The Hill News

Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain accused the media and political establishment of being afraid of giving him enough attention to procure the GOP nomination.

"They do not want Barack Obama to go toe-to-toe with me as the Republican presidential nominee," Cain said to a group of Tea Partiers on Wednesday in South Florida.

Cain argued the political and media establishment is "afraid" of potential Republican candidates Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R).

"They are doubly scared that a real black man might run against Barack Obama," Cain added.

Cain, the former Godfather's Pizza CEO, is one of the few GOP presidential hopefuls to get to the exploratory committee phase of their candidacy. Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty  and former Louisiana Gov. Buddy Roemer have also announced plans to form an exploratory committee.

Watch the video below:

This week, a bipartisan group of Senators unveiled a plan to reduce the number of Senate confirmed slots by 200, and to make an additional 250 slots subject to an expedited confirmation process. These reforms are badly needed, as the length of the process for filling these so-called PAS slots â€" presidentially-appointed, Senate confirmed officials â€"  has ballooned in recent years. The rule of thumb for White House staffers who handle these nominations is that the process for officials below the rank of secretary is about six months. For comparative purposes, the average time from announcement to swearing in during the Kennedy administration was two and a half months.

This lengthy process often leaves key posts empty for months or even years, and is an assault on both presidential effectiveness and orderly government. Furthermore, such vacancies can have serious consequences. When a swine-flu outbreak occurred in April of 2009, President Obama did not have! a single confirmed HHS appointee in place, from the secretary on down â€" a leadership vacuum that could have been devastating had the outbreak been more severe.

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At a time when rising gas prices are hurting American families and businesses and threatening our economic recovery, policy makers should be encouraging, rather than discouraging, programs that support private investment in clean technology projects, job creation, and the reduction of our dependence on foreign oil.

Earlier this week, seven renewable energy trade associations called on Congress not to cut funding for the Department of Energy’s Renewable Energy Loan Guarantee Program. Separately, a cross-section of 34 renewable energy CEOs wrote a letter to House and Senate leaders pointing out that cutting funds now (as proposed in HR 1, the House-passed Continuing Resolution) would pull the rug out from companies that have already spent millions of dollars in applying for loan guarantees which the companies will repay with interest.

As the CEOs pointed out in their letter, the loan guarantee program is a “win-win-win” for taxpayers, American clean techno! logy and the communities and states where these investments are being made. The program’s real costs are paid for by the companies that submit applications and each federal dollar of a loan guarantee leverages $13 in private capital investment.”

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As Major League Baseball started its new season Thursday, a Democratic congressman urged it to ban its players from using chewing tobacco.

Rep. Frank Pallone (N.J.), a long-time opponent of chewing tobacco, tweeted his message to the league:

Baseball is back along w/hot dogs & stadium crowds. But chewing tobacco doesn't belong. Urge @MLB  to ban it bc of effect on young people.

Pallone and other Democrats have long argued that big leaguer! s' use of the substance sets a bad example for young players. 

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) also cut a video for the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids echoing Pallone's call.

Colleges and minor leagues have banned its players from using smokeless tobacco, which is linked to several types of cancer.

I filed my column early Wednesday, and in it criticized the president for gunning for a shutdown, and noted the vice president, once tapped to lead high-level budget negotiations, had not returned to Capitol Hill. Hours later, after deadline â€" behold, Vice President Biden headed up to Capitol Hill last night, and suddenly a potential compromise of $33 billion in cuts is on the table. My column, published today, is now full of holes, but there are still points in there that hold true.
 
First, that Obama has not made the budget talks an urgent priority â€" until now â€" and hasn't personally engaged. Isn't it strange that he said he was committed to entitlement reform but has yet to even talk with House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Pa! ul Ryan (R-Wis.)? Second, that while Republicans remain divided, and Tea Party pressure to insist on the original sum of $62 billion in cuts is growing, they still made an effort to keep the government functioning by drafting both temporary spending measures passed since March 4 to keep the government operating â€" more than we can say for the Democrats.

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Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) praised the Tea Party movement ahead of a major rally at the Capitol. 

