Reid: Obama wants to help any way on health care
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama has pledged to work with Senate Democrats "in any meaningful way he can" to help pass a health care overhaul. That's what Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the president told Democratic senators in their closed-door meeting Sunday at the Capitol.
Obama aide cites al-Qaida leader in Afghanistan
WASHINGTON (AP) — Osama bin Laden may be slipping back and forth from Pakistan to Afghanistan. Or the U.S. might not have a clue, more than eight years after the al-Qaida leader masterminded the terrorist attacks on America. Given a chance Sunday to clear away some of the mystery surrounding the whereabouts of the world's most wanted terrorist, Obama administration officials seemed to add to it with what appeared to be conflicting assessments.
Obama tries to rally Senate Dems on health care
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama rallied Senate Democrats to stand together on his sweeping health care overhaul Sunday amid signs of progress on the divisive issue of whether the government can compete with private industry in selling insurance. At the request of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., Obama made a trip to the Capitol to appeal to rank-and-file Democrats to work for compromise and do it quickly, according to Reid spokesman Jim Manley. Vice President Joe Biden joined Obama for the closed-door meeting.
PROMISES, PROMISES: A closed meeting on openness
WASHINGTON (AP) — It's hardly the image of transparency the Obama administration wants to project: A workshop on government openness is closed to the public. The event Monday for federal employees is a fitting symbol of President Barack Obama's uneven record so far on the Freedom of Information Act, a big part of keeping his campaign promise to make his administration the most transparent ever. As Obama's first year in office ends, the government's actions when the public and press seek information are not yet matching up with the president's words.
Republicans hit Democrats for partisan health bill
WASHINGTON (AP) — Top Senate Republicans say President Barack Obama's drive for a health care overhaul has become a closed-door, partisan effort that is aiding drug companies and other medical providers. As Obama met privately with Senate Democrats at the Capitol, Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said the exclusion of Republicans from the meeting underlined how partisan the health care effort has been.
Must-pass bills pile up as days wind down
WASHINGTON (AP) — Time is running out for Congress this year on must-pass legislation to pay for federal programs, allow the government to borrow more money, keep highway projects going and prevent the jobless from losing unemployment and health insurance benefits. It's become a tradition for lawmakers to reach the final weeks of a session without yet renewing programs that expired with the start of the budget year on Oct. 1 or will end on Dec. 31. But with the Senate devoting all the next two weeks to a health care bill, the year-end pileup has reached new dimensions.
How health care bills compare to lawmakers' plan
WASHINGTON (AP) — You should get the same health insurance deal that members of Congress get. That was the gist of President Barack Obama's message as he tried to drum up enthusiasm for his health care overhaul at a Minneapolis town hall meeting a few months ago. But the legislation taking shape now in Congress is no carbon copy of what lawmakers get through the federal employee plan, even if Democrats cite it as their inspiration.
Obama security adviser: Picture not good on Iran
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama's national security adviser says the door remains open for Iran to work with other countries on its nuclear program. But James Jones also says the "picture is not a good one." Jones says the clock is ticking toward the end of the year. That's when Obama has said it would be clear whether Iran was ready to work with the United States, other U.N. Security Council members and Germany to assure the world it was not trying to build a nuclear weapon.
Obama aide: July 2011 Afghan pullout not `a cliff'
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama's national security adviser says the July 2011 date for the beginning of a U.S. troop withdrawal in Afghanistan is "not a cliff." Instead, James Jones calls it "a guide slope."
Gates: Pakistan now putting pressure on Taliban
WASHINGTON (AP) — Pakistan has acknowledged a growing threat from within its borders and is changing its attitude toward fighting terrorists, U.S. officials say. "The Taliban in Pakistan have been attacking Pakistani civilians, Pakistani government officials, military officials, trying to destabilize the government of Pakistan," said Defense Secretary Robert Gates, joined on three Sunday talk shows by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
