Sunday shows: Graham, Norquist, Lagarde, Conrad

ABC's "This Week" with Christiane Amanpour: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Obama advisor David Plouffe, with George Will, Grover Norquist, Amy Walter and Paul Krugman, and New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly on extremism.

Bloomberg's "Political Capital with Al Hunt:" Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.).

CNN Fareed Zakaria "GPS": Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, and Daniel Akerson, chairman of General Motors.

CNN's "State of the Union" with Gloria Borger: Sens. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), Gene Sperling of the National Economic Council and Mark Zandi of Moody's Analytics.

Fox News Channel "Fox News Sunday" with Chris Wallace: Sens. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) and Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.), Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) and Sperling, with William Kristol, Steve Hayes, Juan Williams and Charles Lane.

NBC's "Meet the Press" with David Gregory: Plouffe and Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) with Rep. Raul Labrador (R-Idaho), Jennifer Granholm, Jim Cramer and Tom Brokaw.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo: Scott Eells / Bloomberg (Lagarde).

Weekly remarks: Jon Kyl warns new taxes stall jobs; Obama warns time short for deficit deal

Weekly remarks by Sen. Jon Kyl, as provided by Republican Party leadership

Good morning.  I am Senate Republican Whip Jon Kyl of Arizona.

By now, most Americans know that lawmakers in Washington are engaged in a difficult debate about the nation’s ‘debt ceiling,’ the legal limit to the amount of money the federal government can borrow.

The debt ceiling is currently set at a little more than 14 trillion dollars, and if Congress and the president don’t reach an agreement to raise it by this coming Tuesday, the Treasury secretary tells us America will no longer be able to pay all its bills.

The consequences of missing this deadline could be severe, precisely because Washington....

FAA must furlough thousands because of Congress, but air fares could dip a little

The FAA will be forced to furlough almost 4,000 employees starting Friday at midnight as its federal funding runs out. Congress could not agree on a measure that would provide funds to the agency.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said that although "the safety of the flying public will not be compromised" because air traffic controllers and other essential employees will remain on the job,  thousands of other jobs will be affected because of the politics on Capitol Hill.

"Because of their inaction, states and airports won't be able to work on their construction projects, and too many people will have to go without a paycheck," LaHood said in a statement. "This is no way to run the best aviation system in the world."

Each sides of Congress is pointing fingers at the other.

“It is unbelievable that after the House passed the 21st FAA extension, the Senate departed Washington and left the FAA and many of its employees behind,” Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John L. Mica, a Republican from Florida, said in a news release.

That was countered by Sen. Jay Rockefeller, the Democratic chairman of the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, who fired off his own statement blaming the House.

Defense of Marriage Act hearing turns comical thanks to Sen. Al Franken

The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) needed a better defense witness than Tom Minnery could provide Wednesday after Sen. Al Franken exposed him for misrepresenting a study.

Franken, the former "Saturday Night Live" cast member and now a Democratic senator from Minnesota, used some of his comedic skills and razor-sharp timing to take down the Focus on the Family representative.

He also used the curious technique of actually reading the study his witness cited.

Hilarity ensued when Franken discovered that Minnery had misrepresented a Department of Health and Human Services definition of a "nuclear family" to better fit FOTF's conservative worldview.

During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing held Wednesday, Franken highlighted the Christian group's statement that kids "living with their biological and/or adopted mothers and fathers" were better off in a variety of ways than those children "living in any other family form".

"I checked the study out," said Franken, the author of "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them."

"It actually doesn't say what you said it says," he continued.

Obama endorses Sen. Dianne Feinstein's repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act

Sen. Dianne Feinstein on Tuesday announced a bill that would end the federal law that defines marriage as being between a man and a woman. Later the White House said it backed the California lawmaker's Respect for Marriage Act.

Feinstein's announcement precedes a Wednesday hearing by the Senate Judiciary Committee that will discuss repealing all three sections of 1996's Defense of Marriage Act, which says marriage is a "legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife". 

"I think eyes have opened," Feinstein told the National Press Club on Tuesday.

"More and more people across this land know people who are gay, who want to have a lasting relationship, who look at marriage as an economic agreement as well as an emotional agreement," said Feinstein, who was one of 14 senators to vote against DOMA.

"This legislation would uphold the principle that the federal government should not deny gay and lesbian couples the same rights and legal protections as straight couples," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters on behalf of President Obama, who has recently said that his stance on same-sex marriage is "evolving".

Sunday shows: Cain, Pawlenty, Durbin, Norquist

ABC's "This Week" with Christiane Amanpour: Jack Lew, Jon Kyl, Raul Labrador, Ken Auletta

Bloomberg's "Political Capital with Al Hunt": Tim Pawlenty

CBS' "Face the Nation" with Bob Schieffer: Richard Durbin, Tom Coburn, Marco Rubio

CNN Fareed Zakaria "GPS": Larry Summers, Bjørn Lomborg, Ayman Mohyeldin

CNN's "State of the Union" with Candy Crowley: Jacob Lew, Sen. Lindsey Graham, Ron Klain, Tom Davis

Fox News Channel "Fox News Sunday" with Chris Wallace: Herman Cain, Rep. Jim Jordan, Rep. Chris Van Hollen ,

NBC's "Meet the Press" with David Gregory: Grover Norquist, Jack Lew, Jim DeMint

-- Tony Pierce

Why wait until Sunday for politics? Click here now to follow The Ticket via Twitter alerts of each new Ticket item. Or follow us @latimestot. Our Facebook Like page is over here. We're also available on Kindle now. Use the ReTweet buttons above to share this item with friends.

