SALON

Tuesday, Feb 26, 2013 6:00 PM UTC

THE RESET: Obama can cheer progress on nominations

By

Topics: From the Wires, ,

THE RESET: Obama can cheer progress on nominationsFollowing a closed-door party caucus, House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, center, and GOP leaders meet with reporters, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 26 2013, to challenge President Obama and the Senate to avoid the automatic spending cuts that take effect in four day. Speaking at the Republican National Committee headquarters, Boehner complained that the House, with Republicans in the majority, has twice passed bills that would replace the across-the-board cuts known as the "sequester" with more targeted reductions, while the Senate, controlled by the Democrats, has not acted. A frustrated Boehner told reporters, quote, "We should not have to move a third bill before the Senate gets off their ass and begins to do something." From left are, Rep. James Lankford, R-Okla., Rep. Lynn Jenkins, R-Kansas, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., Boehner, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Va. and House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy of Calif. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) (Credit: AP)

Although scant progress has been made toward averting deep automatic budget cuts that begin Friday, President Barack Obama can welcome some forward motion elsewhere — on Cabinet nominations and on the economy.

After contentious confirmation hearings, the nominations of former Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska to be defense secretary and former White House Chief of Staff Jacob Lew as Treasury secretary both advanced Tuesday.

The Senate overcame Republican delaying tactics, voting 71 to 27 to move ahead on Hagel. Sixty votes had been required. The Senate was expected to confirm Hagel as early as later Tuesday.

And the Senate Finance Committee approved Lew’s nomination, 19-5, to succeed Timothy Geithner, sending it to the full Senate for a confirmation vote in the days ahead.

Also, new private economic forecasts suggest the U.S. economy was stronger at the close 2012 than first reported.

The Commerce Department had said the economy shrank at a 0.1 percent annual rate in the October-December quarter, but it is expected to revise that upward on Thursday to show a slight gain. That would follow upgrades by private forecasters.

That suggests the economy, while sluggish, isn’t in recession territory.

Also, home prices rose at a healthy pace in December compared with a year ago, and strong earnings reports came from Home Depot and Macy’s.

Obama continued attempting end runs around Congress to rally public support in locales and before audiences that would be hardest hit by the looming “sequester” spending cuts. He spoke Tuesday at Newport News Shipbuilding on the impact of the cuts on defense industries and the Virginia economy.

Republicans accuse him of failing to help negotiate ways to soften the blows while insisting on new tax increases. House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., calls him a “road show president.”

Democrats counter that Republicans are foot dragging. “It is critical that Republicans and Democrats come together to find a balanced way to avert these drastic cuts,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

__

Follow Tom Raum on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/tomraum

More By Tom Raum.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 0 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations