Congress appears poised to back Obama war plan
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama appears to have secured what President George W. Bush couldn't: bipartisan support for an unpopular and faltering war. Despite expressing an uneasiness about the details, lawmakers are poised to back Obama's plan to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan after getting assurances that some soldiers and Marines will begin withdrawing in July 2011.
Analysis: Afghanistan pullout date not definite
WASHINGTON (AP) — So much for the deadline. President Barack Obama started the clock on the U.S. war in Afghanistan this week, announcing that the beginning of the end would come in July 2011 even as he massively expanded the war by ordering 30,000 new U.S. forces into the fray.
Obama rejoining economic debate with jobs summit
WASHINGTON (AP) — Under pressure from Republicans and an impatient public to fix the sputtering economic recovery, President Barack Obama is refocusing on this politically potent issue by talking job creation with business and labor leaders at the White House. The White House has lacked a unified economic message in recent weeks, with its attention focused instead on health care and Obama's three-month review of the Afghanistan war. With unemployment in double digits for the first time in decades, Democratic lawmakers are suggesting a second economic stimulus aimed directly at job creation may be needed.
Congress may subpoena White House party crashers
WASHINGTON (AP) — This time they're invited, but they don't want to come. Congress wants to talk to the husband and wife who slipped through security into last week's state dinner at the White House. But on the eve of Thursday's hearing by the House Homeland Security Committee about how they did it, Tareq and Michaele Salahi declined to show up for questions.
Pentagon e-mails suggest distrust over ally Canada
WASHINGTON (AP) — How much does the U.S. government really trust Canada? Maybe less than you think. Espionage warnings from the Defense Department caused an international sensation a few years ago over reports of mysterious coins with radio frequency transmitters, until they were debunked. The culprit turned out to be a commemorative quarter in Canada.
Congress, Obama spar over paying for Afghan plan
WASHINGTON (AP) — Amid soaring budget deficits, President Barack Obama is running into congressional qualms over how to pay for his troop buildup in Afghanistan. Military strategy aside, the $30 billion cost is causing concern on both sides of the aisle. Still, leaders in Congress predicted Wednesday that Obama would prevail in winning funding for the war escalation. Some Democrats, favoring the 30,000 troop increase, are supporting a "war tax." But the White House and most lawmakers appeared unwilling to take such a step.
AARP backs Democrats in Senate health care fight
WASHINGTON (AP) — With a Senate showdown looming, the politically potent AARP rode to the rescue of Democrats on Wednesday, supporting $460 billion in Medicare cuts to help pay for landmark health care legislation. As Republicans pressed to restore the cuts, AARP said Democrats merely were recommending elimination of waste and inefficiency within the giant health care program for seniors.
Abortion showdown looms in Senate
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senators debating health care legislation are headed for a clash over abortion, the issue that threatened to derail the bill in the House. Anticipating the showdown, hundreds of abortion rights supporters gathered on Capitol Hill Wednesday to call on senators to keep new abortion restrictions out of the health care bill. Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., plans to unveil an anti-abortion amendment as early as Thursday that abortions rights supporters inside the Senate and out say they can't support.
Obama science advisers grilled over hacked e-mails
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans pointed to controversial e-mails leaked from climate scientists and said it was evidence of corruption. Top administration scientists looking at the same thing found no such sign, saying it doesn't change the fact that the world is warming. The e-mails from a British university's climate center were obtained by computer hackers and posted online about two weeks ago. Climate change skeptics contend the messages reveal that researchers manipulated and suppressed data and stifled dissent, and conservative bloggers are dubbing it "Climategate."
New stem cell lines approved for tax-paid research
WASHINGTON (AP) — Scientists can start using taxpayer dollars to do research with 13 batches of embryonic stem cells and the government says dozens more cell lines should be available soon, opening a new era for the potentially life-saving field. President Barack Obama lifted eight years of restrictions on these master cells last spring. But $21 million-and-counting in new projects were on hold until the National Institutes of Health determined which of hundreds of existing stem cell lines were ethically appropriate to use.
