WEEK ONE

January 17, 2011

 1.    An Associated Press-GfK poll finds that raw feelings over President Obama’s overhaul of healthcare have                            subsided:

•  Ahead of a vote on a repeal in the GOP-led House this week, strong opposition to the law stands at 30 percent, close to the lowest level registered in Associated Press-GfK surveys dating to September 2009—only about one in four say that they want to do away with the law completely, and among Republicans, support has dropped sharply, from 61 percent after the elections to 49 percent now.

 

January 18, 2011

1.     President Obama ordered a review of federal regulations with an eye toward getting rid of those that stifle job creation and hurt economic growth, a move aimed at both soothing anger over the government’s reach and mending Obama’s relationship with the business community:

• The president signed an executive order telling federal agencies to look for rules that place an unreasonable burden on businesses—regulations must now be written in plain language, be built upon public participation, and identify the “least burdensome tools” for achieving the goals of the new government rules.

2.     U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said that the Justice Department would file for arbitration under a softwood lumber agreement signed by the U.S. and Canada in 2006 after years of disputes—Kirk said that British Columbia was selling timber harvested from public lands for prices below amounts set by the agreement, undercutting mills in the Pacific Northwest and other regions:

• Canadian government and industry officials rebutted the claims—disputes over U.S.-Canadian lumber trade are as old as the hills, but in this round, the U.S. contends that British Columbia is improperly grading timber as beetle-killed salvage material and selling it for pennies per cubic meter to Canadian mills that then turn the timber into lumber sold cheap in America—the Justice Department is requesting a judgment by a tribunal of the London Court of International Arbitration.

 

January 19, 2011

1.     The Republican-led House voted 245-189 to repeal the sweeping 2010 healthcare law, but that effort is likely to go nowhere in a Senate controlled by Democrats—even if it passed there, repeal would not survive a certain presidential veto:

a.     That’s one reason why the House plans another vote on January 20^th directing its committees to look for specific changes they can make to the healthcare law:

• Reducing paperwork burdens on businesses;
• Permitting the sale of coverage across state lines;
• Denying the government funds to implement the law; and
• Denying funds for a series of grants and other health-related programs.

b.     Republicans may have a better chance of success in court—25 states have joined Florida’s lawsuit in federal court challenging the healthcare law (six filed January 18th), and Virginia is pressing a separate case.

2.     President Obama gently but pointedly prodded China to make progress on human rights, but he sought to focus most of the attention during a closely watched state visit with China’s President Hu Jintao on the expanding economic relationship between the U.S. and its biggest economic rival:

• One in which the Chinese government authorized Chinese companies to buy 200 airplanes from Boeing, worth $19 billion;
• President Obama announced railway and energy contracts for G.E.; and
• The president announced a joint venture between Honeywell and Haier, a Chinese appliance maker.

All told, administration officials claimed these deals would support 235,000 jobs in 12 states, but the precise status of each deal is unknown.

3.     President Obama is enjoying a surge in public approval as he marks the mid-point of his term in office:

•  An NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey showed Obama’s job-approval rating at 53 percent, an eight-point jump from mid-December and his highest rating since July 2009—surveys from CNN/Opinion Research and ABC News/Washington Post also put Obama’s approval rating above the 50 percent threshold.

 

January 20, 2011

1.     House Republicans moved ahead with more targeted efforts to advance their own healthcare initiatives, including deregulating health insurance sales—the goal would be to lower premium costs by avoiding requirements in many states that insurers cover certain services, such as maternity care, cancer screenings, and mastectomies:

•  At the same time, GOP lawmakers introduced regulation to place more restrictions on federal funding for abortion services, including a new ban that would make insurance plans that cover abortion ineligible for standard tax exemptions.

2.     Federal authorities orchestrated one of the biggest Mafia takedowns in FBI history, charging 127 suspected mobsters and their associates in the Northeast with murders, extortion, and other crimes covering several decades:

• In these latest cases, authorities say that turncoats recorded thousands of conversations of suspected mobsters—investigators also tapped their phones.

3.     Chinese President Hu Jintao denied that his country is a military threat despite its arms buildup and pressed the U.S. for closer cooperation between the global powers:

• Earlier in the day, Hu went to Capitol Hill for closed-door meetings with members of the House and Senate where participants said that he got an earful of complaints from some of his strongest congressional critics, especially over China’s business and trade practices and human rights conduct—President Obama had expressed similar human rights concerns a day earlier at the White House.

 

January 21, 2011

1.     Today the president travels to Schenectady, New York, birthplace of G.E., to showcase a new G.E. deal with India and to announce a restructured presidential advisory board to focus on increasing employment and competitiveness:

• President Obama is naming G.E. CEO Jeffrey Immelt as the head of the Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, replacing Obama’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board, which had been chaired by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker—Obama said that the council’s mission will be to help generate ideas from the private sector to speed up economic growth and promote American competitiveness.

2.     According to government officials, the Obama administration’s plan to reduce the number of U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan will cut the Pentagon’s budget by $42 billion—a 26 percent decrease from this year’s level:

• The proposed $117 billion for fiscal year 2012, which begins October 1^st, would be the lowest expenditure for the wars since fiscal 2005—the drop from the Pentagon’s fiscal 2011 war-spending request of $159 billion reflects President Obama’s plan to reduce troop levels in the war zones and stricter White House rules on what costs can be included in the war budget, according to the officials who asked that their names not be used because the budget has not been formally released.

3.     Ontario and Quebec must stop subsidizing lumber manufacturers or levy nearly $60 million tariffs on Canadian exports to level the playing field for U.S. products, a trade tribunal ruled:

• The tribunal of the London Court of International Arbitration found that the provincial subsidies violated a U.S.-Canadian softwood lumber trade agreement reached in 2006—under the agreement, effective for seven years, Canada collects export taxes on shipments of softwood lumber to the U.S. when lumber prices fall below certain levels, and the agreement prohibits Canadian officials and provincial governments from circumventing the tariffs by increasing subsidies beyond those in effect in 2006.

January 22, 2011

1.     President Obama said that he would use his State of the Union address to outline an agenda to create jobs now and boost American competitiveness over the long term:

• In an uncommon preview of his speech, offered up in an online video to his supporters, the president announced that the economy would be the main topic of his speech—in his weekly radio and Internet address, Obama also highlighted free trade as a way to increase U.S. exports and put Americans back to work: “That’s how we will create jobs today; that’s how we’ll make America more competitive tomorrow; and that’s how we’ll win the future.”

2.     GM will add a shift and more than 650 jobs at its assembly plant in Flint, Michigan, where it makes the hot-selling GMC Sierra and Chevrolet Silverado pickup trucks, a person familiar with the plan said—the move is yet another sign that truck sales are on the rise for the recovering automaker:

• Like other factories in the state and elsewhere in the U.S., the assembly plant is about to reap the benefits of the changing good futures of the domestic car industry—two months ago, GM announced a $163 million investment in separate facilities in Flint; in Bay City, Michigan; and in an Ohio foundry, and Chrysler said that it was going to pump $843 million into three Indiana factories to build a new front-wheel-drive transmission.

WEEK TWO

January 24, 2011

1.     Federal health officials announced new security measures to combat Medicare fraud, including tougher screenings for providers and the ability to withhold payments during investigations:

•  Authorities recovered $2.5 billion in healthcare fraud judgments last year, a record high and up 50 percent from 2009, according to a new report—Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said that new technology will help authorities view Medicare claims data closer to real time and flag suspicious patterns.

2.     GM reported that its worldwide sales last year came within 30,000 of beating Japanese rival Toyota, which took a big hit because of safety recalls:

• GM is hiring, producing more, and basking in a better reputation for quality—it expects to sell even more cars and trucks this year, putting it within reach of the title of biggest in the world, an honor it held for 76 years before losing it in 2008.

