Obama administration

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Geithner Puts Brakes on Bank Repayments

Treasury sec reluctant to free Goldman, others from constraints

(Newser) - Tim Geithner is warning Wall Street that he will consider more than banks' individual financial fitness when deciding whether they can pay back bailout funds—and escape from the strings attached to them. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, the Treasury secretary says that the whole banking system,...

Chrysler Gets New Aid, but End May Loom

Treasury pushes automaker toward Fiat deal or liquidation

(Newser) - The Obama administration has given a further $500 million to keep Chrysler afloat, but Washington signaled yesterday it increasingly believes Chrysler will not survive as an independent company. Treasury officials met yesterday with CEO Robert Nardelli, as well as the heads of the United Auto Workers and Italian automaker Fiat....

White House Targets Credit Card Chicanery

Issuers coming under pressure to halt unfair, misleading practices

(Newser) - The Obama administration is throwing its weight behind congressional efforts to crack down on credit card companies, the Wall Street Journal reports. Lawmakers are pushing legislation to ban practices like arbitrarily raising interest rates on existing balances and the president is expected to take a hard line on the issue...

Livid Wall Streeters See Themselves as Victims

(Newser) - Main Street doesn’t hold a monopoly on victimhood, Gabriel Sherman writes in New York. From AIG execs and their disappearing bonuses to Wall Street bankers who get dirty looks, the once-privileged feel like they’re shouldering too much blame. “It is difficult to sympathize with these people,”...

Will Your Letter Reach Obama? This Guy Decides

White House correspondence head chooses 10 per day

(Newser) - The White House Correspondence Office sorts through tens of thousands of messages daily, and it’s up to its director to select which 10 find President Obama’s desk. But how to choose? “We pick messages that are compelling, things people say that, when you read it, you get...

Obama to Cabinet: Cut $100M From Budgets

Move comes amid pressure to slice deficit

(Newser) - Facing pressure over spending, President Obama will unite his Cabinet today for the first time and ask members to find $100 million worth of potential budget cuts over the next 90 days, the Washington Post reports. Though it’s a tiny sum compared to a $3.5 trillion budget outline,...

After Big Promises, Has Obama Gone Soft?

Prez seems quite willing to compromise—"even capitulate"

(Newser) - During the campaign, President Obama promised sweeping changes and a new way of doing things in Washington—but in the Oval Office, he’s been noticeably willing to compromise, write David Herszenhorn and Jackie Calmes in the New York Times. While he’s not dropping his chief concerns, “The...

End Failed Drug War: Go After Kingpins
 End Failed Drug War: 
 Go After Kingpins 
OPINION
Apr 18, 2009 3:27 PM CDT

End Failed Drug War: Go After Kingpins

(Newser) - The "war on drugs" has been an abject failure—crowded jails and a still-thriving narcotics trade prove that—and it's time for some "visionary" thinking, writes Cynthia Tucker in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The nation's not ready for legalization, but how about some concrete steps: Stop going after "...

US Seeks 'Ethical Hackers' to Combat Cyber Threats

(Newser) - To combat the rising threat of attack on the nation’s computer networks, the US government is turning to the dark side for help, the AP reports. A call has gone out for so-called “ethical hackers” who “think like the bad guy” to work with Homeland Security to...

Obama Will Ask Agency Chiefs for Cuts
Obama Will Ask Agency Chiefs for Cuts
Apr 18, 2009 10:34 AM CDT

Obama Will Ask Agency Chiefs for Cuts

He also names two more picks, including chief tech officer

(Newser) - President Obama says he'll begin making good on his promise to cut wasteful spending on Monday. When he meets with his full Cabinet for the first time that day, the president will ask each one to come up with specific cuts for their department, Bloomberg reports. “We are on...

Calif. Gets $4B as Feds Turn on Stimulus Tap

(Newser) - Education Secretary Arne Duncan today released nearly $4 billion to California, the first state to benefit from a special fund for states that was created by the economic stimulus law. The fund will replenish state budgets that have been cut or threatened because of the recession. Most of the money...

Research on Embryonic Stem Cells to Get OK, With Caveat

(Newser) - The Obama administration will issue new guidelines significantly expanding the scope of stem cell research in July, though some caveats leave scientists dubious, the New York Times reports. The new rules will likely allow federal funds to flow to researchers using surplus embryos created in fertility clinics, a practice the...

EPA's CO2 Ruling May Have Huge Impact

(Newser) - The EPA's decision today to declare carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gases dangerous pollutants could have enormous consequences for US businesses, writes Andy Stone in Forbes. The big winner: green technology. The ruling could eventually give the EPA unprecedented regulatory control over everything from power plants to oil refineries...

Bush AG, CIA Chief Slam Obama on Torture Memos
Bush AG, CIA Chief Slam Obama on Torture Memos
OPINION
Apr 17, 2009 7:48 AM CDT

Bush AG, CIA Chief Slam Obama on Torture Memos

(Newser) - Barack Obama made a dangerous mistake in yesterday releasing Justice Department memos about interrogation techniques from 2005, say former Attorney General Michael Mukasey and former CIA Director Michael Hayden. By releasing the details of these methods, Obama is eliminating a crucial intelligence tool—not just for his own administration but...

Obama, Castro Say They're Ready to Talk

Cuban-American relations look set to be best in 50 years

(Newser) - An unusually direct exchange between Barack Obama and Raul Castro is moving Cuban-American relations towards their warmest since the Eisenhower administration, the AP reports. After Obama said yesterday that it was up to Cuba to take the next step, Castro swiftly replied that Cuba is "willing to discuss everything—...

Obama Hatred Boils Over
 Obama Hatred Boils Over 
OPINION
Apr 16, 2009 2:20 PM CDT

Obama Hatred Boils Over

For some, the economic crisis has catalyzed cultural suspicion of the president

(Newser) - President Obama has enjoyed a pretty good week—the rescue of the kidnapped cargo-ship captain went swimmingly, and the first family enjoyed some softball coverage of its new dog. But this week also saw the boiling-over of the segment of Americans who loathe the president, observes the Economist. Besides the...

CIA Waterboarders Won't Be Prosecuted
 CIA Waterboarders 
 Won't Be Prosecuted 
updated
Apr 16, 2009 1:56 PM CDT

CIA Waterboarders Won't Be Prosecuted

(Newser) - Seeking to move beyond what he calls a "a dark and painful chapter in our history," President Barack Obama said today that CIA officials who used harsh interrogation tactics during the Bush administration will not be prosecuted. Obama officials also released four secret memos detailing tactics against 28...

Opinion on 'Tea Parties' Split Down Party Lines

(Newser) - Evaluations of the effectiveness of yesterday’s anti-tax “tea parties” are split predictably down partisan lines, Chris Cillizza writes for the Washington Post. Republicans touted the protests, which brought out tens of thousands and garnered major media coverage, as a success. “I think something is going on out...

Citing Too-Low Prices, Banks Won't Sell Toxic Assets

Stress test an Obama weapon

(Newser) - Banks are proving so reluctant to part with their so-called “toxic assets” that the Obama administration may have to strong-arm them into doing so, Time reports. Banks are protesting that the prices being offered—about $70 per $100 bond by the magazine’s calculations—are too low. That’s...

In Jarrett, Wall St. Finds Direct Line to Obama

Firms salute efforts of White House 'consigliere'

(Newser) - Valerie Jarrett wears many hats in the White House: “If there’s a consigliere, it’s Valerie,” says the head of President Obama’s transition team. Lately, however, the longtime family friend has chiefly been Obama’s ambassador to big business, Bloomberg reports. She “picks the brains”...

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