Obama administration

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Companies Fume Over Unnoticed ObamaCare Fee

New fund will cost employers $63 per worker they insure

(Newser) - Firms are lashing out against a fee they will face next year under the new health law: Most big employers will owe $63 for every person they insure, with the money going into a $25 billion fund, reports the Wall Street Journal . That fund, built up over three years, will...

Pyongyang Threats Prompt US to Boost Missile Defense

Obama had halted program's expansion

(Newser) - North Korea's missile warnings have the US building up its defenses, insiders tell Fox News . The Pentagon is preparing 14 new ground-based interceptors in Alaska and California. The result—44 total interceptors—is in line with Bush administration plans. President Obama had halted deployment at 30 when he entered...

Obama Picks Chris Stevens' Replacement in Libya

Career diplomat Deborah K. Jones will be ambassador to Libya

(Newser) - President Obama has nominated a longtime diplomat to the Mideast as the US' next ambassador to Libya, filling the sensitive post that has been vacant since Chris Stevens was killed in an attack on the American consulate in September and signaling the United States' commitment to the North African country...

Obama's 2nd-Term Mission: Appoint Diverse Judges

GOP likely to delay the process

(Newser) - Of the 35 judicial nominees currently awaiting confirmation by the Senate, 17 are women; 15 are members of ethnic minorities; five are openly gay. Just six are straight white guys. After what the Washington Post refers to as the "sluggish pace" of President Obama's first-term appointments, the second-term...

Forget Europe: US May OK Horse Meat Plant

It hasn't been processed here in 6 years

(Newser) - What timing: With Europe trying to rein in a horse meat scandal , the US may give the green light to a horse slaughtering plant in New Mexico. The facility, which would produce horse meat that's safe to eat, could get Agriculture Department approval within the next two months, the...

White House: We Had Nothing to Do With Freed Illegals

Decision came from immigration officials, says press secretary

(Newser) - As the sequestration game of "not it" continues, the White House yesterday insisted it played no part in the decision to release hundreds of detained illegal immigrants , as some Republicans had alleged. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials made the move "without any input from the White House, as...

Woodward: White House Said I'd 'Regret' Sequester Stance

Calls Obama's approach 'madness'

(Newser) - Bob Woodward's standoff with the White House is heating up: Now the journalist says a top administration official warned him to stop blaming President Obama for the sequester, Business Insider reports. In an email, "it was said very clearly: You will regret doing this," Woodward told CNN...

Journo: Oops, I Started the Hagel-Hamas Rumors

Dan Friedman explains how made-up group he joked about became news

(Newser) - Ever wonder how unconfirmed rumors snowball into political news stories? At the New York Daily News , Dan Friedman offers an example—in which he was the unwitting source of the false story. In the midst of Chuck Hagel's confirmation process, Friedman called a GOP aide to find out more...

White House Plans to Map Human Brain

Experts hope for economic boost from potential $3B project

(Newser) - When President Obama mentioned mapping the brain in his State of the Union address, he may have been hinting at a big science goal for the White House. The administration is readying a project to investigate the human brain at a level on par with the Human Genome Project, the...

Obama Administration Loses Yet Another Woman

Karen Mills led Small Business Administration since 2009

(Newser) - The Obama administration is losing yet another Cabinet-level woman. Karen Mills, the head of the Small Business Administration, announced today that she'll be leaving the post she has held since 2009, reports Politico . The president issued a statement thanking Mills for cutting through red tape and making life easier...

China at Heart of Sweeping Cyberspying War on US

Economic espionage is costing America billions

(Newser) - The past five years have seen a mammoth international effort to spy on the computer systems of US businesses and other institutions, an intelligence report finds—and China is by far the biggest threat. The goal: to gather economic information to benefit the spying countries, the Washington Post reports. Targeted...

Catholic Bishops on New Contraception Deal: Still No

But they take a more moderate tone on proffered compromise

(Newser) - With Catholic bishops opposed to an ObamaCare mandate on contraception, the White House recently moved to change the rule —but the new package hasn't satisfied the religious leaders, the New York Times reports. The deal would allow women employed by a religiously-affiliated employer, such as a Catholic hospital,...

New Gulf Leases Could Yield 1B Barrels of Oil

38M acres set for auction

(Newser) - The US is nearly ready to auction off oil and gas drilling leases for up to 38 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico—an area which could yield some 1 billion barrels of oil and 4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, the Wall Street Journal reports. The March...

Iran Airs Footage It Says Is From Captured US Drone

West hikes sanctions against Tehran

(Newser) - Iranian TV has unveiled footage it says came from a US drone it obtained in 2011, Reuters reports. The footage shows a US base in Afghanistan, among other material, officials say. "After we decrypted the data ... we realized that this aircraft had made a lot of flights inside regional...

Why Aren't We Prosecuting Singing S&P Fraudsters?

William Greider wonders if this is Obama's Watergate

(Newser) - The Justice Department's lawsuit against Standard and Poor's looks pretty damning. According to the suit, S&P knew its ratings on mortgage bonds were too loose, proposed upgrading them in 2004—and then decided not to because it would hurt the bottom line, Fortune explains. The suit makes...

Obama to Pick REI Honcho for Interior Secretary

Sally Jewell will be first woman appointed in second term

(Newser) - President Obama will make an unconventional Cabinet pick today, naming REI Equipment Inc. CEO Sally Jewell as his new secretary of the Interior, a source tells the Washington Post . Jewell has had an interesting career path: She started out as an engineer for Mobil Oil, then became a commercial banker,...

White House Revamps Contraception Rules

But rules out a broader exemption

(Newser) - The Obama administration today officially issued a proposed change to its rule mandating that employers offer their female employees insurance that includes copay-free access to contraception. Under the new rule, women who work for a religiously-affiliated employer, such as a Catholic hospital, will still get free access to contraceptives, but...

Niger (Yes, Next to Mali) to Host US Drones

Deal opens possibility of US military presence

(Newser) - Niger's president has agreed to let the US use the country—which borders Mali—as a base for surveillance drones, a source tells Reuters . The drones would be used to spy on militants with al-Qaeda ties in Mali and the Sahara as a whole, according to the insider, who...

Ray LaHood Leaving Obama Administration

Transportation secretary the latest Cabinet member to depart

(Newser) - Yet another Obama Cabinet member is exiting stage left. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood tells the AP that he intends to step down as soon as a successor can be confirmed. The former Illinois congressman was the last remaining Republican in Obama's administration, though Defense Department nominee Chuck Hagel would...

Clinton&#39;s Grade at State: Just &#39;Solid&#39;
 Clinton's Grade at 
 State: Just 'Solid' 
analysis
Jan 28, 2013 11:47 AM CST

Clinton's Grade at State: Just 'Solid'

Popular leader hasn't left enduring legacy: analysts

(Newser) - As Hillary Clinton leaves the State Department a fawning public is eating out of her hand, but policy wonks are less impressed, complaining that she hasn't left an indelible mark. "She has never dominated issues of war and peace in the manner of predecessors Dean Acheson or Henry...

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