President Barack Obama greeted his new White House staff this afternoon with a few announcements that he said “represent a clean break from business as usual.” According to this Associated Press report, President Obama said he’s instituting a pay freeze for the roughly 100 White House employees who make more than $100,000 a year. The move is a direct response to the economic crisis gripping the nation. In another move, Obama issued new rules that attempt to crack down on lobbyists influencing the administration. The rules restrict political appointees who leave the administration from lobbying former friends and colleagues for at least…
So we all know President Barack Obama was sworn in Tuesday after what seemed like a decade-long transition process. Apparently it’s hard to get out of that transition mode, as several senators and witnesses at congressional hearings this morning repeatedly referred to President-elect Obama, even as aides looked at each other nervously and were hesitant to correct their bosses. I know the presidential oath was botched yesterday, but Obama is now the president. It may take a few days to break that habit of calling him the president-elect!
What’s the first thing on the new president’s to-do list today? Barack Obama told ABC News’ Robin Roberts at the Neighborhood Ball last night: We’ll be making a series of announcements both on domestic and on foreign policy that I think will be critical for us to act swiftly on. We’re not going to be able to delay — there have been a lot of things that have been pressing. Fortunately, we’ve seen Congress immediately start working on the economic recovery package — getting that passed and putting people back to work, that’s going to be the thing that we’re…
It’s the first full day of the Obama administration and it promises to be a busy one. Here are some stories we’ll be following for you: Tim Geithner, Obama’s Treasury Secretary nominee, will be before the Senate Finance Committee this morning. The hearing was delayed following the revelation that he had owed back taxes, which have now been paid. If confirmed, Geithner will, of course, oversee the IRS. The House Appropriations committee will mark up the stimulus package unveiled last week. Ray LaHood, Obama’s Transportation Secretary nominee, will be before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee this afternoon for…
Rahm Emanuel issued a memo this afternoon freezing all government regulation, according to a press release from the White House. The memo tells agency heads not to submit any new regulations (proposed or final) until they can be reviewed by a Cabinet official appointed by President Obama. It also orders agencies to withdraw any regulations not yet published in the Federal Register. And it advises them to delay implementing any final regulations that have not yet taken effect — an effort to delay the dozens of Bush-era “midnight regulations.” This is not unprecedented: Former White House chief of staff Andrew…
We’re used to celebrities getting better access to events than the common man, but usually they dress for the occasion. But swearing in the new leader of the free world didn’t mean Don King, the famous boxing promoter and owner of the world’s wackiest hair, was going to wear some fuddy-duddy suit. No, King rocked out denim painted for the occasion. Perhaps his voluminous hair kept him warm. That could be the only excuse for such a sight at such a formal event. Others spotted included: Oprah, garnering a huge shout from the audience when she was shown on the…
I wasn’t sure what to expect from the inauguration: an atmosphere like that of Election Night, perhaps, a night that felt like a moment of national catharsis – thousands of people flooding the streets, cheering, crying, honking horns. But Inauguration Day wasn’t like that. There certainly were emotions: tears after Obama took the oath of office; smiles after the Rev. Joseph Lowery’s benediction. Overall, though, the mood was more celebratory. The Foggy Bottom Metro stop looked like a street fair: Dozens of vendors sold everything from Obama t-shirts to commemorative copies of the Washington Post. They said business was slow…
Those who are claustrophobic or merely uncomfortable with being pressed up against dozens of other people likely hated today’s inauguration. Drawing near-record crowds, depending on whom you ask, the event taxed people’s patience, tolerance for cold and even their needs for personal space bubbles. A lot had been made of the difficulties guests would have getting to the inauguration, what with practically all of northern Virginia being declared a no-driving zone for personal vehicles. So I was surprised to find the District-bound Blue line Metro at Crystal City nearly empty at 6:30 a.m. and thought I was in for an…
President Barack Obama’s Cabinet now has eight official members. The Senate voted by voice vote just before 4 p.m. today to confirm the following seven nominees: Steven Chu for Energy, Arne Duncan for Education, Janet Napolitano for Homeland Security, Peter Orszag for director of the Office of Management and Budget, Ken Salazar for Interior, Eric Shinseki for Veterans Affairs and Tom Vilsak for Agriculture. His Cabinet already included Robert Gates, whom Obama asked to stay on as Defense secretary. But things aren’t moving so quickly for Sen. Hillary Clinton’s secretary of state nomination. After her smooth hearing before the Senate…
Medical workers aided Sens. Ted Kennedy and Robert Byrd during the inaugural luncheon in the Capitol’s Statuary Hall. Both were wheeled out by medical personnel during the luncheon, which immediately followed President Barack Obama’s inaguration on the West Front of the Capitol. Kennedy recently returned to the Senate after a fight with a brain tumor, while Byrd has been frail for years. Capitol staff had no further updates on the conditions of either senator though comments from Obama hinted at something serious. “He was there when the voting rights act was passed,” Obama said of Kennedy. “So I would be…