Morning Bulletin – Thursday, Feb. 12, 2009
A roundup of news, schedules, and key stories from CBS News Political Director Steve Chaggaris:
4792740STIMULUS UPDATE: Wall Street Journal's Greg Hitt and Jonathan Weisman: "Congress Strikes $789 Billion Stimulus Deal": "Congress and the White House reached accord on a $789.5 billion economic-recovery package that would shower hundreds of billions of dollars in tax relief on individuals and businesses and spark an infrastructure building boom, from the nation's ports and waterways to its schools and military bases. The deal all but clinches passage of one of the largest economic rescue programs since Franklin Roosevelt launched the New Deal."
"The compromise followed an intense 24 hours of Capitol negotiations which stretched through Tuesday night and left staff and members exhausted," writes Politico's David Rogers. "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) first announced the deal, only to see continued skirmishing over school modernization funds. But with the blessing of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)—after a phone call to one of the Senate Republicans—the deal was back on track with the formal House-Senate negotiators meeting Wednesday evening. ... Going into the night, clerks were still refining portions of the massive bill, which will have an extraordinary reach in health and tax policy beyond the investments in state aid and improved infrastructure. The goal is to have the measure filed Thursday, clearing the way for House and Senate passage before the Presidents' Day recess."
"The House was poised for a final vote as early as Friday, with the Senate to follow, clearing the way for President Obama to sign the bill by Monday," report the New York Times' David M. Herszenhorn and Carl Hulse.
"The White House is considering a prime-time bill signing ceremony, and on Wednesday asked the television networks if they would air the event."
Who benefits? "First-time home-buyers would get a larger tax break. Laid-off workers would receive higher unemployment benefits and new subsidies for heath insurance. And all but the wealthiest workers would soon get a tax credit worth as much as $800 per couple," reports the Los Angeles Times' Noam N. Levey.
"Bigger government checks -- long favored by lawmakers in an ailing economy -- could soon begin landing in mailboxes across the country, and new tax breaks would be available to many families, if the economic stimulus package clears Congress this week."
The Associated Press lists the highlights of the compromise plan:
What's the political fallout? "It is a quick, sweet victory for the new president, and potentially a historic one," writes the New York Times' Richard W. Stevenson.
"The question now is whether the $789 billion economic stimulus plan agreed to by Congressional leaders on Wednesday is the opening act for a more ambitious domestic agenda from President Obama or a harbinger of reduced expectations. ... In cobbling together a plan that could get through both the House and the Senate, Mr. Obama prevailed, but not in the way he had hoped.
"His inability to win over more than a handful of Republicans amounted to a loss of innocence, a reminder that his high-minded calls for change in the practice of governance had been ground up in a matter of weeks by entrenched forces of partisanship and deep, principled differences between left and right.
"In the end, Congress did not come together to address what Mr. Obama has regularly suggested is a crisis that could rival the Great Depression. What consensus has been forged so far is likely to be tested in the months to come as he faces scrutiny over the effectiveness of the stimulus package and the likelihood that he will have to ask Congress for substantially more money to heal the fractures in the financial system. So this was hardly a moment for cigars."
4793278"En route to what looks to be the first major victory of his presidency, Obama had some stumbles," USA Today's Susan Page writes.
"His team allowed congressional Republicans to cast the stimulus bill as laden with wasteful spending, and faced distracting questions over why some Cabinet nominees hadn't paid all their taxes. But in his three weeks in the White House, Obama and his team have shown a willingness to cut their losses and revise their tactics when things seem to be going astray."
Time Magazine's Jay Newton-Small wrtes, "The ahead-of-schedule victory gives Obama a massive running start on much of his campaign promises, from investments in clean energy and education to healthcare reform. But given how hard it was for the President to win the backing of enough members of his own party and the GOP, the stimulus fight showed the limits of even his seemingly enormous electoral mandate. Many Democrats, for instance, felt the White House had tried too hard to win the favor of Republicans who in the end didn't lend their support."
4336078Karl Rove writes in the Wall Street Journal, "Mr. Obama will get his bill. But it won't be one focused on job creation and stimulus. The bill he signs will create a raft of new programs and be the biggest peacetime spending increase in American history, which will give us larger deficits and create pressure to raise taxes. It will also hinder the president's other goals, such as expanding government health care. But if Republicans predict economic doom, they will overplay their hand. The Democratic stimulus will slow recovery, but not stop it. Recessions don't last forever and, if history is a guide, sometime late this year or early next the economy will rebound on its own. When that happens, Democrats will argue that their untargeted, permanent spending actually revived the economy. ...
"Mr. Obama, for all his talents, has already re-energized the GOP and sparked a spending debate that will last for years. The president won this legislative battle, but at a high price -- fiscally and politically."
ALSO ON TODAY'S SCHEDULE: President Obama celebrates Abraham Lincoln's 200th birthday at an event at the U.S. Capitol today at 11:30am ET before flying to Illinois where he'll visit a Caterpillar plant in Peoria to talk stimulus followed by a Lincoln's birthday commemoration dinner in Springfield tonight.
ECONOMIC STIMULUS
The Hill's Mike Soraghan, "Rahm's fingerprints all over package, tactics": "To many, Emanuel's hands-on approach has been effective, and is the sign of a blossoming relationship between the Obama White House and congressional Democrats. ... But he hasn't always been successful. His high-profile outreach to a dozen of his former Republican colleagues was stuffed back in his face when each of the centrists he courted rejected the bill. ...
"And some think his profile has been too high, and risks the appearance that he's trying to overshadow his boss. ... Another leadership aide said much of the grousing about the failure of the bipartisan approach was silenced by Obama's tougher approach at the Democratic retreat, which many credit to Emanuel."
