do again,” Clinton said in the interview, which airs Wednesday night as part of Barbara Walters “10 Most Fascinating People” special. (In the above clip, Walters asks the other question apparently on every voter’s mind — what does Clinton do with her hair?). “I am so grateful I had the experience of doing it before.”
A deal must be made by Christmas, a top Democrat says. (Marvin Joseph — Washington Post)
House Speaker John A,. Boehner (R-Ohio) and President Obama must realistically agree to the framework of a deal if they wish to avoid the year-end fiscal cliff by Christmas, said Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) on Wednesday.
To get a deal by Christmas and leave town for the holidays, as many lawmakers would like, Van Hollen said a deal must be struck by the end of the week, adding he does not believe the probability is high that a compromise can come together that quickly.
Talks to avert the year-end “fiscal cliff” appeared on the verge of an impasse Wednesday morning after late-night attempts to prevent negotiations from breaking down yielded no significant progress.
President Obama’s chief negotiator, Rob Nabors, rushed to the Capitol late Tuesday to meet with top aides to House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) hours after the two leaders had a phone call described by Boehner in tepid terms.
