President Obama praised police for falling crime rates, hoping to atone for his mild support of people who are mad about police killing them so much. Paul Ryan said he thinks the process behind the new budget deal "stinks," a rude comment considering John Boehner hasn't finished cleaning the barn yet. Ever the gentleman, Boehner conceded that it still stinks, adding that "this is not the way to run a railroad." Wait, what happened to the barn? This is HUFFPOST HILL for Tuesday, October 27th, 2015:
OBAMA NICE TO POLICE - Ryan Reilly: "President Barack Obama told police chiefs from across the country on Tuesday that the country is enjoying 'historically low rates of violent crime' because of their efforts as he pushed for criminal justice reform and tried to bridge the divide between police and the communities they serve. 'I want to start by saying on behalf of the American people, thank you,' Obama said in a speech at the International Association of Chiefs of Police in Chicago. ... While referencing recent controversies over police misconduct, Obama tried to seek a middle ground. 'We’ve got to resist the false trap that says either there should be no accountability for police or that every police officer is suspect no matter what they do,' he said. But Obama said police departments need to address issues when they come up. 'When an individual officer does display bias or excessive force, which is gonna happen, just like there are going to be politicians who do stupid things, or business leaders... there's no profession that doesn't have somebody that sometimes screws up,' Obama said. ... 'I reject any narrative that seeks to divide police and communities they serve. I reject a storyline that says when it comes to public safety, it's 'us' and 'them.'" [HuffPost]
Obama also said he's been pulled over for no reason.
GOVERNMENT TO CONTINUE ENJOYING YOUR GMAIL - Andrea Peterson: "The Senate on Tuesday passed a cybersecurity bill that would give companies immunity for sharing data with the federal government, over the protests of some lawmakers and consumer advocates who say that the legislation does not adequately protect Americans’ privacy. The Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act, or CISA, must now be reconciled with legislation passed earlier this year by the House of Representatives. The Obama administration and lawmakers in both parties have been seeking for years to enact information-sharing legislation and it now seems likely to become law. The vote comes as digital attacks against private industry and the government alike put pressure on lawmakers to address information security." [WashPost]
@lbarronlopez: Senate passes cybersecurity information sharing bill 74-21. Headed to conference w/House
CHAFFETZ: IMPEACH IRS DIRECTOR - AP: "The Republican chairman of a powerful House committee has moved to impeach the head of the Internal Revenue Service, saying he has violated the public trust and obstructed congressional investigations into the treatment of conservative groups. Rep. Jason Chaffetz of Utah said IRS Commissioner John Koskinen failed to comply with a congressional subpoena, allowed documents to be destroyed and misled the public. ... Chaffetz called impeachment an appropriate tool to restore public confidence in the IRS and said it will send a clear signal that the IRS is under repair. Eighteen Republicans on the committee joined Chaffetz in co-sponsoring the impeachment resolution. The measure now goes to the House Judiciary Committee." [AP]
BARN LOOKING MUCH BETTER ALREADY - Mike McAuliff and Laura Barron-Lopez report on the latest in pastoral metaphor developments: "The presumed next speaker of the House, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), will get the 'clean barn' that departing Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) promised him, but there may also be a poisoned atmosphere. That's after Boehner cut a deal with Democrats and more centrist-leaning Republicans to extend the nation's debt limit and pass a spending measure that lasts deep into 2017. 'I made clear a month ago when I announced that I was leaving, that I wanted to do my best to clean the barn,' Boehner told reporters Tuesday in what was likely to be his final leadership news conference. 'I didn't want [Ryan] to walk into a dirty barn full of you know what. I've done my best to try to clean it up.' Boehner cut the deal behind closed doors and dropped it on members Monday night, with the expectation that it could be passed by Wednesday." [HuffPost]
The House GOP conference made a nice tribute video for Boehner, featuring the manager of Pete's Diner discussing his crying.
PAUL RYAN: I HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS - Except for some of the policy parts, which I do endorse. Delaney: "Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said Tuesday morning that he hadn't seen the new bipartisan budget deal and that the secretive process used to craft it 'stinks,' but there's stuff in the bill that should smell good and familiar to him. One of its most important provisions makes changes to the Social Security Disability Insurance program, and some of those changes came from the House Ways and Means Committee, which oversees Social Security and which Ryan chairs. 'Paul Ryan's staff was involved in crafting the provision for weeks,' a Democratic aide told HuffPost. 'His staff signed off on the provision, his staff also signed off on other key provisions' related to tax compliance and Medicare. Ryan spokesman Brendan Buck denied that Ryan's committee staff crafted the disability provision within the context of the legislation, which was negotiated by the White House with party leaders in the House and Senate. The committee had been working on changes to disability benefits earlier this year; Buck acknowledged that Ways and Means staff were aware the disability provision would be included. 'They grabbed off the shelf what we’d been working on for months,' Buck said, adding that Ryan supports the provision. 'We were aware of that, but not what all was being traded back and forth.'" [HuffPost]
@StevenTDennis: Holy backloaded budget deal, Batman. CBO scores $35 billion in offsets in 2025 alone.
BOEHNER: I AGREE THAT THE BARN STILL KINDA SMELLS - "'I'm in full agreement. It stinks. This is not the way to run a railroad,' Boehner said, although he went on to note that Ryan and the rest of Congress will not have to fight over spending or the debt for nearly two years, clearing the way for other work to get done." [HuffPost]
ABOUT THAT FREEDOM FOYER - Though the budget deal would officially rename the small House rotunda, Speaker Boehner has been calling it the "Freedom Foyer" for a while. "Freedom Foyer is meant to represent and strengthen the bonds shared by all who have fought for liberty and self-determination," Boehner staffer Mike Ricci wrote in 2014.
