It has been a very interesting 18 hours or so in the United States House of Representatives. Since the vote-stealing fiasco that nearly shut down the lower chamber, two very remarkable things have happened: 1) The House votes to expand the government's abilities to eavesdrop without warrants on foreign suspects whose communications pass through the United States. And, 2) The House has approved a $459.6 billion budget for the Defense Department in 2008. Then there is this: House approves $16 billion in taxes on oil industry. That is not such good news, but it lead the pack of News Alerts last night. In fact, that one hit the mailbox while Tom, Mark and I were still on the air last night (you can hear a replay of that show on TIB from 10AM until 2PM).
Does this mean that the situation has been resolved? I don't think so. John Boehner indicated that there were two three bills he'd want Republicans to participate in when he delivered his threat. Anything involving the bridge collapse in Minnesota, the FISA loophole, and the Defense appropriation.
I'm not sure what the oil tax is all about, that one wasn't on my radar, but I suspect we are starting to see some behind the scenes negotiations that are having some effect on the business hitting the floor of the US House of Representatives.
Personally, I was kind of hoping for a shutdown myself...
