The headline story in the Washington Post today states that Republicans, worried about being seen as too close to the big banks, especially in the wake of the Goldman Sachs scandal, are returning to the bargaining table and supportive of a bipartisan deal. This was how Democrats hoped this would turn out, that they could play a game of chicken and win, and that appears to be the case right now.

However, there’s nothing specific about any deal being discussed, just the notion that there is one in the works.

Harry Reid sent a letter to Mitch McConnell today announcing what we’ve all known – that the Senate will move forward with a reconciliation sidecar bill to fix elements of the health care package already passed.

Oh heavens, it’s the end of the Senate as we know it, they say.

Thank you, thank you.

President Obama has proposed ending one of the more wasteful crony capitalism programs currently funded by the federal government. The government provides students loans in two ways–the first and most effective of which is to just directly loan money to students. This is done through the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program. The other way is to guarantee student loans provided by private companies, through the government-guaranteed Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFEL). Not surprisingly, adding a private middleman adds waste and inefficiency. Eliminating this would save the government $80 billion.

Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH) who hates populism, had an extended hissy fit on MSNBC yesterday, when he was actually challenged to name what programs he would cut in the name of fiscal austerity.

The latest whip count from The Hill shows 25 Senators supporting Bernanke, with 13 opposed, thus far. That count does not include Durbin, so it’s 26-13. The count makes the assumption that those who voted for Bernanke in the Banking Committee will also do so on the floor of the Senate, although at least one Democrat, Sherrod Brown, expressed hesitancy at doing so.

      Stop by any corner grocery store and ask the people standing in line:  What do you worry about most—jobs or the nation’s budget deficit? If they don’t choke up laughing, chances are real high they’ll give the same response as did the public in two recent polls: Priority #1: Jobs. Priority #2: [...]

Never before has the reality of their historic obstructionism been so obvious.

The White House has raised yet another trial balloon about empowering a deficit-cutting commission, a day after meeting with key Senators in favor of the idea.