Freddie Stubbs
Freddie Stubbs's JournalObama on why he wouldn't veto FAA bill: GOP would have blamed me for flight delays
Source: Politico
President Obama says he wouldn't veto the FAA bill eliminating furloughs because it fixed one of the short-term impacts from sequester, and if he had, Republicans would have blamed him for the ensuing flight delays.
He said the only way forward is a larger budget deal that replaces all of the across-the-board sequester cuts with a balanced package of spending cuts and tax increases.
"The only way to do that is to engage with me and come up with a broader deal," he said. "Frankly, I don’t think that if I were to veto, for example, this FAA bill, that that somehow would lead to the broader fix... It just means there would be pain now, which they would blame on me."
The president said he is fairly confident that Washington can get beyond some of its dysfunction to address some items on his agenda, such as immigration reform. But on a larger budget deal, he said he's not sure Republicans will make the compromises he is asking for on taxes.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/politico44/2013/04/obama-on-why-he-didnt-veto-faa-bill-gop-would-have-162941.html
Republicans pull plug on Mark Sanford
Source: Politico
National Republicans are pulling the plug on Mark Sanford’s suddenly besieged congressional campaign, POLITICO has learned — a potentially fatal blow to the former South Carolina governor’s dramatic comeback bid.
Blindsided by news that Sanford’s ex-wife has accused him of trespassing and concluding he has no plausible path to victory, the National Republican Congressional Committee has decided not to spend more money on Sanford’s behalf ahead of the May 7 special election.
“Mark Sanford has proven he knows what it takes to win elections. At this time, the NRCC will not be engaged in this special election,” said Andrea Bozek, an NRCC spokeswoman.
Sanford is facing Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch, a Clemson University administrator and sister of comedian Stephen Colbert, in a race that has grabbed the national spotlight.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/04/mark-sanford-nrcc-90217.html
Chelsea Clinton open to running for political office
Source: Washington Post
The daughter of former president Bill Clinton and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton says she is open to running for political office one day.
“Right now I’m grateful to live in a city, in a state and a country where I strongly support my mayor, and my governor, and my president, and my senators, and my representative,” Clinton told NBC News, where she is employed as a special correspondent. ”If at some point that weren’t true and I thought I could make a meaningful and measurably greater impact, you know, I’d have to ask and answer that question.”
Clinton has been raising her profile in the past few months, fueling speculation that she is interested in launching a political career. She helped her father put on this year’s Clinton Global Initiative University, a summit for college students and has moderated panels on non-profit work and climate change.
In a recent interview with Parade magazine, Clinton also left the door open to a political bid, if she “thought that I could make a disproportionately positive impact.” Asked if she could describe the circumstances that might bring her into politics, Clinton said, “No, but I’ve never thought too far into the future.” She told Vogue last summer that up until her mother’s 2008 presidential bid she was uninterested in a political career but was no longer sure how she felt.
Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/04/08/chelsea-clinton-open-to-running-for-political-office/
Obama apologizes to Kamala Harris
Source: Politico
President Obama called California Attorney General Kamala Harris on Thursday to apologize for his comments about her appearance that have drawn a storm of criticism.
"He called her to apologize for the distraction created by his comments," White House press secretary Jay Carney said during his briefing Friday, later adding that the president had also "apologized for the remark."
Obama "did not want in any way to diminish the attorney general's professional accomplishments and her capabilities," Carney said. "He fully recognizes the challenges women continue to face in the workplace and that they should not be judged based on appearance."
At a fundraiser in Northern California on Thursday, Obama said that Harris "happens to be by far the best-looking attorney general in the country."
Read more: http://www.politico.com/politico44/2013/04/obama-apologizes-to-kamala-harris-160956.html?hp=t3_3
Administration Hits Pause On Health Exchanges For Small Businesses
Source: NPR
The Obama administration is delaying the start of a key piece of the Affordable Care Act. Workers in small businesses will have to wait an additional year to be able to choose from more than one plan in the marketplaces that start next January.
The delay — first proposed in regulations issued last month and confirmed earlier this week — is the first acknowledgment by the administration that it won't be able to meet the tight timetable it has set to get these health exchanges up and running by October 1, when enrollment is set to begin.
The delay has disappointed some backers of the law.
"A major selling point of the small business exchange is that small business owners will be able to simply select a particular level of coverage that they want their employees to have, and then their employees will have the ability to choose from multiple plans within that level of coverage," says John Arensmeyer, CEO of the advocacy group Small Business Majority.
Read more: http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/04/03/176131602/administration-hits-pause-on-health-exchanges-for-small-businesses
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