Morning Bulletin – Friday, Feb. 20, 2009
A roundup of news, schedules, and key stories from CBS News Political Director Steve Chaggaris:
Vice President Joe Biden, Attorney General Eric Holder, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Education Secretary Arne Duncan are also scheduled to address the mayors today. Among the higher-profile mayors attending: San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, who's considering a 2010 run for Governor, and Houston Mayor Bill White, who's thinking of running for Senate next year.
Next week, the president focuses on the budget, with a bipartisan "fiscal responsibility summit" scheduled for Monday, his quasi-"State of the Union" speech to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday and the release of his first budget on Thursday.
"Though the budget's details have been closely held, [White House budget director Peter] Orszag revealed, in broad terms, two: a continued focus on health care policy and a plan 'to restore the nation to a sustainable fiscal trajectory over the five-to-10- year window,'" reports the Politico's Ben Smith.
"The next step on health care, he said, is a set of 'changes to Medicare and Medicaid to make them more efficient, and to start using those programs more intelligently to lead the whole health care system.'
"With a growing body of research finding some practices more cost-effective than others, the program's reimbursement rules can be used to force changes at those hospitals — a sort of back door to health care reform. ... Orszag's other key agenda item next week will be an effort to change the debate on Medicare and Social Security."
The New York Times' Jackie Calmes reports the Obama administration will use slightly different accounting methods the last administration used. "For his first annual budget next week, President Obama has banned four accounting gimmicks that President George W. Bush used to make deficit projections look smaller.
"The price of more honest bookkeeping: A budget that is $2.7 trillion deeper in the red over the next decade than it would otherwise appear, according to administration officials. The new accounting involves spending on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Medicare reimbursements to physicians and the cost of disaster responses.
"But the biggest adjustment will deal with revenues from the alternative minimum tax, a parallel tax system enacted in 1969 to prevent the wealthy from using tax shelters to avoid paying any income tax. Even with bigger deficit projections, the Obama administration will put the country on 'a sustainable fiscal course' by the end of Mr. Obama's term, Peter R. Orszag, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, said Thursday in an interview.
"Mr. Orszag did not provide details of how the administration would reduce a deficit expected to reach at least $1.5 trillion this year. Mr. Obama's banishment of the gimmicks, which have been widely criticized, is in keeping with his promise to run a more transparent government."
Meantime, The Hill's Walter Alarkon reports that, "Liberal groups are worried that the White House bipartisan fiscal responsibility summit on Monday will set the stage for President Obama to compromise with deficit hawks.
"At the summit, the president, lawmakers and representatives of advocacy groups will talk about the long-term fiscal challenges brought by the national debt and the growing cost of entitlement programs.
"Obama's announcement of the event last month and his initial invite list alarmed his allies on the left, who have argued that drastic changes to Social Security are unnecessary and that the key to future fiscal health is in reducing healthcare costs. Obama said in January that the summit would have a special focus on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid and that he would invite Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), Blue Dog Democrats and fiscal health advocacy groups. They have all called for a reduction of the deficit and have proposed a bipartisan commission to produce a plan to do it."
Ottawa Citizen's Don Butler, Bruce Deachman and Louisa Taylor, "Crowds clamor for slightest glimpse"
USA Today's David Jackson, "Afghanistan, trade top talks in Canada": "A two-month review to be finished in late March of the 'deteriorating situation' in Afghanistan will determine whether more U.S. troops will be sent there and how long they might stay, President Obama said Thursday. In his first public comments on Afghanistan since his Tuesday order to send 17,000 more troops there, Obama said the extra forces were 'necessary to stabilize the situation there in advance of the elections that are coming up.' ...
"The global economic crisis, energy development and trade also highlighted Obama's seven-hour visit to Canada's capital. Obama said he wanted to improve labor and environmental standards in the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico. The two leaders also agreed to have their nations work together on new "clean energy technology," including the expansion of electrical grids."
Wall Street Journal's Jonathan Weisman, "Obama, in Canada, Warns Against Protectionism": "President Barack Obama, in his first foreign trip, sought to reassure Canada that he had no intention of turning some of his campaign rhetoric on trade into actual barriers between the U.S. and its largest trading partner. 'Now is a time where we've got to be very careful about any signals of protectionism, because as the economy of the world contracts, I think there's going to be a strong impulse, on the part of constituencies in all countries, to see if they can engage in beggar-thy-neighbor policies,' Mr. Obama said."
Washington Post's Michael D. Shear, "NAFTA Renegotiation Must Wait, Obama Says": "The president's message served as a reminder of last year's private assessment by Canadian officials that then-candidate Obama's frequent criticism of NAFTA was nothing more than campaign speeches aimed at chasing support among Rust Belt union workers.
"'Much of the rhetoric that may be perceived to be protectionist is more reflective of political maneuvering than policy,' the Canadians concluded in a memo after meeting with Austan Goolsbee, a senior campaign aide and now a member of Obama's Council of Economic Advisers.
