Luke Russert
From NBC’s Luke Russert and Domenico Montanaro
In his weekly off-camera briefing with reporters House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) said House Democratic leadership will move bills along at a quick pace for the rest of the summer, as President Obama wants to continue to push several big-ticket items.
On healthcare and energy reform: Hoyer said that President Obama, as well as the Democratic leadership, want to "accomplish both of these issues prior to the August break." However, Hoyer went on to say that there is no specific deadline to pass health care or energy reform at this time.
On which bill will be voted on first, Hoyer said that whatever bill goes to the floor first will be based on which one can get out of committee the quickest. Hoyer reiterated that the Democratic leadership does not want to pass one ahead of the other and quite simply that "the scheduling of these bills will be based on the progress made in committee."
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From NBC's Luke Russert
Seeking to keep House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's back-and-forth with the CIA in the news -- despite so much else going on (Sotomayor's SCOTUS nomination, GM's bankruptcy, Obama's upcoming overseas trip) -- House Minority Leader John Boehner once again called for a bipartisan investigation into Pelosi's allegations that the CIA deliberately misled her.
In a news conference on Capitol Hill, speaking for less than two minutes prior to taking questions, Boehner discussed nothing but Pelosi. "Ten days ago, Speaker Pelosi not only refused to back up her accusations against her intelligence professionals, but she actually stood by her comments that they repeatedly lied to her," he said. " Now, the speaker gets regular briefings from our intelligence professionals today. Does she still believe they are lying to her?"
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Continuing his criticism, Boehner remarked that Pelosi should "offer proof that intelligence officials lied to her or retract the statement and offer an apology."
Boehner then reiterated his previous call for a bi-partisan investigation into the issue saying, "This is a matter that is serious and requires a bi-partisan organization to get the facts." Later, Boehner went on to say: "I am disappointed House Democrats continue to stonewall this investigation and my hope is that the Speaker will step up and bring this issue to rest once and for all."
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From NBC's Luke Russert and Mark Murray
Responding to
President Obama's national security speech today, House Minority Leader
John Boehner criticized the president's stance on the closing of Guantanamo Bay. "Republicans oppose releasing these terrorists or importing them into our local communities," he said today at his weekly press conference.
Boehner also accused Obama of holding a "pre-9/11 mentality" in fighting terrorism -- which he argued has made America less safe. "Today, the president spoke a great deal about trust, but he declined to provide Americans with a clear plan for what to do with these terrorists," he added.
"What he did make clear, however, was that despite the overwhelming opposition from the American people and a bipartisan majority here in Congress, he's moving ahead importing terrorists into the United States for trial in our own civilian courts. I think this is a pre-9/11 mentality and I think it'll make our nation less safe. We cannot afford to learn the same lesson twice."
Also in his press conference, Boehner again went on the attack against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in her back-and-forth with the CIA. He also noted that House Republicans were introducing a resolution to launch an investigation into Pelosi's allegations that the CIA misled her on the use of waterboarding. As expected, however, the Democratic-controlled House tabled the measure.
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From NBC's Luke Russert
House GOP leader John Boehner says that any government component to health care is akin to "throwing the baby out with the bath water," because it would lead to the demise of all private insurance. He also thinks that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi "can't have her cake and eat it too" on the interrogation issue.
At the Republicans leadership's weekly news conference following their caucus' meeting, Boehner addressed questions regarding health care and the recent controversy regarding Pelosi and her knowledge of CIA interrogation techniques used during the Bush administration.
Talking about health care, Boehner said that the president and the Democrats essentially want to push America toward a system similar to Canada's and Great Britain's, where patients have to wait longer for lower quality drugs and important health tests.
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.. to vote? In his latest blog, NBC's Luke Russert breaks down the youth vote from Tuesday's election and finds good news for the Democratic Party.
"In swing states, the youth turnout greatly helped Barack Obama beat John McCain," he writes. "Latino youth went for Obama 76%-19%, showing that Democrats have firmly entrenched themselves with the nation's fastest-growing voting bloc. And Obama's margin of victory in the 18-29 demographic was astronomical (66%-32%), and suggests that the Millennial generation is convinced by the policies and direction of the Democratic Party."
