In an interview to air this morning on CBS, President Obama reaffirms his approach to the fallout from Iran's recent presidential election, while across the Sunday morning television shows, Republicans continued to press him to take a harder line. Democrats, for their part, said the President's statements reflected an appropriate balance.
The President, reports the AP, "stuck to his carefully tailored response to Iran's internal crisis Sunday despite pressure from Republican critics, as he continued to speak up for protesters' rights without making specific demands on Iran's hard-line leaders."
During the meeting, ABC World News reported, the President "underscored his concern over the violence in Iran. He's essentially standing by his strongest words yet on the situation in Iran." Though Iran's crackdown on protests "prodded" Obama on Saturday "into his most explicit warning yet to Tehran," AFP reports, "the options for his engagement strategy" are seen as "narrowing."
But while "Administration officials have said Obama has been careful in his response," the Washington Post reports on its front page, on Sunday morning television talk shows, "several Republican lawmakers criticized Obama's response to the situation." Republicans, The Hill says, "used the Sunday morning talk shows to criticize the President for not speaking out more forcefully against Iran's government." Democrats, meanwhile, "have largely maintained solidarity with the White House."
Sen. Lindsey Graham, on ABC's This Week, said, "The President of the United States is supposed to lead the free world, not follow it. Other nations have been more outspoken, so I hope that we'll hear more of this, because the young men and women taking the streets in Tehran need our support." Similarly, on CBS's Face The Nation, Sen. John McCain, said, "I appreciate the statement that [President Obama] made yesterday that was far stronger. And I think we need to continue to send that message."
Sen. Evan Bayh, appearing on Fox News Sunday, said, "I think the President is handling a rapidly evolving, very complex situation about as well as you could expect. He has put us clearly on the side of the reformers, clearly on the side of fair and free elections, clearly condemned the violence. But he's done it in a smart way."
ABC World News reported, "There are signs tonight that Iran's violent crackdown on the political opposition there might be having the intended effect. For the first time in eight days, there were no major demonstrations in Tehran after the government arrested scores of protesters." Amid the break in protests, the Washington Post reports on its front page, the Iranian government and opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi "stepped up their war of words." Government media "lashed out" at Mousavi, "suggesting that some of his actions were illegal and blaming 'terrorists' for Saturday's violence, in which at least 100 people were injured."
Media reports on the Sunday morning television talk shows highlighted Senators' views that the prospects for the Obama Administration's plans for healthcare reform are increasingly tenuous, particularly after the Congressional Budget Office released its estimates of two top Senate bills' costs. The AP reports a Republican senator "seeking a bipartisan health deal spoke Sunday of 'dialing down' expectations while one of President Barack Obama's Democratic allies questioned whether the White House had the votes necessary for a such a costly and comprehensive plan during a recession." Sen. Chuck Grassley, "the top Republican on the Finance Committee, said officials would have to rethink their best-case scenario for providing a sweeping overhaul of the health care system at a relatively low price." Meanwhile, Sen. Dianne Feinstein "said she wasn't certain there are enough votes in the president's own party to support the proposal."
The New York Times reports Sen. Grassley said the Finance Committee "would consider revisiting its version of health-care legislation to gain more support." An "initial price tag for the Senate Finance Committee's proposal came to $1.6 trillion, according to the Congressional Budget Office." The Los Angeles Times reports Republicans "today questioned the cost of healthcare reform plans, and even" Sen. Feinstein "acknowledged similar concerns and said she wasn't sure there are enough votes among President Obama's fellow Democrats to pass a plan at the moment."
Roll Call reports that on CNN's "State of the Union," Sens. Feinstein and Dick Lugar "both said while they want Congress to act, they worry about the unintended consequences of sweeping reform." Feinstein said, "If you change the Medicaid rate, for example, it has an impact on California between $1 billion and $5 billion a year. Now, how could I support that? Because it would take down the state." The AP reports Sen. Lindsey Graham "says the Senate will not let the US 'go down the government-run health care road.'"
The AP reports President Obama "is seeing the downside of his light touch on revamping the nation's health care system." Congressional Democrats "are off to a halting start, blindsided by a high cost estimate and divided over how to proceed. The confusion has emboldened Republican critics."
The uncertainty over the Democratic bills was offset by, as the Wall Street Journal reported, an agreement by pharmaceutical industry "to reduce Medicare drug costs, as medical-industry groups accept cuts now in an apparent effort to stave off potentially more-burdensome givebacks under the Democrats' health-overhaul plan." Drug makers on Saturday "outlined a proposal to forgo $80 billion in revenue over a decade."
The Financial Times reports President Obama's "plans for health reform received a double boost over the weekend, with drugmakers agreeing to cut prescription charges and an opinion poll showing a significant majority of Americans want the option of public health insurance." The Washington Post reports seniors' lobby AARP "will give its blessing today to an offer by drug manufacturers to contribute $80 billion over the next decade to reduce the cost of comprehensive health reform, in part by discounting the price of Medicare prescriptions."
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The New York Times reports that during the presidential campaign, Barack Obama "promised that once a bill was passed by Congress, the White House would post it online for five days before he signed it." Five months "into his administration, Mr. Obama has signed two dozen bills, but he has almost never waited five days." In a "tacit acknowledgment that the campaign pledge was easier to make than to fulfill, the White House is changing its terms. Instead of starting the five-day clock when Congress passes a bill, administration officials say they intend to start it earlier and post the bills sooner."
The Politico reports for the "first time in his career, President Barack Obama may soon confront one of the most weighty and unsavory decisions that a chief executive must make, whether to put a murder convict to death." The decision "could land on Obama's desk within a matter of months, due to cases winding their way through the federal courts."
