Geithner To Face Questions On TARP
Treasury Sec. Tim Geithner will be testifying at 10 a.m. ET today before the Congressional Oversight Panel for the TARP program, where he is expected to face tough questions on the progress of the program — and regarding a recent report by Inspector General Neil Barofsky criticizing the program for benefitting business and being potentially unfair to the taxpayer.
Obama’s Day Ahead
President Obama will meet with King Abdullah of Jordan one-on-one at 10 a.m. ET, and the two will hold an expanded meeting at 10:30 a.m. ET. At 2 p.m. ET, Obama will present the Commander in Chief’s trophy to the Naval Academy football team. At 2:45 p.m. ET, he will meet with Ted Kennedy and Bill Clinton to discuss national service, and at 4 p.m. ET he will sign the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act into law, at the SEED School in Washington.
Biden’s Day Ahead
Vice President Biden will meet this morning with King Abdullah of Jordan. He will then host two conference calls on Recovery Act implementation, one with a group of governors and the other with a group of mayors. He will then attend the President’s meeting on national service, and will be at the bill signing. Afterwards, he and Jill Biden will participate in service activity in Washington.
Obama’s Iraq Ambassador Pick Wins Key Cloture Vote
President Obama’s nominee to be Ambassador to Iraq, Christopher Hill, won a crucial Senate cloture vote last night, by a margin of 73-17, after Senate Republicans including John McCain and Lindsey Graham had objected to the nomination. A final simple-majority vote on confirmation is expected later this week, which Hill is expected to easily win.
Committee To Vote On Sebelius Today
The Senate Finance Committee is expected to vote today on the nomination of Kathleen Sebelius to be Secretary of Health and Human Services. Sebelius will likely win the committee vote and be confirmed by the full Senate, but her nomination has run into delays due to tax problems and an initial wrong answer on how much she had received in campaign contributions from a Kansas abortion doctor.
WaPo: Health Reform Advocates Worried About Compromise
The Washington Post reports that some liberals are worried that the Obama administration may be already giving away too much in the health care debate. Said SEIU President Andy Stern, explaining why his union pulled out of the Health Reform Dialogue: “You don’t make compromises with your allies.”
Inaugural Committee Raised $53 Million
The New York Times reports that President Obama’s inaugural committee raised $53 million, surpassing its budget by $7 million. And while Obama officially limited individual contributions to $50,000, and the amount that a bundler could bring in to $300,000, it worked out that of $41 million that came in before the event, 70 percent came from just 211 bundlers.
Dean Claims Credit For “Lighting The Match” For Obama
In an interview with The Hill, Howard Dean credited his 2004 presidential campaign with laying the groundwork for Barack Obama’s own politics. “Well, the timing was off in terms of winning the presidency, but the timing clearly wasn’t off in terms of in kind of lighting the match,” Dean said. “I mean, there are those who would argue, you always have to have a campaign like mine before you have a campaign like Barack Obama’s.”
