In an address to the nation next Tuesday, President Barack Obama will reportedly announce a decision he has already made on the future of U.S. involvement in Afghanistan. McClatchy reports he has finalized a plan to dispatch some 34,000 additional U.S. troops over the next year.
Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag attended the war council meeting in the Situation Room last night, the ninth such meeting held by President Obama to discuss his strategy in Afghanistan. Asked by Politico why Orszag was at the meeting, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said, “Cost is a concern.”
Gen. Stanley McChrystal and Ambassador Karl Eikenberry, the top U.S. general and the top U.S. diplomat in Afghanistan, have been instructed to prepare to testify before Congress as early as next week. The two are expected to “offer details and support for the president’s strategy for how to proceed with the eight-year-old war.”
In a new survey released today, the nonpartisan Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that while Americans are split on whether potential changes to the health care system “will be for good or ill,” they still “seem to want lawmakers to tackle health care.” “Seventy-nine percent say it is important for President Barack Obama to include health care reform in addressing the nation’s economic crisis.”
Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) has said that under no circumstances will he vote for a health care reform bill that contains any form of a public option. “I’m going to be stubborn on this,” he said. When asked if any version of public option will compel him to vote against bringing the bill to a final vote, Lieberman replied, “Correct.”
Yesterday, a “group of conservative Republican leaders” unveiled a “purity test” for potential GOP candidates, which, if adopted, would force the RNC to “withhold campaign money and endorsements from candidates who do not adhere to at least seven principles on the checklist.” The 10-point list gauges adherence to principles like “opposing government financing for abortion” and opposing a “socialist agenda.”
Nearly one in four mortgages are under water, according to an analysis by First American CoreLogic, a leading real-estate company. The company’s analysis finds that nearly 10.7 million households had negative equity in their homes during the first quarter of 2009.
The U.S. “will identify a near-term emission reduction target as part of an effort to reach a comprehensive climate agreement in Copenhagen next month as long as other major greenhouse gas emitters do the same.” But officials warned against negotiating “above the targets in domestic legislation” might risk “support for that legislation in the Senate.”
A report by the South Carolina state Ethics Commission has recommended 37 charges against Governor Mark Sanford (R-SC) over his use of state money to purchase business-class airline tickets to travel to Argentina to see his mistress. The investigation also accuses the governor of violating campaign finance laws by improperly spending $2,940.68 from his campaign’s account.
And finally: The Hammer is back. Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay is making a special appearance on the “Dancing With the Stars” finale tonight, where he’ll be dancing the Texas Two-Step with Cheryl Burke. “I’m so excited to dance,” DeLay told Politics Daily.
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