Daily Archives

April 5, 2013

24 posts · Friday

First Lady Refers to Herself as a Single Mother

April 5, 2013 at 9:32 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

First Lady Michelle Obama mistakenly referred to herself as a “single mother” during an interview with WCAX-TV.

Said Mrs. Obama: “Believe me, as a busy single mother — or I shouldn’t say single — as a busy mother, sometimes when you’ve got a husband who is president it can feel a little single. But he’s there.”

Job Growth Slows Dramatically

April 5, 2013 at 9:26 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

The U.S. economy generated just 88,000 jobs last month, the smallest gain in 10 months, adding to fresh evidence that the pace of hiring has slowed, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The unemployment rate fell to 7.6% because of an unanticipated high number of people dropping out of the job market.

First Read: “Don’t be surprised if this lower-than-expected number puts pressure on Congress to alleviate the sequester cuts.”

The Week: Headed for a slowdown?

Quote of the Day

April 5, 2013 at 7:03 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Today, more people than ever before — 69.5 million Americans, from college students to retirees to welfare beneficiaries — depend on the federal government for housing, food, income, student aid, or other assistance once considered to be the responsibility of individuals, families, neighborhoods, churches, and other civil society institutions.”

— Former Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), quoted by the Huffington Post, in a letter to staff upon taking over as head of the Heritage Foundation.

How to Survive a Sex Scandal

April 5, 2013 at 6:52 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Daily Beast: “Looking at some of the biggest sex scandals of the last decade or so, we have tried to parse the factors that allow some pols to skate by and others to live out their days as little more than punchlines. Consider the following guidelines, then, a free, nonexpert, historically grounded What It Takes to keep your name out of the mud. A study, if you will, in what separates the Sanfords from the Weiners.”

Obama Budget Will Seek Grand Bargain

April 5, 2013 at 6:39 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

President Obama “will offer cuts to Social Security and other entitlement programs in a budget proposal aimed at swaying Republicans to compromise on a deficit-reduction deal,” Reuters reports.

“Under a proposal that would cut the deficit by $1.8 trillion over 10 years, the president will offer to apply a less generous measure of inflation to calculate cost-of-living increases… That change would result in lower payments to some beneficiaries of the Social Security program for retirees and is staunchly opposed by many congressional Democrats as well as labor and retiree groups.”

“However, the president will only accept these spending cuts if congressional Republicans, for their part, agree to higher taxes… The president’s budget proposal is due to be laid out in full on Wednesday.”

New York Times: “The administration’s hope is to create cracks
in Republicans’ antitax resistance, especially in the Senate, as
constituents complain about the across-the-board cuts in military and
domestic programs that took effect March 1.”

More Cabinet Members Take Pay Cuts

April 5, 2013 at 6:07 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew has become the latest member of President Obama’s Cabinet to give back a portion of his salary, the AP reports.

“The Treasury Department said that Lew would contribute a portion of his salary to non-profit organizations that are supporting people and programs adversely affected by automatic government spending cuts. The amount of Lew’s contribution and the organizations receiving the money are still being worked out.”

The New York Times notes Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano also agreed to a pay cut.