Washington Post's Paul Kane on Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine: "Key GOP Senator in Stimulus Deal Is Known for Centrist Approach"
FINANCIAL BAILOUT
Wall Street Journal's Michael R. Crittenden, "Lawmaker Says Treasury May Need More Funds": "The chairman of the Senate Budget Committee suggested Wednesday the Treasury may need to ask Congress for additional funds to help stabilize the financial sector. 'I don't think the right answer is zero for the housing crisis and the financial sector,' Sen. Kent Conrad (D., N.D.) said at a hearing with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.
"Mr. Conrad noted that only $312.5 billion of the original $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program has yet to be committed. With Treasury having already committed a further $50 billion to deal with the housing crisis, Mr. Conrad said he would expect that more money may be needed. If that is the case, Mr. Conrad continued, Treasury needs to let lawmakers know before they start to draft the nation's annual budget."
Wall Street Journal's Chad Bray, "Merrill Gave $1 Million Each to 700 of Its Staff": "Merrill Lynch & Co. 'secretly' moved up the date it awarded bonuses for 2008 and richly rewarded its executives despite billions of dollars in losses, giving bonuses of $1 million or more apiece to nearly 700 employees, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said. In a letter to House Financial Service Committee Chairman Barney Frank, (D., Mass.), Mr. Cuomo said the Wall Street firm awarded $3.6 billion in bonuses to more than 39,000 employees before its Jan. 1 purchase by Bank of America Corp., including more than $121 million to four top executives."
FOREIGN POLICY
NY Times' Helene Cooper, "Obama Weighs Adding Troops in Afghanistan": "President Obama is facing a choice on whether to grant commanders' requests for additional troops in Afghanistan before he has decided on his new strategy there.
"While the decision is expected to be the first significant military move of his presidency, defense officials said that Mr. Obama could choose a middle ground, deploying several thousand more troops there in the coming months but postponing a more difficult judgment on a much larger increase in personnel until after the administration completes a review of Afghanistan policy.
"The officials said that Mr. Obama may deploy one or two additional brigades, between 3,500 and 7,000 soldiers. But he has other options, and several administration officials said it was also possible — though less likely — that he could postpone any deployments until after his review was complete.
"Such a move would not find much favor with commanders in Afghanistan, who have a standing request for an additional three brigades, or more than 10,000 soldiers. It is also possible that Mr. Obama will fill the request for all three brigades, administration officials said."
Associated Press' Barry Schweid, "Obama faces double dilemmas in Mideast": "Israel's shift to the right could throw a monkey wrench into President Barack Obama's conciliatory overtures to Iran and his budding drive to promote Arab-Israeli peacemaking. Results of elections this week in Israel are likely to ensure a pivotal role for rightist Benjamin Netanyahu, whose tough statements on Iran reflect the distrust of Israeli voters. And unlike many Israelis, his aim in dealing with the Palestinians does not include immediate peace negotiations. Netanyahu says he wants to focus on reviving the Palestinian economy and leave peacemaking for later. At the same time, he wants to expand the Israeli population on the West Bank beyond the current total of nearly 300,000. The Palestinians, moderate or extremist, have other plans for the area: forcing the Israelis to withdraw and making the territory part of a Palestinian state."
NY Times' Jane Perlez, "In Pakistan, U.S. Special Envoy Finds Discontent"
MINNESOTA SENATE RECOUNT
Minneapolis Star Tribune's Kevin Duchschere and Pat Doyle, "Judges will hear which absentee ballots should count today"
The Hill's Reid Wilson, "GOP senators in no hurry for Minn. seat to be filled"
FUTURE RACES
Philadelphia Inquirer's Tom Fitzgerald, "Specter draws fire from right on stimulus": "As one of the Republicans who helped ensure Senate passage of President Obama's economic-stimulus legislation, Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter finds himself in a familiar place: conservatives' doghouse. ...
"Before he can get to the [2010] general election, Specter will face a Republican primary electorate in the state that is shrinking and, polls indicate, is becoming more conservative. Thousands of moderate Republicans, particularly in Specter's geographic base in Southeastern Pennsylvania, have registered as Democrats in recent years and won't be able to vote for him in the primary unless they register again. On the other hand, some Republican-oriented business groups, such as the Chamber of Commerce, are backing the stimulus plan, so he will have some support in the party for his stand."
Chicago Tribune's Rick Pearson, "Illinois voters question their future with Roland Burris, poll finds": "While U.S. Sen. Roland Burris is trying to get comfortable in Congress, a Tribune poll shows voters far from embracing the newly minted federal lawmaker and divided over whether he should seek election next year. The survey found Burris, a veteran of Illinois Democratic politics, facing problems even among voters in his own political party while many people appear to have a wait-and-see attitude toward the state's new junior senator. ...
"Only 34 percent of Illinois voters had a favorable impression of Burris, compared with 18 percent who viewed him unfavorably. A total of 43 percent of voters said they had no opinion of the new senator. When asked if Burris should run for election in 2010, only 37 percent said they wanted him to seek the office while 33 percent said he should not. An additional 29 percent said they didn't know."
ALSO:
Washington Post's Mary Beth Sheridan, "Senate Committee Passes D.C. Vote Bill": "A Senate committee easily passed a bill yesterday that would give the District its first full seat in the House of Representatives, sending it to the full chamber for a crucial vote expected in the next few weeks or months."
Politico's John Bresnahan, "Pelosi concerned about a Murtha probe": "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic leaders are 'concerned' by a widening criminal probe that may involve Rep. John P. Murtha, but sources close to the leadership say there's no move afoot to force him out as chairman of the powerful Defense Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee."