As White House talks falter, Senate works on agreement to raise debt limit [WaPo]
President Obama prepared Thursday to bring bipartisan talks over the debt to a close, as Senate leaders worked across party lines to craft an alternative strategy to raise the nation’s $14.3 trillion debt limit and avert a government default. “It’s decision time,” Obama told congressional leaders after meeting at the White House for a fifth straight day. Obama gave Republicans until early Saturday to tell him whether any of three options for trimming the federal budget would win GOP support.
Rebekah Brooks ’s British Subsidiary [NYT]
After days of mounting pressure from politicians and investors, Rebekah Brooks, the embattled chief executive of Rupert Murdoch’s British newspaper operations, announced her resignation on Friday in another stunning blow to Mr. Murdoch’s once all-powerful empire, now facing investigation by authorities in Britain and the United States.
Smaller Tax Changes on the Table [WSJ]
The scope of possible tax changes in a deficit-reduction deal has narrowed so sharply in recent days that taxes might disappear from a final deal altogether. Congressional Republicans have warned they won’t accept any tax increases, while President Barack Obama has repeatedly insisted that any agreement to curb budget deficits be “balanced” by both spending cuts and increased tax revenue. The two sides have inched closer over the past days. Some, but not all, Republican negotiators have said they would consider ending some tax breaks if their value was offset by tax cuts, resulting in no net increase in revenue. And White House officials dropped on Wednesday a requirement that a deal result in increased revenue.
NOTW case raises questions over auditor’s role [FT]
Allegations of police bribery at the News of the World have raised fresh questions about the role of auditors and their responsibility for preventing corporate wrongdoing. But as preparations are made for a judge-led inquiry into the disgraced tabloid, the firm that vetted its accounts seems unlikely to face investigation by audit regulators, at least not in the coming weeks. For almost a decade, Ernst & Young has audited News Group Newspapers, an arm of the US-based News Corp that contains the now-defunct News of the World and its sister tabloid, the Sun. It also audits News Corp.
Minnesota governor, GOP lawmakers agree to end shutdown [WaPo]
Minnesota’s two-week-old government shutdown moved toward resolution Thursday, as Gov. Mark Dayton (D) and Republican legislative leaders agreed to a deal for closing the state’s $5 billion budget gap without a tax increase. Speaking to reporters outside his office after emerging from a nearly three-hour meeting with GOP legislative leaders, Dayton said that the government shutdown would end as soon as lawmakers flesh out details of the agreement and move them through a special session of the Legislature. Officials said that should happen “within days.”
Going In Circles: A Few Remarks On Audit Reform [Re:The Auditors]
The Billy Preston video is an especially nice bonus.
