In move that is widely portrayed by media outlets this morning as an attempt to address the anger many Americans feel toward corporate executives, President Barack Obama yesterday announced a salary cap for companies seeking federal bailout funds. The AP, for example, says the President made the move as "many Americans" who are "hanging on for economic life have watched Wall Street high-flyers receive big-dollar bonuses even as their firms draw public help."
On its front page this morning, the New York Times says Obama "is trying to hold the financial industry accountable to taxpayers" amid "a growing populist outrage over sky-high pay among the banks and other companies now on the public dole." The "growing anger" among many Americans, McClatchy says, has "eroded public confidence in Obama's efforts to pass an economic stimulus plan."
The President's move, NBC Nightly News suggested, was an also attempt to "get back on offense" one day after he "told us in the interview that he screwed up." Treasury Secretary Geithner also said yesterday, the Los Angeles Times reports, that "nothing is more important to me than earning the confidence of the American people that every policy we embark on is motivated not by privilege or by private gain, but by the public interest in strengthening our economy and creating shared prosperity."
One week after lashing "out at Wall Street executives, at their bonuses and salaries," Obama "took action," ABC World News said in a move that "made it very clear" to "Wall Street companies that accept that funds" that they "will be under close scrutiny." And while the new rules are not retroactive, the CBS Evening News said Administration "plans to investigate whether high salaries have contributed to what" the President called "a reckless culture."
The New York Times also reports that like executives bonuses, "extravagances" such as "country club dues, gym memberships and personal assistants" are also "likely to come under greater scrutiny" by the Federal government. The Wall Street Journal says the move "represents the most aggressive assault on executive pay by federal officials." Wall Street yesterday reacted to the President's announcement, ABC World News reported, with "concern," while the Wall Street Journal says the it "prompted both grumbles and applause from bank executives across the country, as they debated the wisdom of the federal government becoming more involved in the day-to-day decisions of US financial institutions." The new salary cap, says the New York Times, "amounts to a humbling pay cut -- and, just maybe, the beginning of a cultural shift" on Wall Street.
The Wall Street Journal some "leading conservative voices blasted the proposal. It's 'a dramatic move away from capitalism and toward socialism,' said conservative commentator Sean Hannity." But House Minority Leader John Boehner "said the limits 'are appropriate,'" and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell "said he was 'appalled' by 'blatant abuses' by bank executives."
Other coverage can be found in the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Times, the AP, the Financial Times, the New York Times, the Washington Post, USA Today, the Washington Post,
President Obama on Wednesday continued to press senators on the economic stimulus bill, with media reports suggesting the Administration was both trying to reassure Democrats and attempting to draw sufficient GOP votes. Obama, NBC Nightly News said, "took on" Republicans, "reminding them he was the one elected president, and warning everybody of catastrophe if this economic fix isn't approved." But if they "were scoring the fight for the stimulus package like a political campaign, White House aides admit they'd be losing."
The Washington Post reports President Obama "mounted a staunch defense today of the economic stimulus plan now before Congress, chiding critics who want it to focus primarily on tax cuts and asserting that Americans rejected their theories in the November elections." Obama, USA Today reports, has "targeted senators in the middle -- moderates whose votes could make the difference." The "key to victory" for the President, the CBS Evening News said, "is winning over a group of about a dozen moderate Republicans and Democrats and he's inviting them one by one for private meetings in the Oval Office."
Separately, ABC World News' George Stephanopoulos said "if the vote were held in the Senate right now, it would not pass the Senate." While "expressing willingness to compromise," the New York Times reports Obama "also issued a warning to some Republican critics who have said they will press for major changes to the bill, including the removal of many spending programs in favor of wider tax cuts."
The President also writes in the Washington Post this morning that "what Americans expect from Washington is action that matches the urgency they feel in their daily lives -- action that's swift, bold and wise enough for us to climb out of this crisis." But Sen. John McCain said in an interview with the CBS Evening News that, "No bill is better than this bill because it increases the deficit by over a trillion dollars. It has so many programs in it that create no jobs whatsoever. And it has no provisions to put us on the path to a balanced budget once our economy has recovered."
