Debt Ceiling

Senior Admin Officials: Debt Limit Brinksmanship Is Political Suicide ... For Republicans

Brian Beutler | May 22, 2012, 1:15PM

President Barack Obama

Ever since House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) signaled a return to debt limit brinksmanship this coming winter, White House officials have been adamant that the administration's not going to countenance a repeat of last August.

"[W]e're not going to recreate the debt ceiling debacle of last August," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney insisted from the podium last week. "It is simply not acceptable to hold the American and global economy hostage to one party's political ideology. It is the responsibility of Congress to ensure that the United States of America pays its bills, that it maintains its creditworthiness, that it fulfills its obligation and maintains the full faith and credit that it has long enjoyed."

At a background briefing with reporters Tuesday, two senior administration officials made a plausible case that the GOP's demands are politically unsustainable, suggesting President Obama can stick to his guns as the debt limit approaches and that Boehner and Republicans will cave.

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Barack Obama

More Backlash For Wyden Than For Ryan On Controversial Medicare Plan

Brian Beutler | December 15, 2011, 3:35PM

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)

Sen. Ron Wyden wants to assure his colleagues he hasn't undermined them politically. In a head-turning move, Wyden announced Wednesday that he's teamed up with House GOP budget chair Paul Ryan on a policy framework to partially privatize Medicare -- a move that stunned his fellow Democrats.

Setting aside the policy -- which would in essence turn Medicare into ObamaCare with a robust public option -- the very existence of the plan has deep implications for the 2012 elections, most of them bad for his own party.

Speaking to reporters Thursday after an event with Ryan, Wyden said the political ramifications are overblown.

"Nobody ducks their past votes and their previous statements," Wyden said. "That's just a given."

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John Boehner

White House To Boehner On Jobs Plan: Did We Hit A Nerve?

Susan Crabtree | October 14, 2011, 1:47PM

The White House is holding fast to its claim that Republicans are running a do-nothing Congress, and, unlike President Obama, have yet to put forth a jobs bill -- or at least a real one.

Speaker John Boehner's (R-OH) press office Thursday evening pointedly released a summary of a private phone call he and Obama had earlier that day, in which Boehner took serious issue with Obama's claims during that morning's press conference that he has yet to see a GOP plan for job creation. (Obama had called Boehner to congratulate him on the passage of trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama).

Boehner reminded Obama that House Republicans put forth a "Plan for America's Job Creators" in May, and noted that he and other members of the GOP leadership team have spoken with the President and his staff about the plan and referenced it on numerous occasions, in letters and elsewhere.

The GOP plan consists of repealing government regulations on businesses, reducing taxes on individuals to 25 percent, allowing businesses to reinvest their overseas profits in the U.S. without having to pay a tax penalty, passing the three trade agreements, maximizing U.S. energy production and paying down the debt by slashing government spending.

But the White House argues that most of those policies -- minus the trade agreements (which he strongly supported) -- won't do anything to create jobs immediately, and so Obama and his team don't consider the proposal a real Jobs plan and they haven't been shy about saying so.

White House spokesman Jay Carney on Friday was asked whether Obama was miffed by Boehner's decision to release the contents of his private conversation with the President. Carney's response: we must have hit a nerve.

"What I think it points out [is] that Republicans are coming under pressure from their constituents to do something on jobs and the economy, because again, one of the reasons they're coming under pressure, we're not just saying this is essential, their constituents are saying it," Carney said.

"The Republicans' so-called plan for jobs creators, while it might have some good ideas in it, free trade agreements, passage of patent reform and some other issues, those same outside analysts are saying will have no significant impact on the economy or jobs in the near term," he continued.

In Boehner's account of the phone call, he told Obama that Republicans have given his jobs plan serious consideration and even released a detailed memo outlining specific areas where they believe common ground can be found.

Boehner also pointed out that the House has already acted on several items in the White House jobs package, including a veterans hiring bill, trade agreements, and a 3 percent withholding bill, which the Ways & Means Committee approved Thursday and will be voted on the House floor this month.

