Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
–The Fed, spooked by a floundering recovery, weighs growth measures.
—Karl Rove tells Republicans they need a positive economic agenda, suggests fighting to retain Bush tax cuts.
—Matt Bai writes Obama is relatively well positioned to make progress on the deficit, but he’ll need a …
TIME’s energy and environment writer Bryan Walsh takes a look:
In a preliminary look at the American Power Act—the climate legislation that has been put forward by Senators John Kerry and Joseph Lieberman—the CBO found that the bill would actually reduce the budget deficit by about $19 billion over the 2011 to 2020 period. The CBO
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Last week, Ben Smith noticed Michigan Republican gubernatorial candidate Mike Cox had a TV ad bearing a striking resemblance to this commercial for a pickup truck. You might shrug it off as coincidence or an isolated appeal to the Motor City crowd. But now it’s cropping up again, this time in Nevada. Rory Reid, the Democratic candidate …
–Obama plans to use a recess appointment to get Donald Berwick in at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, avoiding what was sure to be a nasty confirmation fight in the Senate. In its spin, the White House makes at least two good points: CMS has been without a permanent chief since 2006 and the Harvard …
A little while back, a reader asked me, “what is in the [financial reform] bill that affects us little people?” I gave only a very cursory answer, but the first item on my list was the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau. By overseeing the loans and financial products companies sell to individual consumers, the CFPB has the potential to …
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
–Obama is set to meet with Israeli PM Netanyahu today at the White House. Both countries’ press corps seem focused on the personal rift. The White House seems determined to reverse that impression. Bibi says getting to direct talks is the goal.
–Scott Brown flirts with an “aye” on …
I haven’t been paying close enough attention, but luckily Kate is on the case. Check out this week’s podcast:
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
–The economy shed 125,000 jobs in June, more or less in line with projections. The decreased payrolls were in large part due to 225,000 laid off temporary census workers. The private sector added 83,000 jobs and the unemployment rate decreased to 9.5% due to a quickly contracting labor …
Maria Cantwell intends to vote for the bill, her spokesman tells me. She was won over by a letter from Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Gary Gensler, in which he reassured her the language regulating derivatives is sufficiently clear and enforceable. Cantwell voted against the original Senate version because of concerns that …
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
–The Senate heads into the July recess with Kagan’s testimony wrapped, unemployment benefit extensions hopelessly stuck (one vote short) and financial reform still up in the air.
–Obama is set to give a speech on immigration reform this morning at American University. He will urge …
The House of Representatives passed a sweeping overhaul of America’s financial sector and the regulatory structure that oversees it Wednesday evening, the penultimate step in a two-year effort sparked by the 2008 crisis. The 237-192 vote split largely along party lines, with most Democrats supporting the measure and most Republicans …
Much of the political advertising from Democratic incumbents this year has hinged on one central argument: Democrats are delivering — and best poised to deliver in the future — for their districts. Notably Harry Reid, in his opening spot and “no one can do more” tag line, and Blanche Lincoln, in her effort to put her Agriculture …
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
–As Jay reported yesterday, Barney Frank and Chris Dodd moved back to conference to strip the $18 billion bank tax from financial reform. The money to pay for the bill will now come from the TARP and increased FDIC premiums. Translation: Rather than getting the money from large investment …
