US President Barack Obama (R) toasts with his Czech Republic’s counterpart Vaclav Klaus (C) and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev after signing the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) in Prague on April 8, 2010. JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images
–Obama and Medvedev signed the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty today in …
Our White House Photo Blog features this photo of former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan testifying before the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission. As luck would have it, this also happened to be the moment when the power went out at the Rayburn House Office Building:
Over at the Curious Capitalist, our colleague Stephen Gandel has …
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
–Michael Steele’s woes atop the RNC are being compounded, not helped, by a handful of high-profile resignations, including chief of staff Ken McKay. Rather than looking like he’s getting his house in order, the departures inevitably lead to a series of stories citing the recent risque spending flap …
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
–Democrats have been careful not to appear gleeful over promising economic news as the jobs market continues to struggle. Cautious optimism ruled the day Sunday even as the White House economic team reacted to a very positive unemployment report.
–Unemployment woes are
Not so much. Today, I look at five reasons why this cycle is different from 1994… so far.
Democratic gurus James Carville and Stanley Greenberg were the guests at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast this morning, where they discussed the results of a Democracy Corps poll on the deficit. The results from the survey aren’t likely to inspire jaw drops: 93% of the 1,000-plus voters polled say they view the deficit as a major …
President Barack Obama today announced his intention to make 15 recess appointments, signaling his frustration with the Senate’s foot dragging. The White House pointedly noted that these nominees have been waiting an average of 214 days for confirmation. Overall, the White house said, Obama has 217 nominees before the Senate who’ve …
The Senate scattered to the four winds this afternoon, leaving unfinished work on a $9.2 billion bill to extend for one-month unemployment benefits. This will not make for a restful two-week recess for exhausted lawmakers as some of the benefits begin to run out April 5 – the day after Easter. Barring any kidnapped girls or celebrity …
If you happened to have turned on C-SPAN in the last half hour you may have noticed the Senate was full of senators but no vote going on. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid convened the upper chamber to try and get consensus on how to proceed after Senator Tom Coburn, an Oklahoma Republican, objected to proceeding to a one-month extension …
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
–As Kate mentioned, parliamentarian Alan Frumin ruled early this morning that two minor clauses relating to Pell Grant funding in the health care reconciliation bill don’t make the cut for budget rules. It’s a minor hiccup and won’t radically alter the legislation. The Senate is expected …
In the cover story for the new issue of dead-tree TIME that hits newsstands tomorrow, Kate and I, along with our colleague Alice Park, explore five elements to watch closely as policymakers translate the sweeping legislation that Barack Obama signed Tuesday into a real-world transformation of the health care system.
Kate also …
Yesterday I reported that the GOP storm on health care seemed to be subsiding. Indeed, reconciliation looks on schedule to go through by Friday, though Senator Tom Coburn says he believes he’ll be able to successful strip out certain provisions forcing the Senate to send the bill back to the House for final passage. It seems, though, …
You may not have realized it, given that health care is sucking most of the oxygen out of the room, but the Senate this morning passed the jobs bill 68-29, sending it to the President’s desk to be signed into law. And, no, they didn’t end up pulling an all nighter Monday.
