Yesterday, the Senate moved forward with a plans to craft compromise legislation in response to the nationwide home foreclosure "crisis." Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell appointed Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd and the panel's top Republican, Sen. Richard Shelby, to get a draft ready by noon today. Senators approved the deal in a 94-1 vote. According to the New York Times' front page, "the new pledge of cooperation was the latest sign of fast-growing consensus among Congress, the Bush administration and financial regulators that broader government action is needed to prevent a torrent of new foreclosures and further collapse of the housing and residential mortgage markets."
The Washington Post notes "the original bill, introduced by Reid, combined several measures aimed at easing the nation's mortgage crisis." Among that bill's sponsors were Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. While Republicans were able to block the bill in February, The Hill reports "senators from both sides agreed the linchpin for Tuesday's breakthrough was the different environment caused by last month's collapse of Bear Stearns, the unprecedented role the Federal Reserve played by stepping into it and Monday's resignation of Alphonso Jackson, the Bush administration's secretary of Housing and Urban Development." Likewise, the Los Angeles Times contends Senate leaders acted "under pressure to help Main Street after the government saved a Wall Street firm from bankruptcy," while Roll Call titles its report "Recess News Spurs Housing Compromise."
The Wall Street Journal reports, "The final shape of any compromise is uncertain but could come together quickly, indicating the political momentum behind such government intervention." Meanwhile, "a White House spokesman said President Bush is waiting to see what compromise emerges from the Senate talks before staking out a position." According to the Journal, "Several provisions from the Democratic bill have a good shot at ending up in a final package: a $10 billion increase in the mortgage-revenue bonds states can issue for refinancing, a $200 million boost for housing counseling and a tax credit that would let struggling companies such as homebuilders apply operating losses to past tax years." Democrats also "appear open to some Republican proposals, such as a temporary tax credit...to encourage people to buy homes at or near foreclosure. One likely casualty is a proposal from Senate Democrats to let bankruptcy judges alter the terms of certain mortgages."
Last night Fox News' Special Report also reported, "Several Senators said there are plenty of provisions that both parties can agree on -- additional money for counseling that puts lenders together with homeowners trying to avoid foreclosure...billions to help state or federal agencies step in to facilitate or guarantee the refinancing of subprime loans and a Republican proposal for tax credits for those who buy homes in or near foreclosure, hoping to avoid a backlog of vacant homes, among others." The Politico says that while "the bill is still in flux...it appears Republicans will have a chance to add to the bill significant tax credits."
Bush Backing Frank Plan? The Financial Times reports that the final bill "could include a proposal by Mr Dodd that the Federal Housing Administration's role be expanded to guarantee some $400bn worth of mortgages refinanced at lower prices." The Hill says a plan similar to Dodd's introduced by House Banking chairman Barney Frank is "gathering steam." The Hill adds that the Bush administration "is now embracing its tenets." Those include having the FHA "guarantee refinanced mortgages only after lenders shrink them so they are more affordable to borrowers." Frank "said that the move was 'a good sign,' marking an improvement from the administration's initial reluctance to do more than prod lenders to ease loan terms." The Wall Street Journal, meanwhile, runs a story titled "Bernanke And Frank: Unexpected Allies," in which it says "despite their different styles and political perspectives, the men are emerging as the intellectual leaders behind an increasingly activist government response to the housing and financial crises."
As days go on, media coverage of the recent fighting between Iraqi forces and the radical Mahdi militia increasingly depicts the clashes as a defeat for the US and its allies. The fighting, moreover, may yet resume. The Los Angeles Times reports "loyalists of Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr today accused government forces of breaching a cease-fire with continued raids in the southern city of Basra and threatened a 'return to conflict.'" Their "warning came just a day after Basra and Baghdad felt the full effect of the cease-fire, which Sadr called late Sunday following five days of clashes between Shiite militiamen and Iraqi and US forces."
This morning, McClatchy reports "the Bush administration was caught off-guard by the first Iraqi-led military offensive since the fall of Saddam Hussein, a weeklong thrust in southern Iraq whose paltry results have silenced talk at the Pentagon of further US troop withdrawals any time soon." A "senior US military official in Washington" said "'there is no empirical evidence that the Iraqi forces can stand up' on their own, reflecting the frustration of some at the Pentagon. ... The failure of Iraqi forces to defeat rogue fighters in Basra has some in the military fearing they can no longer predict when it might be possible to reduce the number of troops to pre-surge levels. 'It's more complicated now,' said one officer in Iraq whose role has been critical to American planning there." In fact, after the recent fighting, USA Today says "Britain froze plans Tuesday to withdraw about 1,500 soldiers this spring," as "second thoughts about Iraqi security capabilities emerged as Iraq's government reported a 50 percent rise in the number of people killed in March over the previous month. Much of the increase was a result of the fighting...in the southern city of Basra."
The New York Times runs a similar report, noting British Defense Secretary Desmond Browne, in a statement in the House of Commons, also acknowledged that "British military involvement in last week's fighting in Basra was more extensive than previously disclosed." Adds the Times, "At one point, he said, British tanks, armored vehicles, artillery and ground troops were deployed to help extract Iraqi government troops from a firefight with Shiite militiamen in the city." The Washington Post also reports the story under the headline "Iraq Violence Halts British Drawdown."
The Financial Times, meanwhile, reports, "When British troops pulled out of Basra last year, UK military officials maintained that Iraqi security forces could take over security and that the move would also force rival Shia factions to reach a political deal." And "critics now point to the Iraqi government's military operation in Basra last week as evidence that the British move was premature. ... Senator John McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, gave public voice to those complaints in February. While praising the UK contribution in Afghanistan and Iraq, he said he 'did not think it was a good idea' that the British troops had handed over security."
Attacks At Highest Level Since Surge The Washington Post is reporting that "attacks against US troops and Iraqi security forces soared across Baghdad in the last week of March to the highest levels since the deployment of additional US troops here reached full strength last June, according to US military data and analysis." That "sharp spike in attacks, in response to an ill-prepared Iraqi government offensive in the southern city of Basra last week, underscores how the US military's hard-won security gains in Iraq remain fragile and how easily those gains can be erased."
In a move that could worsen the tenor of US relations with Russia, President Bush yesterday strongly urged NATO to accept Georgia and Ukraine into the military alliance. The New York Times reports that at the NATO meeting that starts today in Bucharest, Romania, alliance nations "will decide whether to extend full membership to three countries -- Albania, Croatia and Macedonia -- as well as 'action plans' for eventual membership for Ukraine and Georgia." Bush "dismissed as 'a misperception' reports suggesting that the United States had agreed to put off the NATO aspirations of Ukraine and Georgia in exchange for cooperation with Russia on the installation of a missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic." The Washington Post says Bush "framed the emerging battle...as a defining test for Europe and a vital step in building a new security framework." Moreover, the Post adds, "rather than finesse the issue and craft a face-saving compromise," Bush "will accept nothing less than membership road maps for the two former Soviet republics even if it ruptures the summit." USA Today notes that only 30% of Ukrainians support joining NATO and Bush's visit "has been marked by street protests."
Is A Showdown Inevitable? The AP is reporting that Bush's tough stance "laid the groundwork for an uncomfortable showdown." France "refused to back down under US pressure." Prime Minister Francois Fillon said, "We are opposed to Georgia and Ukraine's entry because we think that it is not the correct response to the balance of power in Europe, and between Europe and Russia." But with his remarks, "Bush turned up the heat on allies." The AP adds that Bush stated, "As every nation has told me, Russia will not have a veto over what happens in Bucharest, and I take their word for it." The Washington Times notes German Chancellor Angela Merkel "has stated her opposition to the Georgia and Ukraine membership bids," while British Prime Minister Gordon Brown "has kept quiet."
Or Will There Be A Compromise After All? The New York Times reports that an anonymous administration official "suggested that a compromise could stop short of a formal invitation to Ukraine and Georgia, while leaving open the possibility in the future." In a similar report, the Financial Times says that "although Mr Bush remains committed to allowing Ukraine and Georgia to join the alliance's Membership Action Plan (Map), senior diplomats from across the alliance were drafting a final communiqué that aimed to avoid an overt split on the issue between the US on the one hand and Germany and France on the other. ... The communiqué will welcome Ukraine and Georgia's aspirations to join Nato and will set up structures that go beyond the current level of 'intensified dialogue.' The diplomats say Nato will agree to review their membership status in about 2010."