Read more at Luke's blog over at NBC's iCue.com.
From NBC's Luke Russert
The two-year journey has come to an end and many young people feel that for the first time in their lives, they're represented by a leader who is one of their own. It's probably not an overstatement to say that the hopes, dreams and aspirations of millions of young people now lie on the shoulders of this 47-year-old senator from Illinois.
My guess is that the first six months of his presidency will be closely watched. Quite frankly, President-elect Obama must deliver or risk alienating the young voters who ultimately propelled him to office by running up big margins in Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio and Florida. It has been an historic night.
Now the challenge has begun: an economy in peril, two wars and a broken health care system. It's a challenging agenda -- one that no one would willingly want to inherit. Yet, President-elect Obama will wake up tomorrow morning with those challenges ahead. I think I speak for all Americans in wishing him good luck.
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From NBC's Luke Russert
Bloomington -- I got on the ground in the Hoosier state yesterday. Since I set foot on the Indiana University campus, I have witnessed political activism from students. Like other college campuses I've visited, the Obama campaign has organized Obama supporters and gotten them to the polls. Many of the students that I have spoken to voted for Obama and also volunteered for him in some respect.
The dedication of Obama supporters has been a really interesting thing to watch. I spoke to one volunteer who personally knocked on the doors of an entire dorm this morning to remind kids to get to the polls when they opened at 6 a.m. I was told hundreds of young voters showed up early and then went back to bed. Due to this, there were surprisingly short lines during the lunch hour when we visited the polling precincts.
Another interesting facet of this election is the work done by "Rock the Vote" to keep the people waiting in line entertained. The group laid out magazines for people to read while waiting, and even provided a comedian who would tell jokes to those standing in line. I also saw "Joe the Accordion Player" who played songs for those waiting in line at a Bloomington polling place.
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The rocky economy is affecting everyone from hedge fund number crunchers to homeowners, but young people looking for jobs and student loans might be one of the hardest-hit groups.
In his latest blog, NBC's Luke Russert asked around about what recent grads can expect going into the workforce, and he found a forecast that looks grim. "The bad economy is not only affecting young people trying to get into the business world," he writes. "It has and will hit hiring for all types of jobs. Small businesses will suffer because they can't secure credit and so cannot grow. Non-profits and social programs will not have as much funding because there will be less capital available to them and their budgets will be down. If you have a job lined up for after graduation, be thankful. These are dire times for young graduates."
For more, check out the Off Air blog at NBC's iCue site.
In his latest entry over at iCue's Off Air blog, NBC's Luke Russert asks five big questions about tonight's debate. Here's a preview:
Will either Obama or McCain go for a knockout punch?
Usually when there are three debates, candidates hold back until the last debate because they don't want to say anything stupid or appear overbearing. Presidential debates are different because more people watch the first one than the other two. So this presents an interesting dilemma: both candidates have the biggest audience they may ever have tonight. They have the opportunity to showcase their abilities and to demonstrate why the other guy is wrong, but do they take advantage of that opportunity?
To read more of Luke's blog, visit Off Air here.
From NBC's Luke Russert
Earlier this morning on the Today Show I misspoke and made what is without a doubt, quite simply a dumb comment.
Matt Lauer talked about UVA being a smart school and whether or not it could be considered a microcosm of Virginia at large. I said UVA had a lot of smart kids and so the school was leaning Obama.
Video: NBC’s Luke Russert goes to the University of Virginia to find out how the students there plan on voting this election.I MEANT to say that many of the kids who go to UVA are from affluent, highly educated households who are leaning Obama and hence their kids lean Obama. Plenty of smart college kids will vote for
John McCain from UVA, and plenty of smart kids go to Virginia Tech or George Mason and they, too, could end up being big Obama voters.
Today was one of my first lessons in the perils of live television...lesson learned.
