The Politico reports Senate Judiciary Committee member Orrin Hatch, who spoke with President Obama by telephone on Monday, "says he believes the White House will move swiftly on its Supreme Court nominee, perhaps making an announcement by the end of this week." Obama "made no timing commitments" to Hatch. However, Hatch said, "I'd be surprised if it went beyond this week. ... I'm sure they've discussed this internally, back and forth for months now." White House spokesman Ben LaBolt "declined to comment on the president's timeline, but a pick doesn't appear to be imminent."
The AP reports White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said the President telephoned both Hatch and fellow Judiciary Committee member Arlen Specter to discuss the impending court vacancy. The Hill reports, "While Gibbs said he could not say specifically when the president might start interviewing candidates or when an announcement would be made, he did say 'this is something the president believes must be done before the court starts its work again in October, which means we're on a fairly tight timeline to probably get something done before Congress gets out of town in August.'"
"Staunch Conservative" Sessions Fills Specter's Slot On Judiciary The Washington Post reports Senate Republicans "took the first steps" Monday in preparing to challenge Obama's "eventual nominee for the Supreme Court, selecting as their point man for confirmation hearings a backbench Alabama conservative," Sen. Jeff Sessions. Unlike the "moderate Specter, Sessions is a staunch conservative who opposes abortion rights and same-sex marriage while promoting a strict view that judges should adhere to the original intent of the Founding Fathers in their rulings."
Supreme Court Acts On Several Key Cases As if to highlight the significance of any Supreme Court vacancy, major newspapers report on a series of decisions handed down by the Court on Monday. The Los Angeles Times reports the Court ruled unanimous that "an illegal worker must know he is using a real person's Social Security number," taking away "one of the government's tools for prosecuting and deporting workers in this country illegally." The AP reports the Supreme Court also "ordered a federal appeals court to re-examine its ruling in favor of CBS Corp. in a legal fight over entertainer Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction." The New York Times reports the Supreme Court "made it harder on Monday for the government to recover the often enormous costs of environmental cleanups from companies with only minor or limited responsibility for toxic spills." And the Washington Post reports the Supreme Court also announced it will "decide whether a 13-year-old convicted of rape must spend the rest of his life in prison, a new front in the court's examination of whether sentences suitable for adults may be applied to teenagers."
Reporting on the H1N1 virus last night and this morning focuses on newly verified cases in the US and abroad, as well as on the emerging consensus that the outbreak may not be as severe as initially feared. ABC World News reported, "The number of confirmed cases in the US now stands at 279 in 36 states. Over 1,000 cases have been confirmed now in 21 countries." But "there are signs the virus may be less severe than many experts had worried it could be." The CBS Evening News reported, "The head of the CDC says there are encouraging signs the threat is leveling off." As of 1:00 a.m. ET Tuesday, the WHO reports 1,124 cases in 21 countries.
The AP reports US officials "said Monday that it's too early to say the swine-flu threat is receding, even though there are some signs the outbreak may not be as serious as originally feared." The Wall Street Journal reports, "Encouraged by signs that a new influenza virus may pose fewer dangers than originally feared, health officials began ratcheting back some initial measures taken to halt its spread." The CDC "may scale back its current recommendation to close for up to 14 days any schools attended by, or in areas near, a child who tests positive for the new H1N1 virus as growing evidence suggests most cases of the disease are relatively mild."
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The Wall Street Journal reports Chrysler's restructuring "cleared a key hurdle Monday when a bankruptcy judge said the auto maker can use $4.5 billion in government loans for bankruptcy financing" while trying to win court approval for selling its assets to Fiat. A US bankruptcy court judge said Chrysler "could use $1.8 billion from the loan." The Financial Times reports the bankruptcy court will today hear arguments "by a group of Chrysler lenders seeking to block the restructuring of the ailing Detroit carmaker on the grounds that the process is 'patently illegal.' The dissident group, calling themselves the 'non-Tarp lenders', drew President Barack Obama's ire last week after refusing to sign on to a deal under which Chrysler" offered to swap $6.9 billion of secured debt for $2.25 billion in cash.
