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Pakistan bombings: Taliban admits Shabqadar attacks

2011-05-13T11:12:00.000-07:00

At least 120 people were wounded in the blasts at the training centre for the Frontier Constabulary in Shabqadar, Charsadda district.

After early suspicions that one of the bombs was planted, police said both blasts were suicide attacks.

The Pakistani Taliban said they carried out the attack to avenge the death of Osama Bin Laden earlier this month.

The al-Qaeda leader was killed during a US commando raid in the northern Pakistani town of Abbottabad on 2 May.

Friday's attack came hours before army chiefs appeared before parliament to explain their actions over Bin Laden's death.

At the closed-door briefing, ISI chief Lieut-Gen Ahmed Shujaa Pasha is reported to have told MPs that he had offered his resignation after the Navy Seals raid, but had been turned down by the army chief.

'Deadliest attack'

The bombings happened as newly trained cadets from the Frontier Constabulary were getting into buses after completing their course.

The Frontier Constabulary is used to police the regions bordering Pakistan's tribal areas.

"Both attacks were suicide attacks," said the police chief of Charsadda district, Nisar Khan Marwat.

"The first suicide bomber came on a motorcycle and detonated his vest among the Frontier Constabulary men," AFP news agency quoted him as saying.

"When other [Frontier Constabulary] people came to the rescue to help their colleagues, the second bomber came on another motorcycle and blew himself up."

At least 66 of the dead were recruits, but there were also civilian casualties, officials say. A number of vehicles were destroyed in the blast.

"I was sitting in a van waiting for my colleagues. We were in plain clothes and we were happy we were going to see our families," Ahmad Ali, a wounded paramilitary policeman, told AFP.

"I heard someone shouting 'Allahu Akbar' [God is great] and then I heard a huge blast. I was hit by something in my back shoulder.

"In the meantime, I heard another blast and I jumped out of the van. I felt that I was injured and bleeding."

Lady Reading hospital in Peshawar has been inundated with casualties and doctors said they were fighting to save the lives of 40 critically injured cadets.

"It's the first revenge for the martyrdom of... Bin Laden. There will be more," Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan told the Reuters news agency by telephone from an undisclosed location.

Shabqadar lies on the border with Afghanistan, about 35km (22 miles) north-west of Peshawar, not far from the militant stronghold of Mohmand.

The BBC's Aleem Maqbool in Islamabad says the security forces have often been the target of such attacks as they fight the Pakistani Taliban across the north-west of the country, but Friday's bombing is the deadliest attack this year.

He adds that the Pakistani army - which has come under intense scrutiny and criticism over the Bin Laden affair - is likely to point out that this attack is an illustration of the sacrifices it has made in the "war on terror".

'Living dead'

After Friday's parliamentary briefing, Pakistan's information minister said Lieut-Gen Pasha had told MPs he was ready to take responsibility for any criminal failing.

"If any of our responsibility is determined and any gap identified, that our negligence was criminal negligence, and there was an intentional failure, then we are ready to face any consequences," said the minister, Firdous Ashiq Awan, citing the general.

Mr Awan told Express TV that killing Bin Laden had been a shared US-Pakistani goal but the Americans had breached Pakistan's sovereignty by going after him on their own.

The spy chief also told parliament Bin Laden had been isolated and "living like a dead man", the minister said.

"We had already killed all his allies and so we had killed him even before he was dead," Mr Awan cited Lieut-Gen Pasha as saying.

Our correspondent says many politicians and members of the public appear to be less concerned about Bin Laden's presence in Pakistan and more about the way the US was able to carry out its raid without official permission.

The US gives billions of dollars in military and humanitarian aid to Pakistan, but has questioned its reliability as an ally in combating the militants.

In recent years, Taliban militants have killed hundreds of people in bombings and other attacks across Pakistan.

Thailand police arrest man with rare animals in luggage

2011-05-13T11:11:00.000-07:00

The animals - all under two months old - had been drugged and put into cages in the man's suitcases, police said.

The suspect, a 36-year-old man from the United Arab Emirates, was trying to board a flight from Bangkok to Dubai.

Several people are thought to be involved and an investigation into a trafficking network is under way.

The man was seized by undercover police at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi International Airport while he was waiting to check-in as a first-class passenger.

Officers had been monitoring him since his black market purchase of the rare animals, said the Freeland Foundation, an anti-trafficking group based in Thailand.

'Virtual zoo'

There were two leopards, two panthers, an Asiatic black bear and two macaque monkeys in the man's luggage.

"It looked like they had sedated the animals and had them in flat cages so they couldn't move around much," said Steven Galster, director of Freeland, who was present at the arrest.

Some of the animals were placed inside canisters with air holes.

"It was a very sophisticated smuggling operation. We've never seen one like this before," Mr Galster said. "The guy had a virtual zoo in his suitcases."

Last month, Thai customs officials seized 1,800 protected lizards said to be destined to be sold as food.

The Bengal monitor lizards, stuffed into blue mesh bags and hidden behind fruit, were found in southern Thailand near the Malaysian border.

Lizard meat is valuable and seen as a delicacy in parts of Asia.

US presses Pakistan on Bin Laden

2011-05-08T10:56:00.000-07:00

Mr Obama told CBS show 60 Minutes the government in Islamabad had to find out if any of its officials knew of the al-Qaeda leader's whereabouts.

An Obama administration official said the US wanted to speak to Bin Laden's widows, who are in Pakistani custody.

Pakistan has denied knowing Bin Laden was holed up in Abbottabad.

In an interview being broadcast on Sunday, President Obama told CBS the al-Qaeda leader must have had "some sort of support network" in Pakistan, but he did not know whether it included government officials.

"We don't know whether there might have been some people inside of [Pakistan's] government, people outside of government, and that's something that we have to investigate and, more importantly, the Pakistani government has to investigate," the US president said in the interview, which was conducted on Wednesday.

'Library' of intelligence

US National Security Adviser Tom Donilon meanwhile told NBC talk show Meet the Press that Islamabad needed to establish how Bin Laden lived for six years a short drive from the capital and beside a military academy.

With Bin Laden dead, there has been speculation about whether his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, will take over as al-Qaeda leader.

But Mr Donilon said the Egyptian "is not anywhere near the leader that Osama Bin Laden was".

He also said the Pakistani authorities needed to provide the US with access to Bin Laden's three widows, who were taken into custody after last week's US commando raid.

American officials have meanwhile been poring over computer files seized by US special forces from the hideout.

"It's [the intelligence cache] about the size, the CIA tells us, of a small college library," said Mr Donilon.

On Saturday, the Pentagon released from the material five home videos featuring Bin Laden, with the audio removed.

They included a message by the al-Qaeda leader to the US and footage of Bin Laden watching an item about himself on TV.

'Ridiculous'

US officials said the Abbottabad compound was a command and control centre from where Bin Laden had actively led al-Qaeda.

Strong quake shakes buildings in Japan’s capital

2011-04-15T22:59:00.000-07:00

A strong earthquake of magnitude 5.8 hit central Japan on Saturday morning, according to the US Geological Survey. The quake, which shook buildings in Tokyo, struck at 11:19 am (0219 GMT), 83 kilometres (52 miles) north of the capital and at a depth of 20 kilometres, the USGS said.

Operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said the tremor did not disrupt the emergency crews who are working around the clock to cool crippled reactors at a nuclear plant hit by a devastating earthquake and tsunami last month. That earthquake - the biggest ever recorded in Japan -- struck on March 11, triggering a huge tsunami and leaving 13,591 people dead, with another 14,497 still unaccounted for.

Tens of thousands of people lost their homes, while many others were forced to evacuate after a series of explosions at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant sent radiation spewing into the air.

Mohandas Pai, Infosys Technologies' HR director resigns from board

2011-04-14T22:58:00.000-07:00

Infosys' director incharge, Human Resource and Administration, Mohandas Pai resigned on Friday from the board of the company with effect from June 11, 2011. Infosys' board of directors will meet on April 30 to finalise plans for the company's leadership as chairman NR Narayan Murthy retires in August 2011.

Former Microsoft India head, Ravi Venkatesan was appointed as additional director on the board. In the middle of its biggest management transition ever since Infosys was founded, the company is aiming for a larger share of revenue from retail, banking and healthcare customers by shifting the roles of leaders handling multiple business units.

Pai had been in a finance role as Chief Financial Officer of Infosys since 1994, and later took responsibility for the critical functions of human resources and education. He is also a well-known public face and has been part of various committees such as the Kelkar committee for reforming direct taxes and is currently on the SEBI board
.

Japan nuclear disaster tops scale

2011-04-12T21:56:00.000-07:00

Japan's prime minister vowed to wind down the month-long crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant "at all costs" Tuesday after his government officially designated the situation there a Chernobyl-level nuclear accident.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan said he wants the plant's owner, the Tokyo Electric Power Company, to produce a timetable for bringing the disaster to an end, "and they will be doing that soon." And a day after his government warned that thousands more people would need to be evacuated from the surrounding region, he pledged to provide jobs, housing and education for those uprooted by the accident.

Magnitude 6.6-quake jolts Japan coast

2011-04-11T03:26:00.000-07:00

Fires burned in northeastern Japan Monday evening after a powerful earthquake rattled the region, sending a landslide into Iwaki City, authorities said. A preliminary estimate put the quake's magnitude at 7.1, which was later lowered to 6.6, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. A series of smaller quakes continued to shake the region. Residents in Tokyo also felt the jolts. A tsunami warning issued by Japan's Meteorological Agency was later canceled.

Monday's initial quake was centered about 164 kilometers (101 miles) northeast of Tokyo, or about 50 kilometers (31 miles) southwest of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. Workers at the plant were asked to evacuate for a time, but later returned to resume their efforts to cool the troubled nuclear facility. The Tohoku Electric Power Company said 220,000 households and businesses in Fukushima were without power after Monday's quake, which came a month after a deadly magnitude-9 quake and tsunami devastated the island nation.

Japan set to extend nuclear evacuation zone

2011-04-10T21:28:00.000-07:00

Japan plans to extend the evacuation zone around its crippled nuclear plant because of high radiation levels, local media reported Monday, with engineers no closer to regaining control of six reactors hit by a giant tsunami one month ago. Concern at Japan's inability contain its nuclear crisis, caused by a March 11 earthquake and tsunami, is mounting with Prime Minister Naoto Kan's ruling party suffering embarrassing losses in local elections Sunday and neighboring China and South Korea voicing criticism. Engineers at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi plant north of Tokyo said Sunday they were no closer to restoring the plant's cooling system which is critical if overheated fuel rods are to be cooled and the six reactors brought under control. They are hoping to stop pumping radioactive water into the ocean Monday, days later than planned.

Four weeks after the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl quarter of a century ago, the government was moving to extend a 20 km evacuation zone due to high levels of radiation, the Asahi newspaper reported. The government has so far refused to widen the zone, despite being urged to by the International Atomic Energy Agency and countries like the United States and Australia advising its citizens to stay 80 kms away from the plant.

South Korea schools shut over radioactive rain

2011-04-06T22:15:00.000-07:00

Many South Korean schools have cancelled classes as officials scrambled to quell fears that rain contained radioactive material from Japan's stricken nuclear plant. More than 130 primary schools and kindergartens in Gyeonggi province surrounding the capital Seoul cancelled or cut classes today after rain began falling on orders from the provincial education office. An office spokesman called it part of "preemptive measures for the safety of students". The office had told schools on Wednesday to cancel or shorten classes due to "growing anxiety among students and parents over conflicting claims on the safety of radiation exposure". Schools in remote areas, where students have a long walk to class, were particularly encouraged to cancel activities. At schools which stayed open, teachers were advised to suspend outdoor activities.

Complaints from parents mounted on the website of Seoul city's education office, which refused to cancel classes and called for a calm response to the fears. "Please order class cancellation. I'm worried to death about my kid and can't sleep," said one posting. Education authorities in North Chungcheong province south of Gyeonggi postponed football, baseball and other sporting events. Concern grew in the nation closest to Japan after the weather agency said on Monday that radioactive material from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant may be carried to the peninsula by south-easterly winds. The amount of radioactive material contained in the rainfall is too tiny to pose any health threat, the prime minister's office said today, calling for education offices to refrain from "making parents nervous".

Air Force to cut 22 general officer jobs

2011-04-05T21:47:00.000-07:00

The Air Force will lose 22 general officer billets and will have eight of its top scientist positions downgraded as part of wide-ranging cuts by the Pentagon aimed at shrinking the size of the military budget. A 48-page memo written by Defense Secretary Robert Gates provides further detail in his drive to free up $178 billion over the next five years.In the memo, dated March 14 but not yet publicly released, Gates lists an array of cost-cutting measures — from reforming the intelligence budget to slashing 1,000 contractors over two years from the Missile Defense Agency. The Air Force issued a statement declaring its support for “efficiency efforts.”

“This review was part of a comprehensive review of Service, [Office of Secretary of Defense], Defense Agencies, and Combatant Command staffs,” Air Force spokesman Lt. Col. Todd Vician said. “It built upon previous initiatives, and demonstrates commitment to proper stewardship of the mission and resources entrusted to the Air Force. A reduction or elimination doesn’t signify less emphasis on the affected organization’s mission or importance to the Air Force.”

U.S. to stop using strike aircraft as fighting in Libya rages on

2011-04-04T02:05:00.000-07:00

The use of U.S. strike aircraft in Libya is set to expire Monday as uncertainty lingers about whether Western allies will arm opposition members trying to oust Libyan ruler Moammar Gadhafi. Over the weekend, fierce destruction permeated the city of Misrata, which has been choked off by pro-Gadhafi forces surrounding the city. "We need a lot of help in Misrata. There's so much death there," said Mustafa Abdul Hamali, a 46-year-old taxi driver who lost half of a leg. "I was driving in my car with my wife, and my car just blew up. I don't know what happened." Khalid Moteridi, a 32-year-old businessman-turned-rebel fighter, said the situation in Libya's third-largest city has turned dire.

"It¹s a tragedy by all means," he said. "No electricity, no food, no water. We¹re trapped from all sides by the Gadhafi forces." A doctor in Misrata told CNN government forces shelled a clinic, leaving one dead and 15 injured on Sunday. Last week, a hospital official said 398 people have been killed since the Libyan conflict began last month. He feared there were more deaths that his hospital didn't know about. Some rebels from Misrata got a bit of a reprieve Sunday, when a Turkish hospital ship picked up more than 300 of the wounded fighters. Their injuries included amputated limbs, broken bones and shrapnel wounds.

6.7-magnitude quake strikes off Indonesia

2011-04-03T23:26:00.000-07:00

Indonesia-Apr 4: Hundreds of residents fled an Indonesian port town for higher ground today when an earthquake struck south of Java with a magnitude estimated by US seismologists at 6.7. The epicentre in the Indian Ocean was 24 km miles deep, the US Geological Survey said, after initially estimating it at 10 km underground, and 277 kilometres south of the Javanese coast. Indonesian seismologists put the magnitude at 7.1 and issued a tsunami warning, saying the tremor had the potential to cause a killer wave and asking recipients of its public alert SMS to warn others of the danger. The warning was later cancelled. When the quake struck hundreds of residents in the seaport town of Cilacap fled inland and to higher ground by motorbike, car and on foot, an AFP reporter said. "They were all panicking and shouting ''quake, quake''," the reporter said. Suharjono, the technical head of Indonesia''s Meteorology and Geophysics Agency, who like many Indonesians uses only one name, said shaking from the tremor had been felt in Pangandaran and Cilacap districts in Java. "This quake roused people from their sleep," he said. "We have not received any reports of damage or casualties so far." The US Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre had said that there was no risk of a widespread destructive wave, but there was a "very small possibility of a local tsunami". The earthquake epicentre was 241 km from the remote Australian territory of Christmas Island, and seismologists said the tremor was felt there, but no tsunami warning alert was issued for Australia. "We had reports from there that they felt it," Geoscience Australia seismologist David Jepson told AFP, adding that it was described as a "moderate type quake".

Poll shows public support for Brown's budget plan is slipping

2011-03-24T04:09:00.000-07:00

A new survey by the Public Policy Institute of California shows 46% of likely voters backing the governor's proposed five-year extension on some taxes, a drop from 53% two months ago. The treasurer's office says delaying a vote on extensions to November could force the state to issue IOUs.

Public support for Gov. Jerry Brown's plan to solve the budget crisis with a June election is eroding as other officials warn that delaying such a move until late fall, as the governor is considering, could trigger a cash crisis and a fresh round of state-issued IOUs.

A new survey from the independent Public Policy Institute of California shows that 46% of likely California voters back Brown's call for a five-year extension on some sales, income and vehicle taxes to help balance the state's books. Just two months ago, 53% of voters surveyed by PPIC said they would approve of the taxes.

The public appetite for a special election also seems to be on the wane. Fifty-one percent of respondents said they wanted one; in January, two-thirds said they welcomed an opportunity to vote on Brown's proposal. The governor promised voters during his campaign last year that they could sign off on any tax hikes

Five Republicans woo Iowa voters ahead of 2012 race

2011-03-07T21:51:00.000-08:00

Five possible Republican White House hopefuls including Newt Gingrich and Tim Pawlenty courted conservative voters on Monday in Iowa, the state that holds a critical early contest on the road to the party's 2012 presidential nomination.

Former House of Representatives Speaker Gingrich, former Minnesota Governor Pawlenty, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, former Louisiana Governor Buddy Roemer and former Godfathers Pizza CEO Herman Cain took turns bashing President Barack Obama.

Republicans aim to deny Obama a second term as president.

The Iowa caucuses, an important early prize in the race for the Republican nomination, are scheduled for February 6, 2012. No leading Republican, including the five who appeared at the event in Iowa, has yet formally launched a candidacy.

Meanwhile, a top aide to real estate tycoon Donald Trump visited Iowa on Monday to gauge interest in the idea of a Trump bid for the Republican presidential nomination.

Trump, a billionaire and the celebrity star of NBC's "The Apprentice," has been flirting with a presidential run, speaking to a conference of conservatives in Washington last month. Many Republicans doubt he is serious.

Protest and Counter-Protest of King's Muslim

2011-02-23T21:38:00.000-08:00

Two groups of protesters met on Tuesday outside King's office, one to protest the hearings and the other to support them.

According to the Wall Street Journal, about 100 people showed up to represent each side. No arrests were made, but police intervened to set up barricades between the two groups after individual confrontations erupted into shouting matches.

King acknowledged the support shown him. "Al-Qaida is recruiting right under our radar screen," he said in an interview. "We are not going to cave to political correctness. There is a real threat to the country from the Muslim community and the only way to get to the bottom of it is to investigate what is happening."

Inna Arolovich of the American Association of Jews from the Former Soviet Union supports King and the hearings. "I believe that radical Islam is threatening each of us, including peaceful Muslims," she said. "It is a very real threat."

Dr. Shaik Ubaid of the Muslim Peace Coalition USA's New York chapter explained their concerns. "We are worried about the way the hearings are being conducted. It will demonize the Muslim community. He should work with the Muslim community who has been working with the FBI and others and get to the root cause of this."

Pax Christi also protested the hearings, as did several individuals, at least one of whose Muslim son Mohammad Salman Hamdani was an EMT who died during the 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York.

"American Muslims also died," Hamdani's mother said. "We sacrificed for this nation, for our nation. We are fighting on the front also. We are contributing members of society. For anybody to accuse the American Muslims of collective guilt is not right. We were attacked by foreign terrorists, criminals without a nation, al-Qaida."

State of the Union, Barack Obama must turn words into action

2011-01-27T03:26:00.000-08:00

President Barack Obama’s State of the Union

address Tuesday contained the usual laundry list of initiatives big and small — including many that require bipartisan cooperation for success.

But a POLITICO look at his wish list shows that, at best, he’ll probably be able to check off only a few of his agenda items, and Republicans are only part of the problem.

He put Democrats on the spot with an earmark ban, irked them by renewing his call for a freeze on discretionary spending and challenged them to limit medical malpractice lawsuits.

But heading toward his 2012 reelection, these are fights Obama seems willing — even eager — to have. He might not get everything he wants or even very much of it. But if Republicans balk, Democrats, led by the president, can call them out on it. If Democrats resist, Obama can create distance between himself and his less popular colleagues on the Hill.

POLITICO rates the odds of success for 10 key proposals. Items scoring zero have the least chance of happening. Those scoring 5 have the easiest track.

Five-year freeze on domestic spending

Idea: Obama proposed the cap as a “down payment toward reducing the deficit.”

Pro: The president claims the move would cut the deficit by more than $400 billion over the next decade, giving him a punchy talking point to show he is serious.

Con: It’s barely a dent. The deficit for this fiscal year alone is $1.5 trillion, congressional scorekeepers say.

Bush Recollection Puts Spotlight on Miscarriage

2010-11-10T03:37:00.000-08:00

But the scene, described by former President George W. Bush in his interview with Matt Lauer of NBC News on Monday night, has started a national conversation — both about his mother, Barbara Bush, and about the complex psychological fallout from miscarriage.

Mr. Bush called his mother’s action “straightforward,” and added that it illustrated “how my mom and I developed a relationship.” Some opponents of abortion reacted approvingly. Other commentators called Mrs. Bush’s behavior the action of a depressed and angry person.

But experts say the incident is hard to interpret half a century after the fact. Indeed, it was extraordinary in at least one respect, they add: Mrs. Bush made a point of directly confronting the loss at a time when the subject was largely taboo.

When a middle-class woman miscarried in postwar America, doctors often whisked the fetus away as if there were no loss of life at all, only embarrassment; women whispered about it between themselves but hardly ever discussed it openly.

“It wasn’t thought of as losing a life; it was more like a medical mishap,” said Dr. Randi Hutter Epstein, a physician and the author of “Get Me Out: A History of Childbirth” (Norton, 2010). “And although women felt it privately, they didn’t feel it was worthy of going to see someone, or seeking help.”

President Obama celebrates birthday in Chicago

2010-08-04T05:55:00.000-07:00

CHICAGO – It wasn’t much of a party, just President Barack Obama catching up with some close friends and Oprah Winfrey over dinner in his adopted hometown. His wife and kids were away, but they called to wish him a “Happy Birthday.” His dog, Bo, made the trip, along with an aide to take him for walks. He played cards on the flight from Washington. He got to sleep in his own home.

And that’s how the president celebrated turning 49 on Wednesday, with a relatively low-key overnight stay in Chicago.

That might seem a bit ordinary for the commander in chief, but Obama has only been back to visit Chicago a handful of times since moving to Washington 20 months ago. And while he may have spent the night there without his family, he had plenty of company throughout his big day.

Obama got “Happy Birthday” wishes from AFL-CIO chief Richard Trumka when he spoke to the labor group’s executive council Wednesday morning. The audience in the East Room ceremony for 2010 recipients of the Presidential Citizens Medal serenaded him. A little girl in his Chicago neighborhood held a sign that was almost as big as her just to say, "Happy 49th Birthday President Barack Obama.”

McCain Coburn Spotlight Failing Stimulus Projects

2010-08-04T02:36:00.000-07:00

Republican Sens. John released a report today profiling 100 stimulus projeMcCain (Ariz.) and Tom Coburn (Okla.) cts they say represent the failings of the stimulus package.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act "passed with assurances that it would stem the loss of American jobs and keep the economy from floundering," reads the introduction of the report, Summer Time Blues: 100 Stimulus Projects that Give Taxpayers the Blues during the Summer of Recovery." "As most can see, it hasn't."

The projects spotlighted represent just a tiny percentage of the more than 70,000 stimulus projects underway. Coburn said at a press conference, however, that the point of the report is to show that the stimulus is not getting Americans the "best bang for our buck." The program, he said, has raised the national debt while funding inappropriate projects.

"There is no question that this stimulus bill has had a positive effect on the economy to a certain degree, and what our criticism is, it could have had far greater effect," Coburn said.

The report highlights projects funded by the stimulus such as a water park in New York, research into whether yoga can reduce hot flashes, and a sidewalk in Boynton, Oklahoma that leads into a ditch.

US combat mission in Iraq to end

2010-08-03T06:29:00.000-07:00

Barack Obama said the US strategy in Iraq will shift "from a military effort led by our troops to a civilian effort led by our diplomats" by the end of this month, in the first of a series of speeches trumpeting the success of his administration's policy.

After a seven-year conflict costing US taxpayers some $700bn and the lives of more than 4,000 American troops, Obama proclaimed that the withdrawal of US forces was happening "as promised, on schedule," fulfilling his pledge as a presidential candidate to bring the conflict in Iraq to a "responsible end".

"As we mark the end of America's combat mission in Iraq, a grateful America must pay tribute to all who served there," Obama told the Disabled Veterans of America conference in Atlanta today, using a phrase that recalls George Bush's ill-fated claim on 1 May 2003 that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended".

In an attempt to avoid the premature triumphalism that damaged Bush's presidency, Obama also warned: "The hard truth is we have not seen the end of American sacrifice in Iraq."

Today's speech comes after a year in which Obama's administration has been concentrating on the conflict in Afghanistan and on US domestic policy, as the economy has remained the public's top concern and Democrats have wrestled with passing landmark healthcare and financial regulation reform

The withdrawal of American troops and the shift to a "civilian effort" will, however, likely include a build-up in contractors working for the US State Department, driving armored vehicles, flying aircraft and disposing of explosive devices, according to a report by McClatchy Newspapers.

Economy erodes election hope for Democrats

2010-07-28T03:03:00.000-07:00

President Obama makes remarks on the Senate campaign finance reform vote in the Rose Garden at the White House.

Americans by a large majority believe President Barack Obama has not focused enough on job creation, as economic fears threaten Democrats ahead of November 2 congressional elections, a Reuters-Ipsos poll found on Tuesday.

In a sign of trouble ahead for the Democrats, the poll found evidence of a sizable enthusiasm gap with Republicans more energized about voting in the elections.

Americans expressed deep unhappiness with the direction of the economy, which in the poll they identified overwhelmingly as the country's top problem.

The U.S. unemployment rate is at a stubbornly high 9.5 percent and Obama has spent much of the year on issues like Wall Street reform and healthcare in addition to jobs.

People were more negative about Obama's performance on the economy than on any other question surveyed. Satisfaction was dropping more sharply on the issue than on any other question.

Only 34 percent approved of Obama's handling of the economy and jobs compared to 46 percent who deemed it unsatisfactory. This is a sharp decline from early 2009, shortly after he took office, when more than half of those surveyed approved of Obama's handling of the worst financial crisis in decades.

President Obama to defend education plan

2010-07-27T03:30:00.000-07:00

President Barack Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan will deliver major speeches this week on their $4.35 billion Race to the Top school reform program, pushing back against complaints that it promotes unproven methods and ignores long-standing inequities in public education.

Speaking at the National Press Club on Tuesday, Duncan is expected to name a list of state finalists for the controversial grant program’s second round of funding and to explain why Race to the Top — the crown jewel of the administration’s education agenda — must continue. And on Thursday, Obama will talk about education at the annual gathering of the National Urban League, one of seven civil rights organizations that blasted Race to the Top in a report made public Monday.

The highly competitive initiatives “distribute resources by competition in the midst of a severe recession,” effectively reducing standard, formula-based federal education funding, according to the report. “Such an approach reinstates the antiquated and highly politicized frame for distributing federal support to states that civil rights organizations fought to remove in 1965.”

Obama holds up a document of Republican solutions

2010-07-26T05:06:00.001-07:00

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama who rocketed to the White House promising "change you can believe in," is now telling voters they shouldn't change a thing.

His message for the fall elections, which are looking ominous for his Democrats, is that Republicans caused the nation's economic troubles, but he and the Democrats are starting to fix them. So stick with the Democrats and don't go back to the GOP.

"This is a choice between the policies that led us into the mess or the policies that are leading out of the mess," Obama said recently in Las Vegas.

Trouble is, it's a tough sell to voters who've seen little progress.

Unemployment is stuck near double digits and polls show many voters have decided Obama's policies are to blame, not his predecessor's.

Obama often frames the argument by saying that Republicans had their chance to drive, then drove the car into a ditch and shouldn't get the keys back. But voters may be concluding that Democrats, who control the White House and both chambers of Congress, have had their chance at the wheel, too, and haven't gotten very far.

Rep. Charles Rangel vows to stay put and beat ethics rap

2010-07-25T07:40:00.000-07:00

Washington - When a reporter asked embattled Rep. Charles Rangel if his trial on ethics charges would hurt other Democrats, he shrugged and said, "Pain is pain."

But when a House ethics panel lays out the charges against him Thursday, the pain won't be just Rangel's.

Some of the most powerful people in America will wince with him - and hope he beats the rap.

Among them are House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and a throng of fans at the White House.

"Charlie has friends up and down Pennsylvania Ave.," a White House source said.

And while at least one Democrat has called on Rangel to step down for the sake of the party - Rep. Betty Sutton (D-Ohio) - he stood firm yesterday.

"Well, it wouldn't be the American thing to do [to step aside]. I think I owe it to the process to find out first what the investigative committee finds out," Rangel told reporters after speaking at Harlem Hospital.

Most Democrats, and many Republicans, see the 80-year-old Harlem Democrat and Korean War vet as likeable and extremely effective.

"When he walks into a room, you know he's the guy, he's just the guy, and that's what Charlie is to our delegation," said 11-term Rep. Jose Serrano (D-Bronx).

"Charlie is the man around whom we all gathered," added Rep. Eliot Engel (D-Bronx).

From his 40 years in the House, Rangel also is unsurpassed in knowing how to work the system.

Quantcast Bowing to political reality, Senate Democrats drop broad energy bill

2010-07-23T10:18:00.000-07:00

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, flanked by Sen. John F. Kerry and White House energy czar Carol Browner, blamed the GOP for the impasse.

Washington —Senate Democratic leaders shelved plans for major energy and climate legislation on Thursday, bowing to political reality and probably ending hopes for action this year to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, boost alternative energy production and wean the nation from carbon fuels.

Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada — who had promised to bring a sweeping energy bill with an emissions cap to the Senate floor by the August recess — said he would instead offer a scaled-back bill focused largely on responding to the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Obama We made enormous progress this week

2010-07-23T10:14:00.000-07:00

President Obama did a victory lap of sorts today, trumpeting three new laws approved this week that will help "repair the damage to our economy from this recession:" New financial firm regulations, an anti-government waste initiative, and an extension of unemployment benefits.

"We made enormous progress this week on Wall Street reform, on making sure that we're eliminating waste and abuse in government, and in providing immediate assistance to people who are out there looking for work," Obama said during brief remarks at the White House.

The president went on to urge Congress to pass a new loan program for small business owners so they can hire more people. "Our goal is to make sure that people who are looking for a job can find a job," said Obama, who is currently coping with an unemployment rate of 9.5%.

Senate Republicans, meanwhile, had a different interpretation of Obama's domestic program, saying it has actually slowed economic recovery.

"For more than a year and a half, the President and his Democrat allies on Capitol Hill have pushed an anti-business, anti-jobs agenda on the American people in the form of one massive government intrusion after another," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

Senate Democrats abandon comprehensive energy bill

2010-07-22T13:56:00.000-07:00

Senate Democrats on Thursday abandoned plans to pass an energy bill that caps emissions of carbon dioxide, saying Republicans refuse to support the measure.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said no Republican was willing to back a comprehensive energy bill, a development he called "terribly disappointing."

Democrats have been trying for more than a year to pass a plan that charges utilities and other major polluters for their heat-trapping carbon emissions, which contribute to global warming. They're also abandoning a compromise plan to limit emissions only from utilities that also failed to attract the 60 votes needed to advance it in the 100-member Senate.

Reid and other Democrats said they would focus on a narrower bill that responds to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and improves energy efficiency.

