Democratic Chatter 3-16-2009

George Wenschhof Bio

Today, President Barack Obama will discuss his proposals to aid small business - later in the day, the president will visit the Department of Veterans Affairs to talk about how his proposed budget for next year will include increasing health benefits for veterans. His plans will expand health care benefits to an additional 500,000 veterans by 2013. You can read more here.

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A.I.G. debacle continues - within the last couple of days it was reported American International Group would be paying 165 million in bonuses. Now disclosure from A.I.G. comes that part of the 170 billion in government assistance was given to banks within the U.S. and also foreign banks. Listed as recipients were Merrill Lynch, Bank of America, Citigroup, along with banks from Britain, France and Germany. The NY Times has more here.

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Some early 2010 campaign news - Republican Rob Simmons will challenge Senator Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) - he was a former Representative who lost reelection in 2006 by 86 votes to democrat Joe Courtney. Dodd has been under some scrutiny over favorable home mortgages he received. TheHill.com has more here.

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On the foreign policy front, Pakistan demonstrations are quieted with news former Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry will be reinstated - demonstrations led by Nawaz Sharif, the rival of President Asif Zardari have quieted after Prime Minister Giliani announced Chaudhry would be sworn in on March 21. The tangled web of Pakistan politics continues to be exposed after the removal of former President Musharraf. Musharraf had removed Chaudhry and the rest of the justices when he was president fearing they would legally question his authority to be President. Zardari who is now President had brokered a deal with Musharraf to avoid prosecution on corruption charges and feared the reinstatement of Chaudhry could lead to him facing charges. Sharif, who lost to Zardari in the recent elections, had always demanded the reinstatement of Chaudhry and the rest of the Justices. Stay Tuned MSNBC.com has more here.

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