Understanding Government

Washington Post

President Obama goes on the attack, to Democrats’ delight [President Obama, bipartisanship, politics] – David Nakamura and Paul Kane report that despite President Obama’s low approval rating — even few Democrats believe he has a good chance of re-election — members of Obama’s party do like his new stauncher stance on issues and views

Bernanke tells Congress to cut out the brinkmanship over budget [Federal Reserve, bipartistanship, tax policy, budget deficit] – Neil Irwin and Lori Montgomery report that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has told Congress to stop the battle over tax and spending policy and slash budget deficits more than planned — but slowly enough as to not undermine economic growth

Obama: ‘That’s right — I care’ [President Obama, health-care, Presidential approval] – David Nakamura reports that President Obama has finally come up with a comeback for rivals who derisively refer to his 2009 health-care law as “Obamacare”

Still waiting for air safety improvements [FAA, Transportation Department] – Al Kamen outlines how slowly some regulatory measures tend to move through Washington — highlighting the snail’s pace that air safety regulations are forming after a 2009 airplane crash and lofty promises of change

Spending measure gives Postal Service 6 more weeks to pay [Postal Service, budget] – Ed O’Keefe reports that the House approved a measure that will keep the federal government running through November 18, also giving the Postal Service time to come up with the cash needed to make the annual payments required to prefund the future retirements of its workers

New York Times

A closed-mouth policy even on open secrets [President Obama, open government, C.I.A., drone attacks] – Scott Shane discusses the phenomenon of government information that is public, yet classified — citing the way in which President Obama discussed the killing of Anwar al-Awlaki without mentioning “drone” or “C.I.A.”

G.O.P. accuses Holder of misleading Congress [Attorney General, Operation Fast and Furious] – Charlie Savage reports that some Republican lawmakers are pressing for an investigation of Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., accusing him of misleading Congress during testimony about the investigation into Operation Fast and Furious

Wall Street Journal

Partisan fight flares over new bank fees [President Obama, Dodd-Frank, banking policy] – Victoria McGrane reports that Republicans and banking industry members are blaming increased regulation for the increase in banking fees, just a day after President Obama criticized the increases — this comes after Bank of America announced its plan to add a $5 monthly fee for debit card users to recoup revenue lost undera provision of the 2010 Dodd-Frank law

GOP pushes for jobs-bill vote [American Jobs Act, bipartisanship] – Carol E. Lee and Janet Hook report that congressional Republicans are calling for an immediate vote on President Obama’s American Jobs Act, hoping to expose the limits of the bill’s support within the Democratic party

Phone-subsidy system faces overhaul [FCC, telecommunications] – Amy Schatz reports that the FCC plans to overhaul the Universal Service Fund, an $8 billion federal program which subsidizes phone service in rural areas and to schools, libraries and low-income Americans

Washington Post

Keystone pipeline emails show friendly exchanges [State Dept., environment, Keystone pipeline] – Juliet Eilperin and Steven Mufson report on emails that suggest the State Dept. official overseeing energy issues at the U.S. Embassy in Canada was biased in favor of the Keystone pipeline that would run from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico; the State Dept. has not yet given its final recommendation on the project, which is opposed by environmental groups

To boost flagging economy, U.S. wants to import more shoppers [Commerce Dept., tourism, U.S. economy] – Yian Q. Mui reports that both federal and state governments are enticing tourists from China and Brazil, whose economies are strong, to visit the U.S. to make up for the decline in domestic consumer spending

Supreme Court term will include cases highlighting extent of federal power [Supreme Court, Federal Communications Commission, Affordable Care Act, immigration] – Robert Barnes reports that the cases selected for the Supreme Court’s review this year include several that challenge the federal government’s reach in areas such as healthcare, immigration, and broadcasting, and that the outcomes will be scrutinized for their political implications

Homeland Security tries to shore up nation’s cyber defenses [Homeland Security, National Security Agency, cybersecurity] – Ellen Nakashima reports on the efforts of the Department of Homeland and the CIA to monitor and guard against a cyber attack on U.S. infrastructure as systems that affect supplies of food, fuel, and other basic services are increasingly digitally interconnected

Salmonella stays with chickens, from birth to kitchen [Agriculture Dept., food safety] – Jeffrey Benzing, Esther French, and Judah Ari Gross report on the ease with which the potentially deadly salmonella bacteria can be carried by poultry all the way to market, yet the Agriculture Department’s Food Safety and Inspection Service is not permitted to test for salmonella at its source, a reflection of the lapses in the food safety system in the U.S.

