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Though school officials, nutritionists, parents, and students have decried First Lady Michelle Obama’s school lunch program, the $1 trillion CRomnibus (part “continuing resolution” and part “omnibus”) does not include relief from the unpopular meals standards after all. Daren Bakst at The Daily Signal notes that the spending bill does not include, as was anticipated, a temporary waiver, so that schools could get some relief from the onerous standards.

If some (i.e. Harry Reid) in the Senate seek unanimous consent to go straight to a vote on Cronybus, but Cruz (and others who may wish to join him) delay this move by forcing Reid to hold a cloture vote - and thus stall the vote in the Senate on Cronybus by 30 hours - would you support this if it led to a short-term funding measure? While this move may upset Boehner, who has now bent his will to Obama's desire, would you support Cruz (or whomever may wish to do this - Warren?) doing this?

Retiring representative Jim Moran (D., Va.) says that Democrats got “virtually everything” they wanted in the cromnibus package that’s going to a vote in the House tonight, as he praised the bill in terms that could double as the conservative critique of the legislation. Moran says that “the Republicans are indicating they need 80 Democrats” and he’s frustrated that Democrats won’t provide the votes.

The year-end fiscal drama in Washington DC to which we’ve become accustomed during the Obama years is reaching its 2014 climax. Tuesday night, the House of Representatives released the final text of the omnibus continuing resolution (CR) that would fund the federal government through September 30, 2015. Nicknamed the “CRomnibus,” the legislation is of course highly controversial, as it rolls into a single massive bill all of the spending in all federal agencies and departments that are normally in 12 separate appropriations bills. In other words, there’s a lot of stuff in there for everyone to hate. We can judge...

As Democrats took sharp aim at the White House over a year-end spending bill, President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden scrambled to stave off a revolt from congressional liberals over a deal that no one in the West Wing or the Democratic Party really wants. Obama’s base says he’s sold them out—and didn’t even wait to do it until Republicans officially expand their majority in the House and takeover the Senate come January. Some on the left are worried the wide range of policy riders in a spending bill is a worrisome sign as Republicans take over the...

"Stop this fighting, or I'm turning this CRomnibus around!" -- John Boehner

The simplest solution to the mess that the republican leadership created...in September, by funding the government till December 12th. They wanted to play games and they are getting burned!

Why the right and left have teamed up to sink a bill, which is supported by the White House and the GOP leadership, that would keep the government open until next fall. With a government shutdown looming, Nancy Pelosi and Michele Bachmann are on the same side. And the other team includes Barack Obama and John Boehner. So how did such strange alliances get formed? The “cromnibus”, the budget bill that would avoid a shutdown and keep the government open until next October, has become bogged in controversy as conservative Republicans and many Democrats have joined together in opposition. But,...

In a rare alliance, President Barack Obama and Speaker John Boehner scrambled Thursday to salvage a a $1.1 trillion must-pass spending bill amid a Republican revolt over immigration and a Democratic revolt over provisions that would deregulate Wall Street and increase the amount that individual donors can contribute to national political party committees. With its fate in doubt, President Obama took to the phones to personally lobby Democratic members on Thursday to vote for the legislation, a development White House spokesman Josh Earnest confirmed to MSNBC’s Alex Wagner. Republican leaders scrambled to convince enough conservative dissenters to change their votes...

Do you want to know where Republican leaders are today? In bed with the White House, and enjoying every minute of it. The House Republican leadership is desperate to pass a massive $1 trillion spending bill before the clock runs out on government funding at midnight. Obama wants it too. Conservatives hate it because it says nothing about the worst presidential power grab anyone can remember, the unilateral amnesty. Pretty bad omen for next year, don’t you think?

The Obama administration made a last-ditch attempt on Thursday to drum up Democratic support to salvage a faltering $1.1 trillion spending bill, just hours ahead of a midnight U.S. government shutdown deadline. Administration officials from President Barack Obama down to staff at the Department of Education were phoning Democrats in the House of Representatives to ask them to set aside objections to a financial provision and pass the measure to fund most of the government through September.

