Wow...Obama actually made Reid kill the Susan Collins deal

[kpete]

White House officials rushed Friday to squash an emerging bipartisan deal crafted by Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) because they viewed it as a worse than proposals from Boehner.

It would have locked in next year’s even-deeper government spending levels and suspended the medical device tax, a key funding stream for Obamacare that’s unpopular with both parties.

White House chief of staff Denis McDonough and Deputy Chief of Staff Rob Nabors called Reid, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). The president didn’t want Democrats anywhere near that deal, and the Senate leaders, in turn, warned the rank and file to hold back and avoid committing to the deal. The president reiterated his concerns in a Saturday meeting with Democratic leaders, and they made clear that they couldn’t accept the proposal.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/10/barack-obama-government-shutdown-debt-ceiling-98440.html#ixzz2hyNmj0e1
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/10/17/1248180/-Wow-Obama-actually-made-Reid-kill-the-Susan-Collins-deal

[Mass]

1. Politico, so who knows whether true or not.

[dennis4868]

2. exactly!

if there is an article that makes Obama look tough and standing up for us then who knows if the story is actually true. Crazy!

[Savannahmann]

3. But $3 Billion for McConnel's pet project was acceptable to our side

The devil being in the details, here's the tip of the iceburg.

http://wfpl.org/post/mcconnell-reid-deal-includes-3-billion-earmark-kentucky-project

A proposal to end the government shutdown and avoid default orchestrated by Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and Democratic Leader Harry Reid includes a nearly $3 billion earmark for a Kentucky project.

Language in a draft of the McConnell-Reid deal (see page 13, section 123) provided to WFPL News shows a provision that increases funding for the massive Olmsted Dam Lock in Paducah, Ky., from $775 million to nearly $2.9 billion.

So were the Republicans reasonable, or bought off?