"They also discussed transportation and infrastructure, and the Speaker expressed his desire to do something on the issue, but to do it in a fiscally-responsible way," Boehner's release noted.

Correction: original report misquoted Carney as saying NAFTA reform, instead of patent reform.

Barack Obama

White House Backs Reid's 'Nuclear' Approach

Susan Crabtree | October 7, 2011, 1:43PM

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney

The White House tepidly endorsed Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's (R-NV) decision to go a bit nuclear Thursday night and change a Senate rule in order to allow passage of the widely popular China currency manipulation bill... and prevent a potentially embarrassing vote on the President's jobs bill.

"Well, I don't know the particulars or the arcane details [of Senate parliamentary procedure]," Carney said. "But I can say, yes, we think it's generally a problem that the filibuster has become a tool that is applied so broadly to measures that normally require just a majority vote."

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Jay Carney

White House: Cantor's 'Mob' Criticism Of Occupy Wall Street Is 'Hypocrisy Unbound'

Evan McMorris-Santoro | October 7, 2011, 1:23PM

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor is speaking out of both sides of his mouth when it comes to the thousands of Americans taking to the streets for the Occupy Wall Street movement, the White House said Friday.

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Barack Obama

Obama Has No Regrets For Acknowledging Economic Woes

Susan Crabtree | October 4, 2011, 2:12PM

President Barack Obama

President Obama is standing by his concession Monday in an interview with ABC News that Americans aren't better off than they were four years ago before the near collapse of the financial system and a deep economic recession -- both of which occurred at the tail end of President George W. Bush's term.

At a fundraiser in Dallas, Obama returned to the point he made in the interview, that Americans are still suffering through hard economic times.

"Of course they're still hurting," he said. "Every night I get letters and emails from families who are struggling."

He listed among his successes the auto bailout and Wall Street reform, noting Republican opposition to both.

The President doesn't regret acknowledging the truth, namely, that the economy is still flagging and is unlikely to quickly rebound any time soon, White House spokesman Jay Carney also told reporters Tuesday while traveling to Texas on Air Force One.

"It would be wrong to somehow suggest that the hole created by that recession was not very deep ... or that somehow we'll emerge from it overnight," Carney said.

But Carney also noted that "four years ago was 2007 -- prior to the point where the policies of the previous administration plunged us into the greatest recession since the Great Depression."

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Timothy Geithner

Geithner: Suskind Book Has No Basis In Reality

Susan Crabtree | September 19, 2011, 12:56PM

Office of Management and Budget Director Jacob J. Lew, and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner strongly rejected the way he is depicted in "Confidence Men," Ron Suskind's new book on the Obama administration's economic policies and efforts to shore up the financial sector in the wake of the collapse.

"I haven't read this book, but -- to borrow a phrase -- I've lived the reality," Geithner told reporters at a White House press briefing Monday. "Reports about this book bear no resemblance to the reality we lived."

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Barack Obama

Touchy, Touchy: White House Still Pushing Full Jobs Package Despite Brief Confusion

Susan Crabtree | September 14, 2011, 5:58AM

President Obama

The White House is getting a tad bit sensitive about whether it would accept anything less than Congressional passage of the President's full job package.

It may be just for rhetorical strategy because there's no way Congress would accept the entire jobs bill lock, stock and barrel. Majority Leader Eric Cantor has already said he would jettison nearly all of the spending provisions. Still, Tuesday afternoon the White House took the unusual step of officially clarifying previous remarks its own spokesman made during a briefing.

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White House

White House On Jobs Bill: 'What On Earth Are We Waiting For?'

Susan Crabtree | September 13, 2011, 2:52PM

The White House turned up the rhetorical heat on House Republicans Tuesday over passing the jobs bill, at one point asking Congress "what on earth are we waiting for?"

During a speech at a newly renovated high school in Speaker John Boehner's home state of Ohio, President Obama called out some House Republicans for pushing their leaders not to pass any of elements of the package in order to deny President Obama a political "win."