"When the memo became public, Obama advisers rejected the idea as absurd and insisted that he was serious about changing NAFTA. Obama even suggested that the United States might opt out of NAFTA if the standards could not be improved to the nation's satisfaction. But some longtime observers of the U.S.-Canada relationship said Obama's current position appears to confirm the impression that Canadian officials got from the meeting with Goolsbee.
"'It sounds like [Goolsbee] was right,' said former Massachusetts governor Paul Cellucci (R), who served as U.S. ambassador to Canada during George W. Bush's first term. 'It looks like [President Obama has] softened that quite a bit, to put it mildly.' That could anger some of Obama's staunchest labor supporters, who blame NAFTA for sending American jobs oversees by not requiring a level playing field in the areas of labor and the environment.
"But some of those allies said Thursday that they are giving the president more time to make good on his promise and praised Obama for finding a sophisticated way to express support for trade and changes to NAFTA."
SEN. ROLAND BURRIS
4804552Chicago Tribune's Rick Pearson and John Chase, "Burris' Senate seat calls began in fall, ex-official says": "A former top official for then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich said today he got a 'courtesy call' from Roland Burris last fall noting Burris' interest in a vacant U.S. Senate seat -- a contact Burris failed to mention to lawmakers in his evolving testimony about how he got the job."
Chicago Sun-Times' Natasha Korecki and Dave McKinney, "More holes in Burris' story": "U.S. Sen. Roland Burris had more contacts with then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich's chief of staff before being appointed to his Senate seat than he disclosed in his most recent affidavit, phone records and interviews show."
Associated Press' Tammy Webber, "Black ministers may rethink backing Sen. Burris": "Many of [Chicago's] most influential black pastors supported Roland Burris' appointment to the U.S. Senate, even though his name had been put forward by then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Now that support may be waning. A faction of black ministers plans to ask for Burris' resignation following revelations that the senator tried to raise money for the disgraced governor who appointed him, one of the ministers told The Associated Press on Thursday, speaking on condition of anonymity because a meeting with Burris had not yet been scheduled."
Politico's Manu Raju, "Burris rides out the storm": "He has virtually no support from Washington colleagues, has heard constant calls for his resignation and is facing two fresh investigations, but Sen. Roland Burris has no intention of resigning and is embracing a strategy of riding out the storm. 'There is no way' Roland Burris is going to resign from the Senate, and he will return to Washington to vote in the Senate next week, sources close to Burris told Politico."
ECONOMIC STIMULUS
NY Times' Michael Falcone, "Republicans Hail Parts of Bill That Few of Them Supported": "Despite criticizing the bill as wasteful, a handful of Republican members of the House and Senate have found some provisions to cheer. Just hours after voting against the bill on the House floor last week, Representative John L. Mica of Florida issued news releases lauding the inclusion of $8 billion for high-speed rail projects around the nation. Mr. Mica said the bill would also help pay for a commuter train project in his Central Florida district. ...
"Jennifer Crider, a spokeswoman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, called the unlikely chorus of praise from Mr. Mica and other Republican lawmakers 'the height of hypocrisy.'"
NY Times' David M. Herszenhorn, "Stimulus Plan Ensures Boom Sector: Oversight": "The first hiring spree to result from the $787 billion stimulus plan might not involve construction workers or teachers but government auditors, investigators and lawyers who will try to track all of the taxpayer money being spent on economic recovery. With the White House and Democratic leaders in Congress under pressure to show that the stimulus money will be put to good use, the bill President Obama signed this week directs more than $350 million to oversight, virtually guaranteeing boom times in the field of government accountability."
NY Times' Michael Cooper, "Slice of Stimulus Will Go to Faster Trains"
FINANCIAL BAILOUT
"The Congressional Oversight Panel, the body named by Congress to oversee the $700 billion bailout, consists of five strong-minded members who agree about the enormity of their task, and little else. The short-staffed panel is drawing heavily on the Harvard University law students and colleagues of its chairwoman, law professor Elizabeth Warren, as it churns out reports at a break-neck pace. Most of the staffers are 20-something aides from the Obama campaign, though an executive director and two banking lawyers were hired recently. The panel's other members have had to hustle for a chance to weigh in, or, in the case of the body's two Republicans, to dissent altogether, something that isn't supposed to happen on a panel dubbed 'bipartisan.'"
FOREIGN POLICY
4814835Washington Post's Glenn Kessler, "The Global Listening Tour": "Hillary Rodham Clinton has a new campaign and message: The United States wants to listen. To that end, on her first overseas trip as secretary of state, Clinton is talking a lot. Her schedule is packed with so many town halls, ceremonial events, television shows and meetings with community leaders that it has the feel of a presidential visit -- or even a presidential campaign. ...
"To a large extent, this is Clinton's new campaign -- repairing the U.S. image abroad. Her boss, President Obama, has helped ease the way simply by not being former president George W. Bush. But it is unclear whether all this public outreach will yield much beyond a few extra lines in the foreign news media, especially when America's policies -- and how they are viewed around the world -- are largely responsible for its image. ...
