Gates: Public Will Not Tolerate ‘Perception of Stalemate’ In Afghanistan
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said that progress must be made in Afghanistan, in order to maintain support of the mission. “If we are making progress and its clear that we have the right strategy then I think the people will be patient,” Gates said. “The one thing think none of the publics, … including the American public, will tolerate is the perception of stalemate in which we’re losing young men.”
Obama’s Day Ahead
President Obama received the presidential daily briefing at 9:45 a.m. ET, and the economic daily briefing at 10:15 a.m. ET. He will meet at 11 a.m. ET with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. He will receive a briefing at 2 p.m. ET on the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
Biden’s Day In Kenya
Vice President Biden spent the daily in Nairobi, kenya. He delivered a speech at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre, on the importance of United States-Kenya relations and the need to work together on regional challenges. He met with President Salva Kiir of Southern Sudan, and he attended a meeting on Somalia and the Djibouti Peace Process. In the early evening, local time, the Vice President and his wife Dr. Jill Biden will visit Nairobi National Park.
Calls For Stimulus Yield To Deficit Concerns
The New York Times reports: “At a moment when many economists warn that the American economic recovery is likely to be imperiled by prolonged high unemployment and slow growth, President Obama is discovering that the tools available to him last year — a big economic stimulus and action by the Federal Reserve — are both now politically untenable. The mood in both parties of Congress has turned decidedly anti-deficit, meaning that the job-creation programs once favored by the White House and Democratic leaders in Congress have been cut back, then cut again.”
Pelosi Wants Spill Bill By August Recess
The Hill reports: “House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told committee chairmen on Tuesday that she wants Congress to finish a legislative response to the Gulf oil spill before lawmakers leave for the August recess. The Speaker convened a meeting of nine committee chiefs to coordinate the House’s efforts to address the oil gusher that has consumed the nation’s attention for weeks and threatens to ravage the ecology and economy of the Gulf Coast. Among the measures discussed were proposals to overhaul regulation of the oil industry and dramatically raise or eliminate the current cap on damages that oil companies must pay.”
Sessions Presses Case Against Kagan
Roll Call reports that Sen. Jeff Sessions, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, has been busy working on the political case against Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan: “Although his colleagues are focusing on plenty of other issues, Sessions has kept his attention on Kagan. With only occasional forays into immigration or the oil spill, most of Sessions’ floor speeches and other public comments have concerned Kagan ever since her nomination this spring.”
Exasperated Members See Obstruction At DOJ
The Hill reports: Bipartisan criticism of the Justice Department is soaring on Capitol Hill as the executive branch has repeatedly balked at answering congressional requests for information, according to lawmakers and aides. According to documents obtained by The Hill and more than a dozen interviews with Democratic and Republican members and staffers, the Department of Justice (DoJ) is rebuffing Congress and its investigative arm, the Government Accountability Office (GAO). In a statement to The Hill, a spokeswoman for the DoJ said that the department makes every effort to respond to lawmakers in a timely and thorough manner.”