 

January 25, 2011

1.     Two White House officials confirmed that President Obama’s top advisor on energy and climate matters is stepping down:

2.     President Obama sought to rouse the nation from complacency in his State of the Union address, urging innovation and budget reforms that he said are vital to keep the U.S. a leader in an increasingly competitive world:

• Facing steep budget deficits, Obama did not call for massive new programs, instead proposing a five-year freeze in most discretionary spending and tens of billions of dollars in defense cuts even as the country fights two wars—but Obama also used the prime-time stage to blend a number of policy proposals into a blueprint for how he intends to confront growing threats to U.S. economic dominance in a more explicit manner than he has done during his travels to battery factories and solar panel plants over the past year.

3.     Gen. David Petraeus said that coalition forces face a tough fight in 2011 as they push to extend security gains in the Taliban’s southern strongholds and reverse insurgent advances in others:

• In a letter to the troops released hours ahead of President Obama’s State of the Union address, Petraeus provides his take on the conflict since he assumed command in July 2010—he said that the additional resources poured into the country over the past year have “enabled us to get the ‘inputs’ right in Afghanistan for the first time”—he called 2010 “a year of significant, hard-fought accomplishments,” while warning that “the year ahead is likely to be a tough one, too.”

4.     Confidence among U.S. consumers rose more than forecast in January, reaching an eight-month high, as the outlook for jobs brightened:

• The Conference Board’s sentiment index increased to 60.6 from 53.3 the previous month—growing optimism, an improving labor market, and tax relief may combine to help spur consumer spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of the economy.

 

January 26, 2011

1.     Medicare’s independent economic expert told Congress that two of President Obama’s projections for the healthcare overhaul law are unlikely to be fulfilled:

• Chief Actuary Richard Foster told the House Budget Committee that the landmark legislation probably won’t hold costs down, and it will not let everybody keep their current health insurance if they like it—Foster’s office is responsible for independent long-range cost estimates.

2.     By the end of April, terror threats to the U.S. will no longer be described in shades of green, blue, yellow, orange, and red:

• The nation’s color-coded terror warning system will be phased out beginning this week, according to government officials familiar with the plan—the Obama administration will take the next three months to roll out a replacement, which will be called the National Terrorism Advisory System, a plan that calls for notifying specific audiences about specific threats.

3.     The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said that this year alone, Social Security is projected to collect $45 billion less in payroll taxes than it pays out in retirement, disability, and survivor benefits:

• New congressional projections show Social Security running deficits every year until its trust funds are eventually drained in about 2037—a debt commission appointed by President Obama has recommended a series of changes to improve Social Security’s finances, including a gradual increase in the full retirement age, lower costs of living increases, and a gradual increase in the threshold on the amount of income subject to the Social Security payroll tax, but Obama has not embraced any of the panel’s recommendations.

 

January 27, 2011

1.     According to an Associated Press survey that found growing optimism among leading economists, employers will hire more workers this year, and the economy will grow faster than envisioned three months ago:

• However, the latest quarterly AP Economy Survey shows that unemployment will stay chronically high (nearly nine percent by year’s end), and a majority of economists say that it will be 2016 or later before unemployment drops to a historically normal rate of around five percent.

2.     A divided inquiry panel unveiled its final report on the U.S. financial crisis, providing the most authoritative account to date of the madness that gripped Wall Street giants packaging risky mortgage securities, the blunders of federal regulators, and the contagion that nearly led to a depression:

a.     The ten-member panel released an exhaustive 633-page report based on more than 700 interviews and millions of pages of documentary evidence—the first comprehensive analysis of the factors that led to the worst economic crash in 80 years;

b.     Some conservatives have aggressively faulted the role of Fannie and Freddie in the crisis, but mortgage data and the panel majority’s analysis of about 25 million mortgages to marginal borrowers show that Fannie’s and Freddie’s mortgages performed far better than those certified by Wall Street—in 2008, the year the U.S. financial system buckled and almost collapsed, more than 28% of mortgages bundled by Wall Street were delinquent, compared with about six percent of Fannie-or-Freddie-bundled mortgages, the report said.

3.     Months after they hammered Democrats for cutting Medicare, House Republicans are debating whether to relaunch their quest to privatize the health program for seniors:

• House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) is testing support for his idea to replace Medicare with a fixed payment to buy a private medical plan from a menu of coverage options—party leaders will determine whether the so-called voucher plan will be part of the budget Republicans put forward in the spring.

4.     The number of people applying for unemployment benefits rose sharply last week, but the figures were largely distorted by rare snowstorms that swept through the Southeast:

• Applications surged last week by a seasonally adjusted 51,000 to 454,000, the highest level since late October, according to the Labor Department—many economists consider data in January less reliable because of seasonal fluctuations.

 

January 28, 2011

1.     Jay Carney, who built a career covering politics and presidents before joining the White House himself, became President Obama’s choice as his next press secretary and chief defender:

• Carney, 45, spent two decades as a journalist for Time magazine, including as a White House correspondent and Washington bureau chief, before changing career paths to become Vice President Biden’s communications director in 2008—sometime in the next few weeks, Carney will replace Robert Gibbs.

2.     The Senate has rejected efforts to revise its rules to restrict filibusters as senators voted decisively to retain current rules that require 60 votes to overcome filibusters that are blocking votes on legislation or nominations:

• However, the top two Senate leaders reached an agreement where Republicans would voluntarily curtail some filibusters in exchange for a Democratic promise that Republicans could offer more amendments.

3.     The GOP chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, Jeff Miller (R-FL), promised a thorough review of spending for veterans’ programs, but his counterpart in the Senate, Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), said that she would be watching Republicans “like a hawk” to insure veterans get their financial due:

• The House and Senate Veterans Affairs committees have jurisdiction over the Veterans Affairs Department, one of the largest federal agencies with a $114 billion budget and 300,000 employees—it provides benefit checks and medical services to the nation’s 22 million veterans, including the thousands coming home from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with mental and physical wounds.

4.     Next month, the U.S. military will begin training its forces on how they should carry out the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” and expects the ban on gays serving openly in the military to be lifted entirely by the end of the year, according to Pentagon officials:

• Under the Pentagon’s program, offered within a seven-page document that was distributed to reporters, partners or spouses of gay service members will not be eligible for group health benefits and gay couples will not be entitled to base housing available to heterosexual couples—the Pentagon also said it would not add sexual orientation to its equal opportunity policy, which currently forbids discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, and national origin, but all legal proceedings and investigations aimed at discharging gay service members will end once the repeal takes effect, and recruiters will be prohibited from asking potential service members about their sexual orientation.

5.     U.S. consumers helped pull the economy up in the final months of last year—the gross domestic product, a broad measure of the goods and services produced in the country, grew at an annual rate of 3.2% in the fourth quarter, up from 2.6% in the previous period, according to a Commerce Department report:

• Because of this expansion, the nation’s overall economic output has finally matched its peak before the recession—still, economists said, given the millions of jobless U.S. workers, the economy has fallen far short of what it could be if it were healthy.

6.     Workers saw their wages and benefits rise slightly faster in 2010 than in 2009, but the gain was still the second-lowest increase in nearly three decades:

• Wages and benefits increased two percent last year after a 1.4% increase in 2009, the Labor Department reported—both years were the smallest gains on Labor Department records that go back 28 years.
  