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Jimmy Hoffa

White House: 'Hoffa's Words Are His Own'

Susan Crabtree | September 6, 2011, 6:51PM

Teamsters President James P. Hoffa

White House spokesman Jay Carney put only a bit of distance between President Obama and incendiary comments Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa made warming up a crowd before Obama's pro-union speech Monday.

Hoffa's comments caused a stir in GOP circles with many conservative figures and commentators accusing the Hoffa of inciting violence against Tea Party activists and the members of Congress they support.

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Jay Carney

White House Denies Report That Pentagon Plans To Reduce Troops In Iraq To 3,000

Susan Crabtree | September 6, 2011, 4:56PM

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney

The White House denied initial reports that the Obama administration is moving forward with a plan to radically reduce the number of U.S. troops in Iraq to 3,000 by the end of the year.

Fox News on Tuesday reported that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta had signed off on the troop-reduction plan despite an angry reaction from generals and senior commanders.

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Barack Obama

White House: Debate Organizers Can Always Reschedule Away From Our Jobs Speech

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 31, 2011, 1:22PM

If organizers of next week's Republican presidential debate are upset that the White House is calling for a nationally-televised presidential speech before a joint session of Congress at the same time their event is scheduled to begin at the Reagan Library in California, the White House is not offering much in the way of apology.

"There were a lot of considerations," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters today. "And, obviously, one debate of many that's on one channel of many was not enough reason not to have the speech at the time that we decided to have it."

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Rick Perry

Awkward Allies? White House Agrees With Karl Rove About Perry's "Treason" Comments

Thomas Lane | August 16, 2011, 3:29PM

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney

It's not often you see President Obama's spokesman, Jay Carney, agreeing wholeheartedly with Karl Rove. However, they're both singing from the same song-sheet when it comes to Rick Perry's recent remarks on Ben Bernanke.

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FAA

White House Pushes For FAA Solution By Week's End

Susan Crabtree | August 4, 2011, 2:21PM

President Obama phoned Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) Wednesday to urge him to pass a bill extending funding for the Federal Aviation Administration and hopes House Republicans and Democrats can resolve their differences and get tens of thousands of FAA and construction workers back on the job by the end of the week.

White House spokesman Jay Carney confirmed Obama's call to Boehner and said the President wants a resolution to the impasse by the end of the week even though the two sides have yet to make any progress resolving their differences.

"Obama called Boehner yesterday, and said this is one thing we can do for job creation pretty instantly," Carney told reporters Thursday. "It's not resolved, and it needs to be resolved, and we're hopeful that it will by the end of the week."

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Debt Ceiling

White House to House GOP: The Ball's In Your Court

Susan Crabtree | July 25, 2011, 3:48PM

President Barack Obama delivers remarks on the ongoing debt ceiling debate in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington on July 5, 2011.

The White House is squarely backing a proposal by Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) that would raise the debt limit through 2012 while making $2.7 trillion in spending cuts -- and providing no tax revenue.

The onus is now on Republicans to sign onto Reid's deal or continue to test the financial markets' stability as the clock runs down on the Aug. 2 deadline to raise the nation's borrowing limit or face default.

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DOMA

Obama Officially Backs Measure To Repeal DOMA

Susan Crabtree | July 19, 2011, 3:03PM

President Barack Obama (D)

President Obama is officially backing legislation that would repeal the 1996 Defense Of Marriage Act, which prohibits the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriage even for couples married under state law.

The President has "long called for a legislative appeal for the so-called Defense of Marriage Act, which continues to have a real impact on families," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters at Tuesday's briefing.

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Barack Obama

Obama Embraces 'Gang of Six' Deficit Plan

Susan Crabtree | July 19, 2011, 2:16PM

President Obama heaped praise on a deficit-reduction proposal produced by bipartisan group of senators known as the "Gang of Six," calling it a "significant step" and arguing that members on both side of the aisle are beginning to coalesce around a balanced approach involving cuts to entitlements and tax increases.