Republicans, the Wall Street Journal says, are "exercising increasing influence over President Barack Obama's economic-stimulus plan in the Senate, with Maine Sen. Susan Collins emerging as a leader of efforts to trim the initiative and sharpen its focus on job creation." Democratic leaders in Congress, the AP reports, "have pledged to have legislation ready for Obama's signature by the end of next week," but "they concede privately they will have to accept some spending reductions along the way." Additional coverage is found in the Washington Times, McClatchy, The Politico, The Hill, the San Francisco Chronicle, The Hill, The Politico, and Roll Call.
Political op-ed commentary suggests the Democrats are on the defensive, for the moment, at least. In his Washington Post column, E.J. Dionne says Republicans "short on new ideas, low on votes and deeply unpopular in the polls -- have been winning the media war over the president's central initiative." In her New York Times column, Gail Collins says the Republicans "have been doing an extremely thorough job of making this American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (stimulus bill to its friends) sound like a wasteful ball of lobster cameras."
Sign up here to get the US News Political Bulletin emailed to you each morning at 8 a.m.
Yesterday's East Room ceremony in which President Obama signed legislation to expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program generated limited print coverage this morning, but was absent on network television news last night. Coverage focused on the bill's provisions to cover some 4 million additional uninsured children, the perception of the bill as a victory for the administration, and on Obama's suggestion that it would serve as a prelude to broader healthcare reform to come. The AP reports that Obama called the bill "a first step toward fulfilling a campaign pledge to provide insurance for all Americans. It was a victory for Obama a day after his nominee to shepherd his broad health care agenda stepped aside amid tax problems."
The Wall Street Journal reports the measure was "quickly sent to Mr. Obama after passing the House. ... The anticipated $33 billion five-year cost of the expansion will be financed by an increase in tobacco taxes, including a 61-cent-a-pack increase in cigarette taxes that would raise the federal excise tax on a pack of cigarettes to $1." Bloomberg News reports that President Bush twice vetoed similar bills, adding that passage of the expansion "provides an early boost to Obama's health-care agenda, dealt a setback yesterday when former US Senator Thomas A. Daschle withdrew his nomination as the top administration official for revamping US medical care and insurance."
The Chicago Tribune runs a similar report, suggesting that the bill "marks a historic shift in Washington's political landscape and providing the White House its biggest victory since Obama took office." UPI runs similar coverage, as do the New York Times, the Washington Times and the Los Angeles Times.
The Washington Post reports President Obama's nominee for secretary of Commerce, Sen. Judd Gregg, "said yesterday that one of his former top staff members in his US Senate office is under investigation in the Jack Abramoff gifts-for-favors scandal, but a White House spokesman said the New Hampshire Republican is not a target of the probe." The AP reports the "revelation" about former Gregg aide Kevin Koonce "comes at a particularly bad time for President Barack Obama's administration, a day after he had to defend his selection process because two high-profile nominees withdrew due to tax problems." The AP reports in a separate story that the White House "is downplaying the significance of the involvement" of Gregg's former aide "in a probe into a lobbying scandal." The New York Times and Roll Call also report the story.
Private fraud investigator Harry Markopoulos's testimony before the House Financial Services subcommittee, and the panel's criticism of SEC officials testifying before them received substantial coverage, appearing on the front of major national papers' business sections and on all three major networks' newscasts. NBC Nightly News reported Markopoulos "had some scathing criticism for the folks who are supposed to be the federal watchdogs, the SEC." The CBS Evening News reported, "There was a very lively congressional hearing featuring someone who blew the whistle on Madoff but was ignored." ABC World News briefly covered the hearing, too.
In an article on the front of the business section of the Washington Post reports that the congressmen gave SEC enforcement chief Linda Chatman Thomsen and acting general counsel Andrew N. Vollmer "a severe tongue-lashing," both for "failing to catch Madoff before he defrauded investors despite detailed and ample warnings from whistleblower Harry Markopolos...and failing to answer specific questions about Madoff, citing a form of executive privilege" because their IG is investigating the matter. According to an article on the front of the business section of the New York Times, before the SEC officials testified, Markopolos "detailed his persistent but futile efforts to spur the Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate Bernard L. Madoff, going back to 1999."
