Obama administration

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Détente? Iran Soccer Rivals Will Play on US Soil

(Newser) - Two of Iran’s most bitter soccer rivals may soon become tools of diplomacy, the Guardian reports. Persepolis and Esteghlal Tehran are planning US tours, to culminate in a match, likely in a city with a large Iranian population. “For holding several friendly matches, including one against the Tehran...

White House Adds Troops to Mexico Border Drug Fight

US will beef up presence on border

(Newser) - The Obama administration says it is sending more agents and equipment to the southwestern US border to combat Mexican drug cartels. Speaking at the White House today, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said officials were still considering whether to deploy the National Guard to the border. She plans to meet...

Don't Use Budget Process for Big Reform: GOP to Obama

Procedure would allow Democrats to pass agenda with 51 votes

(Newser) - To circumvent a likely 60-vote minimum in the Senate for big-ticket bills like health reform, President Obama is considering pursuing proposals through a budgetary tactic known as reconciliation, where just 51 votes are needed and no filibustering is allowed. But Republicans are having none of it, Politico reports. Senate Republican...

Geithner Asks Congress for Broad Takeover Powers

Defends actions during AIG bailout

(Newser) - Timothy Geithner today asked Congress for expanded power to take the helm of big, failing  institutions like AIG and wind them down in an orderly fashion, Reuters reports. “AIG highlights broad failures of our financial system," Geithner said in unusually spirited testimony before the House Financial Services Committee....

Obama Needs Help Selling Economic Plans

His team lacks common touch

(Newser) - The White House economic team is great on policy, but when it comes to reassuring the public, President Obama is on his own, Peter Nicholas and Peter Wallsten write in the LA Times. "The ability to communicate with average people was not what these people were chosen for,"...

Don't Listen to Krugman— This Plan Might Work

Pearlstein lays into fellow columnist

(Newser) - Even before the full details were released, critics were bashing the Treasury's public-private asset purchase plan; Paul Krugman predicted it would fail and lead the country into depression (not to speak of the writer into despair). Steven Pearlstein begs to differ, and the markets seem to agree. For the Washington ...

Feds Seek Expanded Power to Seize Shaky Companies

Treasury sec should be able to seize non-bank firms, says administration

(Newser) - The Obama administration is expected to ask Congress for expanded powers that would let the Treasury secretary seize insurers, hedge funds, and other non-bank financial companies whose failure would imperil the economy, reports the Washington Post. While negotiations are ongoing, the plans to expand Treasury authority would represent a major...

Geithner Wins Over Wall Street
 Geithner Wins Over Wall Street 
ANALYSIS
Mar 24, 2009 4:45 AM CDT

Geithner Wins Over Wall Street

Careful roll out of asset plan helps Treasury secretary get his credibility back

(Newser) - The carefully orchestrated roll out of the federal plan to buy toxic assets has won Tim Geithner Wall Street's support in the nick of time, Jackie Calmes writes in the New York Times. The Treasury secretary—whose plan was slammed when the "framework" was unveiled last month—could scarcely...

Obama's Econ Board Doesn't Look So Transparent
Obama's Econ Board Doesn't Look So Transparent
ANALYSIS
Mar 23, 2009 2:48 PM CDT

Obama's Econ Board Doesn't Look So Transparent

Transparency falling to expediency?

(Newser) - When Barack Obama announced his Paul Volcker-led economic advisory board, he said it would meet every 2 weeks. Six weeks later it still hasn’t met, and isn’t planning on doing so until “late spring”—at least not publicly. Board members hint that some are meeting in...

Treasury Unveils $1T Plan to Clean Up Toxic Assets

Three-part program will push investors to buy toxic assets

(Newser) - The Treasury unveiled its three-part Public-Private Investment Program today, reports the Wall Street Journal. Under the program, up to $100 billion in TARP funds will be partnered with private investments to buy troubled assets. The Treasury, Federal Reserve, and FDIC will work with hedge funds and private equity to try...

