Top Items:
Washington Post:
Obama's Budget Knife Yields Modest Trims — Plan Likely to Face Tough Fight on the Hill — President Obama has said for weeks that his staff is scouring the federal budget, “line by line,” for savings. Today, they will release the results: a plan to trim 121 programs by $17 billion …
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Andrew Taylor / Associated Press:
White House: Obama seeks hike in domestic spending
White House: Obama seeks hike in domestic spending
Discussion:
Politics Daily
George S. McGovern / Wall Street Journal:
The ‘Free Choice’ Act Is Anything But — George Meany and binding arbitration. — Printer — Friendly — The recent news that Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter has become a member of the Democratic caucus has given new life to legislation that many thought had been put to rest for this Congress …
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Karl Rove / Wall Street Journal:
Republicans and Obama's Court Nominees
Republicans and Obama's Court Nominees
Discussion:
Washington Monthly
Karen DeYoung / Washington Post:
National Security Adviser Jones Says He's ‘Outsider’ in Frenetic White House — President Obama's national security adviser, James L. Jones, looks for rare opportunities to ride his bike from his McLean home to work at the White House. On occasion, he has pedaled back across the Potomac River for lunch.
Discussion:
Weekly Standard, RedState, New York Times, Ben Smith's Blog, MSNBC, ATTACKERMAN and marbury
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Shailagh Murray / Washington Post:
New Deal: Specter Gets a Subcommittee Chairmanship — Senate Democratic leaders have reached agreement with Sen. Arlen Specter to partially restore the party switcher's status on the Judiciary Committee, by granting Specter the chairmanship of the Crime and Drugs Subcommittee.
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Emily Pierce / Roll Call:
Durbin Offers Up Key Subcommittee Gavel to Specter — Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) has offered to give up a powerful subcommittee on the Judiciary Committee for recent Democratic convert, Sen. Arlen Specter (Pa.). — The move comes amid growing questions about what Majority Leader Harry Reid …
Julia Duin / Washington Times:
Obama to be prayer day no-show — President to sign proclamation, observe privately — President Obama is distancing himself from the National Day of Prayer by nixing a formal early morning service and not attending a large Catholic prayer breakfast the next morning.
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Jacqueline L. Salmon / Washington Post:
No Day of Prayer Event for Obama
No Day of Prayer Event for Obama
Discussion:
Washington Monthly
Michael Grunwald / Time:
Republicans in the Wilderness: Is the Party Over? — These days, Republicans have the desperate aura of an endangered species. They lost Congress, then the White House; more recently, they lost a slam-dunk House election in a conservative New York district, then Senator Arlen Specter.
Timothy Geithner / New York Times:
How We Tested the Big Banks — THIS afternoon, Treasury, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Reserve will announce the results of an unprecedented review of the capital position of the nation's largest banks.
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Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
Is Anyone Reading the News? — This remark, from David Simon as reported by Adam Serwer, seems to me to have the correct focus for fretting about the future of journalism: “The day I run into a Huffington Post reporter at a Baltimore zoning board hearing is the day I will no longer be worried about journalism.”
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The Hill:
Band of centrists forming for Senate GOP in 2010 — For those writing Republican centrism's obituary after Arlen Specter's party switch, holster your quills. — In fact, if the next few weeks go well for the GOP, it might pave the way for a whole new chapter in the left flank of the right-leaning party.
CNN:
Limbaugh to Powell: ‘Become a Democrat’ — WASHINGTON (CNN) - Rush Limbaugh fired back at Colin Powell for his critical comments earlier this week, saying Wednesday that the former secretary of state should join the Democratic Party. — “What Colin Powell needs to do is close the loop …
Washington Post:
Obama Offers Compromise on D.C. Tuition Vouchers — Tuition Grants Would Continue for Private School Students Already in Program — President Obama will propose setting aside enough money for all 1,716 students in the District's voucher program to continue receiving grants …
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The White House:
Determining What Works, Line by Line — OMB Director Peter Orszag tells us about the budget being released today, in particular the volume on Terminations, Reductions, and Savings. — We in the Administration have spoken often about the President's Budget heralding a new era of responsibility …
Wall Street Journal:
Should the GOP Forget Reagan? — The Republican Party's unending tale of woe sounds like a friend's account of sitting through the New York Yankees' 22-4 loss to the Cleveland Indians at the new Yankee Stadium April 18. — In the 14-run second inning, three Indians hit home runs into the right-field seats, including a grand-slam.
a Baltimore Sun / Baltimore Sun:
Police goof in raid, city stalls on damages — Man stymied in pursuit of door repair compensation — Andrew Leonard, a 33-year-old chemist who has no criminal record, said he and his wife were frightened and humiliated by a mistaken no-knock raid at their Medfield home.
Discussion:
Reason
Jerry Seper / Washington Times:
EXCLUSIVE: Records violations ensnare housing nominee — Office handed largest fine in U.S. history — President Obama's choice for the government's No. 2 housing job is embroiled in the largest fine in U.S. history for “blatant violations” of open records laws after the Washington State …
Phil Kerpen / Fox News:
Hawaii Lawmakers Pass Bill to Create ‘Islam Day’ — Hawaii's state Senate overwhelmingly approved a bill Wednesday to celebrate “Islam Day” — over the objections of a few lawmakers who said they didn't want to honor a religion connected to Sept. 11, 2001. — HONOLULU — Hawaii's state …