The AP reports that in their "blistering escalation of criticism of the SEC," legislators "threatened to issue subpoenas to SEC officials to compel their testimony." The Wall Street Journal focuses on Markopolos's testimony, especially the details as to how he came to suspect Madoff. USA Today adds that Markopolos said "he would blow the whistle Thursday on a similar, $1 billion 'mini-Madoff' scam."
$950 Million Of Madoff Scheme's Money Recovered All three major networks' newscasts covered the recovery of some of the money lost to Bernard Madoff's ponzi scheme. ABC World News reported, "A trustee liquidating Madoff's investment firm today said firm said about $950 million has been recovered." NBC Nightly News reported, "The man in charge of selling off what Madoff has left to pay those debts says only $950 million has been recovered so far for investors." The CBS Evening News reported, "More of Bernard Madoff's money has turned up, at least money he's accused of scamming from investors."
Sign up here to get the US News Political Bulletin emailed to you each morning at 8 a.m.
Top
The Hill reports that "potential 2012 presidential candidate" Mitt Romney is keeping his name in the news, and will headline an April 1 dinner for the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
The AP reports that following the Blagojevich scandal, lawmakers "in Illinois, Maryland, Rhode Island, Minnesota, Connecticut, Colorado and New York have introduced bills to require special elections for open Senate seats," though "such elections could be time-consuming and costly."
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported on its website that ex-Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio (R), "whose plan to run for U.S. Senate has been sidetracked by the possibility that" Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (R) may seek retiring Florida Sen. Mel Martinez's (R) seat, said Wednesday "that he'd likely run for governor if Crist" does run for Senate.
The Concord Monitor reports that NH2 Rep. Paul Hodes (D) said yesterday he would run for the open Senate seat of Sen. Judd Gregg (R), who has been tapped to be Commerce Secretary, and in today's New Hampshire Union Leader, John DiStaso writes that Hodes "is getting out in front early, appearing, at least, to be trying to box out" NH1 Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D).
Sign up here to get the US News Political Bulletin emailed to you each morning at 8 a.m.
The New York Post reports that New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo (D) "yesterday wouldn't rule out running for governor in 2010, even as he claimed his eyebrow-raising speech at a Conservative Party conference next week has nothing to do with his political ambitions," and also refused to say if Gov. David Paterson (D) "made the right choice in picking upstate Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand to succeed Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Senate."
The Politico reports House Republicans "are making a hard push for their colleagues to pony up from their own campaign bank accounts in an effort to put" ex-NY20 Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand's (D) "seat back in Republican hands," while Capital News 9 Albany, NY reported on its website that RNC Chairman Michael Steele was in Albany yesterday to boost James Tedisco (R), the GOP candidate for the seat.
Sign up here to get the US News Political Bulletin emailed to you each morning at 8 a.m.
Top
Jay Leno: "I think Barack Obama is a genius. I think this is part of the plan. Do you ever notice when Barack Obama nominates someone, the first thing they do is pay their taxes? He's found a way to pay off the deficit. Nominate every single person in the country one at a time, until they pay" off the deficit.
Jay Leno: "As you know, Tom Daschle withdrew his name to be in Obama's cabinet, due to IRS problems. Yeah, he said, 'I will not be a distraction.' See, distraction is Washington talk for, 'Uh-oh, there's a lot more crap you don't know about yet.'"
Jay Leno: "Speaker of the House...Nancy Pelosi" recently said that "every month that we do not have an economic recovery package, '500 million Americans lose their jobs.' ... I think the Botox is starting to seep into" her "brain."
David Letterman: "Ladies and gentlemen, while you were applauding that joke, another Obama nominee dropped out."
Sign up here to get the US News Political Bulletin emailed to you each morning at 8 a.m.
Top
Click image for larger view.
Smart analysis, insightful reporting, in-depth perspective—in a new, digital format.
Log in | Buy Now | See sample
View sample page 2View sample page 3View sample page 4View sample page 5advertisement
Get your POLITICALBULLETIN
Click image for larger view.
Smart analysis, insightful reporting, in-depth perspective—in a new, digital format.
Log in | Buy Now | See sample
View sample page 2View sample page 3View sample page 4View sample page 5Embed exclusive U.S. News headlines, rankings, columns, and blog postings to your Web site, blog, or social network.
advertisement
Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of our Terms and Conditions of Use and Privacy Policy.