WEEK THREE

January 30, 2011

1.     Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that the U.S. has no plans to halt aid to earthquake-ravaged Haiti in spite of a crisis over who will be the nation’s next leader, but the U.S. does insist that the current president’s choice of successor be dropped from the race:

• Clinton arrived in the nation for a brief visit and is scheduled to meet with President Rene Preval and each of the three candidates jockeying to replace him—the U.S. backs an Organization of American States recommendation that the candidate from Preval’s party, government construction official Jude Celestin, be left out.

2.     Even as the Obama administration maintains its cautious approach to the crisis in Egypt, suggesting that President Hosni Mubarak might be able to remain in power if he acts quickly on reforms, a former senior administration official said that the White House also is preparing for a post-Mubarak era:

• Obama officials have been careful not to abandon Mubarak in public statements, but they have not aligned themselves with him either, saying instead that Egyptians should decide their own fate through competitive elections—Obama administration officials do not officially want to see Mubarak’s power preserved through a crackdown by the Egyptian military, a message U.S. military leaders reiterated to their Egyptian counterparts over the weekend.

 

January 31, 2011

1.     A federal judge in Florida dealt President Obama’s healthcare overhaul another legal blow, ruling the entire law unconstitutional because of the provision mandating that Americans get health insurance starting in 2014:

• U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson’s closely watched decision delivered the most sweeping blow to the landmark law since Obama signed it last March and could complicate implementation in some states even though the Florida ruling is not binding everywhere—David B. Rivkin, Jr., the Washington lawyer who represented the 26 states challenging the law, said that the ruling frees them from complying with all its provisions, including requirements not to cut some people from their Medicare programs as some governors have said they want to do, but Obama administration officials disputed Rivkin’s analysis and indicated they would appeal the ruling and might seek to stay Vinson’s decision.

2.     Federal officials released the government’s latest advice to Americans on what they should be eating, including specific new recommendations to limit salt intake:

a.     The Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services jointly issued the first updated version in five years of the federal government’s official Dietary Guidelines for Americans—the law requires that they be updated every five years.

b.     Although most people probably never read the guidelines, they have a broad impact on our lives:

• They dictate what is served to students for school breakfasts and lunches;
•  They influence the advice given to people on food stamps about what to buy;
•  They affect the information on nutrional labels; and
• They play a key role in the educational materials that people receive in community centers, doctors’ offices, and hospitals.

3.     Battling the widespread perception that U.S. border states have become increasingly dangerous, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano called on public officials to stop exaggerating the violence on the U.S. side of the Mexico border and “be honest with the people we serve:”

• In a speech in El Paso, Texas, Napolitano cited FBI crime statistics that show violent crime rates in Southwest border counties are down 30 percent over the past two decades and are “among the lowest in the nation”—Napolitano’s effort to change the public’s mind about crime along the border follows a heated campaign session last fall that saw candidates in border states frequently emphasizing the impact of illegal immigration on their communities.

4.     Government data showed that consumer spending accelerated in December, a sign that the U.S. economy entered 2011 with growing momentum:

• The Commerce Department estimated that spending rose a seasonally adjusted 0.7% in December, higher than the 0.3% increase registered the previous month—income did not keep pace, however, rising four percent in December for the second straight month.

5.     A report by congressional Democrats said that oil and gas companies have injected more than 32 million gallons of fluids containing diesel fuel underground without first getting government approval as required:

• Lawmakers said that the use of diesel fuel by large companies such as Halliburton and B. J. Service Co. appears to violate the Safe Drinking Water Act because the companies never obtained permission from state or federal authorities to use the diesel fuel—the probe found no evidence that the use of diesel fuel contaminated water supplies.

 

February 1, 2011

1.     The Obama administration launched a consolidated effort to spur new start-up businesses, part of the White House’s campaign to emphasize job creation while downplaying new economic spending initiatives that could face congressional opposition:

• The new thrust will be led by AOL co-founder Steve Case, giving President Obama’s emphasis on the economy a second prominent business face in two weeks—last week, the president named GE chief executive Jeff Immelt as head of a presidential advisory council on competitiveness.

2.     President Hosni Mubarak declared he would step down in September as modern Egypt’s longest-serving leader, but that did not go far enough for the hundreds of thousands who poured into Tahrir Square in a protest that cut across lines of piety, class, and ideology:

•  Hours later, President Obama strongly suggested that Mubarak’s concession was not enough, declaring that an “orderly transition” in Egypt “must begin now”—in a 30-minute phone call to Mubarak just before his public remarks, Obama was more forceful in insisting on a rapid transition, according to officials familiar with the discussion.

3.     Foes of congressional spending projects known as earmarks won a significant victory when the Senate Appropriations Committee announced that it would ban such spending in appropriation bills for the next two years:

• The decision by the committee’s chairman, Sen. Daniel Inouye, a nine-term Hawaiian Democrat, means any spending bills that clear Congress should be free of specific allocations for things such as local public works projects, museums, and other hometown initiatives financed by lawmakers over the years—Inouye’s surrender came after the Republican majority in the House instituted its own ban on earmarks and after President Obama vowed to reject any spending measure that contained earmarks.

4.     The Dow Jones industrial average closed above 12,000 for the first time in 2½ years, putting the great recession even further in the rearview mirror and erasing most of the damage it inflicted on tens of millions of retirement accounts:

• The rebound could bring small investors back to the stock market—they have pulled nearly $245 billion out of U.S. stock market mutual funds since June 2008, while earlier in the decade, they typically put in $145 billion a year, and if Americans believe in the market again, it could accelerate the economic recovery.

 

February 2, 2011

1.     Senate Democrats defeated a bid by Republicans to repeal last year’s sweeping healthcare overhaul, as they successfully mounted a party-line defense of President Obama’s signature domestic policy achievement:

• The vote was 51-47, with all Republicans voting for repeal but falling 13 votes short of the 60 needed to advance their proposal—lawmakers in both parties joined forces, however, to repeal a tax provision in the law that would impose a huge information reporting requirement on small businesses, and that vote was 81-17, with 34 Democrats and all 47 Republicans in favor.

2.     The EPA reversed Bush administration drinking water policy, announcing that it will regulate perchlorate, a component of rocket fuel, and 16 other chemicals (called volatile organic compounds) that can cause cancer at high enough doses:

• In October 2008, the Bush administration bucked the advice of its own EPA scientists and announced that it would not regulate perchlorate—a Washington Post investigation at the time found that officials from the Bush administration heavily edited a key EPA report to play down the risks of the chemical and that a Government Accountability Office report also found that the Department of Defense, which, along with NASA, is a heavy user of perchlorate, sought to derail any perchlorate standards.

 

February 3, 2011

1.     Racial and ethnic minorities accounted for roughly 85 percent of the nation’s population growth over the past decade, with Hispanics accounting for much of the gain in many of the states picking up new House seats:

• Broken down by voting age, minorities accounted for roughly 70 percent of U.S. growth in the 18-and-older population since 2000, and Hispanics made up about 40 percent—in all:

1.  non-Hispanic whites make up roughly 65 percent of the U.S. population, down from 69 percent in 2000;
2. Hispanics had a 16 percent share, compared with 13 percent a decade ago;
3.  Blacks represent about 12 percent;
4.   Asians account for roughly five percent; and
5.   Multiracial Americans and other groups make up the remaining two percent.

2.     After clamoring loudly about their plans to curtail federal spending, House Republicans announced that they would cut $32 billion for the remainder of the fiscal year—a minuscule amount compared with a projected annual deficit of nearly $1.5 trillion:

• The Republican proposal is effectively $58 billion less than the domestic and foreign aid programs in President Obama’s budget request for 2011—far short of the $100 billion in cuts that John Boehner of Ohio promised before the November elections that catapulted Republicans into the House majority and made him the speaker.

