Obama To Meet Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg
AFP reports: “President Barack Obama will meet ailing Apple chief Steve Jobs and other US high-tech gurus Thursday in California, US officials have said. Google CEO Eric Schmidt will also participate in the closed doors meeting, part of an event with business leaders in Silicon Valley, an official told AFP on condition of anonymity.”
Obama’s Day Ahead
President Obama and Vice President Biden will receive the presidential daily briefing at 9:30 a.m. ET. Obama will hold a meeting at 9:55 a.m. ET, on the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Obama and Biden will have lunch with the House Democratic leadership at 12:15 p.m. ET. Then at 1:45 p.m ET, Obama will sign the John M. Roll United States Courthouse Bill. Obama will depart from the White House at 3 p.m. Et, and depart from Andrews Air Force Base at 3:15 p.m. ET, arriving at 8:45 p.m. ET in San Francisco, California. He will meet at 9:45 p.m. ET with business leaders in technology and innovation.
Biden’s Day Ahead
Vice President Biden will attend President Obama’s daily briefing at 9:30 a.m. ET. Obama and Biden will have lunch with the House Democratic leadership at 12:15 p.m. ET. Biden will hold a Recovery Act Cabinet Meeting at 3 p.m. ET.
Debt Commission Leaders Call For More Cuts To Avert ‘Disaster’
The Hill reports: “Neither the White House budget nor the congressional Republican spending plan are focused on the long-term drivers of the budget deficit, the co-chairmen of President Obama’s debt commission write in Thursday’s issue of The Hill. In an op-ed, former Sen. Alan Simpson (R-Wyo.) and Democrat Erskine Bowles write that by focusing ‘primarily on domestic discretionary spending, neither plan goes at all far enough to deal with our medium- or long-term fiscal challenges.'”
GOP Treads Lightly With Freshmen
Politico reports: “As House Republicans try to push $60 billion in spending cuts — a much larger cut, thanks to a freshman class uprising — Speaker John Boehner and fellow GOP leaders are caught somewhere between coddling and fearing these powerful rookie House members. The delicate balance is on display as the freshmen have offered a wide range of spending cuts, targeting everything from the EPA to public broadcasting funding.”
Four States Get Waivers To Carry Out Health Law
The New York Times reports: “The Obama administration said Wednesday that it had granted broad waivers to four states allowing health insurance companies to continue offering less generous benefits than they would otherwise be required to provide this year under the new federal health care law. The states are Florida, New Jersey, Ohio and Tennessee, the administration told Congress.”
Fed’s Bernanke Says Backs U.S. Financial Reforms
Reuters reports: “Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the Fed supports the sweeping Dodd-Frank financial regulatory overhaul and is moving swiftly to put its provisions into action. ‘Dodd-Frank is a major step forward for financial regulation in the United States,’ Bernanke said in congressional testimony obtained by Reuters on Wednesday. Bernanke is due to speak about regulation before the Senate Banking committee on Thursday. His prepared text made no mention of the outlook for the economy or monetary policy.”
Senate Democrats Try Leading
Roll Call reports: “The rollout of the Senate Democratic agenda Wednesday marks the highest-profile output to date of a revamped message and policy operation quarterbacked by Conference Vice Chairman Charles Schumer (N.Y.). After counterpunching Republicans on the health care repeal and warning of the risks of a government shutdown in the early weeks of this session, the pressure has been rising on Democrats to produce a specific agenda of their own instead of simply playing the just-say-no role Republicans played in the 111th Congress.”
