A House Republican and Senate Democrat are joining up on Thursday to discuss the place of small businesses in the tax reform discussion.

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Rep. Patrick Tiberi (R-Ohio) are set to have an afternoon news conference, after a House hearing that will also deal with small businesses and tax reform. Dan Danner, chief executive of the National Federation of Independent Business, is expected to appear with the two lawmakers.

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President Obama said Wednesday he was pleased the House and Senate had passed a two-week spending bill but said a series of short-term funding measures is not the right way to govern.
 
Obama called on congressional leaders to begin meeting "immediately" with Vice President Biden, White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley and Budget Director Jack Lew to hammer out a spending bill funding the government through Sept. 30.
 
“I’m pleased that Democrats and Republicans in Congress came together and passed a plan that will cut spending and keep the government running for the next two weeks. But we cannot keep doing business this way,” he said. “Living with the threat of a shutdown every few weeks is not responsible, and it puts our economic progress in jeopardy.”
 
Obama laid out a vision of a longer-term spending bill that is "free of any party's social or political agenda" — seemingly referring to provisions relating to healthcare reform and abortion funding.
 
“This agreement should cut spending and reduce deficits without damaging economic growth or gutting investments in education, research and development that will create jobs and secure our future. This agreement should be bipartisan, it should be free of any party’s social or political agenda, and it should be reached without delay,” he said.
 
 

Two Senators are hawking a bill that would show taxpayers exactly where their money is spent and how much the federal government borrows each year. 

Sens. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), chairman of the Senate Finance subcommittee on Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Growth, and Scott Brown (R-Mass.) introduced the measure Wednesday that would require the IRS to provide each taxpayer with an itemized list, similar to a grocery store receipt, that shows where their payroll and income taxes are spent. 

"Taxpayers have a right to know where their money goes, how much Uncle Sam is borrowing on their behalf, and what they get in return for it," Nelson said.

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Former Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-S.D.) has joined law and lobby firm Olsson Frank Weeda Terman Bode Matz as a principal.

A senior whip in the House Democratic Caucus, Herseth Sandlin co-chaired the conservative Blue Dog Democrats, and served four terms in the lower chamber before losing to Rep. Kristi Noem (R-S.D.) in the last election. At the firm, she will join another prominent former Blue Dog, ex-Rep. Charlie Stenholm (D-Texas), who was ranking member of the House Agriculture Committee.

"We could not be happier to have Stephanie join us," said Richard Frank, firm co-founder, in a statement. "Her experience, dedication, knowledge and access will be extremely valuable to our clients."

"I am very pleased to be joining OFW Law," Herseth Sandlin said. "This is an exciting opportunity to continue advocating for rural America. Investment in our agriculture and rural infrastructure is a key component to our country’s economic growth and national security, and I look forward to furthering my commitment to these issues as I assist clients on matters related to federal laws and regulations."

She is married to former Rep. Max Sandlin (D-Texas), a lobbyist who heads up government relations and public strategies team at Mercury.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is being "bossed around by a bunch of freshmen," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's (D-Nev.) office charged Wednesday. 

Reid's top spokesman fired back at Boehner, who will say in a speech today that Reid has no plan to address spending and debt. 

"That’s tough talk from someone who is being bossed around by a bunch of freshmen," Reid's communications director, Jon Summers, said in a statement. 

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Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Senate Foreign Relations Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.) on Wednesday decried House GOP cuts to the foreign affairs budget passed as part of a seven-month spending bill last month.

Kerry described the cuts, which he said will decimate food and health aid for the global poor, are un-Christian.

“There is something about these cuts that does violence to the Judeo-Christian ethic so many people claim to uphold,” Kerry said.

“As I have told Speaker Boehner and Chairman Rogers and many others, the 16 percent cut to state and USAID would be devastating to our national security,” Clinton said.

“Now, there have always been moments of temptation in our country to resist obligations beyond our border,” she added, noting how the United States walked away from Afghanistan in the Cold War. “But those savings came at an unspeakable cost — one we are still paying, 10 years later, in money and lives.”

She said that beyond the humanitarian and moral ground for aid, helping developing countries serves strategic interests. “We are in a competition with China,” she said. She noted that China is wining and dining leaders and if the United States pulls back from engagement, it will hurt our influence in the world.

“I understand and agree that the American people are rightly and naturally concerned about our national debt ... now would be absolutely the wrong time to pull back,” Clinton said.

At the hearing, Clinton and Kerry said that Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi must step down without delay.

“He has lost all legitimacy. We cannot be half-way about that goal,” Kerry said.

“We have joined the Libyan people in demanding Gadhafi must go — now without further violence or bloodshed,” Clinton said.

Kerry called for an international no-fly zone over Libya and Clinton said that no options are off the table.

Kerry said that despite the U.S. deficit, the Congress must supply a package of increased aid to the Middle East to aid the transition to democracy begun by the revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia.

“We can either pay now … or we will certainly pay later in much higher terms,” Kerry said.

He added that $53 billion for international affairs “is in fact a very small investment for the type of return we get.”

Majority Leader Eric Cantor said Republicans will wait until tax revenue comes in before voting on the borrowing limit. 

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A new study commissioned by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce claims that if states were to reduce labor and employment regulations, they could create over 750,000 jobs and 50,000 new businesses.

The study comes as several states are embroiled in heated debate about state labor laws, highlighted by the high-profile labor standoff in Wisconsin that has driven the state's Democratic senators from the state to block a bill curtailing collective bargaining rights for most public-sector employees.

The study analyzed the regulations of all 50 states, and determined each state had a good, fair or poor regulatory environment. If each state were to get a "perfect" score on the study, it would amount to three-quarters of a million jobs, and the annual creation of over 50,000 new businesses.

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Wednesday’s Big Story:

The broader deficit reduction picture may have gotten lost in the shuffle a bit, with all the talk of government shutdowns and continuing resolutions. 

But, as Sen. Lindsey Graham made clear Tuesday, Social Security is still in the mix when it comes to deficit talks. The South Carolina Republican told reporters that he will drop a measure next week to make Social Security solvent after 2037, when it is expect to run short of funds.

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