Obama Hoping For Low-Profile Hawaiian Vacation
The Associated Press reports on President Obama’s Hawaiian vacation: “A politically rejuvenated President Barack Obama arrived here late Wednesday for an 11-day family vacation in his home state….He begins his vacation on a high note, having secured victories on a nuclear arms treaty with Russia and the repeal of the military’s ban on gay service members. He also struck a deal with Republican lawmakers to allow tax cuts for all income earners to continue, a compromise that angered some liberals but won Obama rare support from the GOP.”
Obama In Hawaii
President Obama is now spending the holiday season in Honolulu, Hawaii. He will receive the presidential daily briefing every day, but has no public events scheduled.
Biden In Delaware
Vice President Biden is celebrating the Christmas holiday with his extended family in Wilmington, Delaware. He has no publicly scheduled events.
Dozens Of Democrats Urge Change To Senate Rules
Roll Call reports: “In a dramatic shift in thinking within the Senate Democratic Conference, 56 current and incoming Democratic Senators have written a letter to Majority Leader Harry Reid in favor of changing the chamber’s filibuster rules. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) joined the Democrats in arguing that ‘the current abuse of the rules by the minority threatens the ability of the Senate to do the necessary work of the nation, and we urge you to take steps to bring these abuses of our rules to an end.’”
Electronic Info Dominates George W. Bush’s Archive
The Associated Press reports: “Archivists responsible for putting together the presidential library of former President George W. Bush are tasked with processing 80 terabytes of electronic information — 20 times the Clinton administration’s four terabytes. Bush’s electronic archives contain more than 200 million e-mails, compared with about 20 million in former President Bill Clinton’s. Bush’s archives also include share drives, hard drives, scheduling systems and digital photography, which his administration switched to about halfway through his tenure.”
Hispanic Groups Target Redistricting To Up Political Clout
The Washington Post reports: “Earlier this month, a group of civil rights lawyers gathered at a hotel in San Antonio to discuss their primary focus for the next year: the mundane but crucial issue of political redistricting. Anticipating a big uptick in the number of Hispanics in the United States - a view confirmed by new census figures released Tuesday - they set a goal of eking out every bit of political clout they could for the nation’s fastest-growing minority group.”
Schumer Predicts Bipartisanship Early In 112th Congress
The Hill reports: “One of the Senate’s top Democrats said Thursday he expects the next six months to be an unusually productive time in Congress. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) expressed hope that the productive lame-duck session had touched off an end — at least a temporary one — to the acrimony between the parties that marked much of the last two years on Capitol Hill.”
Eric Kleefeld
Eric Kleefeld joined TPM as an intern for the final months of the 2006 midterm elections, and then kept showing up for work. His other interests include guitars, old comic books and the politics of various English-speaking countries.
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