The Los Angeles Times reports President Obama is "facing complaints from big-city mayors and county politicians that parts of the economic stimulus package are shortchanging their constituents." Vice President Joe Biden "has been holding private conference calls on the stimulus with elected officials from around the country, some of whom have been telling him that metropolitan regions are losing out to rural areas in the competition for stimulus money."
Meanwhile, USA Today reports, "Most of the $2.2 billion in economic stimulus money for Army Corps of Engineers construction projects will be spent in the home districts of members of Congress who oversee the corps' funding, a USA TODAY analysis found." Two-thirds of the money "will be spent in states or districts represented by members of the House and Senate appropriations subcommittees that direct how the Corps of Engineers spends its money, the analysis found."
The Washington Post reports despite "signs that the recession gripping the nation's economy may be easing, the unemployment rate is projected to continue rising for another year before topping out in double digits, a prospect that threatens to slow growth, increase poverty and further complicate the Obama administration's message of optimism about the economic outlook." The "likelihood of severe unemployment extending into the 2010 midterm elections and beyond poses a significant political hurdle to President Obama and congressional Democrats, who are already under fire for what critics label profligate spending."
The Wall Street Journal reports many companies "that have cut jobs, pay and benefits during the recession may not be quick to restore them." A new "survey of 179 companies was conducted this month by consulting firm Watson Wyatt Worldwide Inc." shows that "52% of companies expect to employ fewer people in three to five years than they did before the recession began."
State Welfare Rolls Growing The Wall Street Journal reports in a front page story that welfare rolls, "which were slow to rise and actually fell in many states early in the recession, now are climbing across the country for the first time since President Bill Clinton signed legislation pledging 'to end welfare as we know it' more than a decade ago." Twenty-three "of the 30 largest states, which account for more than 88% of the nation's total population, see welfare caseloads above year-ago levels, according to a survey conducted by The Wall Street Journal and the National Conference of State Legislatures."
The Los Angeles Times reports that in order to "attract vital support from congressional Democrats representing heavily coal-dependent areas," authors of the climate bill "have made a series of concessions that substantially soften its effect on coal -- at least over the next decade or so." The Environmental Protection Agency has predicted that if the provisions of this bill are put into effect, "the US would use more carbon-dioxide-heavy coal in 2020 than it did in 2005."
Peterson Playing Key Role The Wall Street Journal reports that the fate of the climate bill "is in the hands of Rep. Collin Peterson, a Marlboro-smoking free spirit who scoffs at warnings about climate change and says the Environmental Protection Agency is 'in bed with' corporations opposed to the ethanol industry." The Minnesota Democrat has "forced Democratic Party leaders to slow their drive to pass climate legislation and to consider amending it in ways that some environmentalists worry will lessen its effectiveness."
Nuclear Energy Industry Seeks More Funds The Hill reports that even before the names of the nuclear utilities, who "will receive billions in government-backed financing to build the next generation of plants," are announced, the industry's main trade group, the Nuclear Energy Institute is lobbying for "$20 billion more in loan-guarantees in addition to the $18.5 billion in financing currently available to kick-start the long-awaited industry revival."
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The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported, "Since admitting an extramarital affair with a former staffer," Nevada Sen. John Ensign's (R) "approval rating in his home state has plunged. In a new Las Vegas Review-Journal" survey "of 625 Nevadans who vote regularly, conducted" June 18-19 (+/-4%) "by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc.," 39% "had a favorable view of Ensign, a drop of 14 percentage points from a month ago." Meantime, 37% viewed "Ensign unfavorably," which was 19% higher than "a month ago, when just" 18% "viewed him negatively." Roll Call reported on its website that while "Ensign's popularity has taken a hit, the Review-Journal said he remains more popular than the state's governor or senior Senator, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D). Reid, according to the poll, registered a popularity rating of just 34 percent, while embattled Republican Gov. Jim Gibbons' favorability registered at just 10 percent." The Hill and The Politico also report on the findings of the Review-Journal survey."
The AP reports Sen. John McCain "says his opponent in last year's presidential campaign, Barack Obama, has 'done well' in his first five months in the White House." McCain says "that using a legislative scorecard to judge the presidency so far, Obama has achieved all his legislative goals. On the down side, McCain says that Obama's successes in Congress have come with little or no Republican support." The Washington Times adds that McCain said "the president's legislative success has come as the result of ramming Democratic measures through Congress with minimal Republican support."
The AP reports that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) "says her political enemies are abusing state law with a flurry of frivolous ethics complaints against her, putting her more than $500,000 in legal debt. Those filing the grievances - there have been at least 18 cases so far - say it's their legal right to hold" Palin "accountable for what they see as abuses of power. The truth is probably somewhere in between."
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Conan O'Brien: "Today, Iran's supreme leader declared last week's presidential election 'an absolute victory.' ... Then he went on to congratulate the Clippers on winning the NBA championship."
Conan O'Brien: President Obama "spoke on the phone with Lakers Coach Phil Jackson and with Dan Bylsma, coach of the Stanley Cup-winning Pittsburgh Penguins. ... And in a related story, Joe Biden had a conference call with Tito Jackson and an actual penguin."
Conan O'Brien: "On Wednesday night, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton broke her elbow. So, yesterday, she worked from home...which explains why Bill Clinton spent the day in the backyard forming the words 'help me' with garden gnomes."
Jimmy Fallon: "Today, Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said there's no fraud in the election. The results will stand. ... I wouldn't mind a second opinion from the other supreme leaders -- Burrito Supreme, Taco Supreme and, of course, Diana Ross."
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