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Political Insight and Analysis From The Wall Street Journal's Capital Bureau

Posts per week: 49

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McConnell, Hutchison Don’t Echo Call For Geithner Resignation

 
Damian Paletta reports from Washington on Timothy Geithner. Two Republican lawmakers criticized the Obama administration for pushing forward with health-care legislation when the economy continues to struggle, but they both stopped short of ...

Lawmakers Say More Needs To Be Done On Jobs, Economy

 
Damian Paletta reports from Washington on the economy. Lawmakers from both parties on Sunday said more needed to be done to improve the economy and combat rising unemployment, but differed over what specific measures should be taken. Several ...

Arkansas Ad Blitz Gets Sen. Lincoln’s Attention

 
Peter Landers reports from Washington In case all the groups trying to get Sen. Blanche Lincoln ’s attention were wondering — yes, she’s noticed. Groups involved in the health-care debate, realizing Ms. Lincoln is a ...

Landrieu Sets Conditions for Her Vote

 
Peter Landers reports from Washington: Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana said she’ll vote to move ahead with the Senate health bill, but has three conditions before she agrees to vote yes on the final bill. Those conditions are ...

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Grassley Declines to Make Personal Tax Returns Public

 
By Martin Vaughan Sen. Charles Grassley (R., Iowa) Friday refused a request from Dow Jones to release his personal tax returns. Sen. Grassley, the senior Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, has criticized several Obama administration ...

National Family Week: A Partisan Message?

 
By Louise Radnofsky Washington Wire loves presidential proclamations, in which the commander-in-chief “by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States” declares a given time for a national ...

What to Watch for in Senate Health Vote

 
By Peter Landers The clock is ticking up to the Senate’s vote scheduled for 8 p.m. Saturday on whether to proceed to debate on the health-care bill. The all-important number is 60. That’s how many votes Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid  ...

Another Nominee’s Tax Troubles Irk Sen. Grassley

 
By Martin Vaughan Sen. Charles Grassley expressed exasperation over another Obama nominee’s tax problems. “We do not need anyone so badly in the federal government that we allow them to live by their own set of rules,” Grassley, the top ...

Senate Ethics Panel: Burris’s Actions Inappropriate But Not Criminal

 
By Susan Davis The Senate Ethics Committee today admonished Illinois Democratic Sen. Roland Burris for his ties to impeached former Gov. Rod Blagojevich , who appointed him to the seat. The investigative panel found that Burris’s actions ...

Ethics Panel Scolds Sen. Burris

 
By Susan Davis The Senate Ethics Committee today admonished Illinois Democratic Sen. Roland Burris for his ties to impeached former Gov. Rod Blagojevich , who appointed him to the seat. The investigative panel found that Burris’s actions ...

WIRE WATCH: Christian Activists Unveil ‘Manhattan Declaration’; Jim Leach Speaks; Zoellick on Women’s Roles in Global Financial Crisis; Solis at Latino Lunch

 
By Susan Davis A New Kind of Declaration: Christian activists are holding a new conference today at the National Press Club to release the “ Manhattan Declaration .” The 4,700-plus word document has over 125 original signers and affirms ...

Flight Sale: FEC Lifts Some Limits on Lawmakers’ Use of Corporate Jets

 
By Brody Mullins The skies just got a bit friendlier for lawmakers, courtesy of the Federal Election Commission. Today’s FEC vote largely guts rules imposed by Democrats to ban lawmakers from flying on corporate jets for cut-rate prices. The ...

Mikulski Brandishes Amendment to Defend Breast-Cancer Screening

 
By Alicia Mundy For two decades, Sen. Barbara Mikulski has hammered the government, the health industry and her male colleagues for over problems like major medical studies that forgot to include women patients, and weak insurance coverage for ...

Democratic Party Bests GOP in October Fund-Raising

 
By Brody Mullins Here’s something that hasn’t happened since the summer: the Democratic Party raised more money last month than the Republican Party. Democrats’ October total was $11.5 million, while the Republican Party raked in $8.8 million ...

Lawmakers Swap Dueling Letters Over Chrysler’s Future

 
By Neil King Jr. Is Chrysler destined for the dust heap? It’s a question that has two lawmakers caught in an odd duel of testy letters. The spat started Sunday, when Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain —while serving as grand marshal of a ...

DeFazio: Geithner Should Go Because His ‘Orientation Is Wall Street’

 
By Damian Paletta Rep. Peter DeFazio, an Oregon Democrat who is one of his party’s most liberal lawmakers, created a stir when he said on MSNBC Wednesday evening that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner should resign. Today he spoke with ...

Giuliani Ponders a Run: Governor? Senator? President in 2012?

