George Wenschhof Bio
President Barack Obama starts off busy day with economic roundtable discussion - they will be discussing low interest rates and the roundtable discussion meeting in the Roosevelt room will include some homeowners who have recently refinanced their mortgages.
At 11:45 PM ET, the President joined by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Eric Shinseki will present a plan to improve the health care of veterans. Reuters.com has more here.
Later, Obama will meet with Treasury Secretary Robert Gates, Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke and FDIC Chair Sheila Bair. They will be reviewing an update on the "stress test" of the 19 largest banks in the country. The reports are due the end of this month and will help measure the impact of recent government action and determine the need for addition moves by the government. Bloomberg.com has more here.
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Wells Fargo Bank revenue rises 16% in first quarter - in a report out today, a three billion profit was realized in the first three months of this year. J.P. Morgan Chase and Co., Citigroup and Bank of America will all be reporting their first quarter earnings within the next two weeks. CNN.com has more here.
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Immigration reform on the table for the President - many pundits felt with the economy being the number one issue, any discussion on immigration reform would be put off by the White House. Fortunately, they were wrong as the president intends to speak publicly on this contentious issue in May, followed by workshop over the summer. There is hope legislation could be introduced in the Fall of this year. Included in the discussion will be a path to citizenship. The NY Times has more here.
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Karl Rove op-ed attacks Obama - thank goodness the former White House Senior adviser to George W. Bush is no longer there. After eight years of fear mongering and attacks on individuals patriotism, Rove now writes op-eds for the Wall Street Journal. You can read his latest piece here.
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Absentee ballots being counted today in NY District 20 race - Republican Jim Tedisco holds a 17 vote lead over Democrat Scott Murphy. The Republican absentee ballots received are 3,111 and the Democratic absentee ballots number 2394. This would indicate an advantage to Tedisco. This district has a majority of Republican registered voters, but Obama won the district with 51% and Kirsten Hillibrand, a moderate Democrat had previously held the Congressional seat before being chosen to fill the vacant Hillary Clinton U.S. Senate seat. The absentee count can take some time as both campaigns can challenge ballots. You can read more here.
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Thursday, April 9, 2009
Democratic News Chatter 4-9-2009
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Sunday Morning "Talking Heads" Guests 3-1-2009
George Wenschhof Bio
This is only the fifth Sunday since Barack Obama was sworn in as President. He continues to operate at a frenzied pace putting the finishing touches on his Cabinet as well as addressing pressing domestic and international issues. Expect all to be discussed this morning along with reaction to his address to congress and the nation last Tuesday..
As to his Cabinet, the President has to be hoping Gary Locke will secure nomination as Commerce Secretary after the two previous nominations did not pan out. The remaining Cabinet position is Secretary of Health and Human Services.
Plenty of discussion will surround the budget summary President Obama released on Thursday for fiscal year 2010. The projected deficit for that year alone is 1.75 trillion with the budget total being 3.55 trillion. Also the 787 billion Stimulus bill will continue to be examined along with analysis of Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal's Republic response to Obama's speech. A speech which fell flat for the Republican Party.
The timetable for withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq and the increase of troops in Afghanistan announced by the President is sure to be discussed this morning.
Other topics which may receive some discussion is Senator Robert Byrd's (D-WV) letter to the President asking for him to define executive privilege and Senator Pat Leahy (D-Vt.) naming a committee to investigate wrong doings in the George W. Bush administration.
As always, the Sunday Morning "Talking Heads" and Guests promise to be fun to watch. Remember to check your local listings for time and channel. Below is the list of the morning shows and their guests.
NBC "Meet The Press" - Dick Gregory will interview Defense Secretary Robert Gates. The roundtable discussion will include Harold Ford Jr., Mike Murphy, Dee Dee Myers, and Joe Scarborough.
ABC "This Week" - George Stephanopoulos will interview Peter Ozag, Director Office of Management and Budget and Representative Eric Cantor (R-Va.). The roundtable discussion will include Karl Rove, Stan Greenberg, Katrina vanden Heuvel, and George Will.
CBS "Face The Nation" - Bob Schieffer will have as his guest, White house chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.
Fox News Sunday - Chris Wallace will have Joint Chief of Staffs chair Mike Mullen, Senator Jon Kyl (R-Az.) and Representative Paul Ryan (R-Wi.)
CNN "State of The Union" - John King also interviews Mike Mullen. Other guests include Hawaii Representative Neil Abercombie (D), personal finance expert Suze Orman, and former NY Post gossip columnist Liz Smith.
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Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Democratic Chatter 2-11-2009
George Wenschhof Bio
Today, President Barack Obama will travel to Springfield, Virginia - he will visit a construction site with Virginia Governor Tim Kaine late this morning as he continues to sell the creation of jobs under his Stimulus bill to the public. You can read more here.
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The Senate and House may reach compromise on Stimulus bill today - reportedly, progress was made last night on a compromise between the House and Senate versions of the bill. Yesterday, the Senate voted in the same manner they had to end the filibuster, 61-37 to pass the America Recovery and Reinvestment Plan. The bill is expected to be signed by the President by Monday. Politico.com has more here.
Meanwhile, questions abound pertaining the the Stimulus bill and what effect it will have on bolstering the weak economy. The use of an impending doom to create urgency to act has failed in the past. Most recently, in the area of foreign policy with former President George W. Bush. In the urgency to avoid disaster in the shape of "a mushroom cloud", President Bush invaded Iraq and in the process redefined the acronym WMD from Weapons of Mass Destruction to Words of Mass Distortion.
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Yesterday, the Bailout bill grew from an original 700 Billion to who knows? - a couple of Trillion? - Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner presented his modifications to the bill yesterday which included more oversight on how the remaining 350 Billion of the TARP funds are used. Other new aspects presented were public-private partnerships up to 1 Trillion to buy bad debt from banks and up to another 1 Trillion to provide lending to businesses and consumers. Yesterday, after the announcement the Dow Jones dropped several hundred. Bloomberg.com has a good read here.
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On the foreign policy front, Israel elections do not produce a clear winner - and you think our representative form of government is hard to figure out? As the results were tabulated from Israel's elections, a woman, Tzipi Livini's centrist Kadima party had won 28 seats in the 120 seat Knesset. While, right-wing Benjamin Netanyahu's party had won 27 seat with him claiming to be able to control 64 seats. President Simon Peres will choose the next Prime Minister. Keep an eye on these developments as the outcome will be crucial in future negotiations with the Palestinians. Reuters .com has more here.
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Defense Secretary Robert Gates to meet with President Obama today - they will be discussing troop levels in Afghanistan. Hard to believe it has been seven years since the initial U.S. action in Afghanistan following 9/11. It is expected the President will announce an increase of up to 25,000 troops to be deployed in Afghanistan. You can read more here.
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