A Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there. Here's a look at headlines you may have missed from the Trib's Washington bureau this weekend.
* Jim Tankersley profiles Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, playing a lead role in the Obama administration's response to the Gulf spill. "Since taking over Interior, the 55-year-old native of Colorado's San Luis Valley has elbowed his way into some of President Obama's highest-profile initiatives, some outside the traditional parameters of his job," Tankersley notes.
* Tom Hamburger and Kim Geiger look more closely at Rep. Joe Barton's (R-Texas) ties to the oil and gas industry, following his controversial comments at a House committee hearing Thursday. "Since 1990, Barton has received about $27,300 from BP officials and political action committees. The amount places him among the top recipients in Washington but well below President Obama, who has been the leading recipient of BP cash."
* Doyle McManus wrote about a potential turning point for the White House with the Gulf crisis this week. The deal reached with BP, McManus says, showed "Obama had finally embraced the wisdom of his fellow Chicagoan, Al Capone: You get much further with a kind word and a gun than with a kind word alone."
* Janet Hook reported from Capitol Hill on the latest tweak to a jobless bill, after the Senate voted to postpone a scheduled cut in physician pay under Medicare. The bill has "bogged down in the Senate because of complaints about its cost," a factor in the vote Thursday that fell short of ending a GOP filibuster.
* Jim Oliphant keeps up with the paper trail on Supreme Court justice nominee Elena Kagan. E-mail messages released late Friday revealed little in the way of controversy, though some showed "flashes of personality," as she acknowledges a tendency to lose her cool at times.
* Jim Puzzanghera details the battle taking shape about whether auto dealerships should be subject to oversight of a proposed consumer protection agency. "Auto dealers last year successfully convinced the House in its version of the overhaul of financial rules to exempt them from oversight by the proposed consumer protection agency. But with strong opposition from the Obama administration ... the Senate did not include an exemption in its legislation."
* Don Lee writes about how the U.S. consumer is still seen as a driving force in the global economy. "After declining during the depths of the recession, the U.S. trade deficit has been swelling in recent months and is expected to keep growing. That's an indication that U.S. consumers are again soaking up massive amounts of imports from Asia, Europe and other countries, with no corresponding increase in sales of American goods to those countries."
Lee also reported on a letter from President Obama to world leaders ahead of the G-20 summit this week.
Comments
Doyle McManus is nothing but a mouthpiece for the RepubliCANTs, a shill who does nothing other than repeating false talking points. Does he work for Faux News?
Posted by: BC | June 20, 2010 8:31 PM
Since the administration thinks it's a great idea to stop everything once a catastrophe has happened...it's time to shut down the government, since the government has caused every problem we now have. Close the doors on big government.
Have you noticed that the government causes a problem... and then passes more and more laws and regulations to "fix" the problem that it caused in the first place...rinse and repeat.
Posted by: Free To Watch Liberals Bankrupt Europe | June 21, 2010 4:56 AM
God forbid Ms. Kagan have any type of personality or show any emotion. If she were a man, those would be desireable traits.The people who will criticize her for those traits are the very ones who are complaining the President is too cool and does not show emotion.
I have seen many of the other Justices show strong opinion and emotion during interviews...but they are men.
Posted by: lochnessmonster | June 21, 2010 6:58 AM
Meanwhile, the Banking Gang of Lobbyists are working overtime, and paying over time, in order to gut the Banking Reform Act, now in negotiations with the House and Senate conferees. Their main thrust is to eliminate the " Volker Rule " and I regret to say, that support for this gutting seems to be from Representative Barney Franks, Senators Christopher Dodd and Scott Brown. That is unacceptable, regardless of who supports, what. Those Weasels on Wall Street, Bankers on Bond Street and the Insurances Scammers of America will have another opportunity to destroy our way of life, again, if real Banking Reform is not enacted. We must return to the tenets of Glass-Steagle Act of 1933. Only than, will we be able to hold in check, the greed of these, less than American institutions. If we do not return to the guidelines and laws of that Act of 1933, it's another Bush&Cheney meltdown, all over, again !!
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, BRING THEM HOME, ALIVE AND WHOLE. NOW.
Posted by: Don Fitzgerald, IL | June 21, 2010 9:53 AM