"Her pitch is that the problems of the world -- the financial crisis, climate change and extremism -- are so overwhelming that no country can handle them alone, certainly not the United States. Remember, she's saying, how the Bush administration went to war in Iraq virtually by itself (with Clinton's vote of approval)? That's in the past. We need help. And we want to listen."
Associated Press' Matthew Lee, "Clinton names special NKorea envoy"
MINNESOTA SENATE RECOUNT
Minneapolis Star Tribune's Kevin Duchschere and Pat Doyle, "Coleman team cites ruling in challenge to recount tally"
FUTURE RACES
New Mexico Independent's Heath Haussaman, "Val Kilmer hires powerhouse D.C. public relations firm": "Val Kilmer has hired the Washington public relations firm McMahon, Squier & Associates to handle communications and media for his potential gubernatorial campaign, a source with knowledge of the situation confirmed. The move is a major step toward a gubernatorial run for an actor who has made a lot of noise about considering a run for New Mexico governor in 2010 but taken no visible, concrete steps toward making it happen — until now."
The Hill's Samuel Rubenfeld and Reid Wilson, "Cornyn meets with Pataki about Senate run": "The National Republican Senatorial Committee has approached former New York Gov. George Pataki (R) about running against appointed Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), according to a Pataki spokesman. The sit-down between NRSC chairman John Cornyn (Texas) and Pataki is further evidence that Republicans see Gillibrand's hold on the seat as tenuous, at best."
St. Louis Post-Dispatch's Ray Messinger, "Missouri's Roy Blunt: 'If there's a primary, I'll win it"
Boston Globe's Sasha Issenberg, "Romney to endorse Whitman": "Mitt Romney will endorse the nascent campaign of Meg Whitman, a longtime friend and former Bain & Co. colleague seeking the Republican nomination for governor of California next year."
Mormon Times' Lisa Riley Roche, "Huntsman invited to address South Carolina politicos": "[Utah] Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. is looking more and more like a presidential candidate for the GOP nomination in 2012. During a trip this week to Washington, D.C., for a meeting of the National Governors' Association, Huntsman will make two political stops, including one in South Carolina. As the first Southern state to vote in a presidential primary, South Carolina is seen as a critical test for candidates.
"Political insiders there are often courted very early in the election cycle, long before candidates declare they're in the race. Huntsman, already being touted as a presidential contender by the Washington Post and other national media, will get a chance to introduce himself to a group of key South Carolina Republicans at a dinner hosted the night of Feb. 20 by that state's GOP attorney general, Henry McMaster."
ALSO:
Bloomberg News' Kim Chipman and Daniel Whitten, "Obama's Standards, Vetting Lapses Trip Up Effort To Fill Posts": "President Barack Obama's agenda is being stalled by a largely self-inflicted inability to fill top positions in his administration. After a quick start, Obama has fallen behind Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, said Terry Sullivan, executive director of the White House Transition Project, which tracks presidential staff. At this point, Bush and Clinton had made all their Cabinet appointments. Obama has nominated 13 of 15."
NY Times' Robert Pear, "Health Care Industry in Talks to Shape Policy": "Since last fall, many of the leading figures in the nation's long-running health care debate have been meeting secretly in a Senate hearing room. Now, with the blessing of the Senate's leading proponent of universal health insurance, Edward M. Kennedy, they appear to be inching toward a consensus that could reshape the debate.
"Many of the parties, from big insurance companies to lobbyists for consumers, doctors, hospitals and pharmaceutical companies, are embracing the idea that comprehensive health care legislation should include a requirement that every American carry insurance.
"While not all industry groups are in complete agreement, there is enough of a consensus, according to people who have attended the meetings, that they have begun to tackle the next steps: how to enforce the requirement for everyone to have health insurance; how to make insurance affordable to the uninsured; and whether to require employers to help buy coverage for their employees. The talks, which are taking place behind closed doors, are unusual. Lobbyists for a wide range of interest groups — some of which were involved in defeating national health legislation in 1993-4 — are meeting with the staff of Mr. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, in a search for common ground."
Washington Post's Richard Lieby, "First Lady's Job? It's Her's to Define"
NY Times' Richard Perez-Pena, "Libel Suit Against The New York Times Ends": "A lobbyist's lawsuit against The New York Times over the newspaper's account of her ties to Senator John McCain has been settled, both sides announced on Thursday. The suit, filed by Vicki L. Iseman, the Washington lobbyist, was settled without payment and The Times did not retract the article. In an unusual agreement, however, The Times is letting Ms. Iseman's lawyers give their views on the suit on the paper's Web site. Their opinion is accompanied by a joint statement from both sides and a note to readers, which is also appearing in Friday's edition of the newspaper."
Chicago Sun-Times' Fran Spielman, "Obama victory bash owes city $1.74 mil"