"We've always known from day one that to pass comprehensive energy reform, you've got to have 60 votes," said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., the bill's lead sponsor. "As we stand here today we don't have one Republican vote."

Obama urges action on unemployment

2010-07-21T08:28:00.000-07:00

Barack Obama urged Republican lawmakers to support a bill that would extend emergency benefits to millions of unemployed Americans on Monday. In a press conference at the White House Rose Garden he blasted Republican critics for their "lack of faith in the American people."

"These are honest, decent, hard-working folks who have fallen on hard times through no fault of their own," Obama said. "The same people who didn't have any problems spending money on tax breaks for the richest Americans are saying we shouldn't offer benefits to middle-class Americans."

Unemployment in the United States is at 9.5 per cent, and benefits for millions of Americans have dried up in recent months. The issue of temporarily extending emergency unemployment benefits has come up three times in recent weeks, but Republican senators have blocked it each time.

Obama has described the bill as crucial to rebuilding the economy, but Republican critics say they won't support it unless it is paid for through the budget and not through deficit spending.

"It's time to stop holding workers laid off in this recession hostage to Washington politics," Obama urged.

U.S. Supreme Court nominee nears confirmation

2010-07-20T14:44:00.000-07:00

U.S. Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan won approval by the Senate judiciary committee on Tuesday, moving her one step closer to final confirmation by the full Senate.

The committee voted 13 to 6 in favour of her nomination. She is expected to be confirmed by the full Senate as early as next week to succeed Justice John Paul Stevens, who is retiring.

Though just one Republican, Senator Lindsay Graham, voted in Kagan's favour, President Barack Obama praised the vote as "a bipartisan affirmation of Kagan's strong performance during her confirmation hearings" in June.

Before the vote, each of the 19 committee members voiced support or concerns about Kagan, currently the Obama administration's Solicitor General and a former dean of the Harvard Law School.

If confirmed by the full Senate, Kagan, 50, would become the third female justice on the nine-member court — joining Ruth Bader-Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor — and only the fourth in U.S. history.

For that, "her confirmation will be a milestone that we can all be proud of," said Senator Herb Kohl, of Wisconsin. "She will provide exemplary public service to our nation."

Kagan appeared to receive universal praise for her keen intellect and command of the law

Sarah Palin's war chest points to 2012 presidential bid

2010-07-19T09:26:00.000-07:00

Sarah Palin's efforts to raise her profile and broaden her support suggest she is preparing for a tilt at the White House in 2012.

Newly published election spending figures show Sarah Palin ended the last quarter with a war chest of more than $1m, suggesting gathering momentum for a run at the White House in 2012.

Her political action committee, a body for raising and distributing election cash, raised $866,000 in the three months from April 1, the most since it was formed in January 2009. She spent about $742,000 over the quarter, most of it on building up her political profile and base support.

Palin, who enjoys the support of the Tea Party and other grassroots activists but is distrusted by the Republican party establishment, has not yet said whether she will stand as a candidate. She and other potential rivals for the Republican nomination would normally begin to make their intentions clear early next year, in the wake of November's Congressional mid-term elections.

But a breakdown of money raised and spent by Palin suggests she is putting in place the political framework for a bid. She spent almost twice as much as in any previous quarter, much of it on speechwriters, private jets for public appearances, and hiring consultants to advise her on domestic and foreign policy, which were embarrassing weaknesses during her vice-presidential run in 2008.

She is also taking on more staff, including for the first time someone to keep control of her schedule. Until now, her organisation has tended to be chaotic.

Minor quake in DC doesn't shake up Obama

2010-07-16T10:30:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON -- A minor earthquake in the nation's capital didn't shake the president. After talking to reporters on the Gulf oil spill, President Barack Obama was asked whether he felt the 3.6-magnitude quake that hit near Washington early Friday morning.

A smiling Obama said he didn't feel it. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, it was the strongest quake to hit within 30 miles of D.C. since the agency began keeping records in 1974. No injuries were reported. Many in the area slept through it while others were jolted awake.

On the federal agency's website, by midmorning more than 11,000 people had reported feeling the quake, some from as far away as Pennsylvania and West Virginia. But at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, at least one person wasn't rattled.

Barack Obama's crackdown bill on Wall Street wins Senate backing

2010-07-15T13:05:00.000-07:00

Barack Obama has received a much-needed boost after the US Senate backed the biggest reform of Wall Street since the Great Depression.

The bill allows Obama to claim another major piece of legislation to put alongside the economic stimulus bill passed last year, which stands comparison with Roosevelt's New Deal, and the healthcare bill earlier this year, which achieved a goal that had eluded previous presidents.

It helps him counter accusations that his presidency is in danger of becoming an empty one, comparable to that of Jimmy Carter, who had little to show for his four years in office.

The bill, which could be on Obama's desk for signing on Friday or early next week, is intended to deal with many of the issues that led to recession in the US: dodgy mortgages, easy credit cards, and limited regulation of banking and Wall Street.

It posed a dilemma for the Republicans, caught between their traditional close ties with the financial industry and public anger against Wall Street, but in the end most voted against it. Lobbying groups on behalf of the financial industry mounted one of the most expensive campaigns in US election history against the bill.

Although some Democrats complain the bill does not go nearly far enough in regulating Wall Street, the Obama administration hopes it will help address some of the widespread public anger at bankers and financiers.

Barack Obama forced to quell rebellion from 'nuclear mad' Democrats

2010-07-15T11:31:00.000-07:00

Mr Obama held a clear-the-air meeting at the White House with party leaders, whose frustration with the administration had been simmering for months.

He promised to provide his full support from now until the midterm elections in November, when the entire 435-seat lower chamber will be contested.

Anger among Democrats had boiled over after Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, said on national television last weekend that the party's 75-seat majority could be overturned at the polls.

Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House, was said to be "nuclear mad" about Mr Gibbs's comments.

An aide said she referred to the remarks as "friendly fire," and called them "very damaging".

Louise Slaughter, a member of Democratic leadership, said: "It was an absolutely ridiculous thing for him to say. We didn't appreciate it."

The row came as the president's popularity continued to slide, with voters expressing declining confidence in his handling of the economy.

Obama's job approval rating down three points to a new low of 44 per cent. Those who approved of his handling of the economy dropped five percentage points in a month to 40 per cent.

Mr Obama on Thursday travelled to Holland in Michigan, where $472 million from last year's $800 billion stimulus has been spent, principally on new electric vehicle battery factories.

Obama picks adviser to cut deficit

2010-07-14T09:34:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON — President Obama yesterday tapped veteran adviser Jacob “Jack’’ Lew, former staffer to Bay State lawmakers, to head the Office of Management and Budget.

Lew, who worked for Representative Joseph Moakley and former House speaker Thomas P. “Tip’’ O’Neill in the 1970s and ’80s, has a long record of public service, serving as both deputy director and director of OMB during the Clinton administration.

The 54-year-old Lew is currently a top aide to another Clinton — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton — and would replace outgoing OMB director Peter Orszag.

“I was actually worried that Hillary would not let him go,’’ Obama said in the Diplomatic Reception Room at the White House yesterday, introducing Lew. “I had to trade a number of No. 1 draft picks to get Jack back at OMB.’’

When he worked for Bill Clinton, Lew presided over a substantial budget surplus.

If he goes back to his old job, Lew will have to wrangle with the biggest budget deficit in history, forcing him to look for more cuts and revenues to reach the president’s ultimate goal of a reduced deficit.

“Jack’s challenge over the next few years is to use his extraordinary skill and experience to cut down that deficit and put our nation back on a fiscally responsible path. And I have the utmost faith in his ability to achieve this goal as a central member of our economic team,’’ Obama said.

Senate Budget Committee chairman Kent Conrad, Democrat of North Dakota, called Lew “a superb choice’’ and a person of “the highest integrity.’’

“He knows how to make the tough choices. And he knows how to reach across the aisle to find bipartisan solutions,’’ Conrad said.

Palin Comes to Tea Party's Defense After NAACP Passes Racism Resolution

2010-07-14T09:30:00.000-07:00

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin came to the defense of the Tea Party on Tuesday night, saying that the NAACP was wrong to pass a resolution condemning what it says are racist elements of the conservative movement.

"I am saddened by the NAACP's claim that patriotic Americans who stand up for the United States of America's Constitutional rights are somehow 'racists,'" Palin wrote in a Facebook note. "The charge that Tea Party Americans judge people by the color of their skin is false, appalling, and is a regressive and diversionary tactic to change the subject at hand."

Delegates at the annual convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in Kansas City yesterday passed the resolution calling on the Tea Party to expel its racist elements, but the group will reportedly not release the final version of the resolution until its board passes it in October.

Palin, the former Republican vice presidential nominee who is now seen as a leader of the Tea Party movement, quoted conservative icon Ronald Reagan, who called America's past racism "a legacy of evil." She said that with the election of the first black president, the United States has become "a new 'post-racial' society."

Vote on Kagan delayed on Republican request

2010-07-13T09:24:00.000-07:00

A committee vote on the Supreme Court nomination of Solicitor General Elena Kagan will be put off at least another week to give Republican lawmakers more time to review her record.

Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, requested that the committee's vote on the nomination, which had been scheduled for Tuesday, be delayed for one week.

Mr. Sessions said he had "serious questions" about Ms. Kagan, particularly relating to her views on the military, partial-birth abortion and gun rights.

"Fundamentally, the nominee lacks the experience and the intellectual vigor you develop from full-time practice of the law and serving as a judge," Mr. Sessions said.

Ms. Kagan, who spent most of her career in academia as dean of Harvard Law School and previously worked in the Clinton White House, had testified two weeks ago before the committee. Republicans criticized her for dodging questions during her three days of testimony.

But the committee's chairman, Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, Vermont Democrat, said Ms. Kagan answered the 500 questions she faced more thoroughly than recent nominees, and he praised her intellect and wit.

Mr. Leahy agreed to grant the request for a one-week delay, which any member of the committee has a right to request, though he did say he suspects all members of the committee have already decided how they will vote on Ms. Kagan's nomination.

President Obama nominated Ms. Kagan to replace Justice John Paul Stevens, who is retiring after more than three decades on the bench. If Ms. Kagan is confirmed, it will mark the first time that three women will sit on the high court at the same time.

Even with the delay, Ms. Kagan's nomination is not expected to face serious opposition and her confirmation is likely to take place before the court's next session begins in October.

On Economy, White House Message Not Sticking

2010-07-13T09:18:00.000-07:00

Now, 40 percent of Americans polled approve of President Obama's handling of the economy; 54 percent disapprove. That's down from 45 percent approval last month.

Seventy-one percent of those polled say that their local job market is bad and 70 percent say it's going to stay the same or get worse. Only 28 percent of respondents think the job market will improve.

The White House has consistently said that the economic mess was inherited, that the Recovery Act/stimulus package has worked, and that it's going to take time for the country to get back on track. Republicans and some business allies have countered that the health care law and other legislative priorities, like the proposed energy legislation, have cost the business community and make job creation difficult.

The poll numbers show that the White House's message of success, not so much in curing the economy, but success in doing what's right, doesn't seem to be sticking.

Last week at fundraiser in Missouri, the president acknowledged the difficulty he's had in convincing Americans that his administration has the right prescription to fix the economy. "You wouldn't know it from listening to folks, but we cut taxes for working families and for small business owners all across American to help them weather the storm," he said.

With a few months to go to November's midterm elections, the White House has big hill to climb to turn the economic numbers around. So they've begun to change the message.

NAACP Proposing Resolution Condemning “Racism of the Tea Party

2010-07-12T17:22:00.000-07:00

(Kansas City Star) — The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People will propose a resolution this week condemning racism within the tea party movement.

The resolution, scheduled for a vote as early as Tuesday by delegates attending the annual NAACP convention in Kansas City, calls upon “all people of good will to repudiate the racism of the Tea Parties, and to stand in opposition to its drive to push our country back to the pre-civil rights era.”
NAACP leaders said the resolution was necessary to make people aware of what they believe is a racist element within the tea party movement.

Tea party leaders deny that the movement is racist and said the resolution is unfair.

“I just don’t see racism in the tea party movement,” said Brendan Steinhauser, director of campaigns for FreedomWorks, which organizes tea party groups. “Racism is something we’re absolutely opposed to.”

“The NAACP has more of a political agenda now, but I would hope that they would appreciate the fact that the tea party movement has a lot in common with the civil rights movement. I’m personally inspired by what the civil rights movement did, and I want them to know that.”

Among the charges lodged against the tea party in the resolution:

Tea party supporters have engaged in “explicitly racist behavior” and “displayed signs and posters intended to degrade people of color generally and President Barack Obama specifically.”
* Tea party activists have used racial epithets, have verbally and physically abused black members of Congress and others, and have been charged with threatening public officials.

2010-07-08T13:18:00.000-07:00

President Barack Obama is scheduling to appoint the head of Medicare and Medicaid without Senate hearings. Obama intends to use a so-called recess appointment to put Berwick in charge of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Republicans have raised concerns about Berwick's views on rationing of care and other matters and said it was wrong for Obama to go around the normal Senate authentication process. That view was echoed by a key Democratic committee chairman, although the recess appointment is a tool used by presidents of both parties.

Berwick has wide support in the medical community but some Democrats feared the GOP would use his verification hearings as an occasion to reopen last year's troublesome health care debate. Obama protected the decision to appoint Berwick and two other officials, one to a pension board and the other to a White House science post.

The American Hospital Association and AARP were among the groups that weighed in to support Berwick Wednesday

Obama boost up U.S. export

2010-07-07T14:53:00.000-07:00

President Barack Obama announced on Wednesday that he would renew his efforts to renegotiate long-stalled free trade agreement with Panama and Colombia and convince Congress to adopt them.

Obama said that” Ninety-five percent of the world's customers and fastest-growing markets are beyond our borders, So if we want to find new growth streams ... we've got to compete for those new customers” .Obama includes the coordination of trade missions in 24 countries to boost loans to help American exporters; breaking down trade barriers; enforcing trade rules, and promoting international economic cooperation.

Obama highlighted an agreement reached in March to revive the Chinese market to American pork products and to revive Russia to U.S. poultry. Combined, the two steps are worth more than $1 billion to American businesses Obama said the U.S. government is reforming its own restrictions on exports "consistent with our national security interests.

Barack Obama to put Benjamin Netanyahu under pressure over West Bank

2010-07-05T12:31:00.000-07:00

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli premier, will come under fierce pressure from President Barack Obama to extend a 10-month freeze on Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

During their White House meeting, Mr Obama is expected to register his dismay at Israeli actions over the commando raid on an aid convoy to Gaza in which nine Turks died.

Israel has strongly resisted demands to apologise and Mr Netanyahu is likely to rebuff attempts to extend the settlement freeze, which expires at the end of September.

The meeting comes at a time of intense strain in the American-Israel relationship, a foreign policy foundation for both countries.

Michael Oren, Israel's ambassador to Washington, was recently reported as saying in a private briefing that there was a "tectonic rift" between Jerusalem and Washington, a comment that he strenuously denied after it was publicised.

Mr Netanyahu will seek to emphasis his willingness to enter direct talks with the Palestinians as a means of deflecting the Gaza and settlement issues.

"I have been willing to meet Abu Mazen from the first day of this government," he said at a Cabinet meeting before setting off for the United States. "The time has come for him to be prepared to meet with us, because there is no other way to advance peace. I hope this will be one of the results of the visit to Washington."

Obama urges immigration reform

2010-07-01T16:14:00.000-07:00

US president Barack Obama speaking about immigration reform at the American University School of International Service in Washington today.

President Barack Obama said his administration will push for an overhaul of the nation's immigration laws, saying the system is “fundamentally broken”.

"What we have made clear is that this administration will not just kick the can down the road," president Obama said in a speech at the American University School of International Service in Washington today. “Immigration reform is no exception.”

Mr Obama said passing comprehensive reform would be impossible without Republican support. The president needs at least 60 votes in the Senate to overcome Republican opposition and ensure a floor vote on legislation and the Democrats control 58 seats.

