By Douglas Holtz-Eakin
The young drop coverage to avoid higher premiums
President Obama used a rare appearance on a Sunday talk show to accuse Republican lawmakers of protecting only the wealthiest taxpayers in negotiations to avoid the "fiscal cliff," even as some in the GOP conceded that Mr. Obama has won the battle over raising taxes.
Student loans versus oil companies. Or student loans versus high-paid lawyers and consultants. Or student loans versus Democrats' health care law.
Rick Santorum is now calling his home state of Pennsylvania a must-win in his bid for the Republican presidential nomination, just as his hopes in Wisconsin, which votes on Tuesday, continue to fade.
Seeking to reclaim leadership on debt talks, President Obama on Monday night made a strenuous, last-minute pitch that tax increases be included in any deal, but Republicans' top negotiator, House Speaker John A. Boehner, said the president himself is now the chief roadblock to reaching an agreement.
A shutdown of the federal government's nonessential services is inevitable. While a last-minute agreement between President Obama and House Republicans could put off the day of reckoning for another week, the spending-level and policy-priority impasse looks like it cannot be resolved without sending thousands of bureaucrats on an unexpected vacation.
There's no chance the Senate is going to take up last week's House Republican budget cuts, yet it sent a loud, clear, muscular message to the other side of the Capitol that the Obama Democrats' spending-binge days are over.
Heading into the second anniversary of President Obama's stimulus bill, House Republicans are taking their first real swing at its spending, with proposals that they say would ultimately strip tens of billions of dollars from the $814 billion package.
President Bush yesterday closed ranks with House Republican leaders in opposition to Democratic spending bills that surpass his requested amounts, during a meeting at the White House.