McConnell called the Tea Party's demand for large spending cuts "reasonable" during a floor speech, and lamented that "they’re being vilified because ... they’re politely asking lawmakers here in Washington to change the way things are done around here."

{mosads}"In my view, the Tea Party has had an overwhelmingly positive impact on the most important issues of the day. It’s helped focus the debate. It’s provided a forum for Americans who felt left out of the process to have a voice and make a difference," said McConnell. "And it’s already leading to good results."

McConnell's overtures to the Tea Party are intriguing for several reasons. 

During the 2010 campaign, McConnell supported a more established candidate in the Kentucky GOP primary won by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), a favorite of the Tea Party. 

His praise of ! the grassroots conservative movement on Thursday comes as freshman conservative lawmakers and their Tea Party allies press GOP leaders to force Democrats to accept at least $61 billion in spending cuts in a measure to fund the government through September.

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The United States has begun to lose its status as a scientific and technological leader, and the only way we can hope to compete in the 21st century global economy is if we invest in research and science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education. It is vital that we not lose sight of that, even in these tough budget times. As we work to pass an FY 2011 appropriations bill and a budget resolution for FY 2012, I urge my colleagues to remember that our long term economic growth and competitiveness are dependent upon the investments in research and education that we make today.  

Many high-tech companies cite the availability of a skilled STEM workforce as the number one reason for determining where they locate their facilities. More and more U.S. companies are moving abroad because they can’t find the highly skilled workforce they need here at home. According to 2008 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the professional IT workforce was projecte! d to add a little under a million new jobs between 2008 and 2018. This represents more than twice the rate of the overall workforce growth between 2008 and 2018. If we want those jobs to stay in the U.S., and in Texas, we must continue to invest in STEM education for our future workforce.

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The conservative Daily Caller news site and two conservative nonprofit organizations will hold a Republican presidential primary debate this summer during the Conservative Leadership Conference in Las Vegas.

Daily Caller founder and Editor-in-Chief Tucker Carlson will moderate the July 10 debate, according to a press statement. Americans for Tax Reform and the Citizen Outreach Foundation will co-host.

Daily Caller publisher Neil Patel said Republican presidential hopefuls would be forced to give "real answers" to economic questions.

"Our debate will ensure that anyone who wants to be the Republican nominee will be pushed in a tough but fair way to give real answers to the major pending fiscal questions facing our great country," Patel said.

The announcement comes a day after NBC News and Politico announced that their jointly sponsored debate, scheduled for May, has been postponed until September because most of the potent! ial Republican field has been slow to jump into the race so far.

Although a number of prominent Republicans have shown serious interest in running for president in 2012, only a few have taken formal steps. Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) recently formed an exploratory committee, and Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) said she would decide on whether to form one by this summer.

Other potential GOP contenders include former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (Ga.), former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. None has yet announced plans to form an exploratory committee.

Sen. Marco Rubio’s call to authorize President Obama to take action to remove Libyan dictator Colonel Moammar Gadhafi would be a "rash" mistake, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Thursday.
 
In a statement Reid spokesman Jon Summers said a proposal by Rubio, a Florida Republican, for the Senate to pass a bipartisan resolution supporting American actions to remove Gadhafi from power is an "oblivious" idea that would be costly for the U.S.
 
"Senator Rubio seems oblivious to the troops’ lives his plan would put on the line," Summers said in the statement. "His rash suggestions could commit our troops irrevocably to a regime change and nation-building effort that could take months or years and cost billions of taxpayer dollars.
 
"Moreover, he seems to have forgotten that the Libyan people have made it clear they don’t want foreign boots on the ground," Summers continued. "The Obama Administration rightly r! ecognized that a broad international coalition with limited goals would not only lend legitimacy to an intervention in Libya, but also improve our chances of success and limit the burden on U.S. taxpayers."
 
Late Wednesday night Rubio sent a letter to Senate leaders and other top foreign policy senators urging passage of a resolution authorizing President Obama to take action to remove Gadhafi from power.
 
