In a move that will subject an number of government projects to enhanced environmental and scientific scrutiny, President Obama is restoring a requirement that U.S. agencies consult with independent federal experts to determine whether their actions might harm threatened and endangered species.
The presidential memorandum issued yesterday, which marks yet another reversal of President Bush’s environmental legacy, will revive a decades-old practice under the Endangered Species Act that calls for agencies to consult with either the Fish and Wildlife Service or the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on whether their projects could affect imperiled species. On Dec. 16, the Bush administration allowed agencies to waive such reviews if they decided, on their own, that the actions would not harm vulnerable plants and animals. More…
Designed to allow up to 4 million families avoid foreclosure, the plan assists homeowners and banks to re-negotiate mortgages where the borrower has a job and is willing to disclose recent tax returns.
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration provided details on Wednesday for its program to help homeowners at risk of losing their houses obtain taxpayer-subsidized reductions in their mortgage payments, a program that becomes available immediately.
Administration officials said the program could help three million to four million families avoid foreclosure, and it is expected to cost $75 billion over the next several years.
Banks that receive additional bailout funds must participate. In addition, the administration has instructed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two government-controlled mortgage-finance companies, to refinance homeowners at today’s low market rates even if those people have less than the standard 20 percent equity usually required by lenders. More…
Just four months ago, the pharmaceutical industry was prepared for the worst. Drug makers feared that Barack Obama would press for price controls on prescription drugs and readied plans for a multimillion-dollar ad campaign against the idea.
Instead, Obama chose a more modest approach after becoming president, proposing to extract bigger discounts on medications bought through Medicaid. The plan could save the drug companies billions a year compared with price controls.
“This is a great start,” said W.J. “Billy” Tauzin, a former House member from Louisiana who now runs the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), referring to Obama’s health-care plan. “There are things we don’t like about it. But there’s time to discuss all that.”
Obama’s opening gambit to dramatically expand the health-care system has attracted surprising notes of support from insurers, hospitals and other players in the powerful medical lobby who are set to participate in an unusual White House summit on the issue this afternoon. The lure for the industry is the prospect of tens of millions of new customers: If Obama succeeds in fulfilling his pledge to cover many more Americans, those newly insured people will get checkups, purchase medicine, undergo physical therapy and get surgeries they cannot afford today. More…
WASHINGTON — President Obama said on Thursday that though “special interests” and “industry lobbying” had blocked improvements in the health care system for decades, he vowed to end the stalemate this year and ensure that all Americans have access to affordable health care.
“Those who seek to block any reform at any cost will not prevail this time around,” Mr. Obama said in opening a White House conference, where he promised to reduce health costs and expand coverage.
The conference is drawing more than 150 participants, including members of Congress and leaders of labor unions, business groups, doctors, hospitals, insurance companies and consumer organizations.
In his opening remarks, Mr. Obama provided no new details of how he would extend coverage to the 46 million people who have no health insurance. Instead, he expressed his hope that a “transparent and inclusive” process would produce a bipartisan consensus, overcoming the objections of those who had a financial stake in the status quo. More…
Along party lines, the House voted (239 – 181), including all 5 AZ Democratic congresspersons) to give bankruptcy judges the right to modify mortgage terms for primary residences. Judges can lower payments, interest rate, maturity date or even principal.
The House this evening passed legislation that would allow bankruptcy judges to modify the terms of troubled home mortgages.
Under the measure, a bankruptcy judge would be able to cut the principal on a homeowner’s mortgage, lower the interest rate and extend the terms, provisions known as “cramdowns.” The bill now heads to the Senate where it will face a tougher fight.
The housing package is a key part of President Obama’s foreclosure prevention plan, which the administration launched yesterday and which also includes a program to pay lenders to modify troubled mortgages to make them more affordable. The legislation also includes changes to Hope for Homeowners, a government program to refinance distressed loans that so far has failed to gain traction. More…
WASHINGTON (CNN) – As President Barack Obama hosts a Thursday summit at the White House on health care reform, recent national polling suggests that nearly three out of four Americans support government programs to improve the country’s health care system.
Seventy-two percent of those questioned in recent CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey say they favor increasing the federal government’s influence over the country’s health care system in an attempt to lower costs and provide health care coverage to more Americans, with 27 percent opposing such a move. Other recent polls show six in 10 think the government should provide health insurance or take responsibility for providing health care to all Americans. More…
Former Commerce Secretary William Daley is leaning toward running for the Senate seat President Obama once held, sources close to Daley tell The Hill. They characterize the decision as all but finalized.
Daley would likely be an instant front-runner in the race to replace Sen. Roland Burris (D-Ill.). Though the White House may be loath to get involved in a primary, it would be hard to overlook the fact that Daley was a co-chairman of Obama’s presidential campaign and the transition team.
Daley has already ruled out a run for governor in 2010, deferring to new Gov. Pat Quinn (D). But adding fuel to the rumors of an impending Senate run, a Daley fan has snapped up several websites for Daley’s use, according to a Chicago Sun-Times columnist. The domain names were all registered within the past week.
Daley has already held discussions about the race with two top political professionals in advance of making a bid official. They include Larry Grisolano, who played a central role in 2008 as Obama’s director of paid media and opinion research during the campaign. In January, Grisolano signed up with AKPD Message and Media, the firm founded by Obama senior adviser David Axelrod and home of Obama campaign manager David Plouffe. More…
The nation’s unemployment rate topped 8 percent last month and the economy shed 651,000 jobs, according to government data released this morning, further evidence of the deepening recession that has devastated the stock market and home prices and triggered the largest government recovery effort since the Great Depression.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics said the jobless rate rose from 7.6 percent in January to 8.1 percent in February, the highest rate in more than 25 years. An estimated 12.5 million Americans were unemployed in February, the data show, an increase of 851,000 since January. More…
It has been a busy week with budget releases, plans for mortgage borrower assistance, stem cells, initiatives to generate funds for small businesses and college loans, and the start of the serious discussion regarding health care reform.
Republicans immediately criticized him for failing to put a complete end to the practice. Bush used hundreds of “signing statements” to order federal officers to ignore or not enforce provisions of legislation with which he disagreed. This was especially true of laws that tried to curb torture and domestic spying.
President Obama promised to pull back dramatically from a controversial tactic used by his predecessor, saying that he will rarely seek to impose his own interpretation on pending legislation with a statement when he signs it, White House officials said.
In a memorandum issued yesterday, he also ordered executive branch officials to consult with the attorney general before assuming that hundreds of President Bush’s past official statements on legislation should remain in force.
“There is no doubt that the practice of issuing such statements can be abused,” Obama said in the memo. “I will issue signing statements to address constitutional concerns only when it is appropriate to do so as a means of discharging my constitutional responsibilities.”
The memo represents a rebuke of Bush, who dramatically increased the use of signing statements as a way of instructing officials in his government about how to implement legislation. The issue became highly controversial as critics accused Bush of using the previously little-known tactic as a way of subverting the intent of Congress, especially when it came to the war against terrorism, torture and domestic surveillance. More…
