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Congress likes to say it doesn't do earmarks anymore. And while that may be true, it's also a fact that targeted provisions are still useful in moving legislation — even critical legislation like the bill that pulled Washington back from the fiscal cliff last month.
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In theory, some say, President Obama could have a $1 trillion coin made and that would head off the next big battle over the federal government's debt ceiling.
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From Superstorm Sandy to gun laws to the fiscal cliff, national issues are on the minds and the lips of the nation's governors setting their state agendas this week. Some want Congress and President Obama to act; others are urging state legislators to do what Congress hasn't.
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Even after Congress' action to avert part of the "fiscal cliff," business owners remain cautious about hiring and expanding. Those that are growing cite the underlying economy, but others say uncertainty about government spending is keeping them wary.
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President Obama handily won re-election, but Congress remains fairly unchanged. Will the status quo prevail during his second term? Or will he follow through on promises that got progressives excited about him in 2008?
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Weekends on All Things Considered host Jacki Lyden talks with regular contributor James Fallows of The Atlantic about some of the top stories in the news this past week.
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When President Obama addressed the country on New Year's Eve in the middle of negotiations over the "fiscal cliff," he warned Republicans that any government spending cuts would have to be accompanied by tax increases. If they thought otherwise, the president said, "then they've got another thing coming." According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the phrase was originally "to have another think coming."
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The "fiscal cliff" wasn't the first time Vice President Joe Biden has helped carry a deal across the finish line. Though critics dismiss him as a gaffe-prone windbag, he has reached across the aisle many times to get compromises through Congress.
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Is he a "wimp" who blinked during fiscal cliff wrangling, failing to pursue a grand bargain and weakening his future hand? Or a pragmatist who negotiated a "big win" in securing congressional approval for the first tax increase on the wealthy in more than two decades?
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Health care has been a major focus in recent budget battles. New legislation provides a temporary fix in payments for doctors, but it will be paid for by a decade of cuts to hospitals. And a program for long-term-care insurance won't ever get off the ground.