New York Times

New state rules raising hurdles at voting booth [Justice Dept., Voting Rights Act] – Michael Cooper reports that some fear new state voting procedures – such as requiring photo identification – could depress voter turnout to the detriment of traditionally Democratic voters

A broader G.I. bill [Veterans Administration, G.I. bill] – The Times applauds the expansion of education programs covered by the G.I. bill for veterans, but urges Congress to keep an eye on the non-degree institutions and programs that may see the increased benefits as a way to make money without delivering on services

Success battling terrorists, but scant glory for it [President Obama, terrorism, economy, presidential approval rating] – Jackie Calmes describes how President Obama’s success in battling terrorism has been overshadowed by his inability to fight American unemployment

Wall Street Journal

FDIC’s latest closing: its own offices [Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.] – Victoria McGrane reports that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which oversees bank closures, is shutting two of the three offices it set up since 2008 to handle the wave of bank closures following the financial collapse

Home-health firms blasted [Justice Dept., Medicare fraud] – John Carreyrou reports that a Senate Finance Committee report found that the three largest home-health care companies tailored their services to Medicare reimbursement rules in order to maximize profits; one of the companies, LHC Group, recently agreed to a $65 million settlement with the Justice Dept. related to the company’s billing for unnecessary services

Airlines want satellite-aided airport approaches [Federal Aviation Administration] – Andy Pazstor reports that an FAA advisory committee recommends interim upgrades of air-traffic control systems that would allow airlines to use on-board satellite navigation systems – which would reduce fuel use – as a short-term fix to the navigation and traffic control system rather than hold out for a system-wide conversion from ground-navigation to satellite-based navigation

Washington Post

EPA needed more data before ruling on greenhouse gas emissions, report says [EPA, climate change, environmental regulation] – Juliet Eilperin reports that the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Inspector General found that the agency should have conducted a more detailed scientific review before making its decision two years ago that greenhouse-gas emissions pose a threat to public health and welfare

Loosing the reins on ‘No Child Left Behind’: Tending grandsons, and schools [President Obama, No Child Left Behind, education] – Jay Mathews likens President Obama’s decision to issue waivers to schools for the No Child Left Behind law to looking after his grandchildren; Mathews says his (and Obama’s supposedly) laissez-faire method allows for greater creativity and creates less paperwork

Justice Dept. asks Supreme Court to review health-care law [Justice Department, President Obama, health-care] – Robert Barnes reports that the Obama administration is pushing the Supreme Court to make a ruling on the constitutionality of the newest health-care law, which means that the ruling is likely to be handed down in the midst of the 2012 Presidential race

A bogus chart on Obama and the debt gets a new lease on life [President Obama, national debt] – Glenn Kessler dissects a factually incorrect, Obama-postiive bar graph on the national debt

Solyndra violated loan terms in 2010 but got more federal money, DOE confirms [Department of Energy, green energy, federal funds] – Carol D. Leonnig reports that after it was known that Solyndra was violating terms of its federal loan, the Department of Energy modified the loan terms so that the energy company could still receive taxpayer funds

New York Times

U.S. backs new loans for projects on energy [Department of Energy, solar energy, government loans and grants] – Matthew L. Wald reports that in the wake of the massively expensive Solyndra loan problem, the Energy Department has issued $1.07 billion in loan guarantees to two solar energy production plants, with plans to announce another $156 million in grants for high-risk but potentially high-reward research projects

Rape definition too narrow in federal statistics, critics say [government standards, sexual assault definition] – Erica Goode reports that the federal definition of rape is narrow enough to exclude thousands of sexual assaults each year; too-rigid standards leads to underreporting and less government attention being paid to the issue

Wall Street Journal

Jobless claims tumble [unemployment] – Jeff Bater and Jamila Trindle reports that the number of new unemployment claims fell sharply last week, though it did little to change the overall picture of the economy for that period

Catholics fight health rules [HHS, healthcare, religious views] – Kris Maher reports that Catholic organizations are protesting the healthcare mandate that health insurance cover contraceptives, saying that the rule might force them to drop coverage; the Department of Health and Human Services has already exempted caregivers from providing services that conflict with their religious beliefs

White House, Pentagon jostle over extent of Pakistan-Militant ties [White House, Pakistan, international relations] – Adam Entous and Julian E. Barnes report that the White House stated that Pakistan must work to cut ties with militant groups, but were reluctant to definitively answer if they saw the situation the same way as U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen

Free ride ends for Marshals [U.S. Marshals, government-owned vehicles] – Devlin Barrett reports that U.S. Marshals will no longer use the 152 “take home” government-owned sport-utility vehicles assigned to its Arlington, Va. headquarters, which employees were using for their commutes into work

Bernanke: Fed prepared to act [Federal Reserve, economy] – Luca Di Leo reports that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is ready to take further unconventional steps should the U.S. economy remain weak

Washington Post

Senate leaders announce bipartisan agreement to avert government shutdown (Federal Emergency Management Agency, federal budget) – Paul Kane and Rosalind S. Helderman report that the Senate and House agreed to a compromise that provides additional disaster relief funds for FEMA at the lower level desired by House Republicans and will fund the government until November 18

Some clean energy firms found U.S. loan-guarantee program a bad bet (Energy Dept., Office of Management and Budget, Treasury Dept., green technology) – Steven Mufson and Carol D. Leonnig examine the Energy Dept.’s loan guarantee program that left the government on the hook for $535 million due to the collapse of solar panel manufacturer Solyndra; the authors find  that the program has been hampered by too much bureaucracy, understaffed and underfunded, without enough flexibility to respond to changing a marketplace

Decision on health-care law means Supreme Court will likely determine constitutionality next summer (Justice Dept., American Care Act, healthcare) – Robert Barnes reports that by deciding not to appeal a ruling by justices of the 11^th Circuit Court of Appeals that the Affordable Care Act was unconstitutional, the department’s next step would be an appeal to the Supreme Court; appellate courts are split on the constitutionality of the law

Gulf oil spill could cause lasting damage to fish populations, study finds (National Science Foundation, oil spill) – Juliet Eilperin reports that a study of the ecological impact of the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico last spring, funded in part by the National Science Foundation, found that “killfish” have cellular abnormalities

Alaska ‘bridge to nowhere,’ the Knik Arm Crossing Project, still on the table (federal budget, earmarks) – Steven Mufson reports that the $4 billion bridge project connecting Anchorage to a nearby peninsula, which became emblematic of government waste in the 2008 presidential election, is still being pursued

New York Times

Pakistanis tied to 2007 border ambush on Americans (Pentagon, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Pakistan, Afghanistan) – Carolotta Gall reports on a 2007 Pakistani assault on U.S. service personnel in Afghanistan by Pakistani militants and possibly members of the Pakistani intelligence service that was kept quiet in order to maintain the delicate partnership between the U.S. and Pakistan

S.&P. target of inquiry in securities (Securities and Exchange Commission, ratings agencies) – Louise Story reports that for the first time, the Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating the ratings agency Standard and Poor’s in connection with its evaluation of Delphinus, one of many “collateralized debt obligations” that bundled mortgage bonds, including high risk mortgage loans, which contributed to the housing market collapse

The Pentagon and the budget deficit (Penatgon, federal budget) – The Times argues that the government needs to reform military pay, pensions and retiree health care benefits, which rose 50% in the last ten years

Wall Street Journal

Freddie faulted on mortgage reviews (Federal Housing Finance Agency, Freddie Mac, mortgage default) – Nick Timiraos reports that according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s inspector general, Freddie Mac could have recouped billions from Bank of America in its settlement over mortgage foreclosures through loan buy-backs

U.S. probes Motorola Solutions (Dept. of Justice, Securities and Exchange Commission, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act) – Joseph Palazzolo reports that the Justice Dept. and the Securities and Exchange Commission are investigating whether Motorola Solutions Inc. violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by bribing European officials to win business