3.     Service industries in the U.S. expanded in January at the fastest pace since August 2005, indicating the economic recovery is broadening:

• Other reports showed a decline in first-time jobless claims, a faster pace of productivity, and an unexpected increase in orders placed with U.S. factories—faster growth in household spending and the economy may generate the bigger employment gains needed to bring down the unemployment rate.

 

February 4, 2011

1.     The BLM withdrew a Bush administration-era timber sale designed to cut big old trees in Southwestern Oregon because it could not meet new logging restrictions protecting spotted owls, the agency said:

•  Jim Whittington, BLM spokesman, said that the Chew Choo sale also no longer makes sense in a down lumber market—the decision came as BLM works on two pilot projects designed to produce timber as a by-product of thinning to reduce fire danger.

2.     A proposed oil pipeline from Canada to the U.S. Gulf Coast could substantially reduce U.S. dependency on oil from the Middle East and other regions, according to a report commissioned by the Obama administration:

• The study forecasts the 1,900-mile pipeline, coupled with a reduction in overall U.S. oil demand, “could essentially eliminate Middle East crude imports longer term”—the $7 billion project would carry crude oil extracted from tar sands in Alberta, Canada, to refineries in Texas.

3.     U.S. officials said that talks are underway between the Obama administration and top Egyptian officials on the possible immediate resignation of President Hosni Mubarak and the formation of a military-backed caretaker government that could prepare the country for free and fair elections later this year:

• White House and State Department officials did not discuss details of discussions U.S. officials are having with the Egyptians—officials said that neither the White House nor Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had made a specific call for Mubarak to resign immediately but had pressed for measures that would ease discussions and set the stage for democratic elections.

4.     Payrolls expanded by 36,000 jobs in January, a sharp decline from the gains of recent months and well below the level economists had forecast:

• The picture painted by the Labor Department’s monthly snapshot of the job market was confounded by a more encouraging drop in the unemployment rate to nine percent, from 9.4% a month earlier, for its lowest rate since April 2009—January’s weather probably had some effect on the anemic job growth, and as a result, some economist said that they would largely disregard January’s weak payroll data, but others cautioned that underlying job growth was still not robust.

WEEK FOUR

February 6, 2011

1.    Company executives said that Ford Motor Co. will increase factory production by 13 percent in the first quarter because of higher demand for Ford and Lincoln brand cars and trucks, and further increases are likely throughout the year:

 

February 7, 2011

 

February 8, 2011

 

February 9, 2011

2.     Republicans on the House Energy Committee aired their proposal to block the EPA from reducing greenhouse gases and to reverse the agency’s scientific finding that climate change is dangerous:

3.     President Obama wants to cut $2.5 billion from a $5 billion home heating aid program for the poor as he looks for places to rein in federal spending, two people familiar with his 2012 budget proposal said:

 

February 10, 2011

1.     The White House says that tracking the bulk sale of high-powered rifles from border states’ gun shops which legally sell thousands of assault weapons that end up in Mexico each year is not an emergency, and it has rejected a request from the U.S. agency that monitors weapons’ sales to do so without public review:

2.     A long-awaited plan to give caregivers of severely wounded Iraq and Afghanistan veterans some extra help was unveiled by the Veterans’ Affairs Department with few specifics about when it would be fully implemented and how many families it would benefit:

3.     The new majority of House Republicans flatly rejected a spending plan crafted by House leaders, saying its cuts fell far short of fulfilling a campaign pledge to slice $100 billion from federal programs:

4.     Caught off guard by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s efforts to cling to power, President Obama condemned as inadequate Mubarak’s latest concessions to protestors and warned against a violent crackdown:

 

February 11, 2011

1.     The Obama administration laid out three broad options for reducing the government’s role in the mortgage market, and all three would almost certainly lead to higher interest rates and costs for borrowers:

a.     In a report, the administration said that the government should withdraw its support for the mortgage market slowly, over five years or more, and describes a path for winding down the troubled mortgage giants, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—but rather than make a single recommendation, the administration offered Congress three scenarios and will let lawmakers shape the final policy;

        b.     The options are:

1. No government role except for existing agencies like the Federal Housing Administration;
2.  A government guarantee of private mortgages triggered only when the market is in trouble;
3.  Government insurance for a targeted range of mortgage investments that already are guaranteed by private insurers, and the government guarantee would kick in only if those private companies could not pay.

2.     Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., said that neither the Egyptian people nor the U.S. would tolerate any attempt by that country’s military to prevent a full transition to democracy:

WEEK FIVE

February 13, 2011

        1.     According to a document obtained by McClatchy Newspapers, the Obama administration’s Justice Department has asserted that the FBI can obtain telephone records of international calls made from the U.S. with no formal legal process or court oversight:

 

February 14, 2011

1.     President Obama included $328 million in his budget proposal for timber-dependent counties, including Douglas County, giving the counties a lift in their campaign to retain federal payments that compensate them for revenue lost because of logging restrictions on federal timber lands—the $328 million overall figure is for the first of five years which represents a ten percent cut, with funding declining 20 percent a year in successive years and no funding source, raising a strong possibility that it will not survive new House Republican budget rules requiring new programs to be offset by cuts in other programs, according to Rep. Peter DeFazio:

2.     President Obama’s budget proposal resurrects a series of tax increases that were largely ignored by Congress when Democrats controlled both chambers, and Republicans, who now control the House, are signaling that they will be even less receptive:

1. Tax increases for oil, gas, and coal producers, investment managers, and U.S.-based multinational corporations;
2.  Allowing Bush-era tax cuts to expire at the end of 2012 for individuals making more than $200,000 a year and married couples making more than $250,000;
3. Wealthy taxpayers would have their itemized deductions limited, including deductions for mortgage interest, charitable contributions, and state and local taxes.

3.     A Republican budget bill would strip gray wolves of Endangered Species Act protection across most of the Northern Rockies:

4.     Taxpayer aid to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will reach $224 billion by the end of 2012, of which $55 billion will be returned in dividends to the federal Treasury, according to President Obama’s 2012 budget:

 

February 15, 2011

1.     The Senate voted 86-12 to extend for 90 days the legal life of three post-September 11^th terrorism-fighting measures, including the use of roving wiretaps that are set to expire at the end of the month:

2.     Despite the political and economic risks, congressional Republicans are forging ahead with proposals for severe budget cuts this year, even though party leaders acknowledge the reductions could lead to job losses in the name of deficit reduction:

3.     American businesses and consumers are giving the economy a boost by spending more, but the troubled housing market remains an obstacle, new data show:

 

February 16, 2011

        1.    The Obama administration awarded $241 million in grants to seven states, including Oregon, to develop new Internet-based systems that would let many Americans shop for health insurance online:

 

February 17, 2011

        1.     Conservatives won a bid to slice arts funding while a GOP moderate lost an attempt to ease cuts to heating subsidies for the poor as the House began a third day of debate on a sweeping spending bill:

2.     Federal Reserve officials were slightly more optimistic last month about economic growth for this year than they were in November, reflecting expected gains in consumer and business spending from tax cuts:

3.     Congress gave final approval to a temporary extension of parts of the USA Patriot Act, a step that merely postpones a political debate over the controversial terrorism law and its implications for civil liberties in the U.S.:

1. Use so-called roving wiretaps to keep track of unidentified suspects as they move from place to place and device to device;
2. Obtain library records and other personal information; and
3. To follow foreigners who have no known terrorism connections.