 
By Susan Davis Is he in or out? And what’s the race? A spokeswoman for Rudy Giuliani issued a nondenial following a New York Times report this afternoon that the former New York City mayor will not run for governor next year.  ...

Tempers Flare Over Stimulus Spending

 
By Louise Radnofsky and Michael Crittenden It’s been a rowdy day on Capitol Hill as lawmakers have laid into government officials over the $787 billion economic stimulus package. One of them, Earl Devaney , who oversees the stimulus as ...

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’Tis the Season: Hog Farmers Plead for H1N1 Vaccine Ahead of Santa

 
By Lauren Etter When making a list - and checking it twice - the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention should place hog farmers ahead of Santa Claus for priority access to the H1N1 vaccine, the National Pork Producers Council recommended.  ...

Geithner Says He Won’t Quit, Takes Swings at GOP Rep. Brady

 
By Damian Paletta Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and GOP Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas turned a seemingly boring hearing on financial regulations into a messy fracas, when they traded insults over who was to blame for the economic crisis.  ...

GOP Governors Plot Internet Strategy

 
By Peter Wallsten Just last year, Democrat Barack Obama’s presidential campaign transformed politics by using the Internet to raise record sums of money and marshal thousands of activists. But Republican governors, meeting in Austin, Texas, to ...

Taping Scandal Shows Jerry Brown as Pugnatious as Ever

 
By Stu Woo While former eBay Inc. CEO Meg Whitman is already running statewide radio ads a year ahead of the California governor’s election, the early favorite to win it all, Democratic former Gov. Jerry Brown , has played coy about his campaign ...

Taping Scandal Shows Jerry Brown as Pugnacious as Ever

 
By Stu Woo While former eBay Inc. CEO Meg Whitman is already running statewide radio ads a year ahead of the California governor’s election, the early favorite to win it all, Democratic former Gov. Jerry Brown , has played coy about his campaign ...

Creating Jobs on Main Street or Saving Jobs on Capitol Hill?

 
By John D. McKinnon The new move in Congress to tax Wall Street to pay for jobs on Main Street might never come to much. After all, Wall Street still has lots of friends on Pennsylvania Avenue. But for now, the effort seems to fit perfectly with ...

WIRE WATCH: Obama Returns; Fort Hood Hearing; PETA Protests NASA; Happy Toilet Day

 
By Susan Davis He’s Baaaack: President Barack Obama wraps up his Asian tour with a final stop in South Korea before returning to Washington, D.C. Associated Press President Barack Obama is welcomed by South Korean officers upon ...

Senate Bill Would Tax Cosmetic Surgery

 
Janet Adamy reports from Congress Say hello to the nose job tax. To raise money for the health overhaul, Democrats are proposing a new 5% tax on elective cosmetic procedures. The tax was a surprise addition to the sweeping 2,074-page ...

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Washington Wire Interview With Justice Kennedy

 
By Jess Bravin Justice Anthony Kennedy has long been seen as a champion of free-speech at the Supreme Court, and in an interview this week sought to dispel reports suggesting that he sought to control student press coverage of his visit last ...

Justice Kennedy to Obama: Read : A Lesson on Teaching

 
By Jess Bravin Justice Anthony Kennedy has long been seen as a champion of free-speech at the Supreme Court, and in an interview this week sought to dispel reports suggesting that he sought to control student press coverage of his visit last ...

McCain Defends Former Aides, Says He’s ‘Still Really Proud’ of Palin

 
By Susan Davis John McCain today defended his former campaign aides against attacks in Sarah Palin ’s memoir, “Going Rogue: An American Life.” In an interview with Reuters the 2008 GOP presidential nominee said, “I just think it’s time to ...

Breast Imaging Guidelines Trigger Political Fight

 
By Naftali Bendavid Some Republicans are seizing on new mammogram guidelines issued by a government advisory panel to underline their assertion that the Democrats’ health care overhaul would lead to rationing of medical services. “This is how ...

Holder Versus Mukasey

 
By Evan Perez Attorney General Eric Holder took on his Bush administration predecessor, Michael Mukasey . During a Senate hearing today on terrorism, Holder dismissed as “misinformation” allegations by Mukasey and other critics ...

Orszag Keeps on the Sunny Side

 
By Jeffrey Ball and Joseph B. White Who says finance guys can’t look on the bright side? Speaking at the Wall Street Journal CEO Council conference in Washington late today, White House Budget Director Peter Orszag assured the audience that the ...

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Washington Wire Q&A With Trevor Lyman

 
By Susan Davis Trevor Lyman made a name for himself during the 2008 presidential campaign when he used his Internet skills to independently coordinate grassroots donations for Ron Paul on specific days that came to be known as “money bombs.” ...

