Washington Extra – A late start
It must be more than a little frustrating to win the Nobel Peace Prize for your best intentions — ridding the world of nuclear weapons – and then struggle to even get the START Treaty ratified this year. Not surprising, then, that President Barack Obama told his deputy to work “day and night” to get this thing through.
But whatever the temptation to throw a little egg on the president’s face, many security analysts still find it amazing to see Republicans blocking a treaty that the U.S. military so strongly backs. Welcome to bipartisan Washington, again, I guess.
Despite the uneven start to the week, Wednesday was not a bad day for Obama by any means.
The president was able to celebrate GM’s successful blockbuster initial public offering, by implication a victory for his controversial bailout of the automobile industry. The offering cut the government’s stake in the company to 26 percent from 61 percent and raised more than $20 billion, with investors betting on a positive future for the automaker which so nearly went out of business. Obama said taxpayers would end up recovering more from General Motors than his administration spent on the bailout, adding that a million jobs were saved and many more were now being created.
Obama and Vice President Joe Biden will travel to auto town Kokomo, Indiana next week to celebrate. The rescues of the banking and auto industries certainly didn’t make great politics in the midterm elections, but with much of the money coming back to the public purse, “bailout” might not be such a poisonous word in the 2012 campaign.
The other better news for the Democrats was the fact that they finally seemed to get their act together on taxes, after weeks of seeming to flounder without a clear strategy. Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi will first present the middle class tax cuts to the Senate and House respectively for a vote, before a separate vote on the cuts for wealthier Americans. They may not win the Senate vote, but at least Dems reckon they will be able to pin any failure to get a deal squarely on their rivals.
Here are our top stories from Washington today…
from DealZone:
‘New GM’ Gets a Visit from a Shareholder
“Think about it. If you are a member of the union right now, you’re spending all your time negotiating about health care. You need to be spending some time negotiating about wages, but you can’t do it," he said.
In fact, the UAW locked itself into a contract limiting wages and changes to health care, without the ability to negotiate with a threat of strike, until 2015. These stands were agreed to by the union at the prodding of the Obama administration, which demanded that union autoworkers accept lower wages -- as a condition to the bailout that saved Lordstown -- to match non-union workers at Toyota plants in Kentucky and Honda plants in Ohio.
Even so, Lordstown is something of a success story for both the UAW and GM, and Obama's remarks were punctuated with enthusiastic applause. After winning deep concessions from the UAW in 2007, GM agreed to invest $500 million to retool the plant to make a new fuel-efficient small sedan, the Chevy Cruze.
No sequel to ‘cash for clunkers’ but…
While the $3 billion “Cash for Clunkers” blockbuster is over, Congress is not finished with Detroit.
No one is talking about a “Return of Clunker” or “Son of Clunker” sequel, but it still looks as if car companies will renew their part in the congressional agenda even as another humongous production — healthcare — threatens to swallow the Capitol whole.
A priority for Democrats everywhere is to push the benefits of economic stimulus and pound the podium on job creation. Thursday, the focus is on the future of manufacturing in the economically hard-hit Midwest — a battleground in any election scenario.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer will travel to Michigan to discuss legislation working its way through the chamber that would provide hundreds of millions of dollars to help spur development of advanced technology vehicles – like better hybrids and all-electric cars.
A fellow Democrat who is the driving force behind the bill, Representative Gary Peters, will join Hoyer and auto and supplier execs at a late-afternoon news conference in Troy. Peters’ district includes facilities operated by Chrysler and General Motors — both of which have cut tens of thousands of jobs and are trying to find their way after bankruptcy.
The Obama administration and fellow Democrats in Congress have pushed for billions in battery development and other projects this year to jump-start a new generation of fuel efficient vehicles and plant seeds for a “green” economy in Michigan, Ohio and other states where traditional manufacturing jobs have disappeared.
Photo credit: Reuters/Rebecca Cook (crushed vehicles to be shipped to the shredder in Detroit)
president did the right thing thomas?he has in the long term closed them down. The promise of a new generation of green cars is just an excuse to carry on giving them (unions) bale outs. Can you see a similarity in this story,in europe a socialist government was elected and their biggest supporters, the auto trade unions,were in trouble,because they had started making datsun and toyota in the country and they were not only better cars but cheaper as well.It was commonly thought that one of the reasons why they had fallen behind the competition was that they consistently went on srike and the labor walk outs stopped the production lines.So people formed the opinion that the auto unions were not being responsible striking all the time. The unions were annoyed at this assumption so to show the people that this was a misconception and that they were not” strike happy”they had a national strike. Anyway the government decided to do what Obama has done they took control of these companies thinking they would protect the unions,sadly wrong move, no more Austin or Rover or Triumph etc all closed down,or owed by BMW.
The First Draft: Blank screens
Millions of Americans could be staring at blank TV screens tomorrow, when broadcasters switch to digital signals.
The U.S. government has spent years preparing for the switch, which aims to free up airwaves for broadband and enhanced emergency communications.
