Washington Extra – The Keystone cudgel
President Obama had until the end of February to make a decision on the Keystone oil sands pipeline, but he made his move today. And, predictably, he rejected the $7 billion project. That keeps him in good standing with his environmental base for November 2012 but creates new tensions with his Republican foes.
Republicans had forced Obama to make a decision in 60 days as part of the deal for the two-month payroll tax cut extension. House Speaker John Boehner quickly reacted to the rejection by saying “all options are on the table” to craft a bill to fight for the pipeline.
But Boehner may not have many options. If the Republicans push for a bill to get approval for Keystone, the president can veto it. If they choose to make it a bargaining chip in talks for a full-year extension of the payroll tax cuts, they will likely meet fierce resistance from Democrats. We are hearing Boehner just wants to seal the payroll tax cut extension and move on after his painful capitulation in the December deal.
Perhaps Republicans should just be content to wield the Keystone cudgel on the campaign trail rather than in Congress. Mitt Romney showed how to use it pretty effectively today, blasting Obama for “his lack of seriousness” by putting electoral considerations before national interests.
Here are our top stories from Washington…
Obama Administration rejects Keystone oil pipeline The Obama administration rejected the Keystone crude oil pipeline project, a decision welcomed by environmental groups but blasted by the domestic energy industry. Obama said TransCanada’s application was denied because the State Department did not have enough time to complete the review process. Lawmakers that support the project forced a decision by attaching a measure to a tax-cut law passed at the end of last year.
For more of this story by Jeff Mason and Roberta Rampton, read here.
Washington Extra – A man and his dog
Here’s a modern-day twist on Harry Truman’s quip “If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.” If you, the president, have called John Boehner and urged him to compromise on extending the payroll tax deal by two months, then all that’s left to do is go out Christmas shopping with your dog.
That’s what President Obama did today, taking Bo, the only family member who hasn’t gone to Hawaii, to a pet store in a Virginia strip mall.
Bo made friends with a brown poodle named Cinnamon, prompting a warning from his master “Okay, Bo, don’t get too personal here.” Aw, Mr President, let the First Dog enjoy his time out in the real world.
The shopping excursion was a way to bide time while Washington waits for Speaker Boehner’s next move. The president pledged to work with Congress on a one-year extension. That may well be enough for Boehner to stand down, especially with fellow Republicans and conservatives criticizing him and the House for holding out on a tax cut.
We are hearing whispers on Capitol Hill that a deal could be quick to come on Thursday. Stay tuned for a possible wrap on Congress 2011. Or, conversely, watch for the president’s next holiday outing with Bo.
Here are our top stories from Washington…
Washington Extra – Black box
For the past week or so, we’ve watched Democrats and Republicans playing chess on the payroll tax cuts, trying to outmaneuver each other and gain the upper hand in this final bitter budget battle of 2011. Today, it looks like the match moved off the chessboard and into the unknown.
In this vacuum, people are struggling to know what happens next. Eric Lascelles, chief economist at RBC Global Asset Management in Toronto, told us his confidence that the tax cut will be extended in 2012 “is beginning to waver.”
“As usual,” he added, “the political process is such a black box it’s hard to credibly put odds on this.”
President Obama might be feeling the same way, especially after he seemed fairly certain Saturday that the extension was all sewn up by the deal in the Senate. He came out today and said “let’s not play brinkmanship. The American people are weary of it.”
Obama may get something worse than brinkmanship, and that is nothing happening. There will be no votes in the House Wednesday and we hear some members who live in faraway places like California are heading home for Christmas. They will come back this week if needed, but it is increasingly looking like they won’t be. Congress may be effectively shutting down for the holidays, this year’s business far from finished.
Here are our top stories from Washington…
Obama says time running out for payroll tax cut deal President Obama demanded that Republicans in the House of Representatives quickly pass a short-term extension of a payroll tax cut, showing an unwillingness to back down in a fight that could result in higher taxes for 160 million American workers. The House rejected a short-term deal passed by the Senate and called for fresh negotiations on the expiring tax break that saves the average American worker $1,000 a year. But Harry Reid, leader of the Senate, insisted he would not recall the chamber to reopen negotiations.
from Photographers Blog:
President Obama takes the White House to the Midwest
By Jason Reed
600 miles of ice cream stops, cornfields and cow judging contests – a glimpse inside the traveling white house circus.