"We're in the same playing field and my hope is that we start gathering everybody in the next couple of days" on an agreement, Obama told reporters in a brief appearance in the White House briefing room Tuesday.

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Debt Ceiling

White House: C'mon Guys, The Holy Grail Is Right In Front Of Us

Susan Crabtree | July 14, 2011, 4:02PM

President Barack Obama/PABLO MARTINEZ MONSIVAIS / POOL/EFE/Newscom

Seemingly undaunted by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor's (R-VA) continued brickwall response to any deficit reduction deal involving net tax increases, the President plans to keep pressing Republicans to go for the "holy grail" and strike the biggest deal possible, according to White House spokesman Jay Carney.

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Debt Ceiling

McConnell Debt Back-Up Plan Gives Dems Opportunity To Break GOP Anti-Tax Hegemony

Brian Beutler | July 13, 2011, 6:00AM

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY)

The U.S. political world reacted with confusion on Tuesday to a ground-shifting proposal by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).

[TPM SLIDESHOW: Debt Negotiations At The White House]

The plan itself was clear enough: Republicans don't really have the stomach to allow the country to default on its debt in pursuit of their decades-long goals of slashing deeply into popular entitlement programs. But instead of admitting that and extending President Obama's borrowing authority through the 2012 election, McConnell proposed a Rube Goldberg-esque scheme by which Obama, by accepting some public embarrassment for himself and his party, could raise the debt limit on his own, with no policy strings attached.

No spending cuts for Republicans. No tax increases for Democrats. In effect, a clean debt-limit hike with all attendant political consequences, such as there are any, falling on the latter.

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MSNBC

Carney 'Expressed' To NBC that Halperin Was 'Inappropriate'

Susan Crabtree | June 30, 2011, 2:05PM

White House spokesman Jay Carney may have played a direct role in MSNBC's decision to sack -- er, suspend indefinitely -- Time magazine's Mark Halperin for calling President Obama a "dick" on Morning Joe.

Carney said he personally told MSNBC that he didn't appreciate Time magazine's Mark Halperin's obscene name-calling.

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Afghanistan

In Afghanistan, Nation-Building By Any Other Name Is Still Nation-Building

Susan Crabtree | June 23, 2011, 5:21PM

President Barack Obama

One line more than any other in President Obama's primetime speech about gradually withdrawing troops from Afghanistan is coming back to haunt him.

"America, it is time to focus on nation-building here at home," Obama said towards the end of the speech.

The dramatic line was music to the ears of many of his fellow Democrats and voters who supported him. The words tapped into the populist, isolationist tendencies of many voters across the country who have an acute case of combat fatigue after nearly a decade of wars initiated by another president who promised the very same return to domestic concerns before the 9/11 attacks.

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Libya

Obama and Boehner Trade Accusations On Libya

Susan Crabtree | June 16, 2011, 3:44PM

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and President Barack Obama (D)

President Obama and Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) are calling in the heavy artillery in their own war of words over Libya and whether the White House has the power to thumb its nose at Constitutional requirements that Congress approve the use of military force.

At a briefing with reporters Thursday, White House spokesman Jay Carney read a statement from Boehner from 1999 in which he questioned the Constitutional issues surrounding the War Powers Act. That law prohibits the President from committing the military to actions for more than 60 days, plus a 30-day extension, without congressional approval. The U.S. involvement in the Libyan conflict has lasted for nearly three months.

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Anthony Weiner

Et Tu, Obama? White House Labels Anthony Weiner A 'Distraction'

Benjy Sarlin | June 13, 2011, 11:58AM

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney

Rep. Anthony Weiner's (D-NY) ongoing scandal has finally drawn the White House into the fray, with President Obama's press secretary Jay Carney decrying the lawmaker's "dishonesty" on Monday.

The presidential spokesman told reporters on Air Force One that Weiner's antics had become a "distraction from important business."

