Administration

House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) was quick to issue a concerned statement when reports of President Obama's intention to shut the prison at Guantanamo Bay hit the press.

"There are important questions that must be answered before the terrorist detainee facility at Guantanamo Bay can be closed," he wrote.

"The key question is where do you put these terrorists?

While swearing in senior White House staff today, Vice President Joe Biden made a crack about the not-so-smooth swearing in of President Barack Obama yesterday by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.

"My memory is not as good as Justice Roberts -- Chief Justice Roberts," Biden quipped as he began to administer an oath of office to a group of senior White House staff at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, which holds the ceremonial office of the vice president and is located just West of the White House.

Obama and Roberts stumbled over each other at the inaugural swearing in ceremony on the Capitol steps yesterday.

Instead of waiting for Roberts to finish the first line of the presidential oath--"I, ___, do solemnly swear"--Obama jumped in immediately after Roberts read his name. Read more...

Eleanor Holmes Norton (D), the District of Columbia's non-voting delegate to the House of Representatives, says she thinks the District will get voting rights in the House during President Obama's White House tenure.

"Barack was a cosponsor," Norton told The Hill last night, referring to a previous bill to give D.C. voting representation in the House. "I think we are going to get it."

The House Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on D.C. voting rights legislation next Tuesday, Jan. 27. The bill would give D.C. one voting representative in the House.

The last time D.C. voting rights came up in Congress (September 2007), a Senate bill failed garner the 60 votes needed to pass a procedural blockage, though 57 senators voted to advance it. Among its supporters was
Obama, a cosponsor.

The House had voted overwhelmingly in favor of D.C. voting rights earlier that year, passing a similar bill 241-177 in April 2007.

-Kevin Bogardus and Chris Good

House Republican leaders have asked President Obama to meet with their economic team tomorrow to discuss the GOP's thoughts on how to respond to the economic crisis.

Obama reached out to Republicans for input in crafting an economic stimulus plan during a Jan. 5 meeting on Capitol Hill. Now, they say, they're ready to give it.

GOP leaders sent a letter to President Obama today formally requesting a meeting between Obama and their Jan. 5 meeting as a task force to develop the input Obama had sought.

In the letter, the top House Republicans offered little detail of what specific proposals their working group would suggest: "The challenge as we see it is to create a plan that helps middle class taxpayers and small businesses without wasting money or exploding our national deficit. We believe the economic recovery plan should primarily create real, long term jobs, encourage entrepreneurs, and help average Americans keep more of their money to save and invest," they wrote.

The entire text of the letter, which was signed by Cantor, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R-Mich.), Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), and Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), is below: Read more...

Treasury secretary nominee Timothy Geithner, who has come under fire for lapses in his tax payments, said today that he used TurboTax to prepare his tax forms.

Geithner made the comment while testifying before the Senate Finance Committee at a confirmation hearing, in response to a question from the committee's top Republican.

Ranking Member Charles Grassley asked Geithner if he had used any software in completing his tax forms; Geithner said he had, and after Grassley asked which program, Geithner listed TurboTax.

Geithner did not blame any of his lapsed payments on the software: "I will answer that, but I want to say I take full responsibility...It was TurboTax," Geithner said.

The Obama White House issued its first official statement today, notifying reporters that President Obama has read the note left for him in the Oval Office by former President Bush.

"At 8:35 AM, the President arrived in the Oval Office and spent 10 minutes alone in the office. He read the note left to him by President Bush that was in an envelope marked

President-elect Barack Obama and Vice Presiden-elect Joe Biden will slow to a roll in Claymont, Del. and Edgewood, Md. Tuesday as part of their whistle-stop tour from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C. leading up to Obama's inauguration.

The "slow roll" events will see the inaugural train slow down enough for public and press to gather and, likely, be waved at. The Presidential Inaugural Committee (PIC) did not specify in its announcement whether Obama or Biden will speak to the anticipated crowds, either formally or informally.

The rolling stops will occur between events in Wilmington, Del. and Baltimore, Md., which will include canned food drives as part of Obama's recent call to service.

The confirmation hearing for former Rep. Ray LaHood (R-Ill.), President-elect Barack Obama

After the House of Representatives this afternoon passed a $35 billion expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) this afternoon, President-elect Barack Obama praised the measure and pledged to sign it should the Senate put it on his desk.

"In this moment of crisis, ensuring that every child in America has access to affordable health care is not just good economic policy, but a moral obligation we hold as parents and citizens. That is why I

President-elect Barack Obama will tour a factory in eastern Ohio on Friday to promote his $775 billion economic stimulus proposal, Obama's transition office announced today.

Obama will tour the Cardinal Fastener & Specialty Company in New Bedford, Ohio, which manufactures parts used in wind turbines. The president-elect will hold a meeting with workers on the factory floor after touring the plant, the transition office said.

Obama will discuss how his stimulus proposal could help the plant's workers. His transition office said he aims to create nearly 500,000 U.S. jobs by including clean-energy investments in the stimulus package.

It is uncertain exactly how much money Obama's stimulus will devote to alternative energy. The initial plan included $10 billion in tax breaks for alternative energy development, Democratic lawmakers said, according to the LA Times. One senior Democratic senator told the Times that figure has since more than doubled.