Recently Rubio has called for increasing U.S. involvement in the multinational effort to enforce a United Nations Security Council resolution to enforce a no-fly zone over Libya and protect Libyan civilians from the country's military lead by dictator Colonel Moammar Gadhafi.
 
! On Wednesday, media outlets reported that Obama authorized cov! ert aid to Libyan rebels but the Obama administration has not confirmed those reports.

A bipartisan congressional letter against Palestinian incitement gained 46 signatures from key members of Congress, according to a list of signers obtained by The Hill.

The letter, circulated by Reps. Steve Rothman (D-N.J.) and Steve Austria (R-Ohio) and first obtained by The Hill, urges President Obama to pressure the Palestinian Authority (PA) to to eradicate terrorist elements, join peace negotiations with the Israelis and root out "all vestiges of incitement."

{mosads}Twenty-seven senators endorsed a companion letter in the upper chamber.

The letter, which began circulating two weeks ago, comes in response to a terror attack on a Jewish family livin! g in the West Bank and a bombing at Jerusalem's central bus station, both of which occurred this month. 

Organizers circulated the letter to members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the House Appropriations foreign operations subcommittee, two panels that play a key role in overseeing Israel-Palestinian peace negotiations. Large majorities of both panels signed the letter.

J Street, an alternative Israel lobby, objected to the tone of the letter, saying that while it is appropriate to protest instances of Palestinian incitement, its sole focus on Palestinian activity instead of incorporating Israeli problems, is unhelpful to renewing peace negotiations between the two sides.

"This letter falls short of that goal, containing material omissions and misrepresentations of fact and presenting a biased and inaccurate picture of the current status of the Israeli-Pa! lestinian conflict," the group said in a statement.

J Street helped organize a separate letter, which Reps. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) and Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) circulated.

That letter, which urges for a more even-handed approach, gained many more signers: 116 members, almost all of whom are Democrats.

But a Democratic aide who helped organize the Rothman-Austria letter explained that it is intended to be more limited in scope and that J Street's opposition to it helped attract more signers than organizers anticipated.

"J Street did not get a majority of these two committees a! nd this letter did," said the aide, who requested anonymity. "! The fact that J Street attacked the letter helped get more members of Congress to sign on."

The aide noted that Schakowsky, a lead signer of the J Street letter, also endorsed the Rothman-Austria letter. In total, eight J Street signers also endorsed the Rothman-Austria letter.

J Street did not immediately respond to a request for further comment.  

Below is the list of signers (asterisk denotes members who also signed J Street letter):

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Wisconsin officials agreed to delay implementation of the state's controversial union law Thursday after a county judge ruled for a third time it should stop.

Judge Maryann Sumi again clarified a previous ruling that the bill should not go into affect until her court can hear a lawsuit challenging it.

{mosads}"While I believe the budget-repair bill was legally published and is indeed law, given the most recent court action we will suspend the implementation of it at this time," Administration Secretary Mike Huebsch said, according to The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

The move is a reversal for the administration of GOP Gov. Scott Walker, which opposed the order for over two weeks and attempted to work around it to implement the law.

The law, passed earlier this month, curbs public employee unions' rights to collectively bargain with the state and demand workers pay in part for their health and pension benefits. 

The passage of the law, which gained national attention, was initially a major victory for Walker, who faced backlash from union leaders claiming the law is an "assault" on the labor movement.

Democrats are have filed a lawsuit accusing Republicans of violating the state's open meetings law while advancing the legislation. 

Sumi's restraining order is in effect until Friday, when further testimony is scheduled. Then, she could decide to delay it further with a preliminary injunction.

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) is pressuring the Obama administration to condition recognition of the Libyan rebellion on the Lockerbie bomber's return to prison.

Schumer penned a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asking that "long term support or recognition of the Libyan opposition movement" be based "on a public, enforceable commitment by the opposition" to send Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, who was freed from Scottish prison in 2009, to the United States for trial before a criminal court.

{mosads}"This should be straightforward and simple, if you get our support, we get al-Megrahi," Schumer said in a statement. "We are putting American lives on the line, and American taxpayers’ money to use to protect Libyan civilians and, in effect, supporting the rebels so it makes perfect sense to insist that support for their cause is conditioned upon sending al-Megrahi back to prison where he belongs."

