All Blog Posts from Political Hotsheet

Rep. Peter DeFazio, an Oregon Democrat pushing for a new tax on Wall Street transactions, is calling for Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to lose his job.

Dubbing White House economic adviser Larry Summers "an adviser from Wall Street" and Geithner – who he calls "Timmy" – "a Treasury Secretary from Wall Street," DeFazio suggested on MSNBC that the two men don't prioritize the best interests of average Americans.

"We think it is time, maybe, that we turn our focus to Main Street -- we reclaim some of the unspent [TARP] funds, we reclaim some of the funds that are being paid back, which will not be paid back in full, and we use it to put people back to work," he said, adding that Geithner and Summers "don't like that idea."

"They want to keep the TARP money either to continue to bail out Wall Street if there are future problems, or maybe…to pay down the deficit," he said. "That's absurd."

Asked if Geithner should stay in his job, DeFazio said no.

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A new set of breast cancer screening recommendations has caused some anxiety for women, leaving them wondering whether or not to schedule regular mammograms or whether the new recommendations will impact their insurance policies.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius issued a statement on Wednesday to address the confusion, saying that the recommendations will not impact government policy and should not impact private insurers' policies, two concerns voiced by Republicans today. She added that mammograms remain an important live-saving tool.

Earlier this week, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force issued new guidelines that recommend against both routine mammograms for women younger than 50 and breast self-exams. The independent panel concluded these screening procedures have been causing too many false alarms and unneeded biopsies without substantially improving women's odds of surviving the disease.

"The U.S. Preventive Task Force is an outside independent panel of doctors and scientists who make recommendations," Sebelius said in her statement. "They do not set federal policy, and they don't determine what services are covered by the federal government."

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Angered over a number of leaks about President Obama's deliberations over the war in Afghanistan and the investigation into the Fort Hood shootings, the administration is reportedly planning to find those responsible for the leaked information and punish them.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Thursday called leaks pertaining to the Fort Hood massacre "unconscionable" and said, "Everybody ought to just shut up," the New York Times reports.

With respect to the Afghanistan deliberations, Gates reportedly said, "I have been appalled by the amount of leaking that has been going on in this process."

He added that he believes "a lot of different places are leaking," saying he is "confident that the Department of Defense is one of them."

"And frankly if I found out with high confidence anybody who was leaking in the Department of Defense, who that was, that would probably be a career ender," Gates said.

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Four members of President Obama's cabinet headed to Alaska today as a part of the administration's "Rural Tour."

Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan (at left in the photo), Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, and Energy Secretary Steven Chu stopped in Bethel and Hooper Bay in in effort to improve rural communities and states. A statement released by the White House noted that the four secretaries make up the largest Cabinet-level delegation to visit Alaska.

Donovan announced $132 million in grants to Native American and Native Alaska communities across the country today, the Anchorage Daily News reports. This includes $32 million in stimulus funds to tribal and native organizations in Alaska, Oregon, and Washington.

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"Honey, I have to work late. The boss is having a big meeting tonight."

You might have heard that at certain breakfast tables in and around Washington this morning as members of the Cabinet and White House senior staff informed their spouses they wouldn't be home for dinner.

With his Administration just having passed its six-month mark, President Obama has summoned his top subordinates to a two-day retreat to discuss what they've done and have yet to do.

They'll "talk about the agendas both past and forward," says White House spokesman Robert Gibbs.

The get-together will be staged at Blair House, the presidential guest house across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House, seen left. It's so close, Mr. Obama and Vice President Biden will walk to the gathering. (It's such a short distance that the front of a presidential motorcade would likely arrive at Blair House before the tail of the convoy departed the White House.)

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In the morning, President Obama will receive his daily briefings and meet with senior advisers.

In the afternoon, Mr. Obama will have lunch with business leaders, and meet with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

In the evening, Mr. Obama and Vice President Biden will host a meeting for members of the Cabinet at Blair House.

Here's the full schedule from the White House (all times Eastern):

9:40AM: President Obama receives the Presidential Daily Briefing

10:00AM: President Obama meets with senior advisors

10:30AM: President Obama receives the Economic Daily Briefing

12:00PM: President Obama has lunch with business leaders

3:30PM: President Obama and Vice President Biden meet with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

6:10PM: President Obama and Vice President Biden arrive at Blair House

6:15PM: President Obama and Vice President Biden host meeting with members of the Cabinet

10:00PM: President Obama and Vice President Biden return to The White House

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Updated 6:05 p.m. ET

In what some describe as a "bonding" attempt, this weekend President Obama's Cabinet will take a retreat together to mark the administration’s first six months.

White House spokesperson Kate Bedingfield said that the "two-day working session" is designed to "assess the first six months of the administration and lay out goals and priorities for the coming months," CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller reports.

A senior Obama aide, who refrains from labeling the meeting a "retreat," told the The Washington Post, which first reported the story, that the weekend is "tied to the fact that we have been here six months and it made sense to get everyone in a room together to talk about the previous six months and talk about the agenda going forward."

Defense Secretary Robert Gates today praised social media applications like Twitter which have used to document this week’s protests in Tehran, Iran.

During a press briefing, Gates said such technological advancements represent "one of the more, maybe more significant developments in the last 20 years or so” because they puts "communications technology in the hands of average citizens around the world."

He said new technology, including the Internet, cell phones and social networking sites, have made it "extremely difficult" for authoritarian governments to control information.

Gates said the technologies have been a "huge strategic asset for the United Stations," adding that "it's a huge win for freedom around the world because this monopoly of information is no longer in the hands of the government.”

In the case of Iran, he joked that the country's leaders probably did not consider Twitter when instituting a communications lock down.

"If you can't text, then you Twitter," Gates said. "And, you know, my guess is in some of these countries that -- that the leadership is kind of like me. They don't have a clue what it's about."

Take a look here:

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Updated at 12:30 p.m. ET: President Obama announced that Republican congressman John McHugh of New York will be his nominee for Secretary of the Army on Tuesday.

In a midday announcement, the president admitted that he has no greater responsibility than keeping Americans safe and his appointment of the nine-term lawmaker is a step to fulfilling that oath.

"It is his service over the past sixteen years in Congress, as a champion of our men and women in uniform, that uniquely qualifies him to help lead America's army," President Obama said.

The president detailed his years of service in various committees, subcommittees and caucuses focused on the interest of the U.S. troops.

Noting the importance of a "bipartisan consensus," the commander-in-chief said McHugh, "hasn't agreed with every decision my administration has made, but he brings patriotism and a pragmatism that has won him respect on both sides of the aisle."

McHugh thanked Mr. Obama for the opportunity and said, "if confirmed by the Senate I will do everything I possibly can to work in concert with the army leadership to provide you and Secretary Gates the broadest base, the most accurate, most informative information."

He praised members of the House Armed Services committee for "put[ting] aside those [partisan] differences and worked for the most important common good."

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, who was nominated by former President George W. Bush, will have a fellow Republican at the senior levels of the Pentagon if McHugh is confirmed.

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As she outlined the priorities for her department at an oversight hearing on Capitol Hill this morning, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano told the Senate Judiciary Committee, “the first is to guard against terrorism…that is why the department was set up.”

While her statement may seem like an obvious one, it does represent a shift in tone for the secretary who, since being sworn-in as the nation’s third Homeland Security chief, has assiduously avoided the nearly constant terror talk of her two predecessors, Michael Chertoff and Tom Ridge.

In a January interview, Bob Orr pressed the former Arizona governor on whether or not terrorism would in fact remain the top priority at DHS under her tenure.

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