4.     Consumers paid more in January for everything from food and gas to airline tickets and clothing—the price increases reflect creeping but still-modest inflation:

 

February 18, 2011

       1.     A broad aviation bill to advance modernization of the nation’s air traffic control system and boost airport construction was approved by the Senate 87-8, and a similar bill cleared a House committee earlier this week:

2.     Intel welcomed President Obama to Hillsboro with upbeat declarations about new factories and more jobs, and Chief Executive Paul Otellini announced, “This year Intel will hire 4,000 new, permanent, highly skilled employees in the U.S.”:

3.     In rapid-fire action, the Republican-controlled House voted to strip federal money from President Obama’s healthcare overhaul and from Planned Parenthood and to bar the EPA from issuing global warming regulations:

4.     The government has replaced a Bush-era rule that became a flash point in the debate over abortions, clarifying that doctors and nurses have a long-standing federal right not to participate in the procedures:

5.     A comprehensive new U.S. intelligence report finds that Iran has resumed research on key components for a nuclear weapon, but that the slow and scattered nature of the effort reflects debate within the regime over whether to build a bomb, U.S. officials said:

 

February 19, 2011

        1.     President Obama says that a new administration effort to protect public lands will put people back to work in tourism and recreation and help Americans stay healthier by encouraging outdoor activities:

WEEK SIX

February 21, 2011

1.     The federal government has awarded a $20 million grant to universities in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho designed to ensure that wheat farming in the Pacific Northwest would survive climate change:

2.     The first major protests to hit an OPEC country put the oil industry on edge, sending crude prices jumping and raising speculation about the use of emergency oil reserves that have been touched only twice in two decades:

3.     The early stages of the economic recovery have taken on a decidedly masculine tone as job gains by men fueled January’s decline in the national unemployment rate from 9.4 percent to nine percent:

 

February 22, 2011

1.     Majority Leader Harry Reid said that he will bring legislation to the floor next week to keep the government running at current spending levels for 30 days to avoid a shutdown in March, a move that was immediately rejected by GOP leaders who assailed the Nevada Democrat for freezing spending at levels inflated by budget increases provided under President Obama:

2.     The consumer confidence index reached its highest level in three years, and even with unemployment at nine percent and continuing troubles in the housing market, consumers seem to be more willing to open their wallets than at any time in the past couple of years:

 

February 23, 2011

        1.     Oil prices rose to fresh two-year highs of around $96 a barrel amid concerns that a violent power struggle in Libya could disrupt supply, with experts warning the next weeks and months could prove to be highly volatile:

 

February 23, 2011

1.     President Obama, in a striking legal and political shift, has determined that the Defense of Marriage Act—the 1966 law that bans federal recognition of same-sex marriages—is unconstitutional, and the administration said that he has directed the Justice Department to stop defending the law in court:

2.     Faced with stiff opposition in Congress and a court-ordered deadline, the EPA said that it would make it much cheaper for companies to reduce toxic air pollution from industrial boilers and incinerators:

3.     The Obama administration has all but officially abandoned a proposal to convert a vacant Illinois state prison into a facility for terror suspects, a move that could clear the way for its use as a sorely needed maximum-security federal penitentiary:

a.     But senior Republican lawmakers, before they vote on a budget request, said they want a guarantee—including a written statement from the president—that the White House will not change its mind later and transfer terrorists there from the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, after all;

b.     The administration had no immediate response on whether Obama would formally announce the White House was bowing out of its plans for the Thomson state prison—the prison was built by Illinois but never used, and it would add up to 1,600 high-security cells in a federal prison system that is 52 percent overcrowded.

4.     President Obama, breaking his silence on the mayhem in Libya, said that the U.S. will consider “the full range of options” to respond, and he warned dictator Moammar Gadhafi to halt the slaughter of civilians, saying that “the entire world is watching:”

5.     Pakistan’s ISI spy agency is ready to split with the CIA because of its frustration over what it calls heavy-handed pressure and its anger over what it believes is a covert U.S. operation involving hundreds of contract spies, according to a internal document obtained by the Associated Press and interviews with U.S. and Pakistani officials:

6.     Just as the U.S. and global economies are finally strengthening, they face a new danger: rocketing oil prices, which topped $100 a barrel, before settling back to a little more than $98:

 

February 24, 2011

1.     The U.S. Air Force chose Boeing to build its new fleet of aerial refueling tankers, news met with delight and rejoicing by Northwest aircraft workers and politicians—the $35 billion deal calls for Boeing to build 179 tankers, and it could be expanded over time to as much as $100 billion:

2.     Angered conservatives are vowing to make same-sex marriage a front-burner election issue, nationally and in the states, after the Obama administration’s announcement that it will no longer defend the federal law denying recognition to gay married couples:

3.     The top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan, Gen. David Petraeus, intends to order an investigation into whether a three-star general responsible for training Afghanistan security forces inappropriately used members of a psychological operations team to influence visiting U.S. senators into providing more funding for the war:

4.     Rebels holding Libya’s third- and fourth-largest cities repelled tank-based assaults by Moammar Gadhafi’s forces as the embattled dictator struggled to reclaim areas outside the capitol and fresh high-level defections further fractured his regime, residents and news reports said:

5.     Political unrest and rising tensions across the Middle East and North Africa are causing unprecedented uncertainty in oil markets:

 

February 25, 2011

1.     Defense Secretary Robert Gates told an audience of West Point cadets that it would be unwise for the U.S. to ever fight another war like Iraq or Afghanistan and that the chances of carrying out a regime change in that fashion again were slim:

2.     The U.S. shuttered its embassy in Libya and readied stiff financial and other penalties against Moammar Gadhafi and his loyalists, ending days of cautious condemnation by all but calling for the unpredictable leader’s immediate ouster:

3.     Deeper spending cuts by state and local governments weighed down U.S. economic growth in the final three months of last year:

 

February 26, 2011

        Ratcheting up the pressure, President Obama said that Moammar Gadhafi has lost his legitimacy to rule and urged the Libyan leader to leave power immediately:

WEEK SEVEN

February 27, 2011

•  Clinton made no mention of any U.S. military assistance in her remarks to reporters before flying to Geneva for talks with diplomats from Russia, the European Union, and other powers eager to present a united anti-Gadhafi front—the U.N. Security Council voted February 26^th to impose new penalties against the Gadhafi government, in power since 1969 in the oil-rich nation along Africa’s Mediterranean Coast.

 

February 28, 2011

1.     Saying no “single party has a monopoly on good ideas,” President Obama told governors that he fully supports legislation offered by Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden to give states wide latitude for meeting terms of the new healthcare law:

•   Under Democrat Wyden’s bill, which is co-sponsored by Republican Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts, states could design their own healthcare programs as long as they serve at least as many people, contain costs, and offer services that are equal to or better than those required in the 2010 law—that power to exempt states is already in the law, but states cannot ask for waivers until 2017.

2.     Almost three years after a series of government bailouts began, a brighter picture is emerging, highlighted by the outlook for the bailouts’ centerpiece—the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program:

•  In mid-2009, the program was projected to lose as much as $341 billion and that has been reduced to $25 billion—there is now broad agreement that the bailouts worked, stabilizing the financial system and preventing an even deeper crisis.

3.     The Interior Department said that it had approved the first new deepwater drilling permit in the Gulf of Mexico since the BP explosion and spill last spring—a milestone after a period of intense uncertainty for the industry and a wholesale remaking of the nation’s system of offshore oil and gas regulation:

•  Michael Bromwich, director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement, said that Noble Energy had been granted permits to resume drilling in 6,500 feet of water off the coast of Louisiana.

4.     The White House signaled that it would be open to a proposal to avert a government shutdown for two weeks, but congressional negotiators have not yet come up with a way to prevent a possible disruption in services later in the year:

• The House is expected to vote March 1^st on a stopgap measure proposed by Republicans that would cut $4 billion over two weeks by eliminating programs President Obama has already targeted for termination, among others—Senate Democrats have indicated they would be open to the proposal, and the administration said it might go along.