According to the Christian Science Monitor, "While the trip is unlikely to be much of a victory tour, Mr. Bush is making what may be his last major European trip as president with his legacy intact as an American leader who helped expand eastward the reach of democracy and freedom on the Old Continent."
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The CBS Evening News reported, "In front of a union crowd in Philadelphia," Sen. Hillary Clinton "dismissed calls to get out of the race by invoking the name of the city's underdog never-say-die hero." Clinton said, "Could you imagine if Rocky Balboa had gotten halfway up those art museum stairs and said 'Well, I guess that's about far enough?' That's not the way it works." CBS continued, "Like Rocky, she's been bruised and bloodied in the weeks since CBS News detailed discrepancies between her recollections of a trip to Bosnia as first lady." On CNN's The Situation Room, Candy Crowley said Clinton, "who enjoys a double-digit lead in Pennsylvania, relishes the underdog role, the image that people are trying to muscle her out of the race. She's taken to entering events now to the theme song of 'Rocky.'"
Clinton Says She Spoke Out Against NAFTA The AP reports that in the same address to the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO convention, Clinton "also told the labor audience that as first lady she had forcefully battled NAFTA...even as her husband was aggressively pushing for its passage through Congress. ... 'I did speak out and oppose NAFTA,' she said. 'I raised a big yellow flag and said "I don't think this will work."' Bloomberg News adds that labor leader Gerald McEntee introduced Clinton at the event yesterday "and backed up her account of the White House years, saying that she called him the day Nafta passed and said, 'We lost.'"
Clinton Lays Out Jobs Plan The Hill reports Clinton also laid out a plan to increase employment by spending heavily on infrastructure projects. Clinton "said her plan to improve the nation's infrastructure would create 3 million new jobs over the course of a decade. ... 'I'll fight for every single job in America - and create millions of new, high-paying jobs that can't be outsourced,' Clinton said. 'We're trying to run today's economy on yesterday's infrastructure - and we're jeopardizing tomorrow's prosperity.'"
The New York Times reports Sen. Hillary Clinton "used the setting of a state A.F.L.-C.I.O. gathering in Philadelphia to begin a blistering attack on" Sen. John McCain, saying that he "'admits he doesn't understand the economy, and unfortunately he's proving that day after day on the campaign trail.' 'He looked at the housing crisis, and he blamed consumers,' she said. 'His plan for the economy is to extend George Bush's tax cuts for billionaires and give a $100 billion additional corporate tax cut.'"
The Chicago Tribune reports that Clinton and Obama "focused their fire" yesterday on McCain, and both "spent the day in Pennsylvania courting working-class voters with populist economic themes, blaming Republican policies for the worsening economy, rising home foreclosures and growing concentration of wealth into fewer hands." Obama "barely mentioned Clinton as he campaigned. At a town meeting in economically depressed Wilkes-Barre, he warned that 'the American Dream is slipping away.'" The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that Clinton and Obama both "took aim" at McCain yesterday, "with Clinton talking about the economy and Obama focusing on the war in Iraq."
Pennsylvania's Intelligencer Journal adds that Obama "responded to attacks lobbed by McCain, who recently has questioned Obama's foreign policy credentials. 'He's offering the same four years of George Bush policies that have gotten us in this pickle,' Obama said. As examples, he cited McCain's commitment to continuing the war in Iraq and the Republican's calls for Bush's 2003 tax cuts - which Democrats slam as nothing but a windfall for the wealthiest Americans - to be made permanent."
The Hill (4/2, Bolton) reports Democratic leaders in Congress "are coalescing around the idea that uncommitted superdelegates should announce which candidate they support early this summer." The move has "put pressure" on Sen. Hillary Clinton to "back down from her pledge" to battle all the way to the Democratic convention. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, "who has been in discussions with Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean over how to avoid a convention fight, said that superdelegates should reveal their favored candidate by the beginning of July or earlier." Yesterday, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she "would hope a resolution could be reached before July." House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer "suggested the protracted intra-party battle could be solved if party officials meet informally to reach consensus on who should be the nominee."
