NewsTrust - U.S. Congress - Most Trusted Stories

Cut the Military Budget--II

Sun, 15 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

The Nation - By Barney Frank - Feb. 15 (Opinion) - When I asked him years ago what he thought about military spending as stimulus, Alan Greenspan, to his credit, noted that from an economic standpoint military spending was like insurance: if necessary to meet its primary need, it had to be done, but it was not good for the economy; and to the extent that it could be reduced, the economy would benefit.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.6 average - 9 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

A Smaller, Faster Stimulus Plan, but Still With a Lot of Money

Sat, 14 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

New York Times - By David M. Herszenhorn - Feb. 14 (News Analysis) - If nothing else, the plan is a striking return of big government. It also symbolizes continuing partisanship, despite Mr. Obama’s promise of new cooperation. No House Republican voted for the measure, and the three in the Senate who did are viewed as renegades by their party’s leadership.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.3 average - 5 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

The U.S. Economic Stimulus Plan

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Council on Foreign Relations - By Lee Hudson Teslik - Feb. 10 (Special Report) - Economists disagree on the wisdom of extensive stimulus spending, as well as the particulars of the current U.S. plan. Given the current economic climate, most mainstream economists now say that the potential downsides of collapse are sufficiently grave that large stimulatory expenditures may be necessary. As the global financial and economic crisis has worsened, this viewpoint has gained international popularity. In a December 2008 paper released by the UN Conference on Trade and Development, leading UN economists call for coordinated stimulus packages across the world's leading economies, above and beyond the money already spent to boost credit market liquidity. Two scholars from the conservative Heritage Foundation argue in a December 2008 paper that the best medicine for the U.S. economy would be to reduce overall government spending. CFR Senior Fellow Amity Shlaes adds that governments can throw good money after bad if they seek to stimulate unsustainable businesses. "It can be perverse because you stimulate something [i.e. an industry] that's really pretty weak and should maybe fade," Shlaes told CFR.org. In a December 2008 op-ed, Shlaes also argued that huge public works projects often fail to revive national economies, as evidenced by Japan's experience during the 1990s.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.2 average - 10 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Destroying the country from the center

Mon, 09 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Seattle Post Intelligencer - By Paul Krugman - Feb. 09 (Opinion) - rather than acknowledge the failure of his political strategy and the damage to his economic strategy, the president tried to put a post-partisan happy face on the whole thing. "Democrats and Republicans came together in the Senate and responded appropriately to the urgency this moment demands," he declared on Saturday, and "the scale and scope of this plan is right." No, they didn't, and no, it isn't.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.2 average - 6 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Senate Dems Compromise Away Best Parts of Recovery Plan

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

AlterNet - By John Nichols - Feb. 10 (Opinion) - In order to get the votes of two Republican (Maine's Susan Collins and Pennsylvania's Arlen Specter) and perhaps another (Mainer Olympia Snowe) that were needed to undermine the threat of a GOP filibuster, Reid surrendered $86 billion is proposed stimulus spending. In doing so, the Democrats agreed to cut not just fat but bone, and to warp the focus and intent of the legislation.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.2 average - 5 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Hoyer Speaks on Bipartisanship, Regular Order at Georgetown University's Transition Conference

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

majorityleader.gov - Feb. 13 (Press Release) - WASHINGTON, DC – House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (MD) spoke at the Georgetown University Transition Conference at the National Press Club this morning on the myths and realities of bipartisanship and their effect on the economic recovery debate, as well as the importance of following regular order as the 111th Congress works to address the major issues facing our nation. Below are his remarks as prepared for delivery: “Every four or eight years, we have a transition to a new Administration. But the transition we marked last month was a special one. Not simply because of the new occupant of the White House; not simply because of a new array of policies; but because it was a transition to a new spirit of seriousness in Washington. Every new President promises a new tone. But with the scope of the challenges we face—from economic crisis, to record debt, to the need for healthcare reform, to global warming—changing the way we do business in Washington is not a matter of pleasing pundits or getting along a little more amicably in our cloakrooms. It is a matter of failure versus success.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.1 average - 4 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Echo chamber: Bloomberg "commentary" health IT falsehood goes from Limbaugh to WSJ's Moore and Fox, back to Limbaugh

