If you’re killing time before the inauguration and looking for a laugh, head on over to Nancy Pelosi’s official YouTube page. The highlighted video, which we’ve embedded below, appears to be a parody of the Bush administration’s Barney Cam videos. But this one has a twist that we’re never gonna give up.
Sixty-three of the 100 largest publicly traded U.S. federal contractors have subsidiaries in tax havens, according to a new Government Accountability Office report. A tax haven is a country with no or low taxes where companies set up subsidiaries in order to reduce their tax burdens to the United States. Many of the tax havens cited in the GAO report are Caribbean countries, such as Barbados, the Bahamas and the Cayman Islands. Four contractors had more than half of their foreign subsidiaries in jurisdiction listed as tax havens. One contractor, Proctor and Gamble, has 83 off-shore subsidiaries in tax haven countries.
In case you haven’t heard, Barack Obama will be sworn in Tuesday. With as many as 2 million people expected to descend on Washington and temperatures topping out at a balmy 30 degrees Fahrenheit, the event will likely be a frozen madhouse. If you’ve decided to stay away from Capitol Hill that day, then well, you’ve got more common sense than us at Federal Times. We’ll have three reporters on the scene. Congressional reporter Rebecca Neal nabbed the official press pass allotted for Fed Times and will be right up front as Obama takes the oath of office. My girlfriend pulled…
No, little green men have not been found on Mars and residents of West Windsor Township, N.J. have nothing to fear. But a team of NASA scientists have discovered something that could prove there is life on the red planet: methane. The gas is a byproduct of biological and geological activity. On Earth, much of the methane in Earth’s atmosphere is released by organisms as they digest food. But geological processes, such iron oxidation, also release the gas. NASA observations of the Martian atmosphere over the last several years have shown that methane is being continually released into the air…
img.cabinetpic { float: left; border: 1px inset #aaaaaa; padding: 0; margin-top: 1em } div.cabinetdata { margin: 0 0 2em 200px; padding: 0; } div.cabinetdata h3 { margin: 0; padding: 0; text-indent: 0; } We’re camped out on Capitol Hill all week covering the transition hearings — and we thought you’d like a central place to follow our confirmation coverage. We’ll update this list as the week goes on. The full list is after the jump, and it’s sorted alphabetically by agency.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee this morning approved Hillary Clinton’s nomination to be Secretary of State on a 16 to 1 vote. Clinton must now face a vote before the entire Senate, but she enjoys strong support among her former colleagues and her confirmation is expected.
Retired Air Force Maj. Gen. J. Scott Gration, one of President-elect Barack Obama’s top military advisers, is said to be the pick to lead NASA. Our colleagues at Space News were the first to report the story yesterday. Gration is a decorated fighter pilot and held senior policy positions in the military, but does not have a space background, according to Space News. No word on whether current NASA administrator Mike Griffin’s wife has ended her campaign to convince Obama her husband should stay.
Back in November, Gregg wrote about the potential for a bailout of the Postal Service, which had a $2.8 billion shortfall last year. Well someone has finally taken notice. And that someone is Lewis Black of the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Federal Times does not endorse the views of Lewis Black, but we are a little excited about the screen time on the Daily Show. Â Back in Black – Bailouts Barack Obama Interview John McCain Interview Sarah Palin Video Funny Election Video The Daily Show With Jon StewartM – Th 11p / 10c
When President Bush leaves the White House on Jan. 20, he’ll have some comfortable digs to work out of in Dallas. The General Services Administration has secured 8,000 square feet of office space at Sherry Lane Place, a highrise office building in downtown Dallas, for the soon-to-be former presisdent, GSA said yesterday afternoon in a press release. The 10-year lease will cost taxpayers $311,600 annually — that’s $38.95 per square foot, more than twice the average Dallas office rent, according to this Bloomberg report. The size and cost of Bush’s new office space is in keeping with the space secured for…
Peter Orszag appeared before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee for a hearing on his nomination as OMB director. It was almost as painless as yesterday’s hearing before the Senate Budget committee. Senators focused mostly on government management issues, and Orszag made a few notable statements. First, though, a word about the budget. Orszag reiterated, once again, that the Obama administration will release a 2010 budget in “mid-to-late February.” One new detail: He said the budget will include “some program eliminations.” No word on which programs, though.