5.     High fuel prices are putting the squeeze on drivers, with the national average spiking nearly 20 cents a gallon in the past week setting an all-time high for February:

•  Unrest in the Middle East and Northern Africa sent oil spiking above $100 a barrel in recent days, although crude retreated below $97 a barrel on reports that Libya was still exporting oil—over a year, analysts estimate, oil at $100 a barrel would reduce U.S. economic growth by 0.2 or 0.3 of a percentage point, which would mean that rather than growing an estimated 3.7% this year, the economy would expand 3.4% or 3.5%, resulting in less hiring and higher unemployment.

 

March 1, 2011

1.     Republican governors and members of Congress are vowing to fight an Obama administration plan to make millions of acres of undeveloped land in the West eligible for federal wilderness protection:

•  The GOP officials say the plan would circumvent Congress’ authority and could be used to declare a vast swath of public land off-limits to oil-and-gas drilling—the so-called wild lands plan replaces a 2003 policy (dubbed by critics “No More Wilderness”) that opened Western lands to commercial development.

2.     Federal auditors have identified hundreds of overlapping government offices and programs that if merged or eliminated could save taxpayers billions of dollars:

• The study, ordered last year as part of legislation raising the federal debt limit, quickly earned the attention of lawmakers eager to identify potential spending cuts.

3.     The House voted to keep the federal government funded for two weeks as a first step toward averting a government shutdown, but it leaves the major differences between Republicans and Democrats over taxes and spending unresolved:

• The House voted 335-91 to keep the government running until March 18^th, while cutting $4 billion—voting yes were 231 Republicans and 104 Democrats, with six Republicans and 85 Democrats voting no.

4.     Georgia is the latest state to propose legislation that questions whether President Obama was born in the U.S., joining ten other states that have measures seeking more proof before his name is put on the 2012 ballot:

•  The ten other states with pending bills include Arizona, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, Connecticut, Indiana, Tennessee, and Maine—the measure failed this year in Montana.

5.     Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke predicted to Congress that increasing oil prices would cause only a brief and modest rise in consumer inflation:

•  If he is wrong, as some lawmakers suggested to him, the risks are high: a weaker economy and elevated consumer inflation—Bernanke’s credibility is at stake, too, as his duties as Fed chief require a balancing act: leading the economy to stronger growth while making sure inflation does not increase too high.

6.     American manufacturing activity expanded in February at the fastest pace since 2004, though manufacturers have grown more concerned about rising inflation, according to the manufacturing gauge of the Institute for Supply Management:

• The manufacturing sector has now grown for 19 straight months, outshining most other U.S. industries during that time—in 2010, the sector even gained jobs for the first time since 1997.

 

March 2, 2011

1.     Strained state budgets and a new crew of Republican governors have combined to reopen the debate over Medicaid, the healthcare program for the sickest and the poorest Americans:

•  GOP governors want control of the purse strings and leeway to rewrite coverage and payment rules—so far, President Obama has turned them down, but he may be forced to give some ground if negotiations to reduce federal debt get serious later this year.

2.     In an endorsement of free speech that almost no one liked, the Supreme Court said that anti-gay protestors who picket the funerals of U.S. soldiers with signs such as “Thank God for dead soldiers” cannot be sued:

• The 8-1 decision drew protest from Justice Samuel Alito, a conservative, who said that the man who sued the protestors, the father of a dead Marine, “was not a public figure” who would be expected to tolerate such an onslaught, but a private person who sought to “bury his son in peace.”

3.     The Senate gave final approval, 91-9, to a stopgap measure to fund the government for two weeks, and President Obama called on congressional leaders to negotiate a lasting spending plan that quells the risk of a federal shutdown:

•  But the prospect for political drama quickly confronted the White House request for talks, as Republican leaders declined to immediately agree to attend the first meeting, which could be held as soon as March 3^rd.

4.     Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said that the Obama administration will comply with a federal judge’s order and decide later this month whether to approve a batch of deep-water drilling permits that have been stalled for months, even though the government may appeal the rule:

•  At issue is U.S. Judge Martin Feldman’s February 17^th decision giving the government 30 days to decide whether to grant permits for five proposed drilling projects, in response to a challenge by Ensco, a drilling contractor whose rigs would be used for the work.

5.     The White House resubmitted its pick for Oregon’s top federal prosecutor to the Senate March 2^nd:

•  President Obama nominated S. Amanda Marshall, a child advocacy lawyer for the Oregon Department of Justice last year as the U.S. attorney for Oregon—but Congress adjourned in December without acting on his nomination.

6.     Oil prices rose near $102 a barrel as fighting escalated in Libya and petroleum demand grew in the U.S.:

• Oil prices have soared nearly $17 a barrel since the Libyan uprising began in mid-February—retail gasoline prices in the U.S. have gone up more than 25 cents per gallon in that time, and American motorists are now paying $94.9 million more per day to use the same amount of gasoline.

7.     Federal Reserve Chief Ben Bernanke told Congress that a House Republican plan to cut $61 billion in federal spending this year would cost the economy jobs:

•  Both sides seized on his remarks, with Democrats saying it was evidence that the cuts would pose a risk to the economic recovery, while Republicans pointed out that Bernanke’s estimate of job losses was much smaller than that of most private economists.

 

March 3, 2011

1.     The House sliced a little bit out of the big healthcare law, with Democrats joining Republicans in the bid to ease business burdens:

• The bill removed the requirement that businesses file so-called 1099 forms with the IRS for every corporate transaction that totals more than $600—the bill restores the requirement that businesses file 1099 forms only for transactions with non-corporate entities, such as independent contractors.

2.     Handing the Obama administration a legal victory, the federal judge in Florida, U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson, who ruled the new healthcare law unconstitutional, has cleared the way for continued implementation of the sweeping overhaul:

•  Vinson stood by his January 31^st conclusion that invalidated the whole law, but he granted the administration’s request that his earlier rule be stayed while appellate courts review the constitutionality of the new law.

3.     President Obama and Mexico’s President Felipe Calderon reached an agreement to open U.S. highways to Mexican trucks, a step that finally could put the U.S. in permanent compliance with the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement:

•  The U.S. had refused to allow Mexican trucks access amid concerns about their ability to meet U.S. safety and environmental standards, and Mexico retaliated with tariffs—a final draft agreement will need the approval of Congress, and Mexico will retain the right to impose retaliatory tariffs if Congress does not act.

4.     Service industries expanded in February at the fastest pace since 2005, and fewer Americans unexpectedly filed claims for public benefits, adding to evidence the recovery is gaining strength:

• The data support the Federal Reserve assessment that the labor market is on the mend following the loss of 8.75 million positions during the recession.

5.     Global food prices are the highest in 20 years and could increase further because of rising oil prices stemming from the unrest in Libya and the Mideast, according to a warning issued by a U.N. agency:

•  Oil prices affect food markets in many ways, from production to transport costs—when oil prices are high, there is a bigger incentive to produce alternative fuels such as ethanol, which is made from crops such as corn, and increasing demand for alternative fuels made from crops drive up food prices.

 

March 4, 2011

•  The economy added a net 192,000 jobs—factories, professional and business services, education, and healthcare were among the sectors that hired, but retailers and state and local governments slashed jobs—the most since November.