Other major hurdles facing any overhaul effort this year are the midterm elections in November and a congressional agenda crowded with priorities such as confirming Elena Kagan as a Supreme Court justice, passing budget and spending bills, and final action on financial regulation overhaul.

The president has regularly pledged to tighten border security and revamp the nation's immigration laws to deal with the millions of immigrants in the country illegally.

He repeated that pledge in May during a state visit by Mexican president Felipe Calderon and earlier this week in a meeting with immigration groups.

Arizona Law Calderon lobbied Mr Obama for an immigration overhaul after Arizona passed a law cracking down on illegal immigrants.

Dems use Kagan to get voters

2010-07-01T16:02:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON — The Democratic Party put Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan front and center Thursday on an e-mail appeal to raise funds and sign up supporters for President Barack Obama's agenda.

"Kagan for Justice," reads a bumper sticker-style headline on a website where supporters are asked to sign their names and give their e-mail addresses, then taken to a site where they are asked to donate money to the Democratic National Committee.

Also topping the site is a picture of a smiling Kagan, who just concluded three days of hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee at which she pledged repeatedly to cast aside any political allegiances if confirmed, and decide cases solely on the basis of the Constitution and the law.

The appeal comes from Donna Brazile, one of Democrats' top voter registration officials.

"The Democratic Party is pushing back to ensure that this incredible woman gets a fair hearing, but we must also show that public support for Kagan is overwhelming," Brazile writes.

The message comes as the Judiciary panel is wrapping up a week's worth of hearings on Kagan, who's on track for confirmation after a smooth performance before senators.

Obama endorses plan to boost wireless broadband

2010-06-28T19:04:00.000-07:00

U.S. President Barack Obama speaks to participants of the Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month event in the East Room at the White House in Washington

U.S. President Barack Obama endorsed on Monday plans by regulators to nearly double the spectrum now available for wireless devices.

The White House announced a plan modeled after proposals by the Federal Communications Commission to free up 500 megahertz of spectrum over the next 10 years to meet the demand for laptop computers and smartphones such as Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) popular iPhone.

Some estimates suggest the next five years will see an increase in wireless data of between 20 to 45 times 2009 levels, reflecting the burgeoning use of wireless devices.

The Federal Communications Commission, which manages commercial spectrum licenses, and the Department of Commerce, which oversees government spectrum, have been working together to locate unused spectrum.

Officials said they hope they can identify some spectrum by Oct. 1 that can be made available within five years.

Paul Gallant, a telecommunications analyst with Concept Capital, said Obama's announcement is a plosive development for wireless infrastructure companies such as Alcatel-Lucent SA (ALUA.PA), American Tower Corp (AMT.N), Ciena Corp (CIEN.O), and Tellabs Inc, among others.

The "White House's endorsement bolsters the outlook for spectrum goals" laid out by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski in the recent National Broadband Plan, Gallant said.

Freeing up airwaves to meet the growing demands of the wireless industry is a major component of the FCC's National Broadband Plan to increase Internet subscribers and provide affordable access to rural and low-income families.

House passes campaign bill backed by Democrats

2010-06-24T17:19:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON -- Four months before midterm elections, the Democratic-controlled House approved new limitations on the political activity of outside interest groups Thursday after carving out exemptions that benefit the National Rifle Association as well as labor unions and numerous federal contractors.

The vote was 219-206 on the legislation that Democrats trumpeted as a move to bring fuller disclosure to shadowy campaign ads and Republicans attacked as an unconstitutional restriction on free speech.

In a statement, President Barack Obama praised the bill, although he said, "I would have preferred that it include no exemptions." He urged quick action in the Senate, where Majority Leader Harry Reid has pledged to seek a vote but strong Republican opposition make its prospects uncertain.

At the juncture of the First Amendment and partisan politics, the measure produced an unlikely alignment among the very groups it was intended to regulate.

Organizations as diverse as the American Civil Liberties Union and Sierra Club on the left to the Chamber of Commerce and the National Right to Life Committee on the right opposed it. The NRA was officially neutral - and drew a jab from House Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio because of that.

Judge Blocks Deep-Water Drilling Moratorium

2010-06-22T13:11:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON — A federal judge in New Orleans on Tuesday blocked a six-month moratorium on deep-water drilling projects that the Obama administration had imposed in response to the vast oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.The White House swiftly said the administration would appeal the decision.

In a 22-page ruling, Judge Martin L. C. Feldman of Federal District Court issued a preliminary injunction against the enforcement of a May 28 order halting all floating offshore drilling projects in more than 500 feet of water and preventing the government from issuing new permits for such projects.

Citing the economic harm to businesses and workers in the gulf caused by the moratorium, Judge Feldman — a 1983 appointee of President Ronald Reagan — wrote that the Obama administration had failed to justify the need for the sweeping suspension, which he characterized as “generic, indeed punitive.”

He wrote that “the blanket moratorium, with no parameters, seems to assume that because one rig failed and although no one yet fully knows why, all companies and rigs drilling new wells over 500 feet also universally present an imminent danger.”

President invites discussions for energy legislation

2010-06-17T13:22:00.000-07:00

US President Barack Obama has asked key Republican and Democratic senators to meet him at the White House on June 23rd to discuss his currently stalled energy bill.

The meeting, which will take ideas from both sides of politics, will involve conversations on the oil tragedy in the Gulf, oil and gas drilling oversights, pollution at coal-burning factories and incentives for the expansion of nuclear energy for power.

The president will be looking to find votes for comprehensive energy legislation at the meeting, to which he has invited Republican Lindsey Graham, who was one of three original authors of the bill in the Senate. Senator Graham later dropped his support for the bill.

It is believed the president will ask the assembled lawmakers to consider a bill to change US dependence on foreign oil and fossil fuels, while also requiring US industries and utilities to cut their output of carbon dioxide pollution.

Obama heading back to Gulf Coast

2010-06-08T15:43:00.000-07:00

President Barack Obama will make another visit to the Gulf Coast next week to review efforts to contain and clean up the worst oil spill in U.S. history, the White House announced Tuesday.

Obama's Monday and Tuesday itineraries will include stops in Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, three of the four states affected by the 50-day-old disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, the White House announced. It will be his fourth trip to the region since the spill erupted in late April.

On Friday, Obama was in Grand Isle, Louisiana, where he met with local business leaders directly affected by the undersea gusher and huddled with regional officials involved in the response effort.

Tuesday's announcement followed Obama's blunt defense of his administration's handling of the disaster in an interview on NBC's "Today" show. Asked about complaints that his public appearances have been too cerebral and reserved, Obama said, "This is not theater."

"I don't sit around talking to experts because this is a college seminar," he said. "We talk to these folks because they potentially have the best answers, so I know whose ass to kick."

Obama said that his administration's response is the largest mobilization against an environmental catastrophe in the history of the federal government and that officials understood "from day one" that the spill would be a major disaster. He said it is "tough" to see images of oil-smeared birds or meet fishermen "who are on the verge of tears," but "we just got to keep on moving."

Obama to keep drilling moratorium for 6 months-aide

2010-05-27T11:30:00.000-07:00

President Barack Obama will announce a six month extension on a deepwater oil drilling moratorium on Thursday while a special commission studies the reasons for the Gulf of Mexico spill, a White House aide said.

"(Obama) will announce standards to strengthen oversight of the industry and enhance safety, a first step in a process that the independent Presidential Commission will continue," the aide said on Thursday.

"While the commission performs its work to determine how to prevent this from ever happening again, the moratorium on permits to drill new deepwater wells will continue for a period of six months."

The extended moratorium represents a further setback for offshore drilling expansion, a key plank of Obama's proposed energy policy overhaul, which is currently languishing in the U.S. Senate.

Democrats hoped increased drilling would attract Republican support for the bill, which also ramps up domestic production of renewable fuel sources and sets limits on greenhouse gas emissions blamed for global warming.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar briefed Obama and his advisers about the contents of a report about the spill and the deadly blast aboard the Deepwater Horizon rig, which was leased by BP, on Wednesday night, the aide said.

The president is expected to discuss details of the report and his administration's response to the spill at a 12:45 p.m. EDT (1645 GMT) White House news conference.

Obama will announce delays or cancellations of planned exploration in certain areas around the country, the aide said.

Planned exploration off the coast of Alaska in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas will be put off pending the presidential commission's review, he said, while an August lease sale in the western Gulf will be canceled.

"The lease sale off the coast of Virginia will also be canceled due to environmental concerns and concerns raised by the Defense Department," he said.

Obama has come under increasing pressure to stop the spill and halt its environmental and economic consequences for Gulf states. BP, which has been publicly scolded by the president, was working on Thursday to plug the leaking well in a procedure known as "top kill."

Obama's bipartisan presidential commission is modeled after previous panels that looked into the 1986 explosion of the space shuttle Challenger and the Three Mile Island nuclear accident in 1979.

Obama tours Fremont's Solyndra

2010-05-26T14:35:00.000-07:00

President Obama looks at a solar panel as he is given a tour of Solyndra by Executive Vice President Ben Bierman, left, and Chief Executive Officer Chris Gronet, Wednesday, May 26, 2010, at Solyndra Inc. in Fremont, Calif. Solyndra is a solar panel manufacturing facility.

President Obama shakes hands with workers as Solyndra Inc. Chief Executive Officer Chris Gronet, third from left in blue shirt, watches during a tour of Solyndra Inc. in Fremont, Calif., Wednesday, May 26, 2010. Solyndra is a solar panel manufacturing facility.

In a trip designed to highlight green jobs created by the Recovery Act and the need for renewable alternatives to oil, President Barack Obama toured solar manufacturer Solyndra on Wednesday morning before speaking to a crowd of about 200 in the Fremont company's new factory.

Obama arrived at Solyndra shortly before 9:30 a.m., making a point of shaking hands with workers in white lab coats and hard hats before a tour with Chris Gronet, Solyndra's CEO, and Ben Bierman, executive vice president of operations and engineering.

Their conversation during the tour was largely drowned out by the noise of the factory, but at one point the president could be heard saying, "This is impressive. It really is."

Obama to lunch with Republican senators, dine with Democratic donors

2010-05-25T08:34:00.000-07:00

Good morning. A busy President Obama will start his long day on Eastern time and end it on Pacific time. On tap: a Rose Garden ceremony to honor small businessowners, lunch with GOP senators, a meeting with Giorgio Napolitano, the president of Italy, and a fundraiser for California Sen. Barbara Boxer.

Late yesterday, the White House signed off on a deal to repeal -- albeit slowly -- the "don't ask, don't tell" policy on gays in the military. That sets up votes later this week in the House and in the Senate Armed Services Committee that would permit gays to serve openly in the armed services once a review has been completed. Currently gays are permitted to serve only if they conceal their sexual preference. You can read the White House letter agreeing to the deal here.

This morning the president will celebrate National Small Business Week by hosting a White House reception for award-winning business owners. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs says it's to recognize "the important role small business plays in our economy" -- and not a moment too soon, as USA TODAY's own Dennis Cauchon points out today in an eye-popping story about the decline in private sector wages.

The president then heads up to Capitol Hill, where he will join Republican senators for their weekly luncheon.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's spokesman, Don Stewart, says the president requested the invitation, which his boss was happy to issue. "The Republican Conference welcomes his visit ,where they will have a wide-ranging discussion on the year ahead," Stewart said.

Later in the afternoon, the president will be heading to California in an effort to prevent McConnell from having to lay an extra plate at his luncheons next year. Obama is working overtime to keep California's Senate seat Democratic, headlining his second fundraiser for Boxer in a little more than one month. Tonight's event is in San Francisco; in April Obama joined the senator at a Los Angeles fundraiser.

Obama to raise cash in California for Boxer

2010-05-25T08:27:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is helping raise money for Sen. Barbara Boxer's re-election campaign, his second trip to California in as many months to assist the imperiled incumbent.

Obama was to appear at two fundraisers Tuesday night in San Francisco with the liberal Boxer, who is seeking her fourth-term. Though she easily won her last election, the economic woes that have hit California particularly hard have left Boxer facing her strongest challenge since she joined Congress.

Complicating matters for Boxer is an anti-Washington electorate that's been dismissing long-serving politicians with ease in this midterm election year. Veteran Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter, who switched from the Republican to Democratic Party, was ousted in his primary contest last week. Utah's three-term Sen. Bob Bennett failed to make it out of his state's Republican nominating convention earlier this month.

During a trip to Los Angeles last month to headline three fundraisers for Boxer, Obama warned supporters that she could suffer the same fate.

"I don't want anyone here taking this for granted," he said at an April 19th event.

Boxer's opponent will be decided in a June 8 GOP primary that pits former Hewlett-Packard chief executive Carly Fiorina against former Rep. Tom Campbell and California Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, who has the backing of the tea party movement.

Proceeds from Tuesday's events will be split between Boxer's campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

Obama will spend Tuesday night in San Francisco, then head to nearby Fremont, Calif., on Wednesday to tour a solar facility and make remarks on the economy.

President to propose new scheme for cutting congressional spending

2010-05-24T09:37:00.000-07:00

President Obama's budget director, Peter Orszag, will be holding a telephone press conference later this morning to discuss a new plan to trim federal spending.

According to a sneak preview issued by the White House, the president plans to send legislation to Congress that would essentially allow him to excise parts of spending bills he doesn't like before signing them. The lawmakers would then vote on whether to accept the president's cuts -- but it would be a take-it-or-leave-it deal; no amendments or changes allowed.

It's the latest chapter in an age-old power struggle between the executive and legislative branches. Members of Congress love to tack pet projects onto "must-pass" bills required to keep the federal budget running, essentially daring the chief executive to veto the measures in order to get rid of the pork. Guess what? It usually doesn't happen.

Presidents have been trying for years to get a so-called "line-item veto" which would allow them to zero in on objectionable provisions without killing an entire bill. But so far, they haven't been successful.

Leading the opposition has been the Senate's senior Democrat, Robert C. Byrd, who argues that it upsets the constitutional balance of powers.

We'll be bringing you more about what the administration has to say in favor of its proposal after this morning's call.

Obama Mandates Rules to Raise Fuel Standards

2010-05-21T11:11:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON — President Obama ordered the government on Friday to develop tougher fuel-efficiency standards for cars and trucks, advancing the fight against climate change without waiting for Congress.

Mr. Obama announced the creation of a national policy that will result in less greenhouse gas pollution from medium- and heavy-duty trucks for the first time, and will further reduce exhaust from cars and light-duty trucks beyond the requirements he had already put in place.

“Today’s announcement is an essential part of our energy strategy, but it’s not a substitute for other necessary steps,” Mr. Obama said in a Rose Garden ceremony on Friday, flanked by auto and truck manufacturers. He repeated his hope that Congress would pass an energy bill by the end of the year. “In the meantime,” he added, “I’m going to take every sensible, responsible action that I can take using my authority as president.”

Mr. Obama said that reducing fuel use would save money for businesses and consumers, and he linked his new policy to the enormous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. “The disaster in the gulf only underscores that, even as we pursue domestic reduction to reduce our reliance on imported oil, our long-term security depends on the development of alternative sources of fuel and new transportation technologies,” he said.

The executive memorandum the president signed on Friday orders the Environmental Protection Agency and the Transportation Department to develop new fuel and emissions standards more strict than those formalized last month, but the memorandum did not propose specific fuel-economy figures.

Under last month’s rules, new cars must get at least 35.5 miles to a gallon of fuel, on average, by 2016, in combined city and highway driving. The president’s new plan would order further improvements in fuel efficiency for cars and light trucks made in 2017 and beyond, and in medium and heavy trucks made in 2014 through 2018.

In addition, Mr. Obama’s directive orders more federal support for the development of new vehicles like advanced electric cars, and it instructs the Environmental Protection Agency to reduce emissions of other kinds of pollutants by motor vehicles, besides greenhouse gases.

