Planes intercepted in restricted airspace due to Obama
President Barack Obama.
/ AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster(CBS News) F-16 fighter jets intercepted two airplanes Thursday morning for violating airspace restricted due to President Obama's visit to California, according to the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).
The planes were intercepted in the Los Angeles area at about 9:00 am and 9:30 am PDT at the direction of the North American Aerospace Defense Command.
According to NORAD Lieutenant Commander Bill Lewis, the planes entered areas that had been temporarily flight-restricted for the president, and NORAD was asked to "bring them into compliance."
"There is a temporary flight-restricted area that the FAA [Federal Aviation Administration] sets," Lewis said. "NORAD's role is to enforce that."
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GOP says Obama "demonizes" domestic energy
(CBS News) This Memorial Day, both President Obama and the Republicans dedicated their weekly address to American service members; however, the Republican address (in video above) focused mostly on their plan for the economy.
Rep. Lynn Jenkins (R-Kan.), who represents Fort Leavenworth and Fort Riley, said the "blessing of liberty" should be honored. "That is why helping to create jobs and grow our economy will continue to be Republicans' focus in the weeks and months ahead."
The two-term member of Congress said the Republican plan for economic growth "emphasizes long-term growth" and not "short-term stimulus."
Central to the Republican's economic plan is developing American oil and gas production, including the construction of the XL Keystone pipeline.
"The President demonizes home grown energy and pursues tax policies that advantage foreign energy over domestic," Jenkins said.
NAACP backs marriage equality
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/ AP Photo/Gus RuelasUpdated 10:20 p.m. ET
(CBS News) The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) backed a resolution on Saturday in support of marriage equality.
"We have and will oppose efforts to codify discrimination into law," Roslyn M. Brock, chair of the NAACP board of directors said in a statement.
The resolution passed by the organization's board of directors says "the NAACP has opposed and will continue to oppose any national, state, local policy or legislative initiative that seeks to codify discrimination or hatred into the law or to remove the Constitutional rights of LGBT citizens."
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Obama: Wall St. regulations should move forward
(CBS News) In light of JPMorgan's $2 billion loss, President Obama says regulations and oversight passed by Congress in 2010 need to be implemented. Using his campaign slogan, the president said in his weekly address, "We've got to keep moving forward."
The president called on Republican lawmakers who support a repeal of the Dodd-Frank Act -- new rules for banks and financial institutions - to "stand on the side of reform."
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon announced on May 10 that his bank lost $2 billion dollars through risky transactions, which many Democrats say proves that Wall Street needs strong oversight. Many Republican members of Congress and congressional candidates, however, have opposed the Dodd-Frank Act. Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney has also campaigned on the bill's repeal, and after JPMorgan's loss, Romney said it's how capitalism "works."
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Violence Against Women Act gets through House
Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Wis. gestures during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, May 16, 2012, to push for the unrestricted reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act. From left are, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of Calif., Moore, Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, N.Y., and Rep. Janice D. Schakowsky, D-Ill.
/ AP Photo/J. Scott ApplewhiteAfter an impassioned debate on the House floor Wednesday, the bill passed with 222 members voting in favor and 205 voting against. But now, both chambers of Congress must figure out how to reconcile the House bill with the Senate-passed version.
VAWA, which aims to protect victims of domestic violence, was originally passed in 1994 and has been reauthorized twice since then, with broad bipartisan support. The bill's reauthorization has become a source of strife this year as Democrats and Republicans squabble over the scope of its protections.
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Poll: Majority support same-sex unions
Getty
CBS News Poll analysis by the CBS News Polling Unit: Sarah Dutton, Jennifer De Pinto, Fred Backus and Anthony Salvanto.
A new CBS News/New York Times Poll shows a solid majority of Americans support legal recognition for same-sex couples - though not necessarily through the official act of marriage - and the number of people who do support full marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples is significantly higher among younger generations.
Overall, 38 percent of those who responded to the survey said same-sex couples should be allowed to marry, just like any other couple. Another 24 percent said civil unions should be used to grant same-sex couples legal rights similar to male-female partnerships. Combined, that means 62 percent - close to two thirds - of Americans believe that same-sex unions should be recognized by law.
Of all those who participated, 33 percent said there should be no legal recognition for same-sex couples.
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The audacity of evolution on same-sex marriage
This analysis originally appeared on Slate.
This is a landmark civil rights moment that happened awfully fast. It was both an act of conviction and political expediency--what measure of each we may never know. What we do know is that this was the president's private position. What's less well known is the thinking behind the timing of the announcement. White House and campaign officials have been talking about it for months. According to several sources involved in the campaign, the president was going to make his announcement soon, before the convention (and maybe even very soon) if for no other reason than to avoid a fight over the party platform and to rally gay supporters. Biden stepped on his plan, making it look like the president was backing into a decision and controlled by events.
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Obama on same-sex marriage: Donate "if you agree"
An email to supporters reads: "Today, I was asked a direct question and gave a direct answer: I believe that same-sex couples should be allowed to marry."
The solicitation includes two links. The first is to the video of the interview the president conducted with ABC News where he announced his support. The second is links to the president's campaign fundraising page via a statement that says, "If you agree, stand up with me here."
Prior to the president's fundraising appeal, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus charged the president with using the issue of same-sex marriage for political gain.
"While President Obama has played politics on this issue, the Republican Party and our presumptive nominee Mitt Romney have been clear. We support maintaining marriage between one man and one woman and would oppose any attempts to change that," said Priebus.
