Political pressure is building on Republicans to reopen the government and GOP leaders are clearly fearful of failing to act to avert a default on U.S. obligations.

Republicans are in a difficult spot, relinquishing many of their core demands as they take a beating in the polls. As the Republicans met privately to discuss the latest plan, Rep. Steve Southerland, R-Fla., led them in several verses of "Amazing Grace."

"We have to stick together now," said Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas.

td11 wrote:

JFLNYC wrote:There are times I've been angry with Boehner during this crisis because it has seemed as though he's only trying to save his own skin by not bringing a clean CR to a vote. But then I realize that post-Boehner might be even worse. As much as I disagree with his politics, I believe John Boehner is a good man who wants to do what's right for the country and would do so but for the TP loonies. Although his actions may be self-serving, his presence as Speaker may be the only thing which may prevent a default. At the end of the day, I think (hope?) he'll bring whatever resolution he has to to a vote to prevent default, even if it costs him his job.

JFLNYC wrote:There are times I've been angry with Boehner during this crisis because it has seemed as though he's only trying to save his own skin by not bringing a clean CR to a vote. But then I realize that post-Boehner might be even worse. As much as I disagree with his politics, I believe John Boehner is a good man who wants to do what's right for the country and would do so but for the TP loonies. Although his actions may be self-serving, his presence as Speaker may be the only thing which may prevent a default. At the end of the day, I think (hope?) he'll bring whatever resolution he has to to a vote to prevent default, even if it costs him his job.

jerseyhoya wrote:I wonder if they'd push for Boehner's head this time. If I was him, I'd tell Cantor to have fun, resign, and play 18 holes a day with a sac of red wine strapped to my back.

The biggest pay increase — $14,416 a year — went to a longtime state economist who helped expose flaws in jobs statistics that were hurting the governor's recall election chances, a Journal Sentinel review has found.

Last month, the administration had to backtrack and recoup a retroactive pay raise given to the hardline head of the Capitol Police after the newspaper reported that Chief Dave Erwin and his top deputy had been moved on paper to ghost jobs for two weeks and then back to their real posts at much higher salaries. That makes at least five state employees who were given raises that skirted state limits.

In the latest, Department of Revenue chief economist John Koskinen was transferred through three different high-level jobs at the state Department of Administration and then back to his original post, picking up bumps in his pay as he ping-ponged among them. Along the way, the longtime state employee shed his status as a political appointee and strengthened his civil-service job protections.

Like the police officials, Koskinen was never expected to do any work at his shadow jobs, and those scheduling the transfers considered doing all the job changes in a single day, according to documents released to the newspaper under a request made through the open records law.

In total, Koskinen received a 14.4% raise in pay to $114,917 a year because a private employer had contacted him about a possible job. The raise left Koskinen's pay 26% higher than another chief economist with a comparable job in a different state agency.

Jay Heck, executive director at the group Common Cause in Wisconsin, said the Walker administration shouldn't flout the state's pay rules to give some workers pay increases with acrobatic job transfers. If the raises are needed, the administration should change the system to make it both easier and more transparent to taxpayers, he said.

Records show that on May 19, officials moved Veltum from being an administrative manager to a phantom slot as an "architect/engineer manager," a transfer that pushed her annual salary to $80,213.

Two weeks later, Veltum returned to her previous job, receiving a $1,220 per year pay hike as a result of the transfer. She also received a $1,000 lump-sum bonus on the same day, a Journal Sentinel database shows.

"Veltum received offers for jobs in the private sector and at another state agency," Marquis said, explaining the reason for the moves.

In fact, Veltum left DOA in July — six weeks after her transfer from the ghost position — to join the state Department of Safety and Professional Services as a section chief in the field services bureau.

She was the only applicant for the civil service post, which pays $82,246 per year. That's an increase in her base salary of $16,871 from 2011, of which about half came from the phantom transfer.

Marquis said that politics didn't play a role in the raises given to Koskinen or Veltum, just a desire to keep good employees.

"All of these increases were related to retention," Marquis said.