Obama administration – News Stories About Obama administration - Page 51

White House Foreclosure
Plan a $50B Bust

Jul 18, 2009 5:35 AM CDT

White House Foreclosure Plan a $50B Bust

(Newser) - The Obama administration's plan to help millions of homeowners avoid foreclosure has so far been a major failure, Politico reports. It's reached just 160,000 of the 3 to 4 million homeowners it was supposed to protect, and another 2 million homes are expected to be foreclosed upon before the...

Obama Cracks Whip, Cites Progress on Health Reform

Jul 17, 2009 4:34 PM CDT

Obama Cracks Whip, Cites Progress on Health Reform

'Now we've got to get over the finish line,' President tells Congress

(Newser) - President Obama today praised “unprecedented progress” in Congress on health-care reform, the Boston Globe reports. In a hastily scheduled appearance meant to galvanize support amid some signs this week of Democratic dissent, Obama said he remained “absolutely convinced” a bill would be passed this year. “The last...

'Strategic Patience'
Will Neuter Al Qaeda

ANALYSIS

Jul 17, 2009 2:52 PM CDT

'Strategic Patience' Will Neuter Al Qaeda

(Newser) - Al Qaeda is weak militarily and “has been rejected by a great majority of Muslims,” Steve Coll writes in the New Yorker, but the terrorist organization and its affiliates can still create a “shock” like today's bombings in Jakarta. Despite the group's apparent inability to pull off...

For One
All-Star, Playboy
Trumps Obama

Jul 17, 2009 1:23 PM CDT

For One All-Star, Playboy Trumps Obama

Papelbon says parties beat prez at game

(Newser) - Red Sox hurler Jonathan Papelbon says having the president around at the All-Star Game was “fun”—but not as fun as Playboy's hospitality, Subway Squawkers reports. “I enjoyed the parties more than the president, to be honest with you,” the skin mag's shindig being his favorite,...

Economy 'Back From
the Abyss:' Summers

Jul 17, 2009 12:39 PM CDT

Economy 'Back From the Abyss:' Summers

(Newser) - President Obama's top economist is confident that swift action by the administration averted disaster, ABC News reports. “We were at the brink of catastrophe at the beginning of the year,” Larry Summers says, “but we have walked some substantial distance back from the abyss.” Summers credits...

AMA Backs House Health Bill

Jul 17, 2009 6:39 AM CDT

AMA Backs House Health Bill

(Newser) - The American Medical Association has given the all-clear to the health care reform bill making it way through the House, the Hill reports. The endorsement from the nation's biggest doctors' group, which helped sink President Clinton's efforts at reforming health care, gave the Democrats a boost following the Congressional Budget...

CBO: Dems' Health Plans
Will Raise Costs

Jul 16, 2009 5:38 PM CDT

CBO: Dems' Health Plans Will Raise Costs

'Maybe what he should do is run for Congress,' snaps Reid

(Newser) - The health care reform bills being pushed by House Democrats and the Senate health panel would not cut costs as advertised, says the director of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. In fact, Douglas Elmendorf believes they would raise costs, the Washington Post reports. “We do not see the sort...

White House Gets Tough on Congress' Critics, Skeptics

Jul 16, 2009 10:08 AM CDT

White House Gets Tough on Congress' Critics, Skeptics

Obama defends stimulus, pushes health reform

(Newser) - The White House is cracking down on its critics—and on laggards within the Democratic Party, too. Republican naysayers on the economic stimulus and health care are getting the roughest treatment, Politico reports. After Kentucky Sen. Jon Kyl railed against the efficacy of stimulus spending, four Cabinet secretaries wrote to...

Loyal but
Tough, Clinton Returns to Fore

ANALYSIS

Jul 16, 2009 5:43 AM CDT

Loyal but Tough, Clinton Returns to Fore

Facing do-everything White House, Hillary reasserts herself

(Newser) - Yesterday Hillary Clinton delivered an ambitious, muscular speech to the Council on Foreign Relations, in which she warned Iran of further sanctions while defending Barack Obama's policy of multifront diplomacy with rogue states. After months in the shadows, writes New York Times reporter Mark Landler, the secretary of State wanted...

Health Bill Has
a Big Carrot for the Healthy

Jul 15, 2009 12:04 PM CDT

Health Bill Has a Big Carrot for the Healthy

Senate measure would let employers cut premiums up to 50%

(Newser) - A measure slipped into the Senate’s health care reform bill could cut workers’ insurance costs by up to half if they eat well, lose weight, and quit smoking, the Boston Globe reports. The measure may be key to encouraging Americans to stay healthy without too much government imposition, a...