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BIPARTISAN EFFORT LAUNCHED TO RUIN ENVIRONMENT - Kate Sheppard: "Coal state senators from both parties are trying to derail the Obama administration's new emissions regulations for coal-fired power plants. Sens. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) introduced a measure on Tuesday that would prevent emissions limits for existing power plants from taking effect, while Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) introduced another measure to block the limits for new power plants. The Obama administration's Environmental Protection Agency released the final rules for new and existing power plants, which it calls the 'Clean Power Plan,' in August. ... The plan, Heitkamp said in a floor speech Tuesday, 'threatens the supply of abundant, affordable, and reliable electricity' in her state and across the country. 'There's a war on coal in America,' said McConnell, 'and the leader is the president of the United States.'" [HuffPost]
GOP SENATORS NOT ENCOURAGING OF GOP SENATOR - Anna Palmer and Burgess Everett on Sen. Mark Kirk: "Kirk has been largely written off by national party operatives, who have the unfortunate task of defending a staggering 24 seats in 2016. Their calculation isn’t that surprising: Illinois is overwhelmingly Democratic, Hillary Clinton is likely to be on the ticket and Kirk is expected to face off against a female veteran in the general election. One of his best shots at reelection is a bloody Democratic primary between Rep. Tammy Duckworth and liberal Democrat Andrea Zopp that could hobble their bids and give him a strong cash advantage. Kirk already has banked $800,000 more than Duckworth. ... There was buzz in some GOP circles that Kirk might retire before the election-ballot filing deadline and another Republican lawmaker -- Rep. Adam Kinzinger’s name has been mentioned -- would run in his place. But Kirk insiders said there is no doubt the senator is all in. ... Senate Republicans have privately discussed the electoral landscape during their weekly lunches and at party headquarters. Though Kirk isn’t the only vulnerable Republican senator, he is, they’ve concluded, the most endangered. Illinois is 'almost impossible' for Kirk to win, said one GOP senator." [Politico]
BECAUSE YOU'VE READ THIS FAR - The New York Times has an attractive feature about Greenland melting.
GIANT GRAIN OF SALT POLLING WELL AGAINST HILLARY - Janie Valencia: "Republican presidential candidates Ben Carson and Donald Trump may be at the top of the polls this week, but a new CBS/New York Times poll released Tuesday found that the vast majority of Republicans have not made up their minds on a primary candidate. Seventy percent of respondents who selected a candidate to support in the survey also said that it's still too early in the race to say for sure that their selection is the person they will ultimately back. Only 28 percent of respondents said that they had conclusively settled on one candidate. The poll showed that more than half of Republican primary voters are paying 'a lot' of attention to the race. Carson may be pulling ahead of Trump in the latest CBS/NYT poll, but a good portion of both candidates' supporters remain unsure of their decision." [HuffPost]
RAND PAUL HATES BUZZFEED - Well, one reporter there, anyway. Dave Weigel: "Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), hit back at Buzzfeed's Andrew Kaczynski Tuesday after the meticulous reporter challenged the veracity of quotes used in Paul's newest book. In a plaintive open letter, Kaczynski and reporter Megan Apper said that 'Our Presidents & Their Prayers,' co-authored by Paul, quotes a 'National Prayer of Peace' that Thomas Jefferson never wrote, as well as a homily that Abraham Lincoln scholars deny he actually said. 'That guy," Paul said dismissively, referring to Kaczynski. 'The only criticisms have come from some guy who’s a partisan. We discount partisans. However, there’s a ridiculous cottage industry out there of people who think they’re smarter than everyone else, and because certain quotes are disputed – well, yeah! If you want to say something’s not a Thomas Jefferson quote, you can get a whole book on whether it’s a quote or not.' ... 'I mean, this idiot says the same thing about my speeches,' Paul said." [Washington Post]
DO NOT MAKE JOHN KASICH PULL OVER THIS CAR - Alan Rappeport: "Gov. John Kasich of Ohio shed his nice-guy image on Tuesday, lamenting the decline of the conservative movement and accusing his rivals for the Republican presidential nomination of peddling “crazy” ideas. At a rally in Ohio, Mr. Kasich, a popular governor known for his moderate views, unloaded on his opponents. 'Let me tell you something,' Mr. Kasich said, his anger boiling over. 'I’ve about had it with these people.' Mr. Kasich went on to argue that Republicans who proposed abolishing Medicaid and Medicare, imposing a 10 percent flat tax, or deporting millions of people were out of touch with reality. Without mentioning anyone by name, Mr. Kasich appeared to be taking aim at Ben Carson and Donald J. Trump, the outsider candidates who have been dominating national and state polls for months." [NYT]
COMFORT FOOD
- "I am fun," a column by Hillary Clinton.
- Here's what world leaders would look likewith man buns.
- The story behind the man who played Vigo the Carpathian in Ghostbusters II.
- This dog photobombed his owners' engagement photos.
TWITTERAMA
@delrayser: Freedom Foyer
Liberty Lounge
Patriot's Parlor
Voter ID Vestibule
Anchor Baby Anteroom
States' Rights Salon
Reagan Rumpus Room
@jbendery: I'd vote for this, but only if Springsteen is playing 24/7. And there are freedom fries. And an eagle flying.
@lizzwinstead: If Ben Carson wins can he do brain surgery on the nation?
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