Saturday, March 20, 2010
National Politics
Yahoo! News: Politics News
Politics News
Obama pushes for last votes on health bill (Reuters)
Reuters - President Barack Obama planned a Capitol Hill visit on Saturday to rally support on healthcare as Democrats in the House of Representatives tried to nail down the last votes to pass his sweeping overhaul.
Black support high for Obama's race-neutral stance (AP)
AP - Discontent is surging among some black advocates over President Barack Obama's refusal to target rising black unemployment, but many black residents in Charlotte, N.C., say they support his racially neutral approach to joblessness.
House Dems confident in overcoming abortion rift (AP)
AP - Victory within reach, President Barack Obama set his sights on rallying House Democrats on Saturday for a final health care push as party leaders appeared confident they had overcome a flare-up within their ranks over abortion funding restrictions in the legislation.
SUNSHINE WEEK: Q&A with the open records ombudsman (AP)
AP - As part of Sunshine Week, when news organizations highlight the importance of government openness, the nation's new Freedom of Information Act ombudsman, Miriam Nisbet, took part in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press.
Obama order: Bring advance teams home from Asia (AP)
AP - Rooms were booked, limousines waiting, snipers staking out positions. Then President Barack Obama ditched plans to visit Guam, Indonesia and Australia — health care trumping Asia, an expected House vote Sunday grounding Air Force One's planned departure that day.
Pelosi shoots down abortion vote (Politico)
Politico - House leaders have decided not to give Stupak a vote on a strict ban on federal funding for abortion.
Political Economy: Sense of Entitlement (CQPolitics.com)
CQPolitics.com - If you blur your eyes enough, sometimes the imperfections in the image before you are miraculously erased. At the very least, the eye can be tricked into concentrating on what seems to be the true picture, which is no longer obscured by the messy details.
Bernanke: Keep Fed as watchdog of small US banks (AP)
AP - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke made a fresh pitch Saturday to retain oversight of small banks, contending that what the Fed learns from that role helps it assess the overall health of the entire U.S. financial system.
Obama close to health law success that eluded past (AP)
AP - Rarely does the government, that big, clumsy, poorly regarded oaf, pull off anything short of war that touches all lives with one act, one stroke of a president's pen. Such a moment now seems near.
An unlikely topic for Obama address (Politico)
Politico - Obama uses his weekly address to discuss Wall St. reform a day before the health care vote.
Even before House vote on healthcare bill, legal challenges loom (The Christian Science Monitor)
The Christian Science Monitor - As congressional leaders and the White House push to attract the remaining votes needed to pass a healthcare reform measure this weekend, opponents are poised to take their fight to the courts, and potentially all the way to the US Supreme Court.
GOP state prosecutors threaten court challenge to health bill (McClatchy Newspapers)
McClatchy Newspapers - WASHINGTON — Republican prosecutors from South Carolina and Florida said Friday they were preparing to file a lawsuit if the health care bill before Congress becomes law, challenging its requirement that all Americans buy insurance.
Clinton says agreement with Russia near on nukes (AP)
AP - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Friday that American and Russian negotiators are "on the brink" of agreement on a nuclear arms reduction treaty.
US military deaths in Afghan region at 939 (AP)
AP - As of Friday, March 19, 2010, at least 939 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to an Associated Press count.
Albanian stalemate can hit EU ambitions: official (AFP)
AFP - Albania must resolve a political impasse on a contested parliamentary election as it could torpedo its aim of joining the European Union, EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele said Friday.
Senior official: al-Qaida leader believed killed (AP)
AP - An al-Qaida leader believed to have played a key role in the bombing of a CIA post in Afghanistan last December was apparently killed by an American missile strike last week, a senior U.S. official said Wednesday.
Toyota Criticism Mounts on Eve of Recall Hearings (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg - Feb. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Toyota Motor Corp.’s handling of
recalls came under mounting criticism on the eve of the
automaker’s U.S. congressional testimony, including charges that
the company misled the public on the adequacy of its recalls.
