TPMDC Gary Locke
Barack Obama
Obama Taps Bryson As Commerce Secretary
John Bryson
President Barack Obama announced the nomination of businessman John Bryson to head the Commerce Department at the White House on Tuesday.
Bryson's name has been mentioned as a potential cabinet post since Obama won election in 2008. As a former chairman and CEO of Edison International, the parent company of Southern California Edison, and a co-founder of the Natural Resources Defense Council, he has straddled business and environmental activist circles. He also has served as a member of the United Nation's advisory group on energy and climate change.
During his tenure as the head of the California Public Utilities Commission in the early 1990s, Bryson angered some in the environmental community by arguing against renewable energy construction projects and defending the state's reliance on nuclear power.
If confirmed by the Senate, Bryson would replace outgoing Commerce Secretary Gary Locke who Obama tapped as the next ambassador to China.
Topics: Barack Obama, Business, Commerce Department, Environment, Gary Locke, john bryson
john bryson
Obama To Nominate John Bryson As Commerce Secretary
John Bryson
President Barack Obama plans to nominate businessman John Bryson to head the Commerce Department, according to a White House official.
Bryson's name has been mentioned as a potential cabinet post since Obama won election in 2008. As a former chairman and CEO of Edison International, the parent company of Southern California Edison, and a co-founder of the Natural Resources Defense Council, he has straddled business and environmental activist circles. He also has served as a member of the United Nation's advisory group on energy and climate change.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barack Obama, Business, Commerce Department, Environment, Gary Locke, john bryson
Roundup
TPMDC Morning Roundup
GOP Voters Are Ready For The 2012 Race. Now Somebody Tell The Candidates
The New York Times reports: "The 2012 presidential campaign is beginning, whether the candidates are ready or not. Republicans have been far more eager to criticize President Obama than to formally jump into the race and start jockeying for the right to challenge him. But their hesitation, or strategic patience, has done little to slow the early stages of the party's nominating contest."
Obama's Day Ahead
President Obama will receive the presidential daily briefing at 9:30 a.m. ET, and receive the economic daily briefing at 10:15 a.m. ET. He will depart for the White House at 12:45 p.m. ET, and depart from Andrews Air Force Base at 1:05 p.m. ET, arriving at 2:10 p.m. ET in Boston, Massachusetts. At 2:45 p.m. ET, he will visit a classroom at TechBoston Academy, with Melinda Gates and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, and deliver remarks on education at 3:15 p.m. ET. He will deliver remarks at a 7:05 p.m. ET DCCC fundraiser. He will depart from Boston at 8 p.m. ET, arriving at Andrews Air Force Base at 9:20 p.m. ET, and arriving back at the White House at 9:35 p.m. ET.
Topics: 2012 Presidential Primaries, 2012 elections, Barack Obama, China, Eric Cantor, Gary Locke, Joe Biden, John Boehner, Kevin McCarthy, Muslims, Roundup, Russia, START treaty
Census
Obama Administration Dodges Political Problem As Census Amendment Moved To Back Burner
Sen. Bob Bennett (R-UT) and Sen. David Vitter (R-LA)
For the last week folks across Washington - from the Commerce Department to Senate leadership to left-leaning advocacy groups - have had a bad case of heartburn over a potential floor fight on an amendment Republican senators were pushing to force the Census Bureau to ask immigration status during their 2010 count.
I wrote about the issue last week when Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) and Sen. Bob Bennett (R-UT) attempted to attach the amendment to the Commerce, Justice and Science appropriations bill outlining spending for the next year.
Senate leaders feared the amendment was getting some support from red-state Democrats so the Obama administration worked furiously to get it stripped from the bill, killed or at least pushed down the road to debate when Congress finally tackles immigration reform.
Commerce Sec. Gary Locke made a tough case to senators asking they oppose the amendment, reminding them such a change would cost "hundreds of millions of dollars," and long delays since the 300 million census forms would need to be reprinted and reshipped.
"It is too late to shift gears at this point in the process," Locke wrote in a memo obtained by TPMDC.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (1)Topics: Bob Bennett, Census, David Vitter, Gary Locke, Immigration
TPM Top News
© 2011 TPM Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