Environmentalists hailed the move. “President Obama’s oil savings proposal will reduce our dependence on oil,” said Daniel J. Weiss, director of climate strategy at the Center for American Progress, a liberal research organization. “More efficient cars and trucks will help to protect families’ budgets as well as America’s shores.”

Senate passes U.S. financial reform bill

2010-05-21T11:07:00.000-07:00

The U.S. Senate passed landmark legislation on Thursday night to further regulate banks and Wall Street in what is considered the largest attempt to overhaul the U.S. financial system since the 1930s. The bill, which passed by a 59-39 vote, must now be merged with a House of Representatives version.

Earlier, U.S. President Barack Obama said financial industry lobbyists failed in their attempt to block the vote. Obama said there is more work ahead but he will ensure the final bill will be effective and responsive.

"Our goal is not to punish the banks but to protect the larger economy and the American people from the kind of upheavals that we've seen in the past few years," Obama said.

The bill is seen a major victory for Obama, coming two months after his health-care overhaul was signed into law.

The legislation is the most sweeping tightening of the rules for Wall Street since the Great Depression. It calls for new ways to watch for risks in the financial system and makes it easier to liquidate large, failing financial firms.

It also writes new rules for complex securities blamed for helping precipitate the economic crisis in 2008 and creates a new agency assigned to protect consumers from potentially dodgy financial products, including mortgages.

Only two Democrats voted against the bill. Four Republicans broke ranks with their party to support it. Twice the Senate had to beat back efforts by Republicans to delay the bill before achieving final passage.

"The decisions we've made will have an impact on the lives of Americans for decades to come," said Alabama Republican Sen. Richard Shelby, who voted against the legislation.

"Judgment will not be rendered by self-congratulatory press releases, but rather by the marketplace. And the marketplace does not give credit for good intentions."

Kagan known for openness, assertiveness at Harvard

2010-05-20T10:27:00.000-07:00

Elena Kagan, President Barack Obama's pick for the Supreme Court, gets high marks as a peacemaker for the fractious faculty of Harvard Law School while she was dean. But even her supporters here say she also has a temper.

Professor Charles Fried, while calling Kagan "masterful" for her ability to work well with the diverse faculty at Harvard, recalled how she once blew up at him after some students said there were pages missing from a constitutional law exam.

Fried said he sent an e-mail to students explaining a resolution he thought had been approved. But, in fact, Kagan had worked out a different resolution.

"She came steaming into my office and said, 'Why have you done that? It's a confusing situation and you've made it worse.' She screamed and shouted at me and slammed the door and stormed out," Fried said.

"Two minutes later, she came back and said, 'I'm sorry I shouted.' I said, 'Elena, don't apologize, you were right.' "

"She was dynamic, aggressive, sometimes abrasive," said Detlev Vagts, a professor who clashed with Kagan over the appointment of Jack Goldsmith, a former assistant attorney general in the Bush administration. "There was quite a turnover of her top management group when she was named dean," he said.

Critics initially balked at Goldsmith's appointment, questioning whether he had helped write memos authorizing the torture of suspected terrorists. In a book published in 2007, Goldsmith said he had rescinded two memos — written by attorneys who previously ran the Office of Legal Counsel — that gave the military and the CIA broad latitude in interrogating prisoners.

Kagan was able to win strong support for Goldsmith and the faculty easily approved his appointment.

Vagts said Kagan, 50, was "dismissive" of him when he tried to express his concern over Goldsmith's appointment and later when he objected to Kagan's plan to group retiring professors near one another in a set of offices.

Mexico's President Blasts Arizona Immigration Law During White House Visit

2010-05-19T09:32:00.000-07:00

Mexican President Felipe Calderon seized the opportunity to blast Arizona's controversial immigration law on Wednesday after President Obama welcomed him to the White House.

Arizona's law, which takes effect in July, will call for state and local police to determine if people are in the country illegally.

At the start of Wednesday's state visit to Washington, Calderon said the law discriminated against Mexicans and called for the two countries to work together to develop an immigration policy that did not force people to live in the shadows "with such laws as the Arizona law, which is forcing our people to face discrimination."

Calderon, whose remarks were translated from Spanish, said "We can do so if we create a safer border -- a border that will unite us instead of dividing us.

"We can do so with a community that will promote a dignified life in an orderly way for both our countries, who are some of them still living here in the shadows," he said. "If we are divided we cannot overcome these problems. We can only do this if we actually face our mutual problems."

Sprinkling in a bit of Spanish, Obama went to great lengths to greet Calderon, who is fighting an escalating, bloody battle against drug cartels in his country and facing pressure to get results on immigration reform. Around the White House grounds, Mexican and U.S. flags waved together, while cheering school children and military in their finest dress uniforms gathered on the South Lawn to embrace the pageantry.

Obama Blasts Republicans for Not Supporting Economic Recovery Plans

2010-05-18T12:49:00.000-07:00

Distancing himself from today's Democratic primaries in which two his party's incumbent U.S. Senators are running for the political lives, President Obama dropped in on the rust belt to trumpet administration recovery efforts and blast Republicans for sitting on the sidelines.

"I saw the 85-ton electric arc furnace," the president told workers at V & M Star, a manufacturer of pipe and other tubular steel products. "I know you're building Iron Man's suits somewhere in here," he joked about current hit movie, eliciting polite laughter from his audience.

Here in a state where the unemployment rate stands at 11 percent, above the national average of 9.9 percent, Mr Obama tried to put Republicans on the defensive for not supporting his economic recovery plans.

"I think those critics who have been trying to bad mouth these efforts - they know its working," said the president.

He accuses some of them of opposing the programs but then taking credit for the progress, even attending the ribbon cuttings.

"If the just-say-no crowd had won out - if we had done things that way - we'd be in a deeper world of hurt," said Mr. Obama.

"Just imagine how much farther along we could be if we worked together - if I'd gotten a little help," he told his audience.

He said despite all "the naysayers in Washington, who are always looking for the cloud in every silver lining; the fact is our economy is growing again."

In a cavernous plant filled with the pipes manufactured here, including some for the oil drilling industry, Mr. Obama said his programs have helped companies such as V & M Star to expand - and will bring other dormant factories to life.

"We could sit back, do nothing, make a bunch of excuses, play politics and watch America's decline - or we could stand up and fight for our future," said the president.

Mr. Obama announced a new agreement to help other communities like Youngstown revitalize and redevelop "shuttered GM facilities, preparing them for new industries, new jobs, and new opportunity."

Obama signs press freedom act, declines to take questions

2010-05-17T13:15:00.000-07:00

President Obama welcomed Daniel Pearl's family to the Oval Office today for the signing of the Freedom of Press Act named in honor of the Wall Street Journal reporter who was killed by terrorists in 2002.

The law requires the State Department to list countries that threaten press freedoms and permit violence against journalists. It "puts us clearly on the side of journalistic freedom," Obama said. That was a cue for reporters in the room.

"Speaking of press freedoms," began Chip Reid of CBS before launching into a question about the Gulf Coast oil spill. Obama didn't bite.

Two arrested in connection with Times Square bombing

2010-05-13T10:00:00.000-07:00

Two people have been arrested in connection with the failed Times Square car bomb after a series of morning raids in Massachusetts and New York. Police cordoned off a small house in Watertown, a suburb about 10 miles west of Boston, where a neighbour reported seeing an FBI raid.

The searches were a result of evidence gathered in the investigation into Faisal Shahzad's alleged bombing attempt, but FBI spokeswoman Gail Marcinkiewicz said that there was "no known immediate threat to the public or any active plot against the United States."

A Mobil petrol station in Brookline, another Boston suburb, was raided, along with several locations in Long Island, New York.

Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd said the two people arrested were being held on alleged immigration violations, but he would not provide more details.

Shahzad, who is accused of trying to detonate a bomb-laden car in Times Square on May 1, has not yet appeared in court. Federal investigators say he has been co-operating and has told them he received weapons training in Pakistan.

Vinny Lacerra, 50, who lives across the street from the house raided in Watertown, said he was in his living room about 6am when he heard somebody say: "FBI! Put your hands up!"

Mr Lacerra said he looked out his windows and saw 15 to 20 FBI agents with their guns drawn surrounding the house.

He said about 15 minutes later, the agents went inside and came out with one man handcuffed and took him down the street. He also said he saw an agent from Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Sestak opening up a lead on Sen. Arlen Specter

2010-05-13T09:56:00.000-07:00

As the days count down to Tuesday's primary, there seems to be a new poll a day on Pennsylvania's nail-biter of a Democratic Senate primary.

Today's, conducted by Suffolk University, shows Rep. Joe Sestak, D-Pa., opening a nine percentage point lead over incumbent Sen. Arlen Specter. But the poll indicates there's still some hope for Specter, who switched from the Republican party last year.

Among the factors that could break in the veteran lawmaker's favor: 12% of the voters remain undecided and Specter is running better among minority voters than Sestak. We already told you that Specter is on the airwaves with a lavish endorsement from President Obama.

Sestak, who is 58 and has great hair, brags about his surge in the polls in his latest ad, which touts him as representing a "new generation" of leadership. The ad features a photo of the 80-year-old Specter that seems to have been several years ago when the senator was nearly bald from chemotherapy treatments. Specter has since recovered. The accompanying photo shows how he looks now.

Obama says taking the fight to the Taliban is paying off

2010-05-12T13:00:00.000-07:00

Barack Obama warned today that coalition forces in Afghanistan faced months of hard fighting, but said they had started to "reverse the momentum of the insurgency" by taking the fight to the Taliban.

Speaking after a meeting at the White House with the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, Obama said the deployment of thousands more troops was paying off.

"There are many difficult days ahead in Afghanistan. We face a determined and ruthless enemy but we go forward with confidence," he said.

Obama said the Afghan government and its allies could not hope to win through military means alone but that keeping up the fight against what he called a brutal insurgency was essential as part of a strategy to encourage Taliban supporters to abandon the conflict.

"The incentives for the Taliban to lay down arms and make peace with the Afghan government in part depends on our effectiveness in breaking their momentum militarily, and that's why we put in the additional US troops," he said.

The two leaders papered over the bitter public differences of recent months, in which the Americans made it clear they considered corruption under the Karzai government was alienating much of the population and undermining the fight against the Taliban. The Afghan leader accused the west of wanting a puppet government in Kabul.

Following on from the tone of Karzai's meeting with the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, on Tuesday, Obama sought to underplay the divisions.

"A lot of them were simply overstated," said Obama "Obviously there are going to be tensions in such a complicated, difficult environment, in a situation in which on the ground both Afghans and Americans are making enormous sacrifices. "We've had very frank discussions, and President Karzai agrees with me that we can't win through a military strategy alone. That we're going to have to make sure that we have effective governance, capacity building, economic development, in order for us to succeed."

Karzai responded that there had been differences and would continue to be so but that the relationship was strong.

Elena Kagan Takes Center Stage in 2010 Campaign Battles

2010-05-11T08:45:00.001-07:00

Elena Kagan Takes Center Stage in 2010 Campaign Battles

2010-05-11T08:45:00.000-07:00

In what is sure to be a heated midterm election year, Republicans and Democrats alike are already seizing on President Obama's nomination of Solicitor General Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court as a campaign issue.

"The nomination will be used for two things: raising funds and energizing the base to vote in 2010," an unnamed Republican source told the Hill. "It's all about turnout at this point."

The general consensus is that Kagan will ultimately be confirmed to the Court. Yet before she was officially nominated, a GOP strategist recently advised the party to prolong the confirmation process as long as possible, regardless of who was the nominee, Talking Points Memo reports.

"[I]t wouldn't take much GOP resistance to push a final vote into early August," said Curt Levey, director of the conservative Committee for Justice. "And, look, the closer we could get it to the election, frankly, the better. It would be great if we could push it past the August recess because that forces the red and purple state Democrats to have to go home and face their constituents."

He added, "There's everything to be gained from making the Supreme Court vacancy a campaign issue in 2010." Levey confirmed his sentiments with the Washington Post, saying, "If I think we get political advantage from this, why wouldn't we get an advantage from a longer nomination process?"

However, the confirmation process could put a couple of Republicans in an uncomfortable position. Seven Republicans voted to confirm Kagan as solicitor general this year and may feel pressured to reverse course.

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has conferred with Mr. Obama over his nomination and is largely seen as a reasonable voice on the committee. He called Kagan an "excellent lawyer" during her solicitor general confirmation hearings and was one of the GOP senators to vote in her favor.

Yet the political climate has changed for Hatch, who has voted for every Supreme Court nominee in his 33-year Senate career, except for Mr. Obama's first pick, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the Salt Lake Tribune reports.

His GOP colleague from Utah, three-term Sen. Bob Bennett, was recently denied re-nomination by his own local party because he has worked with Democrats on a few issues. Hatch, who is up for re-election in 2012, may try to avoid the same fate by tacking right.

Obama nominates Elena Kagan to Supreme Court

2010-05-10T08:53:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama on Monday nominated former U.S. solicitor general Elena Kagan to the United States Supreme Court - a selection that could give the top court the highest number of female justices in its history.In naming the 50-year-old former Harvard Law School dean, Mr. Obama also broke with decades of tradition by choosing a candidate who has never been a judge.

The move could help Mr. Obama avoid a potentially nasty election-year nomination fight with Republicans, largely because Ms. Kagan lacks a judicial record that could be parsed for controversial rulings and opinions.

Not since 1972 has a Supreme Court justice been seated on the bench without having prior experience as a judge - all eight current justices have served on the U.S. federal appeals court.

Mr. Obama described Ms. Kagan as "one of the nation's foremost legal minds" and stressed her record of seeking a diversity of conservative and liberal views as dean at Harvard. "She believes, as I do, that exposure to a broad array of perspectives is the foundation . . . for a successful life in law," Mr. Obama said.

If confirmed, Ms. Kagan would become the third woman on the current Supreme Court and only the fourth in history. She would join Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor, who Mr. Obama selected last year as his first high court nominee. Ms. Kagan has been considered the frontrunner to win the nomination almost from the moment 89-year-old Justice John Paul Stevens retired last month.

At the time, Mr. Obama said he wanted a Supreme Court nominee who had "a keen understanding of how the law affects the daily lives of the American people" - a quality he sought last year in picking Sotomayor to be the first Hispanic-American high court justice.

Obama says health care law already helps millions

2010-05-08T06:38:00.000-07:00

The new health care law already is helping millions of people through tax breaks for small businesses and assistance for families with young adults, President Barack Obama said Saturday.

In his weekly radio and Internet address, Obama promoted his top domestic priority, which passed Congress with no Republican votes and continues to stir strong emotions nationwide. He acknowledged that many provisions will not take effect for years. But he said others are doing some families good now.

Some 4 million small-business owners and organizations have been told of a possible health care tax cut this year, Obama said. On June 15, some older people with high prescription drug costs will receive $250 to help fill a gap in Medicare's pharmaceutical benefits.

"Already we are seeing a health care system that holds insurance companies more accountable and gives consumers more control," the president said.

Obama said Anthem Blue Cross dropped a proposed 39 percent premium increase on Californians after his administration demanded an explanation. He said Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius wrote to all states "urging them to investigate other rate hikes and stop insurance companies from gaming the system."

Michigan school wins Obama as graduation speaker

2010-05-04T10:08:00.000-07:00

KALAMAZOO, Mich. -- A school in western Michigan has won a contest to have President Barack Obama make its commencement address this spring.

Kalamazoo Central High School was one of three finalists in the Race to the Top High School Commencement Challenge. Education Secretary Arne Duncan announced the winner Tuesday.

The school said Obama will speak June 10.

Kalamazoo Central High is part of Kalamazoo Public Schools, which provides scholarships covering 65 percent to 100 percent of a student's college tuition for four years.

The two other finalists were Cincinnati's Clark Montessori Junior High and High School and the Denver School of Science and Technology.

Talking up the economy, visiting the Secret Service

2010-04-30T13:28:00.000-07:00

Good morning from The Oval. On this day in 1789, George Washington took the oath of office as the nation's first president.Today, the 44th president talks about the economy and pays tribute to the Secret Service.