White House Aides: AIG Bonus Tax 'Dangerous'

(Newser) - The White House might not be onboard with bills sprinting through Congress to tax away AIG’s outrage-inducing bonuses. Top White House financial advisers are reacting coolly to the suggestion, the Washington Post reports. “The president has been clear we don’t want to govern out of anger,”...

Geithner: 'These Policies Will Work'

Treasury sec lays out $1T plan in op-ed

(Newser) - Tim Geithner caps a weekend of lobbying for the administration's $1 trillion Public-Private Investment Program in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, arguing that "the financial system as a whole is still working against a recovery." For the Treasury secretary, all the previous measures will fail...

Feds Look for Privately Funded $1T Bailout

Geithner talks up private capital ahead of today's announcement

(Newser) - The Treasury today unveils its three-part public-private plan to purchase $1 trillion in troubled assets, offering lucrative subsidies to private investors to encourage them to participate. The Obama administration spent the weekend wooing hesitant private investors—hedge funds, private equity firms, and sovereign wealth funds—who fear future regulation or...

Old Gray Lady Grabs Obama by the Ear

Krugman, Friedman, Dowd, Rich, editorial board all pile on prez

(Newser) - The Obama administration bore an avalanche of criticism this weekend from the usually friendly New York Times. Influential columnists Paul Krugman, Frank Rich, Thomas Friedman, and Maureen Dowd—plus the paper’s editorial board—all piled on a president who “is increasingly overwhelmed, and not fully appreciative of the...

US Agents to Aid Mexican Cartel War

Admin could announce plan as early as this week

(Newser) - President Obama is shipping agents and equipment to the border to aid Mexico's war on violent drug cartels, the Washington Post reports. His plan, to be unveiled as early as this week, aims to stop the flow of weapons and cash from the US into Mexico. Law enforcement will also...

US Strikes in Pakistan Have Hammered al-Qaeda: Officials

9 militant leaders killed in six months

(Newser) - Some six months of US missile strikes in Pakistan are rocking al-Qaeda, sparking violent infighting among militants, the Los Angeles Times reports. The frequency of attacks was upped last August by the Bush administration when it began launching strikes without Pakistan’s permission. Since then, there have been at least...

Hey, Barack: Get Tough Like Michelle
 Hey, Barack: 
 Get Tough 
 Like Michelle 
OPINION
Mar 22, 2009 11:04 AM CDT

Hey, Barack: Get Tough Like Michelle

Prez, Geithner must quit 'coddling' Wall Street: Dowd

(Newser) - Michelle Obama said her husband would be pulling garden weeds whether he “liked it or not”—and the president could take a page from her book, writes Maureen Dowd in the New York Times. Obama and the Treasury secretary “have been coddling the Wall Street elite,”...

Dem Groups Loyal to Obama Despite Snubs

Prez won't kiss up to activists, but pushes liberal agenda

(Newser) - President Obama is publicly ignoring and even criticizing the liberal interest groups feverishly courted by past presidents. He has chastised the teachers’ union, skipped the State of the Black Union (again), and eschewed fanfare when restoring funding to groups that promote abortion. But activists remain loyal anyway, Politico reports, because...

New Solicitor General in Line for High Court

Center-left lawyer will work closely with Supremes

(Newser) - Elena Kagan became America's first female solicitor general yesterday, putting her one step closer to a possible Supreme Court nomination, the AP reports. As the so-called "10th Supreme Court justice," Kagan will effectively audition for the high court if she argues a Voting Rights Act case next...

Lobbying Rules Also Ensnare Do-Gooders

(Newser) - The Obama administration’s strict new rules on lobbying—aimed at stopping stereotypical DC weasels from cashing in—are also tripping up do-gooders, the Washington Post reports. Activists who work for non-profits and charities, many of whom registered as lobbyists for reasons of transparency and have a yen to work...

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