Dec 18 Senate Passes ‘Don’t Ask’ Repeal, Heads to Obama for Signature By News Desk The Senate voted 65-31 Saturday afternoon to repeal the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, marking a major victory for gay-rights advocates and fulfilling a campaign promise by President Obama to reverse the controversial 17-year-old policy. After the House-passed measure… Continue reading
Dec 17 The Doubleheader: Shields and Brooks on Tax Cuts, UConn Basketball Streak By Hari Sreenivasan In this edition of The Doubleheader, we talk a bit about the grand compromise struck during the lame-duck session of Congress to extend tax cuts enacted under President Bush plus unemployment benefits. We also explore possible reasons why the… Continue reading
Dec 17 Watch Shields, Brooks on Tax-Cut Compromise, Holbrooke, Earmark Wrangling Syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks analyze the week's top political news, including whether the tax-cut compromise might be a sign of cooperation to come in Washington plus they reflect on the diplomatic life of… Continue watching
Dec 17 Watch Summers: Tax-Cut Extension Averted Economic ‘Catastrophe’ President Obama's outgoing economic adviser, Larry Summers, speaks with Jeffrey Brown about the economics behind the new tax-cut extension and the state of the Obama administration's economic policy. Continue watching
Dec 17 Madoff Settlement Will Bring Over $7 Billion Back to Victims By Murrey Jacobson DetectFlashDecision_Blog('news01s465fqff1', 'Lcu3bs1RibI', '29'); In what has turned out to be the largest civil forfeiture case in United States history, the widow of a wealthy investor and philanthropist, who was also a friend of Bernard Madoff, is returning $7.2… Continue reading
Dec 17 Watch News Wrap: $7 Billion Recouped for Madoff Victims In other news Friday, the widow of a wealthy investor who was a friend of Bernard Madoff is returning $7.2 billion to victims of Madoff's massive Ponzi scheme from money her husband received from him over three decades. Continue watching
Dec 17 Watch Obama Signs Tax-Cut Compromise, Declares it ‘Good Deal’ for Americans President Obama on Friday extended Bush-era tax cuts for two years by signing into law a compromise with Republican leaders. He acknowledged that there are some elements of the legislation he dislikes, but called it a "good deal" for the… Continue watching
Dec 17 President Obama Signs Tax Cut Extension into Law President Obama signs bipartisan tax legislation that extends tax cuts signed by former President George W. Bush and renews benefits for the unemployed during a ceremony on Dec. 17, 2010. (Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images) President Obama signed $858 billion tax… Continue reading
Dec 17 Gwen’s Take: The Sincerity Test Polls can be confusing. Americans generally hate Congress but don't mind their own congressman. And many of them say they hate President Obama but consider him a good father and a generally likable fellow. What gives? I did a deep… Continue reading
Dec 17 Foreign Aid Funding Under Scrutiny By Sarah Sullivan Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at release of the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review (Karen Bleier/AFP/Getty Images) As control of the House shifts to Republicans, lawmakers are vowing to find ways to cut deficits -- and some are pointing to… Continue reading