Daily Political Wire

George Wenschhof

Obama Named Time Person of the Year for Second Time - the first was the year he first won election.  Time.com has more here.

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Pelosi Announces Gun Control Task Force - House Minority Leader Nancy Pelsoi (D-Calf.) announced Representative Mike Thompson (D-Calf.) will chair the House Democratic committee.  You can read more here.

As I reported yesterday, President Obama will announce today he is naming Vice President Joe Biden to head an national task force to reduce gun violence.  The Washington Post has more here.

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Theatrics Enter "Fiscal Cliff" Negotiations - with the Janyaury 1 deadline rapidly approaching and no agreement, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is moving forward with two votes tomorrow to extend the Bush administration tax cuts.  Tomorrow, Boehner will introduce his Plan "B" which extends tax cuts for all except those earning above $1 million.  Boehner will also introduce President Obama's proposal to extend the tax cuts for all except the upper 2% of wage earners over $250,000.  President Obama has already threatened to veto the millionaire proposal by Boehner.  TPM.com has more here. 

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Independent Review of Benghazi attacks Criticizes State Department - security at the U.S. consulate was "grossly inadequate".  Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has accepted all 29 recommendations put forward in the report.  The BBC has more here.

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Feinstein To Become Chair of Senate Judiciary Committee - Senator Diane Feinstein (D-Calf.) will become chairwoman after Senator Pat Leahy (D-Vt.) is named as the replacement for deceased Senator Inouye (D-Hawaii), who chaired the Senate Appropriations Committee.  The Hill.com has more here.

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Opposition Grows To Hagel as Defense Secretary - the former Republican Senator from Nebraska has been widely floated as being the nominee by President Obama to replace Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.

Republican Senators, led by John McCain (R-Az.) are expressing their dissatisfaction with Hagel. “We had some disagreements; obviously those will be examined, for example, when he said the [Iraq] surge could not succeed, and obviously he was wrong there,” Arizona Sen. John McCain, the top Republican on the Armed Services Committee, said. “We obviously want to review his whole record and go through the regular process.”  Politico.com has more here.

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