U.S. Politics
Around-the-clock political news and analysis from Reuters. Follow @ReutersPolitics for more.
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Obama to nominate Hagel for defense secretary: Democratic aide
President Barack Obama will nominate former Republican Senator Chuck Hagel to be his defense secretary and an announcement could come on Monday, sources familiar with the nomination process said.
The choice will likely set up a confirmation battle in the Senate over whether the former Nebraska senator and Vietnam veteran is a strong enough supporter of key U.S. ally Israel and over his past calls for military cuts.
The Obama administration backed down from a tough Senate confirmation battle over Susan Rice, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, who was Obama's first pick to replace Hillary Clinton as secretary of state.
Rice withdrew her name from consideration after drawing heavy fire from Republicans for remarks she made in the aftermath of a September 11 attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya. Obama then nominated Massachusetts Democratic Senator John Kerry, a former presidential candidate.
"The administration has a lot of work to do on Hagel," a Democratic Senate aide said on Sunday.
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"Quite frankly, Chuck Hagel is out of the mainstream of thinking, I believe, on most issues regarding foreign policy…Chuck Hagel, if confirmed to be Secretary of Defense, would be the most antagonistic Secretary of Defense toward the State of Israel in our nation's history...I don't know what his management experience is regarding the Pentagon -- little, if any."
- Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), speaking on CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday -
"It looks like the second term of Barack Obama is going to be an 'in your face' term. 'I'm not going to talk to you at all about the debt ceiling, and here's my Secretary of Defense nominee that's going to get a lot of bi-partisan concern.'"
- Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), speaking on CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday -
"He (Obama) not only won the election, but he wants to lead the country…he needs to lead for the good of this nation, and we need to work together and find compromise and consensus in both political parties. Chuck Hagel was a Republican senator from Nebraska, a decorated veteran of the Vietnam war, a person who has a resume that includes service on the Foreign Relations Committee as well as the Intelligence Committee. Yes, he is a serious candidate if the president chooses to name him."
- Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois), speaking on CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday -
Video: Obama expected to nominate Hagel for defense secretary (Deborah Lutterbeck reports) -
Attacks on Hagel r bogus.He's tough, courageous, sensible & able to withstand political pressure to do what's right for USA. What we need!
— David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) January 7, 2013 -
Obama to nominate Hagel, Brennan for top national security posts
President Barack Obama on Monday will announce the nominations of Republican Chuck Hagel as his next defense secretary and White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan as the new CIA director, a senior administration official said.
The choice of Hagel, a maverick former Republican senator and decorated Vietnam veteran, had been widely tipped to replace Leon Panetta at the Pentagon. The move will likely set up a tough Senate confirmation battle against critics who have attacked his record on Israel and Iran.
Brennan, who formerly served at the CIA, will succeed retired general David Petraeus, who resigned amid a scandal over an extramarital affair with his biographer.
The addition of Hagel and Brennan, along with Senator John Kerry as nominee for secretary of state, would fill out the team Obama will rely upon as he faces daunting challenges of winding down the war in Afghanistan, dealing with the Iranian nuclear standoff and curbing Pentagon spending.
The announcements are expected to come later on Monday.
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U.S. President Barack Obama and the first family step off Air Force One as they return to Joint Base Andrews outside Washington from their Hawaiian holiday, January 6, 2013. REUTERS/Larry Downing
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Video: Former Gov. Richardson, Google exec Schmidt travel to North Korea -
Video: Secretary Clinton returns to work after stomach bug, blood clot
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Hillary Clinton returned to work this morning, her first business was a meeting with all the Assistant Secretaries at 9:15.
— Josh Rogin (@joshrogin) January 7, 2013 -
Former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson and Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt arrive at an airport in Pyongyang, in this photo taken by Kyodo January 7, 2013. REUTERS/Kyodo
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A Connecticut state representative has apologized over a Facebook post directed at former U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords.
Giffords, who visited the town at the center of the December 14th Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting last week, was urged to "stay out of my towns" in a Facebook post published on the page of State Representative Debra Lee Hovey, who represents Newtown and Monroe, NBC affiliate WVIT reported on Monday.
Hovey apologized for the comments in a statement sent to the television station.
"The remarks I made regarding Congresswoman (Giffords') visit were insensitive," the statement read on WVIT's website, "My comments were meant to be protective of the privacy of the families and our community as we work to move on."
