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(03/18/09 6:21pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>WASHINGTON — The head of financially strapped AIG is telling Congress he's heard the rage over executive bonuses and has called on employees to voluntarily return at least half of the money.Testifying under oath at a congressional hearing as intense as any in recent memory, Edward Liddy said that some workers there already have stepped forward to give money back.Liddy, who is chairman and chief executive officer of AIG, told a House subcommittee that the bonuses could be defended legally as a legal obligation of the company. But he also said that given the national uproar, he asked those who got "retention payments" over $100,000 to return at least half of it.
(10/03/08 4:47am)
ST. LOUIS - Under intense scrutiny, Republican vice presidential
candidate Sarah Palin stood her ground Thursday night against a vastly more
experienced Joe Biden, debating the economy, energy and
global warming, then challenging him on Iraq, "especially with your son in the
National Guard."
(06/21/08 8:47pm)
WASHINGTON (AP) _ Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said Thursday he'll bypass the federal public financing system in the general election, abandoning an earlier commitment to take the money if his Republican rival did as well.
(06/05/08 2:42am)
NEW YORK – Angling for a vice presidential nod, Hillary Rodham Clinton refused to bow out of the Democratic race Tuesday, hoping to maintain leverage as Barack Obama clinched the delegates needed to secure the party’s nomination.\n“A lot of people are asking, ‘What does Hillary want?’” Clinton told supporters at a rally in New York. “I want what I have always fought for: I want the nearly 18 million people who voted for me to be respected and heard.”\nClinton told the crowd she would consult in the coming days with advisers about the fate of her moribund candidacy. But her remarks came hours after she told congressional colleagues she would be open to joining Obama as his running mate.\nMany of her top supporters spoke openly of Clinton’s potential vice presidential prospects. Lanny Davis, a former White House special counsel under President Clinton, said he told the former first lady Tuesday that he was initiating a petition to press Obama to select her for the second spot on the ticket. He said Clinton did not encourage or discourage the step.\n“If he doesn’t have her, I think he can still win. With her on the ticket, he can’t be beat,” Davis said.\nClinton’s national finance chairman, Hassan Nemazee, said he was also pushing an Obama-Clinton ticket, claiming that together they would be able to raise $200 to $250 million for the \ngeneral election.\nAdvisers indicated earlier Tuesday that the former first lady would publicly acknowledge in her speech that Obama had crossed the delegate threshold. But she changed her mind and refused to do so even after television networks and The Associated Press declared the Illinois senator had sealed the nomination.\nHer advisers said they considered the delegate numbers to be unreliable, even as the AP estimated Obama had several more than the 2,118 needed to nominate. Earlier, Clinton acknowledged on a conference call with New York lawmakers that the delegate math was not there for her to overtake Obama, according to several participants on the call.\nShe said none of that publicly Tuesday but vowed the Democratic Party would unite in its effort to defeat Republican John McCain in November.\nClinton won South Dakota’s primary Tuesday, while Obama won Montana’s. The two contests rounded out a historic five-month primary battle.\nThe South Dakota victory, which was unexpected, gave Clinton an excuse to buy more time to consider options, her advisers said.\nOn the conference call with New York colleagues, Clinton, a New York senator, said she would be willing to become Obama’s running mate if it would help Democrats win the White House.\nClinton’s remarks came in response to a question from Democratic Rep. Nydia Velazquez, who said she believed the best way for Obama to win key voting blocs, including Hispanics, would be for him to choose Clinton as his running mate.\n“I am open to it,” Clinton replied, if it would help the party’s prospects in November. Her direct quote was described by two lawmakers who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak for Clinton.\n“I deserve some time to get this right,” she said, even as the other lawmakers forcefully argued for her to press Obama to choose her as his running mate.\nJoseph Crowley, a Queens Democrat who participated in the call, said her answer “left open the possibility that she would do anything that she can to contribute toward a Democratic victory in November. There was no hedging on that. Whatever she can do to contribute, she was willing to do.”\nAnother person on the call, Rep. Jose Serrano of New York City, said her answer was “just what I was hoping to hear. ... Of course she was interested in being president, but she’s just as interested in making sure Democrats get elected in November.”\nRep. Charles Rangel, a devoted booster of Clinton who helped pave the way for her successful Senate campaign, said he spoke to her Tuesday and got much the same answer.\n“She’s run a great campaign and even though she’ll be a great senator, she has a lot of followers that obviously Obama doesn’t have, and clearly the numbers are against her and so I think they bring all parts of the Democratic Party together and then some,” Rangel said.\nAides to the Illinois senator said he and Clinton had not spoken about the prospects of her joining the ticket.\nMost of Clinton’s campaign staff will be let go and will be paid through June 15, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to divulge her plans.\nUniversal health care, Clinton’s signature issue as first lady in the 1990s, was a point of dispute between Obama and the New York senator during their nomination fight.\nClinton reiterated her commitment to that issue in her remarks Tuesday.\n“It is a fight I will continue until every single American has health insurance. No exceptions and no excuses,” she said.\nOther names have been floated as possible running mates for Obama, including former rivals New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, and governors including Janet Napolitano of Arizona, Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas and Tim Kaine of Virginia. Also mentioned are foreign policy experts including former Georgia Sen. Sam Nunn, Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd and Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, and other senators such as Missouri’s Claire McCaskill and Virginia’s Jim Webb.\nObama could also look outside the party to people such as anti-war Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska or independent New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg. Or he could look to one of his prominent supporters such as former Sen. Tom Daschle of South Dakota or try to bring on a Clinton supporter, such as Indiana’s Sen. Evan Bayh or retired Gen. Wesley Clark.
(11/10/06 3:42am)
WASHINGTON -- The anti-GOP wave that upended Congress rewarded Democrats with new opportunities to help set the national agenda and burdened them with the task of delivering on voters' expectations.\n"Time for a change," Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, who likely will become the new Senate majority leader next year, said Thursday at a victory rally outside of the Capitol. "This country has spoken loudly and clearly."\nBetween their promise to increase the minimum wage and their vow to seek a new direction in Iraq lies the difference over what is achievable and what might fall beyond their reach.\n"Simply having the title of majority is not enough," said Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois, the second-ranking Democratic leader in the Senate. "It's a long litany of challenges before us."\nReid and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the would-be speaker of the House, savored their victories Wednesday but struck conciliatory tones, promising to work in a bipartisan way with congressional Republicans and the president.\n"This is not a juggernaut just slicing through town," Reid said.\nDemocrats won the slimmest 51-49 majority in the Senate Wednesday evening with the victory of Democrat Jim Webb over Republican Sen. George Allen in a hard-fought Senate race in Virginia. With some races too close to call, Democrats held 230 seats in the House, 10 more than a bare majority. They appeared to be in line to win two more.\nFor Democrats, winning control of both chambers of Congress raises the stakes.\nBesides hiking the minimum wage, they want to act quickly on legislation to enact recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, reduce dependence on foreign oil, expand stem cell research and lower the price of drugs offered through Medicare. All those pose potential legislative challenges, but none more than the Democrats' pledge to seek a new direction in the war in Iraq.\nSurveys of voters conducted on Election Day showed that almost three out of five voters disapproved of the war and were more inclined to vote for the Democratic candidate. Only a third of voters said the war had improved the long-term security of the United States.\nStill, the strategic course of the war is set by the president. Congress has little leverage to force the president to change course. Bush sent Congress a signal Wednesday when he announced he would replace Donald H. Rumsfeld as secretary of state. The change, Bush said, would provide a "fresh perspective" on the war.\nRecognizing Congress's limitation, Pelosi said that when it comes to Iraq, "it's not about the Democrats in Congress forcing the president's hand."\nThe first test on the war for Democrats could come next year when Bush sends Congress a spending bill to pay for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Democrats have said they will not hold war appropriations hostage in exchange for policy changes. Instead, they are hoping Bush will heed the results of the election and the upcoming recommendations of a bipartisan Iraq study group led by former Secretary of State James Baker.\n"The president is the president of the United States," she said. "I hope that he will listen to the voices of the people and, again, putting aside partisanship and looking to a partnership to end this war."\nCongressional Democrats will have to work with Bush on other fronts, too. The president wields a powerful veto pen that Democrats would be unable to override on their own. And in the Senate, a slim 51-49 Democratic majority would be hamstrung by the filibuster -- a favorite parliamentary weapon of the minority that permits 41 senators to block legislation.\n"The minority, as long as it has more than 41 people together, can have a great deal of impact on whether something passes at all, or, if it passes, what form it takes," said Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, in line to become the new Senate Republican leader.\nSome Republicans cautioned against an obstructionist approach.\n"If we do that, shame on us," said Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio. "If the Democrats do what I would do if I were them and reach out with a list of things to do, and if we're depicted as standing on the outside trying to prevent that from happening, it would be terrible for the country. And it's stupid politics."\nDemocrats already were offering to cooperate when the House and Senate reconvene under Republican control next week for a postelection session. The agenda includes unfinished business on legislation ranging from offshore drilling to a nuclear agreement with India to tax incentives for the production of alternative energy.\nAlso unfinished, however, are 10 spending bills needed to keep the government operating. Officials said it was possible lawmakers would simply leave final action on those bills to the new Congress.\nThat would saddle Democrats with the task of tidying up the past when they would rather be looking to the future.
(10/06/06 2:28am)
WASHINGTON -- Congressional Republicans, already struggling against negative public perceptions of Congress, now face voters who say new scandals will significantly influence their vote in November.\nWith midterm elections less than five weeks away, the latest Associated Press-Ipsos poll found that about half of likely voters say recent disclosures of corruption and scandal in Congress will be very or extremely important when they cast their vote next month.\nThe poll was conducted this week as House Republican leaders came under increasing pressure to explain what they knew of sexually explicit messages from former Rep. Mark Foley of Florida to teenage pages.\nMore troubling for Republicans, the poll found that by a margin of nearly 2-to-1, likely voters say Democrats would be better at combatting political corruption than Republicans.\nThe Foley scandal, fueled by new revelations each day, has put Republican leaders and GOP candidates on the defensive, forcing them into a political detour just as they were preparing their final offensive against Democrats to save control of Congress.\nAt least one House Republican said Wednesday the GOP likely will lose control in November.\nFour-term Rep. Mike Simpson of Idaho said he was "not confident" about retaining the majority in the House.\n"It was pretty much a given in conventional wisdom six months ago that the House was gone, we'd lost the House," Simpson said in an interview with The Associated Press. "In September we came back after August recess, conventional wisdom shifted we would lose three, four or five seats but would retain the majority. That was good until last Thursday. From Thursday, it went to fairly confident we were going to keep the majority to a real toss-up."\nThe poll also found that President Bush's efforts to depict the war in Iraq as part of a larger campaign against terrorism and to portray Democrats as weak on national security was not altering the political landscape.\nApproval of Bush's handling of the war in Iraq was at 37 percent among likely voters, down slightly from 41 percent last month. Bush's rating on handling foreign policy and terrorism also fell slightly, from 47 percent last month to 43 percent this month.\nThe poll of 741 likely voters was conducted Monday through Wednesday and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.