U.S.-China Joint Statement

 
November 17, 2009 Beijing, China At the invitation of President Hu Jintao of the People’s Republic of China, President Barack Obama of the United States of America is paying a state visit to China from November 15–18, 2009.  The Presidents ...

Awaiting a White House Invitation

 
By S. Mitra Kalita They are the hottest tickets in town: invitations to the first official dinner at the White House. The Obamas’ guest of honor on Nov. 24 will be Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Some invites already have gone out, ...

Sales of Palin’s ‘Going Rogue’ Prompt Another Press Run

 
By Susan Davis Sarah Palin’s memoir just hit the stands today but demand for “Going Rogue: An American Life” is so strong that HarperCollins Publishers is going back to press for an additional 100,000 run, bringing the total number ...

WIRE WATCH: ‘Going Rogue’ Hits Bookstores; Geithner Testifies; BofA Officials Grilled on Bailout; Authors Gather; Biden on Jon Stewart

 
By Susan Davis Going Rogue: Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin ’s highly anticipated memoir, “Going Rogue: An American Life,” officially hits bookstores today, but most of the juicy parts have already been reported in recent days. You can read ...

Obama’s Speed-Seeing in Beijing

 
Jonathan Weisman reports from Beijing. The Forbidden City is a wonder, dozens of ancient and ornate buildings and temples, hundreds of palatial chambers, walkways through tranquil parks, gift shops with hand-crafted silk Chinese painting – ...

U.K.’s Brown Calls for Timetable on Withdrawal From Afghanistan

 
By Alistair MacDonald U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Monday that he wants to agree a timetable for international withdrawal from Afghanistan, and offered London as a venue for a conference to set that timetable. In his annual foreign ...

U.K.’s Brown Calls for Timetable for Withdrawal From Afghanistan

 
By Alistair MacDonald U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Monday that he wants to agree a timetable for international withdrawal from Afghanistan, and offered London as a venue for a conference to set that timetable. In his annual foreign ...

Groups Seek Probe of Lobbying by SEIU’s Stern

 
By Kris Maher When union leader Andy Stern turned up as the most frequent visitor to the White House during the first nine months of this year, critics raised questions about whether his activities constitute lobbying. Today, Americans for ...

Making Nice: GE and Browner

 
By Elizabeth Williamson Perhaps one of the more striking examples of General Electric Co.’s close relationship with the Obama administration is Chief Executive Jeffrey Immelt ’s work on the President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board with Carol ...

Palin Tells Oprah: Talk of a Book Ban Was Biggest Aggravation

 
By Susan Davis Of all the political attacks levied at former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin during her brief time on Sen. John McCain ’s presidential ticket, it was allegations that she banned certain books in public libraries during her time as ...

Not So Vogue

 
By Jess Bravin Last month, photographer Annie Leibowitz announced plans to shoot Justice Sonia Sotomayor for Vogue. Coming days after GQ featured Chief Justice John Roberts , it seemed to signal the birth of haute cour couture. Well, that’s ...

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WIRE WATCH: Obama in China, Senators Briefed on Fort Hood, Abortion Rights Groups Protest Health Care Bill, Palin on Oprah

 
By Susan Davis Asia Tour : President Barack Obama is traveling in China today with stops in Shanghai and Beijing. Understanding Fort Hood : The Senate Armed Services Committee is holding a closed briefing this afternoon on the Nov. 5 ...

Gregg: Health Bill Would ‘Massively’ Expand Government

 
By Greg Hitt Sen. Judd Gregg (R., N.H.) said the real issue at stake in the debate over health-care legislation was the expansion of the federal government. Legislation approved by the House and pending in the Senate would, among other ...

Axelrod: Health Bill Abortion Clause Would ‘Change Status Quo’

 
By Greg Hitt White House adviser David Axelrod on Sunday said the health-overhaul bill passed by the House would “change the status quo” on abortion rights. The legislation includes an amendment that would prohibit a proposed government-run ...

A Coffee Klatch in the Making?

 
Greg Hitt reports on Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Sunday she was open to meeting with former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin . “Well, you know, I’ve never met her,” Clinton said on ABC News’s “This Week ...

Obama’s Pledge on Trade Wins Grassley’s Approval

 
Jonathan Weisman reports from Tokyo: President Obama ’s pledge here Saturday to re-engage the Trans Pacific Partnership trading alliance raised a few shrugs among devout free traders, but it won plaudits from one critic, Iowa Republican ...

Text of Obama’s Tokyo Address

 
The text of Obama’s speech in Tokyo, provided by the White House: Remarks of President Barack Obama Suntory Hall Tokyo, Japan November 14, 2009 Good morning. It is a great honor to be in Tokyo—the first stop on my first visit to ...
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