"The President feels, we feel at the White House, this is a distraction," Carney said. "As Congressman Weiner has said himself, his behavior was inappropriate, dishonesty was inappropriate. But the President is focused on his job which is getting this economy continuing to grow, creating jobs and ensuring the safety and security of the American people."

An array of top Democratic officials called for Weiner's resignation in recent days, including Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), DNC chair Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-FL), and DCCC chair Steve Israel (D-NY). Carney declined to offer a response either way on the question of whether the embattled lawmaker should step down in light of the ongoing sexting scandal.

"I answered that question," he said in response to a query on what Weiner should do. "We think it's a distraction from the important business that this President needs to conduct and Congress needs to conduct. Beyond that I don't have any comment."

Weiner announced over the weekend that he will seek professional treatment while taking a leave of absence from the House. But the White House's biting comments on his "dishonesty" and "inappropriate" behavior is a clear sign that they're growing concerned about his impact on the party's image and messaging.

Newt Gingrich

As Newt Implodes, Democrats Pass The Popcorn

Benjy Sarlin | May 17, 2011, 4:30PM

Pres. Barack Obama and Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich

Newt Gingrich isn't the only victim of his political implosion this week. His biting remarks on the Republicans' Medicare plan come right as Democrats sharpen their attacks on the Republican budget -- and party officials are only too happy to bank his remarks for later.

"We're getting a gold mine of things we can use," Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), the chair of the DSCC in a difficult election cycle, told TPM when asked about Gingrich.

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Pakistan

White House to Pakistan: 'No Apologies' for OBL Raid

Susan Crabtree | May 9, 2011, 3:10PM

White House spokesman Jay Carney said President Obama stands by his decision to order a covert assault-team raid to cross into a Pakistani city and kill Osama bin Laden without telling Pakistani officials.

"We obviously take statements and concerns of the Pakistani government very seriously," Carney told reporters at a briefing. "We also do not apologize for the actions that we took. [The President] said back in the [2008] campaign...if this is the only way we can do it, to do it unilaterally, he would take that chance and we did it. It is beyond a doubt in his mind, that he had the right and the imperative to do it."

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Barack Obama

Obama Will Meet With Troops Responsible For OBL Raid

Susan Crabtree | May 6, 2011, 12:07PM

President Barack Obama will meet Friday afternoon with several members of the military assault team responsible for conducting the raid on the Abbottabad compound and killing Osama bin Laden.

White House press secretary Jay Carney confirmed Friday morning that the President plans to spend some time this afternoon with "special operators" involved in the operation.

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Barack Obama

White House: We Won't Release Any More Operational Details About OBL Killing

Susan Crabtree | May 4, 2011, 4:55PM

After two days of administration officials offering up conflicting details and accounts of the intense U.S. assault-team raid on Osama bin Laden's compound and his subsequent killing, the White House has completely shut down press attempts to get a full accounting of what transpired.

White House spokesman Jay Carney Wednesday referred all questions about operational aspects of the mission to the Defense Department, even refusing to say who, if anyone, was shooting back at the Navy Seals during the "firefight" that Carney and other administration officials earlier in the week has said took place during the 40-minute raid Sunday night.

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Barack Obama

State Department Signed Off On McCain's Libya Trip

Susan Crabtree | April 22, 2011, 3:50PM

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)

The U.S. State Department signed off on and supports Sen. John McCain's (R-AZ) Friday trip to Libya where he met with rebel forces engaged in a fierce battle with Muammar Qaddafi over control of the country.

"We were aware that Sen. McCain would be making the trip and State supported the codel," White House spokesman Jay Carney told TPM in an e-mail Friday afternoon.

When asked whether McCain was there as an official emissary for the State Department or White House, Carney told reporters earlier only: "No. No that I'm aware of."

An early proponent of U.S. military strikes in Libya, McCain arrived in the country Friday just hours before Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. military's joint chiefs of staff, publicly warned that the conflict was moving into a stalemate as Qaddafi's troops pressed on in an attempt to take back the rebel-controlled areas in Misrata.

