Obama urges nuclear pact passage

GOP bid to change nuclear treaty fails
WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats deflected an initiative by Republicans yesterday that would have forced US and Russian negotiators to reopen an arms treaty reducing stockpiles of nuclear warheads. But the 37-59 vote against an amendment by Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, exposed doubts about whether President Obama can win Senate ratification of the treaty before a new, more Republican Congress assumes power in January. Treaties require a two-thirds majority of those voting in t...

Economic stimulus sets the stage for next years big fight
In the year-end tax debate of 2010, President Barack Obama got the economic stimulus he sought while Democrats in Congress settled for picking a political fight. Far more quietly, Republicans pocketed a two-year extension of George W. Bush-era Tax Cuts at all income levels and a sweetened Estate Tax to go with it, without having to swallow billions in Public Works spending that would have inflamed their Tea Party supporters. By the time Obama had signed the bill on Friday, he and Rep. Eric Canto...

Economic stimulus sets the stage for next years big fight
In the year-end tax debate of 2010, President Barack Obama got the economic stimulus he sought while Democrats in Congress settled for picking a political fight. Far more quietly, Republicans pocketed a two-year extension of George W. Bush-era Tax Cuts at all income levels and a sweetened Estate Tax to go with it, without having to swallow billions in Public Works spending that would have inflamed their Tea Party supporters. By the time Obama had signed the bill on Friday, he and Rep. Eric Canto...

Senate Rejects First Serious Challenge to START Treaty.
Not good. (NY Times) — The Senate on Saturday beat back the most serious Republican effort to block approval of a new Arms Control treaty with Russia this year, after President Obama reassured lawmakers that it would not constrain American plans to build a Missile Defense system in Europe. By a margin of 59 to 37 , lawmakers rejected an amendment to strip out language from the treaty preamble that, despite the president’s denial, critics had argued could inhibit missile defense. The Wh...

US Senate rejects bid to end Russia treaty
The US Senate on Saturday beat back an attempt by President Barack Obama's Republican foes to kill a nuclear Arms Control pact with Russia over charges it may cripple US missile defence plans. Lawmakers voted 37-59 to reject an amendment by Republican Senator John McCain to strip out language in the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty's (START) preamble tying offensive Nuclear Weapons to defensive systems. The preamble is non-binding but, because it resulted from talks between Washington and Mos...

Obama Pushes for START Ratification
(WASHINGTON) — Senate failure to ratify a new Arms Control treaty with Russia threatens to undermine the U.S. relationship with Moscow and stall progress in waging the Afghanistan war and confronting Iran's Nuclear Program, President Barack Obama said Saturday. Obama used his weekly radio and Internet address Saturday to plead with the Senate to approve the accord in the waning days of Congress' postelection session. "Ratifying a treaty like START isn't about winning a victory for an admi...

Tax deal hurts elderly and disabled
The biggest losers in the deals over Tax Cuts and stimulus payments are people with disabilities and older Americans who rely on Social Security. While Republicans were passionately defending the super wealthy and Democrats were passionately defending the Middle Class, Legislation providing a one-time $250 payment to about 54 million Social Security recipients failed to advance, mostly because nearly every Republican in the House and Senate voted against it. To add insult to injury, the deal str...

Can-Do Attitude Grips "Git R Done" Congress
“It’s A Wonderful Life”? Not sure if it’s that classic flick, or maybe it's a whole bunch of movies that have featured a line that goes something like this: “Wouldn’t it be great if folks acted like it was Christmas all year round?” Or, in the case of the United States Congress, the extra work and Productivity, the spirit of cooperation - well, relatively and/or comparatively speaking, that is. Facing what GOP leaders have pointed to as the downright ung...

Tax-Cut Vote in House Delayed by Procedural Dispute
Dec. 16 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. House plans to vote on President Barack Obama’s $858 billion agreement to extend Bush- era Tax Cuts were delayed today because of a procedural dispute over the rules for debate. Many House Democrats opposed a debate structure offered by the Rules Committee that would have required lawmakers who want to increase the estate-tax rate in the bill to simultaneously approve the entire tax-cut measure. Lawmakers objected because it “would not give them a clean ye...

We knew Ronald Reagan Mr. President...
... and you're no Ronald Reagan: Fresh from a shared victory on an $858 billion tax-cut package, President Barack Obama pushed on Saturday for congressional approval of the new START nuclear arms treaty with Russia. Obama invoked the late Republican President Ronald Reagan as he used his weekly radio address to urge Bipartisan support for the treaty. Obama said it was crucial to put a new treaty into place so inspections of Russia's nuclear facilities could resume after a lapse that began when...

START clears hurdle in Senate
The Obama Administration on Saturday overcame a big hurdle toward the prospects for New START ratification — though the path to passage of the U.S.-Russia Arms Control pact is still unclear. The Senate voted 59-37 against an amendment sponsored by Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) that would have struck Missile Defense language from the treaty’s preamble. Supporters of the U.S.-Russia Arms Control pact said the defeated amendment would have effectively killed ...

President Obama: Russian arms treaty no defense threat
WASHINGTON — Pushing hard for a victory on a top National Security imperative, President Barack Obama sought to assure Republican lawmakers Saturday that a new Arms Control treaty with Russia would not hamper U.S. Missile Defense. In a letter to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Obama said that as long as he is president, the U.S., "will continue to develop and deploy effective missile defenses to protect the United States, our deployed forces, and our allies and partners." O...

Weekly Address: Tax Cuts & The START Treaty
This entry was posted in Economy, National Politics, President of the United States, Taxes, Treaties, Weekly Address and tagged Barack Obama, bush Tax Cuts, Congress, politics, START Treaty, video. Bookmark the permalink. » Get Skype, call free! ...

Youth immigration bill falls five votes short of passage
WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans yesterday doomed an effort that would have given hundreds of thousands of young Illegal Immigrants a path to legal status if they enrolled in college or joined the Military. Sponsors of the DREAM Act fell five votes short of the 60 they needed to break through largely GOP opposition and win its enactment before Republicans take over the House and narrow Democrats’ majority in the Senate next month. President Obama called the vote “incredibly dis...

Obama invokes Reagan to push START nuclear arms treaty with Russia
U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sign the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) at Prague Castle in Prague April 8, 2010. The treaty needs 67 votes in the US Senate to be ratified. President Obama is invoking his inner Ronald Reagan to push for a new Arms Control treaty with Russia. View gallery: Who has nukes? Will it work? Possibly, but it’s an uphill sled. On his side, Obama has the Pentagon, a wide range of National Security experts from past adm...

Obama invokes Reagan to push START nuclear arms treaty with Russia (The Christian Science Monitor)
President Obama is invoking his inner Ronald Reagan to push for a new Arms Control treaty with Russia. Will it work? Possibly, but it’s an uphill sled. On his side, Obama has the Pentagon, a wide range of National Security experts from past administrations (Republican and Democrat), and both former presidents Bush. All have lined up behind what’s called “New START” (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty). IN PICTURES: Who has nukes? “Ratifying a treaty like START isn’t about

Senate defeats McCain's New START amendment
Source: CNN Washington (CNN) -- The U.S. Senate on Saturday voted down an amendment Saturday would have taken out language that recognizes a relationship between offensive and defensive weapons from the preamble of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, the proposed nuclear arms treaty with Russia. The vote was 59-37 against the amendment, put forward by Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona. He had argued the language would constrain American plans for Missile Defense. The vote against the amendment he...

Senate roll vote on Dream Act immigration changes
The 55-41 roll call Saturday by which the Senate voted to pass the DREAM Act, which would give hundreds of thousands of young Illegal Immigrants a path to legal status if they enrolled in college or joined the Armed Forces. The vote fell five short of the 60 needed to enact the Legislation before Republicans take over the House and narrow Democrats' majority in the Senate next month. A "yes" vote is a vote to pass the bill. Voting yes were 50 Democrats, 3 Republicans and 2 Independents. Voting ...

Senate Repeals Dont Ask Dont Tell
WASHINGTON - In a historic vote for Gay Rights, the Senate agreed on Saturday to do away with the Military’s 17-year ban on Openly Gay Troops and sent President Barack Obama Legislation to overturn the Clinton-era policy known as “don’t ask, don’t tell.” Obama was expected to sign the bill into law next week, although changes to military policy probably wouldn’t take effect for at least several months. Under the bill, the president and his top military a...

'Don't ask': Obama praises Senate's gay ban repeal
(12-19) 04:00 PST Washington - -- The Senate voted to abolish the 17-year-old ban on gays and Lesbians in the Military known as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" on Saturday, ending a tumultuous chapter in American Civil Rights history and the last bastion of legal Discrimination based on Sexual Orientation. Eight moderate Republicans joined 55 Democrats and two Independents in a final vote of 65-31 to pass a stand-alone bill that was protected from legislative attack by a special procedure devised by H...

'Don't ask': Obama praises Senate's gay ban repeal
(12-19) 04:00 PST Washington - -- The Senate voted to abolish the 17-year-old ban on gays and Lesbians in the Military known as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" on Saturday, ending a tumultuous chapter in American Civil Rights history and the last bastion of legal Discrimination based on Sexual Orientation. Eight moderate Republicans joined 55 Democrats and two Independents in a final vote of 65-31 to pass a stand-alone bill that was protected from legislative attack by a special procedure devised by H...

'Don't ask': Obama praises Senate's gay ban repeal
(12-18) 04:00 PST Washington - -- The Senate voted to abolish the 17-year-old ban on gays and Lesbians in the Military known as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" on Saturday, ending a tumultuous chapter in American Civil Rights history and the last bastion of legal Discrimination based on Sexual Orientation. Eight moderate Republicans joined 55 Democrats and two Independents in a final vote of 65-31 to pass a stand-alone bill that was protected from legislative attack by a special procedure devised by H...

Republcans end year with scrooge move on immigration
Senate Republicans on Saturday doomed an effort that would have given hundreds of thousands of young Illegal Immigrants a path to legal status if they enrolled in college or joined the Military. Sponsors of the DREAM Act fell five votes short of the 60 they needed to break through largely GOP opposition and win its enactment before Republicans take over the House and narrow Democrats‘ majority in the Senate next month. “A minority of senators prevented the Senate from doing what most...

Dream Act dries up in Senate, posing problem for Obama
Washington • The vote by the Senate on Saturday to block a bill to grant legal status to hundreds of thousands of Illegal Immigrant Students was a painful setback to an emerging movement of young immigrants and also appeared to leave in disarray the Immigration policy of President Barack Obama's administration, which has supported the bill and the movement. A vote to bring the bill, known as the DREAM Act, up for debate gained 55 votes in favor with 41 against, a tally that fell short of t...

Redistricting California
On Nov. 2, California voters went to the polls and elected a new State Government that, when it came to statewide offices, was wall-to-wall Democrats, right? Well, yes — but not quite. Meet Peter Yao, the Claremont city councilman who also serves as temporary chairman of the new California commission charged with creating the state's legislative and Congressional Districts for the next 10 years. He is, not incidentally, a Republican. By the terms of two initiatives that state voters enacte...