Obama agenda: deficit, health, Michigan
Posted: Tuesday, July 14, 2009 9:16 AM by Mark Murray
Filed Under:
White House, Economy, Barack Obama
"The federal deficit has topped $1 trillion for the first time ever and could grow to nearly $2 trillion by this fall, intensifying fears about higher interest rates, inflation and the strength of the dollar," the AP writes. "The deficit has been widened by the huge sum the government has spent to ease the recession, combined with a sharp decline in tax revenues. The cost of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan also is a major factor."
In an interview with CNBC, the Council of Economic Advisers chairwoman, Christina Romer, said it is difficult to determine how many jobs have been created as a result of the stimulus. "You don't know what the economy would have done without it," she said.
At a meeting at the White House with Sen. Max Baucus, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Obama set a deadline of Friday for Baucus to get health care legislation out of his committee, per the AP.
The RNC yesterday released a memo from GOP strategist Alex Castellanos on Republican messaging for health care. One of the key points, per the memo: “Slow down, Mr. President. We can’t afford to get health care wrong. President Obama is experimenting with American, too much, too soon, and too fast.”
Today in Warren, MI, Obama will propose "a multibillion-dollar investment in the nation's community colleges, a $12 billion effort to help the two-year institutions reach, teach and train more people for 'the jobs of the future.'"
Steve Rattner is leaving as auto czar and "a former steelworkers union official is taking over," the AP says. "Rattner will be replaced by Ron Bloom, a former investment banker and adviser to the United Steelworkers union, who has played a prominent role on the task force for months."
But the New York Daily News looks at what might really be up with Rattner, who is not beloved by New Yorkers. Rattner "is leaving that post as a probe into his New York pension dealings heats up… Sources said ongoing federal and state investigations into pension-business kickbacks made it difficult for Rattner to remain in the job. Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's office has been intensifying its scrutiny of Rattner and Quadrangle Group, the firm he co-founded, in recent weeks, an official familiar with the investigation said. But there is no indication charges are looming from Cuomo's office or the Securities and Exchange Commission, the source said."
"President Obama indicated to Jewish-American leaders yesterday that the United States and Israel are making progress in bridging their differences on the key issue of Israeli settlements," the New York Post writes. "Obama 'said that there is more progress than appears in the negotiations and spoke quite positively of the tracks between . . . the two administrations,' said Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations."
Politico's Smith looks at Clinton's major foreign policy address tomorrow before the Council on Foreign Relations: "The speech she is scheduled to give … is expected to serve as an explanation and framework of the administration’s foreign policy and a tour of its busy first half-year. But it will sound some themes closely associated with Clinton’s former life as first lady and U.S. senator."
More: "Clinton appears increasingly comfortable expressing her views. State Department officials have suggested that she’s been a hawkish internal voice, pushing Obama toward more confrontational stances toward adversaries from Iran to Cuba. And she has shown a new willingness in recent days to throw the occasional mild elbow in public — even one directed at the White House."
