GOP AGs may sue over health bill
December 24, 2009
GOP state attorneys general organize to provide a legal analysis of the constitutionality of a provision.
Obama ‘entirely dissatisfied’ with high unemployment
December 24, 2009
President Barack Obama said Wednesday he is “entirely dissatisfied” with the level of US unemployment and cannot congratulate himself on his first year in office because the jobless rate is so high.
“I am entirely dissatisfied with where we are right now in terms of jobs, and the fact that families out there on the eve of Christmas are still really worried,” Obama said in an interview with public television station PBS.
“And so I don’t pat myself on the back at the end of this year,” the US leader said after 11 months in office.
“But what I do have confidence in is that we’ve made good decisions, that we’ve applied sound judgment to some very difficult situations,” added Obama.
Another delay in closing Gitmo
December 24, 2009
President Barack Obama’s commitment to close the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, by next month may be delayed until 2011 because it will take months for the government to buy an Illinois prison and upgrade it to hold suspected terrorists.
The drawn-out construction timetable shows the political risk of Obama’s pledge, a delay that could even be extended by congressional opposition to funding the purchase and upgrades for the Thomson Correctional Center, an underused state facility about 150 miles west of Chicago.
Pentagon sees big savings in replacing contractors with federal employees
December 24, 2009
The Defense Department estimates it will save an average of $44,000 a year for every contractor it replaces with full-time federal personnel to perform critical defense jobs, according to the House-Senate conference report on the fiscal 2010 defense appropriation bill.
U.S. agencies faulted by GAO for leak of nuclear data
December 24, 2009
Five government agencies, the National Security Council and two congressional offices all share blame for the inadvertent publication of sensitive information regarding hundreds of civilian nuclear sites, government watchdogs concluded Wednesday.
Business Digest: Deal near on Senate financial reform bill
December 24, 2009
CONGRESS The Senate banking committee is making “meaningful progress” toward drafting a financial reform bill acceptable to members of both parties, and a deal could be struck before the Senate reconvenes in January, the lead negotiators said in a joint statement Wednesday.
Grassley puts pressure on Treasury in tax dispute
December 24, 2009
Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) on Wednesday criticized a Treasury Department ruling that let Citigroup keep billions of dollars in tax breaks and threatened to prevent the confirmation of several nominees for senior Treasury posts until the department suspended efforts to collect a tax penalty…
Little word from U.S. on Nyi Nyi Aung, jailed in Burma
December 24, 2009
After his arrest in September, the American was held for 17 days in a dank Burmese jail and denied food, medical treatment, sleep and the chance to speak with a U.S. government official. Even after he finally met with a representative from the U.S. Embassy, the American was transferred to solitary…
Black men hit hard by unemployment in Milwaukee
December 24, 2009
MILWAUKEE — Radolph Matthews was taught that hope starts at home. He followed the path his strict father set out and checked all the right boxes. But there he was last week on his way to cash an unemployment check — $388. He ran the numbers through his head — $200 for the cellphone bill, $60 f…