Daily Political Wire 11-19-2010

George Wenschhof

Today, President Obama is in Lisbon, Portugal for NATO Talks - it is expected agreement will be reached to end the involvement in Afghanistan by 2014. Saturday, the president will attend a meeting with the European Union. Reuters.com has more here.

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Obama Highlights GM's IPO - criticized for the 50 billion bail out and take over by the government, Obama now is having the last laugh as the initial public offering was so huge by GM that half of the government debt will be paid off. The move by the president also saved over one million jobs across the country. TheHill.com has more here.

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Reid and Pelosi to present tax cut extension bills next week - the line has been drawn in the sand after both Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calf.) met with President Obama yesterday.

The bills will limit the extension to those Americans earning $250,000 or less. Republicans have been pushing for a full extension of the Bush administration tax cuts. CNN.com has more here.

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House Republicans Stop Unemployment Benefit Extension - yesterday, the vote was 258-154. A two-thirds vote was needed to extend the benefits set to expire on November 30 for over 2 million recipients. The NY Times Caucus blog has more here.

Democrats are quick to point out Republicans want to deny unemployed Americans benefits but want to give the wealthiest Americans tax breaks.

Note: the required two-thirds vote was due to the parliamentary way in which Democrats presented the bill. Otherwise, the bill would have easily passed with a simple majority. expect the bill to be reintroduced prior to November 30 and receive approval by the House.

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6 House Races Still Undecided - nearly three weeks following the election. Democrats trail in four of the contests; two in New York, one in North Carolina and one in Texas. democrats lead in two; both in California. Politico.com has more here.

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Repeal of D.A.D.T. Winning Support of Congress - Below, Vice president Joe Biden explains why the Justice Department has to defend the policy while the Obama administration supports congressional appeal.

The Pentagon survey will be released early in December and a vote is expected to repeal during the lame duck session of congress.



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