House version calls for tough steps to make US industry more viable
Detroit Free Press Nov 18, 08 2:35 AM CST
(Newser)
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Competing versions of a rescue package for US automakers have hit the floors of the House and Senate, the Detroit Free Press reports. The bills, both of which face fierce opposition from Republicans, draw on the $700 billion bailout allotted to the finance sector and call for similar limits on executive pay, though the House version sets out much stricter conditions for automakers.
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TALK SHOW ROUNDUP
Group of frontrunners will emerge, Former House Speaker predicts
The Hill Nov 16, 08 1:48 PM CST
(Newser)
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Newt Gingrich predicts that Sarah Palin will not be the Republicans’ 2012 presidential nominee, the Hill reports. “I think that she is going to be a significant player,” the former speaker of the House told Face the Nation . “But she’s going to be one of 20 or 30 significant players.” In other talk shows: Arnold Schwarzenegger will do all he can to help President Barack Obama, but not as a Cabinet member, the Hill reports. “I am the first one to go and do everything that I can, as governor, and as a state, to support his administration,” he told This Week . Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty told Fox News Sunday that the GOP needs to adapt as voters move away from the right. “We have to be a conservative party. But we have to apply those principles in the context of a changing country,” he said.
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Money coming later rather than sooner
Washington Post Oct 22, 08 9:59 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Detroit's $25 billion loan is sitting in Washington, the Washington Post reports, and may take more than a year to distribute, despite the auto industry's increasing desperation for the cash. The Energy Department, which was tasked with doling out the money, says various legal and administrative requirements will drag the process out 6-18 months. “Congress had the opportunity to waive these requirements,” said a department spokeswoman, but “has chosen not to.”
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GAO says Bagdad sitting on a lot of money, raising complaints from US senators
Associated Press Aug 5, 08 7:45 PM CDT
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The Iraqi government could end this year with as much as a $79 billion cumulative budget surplus, based largely on ever-increasing oil revenues, US congressional auditors say. A report by the Government Accountability Office made public today prompted renewed calls from senators that Baghdad pay more of the bill for its own reconstruction, which has been heavily supported with US funds.
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Communist methods became US training manual
New York Times Jul 2, 08 3:37 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Guantanamo Bay interrogators learned their techniques from Chinese Communists who used them on American POWs in the Korean War, the New York Times reports. A 1957 Air Force chart labeled Communist Coercive Methods for Eliciting Individual Compliance detailed methods like prolonged standing and exposure to cold, and was used as a training aid by military trainers. The chart was copied verbatim for use at Guantanamo.
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Defense Department lawyers played bigger role in Gitmo than first thought
New York Times Jun 17, 08 5:33 AM CDT
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Pentagon lawyers had more input than was initially thought into the harsh interrogation techniques used on Guantanamo Bay prisoners, sources close to a Senate investigation have told the New York Times . Documents from 2002 reveal that officials in the Department of Defense, then run by Donald Rumsfeld, researched techniques like waterboarding months before they were used on detainees.
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Out-of-control traders may be driving up oil, food costs, pols say
New York Times Jun 13, 08 8:30 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Congress is blaming rampant commodity speculation for rocketing gas and food prices, and berating regulators for letting it happen, the New York Times reports. Unless watchdog groups like the Commodities Futures Trading Commision crack down, Carl Levin says, "we don’t have a cop on the beat.." Joe Lieberman has even introduced a bill to ban institutional investors from commodity markets.
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ANALYSIS
General, Crocker continue testimony on Capitol Hill today
Washington Post Apr 9, 08 7:09 AM CDT
(Newser)
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David Petraeus and Ryan Crocker head back to Capitol Hill this morning after a grueling day of testimony that was short on substance and clear goals, writes the Washington Post . Pressed repeatedly yesterday to describe what "conditions" they would like to see before recommending a troop withdrawal, the general and ambassador parried for 8 straight hours, offering bromides like "battlefield geometry" and "political-military calculus."
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Updated
McCain mixes up Sunnis, Shiites again
Associated Press Apr 8, 08 11:42 AM CDT
(Newser)
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The campaign trail ran through a scheduled Senate Armed Service Committee appearance by David Petraeus and Ryan Crocker today, as John McCain and Hillary Clinton helped grill the general and ambassador on Iraq. McCain zeroed in on the the widespread Iraqi defections in Basra last week, saying, “It was a disappointment.” "It was, although it is not over yet, Senator," Petraeus countered.
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Approval of privately financed primary must come within week
Detroit Free Press Mar 14, 08 4:20 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Michigan’s Democratic primary will take place—again—on June 3 if Barack Obama and the state legislature agree on a re-vote and private funds can be raised, the Detroit Free Press reports. Negotiators struck a tentative deal this afternoon on a full-fledged primary repeat, which state lawmakers must approve by the end of next week.
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DNC chair leaves
mail-ins up to states
Chicago Tribune Mar 9, 08 5:50 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Michigan and Florida senators appeared closer today to approving mail-in re-votes for their disqualified primaries, the Swamp blog reports. DNC chair Howard Dean said he also supported the mail-ins if state leaders can agree with Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama on how to run them. “I have to run these rules so that the losing side feels it’s been treated fairly,” he said on “This Week with George Stephanopolous.”
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