Bill Clinton to Raise Cash for Democratic Governors

Bill Clinton, who was the governor of Arkansas before moving to the White House, will return to his political roots â€" and earn a few more chits for his wife’s political future â€" next month by raising money for the Democratic Governors Association at a high-dollar New York City fund-raiser.

Mr. Clinton is set to headline a $5,000-per-person dinner in Manhattan for the governors association on Sept. 12, according to a person familiar with the planning. The gathering will include Gov. Peter Shumlin of Vermont, the group’s chairman, as well as Terry McAuliffe, a Virginia governor hopeful and Mr. Clinton’s longtime friend. The money raised will go to help elect governors across the country and not just Mr. McAuliffe’s bid this November.

The organization will need the money ahead of next year, when 36 governors’ races will take place. As of the first six months of 2013, the Republican Governors Association had outraised its Democratic counterpart, $23.6 million to $15 million. Both groups can take unlimited amounts of money.

By helping the ranks of governors, Mr. Clinton also earns some more good will for himself and former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who may run for president again in 2016. The governors are often the most politically powerful Democrats in their states and can, at times, feel underappreciated by Washington politicians. President Obama, for example, has not raised money for the governors association since 2009, a fact that has caused some irritation among the Democratic governors.

Mr. Clinton has always been a fixture on the political fund-raising and campaign circuit and is expected to both raise cash and stump individually for Democratic governors and candidates next year. Mrs. Clinton has begun a series of policy speeches but has been hesitant about plunging back into electoral politics. She is, however, hosting a fund-raiser for Mr. McAuliffe late next month in her Washington home.

Congress Points Out the Cost of War

President Obama may go it alone with a military strike against the Syrian regime, but for the financially struggling Defense Department there will be a price â€" and skeptics in Congress appear ready to play the money card.

The Pentagon has already absorbed one round of across-the-board spending cuts known as sequestration. Military officials have told Congress that they do not have excess money to carry out a military strike in Syria. And come Jan. 1, the next round of defense cuts will be $20 billion deeper, thanks to a quirk in last January’s “fiscal cliff” budget deal that spared the military some pain.

That means that President Obama will more than likely have to go to Congress to ask for more money, even if â€" as expected â€" he does not seek authorization before military engagement. And on Friday, that led to this warning from the office of the House speaker, John A. Boehner of Ohio:

“If the president is going to need a supplemental spending bill, we would caution him to consider how that request would be received if he chooses to act before Congress is satisfied with his plan,” said Brendan Buck, a spokesman for Mr. Boehner. “Buy-in from Congress and the American people is critical if he’s going to act.”

Such a supplemental request could open up the president to bipartisan approbation. But rejecting financing for continuing military operations would be difficult for Congress â€" and possibly untenable politically.

Still, senior Republicans in the House, facing a rebellion among rank-and-file members who oppose anything that could lead to a new United States war in the Middle East, tried to make clear Friday that Congress’s power of the purse should not be ignored.

“You can’t thumb your nose at members of Congress and then turn around and ask them to pay the bill,” a Republican Congressional leadership aide said.