WEEK EIGHT

March 7, 2011

1.     The Department of Transportation agreed to release $13.5 million promised for rail repairs to the Coos Bay line after action taken by the House threatened its funding:

• The money will allow the port to begin soliciting bids in the next couple of weeks and keeps the Oregon International Port of Coos Bay on track to re-establish rail service between Coos Bay and Eugene, a vital link for coastal lumber and plywood mills and other businesses that have seen their transportation costs soar after switching to truck delivery—last month, the House passed a resolution that included a provision that jeopardizes certain types of transportation funding that had not been finalized, including the Coos Bay grant, but Rep. Peter DeFazio appealed to the Department of Transportation to expedite the approval process for the grant and to free up the money, and the agency did so.

2.     President Obama’s chief of staff says that the administration is looking at the nation’s oil reserves as it considers options for dealing with the spike in gas prices:

• William Daley told NBC’s Meet the Press that “all matters have to be on the table when . . . you see the difficulty coming out of this economic crisis we’re in and the fragility of it”—the reserve contains 727 million barrels of oil.

3.     The White House is pushing a message of religious tolerance ahead of this week’s congressional hearing on Islamic radicalism, which has sparked protests on grounds it unfairly singles out Muslims as potential terrorists:

a.     Denis McConough, the president’s deputy national security advisor and point man on countering violent extremism, said, at an interfaith forum of Muslims, Christians, Jews, and other faiths, that Muslims are not the problem but part of the solution—the Muslim community has been integral in tipping off law enforcement in many of the plots uncovered over the past two years;

b.     New York Republican Peter King, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee that’s holding the hearings, thinks the Muslim community can and should do more to help law enforcement thwart attempted terrorist attacks.

4.     President Obama says the U.S. and its NATO allies are still considering a military response to violence in Libya:

•  Speaking in the Oval Office, Obama says the U.S. will stand with the Libyan people as they face “unacceptable” violence—the president sent a strong message to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, saying he and his supporters will be held responsible for the violence there.

5.     The Obama administration is resuming military trials for terrorist detainees at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba—a clear sign that the White House does not feel it can fulfill a key campaign promise to close the island prison:

•  Administration sources said that the executive order will provide Guantanamo detainees with more periodic reviews to evaluate their cases, determine how resolved they remain in fighting the U.S., and help to safeguard their rights while in military custody, and they indicated that more detainees will probably be brought to Guantanamo Bay and that others there will soon be prosecuted—the president left open the possibility of federal trials in this country for some of the detainees.

 

March 8, 2011

1.     Erskine Bowles, a former Clinton administration official, and Alan Simpson, a former Republican senator from Wyoming, the co-chairmen of the bipartisan deficit commission appointed by President Obama, launched the Moment of Truth project, adopting the title of the final report issued by the panel they led, the Bipartisan Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform:

•  The panel offered a series of recommendations that would have cut the budget deficit, in total, by $828 billion over the next five years—it included a mix of spending cuts, entitlement reforms, and an overhaul of the tax cuts that would eliminate many popular deductions.

2.     Pentagon officials are still struggling to give away a huge cache of money to troops and veterans, and the Defense Department said that as of last week, it had spent only $300 million of $534 million approved by Congress as special pay for service members forced after September 11, 2001, to serve beyond their enlistment terms—a controversial practice called “stop-loss”:

•  Extensive efforts by the Pentagon, White House, Congress, and Veterans Affairs to get people to file claims for the money have included letters to the last known mailing addresses of all 145,000 believed eligible and a public service announcement taped by President Obama and broadcast last year.

3.     Oil prices fell below $105 a barrel on the news that OPEC members were discussing the possibility of boosting oil production to stabilize markets rocked by Libya’s violent clashes:

•  OPEC, which, according to analysts at Platts, is producing almost 30 million barrels of oil a day, is not scheduled to meet again formally until June 8^th in Vienna—the group has repeatedly said the spike in prices is fueled by market fear driven by speculative investors rather than a tangible shortage of supply.

 

March 9, 2011

1.     The Senate rejected two proposals to rein in government spending as Democrats stepped up a campaign to close loopholes to counter a Republican drive to reduce deficits through domestic cuts alone:

•  In addition to domestic program reductions, Democrats said changes in defense, Medicare and Medicaid, and rollbacks of tax breaks for oil, gas and agricultural companies should all be considered—polls have shown Americans voters support many of those ideas, and although voters want cuts, the GOP-backed hits to preschool and other educational programs are not popular.

2.     The Obama administration estimates that 82% of the nation’s public schools could fall short of federal standards this year, grades that are not only embarrassing but also mean government intervention for some of them:

•  In a report to Congress, Education Secretary Arne Duncan was urging Congress to change the federal standards so that failing grades are awarded only to the schools most in need of help—one of President Obama’s objections to the standards is that they rise each year, so that even schools that are improving can fail to make their “annual yearly progress” marks.

3.     Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi has “tens of billions” in cash secretly hidden away in Tripoli, allowing him to prolong his fight against rebel forces despite an international freeze on many of the Libyan government’s assets, according to U.S. and other intelligence officials:

•  President Obama’s national security team met at the White House to discuss how to oust the Libyan leader, including the possible imposition of a no-fly zone, but it made no decisions, according to the White House press secretary, Jay Carney—the U.S., so far, has relied on imposing financial pain on the Gadhafi government, freezing nearly $32 billion of Libya’s assets, according to Treasury Department officials.

 

March 10, 2011

1.     The government ran the largest-ever budget deficit for a single month in February—the shortfall kept this year’s annual deficit on pace to end as the biggest in U.S. history:

• The widening deficit reflects the impact of the tax-cut package President Obama and congressional Republicans brokered in December—the overall tax-cut package enacted in December has been estimated to cost $858 billion, and the estimated cost for the one-year Social Security tax cut is $112 billion.

2.     President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama opened a White House conference to spur anti-bullying efforts in schools and communities nationwide:

•  “If there is one goal of this conference, it’s to dispel the myth that bullying is just a harmless right of passage or an inevitable part of growing up,” the president told about 150 students, teachers, parents, and advocates of prevention measures gathered in the East Room.

3.     With fierce barrages of tank and artillery fire, Moammar Gadhafi’s loyalists threw rebels into a frantic retreat from a strategic oil port in a counter offensive that reversed the opposition’s advance toward the capitol of Tripoli and now threatens positions in the east:

•  The rout came as the U.S. director of national intelligence stressed that Gadhafi’s military was stronger than it has been described and said that “in the longer term . . . the regime will prevail”—President Obama has called on Gadhafi to step down, and the White House later distanced Obama from the director’s assessment.

4.     The U.S. trade deficit widened sharply in January to its highest level since the summer as a surge of exports overwhelmed record levels of exports:

•  It was the largest trade gap since June 2010 and also the biggest one-month worsening in the deficit since that same month—last year, President Obama set the goal of doubling U.S. exports by 2015, and they are, so far, exceeding this pace.

 

March 11, 2011

1.     President Obama vowed that the U.S. would keep “slowly tightening the noose” to force Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi from power and said that the U.S. is seeking ways to help the country’s rebel forces—at the same time, he made it clear that the administration would move cautiously on any military involvement:

•  In his lengthiest comments so far on the upheaval in Libya, Obama said, at a White House news conference, that the U.S. would continue to seek new ways to pressure the Libyan leader beyond the economic and political sanctions world powers have already imposed, but his caution on military options reflected an administration deeply wary of plunging into another operation in a Muslim country and trying to ratchet up pressure while encouraging Arab nations and other powers to carry much of the burden—this strategy has drawn criticism in Congress and elsewhere.

