Obama’s Budget Proposal Will Be Delayed A Bit
The Washington Post reports: “President Obama now expects to release his fiscal 2012 budget in mid-February, about a week later than the timetable set out under the Budget Act of 1974, administration officials said Tuesday. The White House needs additional time in part because of a six-week delay in the Senate confirmation of new budget director Jacob Lew.”
Obama’s Traveling Team Stays Focused on Terror
The New York Times reports on President Obama maintaining closer contact with his counterterrorism team this holiday season: “The communications upgrade — Mr. Obama now has ‘more diverse and reliable secure voice capability in his vacation residence, with the best possible quality available,’ said Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser traveling with him — is just one example of how the memory of the attempted bombing last Christmas Day hangs over the presidential Hawaiian escape. Mr. Obama and his advisers, still smarting over the criticism they received for the seemingly flat-footed response, have gone into overdrive to prepare for what counterterrorism experts say is a heightened threat this holiday season.”
Rep. Davis To Bill Clinton: Stay Out Of Chicago Politics
The Associated Press reports: “Congressman Danny Davis has a message for former President Bill Clinton: Don’t take sides in the Chicago mayor’s race — or else. Davis, a longtime friend of Clinton, warned the ex-president on Tuesday that he could jeopardize his “long and fruitful relationship” with the black community if he campaigns for former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel instead of one of the two leading black candidates running — Davis or former Sen. Carol Moseley Braun.”
GOP Candidates Rush To Get Into Senate Races
The Associated Press reports: “Less than two months after voters gave Republicans six more Senate seats and control of the House, the GOP is lining up candidates for 2012, well ahead of the pace of previous election cycles. Looking to ride what they hope will be a continuing Republican wave, nine potential challengers, including two each in Missouri and Virginia, already have said they are weighing bids for the U.S. Senate.”
Key Healthcare Provisions Take Effect Jan. 1, Just As GOP Moves Into House
The Hill reports: “Key parts of the new healthcare law will go into effect on Jan. 1, just before a Republican-controlled House returns to Washington. The massive overhaul of healthcare approved by Congress earlier this year will begin to take effect in 2011, though some of the biggest changes prompted by the law — including the mandate that everyone buy insurance, the state insurance exchanges and subsidies to help most Americans buy insurance — don’t kick in until 2014.”
Courting Begins In 2012 Early States
Politico reports: “The friendly phone calls are incoming, presidential wannabes are showering them with praise, and their campaign accounts have been flooded with fat checks from people with names like Palin, Romney and Gingrich. Members of Congress from South Carolina, Iowa and New Hampshire are once again getting wooed by the presidential set — and the potential candidates are reaching deep into those state’s political rosters in search of that critical endorsement.”
