The Hill – With Pelosi’s blessing, Dems push ahead with probe of CIA
Despite the collective shrug with which the CIA program to assassinate al Qaeda leaders was greeted by Americans, House Democrats are still eager to press their disadvantage with an investigation.
But now they will be acting with the blessing of Nancy Pelosi, whose own credibility is at stake. Pelosi’s claim that the CIA routinely misleads Congress now depends on former Vice President Dick Cheney telling the agency not disclose having considered, but not acted on a plan to kill the leaders of the world’s top terrorist group.
Pelosi is hoping for a little backup from the attorney general’s office, where an announcement of a prosecutor for excessive interrogation techniques used against terrorists is expected soon.
Writer Jared Allen explains that for Pelosi, the stakes are very high:
“‘I think that it behooves the committee to take whatever actions they believe are necessary to get more information on that subject as to whether the intelligence community was directed by the vice president to create a program and intentionally withhold that information from Congress. And further, if these same intelligence community people were asked, ‘Is there anything else we should know?’ whether they said yes or whether they said no,’ Pelosi told reporters.
Pelosi has previously used the line of looking forward instead of backwards when pressed on other issues, such as impeaching President George W. Bush and prosecuting Bush administration officials. But in the wake of the Cheney reports, she is allowing her panel chairmen to act should they choose to do so.”
Washington Post – On Health-Care Reform, Obama Looks to the LBJ Model
On the day that the House opted to advance an unwritten health care bill for the sake of keeping on schedule while Senators said that consensus was proving increasingly elusive, writer Ceci Connolly was riffing on the similarities between Obama’s effort to sell a nonexistent plan for universal health care with Lyndon Johnson’s successful passage of Medicare in 1965.
Connolly even compares Johnson’s endorsement of the work of Rep. Wilbur Mills on Medicare to Obama’s laissez-faire attitude toward the competing legislation currently stalled in Congress. Mills and others had been working on Medicare for six years before Johnson starting pummeling his former colleagues on the hill to support the specific plan. As Obama doubled down on health care, there is still no clear plan for coverage or costs and a near riot among conservative Democrats over deficits and taxes.
And what Connolly calls “Johnson-style lobbying” amounts to some friendly banter and a warning that failing to act could hurt the party in 2010. Johnson, who bullied, shamed, intimidated and cajoled friends and foes alike knew from decades in Congress that big plans don’t get through without a ramrod. Obama even rejected the Johnson model during the Democratic primaries, embracing the legacy of Martin Luther King instead of Hillary Clinton’s preference for LBJ.
Taking to the White House talking points with gusto, Connolly quotes David Axelrod saying that both Obama and Johnson share “a big vision” and “a great appreciation for the legislative process.” If anything, Johnson had disdain for congressional dithering earned in 22 hard years while Obama has confidence that stems from showing up just long enough to get his ticket punched.
After all her gushing, Connolly does point out that even the Senator’s smitten by the ongoing Obama charm offensive – including the Little Lyndon routine on Monday – would like to know what the president is interested in passing.
“Snowe and Rockefeller praised Obama for his deference to the legislative branch, but both signaled he may soon have to wade into the messier details of the bill.
‘At some point, the president’s going to have to play a pivotal role in shaping what happens,’ Snowe said. ‘It is crucial.’”
Wall Street Journal – $1 Trillion Deficit Complicates Obama’s Agenda
No real news in crossing the $1 trillion deficit threshold for the first time in history since we’ve known for months that we were headed for a deficit of $1.84 trillion when the fiscal year ends in September – 15 percent of our GDP. But Writer John McKinnon uses the opportunity to instruct us in how much the government is borrowing and how ideas like universal health insurance are made more difficult by the current debt orgy. The charts showing the relative size and composition of the deficit spending are great too.
“President Barack Obama on Monday stressed the importance of enacting health-care legislation as a way to bring down long-term deficits. A spokesman for the White House Office of Management and Budget, Kenneth Baer, termed health-care reform ‘the key to our fiscal future.’
But some budget watchdogs worry that Congress eventually could pass health-care legislation that relies on uncertain long-term savings, while substantially increasing short-term government expenditures.”
Wall Street Journal — Auto Czar Quits Post Six Months Into the Job
Like Nicholas II, President Obama’s Auto Czar gave up his throne.
Steven Rattner’s sudden departure after promises that his return to Washington after decades in Wall Street was the start of a career in government and politics was being treated with nonchalance, with administration officials saying that it was logical for former labor official Ron Bloom to take over during the enforcement, er, implementation stage of the deal that Rattner put together.
But as writer Neil King points out, Rattner, a Democratic cash bundler who used his political stroke to land government pension business for his investment firm, has trouble waiting for him in New York.
“The move comes as the New York attorney general’s office has intensified scrutiny of Quadrangle Group and Mr. Rattner, 56 years old, as part of a long-running probe, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The attorney general is overseeing a broad investigation into alleged payments to secure business with New York state’s large public-pension fund.
There is no indication that Mr. Rattner’s return to New York is connected to the probe. The fact he has been named in an ongoing investigation could have complicated any administration effort to appoint Mr. Rattner to a more permanent post.”
New York Times — Obama Repeats Threat to Veto Bill Over F-22 Jet
The White House and Congress are heading for a showdown over defense spending.
The administration wants to take spending back to pre-9/11 levels with resources previously used for the weapons of the future shifted to pay for the wars of the present in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Members of Congress think that preparedness is also stimulus and that cutting new plants and programs will put people out of works at a bad time.
On the matter of the F-22 fighter, even Ted Kennedy and John Kerry have thrown in with those objecting to Obama’s cuts on jobs grounds.
“The Pentagon would rather buy unmanned aircraft to gather intelligence in Afghanistan and accelerate the testing for the F-35, a new plane designed to attack ground targets. Pentagon officials say the F-22 is hard to maintain and costs $44,000 to operate for an hour, compared with $30,000 for older planes.
But many Republicans in Congress say more F-22s, which were designed for aerial combat, are needed as a hedge against countries like China.”