2.     The House voted to kill mortgage assistance for homeowners who have lost their jobs or become ill, as the two parties battled over how to balance frugality and compassion at a time of enormous budget deficits—the mostly party-line 242-177 vote (Oregon votes: Blumenauer (D), DeFazio (D), and Wu (D) voted no; Schrader (D) and Walden (R) voted yes) by the Republican-run House to abolish the Emergency Mortgage Relief Program may be as far as the legislation gets:

• The White House has threatened to veto the measure, and its prospects are shaky in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

3.     New figures show the U.S. approved $40 billion in private arms sales in 2009, with more than $7 billion to Mideast and North African nations that are struggling with political upheaval:

a.     From 2008 to 2009, the U.S. authorized increasing sales of military shipments to the now-toppled Egyptian government of Hosni Mubarek and the embattled kingdom of Bahrain—but the U.S. reduced such sales to Moammar Gadhafi’s Libyan government;

b.     The $40 billion total during the first year of the Obama administration reflects a rise in approved arms sales over the final year of the Bush administration in 2008, when the State Department licensed $34.2 billion in defense sales.

 

March 12, 2011

•   In his weekly radio and online address, the president said that women are more likely than men to graduate from college today, yet earn less on average, face a greater chance of living in poverty, and are outnumbered in critical subjects such as math and science—Obama noted that one of his first acts as president was to sign legislation allowing women who have been discriminated against in their salaries to have their day in court, and he said he was disappointed when the Senate blocked action on a proposal that would treat gender discrimination involving pay in the same way as race, disability, and age discrimination

WEEK NINE

March 13, 2011

a.     The report showed that 13 agencies, including the Departments of Defense, Interior, Agriculture, and Treasury, made major improvements in responsiveness and by posting information on their web sites—others showed little or no changes, and the U.S. Postal Service said it had “no responsive records” to the archive’s request.

b.     The day after his inauguration, Obama reversed Bush-era policy defending any legal reason to withhold information and directed agencies to release records whose disclosure was not barred by law or did not cause foreseeable harm.

 

March 14, 2011

1.    Under pressure from allies and growing calls for military intervention in Libya, the Obama administration held its first high-level talks with the Libyan opposition and introduced a liaison to deal fulltime with their ranks, but it remained undecided about exactly how much support to lend a group it still knows little about while turmoil and uncertainty increase across the Arab world:

March 15, 2011

1.     The worsening nuclear crisis in Japan is triggering a near-collapse in that nation’s financial markets and major losses in markets around the globe—the Nikkei index of Japanese stocks is down 17.5% in the three trading days since the catastrophic earthquake in northern Japan, and that is the equivalent of a 2,000-point drop in the Dow Jones industrial average, although Japanese stocks have since rebounded, recovering some of the staggering losses:

2.     The U.S. has halted the Taliban’s momentum in Afghanistan and is on track to hand off security to Afghan forces by 2014, although the gains are “fragile and reversible”, U.S. Gen. David Petraeus, the top general leading NATO forces, told Congress:

3.     Despite increased resistance from Republicans, the House approved a temporary spending measure that would again reset the time table for negotiations on a long-term budget deal—lawmakers in the Republican-controlled chamber voted 271-158 in support of a three-week continuing resolution, which included $6 billion in new cuts beyond the last stop-gap measure that was set to expire on March 18^th (all Oregon representatives voted yes except for Blumenauer):

4.     The White House said that President Obama will keep his plans to travel to Brazil, Chile, and El Salvador despite mounting crises demanding his attention:

March 16, 2011

1.     A proposed rule by the EPA would reduce toxic pollutants such as mercury (which can lower the IQ of children who get high doses early in life) from coal-fired power plants:

2.     House Republicans proposed watering down the powerful top job in the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, attacking Obama administration advisor Elizabeth Warren by accusing her of overstepping her temporary position overseeing the bureau:

 

March 17, 2011

1.     The Obama administration said that radiation leaking from the crippled Japanese nuclear complex does not present a danger to the western U.S. or its Pacific territories at this time, and officials also defended a proposed 50-mile evacuation zone for American troops and citizens in Japan:

2.     The U.N. Security Council gave the go-ahead to the British and the French—backed by the U.S. and at least two Arab nations—to launch air strikes to enforce a no-fly zone over Libya and to protect civilians in rebel-held areas from forces loyal to dictator Moammar Gadhafi:

3.     The Senate overwhelmingly passed another stopgap spending measure to prevent a government shutdown, but increasing conservative opposition is making the task of negotiating a lasting deal very complicated for Republican leaders:

4.     Congressional Republicans held fast to support for the Afghan war, heavily opposing a troop withdrawal in a vote that tested whether conservative new members would adhere to the party leaders on a significant question of U.S. policy:

5.     In a party-line vote, the House passed regulation that would permanently bar NPR from receiving federal funds—the vote was 228-192, with one lawmaker voting “present” (Oregon votes: only Walden, Oregon’s lone Republican, voted yes):

6.     The crisis in Japan has pushed the U.S. dollar to its lowest levels since World War II, a trend that could give American exporters an advantage and help strengthen the U.S. economy:

 

March 18, 2011

1.     Libya declared an immediate cease-fire, trying to fend off international military intervention after the U.N. authorized a no-fly zone and “all necessary measures” to prevent the regime from striking its own people—a rebel spokesman said Moammar Gadhafi’s forces were still shelling two cities:

2.     An estimate from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says that if President Obama’s February budget submission is enacted into law, it would produce deficits totaling $9.5 trillion over ten years, an average of almost $1 trillion a year—Obama’s budget estimates deficits totaling $7.2 trillion over the same period:

3.     Wisconsin’s Dane County District Judge Maryann Sumi temporarily blocked Gov. Scott Walker’s plan to drastically curb collective bargaining rights for public workers, raising the possibility that the legislature may have to vote again to pass the bill that attracted protests as large as 85,000 people, motivating Senate Democrats to flee to Illinois for three weeks, and made Wisconsin the focus of the national fight over union rights:

4.     Unemployment rose in nearly all of the 372 largest U.S. cities in January compared with the previous month, mostly because of seasonal changes such as the layoff of temporary retail employees hired for the holidays:

March 19, 2011

1.      U.S. and European nations pounded Libya with cruise missiles and air strikes targeting Moammar Gadhafi’s forces, launching the broadest international military effort since the Iraq war in support of an uprising that had seemed on the verge of defeat:

March 20, 2011

1.      U.S., French, and British forces blasted Libya’s air defenses and ground forces, drawing intense volleys of tracer and anti-aircraft fire over Tripoli on the second day of a military campaign that will severely test Moammar Gadhafi’s powers of survival:

 

March 21, 2011

1.      A U.S.-led military campaign to destroy Moammar Gadhafi’s air defenses and establish a no-fly zone over Libya accomplished its initial objective, and the U.S. is moving swiftly to hand command to allies in Europe, U.S. officials said:

 

March 22, 2011

1.     President Obama worked to bridge differences among allies about how to manage the military campaign in Libya as air strikes continued to rock Tripoli and forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi showed no sign of ending their sieges of rebel-held cities:

 

March 23, 2011

1.     The U.S. and its allies shifted to ferocious air strikes on Libyan ground forces, tanks, and artillery, marking the second phase of a military campaign that drew the Pentagon deeper into the fight—NATO ships also began patrolling off Libya’s coast:

 

March 24, 2011

1.      NATO will assume leadership from the U.S. of patrolling the skies over Libya, but the military alliance remains divided over who will command aggressive coalition air strikes on Moammar Gadhafi’s ground troops, NATO and U.S. officials said:

 

March 25, 2011

March 28, 2011

1.     President Obama defended the U.S.-led military assault in Libya, saying it was in the national interest of the U.S. to stop a potential massacre that would have “stained the conscience of the world:”

 

March 29, 2011

 

March 30, 2011

 

March 31, 2011

 

April 1, 2011

  WEEK TWELVE

April 4, 2011

April 5, 2011

 

April 6, 2011

 

April 7, 2011

 

April 8, 2011