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Barack Obama

White House: Obama's Signing Statements Are Legit -- Unlike Bush's

Susan Crabtree | April 18, 2011, 4:09PM

President Barack Obama

The White House is disputing any notion that President Obama broke a campaign promise by using a signing statement to ignore Congress' attempt to defund the positions of four so-called administration czars.

The President in the early evening on Friday -- a time notorious for news dumps -- raised reporters' and his critics hackles by adding a signing statement to the resolution that funds the federal government through September and avoids a government shutdown. The signing statement suggests Obama would ignore some parts of the deal, including language defunding the czars overseeing healthcare, climate change, the auto industry and urban affairs. Republicans have long lambasted Obama's use of czars, senior presidential advisers on major issues who do not require Senate confirmation.

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Barack Obama

White House Pushes Back Against S&P Pessimism

Susan Crabtree | April 18, 2011, 2:50PM

President Barack Obama

President Obama's team of economic advisers is downplaying Standard & Poor's negative outlook release Monday on the U.S. AAA credit rating, arguing that it's more pessimistic about Washington's ability to reduce the nation's $14 trillion debt than it should be.

White House spokesman Jay Carney pointed out in a briefing with reporters that Moody's, one of S&P's competitors -- gives the U.S. a "credit positive" rating

"We think the prospects are better -- that the political process will outperform S&P's expectations," Carney told reporters Monday.

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Barack Obama

White House Budget Meeting Ends With Both Sides Deeply Divided

Susan Crabtree | April 7, 2011, 2:31PM

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney

As Washington lurched precariously closer to a government shutdown, President Obama once again summoned Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) to the White House Thursday afternoon in an attempt to strike a deal.

But at the end of the meeting, both sides appeared far from a compromise.

"We continue to have productive conversations -- they are polite and to the point," Boehner said, "but there is no agreement on the number of the policy."

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CIA

White House: Obama Has Yet To Decide Whether To Arm Libyan Rebels

Susan Crabtree | March 30, 2011, 6:46PM

President Barack Obama

Amid reports that President Obama had signed a secret order authorizing covert support for Libyan rebels, the White House issued a sweeping statement Wednesday evening saying the President has made no decision about supplying arms to the opposition.

White House spokesman Jay Carney first said he would not comment on intelligence matters, but went on to reiterate Obama's recent assertions that he had yet to decide whether to provide arms to the opposition or "to any group in Libya."

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Syria

White House Sidesteps Questions About Whether Syrian Leader Should Go

Susan Crabtree | March 25, 2011, 4:03PM

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad

The White House is strongly condemning the Syrian government's attacks on its citizen-protesters with similar language it used against Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi in the weeks and days leading up to U.S. air strikes in the North African country.

Noticeably absent from the denouncement, however, is any broad statement from President Obama or his staff that Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad has lost his "legitimacy" and must step down or be removed from power.

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Libya

White House Lays Out New Option on Libya

Susan Crabtree | March 15, 2011, 4:50PM

As Muammar Qaddafi's forces push east and bare down on opposition rebels, the White House continues to deflect calls for a no-fly zone in Libya, instead offering up an entirely new option Tuesday.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said the U.S. is trying to find ways to free up some of billions of dollars of assets seized from the Libyan leader's government to provide help for the opposition. He was short on details about the plan as reporters peppered him with questions about whether the tide has already turned in Qaddafi's favor.

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Japan

Japan's Nuclear Aftershocks Hit Obama's Energy Policy

Susan Crabtree | March 14, 2011, 3:54PM

Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko

President Obama's plan to overhaul the nation's energy policy, already beset by strong GOP opposition in Congress and the BP oil spill, is facing a new setback as Japan struggles to prevent multiple nuclear reactor meltdowns in the aftermath of Friday's devastating earthquake and tsunami.

The President's call for the government to support a new generation of nuclear power plants as part of his "clean energy" agenda is under intense new scrutiny since several nuclear reactors at multiple power plants in Japan were stricken by a cascading series of natural disasters and other failures.

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