By NBC's Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Brooke Brower
*** The negotiators: Looking ahead to the latest fiscal showdown -- over the debt ceiling, sequester, and government operations -- we posed this question yesterday: Who negotiates for the Republicans? (Is it House Speaker John Boehner, who has said he will no longer negotiate one-on-one with President Obama? Is it Senate Minority Mitch McConnell? What about House Budget Chair Paul Ryan?) But today, we pose this very same question for the Democratic side: Who negotiates for the Obama White House? Consider that the White House’s chief negotiator during the fiscal-cliff fight, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, has previously stated he plans to stay in his post until around the inauguration -- so late January. But is that realistic? We also know that Geithner assumed, when he made that pledge to leave in January, that an end of the year deal would include a debt ceiling extension. But that didn’t happen. So are we really going to see a new Treasury secretary before March? Is that even feasible? Does the White House want a confirmation process in the middle of negotiations over the big March cliffs staring the country in the face? Of course, the White House may believe that by simply moving current White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew to Treasury, nothing really changes on the negotiating front. But remember, congressional Republicans weren’t necessarily big Lew fans. Given all of this, does anyone believe that Geithner won’t stay through March if the president asks?
By NBC's Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Brooke Brower
ReplyDelete*** The negotiators: Looking ahead to the latest fiscal showdown -- over the debt ceiling, sequester, and government operations -- we posed this question yesterday: Who negotiates for the Republicans? (Is it House Speaker John Boehner, who has said he will no longer negotiate one-on-one with President Obama? Is it Senate Minority Mitch McConnell? What about House Budget Chair Paul Ryan?) But today, we pose this very same question for the Democratic side: Who negotiates for the Obama White House? Consider that the White House’s chief negotiator during the fiscal-cliff fight, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, has previously stated he plans to stay in his post until around the inauguration -- so late January. But is that realistic? We also know that Geithner assumed, when he made that pledge to leave in January, that an end of the year deal would include a debt ceiling extension. But that didn’t happen. So are we really going to see a new Treasury secretary before March? Is that even feasible? Does the White House want a confirmation process in the middle of negotiations over the big March cliffs staring the country in the face? Of course, the White House may believe that by simply moving current White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew to Treasury, nothing really changes on the negotiating front. But remember, congressional Republicans weren’t necessarily big Lew fans. Given all of this, does anyone believe that Geithner won’t stay through March if the president asks?