Oct 30, 2015 6 min read

Wake Up To Politics - October 30, 2015

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Friday, October 29, 2015
375 Days until Election Day 2016
94 Days until the Iowa Caucuses
4 Days until Election Day 2015It's Friday, October 30, 2015, I'm Gabe Fleisher for Wake Up To Politics, and reporting from WUTP world HQ in my bedroom - Good morning: THIS IS YOUR WAKE UP CALL!!!
To send me questions, comments, tips, new subscribers, and more: email me at wakeuptopolitics@gmail.com. To learn more about WUTP and subscribe, visit the site: wakeuptopolitics.com, or like me on Twitter and Facebook. More ways to engage with WUTP at the bottom. Capitol Hill News

Senate Clears Budget Deal The U.S. Senate passed the two-year budget deal in a 63-35 vote, at 3am Friday morning.
18 Republicans joined all 45 present Democrats to approve the measure, which will increase federal spending on defense and domestic programs by $80 billion over two years, funding the government through September 30, 2017, and increasing the federal borrowing limit (the debt ceiling) through March 15, 2017. The deal also makes cuts to offset the spending increases, through changes to the Social Security Disability Insurance fund and Medicare provider payments.
The Senate began consideration of the measure at 1am Friday, allowing the chamber to clear the budget deal and then adjourn for the day. A number of Senate Republicans, including presidential candidates Rand Paul (KY) and Ted Cruz (TX), spoke for hours against the measure, before its eventual passage. Presidential candidate Marco Rubio (FL) also voted against the deal; making Lindsey Graham (SC) the only 2016 GOP contender to vote in favor of the measure.
The deal now goes to the President’s desk; Obama, who has announced his support for the bill, must sign it into law before Tuesday, November 3, when the United States is set to reach its current borrowing limit and will default on its debt unless the limit is extended.
When the President does affix his signature to the bill, it will mark the end of his last budget battle, since both deadlines in the measure take place after he leaves office.
Ryan Elected Speaker Rep. Paul D. Ryan (R-WI) was formally elected Speaker of the United States House of Representatives in a Thursday vote.
Ryan received the support of 236 Republican members, many more than when he received in the GOP Conference nominating meeting. At that meeting, 43 members voted against Ryan. Only nine Republican members opposed Ryan on the House floor and supported Rep. Daniel Webster (R-FL), the hardliner candidate for the office.
Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi got almost unanimous votes from her caucus: with 184 House Democrats supporting her for the post. Two House members not running for Speaker received votes from rebellious Democrats: Reps. John Lewis (GA) and Jim Cooper (TN), as did former Secretary of State and retired Gen. Colin Powell.
The Speaker’s gavel is awarded to Ryan after a long, winding road in politics. The Wisconsin native began work on Capitol Hill immediately after graduating college, and was first elected to the House in 1998, nearly 17 years ago. In 2011, he rose to chair of the House Budget Committee; in January of this year, he left Budget to become chair of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee.
In his career, Ryan has been labeled as both a conservative upstart and establishment favorite, negotiating budget deals and crafting controversial budgets of his own. Ryan has lost only one election in his life: the Vice Presidency. He was the Republican nominee for the No. 2 post in 2012, as Mitt Romney’s running mate.
Ryan took to the Speaker’s podium for remarks following his election, addressing the House for the first time as its permanent presiding officer.
“To me, the House of Representatives represented the best of America, the boundless opportunity to do good,” Ryan said. “But let’s be frank. The House is broken. We’re not solving problems, we’re adding to them. And I’m not interested in laying blame. We’re not settling scores, we’re wiping the slate clean.”
Ryan’s rhetoric of “wiping the slate clean” has added meaning with the budget deal, which cleared the House one day before his Speaker vote, a final gift to Ryan from retiring Speaker John Boehner.
Tissue box in hand, Boehner delivered a tearful farewell address to his colleagues Thursday, saying, “The people's House is, in my view, the great embodiment of the American idea. Everyone comes from somewhere and is on some mission.”
“Never forget we are the luckiest people on the face of the Earth,” Boehner reminded his colleagues. The Ohioan flies home to Ohio later today, his resignation as a Congressman effective Saturday.
Boehner’s exit marks the end of the longest-running “Big Four” in congressional history, the first change to the quartet of Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, and Boehner, leader of the House Republicans, in almost nine years.
While Boehner’s tenure atop the House Republican Conference was marred with tension, Speaker Ryan now has the opportunity to shape what his term with the gavel will be remembered for. His relationships with his fellow congressional leaders, and Republican colleagues, will be key in determining his success as Speaker.
Ryan is the youngest Speaker of the House since 1869, and the first Speaker to hail from Wisconsin.

2016 Central

Today on the Trail Where are the presidential candidates today?
Chris Christie will speak at a town hall event in Council Bluffs, Iowa
Hillary Clinton will speak at a grassroots organizing event at Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta, George to launch "African Americans for Hillary," where Clinton will unveil a new plank of his criminal justice platform. She will call for “legislation to ban racial profiling by law enforcement, and for an elimination of the remaining distinction between crack and powder cocaine in drug sentencing,” according to the Washington Post. Clinton will be joined at the launch event by former NBA player Grant Hill, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, Congressman John Lewis, and singer/songwriter Kelly Price.
Later tonight, Clinton will continue her African-American outreach with a keynote address at the annual Freedom Fund Banquet of the Charleston, South Carolina NAACP branch, her second appearance at the banquet (she also spoke at the dinner in 2007). Also today, Clinton will speak at the Ministers Luncheon of the 16th Annual Creating Opportunity Conference in Atlanta, where she will be joined by African-American clergy, including Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr. and Rev. Frederick Haynes.
Mike Huckabee will hold a town hall event in Audobon, and "Huckabee Huddle" events at Penny's Diner in Missouri Valley, Pizza Ranch in Harlan, and Sam's Soda & Sandwiches in Carroll.
Martin O'Malley will speak at the Iowa Spirit Awards, an annual event celebrating "lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans*, and questioning (LGBTQ) students, educators, and the schools who are improving the lives of LGBTQ youth in Iowa". The awards ceremony, at the State Historical Museum in Des Moines, is hosted by Iowa Safe Schools, an organization that supports LGBTQ students. Also today, O'Malley will hold a Coffee and Donuts reception at Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa; a meet and greet in Denison, and will meet with the Sioux City Journal Editorial Board.
Rand Paul will join a "Liberty Halloween Party" in Des Moines, Iowa hosted by his campaign, which will offer prizes for the "Best Political Characters from History or Today" costumes.
Marco Rubio will attend a luncheon in Council Bluffs, Iowa and a "Happy Hour" event in Sioux City.
Rick Santorum will visit Quad City Corn Processing in Galva, Iowa; hold a town hall meeting at Blue Bunny Ice Cream Parlor in LeMars; and participate in the Dordt College Iowa Conference on Presidential Politics in Sioux Center
Bernie Sanders will be in New Hampshire today, meeting with senior citizens in Manchester, visiting a field office in Nashua, and holding a town hall in Derry.