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Media Matters - By Eric Boehlert, Jamison Foser - Feb. 10 (News Analysis) - Summary: The Wall Street Journal's Stephen Moore and Fox News anchors Bill Hemmer and Megyn Kelly promoted the falsehood -- which first appeared in a Bloomberg "commentary" by Betsy McCaughey and was subsequently promoted by Rush Limbaugh and Matt Drudge -- that the economic recovery bill includes a provision that would, in Moore's words, "hav[e] the government essentially dictate treatments." Limbaugh later took credit for spreading this story.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.8 average - 4 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Rahm’s fingerprints all over package, tactics

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

The Hill - By Mike Soraghan - Feb. 12 (News Report) - And if anyone’s fingerprints are on the nearly $800 billion economic stimulus package being sorted out in Congress this week, they belong to Emanuel, the former Illinois House member who is now the White House chief of staff.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.8 average - 4 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Immigration Fight Simmered During Stimulus Negotiations

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Washington Independent - By Daphne Eviatar - Feb. 12 (News Report) - Among the many provisions of the $800–plus billion stimulus bill that were hotly debated and horse-traded behind closed doors, one that remained largely under the radar through the negotiations would have forced employers receiving stimulus money to use a controversial federal computer system to verify that all of its employees are legal U.S. workers. Although preliminary indications are that the requirement did not make it into the final version, the battle over E-Verify is far from over.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.8 average - 6 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Barack Obama's first prime-time press conference

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Salon - By Mike Madden - Feb. 10 (News Report) - The White House news conference, the first since Inauguration Day, put a calm, confident President Obama in front of the nation for an hour; while he didn't make any news, he easily drove home a twofold message to anyone watching -- he didn't cause the mess we're in, but he intends to solve it.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.7 average - 3 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Medicare Drug Benefit May Cost $1.2 Trillion

Mon, 09 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Washington Post - By Ceci Connolly, Mike Allen - Feb. 09 (News Report) - The White House released budget figures yesterday indicating that the new Medicare prescription drug benefit will cost more than $1.2 trillion in the coming decade, a much higher price tag than President Bush suggested when he narrowly won passage of the law in late 2003. The projections represent the most complete picture to date of how much the program will cost after it begins next year. The expense of the new drug benefit has been a source of much controversy since the day Congress approved it, with Democrats and some Republicans complaining that the White House has consistently low-balled the expected cost to the government.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.7 average - 3 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Ohio Republican Admits FDR Did Not Cause The Depression

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - By Jason Linkins - Feb. 11 (News Analysis) - One of the talking points that the GOP has attempted to deploy in the battle over the stimulus package is, "Hey! Remember that New Deal dealie? Boy, howdy, wasn't that a massive failure!" Oooh, oooh! And what if the Nazis had gotten the bomb? Then we'd be in some serious doo-doo, tra-la-la!" Anyway, freshman Representative Steve Austria heard that talking point and decided that it could be made way awesomer.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.7 average - 4 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Republicans See Long-Term Victory in Defeat on Stimulus Plan

Mon, 09 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Washington Post - By Alec MacGillis, Perry Bacon Jr. - Feb. 09 (News Report) - Three months after their Election Day drubbing, Republican leaders see glimmers of rebirth in the party's liberation from an unpopular president, its selection of its first African American chairman and, most of all, its stand against a stimulus package that they are increasingly confident will provide little economic jolt but will pay off politically for those who oppose it.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.7 average - 7 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

setting the record straight on the economic recovery package

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Daily Kos - By Rep. louise slaughter - Feb. 12 (Comment) - we've heard a lot of noise across the aisle about how partisan the development of the bill was --that republicans were blacked from being involved. this is entirely false......these are the facts....

NewsTrust Rating: 3.7 average - 3 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Democrats and Republicans Line Up to Do Battle Over Results of Stimulus Package

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Washington Post - By Michael D. Shear, Paul Kane - Feb. 16 (News Analysis) - Thanks to the party-line nature of Congress's votes on the economic stimulus package, the plan to turn around the worst financial crisis facing the country in more than 50 years now carries not only enormous fiscal stakes but also political stakes that are nearly as large.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.7 average - 6 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

The politics of the recession in America

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Economist - Feb. 12 (News Analysis) - FOR a man whose bumper stickers promised “Hope not Fear”, Barack Obama knows how to scare people. “If we don’t act immediately,” he told the citizens of Elkhart, Indiana on February 9th, “our nation will sink into a crisis that, at some point, we may be unable to reverse.”

