Something good is happening in Congress these days. Instead of rolling over for Democrats and virtuously claiming they've "reached across the aisle," as they always have done, Republicans are now playing hardball.  They've maneuvered to put entitlements and swing state-sensitive tax cuts on the line as bargaining chips to avoid a government shutdown.  In doing this, they have just laid out a plan to beat the Democrats at their own game. According to Wednesday's front-pager in the New York Times: WASHINGTON – With little hope of an immigration agreement this week, Republicans in Congress are looking to head off a government shutdown this weekend by pairing another stopgap spending measure with long-term funding for the popular Children's Health Insurance Program, daring Democrats to vote no. The bill would leave in limbo hundreds of thousands of young immigrants brought to the country illegally as...(Read Full Post)