The GOP House leadership is really pissed at Tim Pawlenty for trying to derail the deal, and this report will only anger them further. Boehner’s whip operation is definitely nervous and trying to nail down the last few votes.

Just because Democratic and Republican leaders are negotiating again on a continuing resolution to keep the government running for the rest of the year doesn’t mean the rank and file of either party will accept it. This is especially true on the Republican side. Sure, yesterday’s Tea Party rally was a dud, but half of the folks out there were lawmakers. And an unspecified number of them are extremely disinterested in compromise of any kind.

John Boehner is in a tight spot. Having been around in the 1990s, he must have a sense that affirmatively shutting down the government carries a serious risk, especially because that’s not the end of the story. Eventually, there would be a resolution, and it won’t carry everything the Tea Party wants, and the reaction will clearly be betrayal. Not to mention that he has Eric Cantor looking over his shoulder, dusting off the nameplate that would go over his out in front of the Speaker’s office should Boehner lose the confidence of his caucus. Cantor has been stepping out of late, ruling out any short-term stopgap even while Boehner never made such a claim.

Protesters converged on a town hall in Wauwatosa for Leah Vukmir, a Republican state Senator, leading to US Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), who happened to be at the meeting, adjourning it as if it were a committee hearing, which it, um, wasn’t.

John Boehner, energized by his victory on a two-week stopgap spending plan, razzed Harry Reid this morning, saying that Reid had “no plan to cut spending and keep the government running.” Reid’s spokesman, Jon Summers, replied that these were tough words from someone who doesn’t have control of his caucus. But is that true? My sense is actually no.

This was very expected among the community in Wisconsin. Schultz represents the 17th Senate District in Wisconsin, which Obama won 61-38 and even Kerry carried. Schultz has been a longtime moderate, and there are a lot of union members in his district. He offered a compromise, since removed, to sunset the collective bargaining restrictions after two years. He has been trying to find a way to bridge the gap here, and with the Republican leadership not budging, he finally had to side with the people and say no.

Washington concerns aren’t being driven by outside agitators so much as by their penchant to cover up the misdeeds of elites. If we don’t address the financial system and their role in the crisis, if we don’t address the jobs crisis, then there’s really nowhere else to go to but the budget. And so we have this warped conversation where deficits stand in for economic growth and opportunity, despite all evidence to the contrary.

Politico reported earlier in the day that they would leave out any language from the continuing resolution to fund the government for the rest of the year that would block funding for implementation of the health care law. Anonymous aides said this was necessary, given the need for the President to be able to sign the law and fund the government.

Just a few hours later, Eric Cantor said in a press availability that, in fact, the continuing resolution out of the House would include that restriction on implementation funds.

If you blink today, you may miss the House of Representatives passing an extension until the end of the year of several provisions of the Patriot Act that expire in February. They will try to pass it under the suspension of the rules, meaning that they will need a 2/3 vote, but also that nobody can offer amendments. And they will spend a whopping 40 minutes of debate on the topic.

Given the circumstances, this is about the best that can be hoped for – distract Republicans from their mission to destroy government with little traps here and there, making it a bit easier to protect anything that’s not nailed down.