NewsTrust Rating: 3.7 average - 5 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Senate passes stimulus bill, must resolve it with House version

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

McClatchy - By David Lightman - Feb. 10 (Breaking News) - The Senate, with only scant Republican support, passed an $838 billion economic-stimulus plan Tuesday that would provide significant tax breaks for new car and home buyers but sharply trim billions in aid that states have been seeking. The vote was 61-37.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.7 average - 3 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

GOP seethes over Charlie Crist's stimulus-plan support

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Miami Herald - By Adam C. Smith - Feb. 13 (News Report) - As Democrats lavish praise on Florida's Republican governor for enthusiastically supporting their economic stimulus package, Republicans are questioning whether Crist damaged his future. ''I don't think he's helped any national Republican ambitions he may have by stepping up to the plate and batting for the other team. . . . There's a difference between working in a bipartisan way for the common good and switching sides and putting on the other team's jersey,'' said veteran Republican consultant Alex Castellanos. ``At the one moment when we've finally found our voice and remember who we are as Republicans, Charlie Crist forgets. It's stunning.''

NewsTrust Rating: 3.6 average - 16 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Some Banks Want to Return Government Money

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

New York Times - By Louise Story - Feb. 11 (News Report) - Wall Street banks have taken billions of taxpayer dollars. Now some of them are starting to wonder if they should give the money back. Even before the government announced its latest efforts to fix the troubled banking industry on Tuesday, executives at Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley said they wanted to repay the money quickly. Both banks received $10 billion under the first rescue plan last fall. Paying back all those funds would be difficult in this tough economic environment. But banking executives worry that the government may intrude further into their businesses as long as they are beholden to Washington.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.6 average - 10 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

For senators, tax questions are taxing

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

The Politico - Feb. 11 (Investigative Report) - Last week, Politico asked the offices of all 99 sitting senators to say who prepares their taxes, whether they or the Internal Revenue Service has ever discovered an error on returns they’ve filed, and whether they’ve ever had to pay back taxes.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.6 average - 6 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

U.S., as Part of Stimulus Bill, Will Compare Effectiveness of Medical Treatments

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

New York Times - By Robert Pear - Feb. 16 (News Report) - The $787 billion economic stimulus bill approved by Congress will, for the first time, provide substantial amounts of money for the federal government to compare the effectiveness of different treatments for the same illness. Under the legislation, researchers will receive $1.1 billion to compare drugs, medical devices, surgery and other ways of treating specific conditions. The bill creates a council of up to 15 federal employees to coordinate the research and to advise President Obama and Congress on how to spend the money... ...Bureaucrats “will monitor treatments to make sure your doctor is doing what the federal government deems appropriate and cost-effective,” Betsy McCaughey, a former lieutenant governor of New York, wrote on Bloomberg.com. Rush Limbaugh broadcast the charges to millions who listen to his radio talk show.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.5 average - 4 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

"Enormously difficult"

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Salon - By Andrew Leonard - Feb. 11 (News Analysis) - About an hour and a half into Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner's marathon appearance before the Senate Banking Committee Tuesday afternoon, Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., got right to the point. He noted that on Monday night, President Obama declared that Geithner would lay out a specific plan of action to address the financial crisis in his speech Tuesday morning. "But we didn't get that," said Corker. "Your plan was vague."

NewsTrust Rating: 3.3 average - 6 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Obama Scores Early Victory of Historic Proportions

Sat, 14 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Washington Post - By Michael D. Shear, Alec MacGillis - Feb. 14 (News Analysis) - Twenty-four days into his presidency, Barack Obama recorded last night a legislative achievement of the sort that few of his predecessors achieved at any point in their tenure.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.3 average - 6 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Sifting Through Details of the Deal

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Washington Post - By Shailagh Murray, Paul Kane - Feb. 13 (News Report) - As the House prepared to vote on a $789 billion stimulus bill, lawmakers and aides combed through the massive document, searching for favorite provisions and discovering that some didn't make the final cut.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.2 average - 4 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Why Gregg Bailed

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Examiner.com - By Byron York - Feb. 13 (Opinion) - After 16 years as a Republican senator from New Hampshire, Judd Gregg has a lot of friends among GOP lawmakers, and in the past two weeks, many of them -- perhaps most of them -- have been wondering why he chose to accept Barack Obama's offer to become Commerce Secretary. Their objections intensified in the last week, as Republicans grew more worried about the Obama administration's plan to move control of the politically-sensitive 2010 Census from the Commerce Department to the White House. For Gregg himself, concerns about having the Census taken away from Commerce dovetailed with more general fears that a Democratic White House would restrict his freedom to run the Department. Finally, on Thursday afternoon, Gregg formally withdrew.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.2 average - 5 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer