Feb 19 Shields: Bayh's Retirement Timing a 'Recklessly Self-Centered' Move By Hari Sreenivasan After snow and traffic prevented him from joining us on The Rundown last week, we managed to check in with columnist Mark Shields this week to get his take on the annual CPAC summit of conservatives and how… Continue reading
Feb 19 Obama Plan Will Redirect TARP Funds to Homeowners By Jason Breslow President Obama announced a new program Friday that redirects $1.5 billion from the $700 billion bank bailout fund to aid states hardest hit by the housing crisis. The federal aid will go to housing finance agencies in the five states… Continue reading
Feb 19 Voices from CPAC: RedState.com and Talking Points Memo By Quinn Bowman We caught up with RedState.com editor-in-chief Erick Erickson in the hallway at the Conservative Political Action Conference, which is billed as the nation's largest annual gathering of conservatives. Erickson spoke with us about the goal of his site,… Continue reading
Feb 19 Do We Need a Consumer Protection Agency? As the Senate continues to debate financial reform, the issue of whether to create an independent consumer protection agency has become a key point of contention. In a special roundtable, experts weigh in on whether a new agency should be… Continue reading
Feb 19 Friday's Headlines: Marines Target Taliban Snipers; States to Get More Aid The U.S. led offensive through a Taliban stronghold in southern Afghanistan entered its seventh day Friday as elite teams of Marines were dropped by helicopter behind enemy lines to target snipers. As Marines take on Taliban marksmen in and… Continue reading
Feb 19 Watch Shields and Brooks on Dwindling Civility in Congress Columnists Mark Shields and David Brooks sort through the top political stories of the past week, including Sen. Evan Bayh's decision not to seek re-election and the role of the CPAC summit in selecting the GOP's national candidates. Continue watching
Feb 18 Fed Raises Rate It Charges Banks In its first step to unwind emergency measures put in place during the height of the financial crisis, the Federal Reserve announced late Thursday it was raising the rate it charges banks on emergency loans. Continue reading
Feb 18 Militants Captured in Pakistan as Forces Advance in Afghanistan Two Taliban "shadow governors" have been arrested in Pakistan as part of a stepped up campaign by U.S. and Pakistani intelligence services against the militant group's senior leadership. The arrests of Mullah Abdul Salam, the Taliban's leader in the… Continue reading
Feb 18 Where Do U.S.-China Relations Stand? By Larisa Epatko Author and lawyer Gordon Chang and Susan Shirk of the University of California at San Diego help put some recent differences between the United States and China into context. Continue reading
Feb 18 President Obama Creates National Commission on Debt Reduction By Quinn Bowman President Obama Thursday morning signed an executive order to create a commission tasked with helping the nation reduce its debt. Mr. Obama selected Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson to head the commission, the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility… Continue reading