President Obama takes on healthcare reform at a 1:00 p.m. White House forum today, hoping to design an overhaul of a costly and inefficient system he believes is threatening the economy. About 120 participants from industry and government will gather to discuss potential fixes to the $2.5 trillion system.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in Brussels, said it was time for NATO to make a new start with Russia after formal ties were suspended when Moscow sent troops into Georgia last summer.

The House is expected to approve a bill that would allow bankruptcy judges to slash mortgage payments for homeowners as a last resort.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner testifies for a second day on the budget at 10:00.

Actor Brad Pitt is in town to tout post-Katrina rebuilding efforts in New Orleans. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is the lucky lady who gets the photo-op at 3:30.

Photo credit: REUTERS/Issei Kato (A mustachioed Pitt at the Japan premiere of his movie “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” in Tokyo, Jan. 29)

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WASHINGTON - Moving day is less than seven weeks away for President George W. and Laura Bush and they have finally settled on a house in the upscale Dallas, Texas neighborhood of Preston Hollow.

The neighborhood is about a 2-hour, 20-minute drive from their 1,600-acre (648-hectare) ranch in Crawford, Texas (according to Google Maps) which they also plan to keep.

“The President and Mrs. Bush do not have occupancy of the home, and therefore, no additional details will be provided,” said Sally McDonough, a spokeswoman for the first lady. She declined to say whether the Bushes plan to take advantage of a drop in mortgage rates to buy the new digs.

The Dallas Morning News reported that the president’s personal accountant, as a trustee, had bought a home — valued at almost $2.08 million despite not officially being on the market — in the area on Oct. 3. He declined to tell the newspaper for whom he had bought the house (which has four bedrooms, 8,501 square feet (790 sq metres) of living space including servants’ quarters). 

The newspaper also said that a local blog reported that the house next door  — on the market for $1.6 million — was placed under contract last week but the buyer was not yet known.

And as much as Bush loves the Crawford ranch where he has built bike trails, he will likely be spending a good bit of time in Dallas to oversee his library, museum and an institute on freedom on the campus of Southern Methodist University.

Mrs. Bush on Wednesday was asked by reporters about what she was buying the president for Christmas and she replied that with the sour economy the money likely would be spent on the new home.

“We will be moving to Dallas in January and there might be a new house coming along. So I think that’s where we’ll spend our Christmas money,” she said.

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- Photo credit: Reuters/Jessica Rinaldi (A home up for sale last year in Dallas)