Giffords, a former congresswoman who represented a district in Arizona, was the victim of a shooting that killed six others in 2011. -
Cantor:"I am profoundly concerned and disappointed by President Obama’s nomination of former Senator Chuck Hagel to be Secretary of Defense"
— Alex Pappas (@AlexPappasDC) January 7, 2013 -
"Despite a furious counterattack from the opposition, the president had scored a major victory by securing lower tax rates for everyone in the middle class on down. President Barack Obama last week after narrowly averting the fiscal cliff? Nope, President George W. Bush in June 2001, signing the first set of his much-sought-after tax cuts."
- Michael Rosen, in a new Reuters Opinion piece explaining why the real "fiscal cliff" winner isn't President Obama, but former President George W. Bush. (read it here) -
"The President does believe that diversity is very important, and he also believes that picking the absolute right person for the job is very important."
- White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, answering a reporter's question about President Obama's decision to nominate men to two cabinet positions on Monday. -
"In my recent comments criticizing House Republicans for threatening to betray Congress' tradition of providing aid to disaster victims in a timely fashion regarding of region, I simply misspoke. I am proud to have been an advocate for disaster victims in the face of Republican foot-dragging, from Hurricane Katrina to Hurricane Sandy, from fires in the west to tornadoes in the Midwest."
- Sen. Harry Reid, in a statement on Monday addressing some controversial remarks made on the Senate floor Friday in which he compared Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Sandy -
Video: Obama picks Hagel for defense, Brennan for CIA -
Former U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel walks past U.S. President Barack Obama after Obama announced the nomination of Hagel to be his new Secretary of Defense, at the White House in Washington January 7, 2013. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
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.@StateDept welcomes #secstate back to work with some safety gear - a state dept football helmet & jersey! pbs.twimg.com/media/BABoAvXCcAEJtck.jpg
by Andrea Mitchell via twitter edited by Matthew Keys 1/7/2013 8:40:58 PM -
United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is seen in a picture provided by the State Department January 7, 2013, as she chairs her weekly meeting of the Assistant Secretaries of State at the State Department in Washington. Clinton resumed her official duties on Monday, five days after being released from a hospital for treatment of a blood clot. REUTERS/State Department/Handout
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"President Bush’s recovery is continuing at The Methodist Hospital, where in recent days he has taken great pride watching big football wins by Texas A&M and the Houston Texans. While no immediate timeline has been set for the President’s discharge, the Bushes wish to thank everyone for their many kind messages."
-Statement released by the Office of George H. W. Bush, published on FOX News' "Gretawire." (source) -
"(Governor Christie's) jobs package is a hurricane. He prayed a lot and got lucky a storm came."
- New Jersey Senate President Steven Sweeney, delivering comments ahead of Governor Chris Christie's "State of the State" address. Sweeney walked back his comments, immediately apologizing after delivering the line. (Read more at NJ.com) -
"Soon after the election, I informed President Obama of my intention to retire from public service and return home to California. Today, the president announced that he will nominate Chuck Hagel to succeed me as secretary of defense, and I want to express my strong support for this nomination."
- Outgoing Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, in a lengthy statement released Monday on his departure and the nomination of colleague Chuck Hagel to his post. (read the full statement) -
"Deputy Secretary Nides presented her (Secretary Clinton) with a gift from all of us in a big box...she opened the box, and inside was a football helmet with the State Department seal, lots of good padding, and also a football jersey that said Clinton on the back and on the front it says number 112, which symbolizes the number of countries that she’s visited as Secretary of State. And she loved it. She thought it was cool. But then, being Hillary Clinton, she wanted to get right to business."
- U.S. State Department Spokesperson Victoria Nuland, speaking about the return of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at a press briefing on Monday. (from transcript) -
Video: U.S. State Department daily press briefing for Monday, January 7 (U.S. State Department) -
Video: White House press briefing for Monday, January 7 (White House) -
Video: President Obama makes personnel announcements (White House) -
Video: Ammunition regulation bill introduced in California (KXTV) -
Obama inauguration tickets put on sale early by mistake
Two of the hottest tickets to President Barack Obama's second inauguration became even more difficult to acquire after the company responsible for selling seats to the official parade and ball on Sunday put the tickets on sale prematurely.
Public tickets for the official inaugural parade and ball were sold earlier than advertised by Ticketmaster, which first alerted buyers that the tickets would be sold Monday but then sent out a second message opening up sales Sunday.
The glitch caused the ticket broker's site to crash.
"All public tickets are first-come, first-served, including those sold tonight," the ticket giant said in an email sent to potential buyers Sunday evening. "There is no guarantee that you will be able to purchase a ticket at any time."
