Russia’s leaders are getting used to cutting budgets this year. As the country sinks deeper into recession — unemployment, according to some estimates, is as high as 12% and the economy is predicted to shrink by about 4.5% in 2009 — the government is slashing spending at most of its ministries. The Energy Ministry’s budget is down by 33%, and that of the Transport Ministry by 30%
Tag Archives: congressional
Congresswoman calls alleged wiretap ‘abuse of power’
A key Democrat who reportedly was overheard on a National Security Agency wiretap discussing a deal with a suspected Israeli agent has called the wiretap an "abuse of power." Rep.
EPA’s CO2 Finding: Putting a Gun to Congress’s Head
Back in 1973, National Lampoon magazine ran a satirical cover image of a very cute, very worried-looking puppy with a gun pointed at its head. The headline read: “If You Don’t Buy This Magazine, We’ll Kill This Dog”: motivation by emotional blackmail, taken to its absurdist extreme
CIA bars contractors from doing interrogations
CIA Director Leon Panetta has carried through on his pledge to prohibit independent contractors from conducting interrogations of terror suspects. In a message to agency employees on Thursday, Panetta said he had notified the congressional oversight committees about the current CIA policy regarding interrogations.
Obama’s Budget Fight Starts With His Own Party
It’s not exactly the can-do, uplifting kind of message that President Barack Obama or Congressional Democrats want to deliver to the voting public. But in the face of soaring deficit projections and growing Republican and moderate Democratic opposition to the Administration’s $3.6 trillion budget plan, it may just be the best they can do.
Senate Dems propose cutting Obama budget by billions
Hours before President Obama was to hold a prime time news conference — in part to boost his $3.6 trillion budget plan — a key Democratic senator Tuesday unveiled a scaled-down budget proposal. Sen.
6 years later, progress and doubts are legacy of Iraq war
Six years ago Thursday, then-President George W.
Two Dems Want to Scrap Employer-Based Health Care
They are an odd couple politically: a liberal Democratic Senator from the Pacific Northwest, and a conservative Democratic Congressman from the South.
Who’s Right: Buffett or Obama?
On reading Warren Buffett’s much-anticipated letter to Berkshire Hathaway’s shareholders, one can’t avoid being struck by his faith in the ability of the American people to overcome adversity and to move the nation forward.
Barely Bipartisan, a Stimulus Deal Is Done
The U.S. Senate looks to be on track to pass a bill that sounds almost exactly like what President Barack Obama asked for last month