REPUBLICAN SPENDING BILL FAILS IN REPUBLICAN HOUSE: “The House stunned Republican leaders Wednesday by rejecting a temporary spending bill that would have funded the government through Nov. 18. The vote failed, 195-230, after Democrats pulled their support for the bill and Republican leaders were forced to scramble for enough votes entirely within their own ranks. Four dozen conservatives voted against the bill because it left spending levels for 2012 higher than the cap set in the House GOP budget. The defeat hands leverage to congressional Democrats in a dispute over federal disaster funding. Democratic leaders objected to a GOP provision cutting funding from a Department of Energy manufacturing loan program to offset additional money for disaster relief.” Was that the Solyndra loan program? Because making Democrats vote in favor of that would seem pretty smart . . . .