Here is your Morning Brief for March 9, 2015.

Alex Wong, Getty Images
Alex Wong, Getty Images
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No Shutdown

This shouldn't come as any surprise, but according to FOX News Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is taking any threat of a government shutdown off the table as another battle over the debt ceiling begins.

McConnell’s promise came two days after Treasury Secretary Jack Lew told Capitol Hill that the government loses its authority after March 15 to borrow money to cover approved congressional spending and that his agency would have to resort to “extraordinary measures” as a short-term solution.

To be sure, McConnell acknowledged after winning a tough midterm election bid that voters were tired of an ineffective Congress that too often teetered on shutting down the government over bipartisan issues.

“I hear your concerns,” McConnell said in his victory speech.

Still, Congress came perilously close in recent weeks to at least partially closing the Department of Homeland Security when Republicans tried to tie funding for the agency to efforts to roll back President Obama’s executive actions on immigration.

Again, no the Department of Homeland Security did not come close to even partially closing. According to FOX News, the nation's debt is at around $18.1 trillion dollars. Republicans will complain, but they will vote to raise the debt ceiling. They have every other time.

Rick Perry and Ted Cruz Do Well in Iowa

Many of those Republicans who are thinking about running for President in 2016 spent time in Iowa over the weekend at the Iowa Ag Summit. POLITICO did a pretty good job breaking down some of the key takeaways.

While Jeb Bush and Scott Walker told the crowds that they would eventually like to phase out the Renewable Fuel Standard, Senator Ted Cruz told the audience that the time is now to do away with the RFS.

According to POLITICO though it was Rick Perry who did the most to connect with the crowd.

But Perry’s presentation most heavily emphasized his own roots in agriculture. He grew up on a cotton farm 200 miles west of Fort Worth. His mom worked at a cotton gin as a bookkeeper. He didn’t have running water in his house until he was “six or seven.” He was active in the 4-H and got a degree in animal science from Texas A&M. After the Air Force, he spent four years farming and eight years as Texas agriculture commissioner.

In a way that his rivals did not, Perry expressed concern about falling crop prices and new challenges facing farmers.

“I’ve watched a wheat crop be lost to a hail storm,” he said. “I understand the vagaries…”

Not surprising. Perry knows what he is talking about in this area and Perry enjoys retail politics. I've read numerous stories where Rick Perry becomes a favorite because he sticks around to talk and shake hands with voters. Perry wants to connect with voters and in Iowa and New Hampshire that will help him.

Other Must Read Links:

These and many more topics coming up on today’s edition of The Chad Hasty Show. Tune in mornings 8:30-11am on News/Talk 790 KFYO, streaming online at kfyo.com, and now on your iPhone and Android device with the radioPup App. All guest interviews can be heard on our KFYO YouTube page after the show and online at kfyo.com.

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