Schumer is one of several members of Co! ngress demanding oversight of the U.S. military intervention in Libya, but his effort stands apart for its focus on al-Megrahi, the Libyan who was convicted in Scottish court for the 1982 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, an attack that left 270 dead.

Schumer's letter came amid reports that the Obama administration authorized covert action to gather information on and assist the Libyan rebellion, and is considering arming their forces.

President Obama has said he wants Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi gone from power, but lawmakers from both parties have said the West should learn more about the identity of the rebel movement before it puts its whole weight behind it. 

GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C.) also urged the administration to investigate Gadhafi's role in the Pan Am bombing.

Al-Megrahi was granted his release to Libya in 2009 on compassionate grounds since he was diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer, a move strongly opposed by the U.S. and U.K. governments. His condition has reportedly subsided, leading to even more skepticism of the decision.

New York-area lawmakers have intensely focused on putting al-Megrahi back in prison, since Flight 103 departed from New York City's John F. Kennedy Airport before being brought down over Lockerbie, Scotland.

"The U.S.’s firm commitment to protecting innocent life in Libya should be held into account by any future Libyan government â€" and the opposition movement that has demonstrated its goal to live in free and accountable Libya must demonstrate its commitment to justice by ensuring that a global terrorist like al-Megrahi lives out his days i! n prison, not in a luxurious villa," Schumer wrote.

Real estate mogul Donald Trump is 'embracing' the birther issue.

"I am embracing the issue and I’m proud of the issue. I think somebody has to embrace it," Trump said on MSNBC on Thursday.

Trump, who is mulling a 2012 presidential bid, has been arguing it's possible President Obama wasn't born in the U.S. and therefore isn't eligible to be president (a claim by the so-called "birthers").

He's said in a number of recent interviews that there's possibly some truth in the birther argument. In a Monday interview on FOX and Friends Trump accused Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie (D) of just trying to help the Democratic Party by saying that he remembers Obama when he was a kid in Hawaii.

But Trump also criticized journal! ists for asking about his stance on the issue.

In the Thursday MSNBC interview, Trump accused the anchors of focusing only on his birther views rather than other issues related to running for president.

"Why don't you ask me about China?" Trump said. "Why don't you ask me about the fact that OPEC is ripping us off? Why don't you ask me about the fact that the Arab League is asking us to fight and they're not paying for it?"

During his presidential campaign Obama released his birth certificate to the public to satisfy the birthers but the state of Hawaii has not released the document.

Trump has said he'll make a decision by June about running for the Republican nomination.

The chairman of Iowa's Republican Party on Thursday backed an effort to possibly move the 2012 Republican National Convention out of Florida if that state sticks to its January primary date.

Iowa GOP Chairman Matt Strawn said he would join the chairwoman of South Carolina's Republican Party in an effort to reopen the process to select the site of the 2012 convention, which is slated to be held in Tampa.

"If Florida refuses to move its primary date into compliance with RNC rules, that consequence should be the re-opening of the process to select the site of the 2012 RNC Convention," Strawn said in a statement. "I join South Carolina Chairwoman Floyd today in beginning preparations to request that the Committee convene a special task force to select a new site for the 2012 Convention outside the state of Florida.”

At issue is the late January primary date set by Florida Republicans, which would leapfrog Iowa, New Hampshire and South Caro! lina in the process. Those latter three states traditionally host the first three nominating contests of the presidential cycle.

Florida Republicans maintain that their state is more representative of the broader profile of the GOP, since the state's often crucial to any White House aspirant's hope of winning the presidency.

A similar controversy plagued Democrats in the 2008 contest between then-Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Both Florida and Michigan set their primary dates earlier than party rules allowed, forcing the party to halve the value of those states' delegates' votes.

Voters are looking for a shorter 2012 election cycle compared to past elections, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said in explaining the relative absence in GOP presidential candidates.

Priebus said that it made sense to him that none of the major candidates have formally thrown their hat in the ring, save for Tim Pawlenty, the former governor of Minnesota.

