544-0
House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan’s (R., Wis.) proposals
to solve the country’s debt and deficit crisis continue to be far more
popular with elected officials than those put forward by President
Obama.
Senate rejects Obama budget in 99-0 vote
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05/16/12 04:30 PM ET
A budget resolution based on President Obama’s 2013 budget failed to get any votes in the Senate on Wednesday.
In a 99-0 vote, all of the senators present rejected the president’s blueprint.
It’s the second year in a row the Senate has voted down Obama’s budget.
The House earlier this year unanimously rejected Obama's budget.
The White House sought to provide cover for Democrats to vote against
the Obama budget resolution before the vote, arguing the resolution
offered by Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) was different from Obama’s budget
because it did not include policy report language.
Democrats made the same point on the floor Wednesday in explaining their votes.
The Senate also voted on four GOP budget blueprints, which were all defeated.
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Three
years ago, President Obama cut a secret deal with pharmaceutical
company lobbyists to secure the industry’s support for his national
health care law. Despite Obama’s promises during his campaign to run a
transparent administration, the deal has been shrouded in mystery ever
since.
But internal emails obtained by House Republicans now provide
evidence that a deal was struck and GOP investigators are promising to
release more details in the coming weeks.
“What the hell?” White House Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina, who
is now Obama’s campaign manager, complained to a lobbyist for the
Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) in January
15, 2010 email. “This wasn’t part of our deal.”
This reference to “our deal” came two months before the final passage
of Obamacare in an email with the subject line, “FW: TAUZIN EMAIL.” At
the time, Billy Tauzin was president and CEO of PhRMA.
The email was uncovered as part of investigation into Obama’s
closed-door health care negotiations launched by the House Energy and
Commerce committee’s oversight panel.
“In the coming weeks the Committee intends to show what the White
House agreed to do as part of its deal with the pharmaceutical industry
and how the full details of this agreement were kept from both the
public and the House of Representatives,” the committee’s Republican
members wrote in a memo today.
On June 20, 2009, Obama released a terse 296-word statement
announcing a deal between pharmaceutical companies and the Senate that
didn’t mention any involvement by the White House.
“The investigation has determined that the White House, primarily through Office of Health Reform Director Nancy Ann DeParle and Messina, with involvement from Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel, was actively engaged in these negotiations while the role of Congress was limited,” the committee members wrote. “For example, three days before the June 20 statement, the head of PhRMA promised Messina, ‘we will deliver a final yes to you by morning.’ Meanwhile, Ms. DeParle all but confirmed that half of the Legislative Branch was shut out in an email to a PhRMA representative: ‘I think we should have included the House in the discussions, but maybe we never would have gotten anywhere if we had.’”
Read the full memo here.
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Although famously low-key off-camera, Letterman is one of late night television's biggest stars. "Late Night With David Letterman" earned him $40 million this year, more than rival Jay Leno. (Letterman owns a stake in the show.) This year he had Oprah Winfrey as a guest. The two publicly patched up a long-standing rift. And earlier this year he scooped the world when Britney Spears appeared on his program to announce her pregnancy. Letterman's production company, Worldwide Pants, is responsible for hit shows like "Everybody Loves Raymond," which just ended its nine-year run. Earnings estimates are for June 2005 to June 2006. Figures rounded off where appropriate. Exact figures available on Forbes.com. Includes dollars earned solely from entertainment income. Management, agent and attorney fees have not been deducted. Estimates by forbes; sources include Billboard, Pollstar, Adams Media Research, Nielsen SoundScan and Nielsen BookScan. Rankings are generated by combining earnings with other metrics: Web mentions on Google press clips compiled by LexisNexis; TV/radio mentions by Factiva; and number of times a celebrity's face appeared on the cover of 26 major consumer magazines. |
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