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Why Obama came out for same-sex marriage now
Who says the vice president has no power?
Without Joe Biden's comment that he is "absolutely comfortable" with same-sex marriage on Sunday, it's highly unlikely that President Obama would have come out in favor of same-sex marriage this week. Indeed, without Biden's comments, there's a good chance he would not have done so before the November election.
Before Wednesday, the president had been walking a careful line on same-sex marriage: He officially opposed it, but professed to be "evolving" on the issue. The "evolving" language allowed the president to have it both ways: He could maintain his opposition to keep from alienating socially-conservative swing voters while also offering an implicit assurance to gay donors and the Democratic base that he is actually on their side.
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Republicans seek to unify base over same-sex marriage
Ralph Reed, founder and chair of the Faith and Freedom Coalition
/ CBSTony Perkins, president of the conservative Family Research Council, said "today's announcement almost ensures that marriage will again be a major issue in the presidential election."
He added: "The President has provided a clear contrast between him and his challenger Mitt Romney. Romney, who has signed a pledge to support a marriage protection amendment to the U.S. Constitution, may have been handed the key to social conservative support by President Obama."
Conservative Ralph Reed, head of the Faith & Freedom Coalition, said the president's decision will further excite the base.
"This is an unanticipated gift to the Romney campaign. It is certain to fuel a record turnout of voters of faith to the polls this November," Reed said.
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Romney affirms opposition to same-sex marriage
AP Photo/Jae C. Hong
(CBS News) FORT LUPTON, Colo. - Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney on Wednesday said he unequivocally opposes "marriage between people of the same gender," drawing a contrast to President Obama's "evolving" position on the issue.
Later, in the afternoon, Mr. Obama said in an interview with ABC News that he now supports same-sex marriage.
Romney was asked Wednesday morning about the failure of a ballot measure that would have allowed same-sex civil unions in Colorado. In an interview with Denver-based KDVR-TV, he said, "I indicated my view, which is I do not favor marriage between people of the same gender, and I do not favor civil unions if they are identical to marriage other than by name," Romney said. "My view is the domestic-partnership benefits, hospital visitation rights, and the like are appropriate but that the others are not."
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RNC official: Romney "still deciding" immigration position
AP Photo/Jae C. Hong
Updated: 5:50 p.m. ET
(CBS News) A press briefing meant to promote the Republican National Committee's efforts to reach out to Hispanic voters went awry when the committee's director of Hispanic Outreach said Mitt Romney had not yet established an immigration policy.
"My understanding that he is still deciding what his position on immigration is," said Bettina Inclan, the RNC's Director of Hispanic Outreach when asked how she planned to deal with concerns from Hispanic voters that Republican policies on immigration are too restrictive.
Within an hour of the briefing's conclusion, Inclan sent a tweet from her account saying, "I misspoke, Romney's position on immigration is clear," with a link to the page on Romney's immigration policy from his website.
However, Inclan was correct in suggesting that Romney's immigration policies are somewhat in flux. During the GOP primary, Romney moved to the right of most of his rivals on immigration, espousing a policy of "self-deportation" for people in the country and saying he would veto the Democratic version of a key initiative, the Dream Act. But recently Romney said he would consider supporting a new version of the Dream Act proposed by Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, It would allow some children of undocumented workers to remain in the country but, unlike the Democratic proposal, would offer no path to citizenship.
Continue »Student loan battle looms as bill fails in Senate
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, left, and Senate Majority leader Harry Reid, right.
/ CBS/APUpdated: 2:38 p.m. ET
(CBS News) Senate Republicans on Tuesday blocked a bill aimed at extending low interest rates for student loans, signaling the possibility of a protracted congressional battle over a measure lawmakers in both parties agree should ultimately be passed.
In a 52-45 vote, Republican Senators blocked further work on the "Stop the Student Loan Interest Rate Hike Act of 2012," a Democrat-sponsored bill that would extend low interest rates on federally subsidized student loans for another year. Barring an extension, the rate on new loans for undergraduates would increase from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent this July. Sixty votes were needed to advance to debate.
The White House called the bill's failure "extremely disappointing" in a statement following the vote.
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Obama: Devote war savings to middle class, debt
(CBS News) In his weekly video address, President Barack Obama said money saved from winding down the war in Afghanistan should be used, in part, to "strengthen the middle class."
Highlighting his trip to Afghanistan and the partnership agreement signed between the two countries earlier in the week, the president said, "It is time to focus on nation building here at home."
"As a new greatest generation returns from overseas, we must ask ourselves, what kind of country will they come back to?" Mr. Obama asked. "Will it be a country where everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules - a country with opportunity worthy of the troops who protect us?"
"I don't think we should prioritize things like more tax cuts for millionaires while cutting the kinds of investments that built a strong middle class," said the president.
Continue »GOP's Corker: Obama "punts" on major issues
(CBS News) On the same day President Obama officially takes his reelection campaign to the public, the Republicans said in their weekly address that President Obama "punts" on major issues.
"The President punts on almost every tough decision," Tennessee Senator Bob Corker said in the video address. "His administration is robbing ... young people of their American inheritance, spending their money on my generation and engaging in nothing short of generational theft."
In the video address, Corker called for "pro-growth" policies that includes tax reform and changes to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. He said reforming those two areas of the economy would "cause our economy to just take off."
Corker offered no details on how to ensure the entitlement programs are financially sustainable for the long-term.
As for the tax code, which has also proven a difficult issue to tackle in Washington, Corker proposed general changes that include closing loopholes and tax expenditures.
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