Washington Post

Pakistan backed attacks on American targets, U.S. says (Joint Chiefs of Staff, Defense Secretary Panetta, Pakistan) – Karen DeYoung reports on the congressional testimony of Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, that Pakistan’s intelligence service was involved in the Taliban’s attack on the U.S. Embassy and NATO compound; Defense Secretary Panetta who also testified, would not say how the U.S. planned to respond; meanwhile Pakistan denies complicity in the attack

Dead federal retirees paid $120 million yearly, report says (Office of Personnel Management, federal budget) – Ed O’Keefe reports that according to the Office of Personnel Management’s inspector general, the federal government made payments of $601 million to dead federal retirees between 2005 and 2008 and OPM is taking steps to recover the funds; overall the federal government paid $125 billion in improper payments to contractors and beneficiaries in 2010

Obama to issue No Child Left Behind waivers to states (Dept. of Education, President Obama, No Child Left Behind) – Lyndsey Layton reports that as many as 45 states may take advantage of waivers from No Child Left Behind that the administration will make available to states that adopt “rigorous” programs to improve student performance; under No Child, large numbers of schools would be penalized for failing to meet proficiency standards in math and reading by 2014

TransCanada pipeline lobbyist works all the angles with former colleagues (Secretary of State, Keystone pipeline, lobbyists) – Juliet Eilperin and Steven Mufson report that according to email records, a former deputy campaign manager for Secretary of State Clinton’s presidential bid is calling on former colleagues in the Secretary’s inner circle to win a positive environmental assessment from the department for the 1,700 mile Keystone pipeline from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico

Former SEC official denies Madoff ‘conflict’ (Securities and Exchange Commission, Bernard Madoff) – David S. Hilzenrath reports that at a congressional hearing, former SEC general counsel, David M. Becker responded to the agency’s inspector general’s allegations that he improperly participated in decisions affecting victims of Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme – including Becker’s mother’s estate – saying he consulted the agency’s ethics officer about his conflict

NASA hedges satellite-crash predictions (NASA, space junk) – Joel Achenbach discusses NASA’s struggle to predict the path of the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite, which is currently headed toward earth

New York Times

House passes new version of stopgap spending measure (Federal Emergency Management Agency, disaster relief, federal budget) – Robert Pear reports that the House passed a measure to fund the government beyond October 1, averting a government shutdown; the measure rescinds Energy Dept. funds designated for Solyndra, the now bankrupt solar panel manufacturing company, but it does not increase the amount for Federal Emergency Management Agency’s disaster relief fund as Senate Democrats had wanted

In rush to assist Solyndra, U.S. missed warning signs (Energy Dept., green technology) – Eric Lipton and John M. Broder investigate the rise and fall of a company touted by the president as an example of job growth through green technology, which was granted $535 million in loan guarantees and is now bankrupt and the subject of investigations by Department of Energy’s inspector general and the Department of Justice; they report on  the company’s White House connections and its expensive lobbying campaign to win the loan guarantees

The Fed defies the G.O.P. (Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke) – The Times calls Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s latest plan to boost the economy – purchasing $400 billion worth of long-term Treasury bonds with the proceeds of the sale of short-term bonds – courageous in the face of withering criticism and a request by the Republican leadership to refrain from bond purchasing

Wall Street Journal

Reports fault regulator of Fannie, Freddie (Federal Housing Finance Agency, Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, home mortgages) – Nick Timiraos reports that according to the inspector general of the Federal Housing Finance Agency that oversees mortgage loan giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, the agency lacked the resources – specifically the necessary number of examiners – to oversee them; the IG also concluded that the agency failed to follow up on risk management deficiencies in Fannie cited by FHFA in 2006, which could have averted abuses in the foreclosure process

EPA to enforce earlier standard on ozone levels (Environmental Protection Agency, air pollution, ozone standards) – Tennille Tracy reports that the Environmental Protection Agency’s Administrator Lisa Jackson announced that the agency will enforce an ozone standard adopted three years ago in light of the administration’s withdrawal of a proposed tougher standard; the 2008 standard is more stringent that its predecessor, adopted in 1997

Long-term care program in doubt (Health and Human Services, American Care Act) – Janet Adamy reports that due to fiscal constraints, the Department of Health and Human Services said the administration may not pursue a long-term health program known as the Class Act, which helps with basic needs of those too old or too sick to care for themselves and was part of the healthcare overhaul law