Daily Political Wire 11-15-2010

George Wenschhof

Representative Charles Rangel (D-NY) Ethics Trial Begins Today - his trial along with Representative Maxine Waters (D-Calf.) were delayed until after the mid term elections. This is the first ethics trial for a house member since 2002. Rangel faces thirteen charges ranging from failure to disclose income to misuse of government property. The NY Times has more here.

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Coons and Manchin to be sworn in to Senate today - Democrats Joe Manchin of Virginia and Chris Coons of Delaware will be sworn in this afternoon by Vice President Joe Biden. They will be sworn in before the regular January ceremony as they are finishing the terms of Robert Byrd and interestingly, Joe Biden.

Republican Mark Kirk who won the Obama seat in Illinois is still waiting to receive certification from the state. he is expected to be sworn in at the end of the month. TheHill.com has more here.

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Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert Gates Argue for START ratification - in an op-ed published in the Washington Post. One of the reasons for passage is the treaty allows for the U.S. to inspect Russia's nuclear program. You can read it here.

Ratification by the Senate, where a two-thirds vote is needed, will not be easy in the current political climate.

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Obama hopeful 90 day Israeli freeze on Settlements will restart peace talks with Palestinians - the latest U.S. initiated peace talks ended almost as soon as they began as Israel refused to agree to an extension of a moratorium on new building permits in the West Bank.

Now, the U.S. has proposed a 90 day building freeze during which negotiations would resume. The U.S. offered Israel sweeteners such as security guarantees to move the deal forward. Politico.com has more here.

Doubtful, peace can be achieved in ninety days in a region beset by centuries of ethnic and religious differences.

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Obama to present 4 year plan to end U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan - the plan is to be presented to NATO at a meeting this week. You can read more here.

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