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March 1, 2012, 4:55 pm
By
Jeremy Herb
Allowing the Bush-era tax rates to expire would provide more than enough revenue to do away with the automatic spending cuts set to begin in 2013, a high-ranking Democrat said Thursday. Shedding light on Democrats’ potential end game for what’s
sure to be a jam-packed lame-duck session, House Armed Services Committee ranking member
Adam Smith (D-Wash.) floated the notion of letting taxes rise to cancel out the sequestered spending cuts. Smith suggested the revenue from letting the tax rates expire would be more than sufficient to cover the $1.2 trillion in deficit
reduction that’s needed to reverse the automatic cuts to both
defense and non-defense spending scheduled to begin in January 2013.
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March 1, 2012, 3:52 pm
By
Keith Laing
The group, including the Transportation secretary's son, had been barred from leaving Egypt since January and threatened with prosecution.
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March 1, 2012, 11:45 am
By
Jeremy Herb
Sen. John Kerry said the U.S. must "proceed with extreme caution" in Syria, where violence intensified on Thursday.
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March 1, 2012, 8:58 am
By
Jeremy Herb
The killings will fuel further questions about the NATO mission to train the Afghan National Security Force.
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February 29, 2012, 9:06 pm
By
Amie Parnes
"We're not out of the woods yet," President Obama said in an interview with ABC News.
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February 29, 2012, 5:09 pm
By
Jeremy Herb and Daniel Strauss
GOP Sen. Kyl criticized the administration for violating U.S. policy by connecting North Korean nuclear
disarmament with nutritional aid.
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February 29, 2012, 3:48 pm
By
Jeremy Herb and Amie Parnes
Press
secretary Jay Carney said the U.S. has an “unshakeable
commitment” to Israel’s security — an approach that is "very clear."
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February 29, 2012, 1:57 pm
By
Erik Wasson
On Wednesday a new set of sanctions on Iran that Congress passed in December went into effect. Obama administration officials said the tightening sanctions are having an effect, although Iran has not yet made significant concessions on its nuclear energy program.
Under the National Defense Authorization Act, any foreign private bank that does business with Iran’s Central Bank from now on, for any other reason than purchasing oil, will be cut off from doing buiness with the U.S. financial system. On June 28, oil purchases will also be covered by the law. Sens. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) and Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) authored the
sanctions.
David Cohen, Treasury undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, told a banking conference Wedensday that Iran’s currency is plummeting, and this is a sign that increasing sanctions, which prompted Europe to cut off oil imports, are having an effect.
“Altogether since early September, the rial has lost about half of its value,” he said. “The Iranian government has tried to stem the decline of the rial, including by banning the sale of Western currency and reportedly restricting Iranian citizens’ ability to trade currency by blocking text messages containing the word ‘euro’ or ‘dollar.’
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February 29, 2012, 1:37 pm
By
Jeremy Herb
Cremated partial remains tossed into a landfill at a Dover Air Force Base mortuary included victims of the attacks.
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February 29, 2012, 12:48 pm
By
Jeremy Herb
Ahead of next week’s meeting between President Obama and
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the two countries’ defense chiefs
met on Wednesday. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta hosted Israeli Defense
Minister Ehud Barak at the Pentagon on Wednesday, as the United States and Israel both
consider how to approach a potential strike on Iran.
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