"I think people are taking their time," Priebus said in a web interview with NBC News. "I think people are taking their time because the American people are looking for a shorter cycle this time around."

Priebus cited the 2008 presidential cycle, in which candidates jumped into the race as soon as late 2006, as "maybe the case of not the best pre-primary season," but said he expected no shortage of candidates when the time comes.

Many of the candidates who are expected to run have refused so far to formally jump into the race. While declaring one's candidacy also allows a poten! tial candidate to raise money and build infrastructure, it also costs plenty of money to run those operations, and risks fatigue among staff.

"It's a matter of how much time and how much money all these candidates want to spend in winning the nomination. I think the media cycle's very fast; you can do a lot more in less time," Priebus said.

So absent have Republicans been from the presidential campaign that a debate planned for May, slated to be the first of the cycle, was pushed back to September, for fear of a lack of candidates.

In the meanwhile, a number of longshot candidates looking to win the media spotlight have flirted with running, and Priebus refused to rule any of them -- such as Donald Trump -- in or out as serious candidates for the nomination.

"I think there's a lot of serious candidates that are going to be running for president," he said. "I think there's going to be a lot of people like Donald Trump, Tim Pawlen! ty, Haley -- There will be plenty of candidates, I think, who ! are goin g to be testing the waters. Who gets in is anybody's guess."

Jimmy Carter left Cuba on Wednesday without an imprisoned U.S. contractor for whom many hoped the former president would be able to secure a release.

The 39th president was on a three-day visit to the communist island nation, where he met with Fidel and Raul Castro in an effort to mend ties with their government. He also met with dissidents and opposition members.

But The Associated Press reported that Carter did not return to the U.S. with Alan Gross, a subcontractor for USAID who was sentenced to 15 years in prison for illegally bringing computer equipment to Cuba as part of a pro-democracy program. 

Carter said he knew the Cuban government would not release Gross before he left the country.

"The Cuban officials made it very clear to me before I left my home that the freedom of Alan Gross would not be granted," he said, according to the AP.

Hopes escalated that Carter could get the Cubans to free Gross since he traveled to North Korea, another country unfriendly toward the U.S., in August to help free an American citizen jailed there for crossing into the country from China.

Rep. Bruce Braley (D-Iowa), returning to D.C. from his home state, tweeted that he shared the flight with a high-profile colleague from the other side of the aisle.

Braley tweeted:

Flying to DC, sitting to the left of WLoo native @MicheleBachmann, chatting abt Dr. Max, roller derby & growing up in IA

Rep. Bachmann (R-Minn), whose recent visit to Iowa heightened speculation about her potential presidential candidacy in 2012, frequently plays up her Iowa heritage. Bachmann was born in Waterloo, a town in Braley’s district.

Bachmann told reporters in Iowa that the state's August straw poll would be her “focal point” and she plans to make a decision regarding her potential candidacy by then.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney sharply criticized President Obama Thursday on the national unemployment rate, saying he has not done enough to address the "tragedy."

"Our high unemployment is a tragedy for millions, and it is a tragedy for America," Romney, a potential Republican candidate for president, wrote in an op-ed for USA Today.

{mosads}The unemployment rate stood at 8.9 percent at the end of February. The new number for March is due Friday.

The Obama administration has claimed progress in recent months in its effort to create jobs, but Republicans complain that the unemployment rate remains unacceptably high, especially compared to the jobless figures the White House had projected when it estimateds the effects of its stimul! us.

"President Obama didn't cause the recession, but he made it worse and caused it to last longer," Romney wrote. "From the outset, he inaugurated the most anti-investment, anti-business, anti-jobs policies we have seen since Jimmy Carter. Further, the White House has still not crafted any discernible plan to put Americans back to work."

Jobs are sure to be a top issue in the 2012 campaign, and Romney has made a play squarely for voters concerned about the economy.

Even though budget negotiations between Democrats and Republicans have resumed on Capitol Hill, the war of words between the two parties is alive and well.

