Daily Political Wire

George Wenschhof


Obama's jokes bring laughs at correspondent's dinner - Washington, New York and Hollywood held their annual schmoozefest Saturday night, and the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner (#nerdprom on Twitter) showed new evidence of being completely overrun by red-carpet-posing actors, singers, sports superstars, models and other outsiders who couldn’t possibly name the ranking Democrat of the House Ways and Means Committee, much less its chairman.

Obama’s remarks were, until the very end, a frothy mix of self-deprecation and digs at the media and his Republican adversaries. He got a big laugh early by showing a magazine cover of “Senior Leisure” with his photo on it: “I’m not the strapping young Muslim socialist I used to be,” he said.  The Washington Post has more here.

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Normal flight operations to resume by Sunday evening - The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said on Saturday that flight service in the U.S. would return to normal by Sunday evening after Congress passed a law to end airport delays that were attributed to the sequester.

The FAA said that that it has suspended air traffic controller furloughs that has been in place since last Sunday, but the agency said it would take another day for flight service to return completely to normal.

“Air traffic facilities will begin to return to regular staffing levels over the next 24 hours and the system will resume normal operations by Sunday evening,” the agency said.  TheHill.com has more here.

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McCain wants to save Military from sequester - After Congress swiftly and overwhelmingly passed legislation Friday to provide the Federal Aviation Administration flexibility under sequestration to mitigate the worst impacts, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) demanded that Congress do the same for the military, which has also been hit by the automatic spending cuts.
 
"I support the action by Congress this week to provide the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) with the flexibility it needs to keep air traffic controllers on the job and flights on schedule," McCain said in a statement Friday. "However, it is shameful for us to make allowances for the FAA while doing nothing to stop the draconian cuts that are decimating our military today and putting our nation's security in danger.  TPM.com has more here.
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Justice Breyer breaks collarbone - Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer is in a Washington hospital after shoulder replacement surgery following a bicycle accident.

Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg says the 74-year-old Breyer is expected to make a full recovery following the operation Saturday.

Breyer injured his right shoulder in a fall Friday near the Korean War Veterans Memorial.

The justice previously broke his collarbone in an accident in 2011 and sustained broken ribs and a punctured lung in a bicycle mishap in 1993, before he joined the court.

Breyer was appointed to the court in 1994 by President Bill Clinton.  Politico.com has more here.

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Two police officers shot as Italian government sworn in - Two Italian police officers were shot and wounded on Sunday outside the prime minister's office in Rome at the same time as Prime Minister Enrico Letta's new government was being sworn in just a kilometer (mile) away.

It was not immediately clear whether the attack was linked to the launch of the new government, but the episode came at a time of bitter political division with rising social tensions exacerbated by a long economic slump. Reuters.com has more here.

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