Democratic Chatter 2-22-2009

George Wenschhof Bio

Yesterday, President Barack Obama spoke of how he intends to reduce the budget deficit - this comes after a slew of government spending. Reuters.com has more here.

The anticipated annual deficit will be at least 1.5 Trillion this year alone and will most likely be higher after all the Stimulus bill funds and TARP funds have been added to the total. Using the White House projections, cutting this in half would still leave a annual deficit of 750 billion. The national debt will exceed 12 Trillion at the end of this fiscal year and appears it will reach 15 Trillion by the end of President Obama's first term.

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Tuesday night, President Obama will address Congress - this will be similar to a state of the union address and will be televised in prime time. Speculation abounds as to what he will focus in during his speech. Obviously, the economy will be the number one issue, but also look for him to speak on how his administration has moved quickly to send special envoys and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton around the world to begin the process of repairing the damage done by the previous George W. Bush administration. McClatchydc.com adds their speculation as to what the president will address in his speech here.

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Washington D.C. voting rights bill moving closer to passage - D.C. remains the only U.S. city without representation in Congress. Interestingly, D.C. currently is allowed a delegate similar to Guam, Puerto Rico and American Samoa but those delegates are only able to serve on committees and are unable to vote. This bill would give D.C. a Representative in Congress and add a fourth to the state of Utah. The Senate is scheduled to vote on the bill next week and the House in March. Bloomberg.com has more here.

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The Stimulus bill receives discussion at the annual meeting of the National Governors Association (NGA) in Washington - the overwhelming majority of Governors, including Ed Rendell (D-PA), who is the chair of the NGA are thankful for the stimulus funds which will begin flowing to the states. The funds will help in education, health care and road improvements as well as help reduce the massive lay-offs that would have occurred. A few republican Governors dissented led by Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal who said he would refuse the funds for extending unemployment benefits while he would accept other funding from the Stimulus bill. Governor Mark Sanford (R-SC) also said he felt the bill was wasteful. MSNBC.com has more here.

Many of these Governors are on the "Talking Heads" shows this morning. We have the scheduled guest list for the shows here.

The White House will host the Governors annual dinner tonight and the band will be "Earth, Wind and Fire".

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