In the morning, President Obama makes a statement at the White House about first-quarter economic growth numbers. In the afternoon, Obama travels to the Maryland suburbs to visit the Secret Service training facility.

The president seeks "the opportunity to thank some of the men and women who have worked so hard and made so many sacrifices to protect him and his family," says the White House schedule.

Obama also has a busy in-box. Among the items:

The Gulf of Mexico oil slick is spreading to the coasts of five states, report Rick Jervis and Brian Winter of USA TODAY.

Obama -- seeking to avoid the kinds of attacks that dogged George W. Bush after Hurricane Katrina -- is stepping up the administration's response to the environmental disaster.

The Justice Department has reportedly opened a criminal investigation into Goldman Sachs transactions.

The first lawsuits have been filed against the Arizona immigration law; USA TODAY's Kevin Johnson and Joan Biskupic look at the legal aspects of the debate. Obama eulogized civil rights leader Dorothy Height yesterday, writes USA TODAY's Mimi Hall.

The White House is enjoying the Republican turmoil in Florida, as Gov. Charlie Crist leaves the party to run for the Senate as an independent, reports John Fritze of USA TODAY. A new poll shows that most Americans want a judge for the Supreme Court, not a politician.

And it's a celebrity kind of weekend in Washington, as the town prepares for the White House Correspondents' Dinner on Saturday. Talk-show host Jay Leno and President Obama will both try their hand at political humor.

There's no fooling around here at The Oval, just straight reporting on presidential activities. Have a good day, a good weekend, and be careful out there.

Senate Republicans block finance bill debate

2010-04-28T13:49:00.000-07:00

Republicans in the U.S. Senate garnered enough votes Monday to block debate of a financial regulation reform bill that the Obama administration believes would prevent a repeat of the 2008 financial meltdown.

The 57-41 vote failed to get the 60 supporters required to proceed on the regulatory overhaul; one Democrat, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, voted with the Republicans.

The vote will send lawmakers back to the negotiating table to hammer out a bipartisan compromise with amended legislation expected to return to the Senate floor soon.

President Barack Obama and the Democrats want to tighten the rules on banks and capital markets to prevent a repeat of the 2008 financial crisis, which led to the great recession.

Many Republicans agree with a need for new bank regulations but oppose the Democrats' Restoring American Financial Stability Act.

Among numerous stipulations, the proposed bill would provide shareholders with a say on pay and corporate affairs with a non-binding vote on executive compensation and director nominations.

And hedge funds with values in excess of $100 million US would be required to register and disclose financial data. Currently there are no such stipulations on the shadowy institutions.

Obama welcomes champion NY Yankees to White House

2010-04-26T16:14:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama celebrated the world champion Yankees on Monday for their heroics and character - and bemoaned that his Chicago White Sox couldn't match New York's remarkable record of success.

In a jam-packed ceremony in the East Room that was part pep rally, the president pointed out that the last time the Yankees - winners of 27 titles - were toasted at the White House was 2001.

"It's been nine years since your last title - which must have felt like eternity for Yankee fans. I think other teams would be just fine with a spell like that. The Cubs, for example," Obama said, drawing laughs from players, coaches, members of his Cabinet and Congress and other guests. He added that his White Sox have gotten close, including a title in 2005.

The Yankees won the World Series in six games last year, defeating the Philadelphia Phillies. New York Manager Joe Girardi presented Obama with a signed Yankees' jersey with the No. 27.

The White House visit was the fifth for the Yankees core four - Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte and Jorge Posada - who have a handful of championship rings. They've met three presidents - Bill Clinton in the 1990s, George W. Bush in 2001 and now Obama.

Obama praised the players for their off-field work, from a scholarship that first baseman Mark Teixeira established at his high school with a $75,000 check, to catcher Posada's work on a support network for families with ailing children to shortstop Jeter's sportsmanship.

Earlier in the day, members of the team visited war wounded at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, which several players described as a sobering experience. Third baseman Alex Rodriguez, who wore his championship ring, called the servicemembers the "real heroes" and pitcher Andy Pettitte hailed their sacrifice. Pettitte said even a few Boston Red Sox fans among the wounded appreciated the Yankee visit - though they kept their Red Sox caps on.

Lawmakers turn to credit raters, prepare overhaul

2010-04-23T15:41:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON—Lawmakers rewriting financial regulations took aim Friday at credit rating agencies, whose analysts often gave safe ratings to risky investments that fueled the financial crisis.
Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., said the Senate's regulatory overhaul should go further to curb the industry's inherent conflicts of interest: The agencies are paid by the banks whose investments they rate. Banks generally want higher ratings to make the securities they offer more attractive to investors.

At a hearing Levin chaired Friday, former executives acknowledged that competition within the industry often led the agencies' analysts to rate high-risk securities as safe.

Levin suggested the co-dependent relationship between the agencies and the banks is a dangerous flaw in the financial system. He offered an analogy: "It's like one of the parties in court paying the judge's salary."

Levin was chairing a hearing of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which has been investigating the causes of the financial crisis.

The Senate next week is expected to take up a version of the financial regulatory legislation that would require only a study of the industry's conflicts of interest. A House-passed bill would go further. It would instruct the Securities and Exchange Commission to produce a policy that would either bar the conflicts or require the agencies to disclose their relationships with banks.

Levin wants the Senate bill to move closer to the House approach. He favors an expected amendment to force regulators to address the conflicts of interest.

In a report Thursday, Levin's panel said the agencies kept ratings too high in the run-up to the crisis even though they knew mortgage fraud and subprime loans were leading more homeowners to default.

Between 2002 and 2007, the top three credit rating agencies doubled their revenue, to more than $6 billion a year, the committee said. Most of that growth came from the complex investments that spread trillions of dollars in toxic debt through the financial system.

Banks pooled mortgages of varying degrees of risk and sold securities backed by the pools. The safest securities earned the highest ratings. But when most of the mortgages in a pool went bust, even the safest-rated securities became worthless.

The committee found that the rating agencies knew the investments were losing value but for months delayed downgrading individual securities. The agencies finally began responding in 2006 by downgrading some securities, the report said. The downgrades accelerated in 2007.

Obama moves to close deal on financial reform

2010-04-22T14:29:00.000-07:00

Part rebuke, part olive branch and part sales pitch, President Barack Obama's speech Thursday exhorting bankers to "join us, instead of fighting us" on financial reform appeared to have won over some on Wall Street.

The speech was the closing argument in Obama’s two-year effort to enact regulations that would better control financial risk-taking, protect consumers and develop an orderly system of shutting down banks that become “too big to fail.” Debate on a final version of the bill could come as early as next week.

"(I) am here today because I want to urge you to join us, instead of fighting us in this effort," Obama told an audience that included some of Wall Street's top executives. Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein and COO Gary Cohn were there, along with top managers from Credit Suisse, Bank of America, Barclays, Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan Chase.

Sensitive export list outdated, ineffective

2010-04-20T16:05:00.000-07:00

But the plan is likely to encounter resistance in Congress, where many lawmakers say they are worried about proliferation. While some of the reforms can be done thru executive power, a complete overhaul of the system would require legislation.

Gates said he wants Congress to pass a reform bill by the end of the year because the existing bureaucracy has alienated U.S. allies and still failed to keep sophisticated technology away from adversaries.

The "famous maxim, 'He who defends everything, defends nothing' certainly applies to export control," Gates said in a speech attended by defense contractors.

The proposal is focused on so-called dual-use technologies, items like computers and helicopter spare parts that are sold commercially for civilian purposes but also can be used by militant forces. Various federal agencies regulate these items and have competing oversight on whether they may be sold abroad.

The Obama administration's plan calls for the creation of a single list and a single licensing agency. The plan also calls for the creation of a single enforcement agency. This final step in particular was expected to require legislation.

Gates said the single list and licensing agency would allow the government to concentrate on controlling the nation's "crown jewels."

Biden visit exposed Israeli settler truths

2010-03-12T07:56:00.000-08:00

US vice-president Joe Biden speaking at Tel Aviv University today, where he moderated his earlier criticism of Israel.

There was a moment of rare clarity this week for America's efforts to advance Israeli-Palestinian peace. The US vice-president Joe Biden was on a visit, ostensibly a charm offensive to an Israel that has been heretofore neglected by the Obama administration's most senior echelons, and an opportunity to discuss broad regional issues, notably Iran. By coincidence, Biden's trip coincided with special Middle East envoy George Mitchell's launching of indirect, or proximity, talks, between the Israelis and Palestinians.

Perhaps less coincidental, Biden's presence was greeted by announcements of dramatic new plans for Israeli settlement expansion in East Jerusalem. A crisis in the relaunched Israeli-Palestinian peace talks had apparently arrived a little earlier than expected – day zero to be precise. Not that those resumed negotiations were being greeted by much more than scepticism anyway. For most observers and even participants, the customary and polite suspension of disbelief that normally accompanies a new round of peace talks was barely on display.

Both sides seemed ready to settle down to a predictable and protracted game of placing blame for failure at the other's door. Then, on the day of Biden's arrival, Israel announced plans to market 112 new housing units in the West Bank and bettered that 24 hours later (shortly after the Biden-Netanyahu confab) when a district committee gave planning authorisation to 1,600 new units in East Jerusalem.

What provided this episode with refreshing clarity was the way in which it exposed the deeper dynamics that are driving contemporary Israeli realities.

Obama details plans to boost exports, create jobs

2010-03-11T17:11:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama sought Thursday to put some detail behind his lofty drive to double U.S. exports over the next five years, calling the effort imperative to putting people back to work. But doubts remain about how many net jobs his trade agenda will create - and how he will get it done.

In a speech to the Export-Import Bank conference, Obama outlined steps to flesh out his trade initiative. Among them: creating a mini-Cabinet of officials to focus on exports, seeking more financing to support trade efforts, beefing up enforcement of existing trade deals and pushing for the completion of stalled ones.

"We shouldn't assume that our leadership is guaranteed," Obama said. "When other markets are growing, and other nations are competing, we've got to get even better. We need to secure our companies a level playing field. We need to guarantee American workers a fair shake. In other words, we need to up our game."

Obama's trade pitch ties directly to the top concerns of Americans - the bleeding of jobs from the U.S. He promised in his State of the Union address that doubling trade over the next five years will support 2 million American jobs, a pledge he repeated Thursday. But that's a complicated matter.

Experts say potential jobs from more exports can be negated by job losses resulting from increased reliance on products from abroad. What's more, it is Obama's own Democratic Party, backed by its union supporters, that has led opposition to stalled trade-expansion pacts with South Korea, Colombia and Panama.

When Obama says that doubling exports will "support" 2 million jobs, he means it will create 2 million additional jobs, the White House said. That is based on an assessment of how many jobs are supported by foreign demand for the goods and services that the United States exports.

Obama pushing on health care end game

2010-03-10T07:34:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama is making his closing arguments for a health care overhaul, pushing a new anti-fraud plan as he cranks up the pressure on skittish Democratic lawmakers to act fast.

Obama is to speak Wednesday at St. Charles High School, his second health care address in three days. His speech comes as congressional Democrats stand on the brink of delivering the president a dramatic success with passage of his sweeping overhaul legislation - or a colossal failure if they can't get it done.

Business groups that oppose the legislation are also stepping it up, with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce announcing a coordinated campaign to spend as much as $10 million on ads, starting Wednesday, saying, "Stop this health care bill we can't afford."

Leaders in the House and Senate are waiting for a final cost analysis from the Congressional Budget Office in the next day or so that will allow them to start counting votes - and twisting arms - in earnest. In the House, in particular, getting the needed majority will be touch and go.

The two-step approach now being pursued calls for the House to approve a Senate-passed bill from last year, despite House Democrats' opposition to several of its provisions. Both chambers then would follow by approving a companion measure to make changes in that first bill.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs has said he expects the House to act by March 18, the day Obama leaves for an overseas trip. That timetable would be tough to meet, and congressional leaders told White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel that they don't need deadlines handed down from the White House, according to Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., who chairs the Energy and Commerce Committee.

"He was certainly informed that we don't feel that we want any deadline assigned to us," Waxman said.

Republicans are playing on House Democrats' suspicions of their Senate colleagues, arguing that Senate Democrats may not hold up their end of the bargain and the votes will be damaging politically for Democrats in November.

"They will be voting, when they pass the Senate bill, to endorse the Cornhusker kickback, the Louisiana Purchase, the Gator-aid, the closed-door deal," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said, citing controversial elements of the Senate bill.

An Associated Press-GfK Poll released Tuesday found a widespread hunger for improvements to the health care system, but also found that Americans don't like the way the debate is playing out in Washington.

US to prevent nuclear Iran

2010-03-09T09:55:00.000-08:00

US VP meets tells Netanyahu he is certain Israel would take bold steps for peace.

US Vice President Joe Biden expressed America's "absolute, total, unvarnished commitment to Israel' security" at a press conference in Jerusalem following a meeting with Prime Minster Binyamin Netanyahu Monday morning.

As such, Biden said, Washington was "determined to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, and we are working with many countries around the world to convince Iran to meet its international obligations to cease and desist."

The cornerstone of the US-Israel relationship, Biden said, was America's unwavering commitment to Israel's security. "Bibi you heard me say before, progress occurs in the Middle East when everyone knows there is simply no space between the US and Israel. There is no space between the US and Israel when it comes to Israel'ssecurity."

President Obama attacks Republicans for ignoring health care for the 8 years they were in power

2010-03-08T12:54:00.000-08:00

President Barack Obama accused insurance companies of placing profits over people and said Republicans ignored long-festering problems when they held power as he sought to build support Monday for swift passage of legislation stalled in Congress.

"Let's seize reform, the need is great," Obama said at an appearance that had the feel of a campaign rally.

"How much higher do premiums have to rise before we do something about it?" said Obama, making the first in an expected string of out-of-town trips to pitch his plan to remake the health care system.

The president said dismissively that Republican critics in Congress contend they want to do something about rising health care costs but failed when they held power. "You had 10 years. What happened? What were you doing?" he said to applause from an audience at Arcadia University.

Obama made his appeal as Democratic leaders in Congress worked on a rescue plan for sweeping changes in health care that seemed earlier in the year to be on the brink of passage. The current two-step approach calls for the House to approve a Senate-passed bill despite opposition to several of its provisions, and for both houses to follow immediately with a companion measure that makes a series of changes.

The White House has said it wants the legislation wrapped up by March 18, but that seems unlikely. The companion bill has not yet been made public, and a protracted debate is expected in the Senate, where Republicans vow to resist even though they will not be able to block passage by filibustering.

Obama's stated goals across more than a year of struggle have been to extend coverage to millions who lack it, ban insurance industry practices such as denying coverage on the basis of pre-existing conditions and cut costs.

Republicans dismissed Obama's argument instantly. "The American people have heard all this rhetoric from the president before, and they continue to say loudly and clearly they do not want a massive government takeover of health care," said House Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio, who added the president's plan was "heavy on snake oil."

Obama has long identified the insurance industry as an obstacle to changes along the lines he seeks, but the administration's actions and rhetoric seem to have escalated in recent days.

The president's proposal would give the government the right to limit excessive premiums increases — a provision included after one firm announced a 39 percent increase in the price of individual policies sold in California. Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of health and human services, convened a White House meeting with insurance executives last week, and followed up with a letter released in advance of Obama's speech.

Why 'Armenian genocide' resolution may hurt US interests

2010-03-05T09:04:00.000-08:00

Turkey's deep emotional reaction to the 'Armenian genocide' resolution passed by a US congressional committee yesterday could have far-ranging implications for US policy in Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

A committee passed a similar resolution in 2007, leading Turkey to recall its ambassador to Washington – something it did again after the resolution passed yesterday – and warn of a serious rupture in relations with the US. A last-minute intervention by the Bush administration kept the bill from going any further.

This year was supposed to be different. The historic accords that Turkey and Armenia signed this past October to restore diplomatic relations and put in motion a process to examine the past were supposed to take the legs out from under any effort to tar Turkey with the “genocide” label.