UAW Chief: Concessions Could Leave Healthcare Fund "On Life Support" The New York Times reports United Automobile Workers President Ron Gettelfinger said Monday that "concessions granted to Chrysler would leave the U.A.W.'s new retiree health care fund 'on life support initially.'" The Wall Street Journal reports Gettelfinger said "more short-term cuts may be ahead for Chrysler LLC retirees as the union waits to receive -- and then sell -- its 55% in a new company to be created by merging Chrysler and Fiat."
Fiat Master Plan Hits "Obstacles" The Financial Times reports Fiat's "plan to build a European car group with Chrysler and GM's German unit, Opel, began to hit obstacles on Monday as Berlin issued a string of conditions for any Opel buyer, and dissident Chrysler creditors said a sale to Fiat would be 'patently illegal.'" The AP reports German Economy Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg "made clear that the future of an engine plant in Kaiserslautern, Germany would be in doubt" under the plan.
The AP reports, "Evidence that housing is poised to improve and optimism about the results of banking 'stress tests' raised hopes Monday that the recession is easing and helped lift a key stock market measure into the black for the year." Construction spending and pending home sales "both fared better than expected in March, and private economists saw the reports as further evidence that the overall economy is stabilizing after its bleakest stretch in a half-century. If so, the economy might be able to mount a recovery in the second half of 2009."
All three broadcast networks carried the news. ABC World News reported that "more often these days, there are signs that some of the hardest-hit sectors may be, just may be showing signs of a rebound." The CBS Evening News reported on "more of those glimmers of hope for the economy," and NBC Nightly News reported that the housing report "and optimism about the government's bank stress test...helped power the stock market to a big rally today."
9/11 Commission-Style Financial Probe Moves Closer To Reality. The Washington Times reports an "independent probe of the Wall Street crisis could be one step closer to a reality as the House is expected to sign off this week on a Senate-approved bill that would create a bipartisan, 10-member panel modeled on the 9/11 Commission to investigate the financial meltdown."
S&P 500 Moves Into Black For 2009 The Wall Street Journal reports on its front page, "Hope spread among investors Monday as they drove stocks higher, sending the broad Standard & Poor's 500-stock index into the black for the year so far." The AP reports the S&P 500 "rose 29.72 Monday to 907.24, its first close above 900 since Jan. 8." The Dow Jones Industrial Average "rose 214.33, or 2.6 percent, to 8,426.74," while the Nasdaq "rose 44.36, or 2.6 percent, to 1,763.56."
Media coverage of President Obama's announcement of a plan to crack down on US multinational corporations' use of offshore tax credits and shelters to reduce their tax liability was mixed. While sources noted the popular appeal of the measures, a number of print and broadcast sources noted their potential downsides. The story was covered by each of the networks, though only CBS devoted a full segment to it.
The AP reports President Obama "promised sternly on Monday to crack down on companies 'that ship jobs overseas' and duck U.S. taxes with offshore havens." But it "won't be easy. Democrats have been fighting - and losing - this battle since John F. Kennedy made a similar proposal in 1961."
ABC World News reported Obama "argues US multi-national corporations paid only $16 billion in taxes on $700 billion in overseas earnings, that's a 2.3% tax rate." The CBS Evening News reported Obama "wants to hire 800 new IRS agents to, quote, 'detect and pursue tax evaders,' and he wants to close loopholes in the law to eliminate overseas tax havens for corporations and individuals. That, he says, would generate $210 billion in revenue for the US Treasury over 10 years." NBC Nightly News noted, "The plan still has to make its way through Congress, however."
CNN's Situation Room reported Obama is "targeting the loopholes that are helping to make some people pretty rich but critics say it amounts to a tax hike that could drive companies and U.S. jobs overseas."
AFP reports the "reforms submitted to Congress came under fierce attack from big business and Republicans, who argued they would backfire by driving even more US companies to relocate to cheaper locations abroad." Bloomberg News reports Obama's plan "to end tax breaks for U.S.-based multinational companies drew a skeptical response from fellow Democrats on Capitol Hill, indicating that his plan may face obstacles on its path through Congress." The Wall Street Journal notes even if "the proposal doesn't advance rapidly, policy makers said a broader corporate-tax overhaul is becoming increasingly likely over the next two years."
