Lawmakers Get Court Date With Obama

Obama in great shape at White House hoops

(AP) - President Barack Obama and a few members of his cabinet played basketball tonight at the White House with a handful of House members, two of them Republicans. "We ran into a president with some serious game," said Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash. Obama had "a sweet crossover move" and appeared to be in great shape, Inslee said. "He put a real nice move on me and beat me along the base line." More»

(NEWSER) - The Senate met after the inauguration today and promptly confirmed seven of President Obama’s nominees by unanimous vote, with the notable exception of Hillary Clinton, the Chicago Tribune reports. A vote on Clinton has been scheduled for tomorrow after Harry Reid and Sen. John Cronyn, who has concerns about the Clinton Foundation’s disclosures, struck a deal, the Hill notes. More»

In poll, less than half of Americans say they pay too much

(NEWSER) - If the administration must raise taxes, now could be its big chance, NPR reports. Only 46% of Americans in a recent Gallup poll said their taxes were too high—the smallest fraction since 1961. “Americans, relatively speaking, are more satisfied with the amount of taxes they pay than they have been at most other times in history," said a pollster. "Some people might say now's the time to pounce.” More»

Treasury secretary says he's done after election

(NEWSER) - Tim Geithner is pretty sure he's going to be joining the ranks of the jobless after the election: The Treasury secretary—the longest serving member of President Obama's economic team—tells Bloomberg that Obama is "not going to ask me to stay on, I’m pretty confident. I’m confident he’ll be president. But I’m also confident he’s going to have the privilege of having another secretary of the Treasury." The White House announced in August that Geithner would stay put through the election, amid Beltway rumblings that he would step down. More»

Nope, says spokesman: event reports, pics are online

(NEWSER) - At the nadir of the economic crisis, the Obama White House held a lavish Alice in Wonderland-themed Halloween costume party, organized by Johnny Depp and Tim Burton and full of Star Wars character. But with unemployment at 10%, the Tea Party at its apex, and the economic downturn still rocking the country, officials feared the 2009 party would look terribly decadent, so kept it a secret, reports the New York Post . “White House officials were so nervous about how a splashy, Hollywood-esque party would look to jobless Americans—or their representatives in Congress, who would soon vote on health care—that the event was not discussed publicly, and Burton’s and Depp’s contributions went unacknowledged,” alleges Jodi Kantor in her new book, The Obamas . More»