President Barack Obama on Saturday linked the struggling U.S. economy and fragile national security to that of the world, particularly singling out the country's ties to onetime foes China and Russia.
The president, in Europe for the G-20 summit and his first overseas visits, also hailed his work at the economic meeting to convince other countries that their fates are tied to with America's, in a clear bid to convince the country away from any trend toward isolationism. Among the reasons to do so, Obama said: safety.
"The challenges of our time threaten the peace and prosperity of every single nation, and no one nation can meet them alone," Obama said in his weekly address. "That is why it is sometimes necessary for a president to travel abroad in order to protect and strengthen our nation here at home. That is what I have done this week."
Obama arrived in London on Tuesday for the G-20 summit, announcing on Thursday an agreement for the world's top economies to contribute more than $1 trillion in loans and guarantees, as well as $750 billion to the International Monetary Fund, plus new regulations for the world's financial markets. The president seized on that news Saturday, emphasizing that the U.S. economy is linked to those overseas.
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Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), who is managing Wednesday's tedious budget vote-a-rama on the Senate floor, is expressing more and more frustration with colleagues after each budget amendment.
Conrad is trying to quickly dispense with votes on budget amendments by having senators to agree to voice votes instead of calling for roll call votes, each of which take at least 10 minutes. Conrad, noting that about 200 amendments remain, said warned that the senators could be at work for another three days.
"It has run amok this year," Conrad said. "For some reason this year, we have hundreds of amendments out there, and people are just stuck. Even when they could get a voice vote and it would pass, they still want [roll call] votes."
Conrad's fellow senator from North Dakota, Byron Dorgan (D), suggested that the Senate accept all of the amendments en masse and then have the House-Senate conference discard them.
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Two high-profile Republicans paid special attention Wednesday to Rep. Joseph Cao (La.), the lone Republican who might buck his party and support the Democratic budget.
Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), the GOP presidential nominee last year, and Budget Committee ranking member Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) appeared to be engaged in a friendly conversation with Cao. It took place as a procession of over 100 GOP lawmakers paraded before TV cameras and photographers en route to the House floor for a rare joint conference meeting Wednesday morning.
As they walked by reporters, Cao said, "I have no idea" on how he will vote.
The Hill reported Tuesday that Cao may vote with Democrats when the House considers the Democratic budget proposal this week. Cao, who defeated indicted Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.) in a run-off election, was noticeably absent when his colleagues left the hour-long meeting and filed out to the East front steps of the Capitol for the post-conference press availability.
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Remember that Republican budget outline last week that was supposed to be the GOP's alternative to the president's? Remember how House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) said: "Two nights ago, the president said we haven't seen a budget yet out of the Republicans...Well, it's not true, because here it is, Mr. President"?
Not so much, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said Wednesday morning. Appearing on MSNBC, Ryan said, "The thing you saw last week was not the alternative budget, this is our alternative budget," referring to the budget the GOP plans to introduce on Wednesday.
More, that budget last week, which was widely panned for lacking specifics, was a "marketing document," Ryan said.
'Somewhere along the line there was a misimpression given that that was our budget," he said.
In a Wall Street Journal op-ed today, Ryan, the ranking member of the House Budget Committee, previewed the Republican budget to be revealed later this morning.
The major components, according to Ryan, include:
SPENDING: A five year non-defense disrectionary spending freeze, with veterans affairs excluded.
DEFICIT: By 2019, the deficit would be half that of Obama's proposal
ENERGY: More oil exlporation, no cap-and-trade
ENTITLEMENTS: Current Medicare secure for those over 55, with a new income-relative program moving forward
TAXES: Make permanent the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts while setting up a parallel, simplified tax code that taxpayers could opt-in to.
Ryan also blasts the President's budget: "If this agenda comes to pass, it will mark this period in history as the moment America turned European."
No, this is not a re-post from earlier. For the seventh time, Rep. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) has introduced a "privileged resolution" asking for an ethics investigation into the relationship between earmarks and campaign contributions.
The resolution makes specific reference to a "raided firm," leaving little doubt that Flake's target is the now-defunct PMA Group, an appropriations lobbying group with close ties to Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) that was raided by the FBI in February.
No sooner did the House vote to table the motion last night than Flake re-introduced the same resolution.
President Obama continues to get high job approval marks and a majority of Americans believe his economic policies are helping the country out of the current recession, according to a new Washington Post/ABC News poll.
C-SPAN video library caught this great exchange yesterday between Senate Budget Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) and committee member Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa).
As they were negotiating a provision in the the Senate FY 2010 budget, Grassley tried to cash in a chit with Conrad, leading to this exchange:
GRASSLEY: "You remember, you asked me two years ago not to take a vote on it and you said if we did take a vote on it you might not get your budget resolution adopted. And so I did not ask for a vote on it and you said it was a very statesman-like thing for me to do at that particular time. And so I would hope you would return the favor."
CONRAD. "You know, I used to like you. Oh, you are good."
GRASSLEY: "Your wife said the same thing."
Check out the video below.
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One of the biggest Republican criticisms of President Obama's economic stimulus bill was how quickly it was sped through Congress, giving few members enough time to read the hefty bill.
Now, it appears that at least one Democrat is telling constituents that he read all of the 1,073-page bill, including the changes in the conference version, in the short run up to the vote.
In an email to a constituent obtained by the BBR, Congressman John Tierney (D-Mass.) said he read the $787 billion stimulus bill in its entirety.
"I did indeed read the entire bill, as did members of my staff," Tierney wrote in the email dated March 24. "We were versed on the changes to the bill as they occurred, as was necessary in order for us to ensure participation and an opinion on its overall merits as it made its way through the legislative process."
Tierney also said that the bill wasn't as rushed as it was portrayed in the media. "Of course, contrary to assertions made by bill opponents (who, incidentally, failed to offer any viable alternatives) and by media often caught up in spreading confusion, there was ample time to read the bill."
The bill, Tierney wrote, took "considerable time over weeks" to make it to the final vote on February 13.
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President Obama received what his first negative polling data on Wednesday when a CBS News poll found that more respondents disapprove of his handling of the AIG bonus fiasco than approve of it.
Forty-two percent of respondents in the survey disapproved of how Obama handled the news that AIG paid out more than $165 million in bonuses after receiving more than $170 billion in taxpayer bailout funds. Forty-one percent approved of how Obama dealt with the bonuses.
Will the AIG bonus scandal solve itself? Probably not, but the company took a small step to regain public trust this morning when its employees returned $50 million in bonuses. All of the refund came from American recipients, who received a total of $78 million.
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who had previously gone to court to disclose the names of bonus recipients, made the announcement in a conference call with reporters today. Per the LA Times:
A week after the disclosure of their bonuses triggered a national uproar over Wall Street compensation, nine of the 10 people who received the biggest payouts, and 15 of the top 20, have agreed to return them, New York Atty. Gen. Andrew Cuomo announced Monday.
[snip]
"I would like to say this to the individuals who have given the money back: 'You have done the right thing,' " Cuomo said in a statement. "You have done what this country now needs and demands.' "
President Obama continues to get high job approval marks and a majority of Americans believe his economic policies are helping the country out of the current recession, 
But the AIG bonuses didn
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