blogging the beltway

Break out the bubbly … or not. Thursday, Feb. 17, marked the second anniversary of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. For the occasion, various camps inside the Beltway gave their reflections on the $787 billion piece of legislation intended to shore up the collapsing economy. Needless to say, there’s quite a sweeping range of…

On the heels of criticism over his 2012 federal budget proposal, from both the left and right, President Obama joined the fray in a Tuesday morning news conference where he defended his choices. The president notably responded to the impression that his budget, with its focus on small domestic programs, puts too much on the…

President Barack Obama unveiled his budget request for the 2012 fiscal year on Monday, a thick document upwards of 2,000 pages that’s had people grumbling well before its official release. The White House says the proposal would shave $1.1 trillion off the federal deficit over 10 years — but the spending cuts needed to achieve…

The Obama administration released a plan on Friday for restructuring the housing finance market. The strategy lays out three options (the better to avoid Republicans immediately ripping it apart) for winding down the government-sponsored Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and transitioning, over at least five years, to a more privatized mortgage market. The White House…

Happy first anniversary of first lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! campaign! To mark the occasion on Wednesday, Mrs. Obama visited an Atlanta elementary school to highlight its healthy eating programs and spoke at North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, Ga., encouraging parents to advocate for a healthier nation. “We have a voice,” she said to…

Less than two months after his last sit-down with the National Policy Alliance, on Tuesday President Obama met again with the group of African-American advisers. A coalition of 10 — nine of which represent black public officials, including the National Conference of Black Mayors and the National Black Caucus of State Legislators, plus the Joint…

Today, National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, we are reminded that African Americans have the highest rates of HIV in the United States. Let’s also take a look at what’s being done to help pull those numbers down. Last summer the White House announced the National HIV/AIDS Strategy, an approach to fighting the epidemic that recognizes…

First Lady Michelle Obama announced Tuesday that the 2012 Democratic National Convention will be held in Charlotte, North Carolina. “Charlotte is a city marked by its southern charm, warm hospitality, and an ‘up by the bootstraps’ mentality that has propelled the city forward as one of the fastest-growing in the South,” Mrs. Obama wrote in…

So … is health care reform over now? Going by some reactions to a Florida federal judge’s recent decision, you might think something like that. On Monday, U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson declared the entire Affordable Care Act unconstitutional based on the individual mandate requiring most Americans to buy insurance starting in 2014. But hours…

In a blinked-and-you-missed-it moment of President Obama’s State of the Union speech last week, while discussing the dismal education system, he encouraged young people to choose teaching careers. “To every young person listening tonight who’s contemplating their career choice,” he said fervently, “If you want to make a difference in the life of our nation,…