PM Note: Hillary Handles Congress, Who's Afraid of the Budget?, Obama's Keystone Pretzel
New Tonight - Women to be Allowed in Frontline Ground Combat before 2016 - http://abcn.ws/10SmqX6
Hillary Clinton Handles Congress - Hillary Clinton may be the most admired woman in America for several years running, but she got a mostly respectful earful from some Republicans up on Capitol Hill today.
Even John McCain, her old colleague from the Armed Services Committee, got in on the action. There was a lot of attention paid to how many cables she gets in a year - more than 1.4 million apparently - and how many she personally should have read. Clinton said she never personally heard of requests for more security and that raised some hackles.
But it was her exchange with Sen. Ron Johnson, the conservative from Wisconsin that was the most notable.
Martha Raddatz described it as Hillary Clinton Rippin' Mad- "Oh yes, a few Senators are asking tough questions of Hillary Clinton at long-awaited hearings on Benghazi. But Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., got it right back in his face."
"With all due respect, we had four dead Americans. Was it because of a protest or was it because of guys out for a walk who decided they'd go kill Americans," she said in a heated voice. "What difference at this point does it make? It is our job to figure out what happened."
Watch it here - http://abcn.ws/10ISg7D
5.5 Hours of Clinton, Congress and Benghazi -Republicans in both the House and Senate slammed Secretary of State Hillary Clinton today the State Department's handling of cables warning of security threats in Benghazi, Libya, prior to the Sept. 11 attack that killed four Americans, including Amb. Chris Stevens. http://abcn.ws/10KmAyY (Sarah Parnass)
Biden, Clinton and the Medicare-Eligible Primary That Could Be- They'd either tie or break the record for oldest newly elected president in 2016 - http://abcn.ws/TkLYsQ (Z. Bryon Wolf)
House Passes 'No Budget No Pay,' Extends Debt Limit-The House of Representatives voted today to approve a three-month extension of the debt limit in a bill that concurrently pressures lawmakers to adopt a budget or have their pay withheld. http://abcn.ws/W0DyWI( John Parkinson and Sunlen Miller)
Who's Afraid of the Big, Bad Budget Deadline? - A set of budget deadlines is coming up, and Washington is poised once again to blow right through them, without consequence. http://abcn.ws/10Kn9Zu (Chris Good)
Keystone Pipeline Tests President Obama on Jobs, Climate-It's shaping up to be one of the trickiest decisions President Obama will have to make early in his second term: whether to approve construction of the 1,700-mile Keystone XL oil pipeline, stretching from Alberta, Canada, to Oklahoma. http://abcn.ws/10S874T (Devin Dwyer)
Mr. Romney is Coming to Washington - http://abcn.ws/Vkv3az Mystery Solved: Justice Clarence Thomas Cracked Joke About Harvard Law School http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/?p=833260 (Ariane DeVogue) The mystery is solved. Alderson Reporting, the company that transcribes all oral arguments, listened to the audio and determined that Thomas cracked a joke at the expense of … wait for it … Harvard Law School.
Clinton: 'No Doubt' Algeria Attackers Had Libyan Weapons- State Secretary Says US in Benghazi Partly to Round Up 'Pandora's Box' of Guns http://abcn.ws/XY9pWo (Lee Ferran)
Maine State Sen. Proposes Teachers Carry Concealed Weapons-In the midst of the gun debate, a state senator from Maine proposed a bill that would allow teachers and other school employees to carry concealed weapons on the job. http://abcn.ws/UlvKO1 (Jilian Fama)
Biden to Host Google 'Fireside Hangout' on Gun Violence-Vice President Joe Biden will hold a modern-day version of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's "fireside chat" Thursday when he participates in a Google+ Hangout on gun violence. http://abcn.ws/Xy4wkm (Arlette Saenz)
Air Force Chief Calls Sex Misconduct a 'Cancer'-The Air Force's top officer told lawmakers Wednesday that he was stunned by the sexual misconduct reports at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, and vowed to eliminate the "cancer" of rising sexual assaults in the service. http://abcn.ws/Vse826 (Arlette Saenz)
Clinton Point About Mali and Terror Attacks Forgets '93 World Trade Center Bombing-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave senators a thoughtful argument this morning in favor of helping French troops in their mission to help stabilize the government in Mali, arguing that the United States has to act in advance to protect the American homeland. But she forgot two important events in making her case. http://abcn.ws/SBIvof (Z. Byron Wolf)
Transcript: Clinton Testifies On Benghazi- (ABC News) http://abcn.ws/144N2D5
Phil Mickelson's Tax Mulligan - http://abcn.ws/10RAsbv
Paul Ryan Working on a Budget That Balances in 10 Years-House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan is working on a budget that a spokesman says will balance in 10 years. http://abcn.ws/WHUheG (Chris Good)