Obama Health Nominee Wins Bipartisan Support
Noam N. Levey, Tribune Washington Bureau WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama’s pick to assume oversight of his signature health law received added bipartisan support Wednesday as more Republicans joined Democrats backing her nomination for secretary of health and human services. The growing support all but guarantees that Sylvia Mathews Burwell will be confirmed easily by the […]
Support Wanes For Repeal Of Obamacare, Surveys Suggest
By David Lauter, Tribune Washington Bureau WASHINGTON — By a substantial margin, Americans disagree with the Republican argument that President Barack Obama’s healthcare law should be repealed and replaced, but several weeks of relatively good news about the law have done little to change entrenched, partisan views of it. Those are the conclusions of two newly […]
Biden Vows U.S. Will Isolate Russia If Ukraine ‘Provocation’ Not Halted
Kiev (AFP) – US Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday warned Russia of isolation if it continues to try to “pull Ukraine apart” and pledged Washington’s strong support for Kiev’s leaders, as a Cold War-style confrontation over the former Soviet republic ratcheted up. “We call on Russia to stop supporting men hiding behind masks in […]
Yellen: Slack U.S. Labor Market Still Needs Fed Support
By Paul Handley Washington (AFP) – Federal Reserve chief Janet Yellen argued Monday that the U.S. labor market remains slack and that Federal Reserve policy needs to stay focused on generating jobs. In the clearest delineation of her priorities since taking the helm of the central bank in February, Yellen said the steady fall in […]
Attorney General Schneiderman Backs OWS, But Will It Help His Anti-Bank Push?
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, a progressive champion for his aggressive posture toward the big banks at the heart of the 2008 financial crisis and the foreclosures still rippling through the economy, backed the Occupy Wall Street protests, obliquely, in a statement today: “These demonstrations are a stark reminder that many Americans have lost […]
Howard Dean, Dems And Unions Back Occupy Wall Street
Unlike the Tea Party on the right, the Occupy Wall Street protests have thus far lacked any supporters in Congress. But with labor unions and the Working Families Party getting on board, that may be about to change — and with it, just maybe, their ability to shape the agenda on Capitol Hill. “I think […]
Joseph Stiglitz Supports Occupy Wall Street
Joseph Stiglitz, the Columbia professor, Nobel Prize winner, and former chief economist at the World Bank, is best known for his critical attitude toward globalization and “free-market fundamentalism.” After he visited the Occupy Wall Street protest (video below) this week, he spoke to The National Memo about what can be done to satisfy the frustrations […]
Most Americans Support Tax Increases To Reduce Deficit
We know that President Obama wants tax increases as part of the deficit reduction plan, and we know that Republican politicians vehemently do not want them. But what does the general public want? Bruce Bartlett compiled data from 27 national polls conducted between November 2010 and Sept. 16, 2011. The results? A whopping average 64.5 […]
NEA Endorses Obama (Who Else?)
Not a surprise, but a sign that Obama’s education “reform” efforts haven’t alienated a powerful ally, despite their frustration with him: The nation’s largest teachers union voted Monday to endorse President Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election bid, during a raucous convention that highlighted widespread unhappiness with the president’s education policies. The vote, during the annual convention […]