Photo: Herman Cain at theRepublican Leadership Conference in New Orleans in June, 2011. Credit: Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

Andrew Malcolm is on vacation

Weekly remarks: Orrin Hatch pines for 1997, Obama wants to end tax breaks for the rich

 

Weekly remarks by Sen. Orrin Hatch, as provided by Republican Party leadership

Good morning. I’m Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah.

Our nation is in the midst of one of the most critical debates in generations. It is a debate about the size, scope, and shape of our national government. It’s a debate over whether we act responsibly so our children and grandchildren aren’t left carrying the burden of unsustainable debt.

While the details of this debate change by the day, the fundamentals are clear. President Obama and his Democratic allies in Congress refuse to come up with a legitimate plan to confront our run-away spending that has left our country over $14 trillion in debt. He refuses to reform our near bankrupt entitlement programs -- all while pushing job-killing tax hikes.

We’ve been down this road before, and Republicans will not go down it again. In 1990, Congress and the President struck a deficit reduction deal that combined spending cuts with tax increases. Unfortunately, while the tax hikes remained, the spending restraint did not, and our debt has only marched higher.

The solution to a spending crisis is not tax increases. Yet, Washington has consistently demonstrated that it cannot control its urge to spend. That is why the only long-term solution is a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution. Only by restoring constitutional restraints on the ability of Congress to spend, can we constrain the growth of the federal government.

Think of how different our fiscal picture would be if we’d passed one in 1997. After a fierce debate, the Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution that I introduced was defeated by just one vote in the United States Senate.

McCain compares Bachmann to Sen. Obama, compares President Obama to Muhammad Ali

John McCain thinks Republicans like Michele Bachmann and Eric Cantor are doing it wrong in these debt ceiling negotiations with Democrats and should instead be backing Mitch McConnell's creative plan.

In an interview with National Review, McCain compared President Barack Obama to boxing great Muhammad Ali, noting the heavyweight champ's sly strategy of allowing opponents to tire themselves out with relatively harmless body blows only to see an energized Ali rally in later rounds for the deciding knockout.

“It seems to some of us that the president, all along, was sort of playing rope-a-dope,” McCain said. “Not surprisingly, he has ratcheted up the level of tension by saying that he couldn’t guarantee people’s Social Security checks. So of course, the calls have been coming into my office; people are worried. They should be worried when the president of the United States makes a statement like that.”

McCain is concerned that in the House "there are Republicans who are committed, like Michele Bachmann, to vote against raising the debt limit under any circumstances," a stance reminiscent of “Sen. Obama,” he said.

No debt deal necessary for Obama's reelection campaign; he reports raising $86 million last quarter

He may have been leading from behind all spring in those nettlesome national debt reduction talks with congressional Republicans.

Unemployment may be back up to 9.2%. But President Obama is doing great up front where it counts in the political fundraising business to keep his own job in next year's election.

In a video emailed to supporters early this morning, Obama campaign manager Jim Messina said the Democrat's bid for four more years in the Oval Office would report raising more than $47 million for the old Organizing for America outfit. And another $38 million-plus for the Democratic National Committee. All from 552,462 donors, Messina said.

All campaigns' fundraising numbers for the April-June quarter are due into the Federal Election Commission on Friday, unless they get an exemption for starting late, as Jon Huntsman did.

Obama's campaign donation total is chump change compared to the trillions in budget cuts he claims to be negotiating with House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

The reported $86 million dwarfs the anticipated quarter totals of his Republican challengers such as former Govs. Mitt Romney at $18 million and Tim Pawlenty and Huntsman around $4 million each.

Not counting Michele Bachmann, who has been a top congressional fundraiser but not yet announced her haul, the Republican field combined has raised around $35 million. An independent committee supporting Romney has collected another $12 million.

Messina claims that the Democrat needs a whole lot more money to compete with what he said could be "as much as" $500 million from outside committees supporting Republicans.

Originally, Obama campaign aides talked of a $1 billion campaign on behalf of their boss. But they have since scaled that back closer to the $745 million he raised for the 2008 campaign, which he won, in case you hadn't noticed.

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Obama on debt deal: 'I have bent over backwards to work with Republicans'

No recession for 454 Obama White House aides: They'll make $37,121,463 this year

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo: Pete Souza / White House

Weekly remarks: GOP's Dan Coats says the fiscal crisis is urgent; Obama says times are tough for many

Weekly remarks by Sen. Dan Coats, as provided by Republican Party leadership

Hello. I’m Dan Coats and I have the honor of representing the people of Indiana in the United States Senate. 

Two hundred and thirty-five years ago this July 4th, our Founding Fathers risked their lives and signed a document announcing the birth of America. Their brave declaration of freedom changed the course of history and revolutionized the world. 

Our Founding Fathers severed the chains of tyranny to provide a land of opportunity for future generations. They left it to their children and grandchildren to protect this gift.

This generational responsibility is the story of America. Today, we must ask ourselves: Will we continue this tradition? Will we leave behind a more prosperous country for our children?

When I retired from the Senate 12 years ago, I felt confident that my children and....