Perhaps no better example came Wednesday night, when sharp-tongued Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) accused Republican lawmakers of being in "cloud cuckoo land" for their maneuvers in the spending debate.  

Frank pointed to a largely symbolic bill proposed by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), which mandates that if the Senate does not approve a government funding measure by April 8, the House-passed spending proposal would become "the law of the land." The Senate is highly unlikely to pass the bill since it already rejected the House proposal.

"It is possi! ble to take him literally and he says this will become the law of the land, you don't understand what land he is talking about," Frank countered in an interview on MSNBC. "As with Congresswoman [Michele] Bachmann [R-Minn.] and some others, we are talking about people who sometimes inherit â€" inhabit â€" 'cloud cuckoo land.' And in 'cloud cuckoo land,' yeah that could be the case."

Frank said that proposal showed that Cantor "is trying desperately to avoid blame for the government shutdown."

The veteran Massachusetts lawmaker, however, assigned blame to Republicans should a shutdown occur, adding that the standstill would show a lack of commitment to U.S. forces fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya.

While Frank said that "it's true that bullets keep getting paid for," during a shutdown, "trying to conduct three wars while the government is shut down … is insane.

"You talk about a lack of support for the troops in the field -- h! aving them be under a government like this makes no sense."

Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) had an offbeat exchange with the host of a political webcast after his Wednesday afternoon appearance.

Wilson tweeted at the host of ABC News's "Top Line" program that he enjoyed being on the show, honestly:

@rickklein thanks for having me on as a guest this afternoon. I had a great time. #honestly #topline #SCGOP

That honestly prompted host Rick Klein to tweet back: 

@CongJoeWilson  pleasure to have you. #honestly

Readers mi! ght remember Wilson from his 2009 outburst on the House floor, when he shouted "you lie!" at President Obama during his address to a joint session of Congress.

Reps. Sam Farr (D-Calif.) and Lynn Jenkins (R-Kan.) on Wednesday will announce the formation of a bipartisan caucus that aims to raise awareness for issues affecting defense communities across the country.

David Beltran, Farr’s press secretary, said one of the first priorities of the caucus will be to find savings in the military’s budget by creating partnerships between military bases and the cities that surround them to provide basic functions, including trash pick-up and road maintenance.

“The city can [provide trash pick-up and road maintenance] at lower costs for the installations since they already have expert crews on city staff to do these exact functions,” Beltran said. “That saves the installations money and prevents duplication of services. If we could more generally extend this authority to all installations, that could save millions in the military budget.”

Farr and Jenkins will co-chair the newly formed caucus â€"! which is awaiting approval from the House Administration Committee â€" and are reaching out to members interested in supporting defense communities to join.

Former Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) called Wednesday for the ouster of General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt from President Obama's jobs council.

Feingold, citing GE's ability to escape paying taxes on its $14.2 billion profit last year, launched a petition to force Immelt's resignation as chairman of Obama's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness.

"We cannot stand by and watch while we are led down this road," Feingold said in an email to supporters. "Mr. Immelt must step down from the president's jobs panel â€" and if he won't, President Obama needs to ask for his resignation."

Obama named Immelt the chairman of his jobs council in January. The panel is one of the top outside economic advisory bodies the administration had empanelled, and Immelt's nomination was broadly seen as an entreaty toward the business community at the time.

"How can someone like Immelt be given the responsibility of heading a jobs creation task force when! his company has been creating more jobs overseas while reducing its American workforce?" Feingold asked. "And under Immelt's direction, GE spends hundreds of millions of dollars hiring lawyers and lobbyists to evade taxes."

Although most NCAA basketball fans' brackets might be blown, Virginia Commonwealth alum Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.) still has something to celebrate.

In light of his alma mater's odds-defying entry into the Final Four, Wittman has pulled out his school spirit gear.

"Go @VCUathletics Rams! Representing VCU colors on Capitol Hill-proud to be a VCU alum," he tweeted, posting a picture of himself sporting a VCU-branded yellow-and-black-striped tie.

Wittman, who represents a neighboring district to the Richmond-based university, earned his Ph. D. in Public Policy and Administration from VCU in 2002.