The change-over will only affect those who get their TV over the air, rather than through cable or satellite connections.
But many consumers probably still haven’t gotten a converter box which will allow them to watch the new digital signals with their rabbit-ear antennas.
That means they’ll miss out on the frothy mix of news and entertainment (newsertainment?) of NBC’s “Today Show,” where this morning Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin declared she’s “absolutely not necessarily” the future of the Republican Party.
In case you’re wondering, Palin’s still steamed at talk show host David Letterman, who made sexual jokes about her daughter a few nights back.
“It was a degrading comment about a young woman and I would hope people really start rising up and saying it’s not acceptable,” Palin said.
hi getplaning have you got the networks right?i think if you had a word with sarah she might disagree with you.
The First Draft: End of an era for GM
Even though it was expected, it was still a jolt: GM declared bankruptcy this morning, the third-largest bankruptcy filing in U.S. history and the biggest ever in U.S. manufacturing.
Unthinkable a decade ago, now General Motors is yet another casualty of the cratered U.S. economy, with taxpayers putting up $30 billion for a 60 percent stake in the company. The GM filing followed just hours after a bankruptcy judge approved the sale of virtually all of automaker Chrysler’s assets to a group led by Italy’s Fiat SpA.
Within minutes of the filing, the headlines were rocketing around the Web: The Washington Post: “Filing Marks the End of Financial Independence for Industrial Icon” The New York Times: “A Risky Bet to Save an Icon of American Capitalism” The Drudge Report led its page with a photo of the GM logo under a U.S. flag, headlined: “Government Motors.”
It wasn’t a total blue Monday for the U.S. economy, though, as consumer spending eased and personal income rose in April, the largest increase in almost a year.
President Barack Obama, fresh from a slightly controversial “date night” in New York City over the weekend, will be talking about the automotive industry at the White House around midday, before an afternoon visit to the National Naval Medical Center. The Senate returns from recess today, with the House still out.
Moving back to work after a gorgeous weekend in the Washington DC area, the morning television shows led with the disappearance of an Air France passenger jet over the Atlantic on its way from Brazil to Paris. There was condemnation of the fatal shooting of Dr. George Tiller, one of very few U.S. physicians who performed late-term abortions, who was gunned down at his church on Sunday. And there was also the inevitable post-mortem of the “Britain’s Got Talent” contest result on Saturday, in which sudden media star Susan Boyle sang well but not well enough to ace out Diversity, the winning dance troupe.
the harsh treatment handed out to the auto dealers and other parties involved in the auto bankruptcies ,has been done in a way that would typify the actions that liberals want you think would only happen in a clinical capitalist no prisoner taken environment.the only caution that has been shown in the whole process is how the obama government has”walked on ice”as it was careful to make sure that the unions were not penalized,if you look back at the postings over the last six months this was forecast many times.
The First Draft: Obama campaigns again – for his court pick
President Barack Obama is back on the campaign trail.
But this time he’s not trying to win himself a job …he is trying to win over support for his Supreme Court nominee, Sonia Sotomayor.
Even though regular Americans — or the elite Democrats attending fundraisers — don’t get to vote for Supreme Court nominee, they can pressure their senators.
Sounding like he did while stumping for more than a year on the campaign trail, Obama spoke passionately about his choice of Sotomayor — the first Hispanic woman ever nominated to the high court — to Democrats at a fundraiser for Democratice Majority Leader Harry Reid in Las Vegas.
He also sent around a video message about Sotomayor to supporters, campaign-style.
“This decision affects us all — and so it must involve it all. I’ve recorded a special message to personally introduce Judge Sotomayor and explain why I’m so confident she will make an excellent Justice … The discussions that follow will be among the most important we have as a nation. You can begin the conversation today by watching this special message and then passing it on.”
Obama is using the network that proved so effective for him during the campaign to try to get Senate approval for his first nominee to the court, to replace retiring Justice David Souter.
Obama picked her not because she is Hispanic, not because she is a woman, or a liberal, he chose her because she has a background as a lawyer for these big corporations being bailed out with our tax dollars, and therefore is likely to be sympathetic to them in future court cases for fraud or corruption. Look at how many people in his administration come from the banking industry.
The First Draft: Obama picks hispanic woman for court
President Barack Obama announced Sonia Sotomayor as his nominee for the Supreme Court this morning.
Sotomayor will be the first Hispanic named to the court and would increase the number of women currently sitting on the court to two.
A reading of the tea leaves — via the presidential and vice presidential schedules — had increased chatter this morning that President Barack Obama could announce his nominee for the Supreme Court as soon as today.
Both Obama and Vice President Joe Biden are in town — at least for the morning — today before heading west on separate trips. Obama leaves the White House at 4 pm for Las Vegas where he will attend a fundraiser for Senate majority leader Harry Reid before going to California until Thursday. Biden is around for a bit before heading to Denver to host the Middle Class Task Force and talk about green economy jobs.
