Tipsheet

House to Add Balanced Budget Amendment to New Deal

Ahead of the 10 am meeting of House Republicans, there is a word a Balanced Budget Amendment will be added to Boehner's plan and that the House will hold a vote today despite knowing if there are enough votes to get a deal passed and over to the Senate.

Earlier, on the Senate Floor, Harry Reid touted his plan and the fact that it extends into 2013, saving President Obama's re-election bid.

Stay tuned for President Obama's remarks about the latest developments.

 

Meanwhile, today's economic news is terrible.

The Dow opened more than 100 points lower on Friday morning on news of weak second-quarter gross domestic product growth and the debt impasse in Washington.

Gross domestic product grew at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of just 1.3 percent in the second quarter, lower than expected, according to an advance estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis on Friday. U.S. stock futures fell after the estimate was released.

GDP growth for the first half of the year was the weakest since the recession ended, the Associated Press reported. Real GDP was sharply revised down from 1.9 percent in the first quarter to 0.4 percent.

Along with the Dow, Asian stock indexes Nikkei, Hang Seng, and Sensex also fell on Friday. Tokyo, which was doing well in the morning, dropped sharply on news that the House vote on Republicans’ deficit-reduction plan was delayed Thursday evening, Dow Jones reports.

Analysts had predicted GDP growth close to 2 percent in the second quarter. Increased exports and federal government spending, coupled with a deceleration in imports, helped bring Q2 GDP up from the previous quarter. A “sharp deceleration” in personal consumption spending offset some of the gains.