Chad’s Morning Brief: Nancy Pelosi Advises Democrats on the Budget, Lubbock City Council Meeting, and Other Top Stories
Here is your Morning Brief for December 5, 2014.
Nancy Pelosi Advises Dems
According to POLITICO, Nancy Pelosi yesterday told Democrats to stick together when it came to funding the government.
“If we stay together, we have leverage,” Pelosi said in the small session. She also told her colleagues that if the GOP goes “further to the right” to garner Republican support, Democrats will drop off.
“If you think it’s a good idea to tell them, ‘Oh, I’ll be with you no matter what,’ then you destroy our leverage,” Pelosi said, according to sources in the room. “And if they have the votes, then it’s a non-situation. If they have 218, if it isn’t too brutal, the president will have to make a decision. But we don’t have to vote against our interest if they have the 218. We’re willing to compromise if they want to do that to one of us.”
The House is getting ready to fund most of the government until September 2015 while extending Homeland Security funding only until February. Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) will need Democratic votes to pass this government funding bill, as conservatives have not rallied around the bill.
The hard line behind the scenes stands in stark contrast to Pelosi’s public posture, which has been quiet and measured. But the whip meeting, described to POLITICO by multiple sources present, represents the clearest view into Pelosi’s thinking one week ahead of a potential government shutdown.
Pelosi, who served on the Appropriations Committee, is most concerned about so-called policy riders — provisions that dictate or limit how the government spends its money. Appropriations negotiators — mainly Democratic Rep. Nita Lowey of New York and Chairman Hal Rogers of Kentucky — are wading through dozens of riders, and Pelosi is closely watching the back-and-forth. She’s particularly concerned about changes to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the National Labor Relations Board and D.C.’s marijuana law.
The final bargaining over the particulars in the bill will be between Pelosi, Speaker John Boehner, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
Pelosi told her colleagues she spoke to Boehner Wednesday and that he was “non-committal” about the contours of the bill.
“You know, it was the ‘Oh, we’ll see’ and ‘I don’t know’ and the usual,” Pelosi said to Democratic lawmakers.
She said she made an “overture to the speaker … to say: ‘Where are you now? We stand ready to help to extend the hand of friendship, to have whatever cooperation it is to move forward to get the job done.’”
House Speaker John Boehner believes the budget will get bi-partisan support. At least Republicans are still able to express themselves on social media and in front of cameras that way they can tell people how mad they are.
Lubbock City Council
The Lubbock City Council met last night and one of the big topics up for debate was the Omni Building, sorry... Citizen's Tower, and what exactly to do with it. The result? As KFYO News points out City Hall and LPD will both have new homes soon.
The city finalized the purchase of Citizen’s Tower in late-November for $1.2 million and authorized a resolution authorizing City Manager James Loomis to execute a request for quotation for Citizen’s Tower and the Lubbock City Hall Complex at the first December council meeting. The request for quotation is a process that will determine how to best utilize space and includes a bidding process.
The Lubbock Police Department is slated to receive the Lubbock City Hall Complex to replace their ailing headquarters. Previously the council had considered relocating the headquarters to Citizen’s Tower, but Assistant Police Chief Greg Stevens said the layout of the current city hall better matched the department’s needs.
Renovations for both City Hall and Citizen's Tower have been estimated for now at around $65 million. Not bad considering the cost for just a new LPD building would have been around that number. Also, putting multiple city departments in one building makes sense and down the road could lead to saving money.
You can read Pat McNeil's full recap by clicking on the link above.
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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