Obama had been considering a short list of mostly women for a seat on the nine-member, male-dominated high court. The pick is unlikely to change the ideological makeup of the court since Obama is expected to pick a liberal like Justice David Souter, who announced his resignation on May 1.
Other candidates believed to be considered included Judge Diane Wood of the appeals court in Chicago, Solicitor General Elena Kagan and Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm has also been mentioned as a possible candidate.
Asked about his Supreme Court choice, Obama said in an interview on C-SPAN over the weekend that he wanted “somebody who has the intellectual firepower but also a little bit of a common touch and has a practical sense of how the world works.”
“Taken out of context”
OK, fair enough….so what do her words mean “in context”?
The First Draft: Ghost Town
On the day that the government gives itself $787 billion to hand out, turns out there’s nobody in Washington to print it up and hand it out.
After a long Presidents’ Day weekend, President Barack Obama will load the 1,000-page stimulus bill onto Air Force One today and fly it to Denver to sign it into law.
Congress has adjourned for the week after passing the bill on Friday, so lawmakers are likely back home taking credit for — or distancing themselves from — the record-setting spending package.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has ditched town as well, on her first foreign trip. She’s in Japan today, before continuing on to Indonesia, South Korea and China.
Automakers hope that the $787 billion isn’t the end of the story. General Motors and Chrysler will submit their restructuring plans to the government today with the hopes of securing additional billions in government aid.
For more Reuters political news, click here.
Photo: REUTERS/Larry Downing (Republican Minority Leader John Boehner and House Minority Whip Eric Cantor look on following the passage of the stimulus package in Washington)
people should think through why they are for this spending bill,a lot of posting that i am reading suggests that they have not a clue what is in it,but they are for it because the republicans are against it.as a republican i honestly believe republican opposition is because of the size of the money involved,and because they have some check how obamb,s cabinet wanted it pushed through with out the necessary scrutiny. is the recklessness because their expectations of obama is so great? that they are prepared to throw all caution to the wind?and the reality is that the people who drafted this bill in congress,have proven they are not the smartest guys in town.
Is it a car, is it a tank? No, it’s the presidential limo
It’s one of the world’s most highly visible vehicles, but paradoxically also one of the most secret — the U.S. president’s armored Cadillac limousine.
The Secret Service said on Wednesday a new presidential limousine would make its debut at President-elect Barack Obama’s inauguration on Jan. 20. The car will likely take the new president from the U.S. Capitol down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House after the swearing-in ceremony.
“Although many of the vehicle’s security enhancements cannot be discussed, it is safe to say that this car’s security and coded communications systems make it the most technologically advanced protection vehicle in the world,” Nicholas Trotta, assistant director for the Office of Protective Operations, said in a statement.
Not surprisingly, a Secret Service spokeswoman would not be drawn on whether the vehicle was resistant to bomb or chemical attacks. But it would be a safe guess to say it is.
Cadillac, a division of General Motors Corp., issued its own statement on the new vehicle, saying it had taken steps to ensure no details of its design leaked out during its manufacture.
It said the vehicle, which is completely different to the one now being used by President George W. Bush, had been subjected to “an extreme testing regimen,” for which read: a lot of prototypes were blown up.
“The rear passenger area includes an extensive executive compartment with ample seating space, outward visibility and useful mobile office features,” it added.
from Global Investing:
Sen. Corker to Chrysler: best hope is merger
Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker (right, in the driver's seat next to Mark Fields, Ford's president of the Americas), who pushed for tough conditions on the $17.4 billion U.S. government bailout for General Motors and Chrysler, said at the Detroit auto show that he hoped Chrysler would find a merger partner to survive.
"Chrysler probably needs to merge with somebody, not necessarily disappear from the standpoint of existence," said Corker, who added the automaker owned by Cerberus Capital Management was not making the needed investment to remain competitive. He spoke to reporters as he toured the show before meeting with executives for GM, Chrysler and Ford.
Corker, whose home state includes the U.S. headquarters for Japan's Nissan, also said he felt GM's debt load was too heavy and it may not meet the restructuring targets set out under the $13.4 billion loan granted to the company by the Bush administration.
The Republican senator met with GM Chief Operating Officer Fritz Henderson and, during his visit to the GM stand at the show, sat in the Cadillac Converj, a luxury model of the all-electric Chevrolet Volt concept car.
Corker said he loved the Jeep he drove before he came to Congress, though he did not specify which model. Chrysler, which received $4 billion in emergency loans, owns the Jeep brand.
The most contentious issue in the Bush administration's bailout plan is a goal that seeks to bring hourly wages for the U.S. automakers' unionized work force in line with those of Toyota and other Japanese automakers operating nonunion U.S. factories.
The labor give-back provisions were spearheaded by Corker and incorporated into the bailout. A proposal to strip the Corker-inspired labor provisions from the automaker rescue was included in legislation introduced in the House of Representatives last week.
