Democratic News Chatter 4-14-2009

George Wenschhof Bio

Today, President Barack Obama will deliver a speech on the status of the U.S. economy at Georgetown University - It is scheduled for 11:30 AM ET.

This comes as reports show retail sales were down 1% in March after a 0.3% gain in February. Bloomberg.com has more here.

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Minnesota Court rules Democrat Al Franken the winner in U.S. Senate race - 51/2 months after the election, the three judge panel voted unanimously that Franken be declared the winner by 312 votes and certified by the state board of elections. Republican Norm Coleman is expected to file an appeal with the state supreme court. Politico.com has more here.

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Is this the best the Republicans can do? - continuing their theme of let's hope the Obama administration fails, their latest action is national "tea parties" aimed at protesting the Obama fiscal policies. Another is scheduled for Wednesday with events occurring across towns in the U.S. - of course this comes after years of fiscally irresponsible deregulation by the former Republican George W. Bush administration which led to the current economic crisis. CNN.com has more here.

Meanwhile, a CNN/Opinion Research poll conducted April 3-5 shows 60% of Americans feel President Obama is on track with the economy. You can read more here.

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Obama administration may change approach to talks with Iran - the u.S. may drop insistence that Iran shut down nuclear facilities as a precondition for talks. The new strategy would be a move toward Iran eventually agreeing to open inspections of their nuclear program. The NY Times has more here.

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Pakistan does not want conditions tied to U.S. aid - the proposed 83.4 billion war supplemental budget presented to Congress by President Obama includes 7.5 billion to Pakistan. The billions of U.S. aid to Pakistan under former President Musharraf was largely unaccounted for and drew questions from many. Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) recently met with President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani who also want the missile strikes by military drones to stop. TheHill.com has more here.

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Democratic News Chatter 4-10-2009

George Wenschhof Bio

This morning, President Barack Obama will hold a discussion with his economic team at the White House - Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke, FDIC chair Sheila Bair, along with WH economic advisers Lawrence Summers and Dr. Christina Romer will all be present at the meeting. The President is expected to make some remarks to the press afterwards. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

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The President encourages homeowners to refinance - Yesterday, he spoke of the 7-9 million Americans who would benefit by refinancing their homes with the low interest rates that are currently available. He said they would realize savings of $1,600 to $2,00 per year. the NY Times has more here. The government website to check out for more information on how to save money by refinancing can be read here.

Perhaps, as a result of this presidential sales pitch, the Dow Jones was up almost 250 points yesterday to close above 8,000.

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Obama to request an additional 83 billion for Iraq and Afghanistan - this supplemental spending bill will fund the conflicts through the end of this fiscal year which ends on September 20. It includes 800 million in humanitarian aid for Gaza. CNN.com has more here.

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CIA to close secret prisons - the sites which the former George W. Bush administration was reluctant to disclose, will be closed according to CIA Director Leon Panetta. He also disclosed contractors who had been hired under the Bush administration to guard the prisons and it now also seems they were used to interrogate prisoners, have been fired. MSNBC.com has more here.

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Votes still being counted in New York District 20 special election - at the end of the day yesterday, Democrat Scott Murphy had retaken the lead by 8 votes over Republican Jim Tedisco. Only 1100 of the 6700 absentee ballots had been counted so far. Republican Jim Tedisco had been expected to win a majority of the absentee ballots. There were a little over 155,000 votes cast in the election. TheHill.com has more here.

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