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Former lawmaker Giffords launches gun control initiative
Former Representative Gabrielle Giffords, who was severely wounded two years ago in an Arizona shooting, is launching a group aimed at curbing gun violence and raising enough money to challenge the well-funded gun lobby.
Giffords, starting the effort called Americans for Responsible Solutions with her husband former astronaut Mark Kelly, told ABC News that Congress must do more to prevent gun violence.
The two are gun owners, but in the wake of a string of recent mass shootings, they said more must be done to push common-sense efforts to reduce such violence.
"Enough," Giffords, who was shot in the head while meeting with constituents in Tucson, Arizona, told ABC in an interview aired on Tuesday.
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Video: President Obama prepares for fight over Chuck Hagel
(Source: "Today Show"/NBC News) -
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"President Obama will host President Hamid Karzai and his delegation at the White House for bilateral meetings on Friday, January 11. President Obama looks forward to welcoming the Afghan delegation to Washington, and discussing our continued transition in Afghanistan, and our shared vision of an enduring partnership between the United States and Afghanistan."
-White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, in a statement released Monday evening on the planned meeting between President Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai. -
"We have experienced too much death and hurt to remain idle. Our response to the Newtown massacre must consist of more than regret, sorrow and condolence. The children of Sandy Hook Elementary School and all victims of gun violence deserve fellow citizens and leaders who have the will to prevent gun violence in the future."
- Former U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords, in an op-ed written with her husband Mark Kelly, published on Tuesday by USA Today. -
"Forget Homeland and Downton Abbey, the hottest TV in the coming weeks is going to be the double bill of confirmation hearings in which the twin Vietnam vets (Chuck) Hagel and John Kerry face torrid cross-examination from their old pals in the Senate."
- Reuters columnist Nicholas Wapshott on the real reason why President Obama nominated Chuck Hagel for defense secretary. -
Video: Former Rep. Giffords launches gun control group
(Source: "Newsbreaker"/Ora TV) -
White House declines comment on possible AIG suit
WASHINGTON, Jan 8 (Reuters) - The White House declined to comment on Tuesday on a possible lawsuit by insurer American International Group against the U.S. government that alleges the terms of the firm's 2008 bailout were unfair, but defended the rescue.
"I won't comment on a lawsuit that's pending," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters at a briefing.
"The U.S. government acted in a bipartisan fashion to prevent the disorderly failure of AIG after concluding that such a failure would have caused catastrophic damage to the economy and financial system," he added.
The company has repaid the government for its emergency funding and the government reaped a profit from the rescue, Carney noted. The bailout is a reminder of the need to continue putting financial reforms into place, he said. -
U.S. IRS: to start accepting tax returns Jan. 30
WASHINGTON, Jan 8 (Reuters) - The U.S. Internal Revenue Service said on Tuesday it will begin accepting 2012 tax filings on Jan. 30, eight days later than originally planned due to last-minute changes to tax law made in Congress' legislation to avoid the 'fiscal cliff'."
This date ensures we have the time we need to update and test our processing systems," said IRS Acting Commissioner Steven Miller in a statement. -
Audio: White House Drug Czar Kerlikowske on changing enforcement priorities
(Source: KGO Radio) -
"We, as a state, have waited 72 days -- seven times longer than the victims of Hurricane Katrina waited. One thing I hope everyone in America clearly understands: New Jersey, both Republicans and Democrats, will never stand silent when our citizens are being shortchanged."
-New Jersey Governor Chris Christie speaking at "State of the State" address in Trenton on Tuesday -
Illinois House approves drivers licenses for illegal immigrants
The Illinois House of Representatives on Tuesday voted to grant temporary drivers licenses to illegal immigrants, the final legislative step before Democratic Governor Pat Quinn is expected to sign the measure into law.
Illinois would be the fourth state to offer some form of permits along with Washington state and New Mexico, which offer drivers licenses, and Utah, which provides driving permits.
The vote in the General Assembly or House, was 65 to 46, after the state Senate on December 4 overwhelmingly approved the legislation.
Supporters said an estimated 250,000 illegal immigrants drive in Illinois and the measure would make the roads safer by subjecting migrants to driving tests.
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Video: White House press briefing with Secretary Jay Carney
(Source: White House) -
Video: U.S. State Department's daily press briefing
(Source: U.S. State Department)
Catalonia's leaders fight off direct rule from Madrid
MADRID/BARCELONA Catalonia's leaders said on Saturday they would not accept direct rule imposed on the region by the Spanish government, as a political crisis that has rattled the economy and raised fears of prolonged unrest showed no signs of easing. | Video