Obama's Health Czar Brings
God Into Lab

OPINION

Jul 15, 2009 9:00 AM CDT

Obama's Health Czar Brings God Into Lab

Choice of geneticist a breakthrough for evangelicals: Gerson

(Newser) - Francis Collins, President Obama's nominee to lead the National Institutes of Health, is a pioneering biologist who led the team that mapped the human genome. He's also an evangelical Christian—a rarity among scientists, only 7% of whom say they believe in God. For Michael Gerson of the Washington Post,...

Rattner May Have Quit Over Pay-to-Play Settlement

Jul 15, 2009 8:30 AM CDT

Rattner May Have Quit Over Pay-to-Play Settlement

New York AG targets ex-car czar's company

(Newser) - Washington is dying to know why Steven Rattner quit after just months as President Obama’s car czar. One possible reason: New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is pushing for a legal settlement with his company for its part in a pay-to-play scandal surrounding the state’s pension fund, sources...

Dems Propose 5.4% Tax on Top Earners for Health Care

Jul 14, 2009 5:30 PM CDT

Dems Propose 5.4% Tax on Top Earners for Health Care

Legislation proposes paying for coverage with a new tax on the wealthy

(Newser) - And they're off: House Democrats unveiled their bill to reform the US health care system today, the Hill reports. The bill includes a government-run insurance option to cover more than 30 million uninsured Americans and would impose new taxes on the wealthy to pay for it all, notes Politico. The...

This Sign Is Wasting Your
Money—and Killing People

OPINION

Jul 14, 2009 1:47 PM CDT

This Sign Is Wasting Your Money—and Killing People

(Newser) - The federal government has mandated that every road project funded by stimulus money proudly tout the association with road signs, and that really steams Tait Trussell. The signs, “designed to meticulous federally dictated standards,” go for about $1,000, Trussell writes on Front Page. “So, publicizing thousands...

Feds Review
Terror Alert
System

Jul 14, 2009 12:24 PM CDT

Feds Review Terror Alert System

(Newser) - The Homeland Security Department will review the multicolored terror alert system created in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has created a task force to determine in 60 days how effective the current system is. The system could get an overhaul—or could be...

Clinton Derides Vetting Process
as a 'Nightmare'

Jul 14, 2009 4:42 AM CDT

Clinton Derides Vetting Process as a 'Nightmare'

Secretary frustrated by lengthy delays in filling top jobs

(Newser) - Hillary Clinton told USAID staff yesterday that the Obama administration's vetting process for top jobs has become a frustrating "nightmare," CNN reports. Clinton was asked why the agency is still without a new administrator. "It's not for lack of trying," she responded. "It takes far...

Obama's Car Czar
Steps Down

Jul 13, 2009 7:47 PM CDT

Obama's Car Czar Steps Down

(Newser) - The man tabbed by President Obama to see General Motors and Chrysler through bankruptcy is leaving the post, the New York Times reports. Though Steven Rattner’s former investment firm is under investigation, it’s unclear if that affected his decision. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said today that, with both...

Sotomayor Pledges
'Fidelity to the Law'

Jul 13, 2009 2:37 PM CDT

Sotomayor Pledges 'Fidelity to the Law'

(Newser) - After listening to senators air their issues for most of the day, Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor finally got the microphone at the end of her confirmation hearing today, telling senators she would serve the “larger interest of impartial justice," the AP reports. Sotomayor also took an...

Obama Chooses Alabama Doc for Surgeon General

Jul 13, 2009 10:50 AM CDT

Obama Chooses Alabama Doc for Surgeon General

Benjamin gained fame by rebuilding clinic after Hurricane Katrina

(Newser) - President Barack Obama turned to the Deep South for the next surgeon general, a rural Alabama family physician who made headlines with fierce determination to rebuild her nonprofit medical clinic in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Obama will announce the nomination of Dr. Regina Benjamin later today. Born in 1956,...

Paralyzed Dems
Ignore Slow-Burn
Crises: Krugman

OPINION

Jul 13, 2009 6:56 AM CDT

Paralyzed Dems Ignore Slow-Burn Crises: Krugman

(Newser) - When the economic crisis turned terrifying last winter, Washington finally got its act together and passed a massive stimulus package. But now, writes New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, the US faces a slower but more dangerous "jobless recovery" over the next few years and an "utterly terrifying"...