Still days from taking office, US president-elect Barack Obama scored his first victory in Congress, winning Senate approval to spend the second half of the massive US$700 billion fund to bail out the nation’s teetering financial system.
Majority Democrats also proposed on Thursday increasing to US$825 billion Obama’s plan for a second package to stimulate the economy through a combination of federal spending and tax cuts. Passage of both measures would leave Obama with a US$1.175 trillion war chest to use against the most dramatic slide in the US economy since the 1930s Great Depression.
Obama on Thursday was to tour a northern Ohio company that manufactures parts for wind turbines, a fitting backdrop to promote alternative energy dollars included in his mammoth stimulus package.
Obama’s campaign-style event was the first of a series he’s expected to hold to generate support for his plan to pull the country from recession.
Citing an economy in crisis and worsening, Obama has spent the past two weeks securing lawmakers’ backing for the eye-popping plan that has drawn skepticism from both Republicans and Democrats because of its price tag and tax provisions. He’s now taking his pitch directly to the public — and trying to sell the sweeping package to lawmakers’ constituents.
Obama was headed into his inauguration on Tuesday with powerful momentum and a clear mandate to steer the course of the US in the midst of a fearsome economic crisis.
A Senate committee overwhelmingly approved the nomination of former rival Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton as secretary of state and the upper chamber’s Judiciary Committee gave Attorney General-designate Eric Holder a relatively easy hearing and was expected to sign off on his appointment as well. Both Cabinet positions will require a vote in the full Senate where both are expected to be approved.
The Senate voted 52-42 to release the second US$350 billion of the financial bailout plan that was put in place late last year as a number of US financial institutions failed or teetered on the brink of collapse.
The Bush administration’s handling of the first half of the US$700 billion package soured many in Congress and the public because most of the money went to big financial institutions to the detriment of smaller investment houses and banks, and homeowners that are faced with mortgage foreclosures.
Earlier this week, the president-elect lobbied hard on Capitol Hill for the release of the money, threatened to veto any bill that blocked its release and promised to alter priorities for its use.
He committed to spending as much as US$100 billion to help those faced with losing their homes. Obama said he understood congressional frustration and that he would shake up the program.
“My pledge is to change the way this plan is implemented and keep faith with the American tax payer by placing strict conditions on CEO [chief executive officer] pay and providing more loans to small businesses, more transparency so that taxpayers can see where their money is spent, and more sensible regulations that will protect consumers, investors and businesses,” Obama said.
House speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid have pledged to have the economic stimulus bill ready for Obama’s signature by the middle of next month.
Indonesia was to sign an agreement to repatriate two British nationals, including a grandmother languishing on death row for drug-related crimes, an Indonesian government source said yesterday. “The practical arrangement will be signed today. The transfer will be done immediately after the technical side of the transfer is agreed,” the source said, identifying Lindsay Sandiford and 35-year-old Shahab Shahabadi as the people being transferred. Sandiford, a grandmother, was sentenced to death on the island of Bali in 2013 after she was convicted of trafficking drugs. Customs officers found cocaine worth an estimated US$2.14 million hidden in a false bottom in Sandiford’s suitcase when
CAUSE UNKNOWN: Weather and runway conditions were suitable for flight operations at the time of the accident, and no distress signal was sent, authorities said A cargo aircraft skidded off the runway into the sea at Hong Kong International Airport early yesterday, killing two ground crew in a patrol car, in one of the worst accidents in the airport’s 27-year history. The incident occurred at about 3:50am, when the plane is suspected to have lost control upon landing, veering off the runway and crashing through a fence, the Airport Authority Hong Kong said. The jet hit a security patrol car on the perimeter road outside the runway zone, which then fell into the water, it said in a statement. The four crew members on the plane, which
POWER ABUSE WORRY: Some people warned that the broad language of the treaty could lead to overreach by authorities and enable the repression of government critics Countries signed their first UN treaty targeting cybercrime in Hanoi yesterday, despite opposition from an unlikely band of tech companies and rights groups warning of expanded state surveillance. The new global legal framework aims to bolster international cooperation to fight digital crimes, from child pornography to transnational cyberscams and money laundering. More than 60 countries signed the declaration, which means it would go into force once ratified by those states. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described the signing as an “important milestone,” and that it was “only the beginning.” “Every day, sophisticated scams destroy families, steal migrants and drain billions of dollars from our economy...
Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its junior partner yesterday signed a coalition deal, paving the way for Sanae Takaichi to become the nation’s first female prime minister. The 11th-hour agreement with the Japan Innovation Party (JIP) came just a day before the lower house was due to vote on Takaichi’s appointment as the fifth prime minister in as many years. If she wins, she will take office the same day. “I’m very much looking forward to working with you on efforts to make Japan’s economy stronger, and to reshape Japan as a country that can be responsible for future generations,”
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