But the stalling of that reconciliation process, and Turkey’s deep emotional reaction to the genocide issue have, once again, created a potentially damaging situation for Turkish-US relations. It could have far-ranging implications for US policy in the Middle East, where Turkey is one of Washington's most important allies and an increasingly influential powerbroker.

“Turkey will certainly feel impelled to take retaliatory action against the US, which will take the form of noncooperation in terms of Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and possibly leading to restrictions on the use of strategic assets like the Incirlik air base – areas where there is important cooperation,” says Sinan Ülgen, chairman of the Center for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies (EDAM), an Istanbul think tank.

“This is an area where identity and emotion are in a sense superseding pure interests," he adds. "On a topic like this, the national interest is trumped by a core question loaded with emotions that cuts deep to the issue of identity.”

Greek PM seeks EU debt pledge as protests grow

2010-03-05T08:48:00.000-08:00

Obama does personal lobbying of House Democrats, insurance execs

2010-03-04T09:20:00.000-08:00

The politics of presidential persuasion are well underway -- President Obama has added a string of meetings to his schedule today featuring key House Democrats in the health care debate.

And there are reports that Obama has invited more Democrats to a White House reception tonight, and the guest list just happens to include 10 members who voted against the House health care bill last year.

It's all part of the administration's efforts to get the House to adopt the Senate health care bill over the next few weeks, the first step toward final passage.

(UPDATE: In other lobbying news, Obama walked into a White House meeting between his health and human services secretary Kathleen Sebelius and insurance executives. He carried a letter from an Ohio woman "whose insurance will go up 40% next year," tweeted spokesman Robert Gibbs.)

At 1:30 p..m., Obama's guests are members of a House health care task force and chairs of various Democratic caucuses.

They include: Danny Davis, Ill,, of the Congressional Black Caucus; Raul Grijalva, Ariz., of the Congressional Progressive Caucus; Mike Honda, Cal., of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus; Dennis Kucinich, Ohio, of the Congressional Progressive Caucus; Barbara Lee, Cal., of the Congressional Black Caucus; Nydia Velazquez, N.Y., of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus; and Lynn Woolsey, Cal., of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

Later, at 2:30 p.m., the leaders of the New Democrat Coalition come to the Oval Office.

Those members include Jason Altmire, Pa.; Melissa Bean, Illinois; Lois Capps, Cal.; Joseph Crowley, N.Y.; Ron Kind, Wis.; Allyson Schwartz, Pa.; and Adam Smith, Washington.

Altmire is one of the members who voted against the House bill last year.

Others who have been invited to the White House include Allen Boyd of Florida; Lincoln Davis of Tennessee; Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin of South Dakota; Frank Kratovil of Maryland; Betsey Markey of Colorado; Jim Matheson of Utah; Scott Murphy of New York; Health Shuler of North Carolina; and John Tanner, Tennessee.

Obama to push health-care compromise

2010-03-03T10:18:00.000-08:00

President Barack Obama gestures at the Blair House in Washington during a meeting with Republican and Democratic congressional leaders last week to discuss health-care reform. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/Associated Press)

U.S. President Barack Obama is unveiling at the White House on Wednesday a revised version of his health-care legislation that may include a number of Republican proposals.

Obama is expected to lay out his final package for long-discussed health-care reform in the U.S. and urge Congress to act swiftly to pass the legislation.

As with bills currently stalled before the House of Representatives and the Senate, the proposal is expected to require most Americans to carry health insurance coverage and bar insurance companies from denying coverage to people with medical problems or charging them more.

It would not include a publicly run insurance plan, however, but would allow the government to cap health insurance premiums "if a rate increase is unreasonable and unjustified."

A version of the proposed legislation posted on the White House website on Monday says it will insure more than 31 million Americans who cannot afford health insurance and reduce the U.S. deficit over the next 10 years by $100 billion.

Obama's afternoon speech will come a day after he sent letter to congressional leaders saying he was open to incorporating four Republican ideas into his proposal.

Charles Rangel to quit key tax post

2010-03-03T08:09:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The embattled chairman of the tax-writing House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee, Charles Rangel, said on Wednesday he will step aside temporarily as chairman after being admonished by a House ethic panel.

"I have this morning sent a letter to Speaker (Nancy) Pelosi asking her to grant me a leave of absence until such time as the ethics committee completes its work," Rangel told a news conference at which he took no questions.

The House ethics committee publicly admonished the New York Democrat last week for taking corporate-paid trips to the Caribbean in violation of the chamber's gift rules.

The panel, composed of three Democrats and three Republicans, is still looking into other matters involving Rangel, including his use of a rent-controlled apartment and his fund-raising for the Charles Rangel Center for Public Service in New York.

U.S. media, citing unnamed sources, said Rangel was encouraged to step aside before the House could vote on a Republican measure to strip him of his chairmanship, which could have happened as early as on Wednesday.

Democratic Representatives Sander Levin of Michigan or Pete Stark of California may temporarily take over as chairman, according to media reports.

Desserts to blame for Obama's elevated cholesterol

2010-03-02T07:46:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON - Poll results, congressional head counts and US government deficits are not the only numbers President Barack Obama has to worry about. Now, he's trying to walk off a marginally high cholesterol count.

Although Obama took the presidential motorcade to a speech yesterday morning, he decided to walk back to the White House through a park. A day earlier, his doctor recommended that he lower his cholesterol.

The president told reporters he needed to "make sure that I'm walking off some of that cholesterol. That's a year of campaigning right there".

Obama had a physical exam on Sunday morning and learned that his total cholesterol and so-called bad, or LDL, cholesterol had both spiked into the borderline high range since his last reported exam in 2007.

The culprit, according to White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, is too many cheeseburgers and desserts, a surprising revelation given Obama's reputation as a health nut.

"You guys thought he carried arugula in his pocket to snack on," Gibbs joked with reporters yesterday.

Gibbs chalked up the president's sweet tooth to easy access now that Obama has a kitchen staff and a pastry chef at his disposal.

"If it's more available, you're more likely to eat it," Gibbs said, adding that the president remains a big fan of the pastry chef and hasn't ordered a menu change at the White House.

Sunday's physical, Obama's first as commander-in-chief, also revealed that the president hasn't kicked his smoking habit.

Obama has talked about his struggles to quit smoking in the past, and Gibbs said the president does occasionally fall off the wagon. Still, Gibbs said Obama is aware of the example he sets for America's youth.

"He understands that what he struggles with is not a good thing for his children to see or anybody's children to see," Gibbs said.

Pelosi Confident on Health Vote

2010-03-01T09:37:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON—House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday expressed confidence she will have enough votes to pass a health overhaul, but acknowledged it could come at a political cost to lawmakers who back the measure.

Monday kicks off a critical week for Democrats to push ahead with their overhaul. President Barack Obama is expected to announce his preferred way forward for the bill. The White House has already laid the groundwork for Congress to complete the legislation using a process known as budget reconciliation that requires a simple majority in the Senate.

That process would start in the House. Ms. Pelosi said Sunday the House could unveil specific legislative language for the measure in a matter of days. Those would give more detail to the president's proposed changes to the Senate bill designed to appeal to House lawmakers.

Democrats seem poised to move forward without any support from Republicans, who say they see no way to work from the existing bill. That leaves Democrats with two critical challenges: figuring out how to maneuver through the reconciliation over Republican objections, and how to rebuild sliding public support for the bill.

Asked on ABC's "This Week" whether Democrats would have the votes to pass the bill in the House, Ms. Pelosi (D., Calif.) offered a one-word "Yes." She said Democrats in both chambers were working out details.

The health-care bill stalled in Congress after Republican Scott Brown won the Massachusetts race to replace the late Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy. It cost the Democrats their 60-vote supermajority and their ability to block Republican filibusters.

Republicans warned Sunday that Democrats were trying to force an unpopular measure that would hurt them in the midterm elections.

"If Speaker Pelosi rams through this bill through the House using the reconciliation process, they will lose their majority in Congress in November," House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R., Va.) said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Democrats said that while certain polls show opposition to the legislation, the public supports individual components of it. "I think when you talk to the American people about whether it's fair for them to get knocked off their coverage when they get sick, I think they agree that no, we need some common-sense rules to help regulate that market," White House Office of Health Reform Director Nancy-Ann DeParle told NBC's "Meet the Press."

Ms. Pelosi acknowledged the political risks on ABC. Democrats "know that this will take courage," she said. "Why are we here? We're not here just to self-perpetuate our service in Congress. We're here to do the job for the American people."

Democrats control the House by a 255-178 margin with two vacancies. On CNN, Ms. Pelosi predicted Democrats will retain their majority in November.

The math for passing the health bill is tight. With the vacancies, Democrats need 217 votes to pass a bill in the House. The House passed an earlier version of the health overhaul by a 220-215 margin in November.

Some "yes" voters have indicated they will vote "no" this time. The main obstacles are the Senate bill's more-lenient rules about insurance coverage of abortion and a general unease among centrist Democrats with the scope of the legislation.

Biden announces retirement savings safeguards

2010-02-26T12:35:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration on Friday proposed new regulations aimed at protecting workers' retirement savings from unethical financial advisers.

The safeguards would protect workers from conflicts of interest on the part of advisers who manage their 401(k)s and individual retirement accounts. The administration estimates that the protections would affect 15 million workers.

The proposed regulations would require retirement investment advisers and money managers to either base their investment advice on objective computer models certified by independent experts, or refrain from steering workers into funds they are affiliated with or from which they are receiving a commission.

Vice President Joe Biden and Deputy Labor Secretary Seth Harris announced the proposal during a meeting of the White House Middle Class Task Force. Biden said the regulations meet the task force's goal of helping middle class families plan for a secure retirement.

"A lot of folks are not getting the best treatment, the best advice and the most help in figuring out how to deal with their retirement plans," Biden said.

If the Labor Department enacts the proposed regulations, the rules would apply to all financial institutions that offer 401(k) programs to employers and offer financial advice to their employees.

Obama launches health-care summit

2010-02-25T09:42:00.000-08:00

U.S. President Barack Obama and politicians from both parties began a televised summit on Thursday in an attempt to kickstart legislation to overhaul the health-care system.

The purpose of the daylong policy discussion at Blair House, the White House guest residence, was to suggest ways to move forward with the legislation. The group was to consider ways to control health-care costs and expand coverage, as well as deficit reduction and insurance reform.

"We all know this is urgent. And unfortunately over the course of the year, despite all of the hearings that took place and all of the negotiations that took place and people on both sides of the aisle worked long and hard on this issue, you know, this became a very ideological battle," Obama said, as he led off a meeting with House leaders and Democratic and Republican senators and members of Congress.

"It became a very partisan battle and politics, I think, ended up trumping practical common sense. But what I'm hoping to accomplish today is for everybody to focus not just on where we differ, but focus on where we agree, because there actually is some significant agreement on a host of issues."

Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander, speaking on behalf of Republicans, said that lawmakers should scrap the health-care bill Senate Democrats passed on Christmas Eve and start from scratch.

Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi countered that it's too late to start over and that it is not an option.

Although the Democrats control both the House and the Senate, the two chambers have been unable to agree on health-care legislation, and Republicans have uniformly opposed it.

Obama's plan to reform health care was dealt another blow following the election of Massachusetts Republican Scott Brown to the Senate, which gave the party enough votes to filibuster bills.

Earlier this week, Obama unveiled his own compromise health-care plan that attempts to bridge the differences between the stalled House and Senate bills. It would not include a publicly run insurance plan, but would allow the government to cap health insurance premiums "if a rate increase is unreasonable and unjustified."

It would also require most Americans to carry health insurance coverage and bar insurance companies from denying coverage to people with medical problems or charging them more.

The proposal claims it will insure more than 31 million Americans who cannot afford health insurance and reduce the U.S. deficit over the next 10 years by $100 billion.

Obama urges repeal of insurers antitrust exemption

2010-02-24T08:53:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama urged Congress on Tuesday to strip health insurers of their decades-old exemption from federal antitrust laws - hardening his stand against the industry as he tries to revive his stalled health care overhaul.

The White House announced Obama's support for a House bill that would repeal the industry's antitrust exemption, saying that would foster a more competitive marketplace that benefits consumers. The announcement follows Obama's call for new federal rate-setting powers that would give the Health and Human Services department the power to deny excessive increases in health insurance premiums.

"Removing this exemption will allow appropriate enforcement and examination of potential policies that might prove uncompetitve, or might stifle competition," spokesman Robert Gibbs said.

Obama has scheduled a health care summit with congressional leaders of both parties for Thursday, in a bid to rescue Democratic health care plans passed by both chambers that stalled after Democrats lost their 60-seat majority in the Senate. On Monday, he unveiled a proposal that sought to bridge the differences between the House and Senate bills.

Health insurance premiums have been climbing even as general inflation remains low. A spate of double-digit increases for people who buy their own policies has infuriated consumers, and the president is trying to tap the outrage to build support for his comprehensive remake.

Bipartisan jobs bill advances past GOP filibuster

2010-02-23T09:48:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON—A bipartisan jobs bill cleared a GOP filibuster on Monday with critical momentum provided by the Senate's newest Republican, Scott Brown of Massachusetts.

The 62-30 tally to advance the measure to a final vote on Wednesday gives both President Barack Obama and Capitol Hill Democrats a much-needed victory -- even though the measure in question is likely to have only a modest boost on hiring.

Brown and four other Republicans broke with GOP leaders to advance the measure. Most other Republicans voted in favor of the filibuster because of strong-arm tactics by Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada. The bill is likely to enjoy far broader GOP support on Wednesday when it's put to an up-or-down vote.

The bill featured four provisions that enjoyed sweeping bipartisan support, including a measure exempting businesses hiring the unemployed from Social Security payroll taxes through December and giving them another $1,000 credit if new workers stay on the job a full year.

Though employers seldom make hiring decisions based on tax breaks, economist Mark Zandi says the measure could potentially create 250,000 new private-sector jobs. That's less than 4 percent of the 8.4 million jobs lost in the recession.

Obama Details Plan to Expand Health Care to Uninsured

2010-02-22T08:48:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON — President Obama on Monday laid out for the first time a detailed legislative proposal for overhauling health care. His plan sticks largely to the approach passed by the Senate with unified Democratic support, but it makes concessions to the House version, which was more expensive and would have covered more people.

Mr. Obama’s proposal is the opening act to a week of high drama around health care that will culminate on Thursday, when the president convenes Democrats and Republicans at an all-day televised health care “summit” at Blair House. The White House is hoping the session can jump start the stalled health bill.

“We view this as the opening bid for the health meeting,” Dan Pfeiffer, Mr. Obama’s communications director, told reporters Monday morning, adding, “We took our best shot at bridging the differences.”

The bill is intended to achieve Mr. Obama’s broad goals of expanding coverage to the uninsured while driving down health premiums and imposing what the White House calls “common sense rules of the road” for insurers, including ending the unpopular practice of discriminating against people with pre-existing conditions. The measure is posted on the White House Web site.

The White House projects that the bill would extend coverage to 31 million people who are currently uninsured, at a cost over 10 years of $950 billion — more than the $871 billion the Senate would have spent, but less than the $1.05 trillion for the version passed by the House. The administration estimates that its plan would reduce the federal deficit by $100 billion over the next 10 years — and about $1 trillion over the second decade — by cutting spending and reining in waste and fraud.

But the measure has not yet been evaluated by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, and White House officials said they were open to adjusting it if it cost substantially more than they have estimated.

The proposal would provide more money to help cash-strapped states pay for Medicaid over the next four years and eliminate the unpopular “donut hole” coverage gap in the Medicare prescription drug program.

In many respects, Mr. Obama’s measure looks much like the version the Senate passed on Christmas Eve — and indeed, senior White House officials acknowledged on a morning conference call that they had used the Senate bill as a template. But there are several critical differences that appear designed to appeal to House Democrats, who have voiced deep concerns about the Senate measure and its effects on the middle class.

