Lawmakers across Capitol Hill, both Democrats and Republicans, were surprised to learn recently that the Obama administration has made reaching out to Muslim nations a top priority for the space agency NASA. They will probably be more surprised to learn that administration officials told the Middle East news organization Al Jazeera about it before they told Congress.
Rep. Pete Olson, the ranking Republican on the House Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics, got a call from NASA Administrator Charles Bolden on June 28, the day the White House released its new long-term plan for the space program. "He ran down some of the things from the president's new space policy, and mentioned outreach to Muslims," Olson recalls. "That stunned me. I didn't believe it."
Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/NASA_s-Muslim-outreach_-Al-Jazeera-told-first-98058674.html
Campaigning in Missouri for a Democratic Senate hopeful, President Obama fine-tuned the economic theme he hopes will carry the party through the fall: Yes, things are bad -- but Republicans are worse.
"The last thing we should do is go back to the ideas that got us in this situation in the first place," Obama said at a Kansas City fundraiser for Robin Carnahan. "It is a choice between falling backwards or moving forward."
Carnahan is trailing Republican Rep. Roy Blunt for the Senate seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Kit Bond, a Republican. Blunt's lead is within the margin of error, and the race is expected to be close.
Obama, while acknowledging that his own economic policies are showing only modest success, blamed Republican tax cuts, lax oversight of big industry and fondness for spending for creating the problem.
Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Missouri-race-will-test-Obama_s-midterm-strategy-98067679.html
Retail sales are flat, the economy is still shedding jobs and the unemployment rate remains perilously high at 9.5 percent. The news was even worse for the housing industry, which reported a staggering 30 percent drop in pending home sales in May.
Before they left for a weeklong recess, spending jitters among lawmakers in both parties blocked legislation to provide $24 billion in aid to cash-strapped states to stop looming layoffs of firefighters, police and other municipal employees. And Congress failed to round up enough support for a $23 billion measure aimed at averting teacher layoffs.
Lawmakers in the Senate even fell short of the 60 votes needed to extend unemployment insurance benefits, which would have cost $33 billion -- all added to the nation's $1.3 trillion deficit. Republicans and one Democrat in the Senate refused to back the extension unless at least part of it was paid for.
Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Liberals-use-bad-economic-news-to-push-for-more-stimulus-98063644.html
The plot is thickening in the California senate race as Democrat Barbara Boxer’s lead over Republican challenger Carly Fiorina in the face of persistently high negative ratings is starting to crumble:
Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer’s edge over Republican challenger Carly Fiorina has dwindled to 3 points as she seeks re-election in November, with more Californians now holding an unfavorable view of the three-term senator, a poll released on Thursday showed.
Boxer, who once held a 30-point lead over Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett Packard and a political novice, is now ahead by a margin of only 47 percent to 44 percent, the Field Poll found.
Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/new-poll-shows-barbara-boxer-ahead-of-carly-fiorina-by-just-3-points-98041384.html
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