The scene in Washington DC, 2011 - U.S. debt ceiling negotiations, unemployment figures that wont improve, congressional deadlock – it’s enough to make you want to get out of town. President Barack Obama did just that this week, jumping on a shiny new bus and heading out to the Midwest to spend time with pretty much anyone who wasn’t wearing a business suit.
It was surely a nice change of scenery for Obama and definitely for photographers assigned to the White House who have been fed a steady diet of presidential remarks in front of all the familiar Washington backgrounds for weeks on end. The message was however, the same. Getting the nine per cent of unemployed Americans back to work.
Thanks for your comment Yevgen but White House photographer Jason Reed is the author of the piece.
At Lincoln Memorial, Obama again makes point that government is open
President Barack Obama has found the monuments of Washington to be quite the picturesque backdrops for making the point that a government shutdown was averted.
Obama surprised visitors at the Lincoln Memorial on Saturday not long after signing a short-term bill to keep the government open. A budget deal was reached shortly before Friday’s midnight deadline.
“Because Congress was able to settle its differences, that’s why this place is open today and everybody’s able to enjoy their visit,” Obama told a crowd gathered at the top of the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. “And that’s the kind of future cooperation I hope we have going forward.”
It was the second monument to serve as background to his comments on the budget deal. In his late-night comments Friday after congressional leaders announced they had reached an agreement, Obama stood in front of a window with a view of the Washington Monument and congratulated Congress on preventing monuments, national parks and other services from closing to visitors.
Obama – who called off his own family’s planned weekend trip to Williamsburg, Va., as budget negotiations seemed likely to continue into the weekend – shook hands with many of the people gathered at the Lincoln Memorial and encouraged them to enjoy their visit.
“This is what America is all about — everybody from different places enjoying those things that bind us together,” Obama told the crowd. “I hope you have a great time.”
Photo credit: Reuters/Mike Theiler (Obama at Lincoln Memorial)
How should you judge a man by the content of his character when he stands idol”e” buy when children he fathers are murdered in their mother wombs, when his and members of his household choose to refuse to acknowledge that marriage is beneficial to the needs and therefore good of society as a whole because the procreative nature of the sacramental rite promotes the importance of family and community bonds and prolongs the human race. When he chooses to disregard the notion that while easing blue laws may be acceptable to many they tend to increase the number of people seeking satisfaction only the wants of the flesh because the removal of penalties and stigma associated with the wrong is perceptively lessened and that these behaviors should not be misconstrued so as to condone or raise these behaviors and raise then to the level of sacramental rites.
Lugar warns U.S. against war in Libya
In recent days some U.S. senators have been urging President Obama to consider military intervention to help Libyan rebels fighting Moammar Gaddafi.
Not Richard Lugar.
The top Republican on the Senate foreign relations committee said little while a senior member of his own party, John McCain, repeatedly urged the United States to pursue setting up a no-fly zone over Libya.
On Sunday Democrat John Kerry, the chairman of the foreign relations committee, suggested that Washington might want to ”crater” runways used by Gaddafi’s forces.
On Tuesday, Lugar issued a strong warning against U.S. intervention in what he called Libya’s civil war.
“The United States should not, in my view, launch military intervention into yet another Muslim country, without thinking long and hard about the consequences and implications,” Lugar said in a statement.
“ If a no-fly zone doesn’t stop the street-to-street fighting, are we prepared to escalate further, to put boots on the ground? Would that involve taking control of the country? Would we be obligated to stay until democracy is established?”
No more Mr. Nice Guy, Republican sets sights on Obama’s energy czar
Michigan Republican Fred Upton is known as a moderate who disappointed many conservatives by voting with the Democratic majority on some major issues including the taxpayer bailout of U.S. automobile manufacturers.
But expect no more Mr. Nice Guy if Republicans win big on November 2 and he becomes chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Upton has a hit list of White House policy czars he plans to investigate starting with White House energy adviser Carol Browner.
Upton says he’s in position to be awarded the chair of the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee. His staff circulated an interview with “Politico” in which he states his intention to investigate President Barack Obama’s “poisonous regulations” and the role of policy “czars” in the White House, including Browner.
“If we have the gavel, I can assure you that the oversight subcommittee will be very busy,” Upton said, adding that Browner can expect frequent invitations to testify.
