President Obama and congressional leaders from both parties decided late Sunday on the framework for a budget deal that would cut trillions in federal spending over the next decade. Obama appeared before reporters and said that the deal ensures “that we will not face this same kind of crisis again in six months, or eight months, or 12 months.” And that it “will begin to lift the cloud of debt and the cloud of uncertainty that hangs over our economy.”—-
Majority leader Harry Reid and House Speaker John Boehner also spoke on the tentative agreement. “I am relieved to say that leaders from both parties have come together for the sake of our economy to reach a historic, bipartisan compromise that ends this dangerous standoff,” said Reid, while Boehner admitted the budget “isn’t the greatest deal” but satisfies the GOP’s principles on taxes and spending.
John McCain today said that he’d vote for the deal struck between the White House and congressional leaders even if it meant having to “swallow hard” on cuts to defense spending. There’s a joke in there somewhere.
A “credible lead” has surfaced in the 1971 D.B. Cooper case, according the FBI. Cooper hijacked a Northwest Orient Airlines flight and parachuted out of the plane with $200,000 in ransom, never to be heard from again. “With any lead our first step is to assess how credible it is,” Sandalo Dietrich told the Seattle Post Intelligencer on Saturday. “Having this come through another law enforcement (agency), having looked it over when we got it — it seems pretty interesting.” If Cooper is found, Obama promises to put any ransom money recovered toward the deficit.
The Reds swept the Giants this weekend at Great American Ball Park, with the final game of the series ending in a 9-0 route for the home team.
This article appears in Jul 27 – Aug 2, 2011.