Can Obama’s Expensive Budget Withstand Attacks from the Republican Party?

Republicans attacked President Obama's proposed $3.6 trillion budget Tuesday as offering "red ink as far as the eye can see," and Democrats even suggested that the president might be trying to solve too many problems at once.

As administration officials trekked to Capitol Hill to defend Obama's budget, they were met with skepticism from both sides of the aisle because of the huge changes the president has promised to make in taxes, health care, energy and education.

THE OVAL: Proposals and analysis

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and White House Budget Director Peter Orszag, in separate appearances, stuck to the administration line that the president's budget would benefit 95% of working Americans.

Higher taxes for affluent Americans would not come until 2011 once "we are safely into recovery," Geithner told the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee.

"I'm confident this is the right path for the country," he said.

But Republicans disagreed.

"The president's budget increases taxes on every American, and does so during a recession," Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich., told Geithner.

Camp also complained about provisions that would limit the size of charitable deductions that could be taken by families earning more than $250,000 a year.

Orszag faced similar questioning before the House Budget Committee.

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President Makes Announcement on Foreclosures

His massive stimulus plan now signed into law, President Barack Obama is turning to attack the home foreclosure crisis at the heart of the nation's deepening economic woes.

His goal is to prevent millions of American families from losing their houses because they can't make mortgage payments.

"We must stem the spread of foreclosures and falling home values for all Americans, and do everything we can to help responsible homeowners stay in their homes," Obama said Tuesday as he signed his tax cut and spending package into law.

The ambitious plan he was announcing at a Phoenix high school Wednesday was expected to offer government cash to mortgage companies that reduce interest rates — and therefore monthly payments — for homeowners in danger of default, according to several people briefed on the plan. What remained unclear was how the government will decide who qualifies for relief.

One Democratic official familiar with the plan said it also would allow homeowners to refinance their mortgages if they owed more than their homes were valued. Still another section would give bankruptcy judges more authority to change mortgages. That last provision has been opposed by lenders, who said it would add risk and lead to higher interest rates.

 

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President Obama Prepares to Sign Stimulus in Denver

President Barack Obama is ready to sign into law the most sweeping economic package in decades, a rescue plan meant to reinvigorate job creation, consumer spending and public optimism. Add the bill to an ever-growing deficit.

Capping the biggest victory of his month-old administration, Obama will sign the economic legislation Tuesday in Denver.

The setting, the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, is meant to underscore the investments the new law will make in "green" energy-related jobs. It also allows Obama to get away from Washington, where the bill's passage was a mostly partisan affair, and be among people who may benefit from the huge government intervention.

The flailing economy continues to dominate Obama's time.

Tuesday is also when General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC, which are living off a combined $13.4 billion in federal bailout loans, are due to hand in plans to Obama's government about how they can remain viable.

And on Wednesday in Arizona, Obama will unveil another part of his economic recovery effort — a plan to help millions of homeowners fend off foreclosure.

 

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Barack Obama Criticized on Civil Liberties

Despite President Obama's vow to open government more than ever, the Justice Department is defending Bush administration decisions to keep secret many documents about domestic wiretapping, data collection on travelers and U.S. citizens, and interrogation of suspected terrorists.

In half a dozen lawsuits, Justice lawyers have opposed formal motions or spurned out-of-court offers to delay court action until the new administration rewrites Freedom of Information Act guidelines and decides whether the new rules might allow the public to see more.

In only one case has the Justice Department agreed to suspend a FOIA lawsuit until the disputed documents can be re-evaluated under the yet-to-be-written guidelines. That case involves negotiations on an anti-counterfeiting treaty, not the more controversial, secret anti-terrorism tactics that spawned the other lawsuits as well as Obama's promises of greater openness.

"The signs in the last few days are not entirely encouraging," said Jameel Jaffer, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, which filed several lawsuits seeking the Bush administration's legal rationales for warrantless domestic wiretapping and for its treatment of terrorism detainees.

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Hillary Clinton Now Leads Barack Obama

A recent Gallup poll shows that the latest controversy between Senator Barack Obama and his pastor, Jeremiah Wright, might have thrust Hillary Clinton into the lead. The latest Gallup poll shows that Clinton has a substantial lead over Obama in a national race, 49% to 42%.

The survey was national and consisted of 1,209 Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters. It has a margin of error of 3 percent.

Gallup stated that this poll is both factually and statistically significant, since it is the first time Clinton has been shown to have a statistically significant lead since February 7. Since that time, the difference between the two candidates never exceeded the margin of error.

The poll also showed that John McCain would defeat both candidates in a head-to-head election. He would defeat obama 47 to 43 and Clinton 48 to 45 percent.

There have been rumblings that the Clintons' allegedly dirty tactics to defeat Obama may lead to a "black out" of the national election. Many African-Americans, disgruntled with Hillary and Bill Clinton, have stated that they will not participate in the vote if Obama does not get the Democratic nomination.