We believed in an unlikely candidate who no one thought had a chance. We worked for him — and against all odds, we won in Iowa. We organized like no campaign had organized before — and won the Democratic primary. We built a movement — and the country elected the first-ever African American president. We know that the improbable is far from impossible.

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) on Thursday morning slammed a provision in the pending spending bill that would repeal a piece of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law and expressed doubt that enough Democrats could support the package if that rider remains. “I just spoke to Nancy Pelosi. The Democrats believe this is an odious provision that should not be included. Many of us feel the same way,” said Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “[Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio)] can take it out in the bat of any eye, and I hope he will....

Congressional liberals rebelled Wednesday against a must-pass spending bill that would keep the government open past midnight Thursday, complaining that it would roll back critical limits on Wall Street and sharply increase the influence of wealthy campaign donors. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a popular figure on the left, led the insurrection with a speech on the Senate floor, calling the $1.01 trillion spending bill “the worst of government for the rich and powerful.” Congressional liberals rebelled Wednesday against a must-pass spending bill that would keep the government open past midnight Thursday, complaining that it would roll back critical limits on...

Sen. Elizabeth Warren long has been a hero on the progressive left, but her popularity among the Democratic Party establishment is growing rapidly. Ms. Warren, Massachusetts Democrat, now is set to assume a leadership role in her party’s Senate caucus, and the leaders of that caucus say she’s uniquely qualified for the job.“I think [Senate Majority Leader] Harry Reid, all of us, have confidence that Elizabeth Warren is a great spokesman for our caucus and for our party on a national basis,” said Sen. Dick Durbin, Illinois Democrat and the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate. Mr. Durbin appeared on...

Signs are accumulating that California Governor Jerry Brown, fresh off a 20-point re-election victory and with at least $20 million in unspent campaign funds available, may challenge Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination for president in 2016.  John Fund writes in NRO: …when his political aides sent out an invitation for a $5,000 fundraiserin Sacramento next Monday, there was inevitable speculation: Jerry Brown may run for president for the fourth time. If he challenges Hillary Clinton, Brown can claim solid credentials as a liberal leader. He has raised taxes on the rich, been an avid backer of climate-change regulation, and...

The progressive advocacy group MoveOn.org is preparing to launch a campaign to draft Sen. Elizabeth Warren into the 2016 presidential race. MoveOn is conducting a one-day poll of its eight million members that, if they approve, would mark the beginning of a $1 million initial grassroots investment to convince the freshman Massachusetts Democrat to throw her hat into the presidential ring. “There is too much at stake to have anything other than our best candidates in the debate. We are prepared to show Senator Warren she has the support she needs to enter—and win—the presidential race,” said Ilya Sheyman, executive...

Washington (CNN) -- Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren -- not Hillary Clinton -- is the top progressive choice for president in 2016, according to a new poll. In fact, Clinton doesn't even make second place. Forty two percent of respondents favor Warren, and Vermont Independent Senator Bernie Sanders also edges out Clinton with 24% compared to her 23%, according to results from the 2016 Presidential Pulse Poll commissioned by progressive grassroots organization Democracy for America. These results come amid a groundswell of activism from the Democratic party's more liberal wing, which has called for a contested 2016 primary and has often...

One of the Senate’s leading liberals is borrowing a page from the playbook of Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., is pushing to strike out language from the “cromnibus” spending bill unveiled Tuesday that would roll back restrictions on “swaps” transactions included in the 2010 financial regulatory overhaul known as Dodd-Frank. Repealing the “push-out” provision would mean that certain derivatives could again be held in bank units with federal deposit insurance. Using a strategy sometimes employed by Cruz for entirely different policy reasons, Warren said that with the $1.013 trillion spending package first being considered by the...

Progressive icon Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) recently dropped a bombshell in a private meeting with Boston-area donors, according to a report in Politico. The dispatch focuses primarily on WarrenÂ’s candid criticisms of President Barack Obama and his pick to serve as undersecretary for domestic finance at the Treasury Department, Antonio Weiss. This bit of fractious infighting within the Democratic Party will provide pundits with an opportunity to examine the divisions within the Democratic coalition, but Warren also made a more interesting contention in this meeting that merits further review. According to sources who attended that meeting, Warren heavily criticized...