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The Note: The Making Of A 'Satan Sandwich'

By MICHAEL FALCONE ( @michaelpfalcone ) and AMY WALTER ( @amyewalter )

It was messy, it was complicated and, in the end, it was simply unpalatable to some lawmakers.

But the budget plan that one liberal Democrat now famously called a “Satan sandwich” and that Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi told ABC’s Diane Sawyer yesterday probably came with a side of “Satan fries,” appears headed for passage in the Senate today after clearing that hurdle in the House of Representatives last night by a vote of 269 to 161.

The bill would increase the government's borrowing power by up to $2.4 trillion through 2013, impose nearly $1 trillion in spending cuts over the next decade and set up a special congressional committee (nicknamed the “super committee”) process to recommend up to $1.5 trillion in additional deficit reduction by Thanksgiving.

The Senate plans to debate the debt ceiling increase this morning and a roll call vote on the compromise plan is expected at 12 noon Eastern with a 60-vote threshold needed for passage. Then, the bill will head straight to President Obama’s desk for his signature.

“We have to get this over with,” Pelosi told Sawyer in an interview in Washington yesterday. “We have to get to work putting people back to work. We've got to get on with job creation.” http://abcn.ws/pGQ4EK

And after an intense period of partisan strife that lasted several months, lawmakers from both parties swallowed hard on an agreement that no one particularly liked but a majority regarded as essential to avoiding default on the nation’s debt obligations -- a deadline that still looms just hours from now.

In a poignant moment on the House floor, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords returned to the chamber for the first time since being shot in January to cast her “yes” vote for the bill. “The Capitol looks beautiful tonight,” she wrote on Twitter, “and I am honored to be at work tonight.”

Vice President Joe Biden, who showed up on Capitol Hill last night for the vote, described an almost surreal scene: “Here I'm hugging Gabby and Michele Bachmann,” he told reporters.

But, this being Washington, the momentary bipartisanship quickly subsided. Rep. Bachmann, R-Minn., distributed a late-night fundraising message for her presidential campaign saying that Biden “should be ashamed of himself” for allegedly calling conservative lawmakers “terrorists" yesterday.

August 2011 Spotlight

As the summer draws to a close and children around the city, state and nation are preparing to head back to school, we sat down with a South Tampa local who has dedicated his life to education and developed a passion for teaching, learning and instilling that same passion in others.

Jim Larkin, Principal of Tampa Day School, happened upon a career in education completely by accident. Armed with several scholarships, he started at University of South Florida with a major in Accounting.

“I took one class in Accounting and went ‘Woo! That is just not a good direction for me,’ Larkin said.

He then took a course entitled “Intro to Teaching”. The class required working in an old Seminole Heights school in a traditional classroom. The teacher allowed him to tutor kids in math.

“I had no intention of going into education; it was the farthest thing from my mind. After 3-4 weeks there and watching those faces light up, I changed my major,” Larkin said.

Larkin chose to focus on Elementary and Early Childhood Education and it was quite interesting for him being one of very few males studying that discipline.

“You can guess how many men were in that area. There were maybe 2 of us in every class. But it became a passion just to see these faces light up, so to speak. Those eyes brighten and get big, that ‘Aha!’ moment if you will.”

After completing his degree, Larkin taught in Elementary, Middle and High School before taking a position at St. John’s Greek Orthodox in South Tampa where he was Headmaster for 31 years. Larkin retired from St. John’s because he felt it was time to move on and create new experiences. After being retired for 3 weeks, Larkin applied for a position as a science teacher at Tampa Day School. They informed him that their principal was leaving the school and would he be interested in doing that as well as teaching.

St. John’s is a college prep program for grades K-8. The kids take high school classes and can graduate with several high school credits. The shift to Tampa Day School was an interesting one for Larkin.

“At Tampa Day School, the kids have to be average or above average IQ but it’s for kids who learn differently – dyslexia, ADHD, ADD, anxiety. Those are the kinds of kids we work with here. This is where God wanted me to go because it’s a passion now. Statistically 80% of children diagnosed with alearning disability are male,” Larkin said.

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