To begin with, Mr. Obama would eliminate a controversial special deal for Nebraska — widely derided by Republicans as the “cornhusker kickback” — that called for the federal government to pay the full cost of a Medicaid expansion for that state. Instead, the White House would help all states absorb the cost of the Medicaid expansion from 2014, when it begins, until 2017.

And while the president adopts the Senate’s proposed excise tax on high-cost, employer sponsored insurance plans, Mr. Obama makes some crucial adjustments based on an agreement reached in January with organized labor leaders, while also trying to avoid the appearance of special treatment for unions. Most crucially, the president would delay imposing the tax until 2018 for all policies, not just for health benefits provided through collectively-bargained union contracts.

Obama to tout housing help Friday in Las Vegas

2010-02-19T08:40:00.000-08:00

LAS VEGAS -- President Barack Obama is unveiling $1.5 billion in housing help, a boost timed to his appearance in the city with the worst foreclosure crisis in the nation.

Obama's move, detailed by aides in advance of his town hall here Friday, is the latest by a White House determined to show it is helping families rebound from a deep recession. The downturn is taking an election-year toll on Obama's party as voter frustration builds.

Obama was to announce that housing finance agencies in the five hardest-hit states in the housing crisis will receive $1.5 billion to help spur local solutions to the problem. Those five are Arizona, California, Florida, Michigan and Nevada.

The policy wrinkle comes during a two-day Western trip with different agendas for the president. He will be back in town-hall mode, a venue that aides say allows him to connect with people and distance himself from the messy process of Washington governing.

The president is also out to help vulnerable senators protect their seats and, in turn, gain as much legislative leverage as he can.

At the town hall and a business speech he will be lending his support to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, a top 2010 election target of Republicans.

Obama's political involvement comes as the Democrats' command of the Senate grows shakier, jeopardizing the president's agenda. The tide of change that Obama rode to office is threatening to slam against his own party.

The first day of the trip was all politics. Obama campaigned Thursday for Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado in Denver, then held a $1 million fundraiser for Democrats in Las Vegas.

Reid is one of Obama's allies, despite a flap over the president's tendency to refer to Las Vegas as a symbol of imprudent spending, which has the city's mayor fuming at the president.

For Obama, slowing the foreclosure rate is a key step in the recovery of the overall economy. Millions of people have lost their homes because they couldn't afford the mortgages anymore, and millions lost jobs because of the associated slowdown in new home building.

Reid's state leads the nation in home foreclosures; Las Vegas was the metro area with the highest foreclosure rate in January, with one in every 82 homes receiving such a filing.

The money for the new rescue effort will come from the $700 billion financial industry bailout program, according to a senior administration official who spoke anonymously Thursday night because the formal announcement had not been made.

Economic issues, such as unemployment or reduced income, are expected to be the main catalysts for foreclosures this year. Initially, subprime mortgages were mostly the culprit, but homeowners with good credit who took out conventional, fixed-rate loans are the fastest growing group of foreclosures.

Obama will cap his Las Vegas trip with a speech to the city's Chamber of Commerce before returning to Washington later Friday.

Obama creates panel to tackle deficit, debt

2010-02-18T08:41:00.000-08:00

With several strokes from several pens, President Obama created a fiscal commission this morning that's supposed to begin erasing $14.3 trillion in government red ink.

Well, not so fast. First the panel, headed by Democrat Erskine Bowles and Republican Alan Simpson, must be fleshed out with 16 more members: four appointed by Obama, six by congressional Democrats and six by congressional Republicans (who have yet to say whether they'll play ball).

Then it must spend most of the year coming up with ways to slash the $1.6 trillion federal budget deficit and $14.3 trillion national debt. After that, it must get at least 14 of 18 "yes" votes to send any recommendations to Congress -- a process that guarantees bipartisanship or gridlock.

Obama optimistically called it a "thankless task" in thanking the two men who will take it on. He singled out Simpson, who at 6'7" should be able to take on any tall order, as "flinty" -- an understatement for those who covered the Wyoming lawmaker in the Senate before he abdicated for the ivory towers of Harvard.

"If you look in the dictionary, it says 'flinty' and then it's got Simpson's picture," the president said. Simpson, wearing a wild tie, just grinned.

Obama was more reverential in noting that Bowles, as White House chief of staff for Bill Clinton, helped broker the 1997 deficit reduction law that was followed by four years of budget surpluses.

The two men "are taking on the impossible," Obama said. "They're going to try to restore reason to the fiscal debate."

The panel is Obama's second choice, following the Senate's defeat of a tougher one that could have assured congressional action. This one, like countless others in the past, can be ignored if lawmakers -- even after the 2010 elections -- don't have the nerve to cut spending and, possibly, raise taxes.

Mayor Bloomberg's approval rating at lowest in more than 4 years: poll

2010-02-17T08:32:00.000-08:00

Mayor Bloomberg's approval rating has fallen to its lowest point in the last 4-1/2 years - just one of the elected officials to feel the wrath of New York voters.

Voters, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday, support Bloomberg's plan to balance the budget by freezing city workers' wages, but are mixed on his push to trim city services instead of raising taxes.

Just 43% of voters would raise taxes to balance the budget, down 10 points from a year ago.

About 45% would cut services, up 6 points from a year earlier. While 63% of voters would support a wage freeze, 63% are also opposed to laying off city workers.

Bloomberg's proposed budget eliminates raises for most city workers, and lays off 834 of them.

Just 61% of New Yorkers surveyed approve of the job Bloomberg is doing, down from 67% in September and 75% in October 2008.

The last time he was at that level was July 2005, when he had a 60% approval rating heading into his first re-election bid.

Bloomberg won re-election last fall by a 4.4-point margin, and said he was hurt by the same anti-incumbent sentiment that has tossed pols from office around the country.

Quinnipiac pollster Mickey Carroll said the voter dissatisfaction is real - and Bloomberg has suffered from it.

"For Mayor Mike, 60 is the new 70," Carroll said. "The man who cruised through his second term with 70 percent approval ratings should be happy if he can stay above 60 percent in his third term."

Other city leaders don't even fare that well.

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn has a 44% approval rating after four years of running the Council.

New Controller John Liu also is at 44%, and new Public Advocate Bill de Blasio has 37%.

Controversial schools Chancellor Joel Klein is the only one in the poll more loathed than loved: 39% of voters approve of the job he's doing, and 40% disapprove.

The declines mirror a similar decline for President Obama, whose approval rating in the five boroughs is 72% - an enviable number for other pols, but the lowest since he took office.

Biden and Cheney spar over anti-terrorism policies

2010-02-15T08:01:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON -- Former Vice President Dick Cheney says his successor, Joe Biden, is "dead wrong" about terrorist threats facing the United States. Biden says Cheney is "misinformed."

And the feud goes on.

Highly partisan public skirmishes between President Barack Obama's White House and Cheney have become standard fare. And the back-and-forth on the Sunday morning talk shows did not disappoint.

Biden struck first, declaring that Cheney's attacks on Obama's commitment to fighting al-Qaida ignored the facts.

"We've eliminated 12 of their top 20 people. We have taken out 100 of their associates," said Biden. "They are in fact not able to do anything remotely like they were in the past. They are on the run. I don't know where Dick Cheney has been. Look, it's one thing, again, to criticize. It's another thing to sort of rewrite history. What is he talking about?"

Cheney insisted Biden was "dead wrong" to assert that a fresh Sept. 11-style strike was unlikely, calling a nuclear or biological attack by al-Qaida "the biggest strategic threat the United States faces today."

Cheney then again took on Obama's decision to close the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

In doing so, the former vice president acknowledged he had been at odds with the majority of Bush administration officials on the decision to release prisoners from the military lockup to their home countries when cases against them were determined to be legally untenable.

Obama to deliver commencement at University of Michigan

2010-02-12T09:18:00.000-08:00

President Obama last year at the Notre Dame commencement.

Yes, it's cold now, but soon comes the warmth of spring with fresh flowers, thoughts of love, and college commencements -- and presidential college commencement speeches as well.

President Obama will address graduates of the University of Michigan on May 1, school president Mary Sue Coleman announced.

"President Obama has captured the imagination and enthusiasm of many students with his inspiring words of hope and change," Obama said.

In addition to being a fine school, the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor has seen its fair share of presidential history.

In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson outlined his vision of "the Great Society" at a Michigan commencement. Four years before that, candidate John F. Kennedy proposed creation of the Peace Corps from the steps of the Michigan Union.

President Gerald Ford, an alumnus who played football for the Wolverines in the 1930s, launched his 1976 election bid at a commencement address in Ann Arbor.

Presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush have also delivered Michigan commencements.

Senate banking chief hopeful for financial reform bill

2010-02-11T09:16:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Banking Chairman Christopher Dodd voiced optimism on Thursday that his committee could craft a bipartisan financial reform bill.

Dodd said he would negotiate the financial regulation legislation with Republican Senator Bob Corker, six days after saying bipartisan efforts had failed.

"I am more optimistic than I have been in several weeks that we can develop a consensus bill to bring about the reforms the financial sector so desperately needs to prevent another economic crisis," Dodd said in a statement.

Last Friday, Dodd said he was at an impasse with the top Republican on the banking committee Richard Shelby.

Dodd said he asked Corker to negotiate the bill with him. "We met in my office on Wednesday and given the importance of these issues he agreed," Dodd said.

Dodd, the chief architect on financial regulation in the Senate, introduced a draft reform bill in November. But that bill was met with stiff opposition from Republicans. Dodd then formed bipartisan groups to work on the most controversial parts of the bill, such as oversight of the $450 trillion over-the-counter derivatives market, corporate governance and banking regulation.

Corker had been working with Democratic Senator Mark Warner on new banking rules and a way to resolve large troubled financial firms.

Obama softens stance on Wall Street bonuses

2010-02-10T10:31:00.000-08:00

President Barack Obama has praised the bosses of Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan as "very savvy" and insisted he does not "begrudge" them their success and wealth, in a significant softening of the White House's attitude towards multimillion-dollar Wall Street bonuses.

Once a staunch critic of outsized pay packets, Obama adopted a strikingly consensual tone when asked this week about a $9m (£5.8m) bonus awarded to Goldman's Lloyd Blankfein and a $17m (£11m) payday granted to JP Morgan's Jamie Dimon.

"I know both those guys, they are very savvy businessmen," Obama said in a interview with Bloomberg's BusinessWeek magazine. "I, like most of the American people, don't begrudge people success or wealth. That is part of the free-market system."

Equating the banking bosses with top sports stars, Obama agreed that Dimon's $17m pay packet was "an extraordinary amount of money" in high-street terms, but added: "There are some baseball players who are making more than that and don't get to the World Series either, so I'm shocked by that as well."

Speaking more broadly about Wall Street rewards, Obama said: "I do think that the compensation packages that we've seen over the last decade at least have not matched up always to performance."

But he praised the fact that Goldman and JP Morgan were using long-term share awards, rather than cash, to pay bonuses to their senior executives. He said this "requires proven performance over a certain period of time as opposed to quarterly earnings", adding that it was a "fairer way of measuring CEO success and ultimately will make the performance of American businesses better".

Although the White House denied any changed in direction on the issue of bonuses, Obama's comments were far less strident than his past condemnations of rewards on Wall Street. Shortly after taking office last year, he described bonus payouts by banks as "the height of irresponsibility" and said it was "shameful" that banks were paying "lavish" compensation in the middle of an economic crisis.

Obama sets up task force on childhood obesity

2010-02-09T09:08:00.000-08:00

Washington (CNN) -- President Barack Obama signed a memorandum Tuesday establishing a new federal task force to tackle the growing problem of childhood obesity.

The task force, according to the memorandum, will have 90 days to craft a plan encouraging "optimal coordination" between the federal government and both the private and non-profit sectors, according to Obama.

Several Cabinet members, including the secretaries of Interior, Agriculture, and Health and Human Services, will serve on the task force. Its work will complement an aggressive public relations effort led by first lady Michelle Obama to raise public awareness of the issue.

Childhood obesity is "one of the most urgent health issues that we face in this country," the president said at the White House.

"We think that this has enormous promise in improving the health of our children, in giving support to parents to make the kinds of healthy choices that oftentimes are very difficult."

The administration, according to the memo, "is committed to redoubling our efforts to solve the problem of childhood obesity within a generation through a comprehensive approach that builds on effective strategies, engages families and communities, and mobilizes both public and private sector resources."

The memo notes that almost one-third of American children are overweight or obese -- a rate that has tripled among adolescents and more than doubled in younger children since 1980.

About one-third of Americans born in the year 2000 or later will suffer from diabetes at some point in their lifetime, according to the memo.

Michelle Obama will launch a national campaign against childhood obesity at noon at the White House.

Mayors, doctors and leaders in sports, entertainment and business will join the first lady as she kicks off the campaign. Members of President Obama's Cabinet will also be there.

As part of the campaign the first lady is urging families to turn off the television, drink more water and serve smaller portions.

During a speech last month at a Virginia YMCA, the first lady spoke about health issues caused by childhood obesity.

"We've seen the surge in obesity in this country is nothing short of a public health crisis, and it's threatening our children, it's threatening our families, and more importantly it's threatening the future of this nation," she said. "Higher rates of obesity are directly linked, as you've heard, to higher rates of chronic illnesses like heart disease and cancer and diabetes."

During her speech at the YMCA, Michelle Obama shared strategies she has used with her own children.

She helped her daughters stay active by limiting television watching, she said. The first lady also cut back on meal sizes and sugary drinks, and added more fruits, vegetables and water to their diet.

"It was really very minor stuff. But these small changes resulted in some really significant improvements," Obama said.

US Envoy Describes N. Korean Rights Situation as 'Appalling'

2010-01-11T04:17:00.000-08:00

U.S. envoy said Monday that North Korean human rights issues can be discussed at the six-party denuclearization talks, describing the rights situation in the secretive state as ``appalling.''

Robert King, special envoy on North Korean human rights, who arrived in Seoul, Sunday, also expressed his willingness to visit Pyongyang.

``The six-party talks include a subgroup of the United States and the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea). We will hold bilateral discussions within the context of the six-party talks,'' he said after meeting with Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan at the ministry in Seoul.

He continued, ``As we have said on many occasions, the relationship with the United States and North Korea will have to involve human rights.''

Asked about his assessment of the current human rights situation in North Korea, the envoy said, ``It's one of the worst places in terms of lack of human rights. ``The State Department annually reports on human rights conditions, and the status of human rights in North Korea is considered poor.''

With an updated report set to be released in a few weeks, King said it is expected to include few changes from what has been seen in the past. The envoy also called for the improvement of human rights in the reclusive state, saying the issue is an obstacle to normalizing Washington-Pyongyang relations.

``Improved relations between the United States and North Korea will have to involve greater respect for human rights by North Korea. That's one of the important conditions,'' he said. King said he would be ``happy to go'' to Pyongyang if North Korea invites him.

He assumed the position of special envoy last November ― prior to his appointment, he worked for 24 years as chief of staff to Rep. Tom Lantos. Heavily involved in the planning and conducting of Lantos' human rights agenda, he played a key role in the passage of the 2004 North Korean Human Rights Act.

He is scheduled to meet with South Korean officials, North Korean defectors and family members of abductees before leaving for Japan, Friday.

Revelations From The Campaign

2010-01-08T09:41:00.000-08:00

(CBS) Asked by Barack Obama if she would be his secretary of state, Hillary Clinton - after initially turning him down - was concerned that her husband's penchant for causing controversy would interfere with her new role. Sarah Palin was so overwhelmed by the amount of information she needed to learn to debate Joe Biden that campaign staffers thought the debate might be a "debacle of historic and epic proportions."

Those are some of the revelations in "Game Change," a new book about the presidential campaigns by political reporters Mark Halperin and John Heilemann, who say they interviewed 200 Democrats and Republicans with inside knowledge.

Both men, along with Steve Schmidt, John McCain's former chief campaign strategist, are interviewed by CNN's Anderson Cooper for a story to be broadcast on 60 Minutes this Sunday, Jan. 10, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.