US President Barack Obama was making another push for congressional approval of his economic rescue package hours after accusing critics of his nearly US$1 trillion plan of ignoring the depth of the US financial crisis.
Talking to fellow Democrats in Williamsburg, Virginia, on Thursday night Obama said the package “is not going to be absolutely perfect,” and that no one was going to get everything they wanted in it. But he said the plan’s scope was right and he reiterated his message that inaction would bring catastrophe.
The economic stimulus package is Obama’s top legislative priority. He has worked hard to obtain at least some Republican support for it — with no luck so far.
“He’s saying that he’s willing to go anywhere and talk to anybody in order to get a recovery and reinvestment plan that moves this economy forward,” press secretary Robert Gibbs said.
A US$819 billion version of the bill passed in the House of Representatives last week and in the Senate, moderates worked late on Thursday to cut tens of billions of dollars from the US$920 billion Senate version hopefully clearing the way for passage.
Passage of the bill in the Senate would turn the tide on a bad week for Obama, who had seen two nominees for key positions withdraw under a cloud of tax problems. Another Cabinet nominee hit an obstacle on Thursday — a Senate panel abruptly postponed a confirmation vote on Labor Secretary nominee Hilda Solis after revelations that her husband had some tax problems.
Obama has not had much luck so far building bipartisan support for the huge stimulus measure. As it was constructed in both houses of Congress, pet Democratic spending programs were inserted into the measure, providing easy public targets for Republican criticism.
Japan has deployed long-range missiles in a southwestern region near China, the Japanese defense minister said yesterday, at a time when ties with Beijing are at their lowest in recent years. The missiles were installed in Kumamoto in the southern region of Kyushu, as Japan is attempting to shore up its military capacity as China steps up naval activity in the East China Sea. “Standoff defense capabilities enable us to counter the threat of enemy forces attempting to invade our country ... while ensuring the safety of our personnel,” Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi said. “This is an extremely important initiative for
MORE POPULAR: Taiwan Pass sales increased by 59 percent during the first quarter compared with the same period last year, the Tourism Administration said The Tourism Administration yesterday said that it has streamlined the Taiwan Pass, with two versions available for purchase beginning today. The tourism agency has made the pass available to international tourists since 2024, allowing them to access the high-speed rail, Taiwan Railway Corp services, four MRT systems and four Taiwan Tourist Shuttles. Previously, five types of Taiwan Pass were available, but some tourists have said that the offerings were too complicated. The agency said only two types of Taiwan Pass would be available, starting from a three-day pass with the high-speed rail and a three-day pass with Taiwan Railway Corp. The former costs NT$2,800
NEW LOW: The council in 2024 based predictions on a pessimistic estimate for the nation’s total fertility rate of 0.84, but last year that rate was 0.69, 17 percent lower An expected National Development Council (NDC) report expects the nation’s population to drop below 12 million by 2065, with the old-age dependency ratio to top 100 percent sooner than 2070, sources said yesterday. The council is slated to release its latest population projections in August, using an ultra-low fertility model, the sources said. The previous report projected that Taiwan’s population would fall to 14.37 million by 2070, but based on a new estimate of the total fertility rate (TFR) — the average number of children born to a woman over her lifetime — the population is expected to reach 12 million by
COUNTERING HOSTILITY: The draft bill would require the US to increase diplomatic pressure on China and would impose sanctions on those who sabotage undersea cable networks US lawmakers on Thursday introduced a bipartisan bill to bolster the resilience of Taiwan’s submarine cables to counter China’s hostile activities. The proposal, titled the critical undersea infrastructure resilience initiative act, was cosponsored by Republican representatives Mike Lawler and Greg Stanton, and Democratic Representative Dave Min. US Senators John Curtis and Jacky Rosen also introduced a companion bill in the US Senate, which has passed markup at the chamber’s Committee on Foreign Relations. The House’s version of the bill would prioritize the deployment of sensors to detect disruptions or potential sabotage in real-time and enhance early warning capabilities through global intelligence sharing frameworks,
RSS