Obama to Open White House Visitor Logs

Lawsuit prompts White House to finally release the list

(NEWSER) - Since February, President Obama has hosted at least 27 meetings with health industry bigwigs—representing hospitals, doctors, pharmaceuticals and insurance companies—the Huffington Post reports, in its campaign to head off resistance to health care reform. Names of the visitors were released last night, just before the president's press conference on health care reform, in response to a Freedom of Information request the White House had been dodging. More»

(NEWSER) - President Obama announced today that he was freezing the salaries of top White House staff who take in more than $100,000 a year, the AP reports. “Families are tightening their belts, and so should Washington,” he said. Obama is also requiring federal agencies to respond more actively to Freedom of Information requests, including the White House. “Transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this administration,” he said. More»

Court rules that Bush and Cheney's appointments are public knowledge

(NEWSER) - Who stops by the White House or Dick Cheney's place is a matter of public record, a district court judge ruled today, blocking the Bush administration's attempts to keep visitor logs sealed. Liberal watchdogs had argued the information is covered by the Freedom of Information Act, while President Bush had ordered the records turned over to the White House—which now has 20 days to open records. More»

Case questions birth country of Jerusalem-born American

(NEWSER) - The Supreme Court is about to take on a case that tangles Israeli politics with questions of congressional and executive power. It will hear an appeal from the parents of an American born in Jerusalem—a city the US doesn’t recognize as belonging to Israel—who wants Israel listed as his birthplace on his US passport instead of "Jerusalem," as is currently the policy. State department officials have denied the request of Menachem Zivotofsky’s US-born parents, who moved to Israel in 2000; both the district court and an appeals court ruled that it had no authority to consider the claim. More»

With so many vacancies, the president has an opportunity

(NEWSER) - Peter Orszag, Christina Romer, Larry Summers, Rahm Emanuel, Jim Jones: A lot of people have left the Obama administration, but that could be a good thing. The president has a successful team—but he needs “a new agenda, and new ideas,” writes Ezra Klein in Newsweek . He offers four people the White House needs:

• Mark McClellan: He led the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for George W. Bush and helped implement the Medicare prescription-drug benefit, meaning he has “credibility with Republicans on health care and experience making a major health-care initiative work.”