U.S. Politics
Around-the-clock political news and analysis from Reuters. Follow @ReutersPolitics for more.
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Obama to outline second-term tech plan for 'smarter' government http://reut.rs/1d9Ubnoby anthony.derosa via twitter 7/8/2013 3:55:19 PM -
Pres Obama says dealing with Government not always high-tech or user-friendly, but has worked to improve that.by Mark Knoller via twitter 7/8/2013 3:56:45 PM -
Readers: thank you for joining the Reuters Politics live blog. Do you have questions about something you hear during President Obama's speech? Please feel free to submit your thoughts using the options above. -
Obama says Congress "gives a lot of lip service" to the idea of streamlined governmentby Zeke Miller via twitter 7/8/2013 4:05:14 PM -
Is he running or not? #Texas Gov. #Perry in San Antonio to announce 'exciting future plans,' reports @apwillweissert. http://apne.ws/1a5QrDDby AP Politics via twitter 7/8/2013 5:59:27 PM -
Rick Perry is making this big announcement in San Antonio, where rising Democratic star Julian Castro is mayor...by Ethan Klapper via twitter 7/8/2013 5:59:57 PM -
From Jim Forsyth's Reuters preview of Perry's speech today:Perry has set a 1 p.m. news conference Monday in San Antonio to make what was billed as an important announcement.
Asked on "Fox News Sunday" whether a presidential run is in the cards, Perry said: "Well, certainly, that's an option out there, but, again, we got a lot of work to do in this building right behind me over the course of the next couple of weeks that have my focus substantially more than even 2014 or 2016."
The timing of his announcement comes shortly after he rehired his former presidential campaign communications director Mark Miner, and as Perry is locked in a heated battle with Texas Democrats over restrictions on abortion. -
From the Texas Tribune:
Though he has stayed quiet about the contents of those plans, Perry is widely expected to announce that he will not seek an unprecedented fourth term as governor, likely clearing a path for Attorney General Greg Abbott to succeed him.
Small signs, like Abbott's fundraising edge and little movement inside Perry's campaign apparatus, have suggested that the governor may instead be prepping for another presidential run.
[...]
Though Perry isn't expected to say today whether he's eyeing the presidency, some observers have predicted that he may lay the groundwork for 2016 — by announcing the formation of a new Super PAC. -
First Lady Anita Perry takes stageby Jay Root via twitter 7/8/2013 6:06:55 PM -
Anita Perry, as she intros the man she still kids about "16 years worth of dates." ---> "this unique land (TX) is in his blood"by Carrie Dann via twitter 7/8/2013 6:09:17 PM -
Perry begins his speech by listing accomplishments throughout Texas -- initiatives in education, public utilities, small business.
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Perry: "We have protected the right to life of Texas children. We have protected the sanctity of marriage."
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Perry references bouts with Texas legislature, strong link to recent abortion restrictions battles in state legislature. "You see, we Texans are not afraid of a good fight."
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. @GovernorPerry says 1.6m jobs created since he became govby Jay Root via twitter 7/8/2013 6:15:09 PM
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Perry: "Today I am announcing that I will not seek re-election as governor of Texas."
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. @GovernorPerry says time has come to " pass on the mantle of leadership."by Jay Root via twitter 7/8/2013 6:17:52 PM
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"And I will also pray and reflect and work to determine my own future path," Perry addsby Carrie Dann via twitter 7/8/2013 6:18:34 PM
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Perry calls job of Texas governor "the greatest job in modern politics."by Jim Acosta via twitter 7/8/2013 6:18:55 PM -
Yesterday, the Washington Post dug up two videos quite aptly showing, as they put it, "how you feel about the filibuster depend almost entirely on whether you are in the majority or the minority."
First we have Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) in 2008 decrying a 2005 effort in the Republican-led Senate to change filibuster rules on judicial nominees. Reid's currently pushing to change filibuster rules on the president's non-judicial appointments.
On the flip side, so to speak, here is Senate Minority Leader McConnell (R-KY) echoing Reid 2013 during Senate Republicans' aforementioned 2005 push to eliminate the filibuster in certain cases and rely on a simple majority. -
Reid says in interivew: LBJ had one filibuster in six years as majority leader. I've had 413. http://on.wsj.com/12CSihG via @WSJby Gerald F Seib via twitter 7/16/2013 1:54:04 PM -
Buzzfeed reports on Senator Carl Levin's (D-MI) opposition to Democratic Majority Leader Reid's efforts to subvert filibusters on non-judicial nominees:
Levin is one of a dwindling number of old guard Senate Democrats who have expressed discomfort with the idea of changing the rules. But there is enormous pressure from Democratic base organizations to change the rules. And much of the Senate Democratic conference is made up of relative neophytes with little love for the chamber’s traditional rules that have turned it into a legislative quagmire.
Levin also recently announced that he won't be seeking re-election in 2014, perhaps making it easier to buck his own party and take a more traditionalist stand. -
by Patricia Zengerle via twitter 7/16/2013 2:12:48 PM -
Meanwhile, Senator Gillibrand (D-NY) is holding a press conference on sexual assault in the military following yesterday's report of faulty military investigations of abuse. Patricia Zengerle is there for Reuters:
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Reuters: Under tentative deal, organized labor would help pick two new NLRB nominees after Obama withdraws two pending ones, Republicans would agree to confirm them: sources
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Sen Blunt: deal solves prob w/o creating lasting implications:"I'm not sure it has a long term resonance but it gets us on to other things"by Nancy Cordes via twitter 7/16/2013 3:37:33 PM -
Senate invokes cloture by a 71-29 margin to proceed on vote for Cordray nomination, and there now can be up to eight hours of debate before that vote. Reid takes the floor to commend the chamber for the strong vote for "this good man," says he hopes the full eight hours will not be needed.