“We’ll have a seat reserved for her,” he said.
Environmental Protection Agency head Lisa Jackson also will likely be in the hot seat. Republicans see EPA and its efforts to tackle climate change as a prime example of government overreach and anti-business regulation.
Why has fanaticism replaced reason in the Republican party?
Happy 4th at the White House
U.S. Independence Day was an “all-service” holiday at the White House this year as President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama welcomed about 1,200 people — men and women from all of the branches of the U.S. military and family members.
“This is the day when we celebrate the very essence of America and the spirit that has defined us as a people and as a nation for more than two centuries,” Obama said in a greeting from a White House balcony draped in red, white and blue bunting. Obama said was that he couldn’t think of a better way to spend the Fourth of July than with men and women in uniform. But he said he was glad to see most weren’t in uniform, given the stifling heat. But he pointed to one service member on the balcony who was decked out in a black suit because his grandmother insisted he dress up. Obama gave a shout-out to an individual member of each branch of the services, including a soldier who did 150 missions in Iraq after being seriously wounded. The U.S. Marine Band provided the music (patriotic favorites, according to the White House pool report).
After feasting on hot dogs, burgers and other barbeque, the White House guests had some of the best seats in the city for a spectacular fireworks display that capped Washington’s Fourth of July celebration.
Click here for more Reuters political news
Photo Credits: REUTERS/Mike Theiler (Obama greets members of military families; Obama and first lady welcome guests to Independence Day barbeque; U.S. Marine Corps Band); REUTERS//Hyungwon Kang (Fireworks explode near White House in celebration of Independence Day in Washington)
Reid to Republicans: healthcare reform is now law of the land
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid proudly proclaimed on Wednesday that the “historic healthcare reform is now no longer a bill it is the law.”
Someone please tell Republicans.
They are planning a flurry of amendments to try to stall a package of changes being considered by the Senate that Democrats want to make to the legislation signed into law by President Barack Obama.
House Democrats demanded the changes, which among other things would close the Medicare prescription drug coverage gap for the elderly.
Republicans want to change the new law too. They want to repeal it. Some of their amendments would do just that. It is unlikely Senate Democrats will reverse course and undo the hard fought victory for Obama.
But other proposed Republican amendments could force Democrats to take politically unpalatable election-year votes on measures such as one that would strike Medicare spending cuts from the bill.
The GOP has yet to put a single piece of legislation on the table that benefits anyone but big business. They have staked their future on blocking the agenda of the elected administration and tied themselves to the insurance and financial industries over the interests of the American public. So far, they have lost every legislative confrontation with the majority, and the defeat they have just been dealt in the healthcare fight is historic on many levels. Negative messaging can only go so far in an improving economic environment. Eventually, people realize that one side is putting their political goals above the goals of the nation as a whole.
Time for Obama to act on Afghanistan – Cheney
Former Vice President Dick Cheney tonight joins a chorus of critics who say President Barack Obama is taking way too long to decide whether to send another 40,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan.
Cheney, no fan of any of the current administration’s foreign policy initiatives, prodded the White House to fulfill the president’s promise to give the U.S. armed forces a clear mission in Afghanistan and to do it now.
“It’s time for President Obama to make good on his promise. The White House must stop dithering while America’s armed forces are in danger, ” Cheney said in remarks prepared for delivery at the Center for Security Policy, a Washington think-tank.
“Having announced his Afghanistan strategy last March, President Obama now seems afraid to make a decision, and unable to provide his commander on the ground with the troops he needs to complete his mission,” Cheney said.
Cheney also refuted what he said was a complaint by White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel that “the Obama administration had to start from scratch to put together a strategy.”
“The new strategy they embraced in March, with a focus on counterinsurgency and an increase in the numbers of troops, bears a striking resemblance to the strategy we passed to them,” Cheney said.
“Now they seem to be pulling back and blaming others for their failure to implement the strategy they embraced. It’s time for President Obama to do what it takes to win a war he has repeatedly and rightly called a war of necessity,” he added.
Mr. Cheney, Have you no honor? I thought that when Bush stole the election back in ’01 that at least he would have wisdom provided by you. I trusted you to guide the idiot in the proper ways…boy was I wrong and now you stand up there commenting on a man that is trying to undo the mess the you and your administration got us into. Please, step back you’ve done enough.
