The most compelling evidence yet for the non-existence of God was revealed earlier this month by Roll Call, which announced that Darrell Issa is now the richest member of Congress. Flush with his undeserved success, Issa flew to Libya yesterday, breaking an Oversight and Government Reform Committee rule he himself instituted that mandates all committee-sanctioned foreign junkets be bipartisan. While Issa frantically searches under every couch cushion in Benghazi for a smoking gun that will destroy the Obama Presidency, it sure would be a fine time to revoke his passport.
A government shutdown on October 1 remains a distinct possibility following last Friday’s passage by the House of a continuing resolution that would fund government operations through mid-December, but also defund Obamacare. Despite Ted Cruz huffing and puffing about a filibuster, the Senate will no doubt remove the provisions related to the Affordable Care Act and punt the bill back to the House, probably this week. What happens after that is anyone’s guess, but assuming the worst seems an increasingly safe bet.
The House resolution includes a “death gratuity” payable to the widow of Senator Frank Lautenberg in the sum of $174,000, a common though not automatic Congressional perk. If the gratuity makes it into a bicamerally-approved version of the resolution, I expect Mrs. Lautenberg will probably steer the money to some worthy cause or another. She certainly doesn’t need it; her late husband’s net worth has been estimated at $57 million.
Having botched the continuing resolution, the House might also hork up a debt ceiling bill this week, according to reptilian Majority Leader Eric Cantor. Cantor is on record as saying it will include a provision to “delay” the implementation of Obamacare for one year, and another to ensure completion of the Keystone XL pipeline. Plus a bunch more provisions to do other bad things.
President Obama and his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani will both address the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, amid speculation that the two may hold some sort of more or less impromptu Manhattan summit. Interviews with PBS and CNN and a Thursday night speaking engagement sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations are also on Rouhani’s agenda for the week. While in New York, President Obama will stop by the offices of the Clinton Global Initiative to discuss domestic and international health care. And the subject of possible presidential campaigns in 2016 will not be raised, so please stop thinking that.
Speaking of the UN, on Friday in Stockholm the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a body co-founded by the United Nations Environment Programme, will present its “Fifth Assessment Report” on climate change. Republicans will immediately trot out the same feeble critiques they trotted out after the first four assessments.
Also on Friday, India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visits Washington for the first time since 2009, for a bilateral meeting at the White House.
Nine Republicans square off Tuesday in a primary battle in Alabama’s dependably red 1st District, hoping to succeed six-term Congressman Jo Bonner, who resigned his seat in August. Should no candidate garner more than 50% of the votes, a runoff will be held in November. End result one way or the other: the balance of power in the House remains unchanged and the 113th Congress remains on track to become the very worst in the nation’s history.