Open for Business:

By passing a $984 billion spending bill Thursday, the House has ensured the government will avoid a shutdown at the end of the month and stay funded through the end of the fiscal year. The bill, which was already cleared by the Senate, now heads to President Obama’s desk, where it’s expected to be signed. The House on Thursday also passed Paul Ryan’s atrocious plan, which promises a balanced budget by slashing social programs, repealing most of Obamacare and giving corporations and the rich a big tax break. However, as The Daily Beast noted: “It’s unlikely to go much further though: it pretty much has everything in it that President Obama campaigned against.” (Read more)

Pop the Question: With recent public opinion polls showing more and more Americans supporting gay marriage, Politico asked Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., whether his opinion on the issue had changed. In response, Chambliss said, “I’m not gay. So I’m not going to marry one.” It appears Chambliss selfishly believes that since he’s not going to get same-sex married, no one else should either. As Talking Points Memo Publisher Josh Marshall wrote, “So Sen. Saxby Chambliss has to become gay apparently before he’ll support marriage equality.” (Read more)

Death by Obamacare: Rep. Michele Bachmann insisted Thursday that President Obama’s health care law will “literally” kill people. In a speech delivered on the House floor on the topic of repealing Obamacare, Bachmann said, “We’re here because we’re saying let’s repeal this failure before it literally kills women, kills children, kills senior citizens. Let’s not do that. Let’s love people, let’s care about people. Let’s repeal it now while we can.” Bachmann loves and cares about people so much, in fact, that she wants to repeal a program that will provide millions with health insurance they could otherwise not afford and leave them with no health coverage. The clueless Bachmann must have missed the 2009 Harvard study that showed that nearly 45,000 Americans die each year because, in large part, they don’t have health care. (Read more)

For Your Information: Rising Republican star Rand Paul had some harsh words for Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh after they ripped the Kentucky senator’s plan to allow undocumented immigrants in the U.S. to work legally. It was an issue brought up to Paul by Fox News host Bill Hemmer during an interview Thursday. Hemmer pointed out to Paul that “Coulter and Limbaugh say that people like you are being suckered into an agreement here and what they argue is that conservative principles should not be sacrificed here.” Paul fired back with a “news flash” for them, arguing that “what we have now is de facto amnesty.” He added, “We have 11 million people here that have been here, some of them for a decade or more. No one is telling them to go home.” Paul also had another news flash for Coulter: “We haven’t been too competitive in the last two national elections,” he said. (Read more)

Video of the Day: One of the highlights of “Saturday Night Live” in 2008 was Tina Fey’s spot-on impression of then-Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin. During a recent appearance on “Inside the Actors Studio,” Fey brought back the impeccable impersonation. So does Fey still got it? You betcha! Take a look.

