GOP Guvs Break With Party on Obama Stimulus

Dismisses GOP demands to start from scratch as 'bogus talk'

(NEWSER) - Arnold Schwarzenegger had a private chat with Barack Obama yesterday, following a National Governors Association meeting at the White House, and crossed party lines to back the president for the second time in as many days. He applauded Obama for bringing Republicans into the health care discussion, and chided Republicans for demanding that Democrats throw out their bill and start over. “I think any Republican that says you should start from scratch, I think that’s bogus talk, and that’s partisan talk,” he said. More»

Northeast, Midwest would lose seats if today's census was used

(NEWSER) - The South is gaining population and power at the expense of the Northeast and Midwest, according to Census Bureau estimates released yesterday. If House seats were distributed based on the estimates, which are believed to be a strong predictor of the 2010 census results, Texas would be the big winner, gaining three seats, with Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, South Carolina, Utah, and Washington each adding one. More»

(AP) - 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 is intended for schools, since education accounts for a big share of state spending. More»

Devaney helped nab Jack Abramoff

(AP) - Within 2 days, the White House will begin distributing $15 billion to states to help them pay for Medicaid for the poor, the president said today at a National Governors' Association meeting. "That means that by the time most of you get home, money will be waiting to help 20 million vulnerable Americans in your states keep their health coverage," he said. He also confirmed that Earl Devaney, a former investigator who helped take down Jack Abramoff, would be overseeing the stimulus to guard against waste. More»

Officials can't betray the public's trust, president says

(AP) - President Obama says the $787 billion economic package will help struggling cities, but both Washington and the mayors have a responsibility to spend the money wisely. "We have asked for the unprecedented trust of the American people to deal boldly with the greatest economic crisis we have seen in decades—and the privilege of investing unprecedented amounts of their hard-earned money to address this crisis," Obama told a gathering of mayors at the White House today. More»