The Los Angeles Times reports Obama said "the practice of 'offshoring' cheats other taxpayers," and "those who circumvent the system are 'aided and abetted by a broken tax system' that he pledged to fix." The Washington Post calls it "a major offensive against businesses and wealthy individuals who avoid U.S. taxes by parking cash overseas," and the New York Times reports in a front page story that the "move would appeal to growing populist anger among taxpayers but is likely to open an epic battle with some major powers in American commerce." The Washington Times reports that while "agreeing that tax evasion was a problem that needed to be addressed, the nation's largest business and trade groups panned Mr. Obama's plan."
Roll Call reports House Appropriations Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.) "on Monday outlined a $94 billion war spending bill - $9 billion more than President Barack Obama has requested - without a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq or binding restrictions on the wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan." Many "left-leaning Members had signed letters in previous years refusing to support any more funding for Iraq unless a timeline for withdrawal was included."
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The Washington Post reports defense contractor Murtech, owned by Robert C. Murtha Jr., last year "received $4 million in Pentagon work, all of it without competition, for a variety of warehousing and engineering services." Robert Murtha "is the nephew of Rep. John P. Murtha, the Pennsylvania Democrat who has significant sway over the Defense Department's spending as chairman of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee."
The Hill reports that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi "is the most partisan Democrat in the House, while her deputy, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), is one of the most bipartisan lawmakers in the lower chamber, according to a survey conducted by The Hill." Pelosi and Hoyer "have established a good-cop-bad-cop modus operandi, which may be a key to their effectiveness since taking control in 2007."
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With federal investigators probing his political spending, ABC World News reports that "the big question" for John Edwards (D) is whether the $114k his PAC paid to Rielle Hunter, his mistress, for video services was "too much for that work," and if it is was, "legal experts say, it's a problem." The Washington Post adds, "Experts on campaign finance law say investigators are probably looking at whether false reports were filed on how funds from Edwards's campaign or an affiliated group were spent, and whether any money was passed from the recipient to Hunter."
The New York Daily News reports, "A majority of New York voters would rather see Eliot Spitzer, the state's hooker-happy former governor, back in office than his beleaguered successor," Gov. David Paterson (D), "a new poll revealed Monday. The latest poll from the Marist Institute for Public Opinion showed 51% of registered voters would rather have Spitzer in the governor's mansion right now." The New York Post reports that "Paterson's historically low ratings have sunk even deeper -- with only 19 percent of New York voters approving of his performance," according to the poll. The AP reports that the poll shows New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo leading Paterson 70 percent to 21 percent in a hypothetical Democratic primary match-up; and ex-New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani leads Paterson 56 percent to 32 percent in a hypothetical race.
Roll Call reports a Marist College poll of registered New York voters taken April 28-29 shows Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D) topping Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D) 36%-31% in a hypothetical Democratic primary, and former Gov. George Pataki (R) leading her 46%-38% in a hypothetical general election matchup. Roll Call adds, "Although there remains some grumbling about Gillibrand from key Democratic interest groups, so far no Democrat has come forward to challenge her. However, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer (D) and Suffolk County Legislator Jon Cooper (D) have created exploratory committees in advance of possible Senate bids."
The Nashua Telegraph reports that a University of New Hampshire Survey Center telephone poll of 455 likely voters conducted April 13-22 shows Sen. Judd Gregg (R), who is not expected to run for reelection, leading NH2 Rep. Paul Hodes 52%-35% in a hypothetical Senate matchup, while former Sen. John Sununu (R), who is considering a bid, leads Hodes 46%-41%.
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Jay Leno: Supreme Court Justice David Souter "said he's going to retire next month. ... Why's he retiring? I mean, he's a senior citizen. What's he going to do? He's going to sit around the house all day in his robe being judgmental, right? He might as well just stay on the job."
Jay Leno: Supreme Court justice "is a job for life. ... There's only one other job in Washington that's a job for life. That's on the Joe Biden Clarification and Apology Unit."
Jay Leno: "Just a day after saying he wouldn't go anywhere in confined places like an aircraft or a subway because of the swine flu, Vice President Biden rode a train from Washington to Delaware. You know what that means? Not even Joe Biden listens to Joe Biden."
David Letterman: Supreme Court Justice David Souter is "stepping down because he said he wants to spend more time judging his family."
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