President Obama blasted oil company executives today for ducking responsibility for the spill still gushing crude into the Gulf of Mexico. “I did not appreciate what I considered to be a ridiculous spectacle,” Obama said of the Congressional hearings this week. He unloading on the chiefs of BP, Transocean and Halliburton for “falling …
On the second day of hearings into the oil spill still pouring crude into the Gulf of Mexico at an alarming rate, lawmakers pointed to a faulty blowout preventer, the safety mechanism that is supposed to seal a well in the event of an accident. In a blistering assessment, Congressman Bart Stupak of the House Energy and Commerce Committee …
A theme emerged early in the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing into the BP oil spill. For today’s grilling, lawmakers summoned Lamar McKay, president and chairman of BP America, which holds the lease on the Deepwater Horizon rig; Steve Newman, CEO of drilling company Transocean, which owns it; and Tim …
Utah’s GOP holds its convention tomorrow, and Sen. Bob Bennett is in serious trouble. I have a Time.com piece on what’s behind Bennett’s plight here. There have been a number of stories on this topic, and many of them have pointed to Wyden-Bennett, TARP or the senator’s decision to renege on a term limits pledge as the cause of his …
With the debate over Arizona’s new immigation law raging, it was inevitable, perhaps, that this year’s Cinco de Mayo festivities would be politically charged. In Washington, where every shindig serves some political purpose, President Obama used the occasion to blast SB1070 and urge Congress to press ahead with immigration reform. But at …
Now that Florida Gov. Charlie Crist has defected from the Republican Party, his former allies appear intent on scrubbing the stains of the association as quickly as possible. If the party can restock its coffers in the process, so much the better—which is why GOP officials in the Sunshine State are hawking a pricey portrait of …
As my colleague Barbara Kiviat notes over at The Curious Capitalist blog, Goldman Sachs’ legal troubles are deepening. With the firm reportedly mulling settlements with both the SEC and a hedge fund that folded after an ill-fated CDO investment, the Wall Street Journal reported last night that the Justice Department has opened an …
Before heading to Maryland to tour a Secret Service training facility, President Obama gave a 10-minute address in the White House Rose Garden that focused mostly on this morning’s strong economic numbers. As Christina Romer, Chair of the Council of Economic Advisors, noted in the post to the White House blog, real GDP grew for the …
Ezra Klein has an interview with Sen. Lindsey Graham that explores Graham’s opposition to moving on immigration legislation before tackling a climate bill. As the piece’s title quote suggests, to an extent Graham comes off like a parent trying not to offend either of his difficult children. But it’s a fairly candid Q & A, and one worth …
Two days after Goldman Sachs execs were battered by a Senate subcommittee during a hearing into its role in the financial crisis, the New York Post reports the firm, which has vehemently denied the SEC’s fraud allegations, is moving toward a settlement in the case. From the Post’s story:
“It’s almost a certainty that there will be a
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Incensed by Arizona’s stiff new immigration law, Rep. Raul Grijalva, the Democrat representing the state’s massive 7th district, took the unusual step of calling for a commercial boycott of his own state even before Gov. Jan Brewer signed the measure. Since then the boycott theme has gained traction, with lawmakers in Los Angeles and San …
By the time Carl Levin – who has not passed up a chance to swear today – had the opportunity to tussle with Lloyd Blankfein, he had spent hours belaboring his central gripe with Goldman. Namely: that the Wall Street behemoth sold consumers products Goldman believed were close to worthless while shorting those assets themselves. “To …
For more than five hours, Senators laid into the four current and former Goldman execs sitting on the first of three panels today. The inquisitors took markedly different approaches. Democratic Sens. John Tester of Montana and Mark Pryor of Arkansas adopted a softer tone, and at times Tom Coburn, the ranking minority member of the …