During her press conference on National Take Your Kid to Work Day, Speaker Pelosi answers a question from a young man about who the next president should be. (0:27)

 

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The Clinton campaign discusses their victory in Pennsylvania.(36:02)

 

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Bureau Chief Ellen Ratner and our New York and UN correspondent Dan Patterson are currently in Sudan.

Legal Correspondent Jay Tamboli is on the look outs for upcoming FISA discussions.

Our Washington Bureau will cover the Foreign Education and Labor Committee hearing on “Insuring the Availability of Federal Student Loans” and it will also attend the House Armed Services Committee hearing on “Mental Health Overview.”

The President is out of town.

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During a press availability at the Pentagon, Adm. Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, says the Defense Department needs “to be prepared across the board” for a new president and that the idea of a rapid withdrawal worries him. (1:01)

 

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At a panel discussion at the National Press Club entitled “Can the Next President Rise Above the Partisanship?,” former Congressman Leon Panetta states that though government through crisis is politically safe, it erodes the trust between the people and the government. (0:46)

 

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At a panel discussion at the National Press Club entitled “Can the Next President Rise Above the Partisanship?,” American Enterprise Institute Scholar Norman Ornstein discusses a different format for Presidential debates that could steer the dialogue away from the current short answer sound-bite style. (1:10)

 

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Clinton Conference Call -Sunday February 17th

Howard Wolfson and Phil Singer and the Clinton people say that Obama
is flip flopping on taking public financing. He is backing away from
a specific promise. This is not the first time that he has done this
in his political life. In primaries he runs on promises and then does
not deliver on it. A reporter said that it was not a specific pledge
but the Clinton campaign quotes Bill Burton from the campaign as
saying he would. Clinton campaign quotes a Common Cause questionnaire.
They say he has broken a commitment. ” here is a promise that he is
breaking right before our very eyes” Senator Clinton will assess the
situation on public financing when the situation comes. That would
have been fine for Senator Obama. He took a specific position and then
decided to renege on it. It is fair for voters to ask for someone does
not have a long history, it is fair for people to look at his
promises. Does oratory and promises deliver results?

Obama has taken money from people who work in special interests and
companies. If he is interested in not having special interests and he
still takes contributions from people that hire those lobbyists. Once
again you hear great speeches from Senator Obama that are not backed
up by the facts.

Impact on future contests– they do not believe that momentum is the
driver of actual votes
Senator Obama had momentum and lost many of the big states. Among rank
and file Democrats people are enthusiastic. Senator Clinton would be
the nominee of a united party. We believe that we will have 2025
delegates and we will be the nominee.

Our expectation will achieve the result to put Senator Clinton on the
road to the nomination. We have asked our delegates to seat Michigan
and Florida. Over two million people voted in those elections.

Health care- facts are crystal clear- Obama has used Harriet and
Louise tactics to attack our health care plan when he leaves fifteen
million people out.

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Harold Ickes & Phil Singer from Clinton Campaign on Conference Call
Saturday February 16th, 2008

Ickes: Said he had been around Democratic Presidential politics since 1968.
Served on rules committee and by-laws—have helped manage conventions

Several points— the race tied with 45 delegates—miniscule between them—18 jurisdictions yet to vote—1075 delegates up for grabs—neither will have enough pledged—Obama needs 340 of super delegates (Ickes calls them automatic delegates—under Obama’s projection then Senator Clinton needs 480.

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In a heated exchange, the Senate Budget Committee heard testimony from OMB director Jim Nussle regarding President Bush’s FY2009 Budget Proposal. Chariman Kent Conrad (D-ND) opened the hearing with a poster reading “the debt is the threat” and continued this theme, saying the “debt is going up like a scalded cat,” described the three D’s of President Bush’s legacy as “debt, deficit, and decline,” and called the budget “a debt bomb on the next president.” He made sure to emphasize the difference between the deficit, which is the year-to-year difference between spending and revenue, and the debt, which includes all money owed to Social Security and other lenders.

The consensus was apparent that this budget is unrealistic on a number of levels. A number of social programs would face spending cuts of up to 100%, the DOD would receive less than half of the $193 billion it spent this year in Iraq and Afghanistan.

While each side of the aisle presented different complaints, they were united in opposition to the projected economic outlook if this plan is put into action. The $9 trillion debt is expected to reach $10 trillion; if the stimulus package is enacted, the 2008 deficit is expected to reach $400 billion. Ranking member Judd Gregg (R-NH) criticized the Democrats regarding Pay-Go rules and SCHIP, but gave Nussle the same treatment, criticizing the long-run usefulness of this plan.

Chairman Conrad and Senator Bernard Sanders (I-VT) were some of the most vocal and aggressive when demanding justifications for unrealistically low war spending estimates ($70 billion for 2009) and severe cuts to social programs like LIHEAP which helps low-income families heat their homes. Nussle responded with a question, asking when Congress would pay the war bills for this year.

Medicare and Medicaid was also a topic of long discussion. Nussle claimed the budget aims to limit uncontrolled growth in spending in these areas. The Committee discussed the need for reform in these areas, rather than simple spending cuts.

Senator Lautenberg (D-NJ) focused on the cuts that Amtrak would receive under the President’s plan, remarking on traffic problems across the country.

Senator Menedez (D-NJ) seemed to sum it all up when he declared the proposal “dead on arrival.”

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Secretary Chertoff talks about the President’s support of the Department and the 6.8 percent increase in the budget request since fy2008.

 

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