Mar 26 Friday: Iraq to Release Election Results; House Approves Senate Fixes By Jason Breslow Supporters of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in Baghdad demand a vote recount ahead of the final results for the country's general election. Photo by Ahmad al-Rubaye/AFP/Getty Images. Iraq on Friday will announce results from nationwide parliamentary elections held… Continue reading
Mar 26 Watch Allawi Claims Majority of Seats in Iraqi Elections Nearly three weeks after the vote, Jeffrey Brown talks to former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker and the International Crisis Group's Joost Hiltermann about the final tallies in Iraq's parliamentary elections. Continue watching
Mar 26 Watch Shields and Brooks Tackle the Aftermath of Health Reform Columnists Mark Shields and David Brooks sort through the top political stories of the week, including the passage of health care reform and how it may shape the political landscape looking toward the midterm elections. Continue watching
Mar 26 Watch Iraq's Former Prime Minister Edges al-Maliki in Vote Iraq's electoral commission named former prime minister and secular candidate Ayad Allawi the winner of the parliamentary elections. The announcement coincided with violence that killed forty people. Continue watching
Mar 25 How Were Off-Balance-Sheet Transactions Allowed to Continue? Question: In this current financial crisis, I keep hearing about “off balance sheet” transactions. I’m old enough to remember Enron’s collapse, which also entailed “off balance sheet” transactions. What are these (I think they are also referred to as structured… Continue reading
Mar 25 Obama Touts Health Care Reform, Challenges Republicans on Repeal Fight By Lea Winerman President Obama extolled the benefits of the newly-signed health care reform law in a speech Thursday in Iowa City, Iowa, in the first of a series of events aimed at selling the new law to the American public. "I… Continue reading
Mar 25 Thursday: Health Bill Heads Back to House; Lawmakers Receive Threats Democratic Sens. Tom Harkin of Iowa, Chris Dodd of Connecticut, Robert Menendez of New Jersey and Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada hold a news conference Wednesday. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.) Just when House Democrats thought they were… Continue reading
Mar 24 Excerpts: Pelosi on Health Reform as a Model for Future Legislation By Quinn Bowman Fresh off the passage of sweeping health care reform legislation, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi spoke with Jim Lehrer Wednesday about the political battle over the bill, what it means for the American public and why lawmakers were so sharply… Continue reading
Mar 24 What's the Difference Between Quantitative Easing and the Fed Buying Securities? Question: What’s the distinction between “quantitative easing” and the Federal Reserve simply buying and selling government securities to affect the nation’s money supply? Paul Solman: The distinction is that when the Fed is selling, it’s sopping up money from the… Continue reading
Mar 24 President Obama Signs Executive Order on Abortion President Obama signed an executive order Wednesday afternoon reaffirming that no federal money will be used to pay for abortions under the new health care reform law. The order follows through on a promise the president made Sunday to… Continue reading