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McCain, who brokered peace in Senate today, says body embarrassed by it's approval rating "just below a colonoscopy"by Noah Bierman via twitter 7/16/2013 3:41:33 PM -
17 Republicans joined Dems to vote to move forward with Cordray confirmation, CSPAN says. #CFPBby Emily Stephenson via twitter 7/16/2013 3:43:43 PM -
Here's how the Reuters preview by Roberta Rampton sets up today's speech:
Galesburg is a symbolic backdrop for the arguments Obama wants to make to Americans in coming weeks and months to prod Congress to allow him to spend more building roads and bridges and giving states grants to hire teachers.
He has described his speech in Galesburg as a "thematic" look at the issues, with details still to come.
In RealClearPolitics, Alexis Simendinger pulls the lens out to situate the speech in Obama's second term:It comes as no surprise that President Obama wants to reset his messaging before Congress escapes Washington for a long August holiday. Filling the airwaves with presidential speeches, travel stops, news media encounters, and images of the president doing summer-y things is a tradition of the modern presidency.
But the enormous White House wind-up for an economic speech today that aides say will be long on vision and short on news suggests Obama is beginning to work on another kind of agenda -- speaking to the history books.
The Atlantic's Elspeth Reeve writes that Obama is pitching Republican Senators with his speech, as he focuses less on internecine legislative battles and DC jargon (it's worth listening for any mention of "sequester") and more on trying to convince wavering conservatives -- a more common animal in the Senate -- to collaborate, rather than watch more extreme House Republicans hold up any significant legislative accomplishments. -
On House floor, @SpeakerBoehner says Pres Obama's economy speech today will be "an empty shell...like an Easter Egg with no candy it it."by Mark Knoller via twitter 7/24/2013 4:14:49 PM
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If Pres Obama wants to boost economy, says Boehner, he should approve Keystone pipeline and delay ObamaCare for individuals.by Mark Knoller via twitter 7/24/2013 4:15:27 PM
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New White House website for Obama's economic speech. Headline: "A better bargain for the middle class" http://www.whitehouse.gov/a-better-bargain?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_content=072313p2&utm_campaign=economyby Zeke Miller via twitter 7/24/2013 4:15:31 PM
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Obama takes the podium: "Hello, Galesburg! It's good to be back!"
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Obama references his 2005 commencement speech at Knox college, says that a lot of things were different then -- including his lack of gray hair. Using the start of the speech to highlight long-term economic trends hurting the growth of the middle class, culminating in the burst housing bubble and financial meltdown he situates at his arrival in the White House in 2009.
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Obama: "Today, five years after the start of that great recession, America has fought its way back."by Gabriel Debenedetti via twitter 7/24/2013 5:20:34 PM -
Obama's now listing his stimulus, economic and financial reform, consumer protection, and infrastructure projects put in place to fight the recession.
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No new policy in Obama speech. It frames the issues, revisits Inaugural and State of the Union themes, but is largely a repetition exerciseby Jeff Mason via twitter 7/24/2013 5:23:13 PM -
Obama: "The average CEO has gotten a raise of 40% since 2009. The average American earns less than he or she did in 1999."
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Despite speculation below that Obama might pull back on sequester talk and direct attacks on Washington opponents, we're seeing a standard impassioned refrain here ticking off national security and other sequestration targets, as well as deflections of Republican attacks on Obamacare.
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Obama on the sequester: It's cost jobs, it slowed growth, it hurt the military… "It's been a huge drag on our economy."by Jim Roberts via twitter 7/24/2013 5:31:16 PM -
Man in audience yells "My daughter has insurance now" when Obama talks Obamacare, "I appreciate that, that’s what it’s about," POTUS saysby AdamATCNN via twitter 7/24/2013 5:32:14 PM -
Obama says that, over the next several weeks (during which Congress will be in August recess visiting constituents), he will bring his ideas to Americans across the country. Pointing to broad issues of income inequality and greater opportunity, says that his platform is "what we need right now" as part of a long-term plan that doesn't go from crisis-to-crisis as per the recent DC routine.
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To echo Reuters reporter Jeff Mason below, this speech has a definite State of the Union feel to it, with the high levels of energy and applause coupled with sweeping rhetoric and proposals and a promise of more specific action to come.
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An economy that creates jobs, an environmental and renewable energy focus, new manufacturing (including a local reference to a closed Galesburg site), telecom and network upgrades -- the SOTU-like goalmaking rundown continues. Obama returns to theme of positioning America vs. competitors globally, preventing the loss of investment to other countries.
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Obama, speaking in Galesburg, Ill. "This is the land of lincoln. Lincoln was all about building stuff."by Jim Roberts via twitter 7/24/2013 5:44:22 PM
Iran-backed forces seize tanker, maritime sources say; Iran denies it
DUBAI/LONDON (Reuters) -Iranian-backed forces are believed to have seized an oil tanker in the Gulf off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, three maritime security sources said, after Britain's maritime trade agency reported a "potential hijack" in the area on Tuesday.
