OVERNIGHT MONEY: House takes up balanced-budget amendment

FRIDAY'S BIG STORY:

Days until Nov. 23 supercommittee deadline: 6

Balanced budget distraction: While supercommittee negotiations look to eat up Friday, the weekend and most of Thanksgiving week, the House Republican leadership is serving up on Friday a proposed constitutional amendment that would force Congress to balance its budget.

Democratic leaders are strongly urging their members to vote against the amendment, the White House doesn't like it and some Republicans have announced their opposition.

The vote comes as the bipartisan deficit-reduction panel remains deadlocked over a plan to slash at least $1.2 trillion from the budget over the next decade.

The House is voting on the amendment because Congress agreed to it as part of the debt-limit deal reached over the summer. 

Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland, who voted for a similar measure offered by Republicans that passed the House in 1995, is strongly opposed to the bill this time around. 

He said he's against it now because of "a substantial erosion in my own confidence of the willingness of the other party to respond on a responsible path" to balance the budget.

"Unfortunately, I did not contemplate the irresponsibility that I've seen fiscally over the last nine years or eight years of the Bush administration and the Republican leadership of the House or the Senate," Hoyer said. "And this last few months of where Republicans took America to the brink of default."

There is still plenty of uncertainty surrounding its chance of House passage — the 25 members of the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition support the measure, but their numbers might not be enough to push votes over the top. 

Even if the bill garners enough support in House, it would probably have a snowball's chance to get the 67 votes needed in the Senate. And don't forget — it would have to be ratified by at least 38 states.

Still, the debate gave Republicans a chance to slam President Obama for his economic policies, along with the national debt eclipsing the $15 trillion mark on Wednesday.

So, here Congress sits, mainly waiting for the congressional deficit-reduction panel to reach an agreement while they contemplate gathering with friends and family for some turkey, stuffing and pecan pie. 

SUPERCOMMITTEE

The final countdown: Key the music — it seems the supercommittee is going to take negotiations to the deadline (Wednesday), with the panel's 12 members still in deep discussions on an agreement to cut between $1.2 trillion and $1.5 trillion — or more, as some have demanded — over 10 years. 

Supercommittee co-chairwoman Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said Thursday that Democrats on the panel have “met” the GOP’s desired revenue level for a deficit-cutting deal and that the ball is in the Republicans’ court to restart negotiations based on that offer.

“We have met their offer on revenue, but we have said that it has to be fair to the American people and done in a way that doesn’t put the burden on working families and addresses the issue of putting people back to work,” Murray said.

Democrats have offered to accept $876 billion in spending cuts in exchange for $400 billion in total revenue, including $250 billion in tax increases. In previous offers, Democrats had demanded an equal number of tax increases and spending cuts.

Earlier in the day, Murray said the divide over tax revenue is the reason why there's no deal yet. 

Meanwhile, congressional leaders said they have yet to take over deadlocked supercommittee discussions that are going nowhere fast.

The lingering stalemate has prompted suggestions that House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) will have to take over the negotiations from the 12 members that they themselves — Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) — appointed to the committee.

So far, no one is jumping to the rescue — including Pelosi, who said Thursday that she's not holding her breath for the congressional supercommittee to come up with a grand bargain on reducing the deficit.

Pelosi said she remains hopeful that the panel can reach an agreement far exceeding its mandate of $1.2 trillion in spending cuts over the next decade. But there's been no evidence, she said, that the talks are headed toward the $4 trillion deal that many lawmakers are urging.

At least we know they're not working for the weekend but through it. At least, that is what House Democrat Chris Van Hollen (Md.) said Thursday, calling Nov. 23 the 'hard deadline' for the congressional deficit-reduction panel to reach an agreement. 

As the so-called supercommittee continues to wrangle over the inclusion of revenue-raising provisions, Van Hollen said the panel would "work all weekend to try to bridge these differences."

WHAT ELSE TO WATCH FOR

Summoning another power: Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) seems ready to continue his push to ensure that the less fortunate are not pushed aside in deficit-reduction talks, appearing tomorrow at an event with religious leaders outside the Capitol.

Over the summer, during the debt-ceiling negotiations, Rangel called on religious groups to step up their outreach to lawmakers and Washington officials.

PRESIDENTIAL DAYBOOK 

Across the Pacific and beyond: President Obama is winding up his eight-day trip around the Pacific Rim — which started at a men's college basketball game on a aircraft carrier in San Diego, led to trade talks in Hawaii, moved on to a long-awaited stop — for Obama — in Australia and a conclusion in Bali, Indonesia, on Friday. 

During the day he will hold meetings with India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, President Corazon Aquino of the Philippines, Prime Minister Najib Razak of Malaysia and Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

He will also participate in the U.S.-Association of Southeast Asian Nations meeting, along with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. 

BREAKING THURSDAY

The bus is leaving the station: The House on Thursday passed a spending bill that would prevent a government shutdown. The "minibus" appropriations bill, which contains the 2012 Agriculture, Commerce, Justice, Transportation and Housing appropriations bills and is backed by GOP leadership, passed by a vote of 298 to 121, with the help of 165 Democrats.

Only 133 Republicans voted for the bill, which funds the government through Dec. 16.

The Senate is expected to pass the bill Thursday night. 

Three out of four is bad: The stock market took a dive, this time falling by a little over 1 percent, for the third time this week, The Wall Street Journal reports, amid fears over the European debt crisis.

Home building looking better: Builders started construction on fewer homes in October but building permits were up nearly 11 percent, a signal that the housing market is starting to recover, although progress is scattered around the nation. 

Housing starts in October were down 0.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 628,000 homes last month, the Commerce Department said Thursday. Construction starts are up 16.5 percent from the October 2010 rate of 539,000.

Single-family homes, which make up about 70 percent of residential home construction and have the largest economic effect on jobs, increased 3.9 percent last month to 430,000 units. 

That gain was all but erased by a 13.3 drop in the more volatile multifamily sector, which declined to 198,000 units 

More heat for Fannie and Freddie: California’s attorney general has subpoenaed mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac looking into their lending practices in the state, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on Thursday.

Homeowners in need: The head of the New York Fed continued his push for more aid for homeowners Thursday, stressing the central bank is not yet "out of ammunition."

"We cannot be satisfied with the current state of the economy or the outlook for the next few years," said William Dudley, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, in a speech at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y.

ECONOMIC INDICATORS 

Leading indicators: The Conference Board will release a batch of previously announced economic indicators: new orders, jobless claims, money supply, average workweek, building permits and stock prices.  

WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED

— Bachus agrees to hold hearing on bill to prevent insider trading by lawmakers

— Ryan outlines GOP approach to inequality

— Business lobby wants a do-over on Volcker Rule

— House hearing underscores tax-reform challenges

— Frank presses Bachus to crack down on insider trading in Congress

— NRA throws support behind minibus

— First-time unemployment claims continue downward trend

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