Ryan--Murray budget averts shutdown

Paul Ryan and Patty Murray agreed to a budget bill that passed the House this week and is likely to pass in the Senate next week. Many tea party and liberal democrats oppposed the plan. However it does avert a government shutdown and congressional leaders were no mood for another government shutdown.

US and China dispute over East China Sea

The Chinese government has decided that they want fly over rights to be enforced in the East China Sea under the ADIZ(Air Defense Identification Zone). This requres a plane to file a flight plan with the chinese governement before entering their air space or they would respond.
The Japanese government and their domestic airlines have decided to not to honor that request.
The US government has also stated that they will not honor that request however through the FAA the US government has advised US airlines to abide by this new policy.

ACA-legacy or disaster?

Obamas's legacy holds in the balance as the administration tries to fix the problem with website. However there are other problems related to the policy that still need to be addressed such as will there be enough young enrollees, how about the people whos private insurance policies were cancelled, and data privacy issues. Even if the website gets up and running these are the policy problems that the administration must deal with.
On the poltiical front this could be a serious problem for democrats heading in to 2014.  A bill that the democrats defended and now privately worry could sink their chances of retaining control of the Senate. Also more importantly a contention big goverment is too big and inefficient to run public health policy. Obama is clearly an ideologue determined to put into reality his view of government. Other issues the administration has avoided thus far but healthcare is something that everyone can see and affects their pocketbook. 
Bill Clinton governed from the left in his first term but came to the center durng his second term by working with republicans to pass legislation and left office with a high approval rating.  So the question is will Obama allow congress to help revise the health care law for his signature legacy issue or will he push the liberal agenda back several decades by proving that a goverment takeover of healthcare.

US House averts fiscal cliff

After much drama in the GOP Caucus over not enough spending cuts the House passed a measure that would keep tax rates in place for those under $400,000.
The payroll tax however did lapse going back to 6.2 percent. Also the AMT was permanently adjusted. The next battle will be the debt ceiling.

Senate sends bill to House to avert fiscal cliff

In the early morning hour of the new year the US Senate passed a bill that would temporarily extend tax cuts for those incomes below 400,000.
The House GOP has doubts because there are no significant spending cuts that would make serious commitment to debt reduction.
It is not clear at this time whether the House will vote on the bill tonight. The next congress is set to convene on Thursday.