Pelosi Backing Down? The AP reports that yesterday on ABC's "Good Morning America," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, "These superdelegates have the right to vote their conscience and who they think would be the better president, or who can win, but they also then should get involved in the campaigns and make their power known there." Pelosi was pressured last week by Clinton backers to retract her previous assertion that superdelegates "should be guided by the vote for pledged delegates."
Dean Opposes Superdelegate "Convention" USA Today reports that yesterday, DNC chair Dean said "he does not support staging a formal gathering of 'super delegates' to pick the party's presidential nominee." Dean "said a plan pushed by Democratic Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen for a two-day gathering of super delegates in June won't work. 'We can't have a convention of super delegates because it would look like 330 delegates are overriding the wishes of 30 million voters,' Dean said in an interview with USA TODAY."
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Sen. Barack Obama is pulling in more endorsements from a variety of groups. The AP reports this morning that former Rep. Lee Hamilton, a vice chairman of the 9/11 commission, is expected to endorse Sen. Barack Obama today. In an interview with the AP, Hamilton said Obama is "driven by the search for the common good."
Obama also picked up a pair of endorsements in the current battleground of Pennsylvania. The AP notes that yesterday Obama "picked up the endorsement...from the 10,000-member Laborers District Council of Metro Philadelphia." In a posting on its 'The Caucus' politics blog, the New York Times reports Sen. Hillary Clinton "might have the endorsement of two of the top Jewish names in Pennsylvania politics - Governor Ed Rendell and Rep. Allyson Schwartz of Philadelphia - but 70 other leading Jewish professionals," including a top official from the state legislature, announced their backing of him, and have "drafted an open letter to the state's Jewish community on behalf" of Obama.
However, one rumored endorsement is apparently not happening. McClatchy reports this morning that several North Carolina Democratic congressman are denying a report that all seven members of the state's congressional delegation were set to endorse Obama this week, which would have given him a major leg up in that state's upcoming primary.
The Washington Post, in a front-page article titled, "Economic Slump Underlines Concerns About McCain Advisers," reports that some of McCain's economic policy advisors "have reputations as the kind of aggressive capitalists that may be sliding from favor as the nation's economy edges toward recession." Former senator Phil Gramm "helped deregulate the financial services industries in the 1990s, and now sits in the corporate suites of Swiss banking giant UBS, which yesterday announced $19 billion in investment losses tied to the crumbling U.S. real estate market." Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, "pushed one of the most aggressive and controversial mergers of the technology boom, then was sacked by the disenchanted board of Hewlett-Packard." According to the Post, "Democratic opponents are already plotting attacks" and "even some advisers close to McCain said they wonder if such lightning-rod public figures should be so closely identified with his candidacy."
Fox News' Special Report reported, "Three new Rasmussen polls show John McCain making significant headway in states that have traditionally voted Democratic. In Michigan, he is one point ahead of Barack Obama 43%-42% and doing better against Sen. Clinton by 3 points. In Washington state, he is five points behind Obama [43%-48%] and leading Clinton by 3 [46%-43%]. In New Jersey, which has not voted for a Republican presidential candidate in 20 years, McCain leads Obama by 1 point [46%-45%] and leads Clinton by 3 [45%-42%]."
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Jay Leno: "Well, Hillary Clinton was in Philadelphia today, where she told the crowd she is like the movie character, Rocky. ... Now, if I remember the movie correctly, doesn't Rocky get the crap beat out of him and lose?"
Jay Leno: Hillary Clinton is "just like Rocky, except when she's in Bosnia, then she's like Rambo."
David Letterman: "You know who I like is that John McCain. Do you folks like John McCain? He looks like the guy at the hardware store who makes the keys."
David Letterman: McCain "looks like the guy that's always got wiry hair growing out of new places."
John McCain (on Letterman's show): "Hey, Letterman? You think that stuff's pretty funny, don't you? Well, you look like a guy whose laptop would be seized by the authorities."
John McCain: "You look like the night manager of a creepy motel."
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