Posts in June 2010

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) believes that a “political rebellion” akin to the American revolution of 1776 is brewing, that the Social Security retirement age should be raised to 70, and that the Wall Street reform bill currently moving through Congress is comparable to... [+]

Republicans raised eyebrows yesterday when they criticized the first African-American Supreme Court justice, Thurgood Marshall, as a way to attack nominee Elena Kagan, his former clerk. One would think that, to avoid any appearance of racial dog-whistling, the senators attacking Marshall’s record would be able... [+]

Key Senate Democrats offered to scale back their ambitious plans to cap greenhouse gases across multiple sectors of the economy on Tuesday during a White House meeting with President Barack Obama and skeptical Republicans. Sens. John Kerry and Joe Lieberman told reporters after the 90-minutee... [+]

Nevada Republican Senate candidate Sharron Angle, whose conservative policy prescriptions have already landed her in hot water, undoubtedly stirred the pot again when she told a local radio station recently that she opposed abortion even in cases of rape and incest. The Tea Party-backed candidate... [+]

The House Democrat who oversees funding for Afghanistan’s redevelopment and reconstruction said on Monday that she is stripping money from her foreign aid bill in reaction to pervasive corruption. Dave Obey, chairman of the Appropriations Committee, supports the move made by subcommittee chairwoman Nita Lowey... [+]

President Barack Obama ousted Gen. Stanley McChrystal as the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan on Wednesday, saying that his scathing published remarks about administration officials undermine civilian control of the military and erode the needed trust on the president’s war team. Obama named McChrystal’s direct... [+]

Wall Street reform negotiators struck a deal Monday to regulate the swipe fees that major banks and credit card companies can charge to merchants — costs that are passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices. The cost to merchants of using credit... [+]

The White House is intervening at the last minute to come to the defense of multinational corporations in the unfolding conference committee negotiations over Wall Street reform. A measure that had been generally agreed to by both the House and Senate, which would have affirmed... [+]

Pundits panned Obama’s speech, but Richard Wolffe reports the White House is taking comfort in research that suggests swing voters liked it, want a bill passed—and see Republicans as the obstacle. The pundits largely panned President Obama’s first Oval Office address, devoted to amping up... [+]