Out of 5.9 million brackets filled out for ESPN.com's Tournament Challenge, only two correctly chose the Final Four teams. More than 70 percent of brackets cast do not have any correct ! teams remaining, and 0.02 percent (1,023 people) have predicted that VCU will win the NCAA tournament.

Eleventh-seeded VCU's unlikely rise will be put to the test this Saturday against Butler, an eight seed.

The winner will play either Kentucky or Connecticut, who also play Saturday. The championship game will take place Monday.

Medication adherence, or ensuring the proper use of medication, is a serious and growing problem, particularly with older Americans. It not only has serious health consequences, it’s also a major contributor to rising healthcare costs. 

Ten years ago, the costs of non-adherence â€" such as hospitalizations and other costly medical treatments â€" was estimated to be $177 billion annually, according to researchers Ernst and Grizzle of the University of Arizona’s College of Pharmacy. In 2009, the research group NEHI released a study estimating the potential costs to be as high as a staggering $290 billion each year. 

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House Speaker John Boehner made the following remarks today on the House floor in support of H.R. 471, legislation renewing the successful D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program. 

Today, the House will have the opportunity to do something special for the future of our country.

I think just about every member would agree we have work to do when it comes to our educat! ion system. Americans are concerned that their children won’t be able to have the same blessings they’ve had. And if we want to protect the American Dream, there’s no substitute for a quality education.

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Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) on Tuesday ruled out the possibility of being on the GOP presidential ticket in 2012.

A day after he saying he won’t run for president, Rubio, a rising conservative star, told Fox News's Sean Hannity he wouldn't be the vice presidential nominee either.

"No, I'm not going to be the vice presidential nominee, and it's important that I have this attitude because otherwise I won't be able to do this job well," Rubio said, who is in his first term in the Senate.

Rubio repeated his previous statement that he is focused on being a Florida senator.

Rubio's comments come as the Republican presidential primary field is in the early stages of taking shape. Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty has announced plans to form an exploratory committee, and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann has said she will decide this summer whether to form one.

Other Republicans who have shown a strong interest in running include former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (Ga.) and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

Chamber of Commerce CEO and President Tom Donohue said Wednesday that Gov. Chris Christie would be an exciting candidate if he decided to run for president, further stoking the buzz about the New Jersey Republican’s future.

In an interview with Fox Business Network Donohue called Christie an "exciting" candidate  but cautioned that the Chamber of Commerce does not endorse candidates or get involved in presidential races.

“The Chamber doesn’t do presidential politics," Donohue said. "We do House and Senate and other things, but I would say Chris Christie is exciting.”

Christie, despite encouragement from supporters and a regular place on shortlists of potential candidates, has repeatedly said he is not running for president in 2012.

Christie has not avoided the national spotlight, however. Donohue's comments come the same day that Christie is set to host a fundraiser for the National Republican Congressional Committee is! reportedly raising $10 million.

In the same interview Donohue weighed in the potential candidacy of real estate mogul Donald Trump who is mulling a presidential run.

"Mr. Trump is a great real estate magnet and a lot of other things, but he wouldn’t be my choice to be president," Donohue said.

As a career military officer and former Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security, I can say with certainty that Dick Morris’ column calling for the destruction of America’s civilian investments around the world is short-sighted and outright dangerous. 

Mr. Morris fails to see the International Affairs Budget is integral to our national security and economic prosperity here at home. 

Just this week, nearly 70 of my fellow retired 3 and 4-star general and flag officers called on Congress to boost our civilian tools in order to keep Americans safe and protect the gains made by our brave troops. As a proud co-signer of that letter, I joined my colleagues to say, “Development and diplomacy keep us safer by addressing threats in the most dangerous corners of the world and by preventing conflicts before they occur.” We urged Co! ngressional leaders to support a strong and effective International Affairs Budget because “our nation’s security depends on it.” I only hope these leaders have more foresight and wisdom than Mr. Morris. 

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Voters will have to render their judgment on a "big, serious, sloppy mistake," Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) said of her acknowledged failure to pay taxes on a private plane.

McCaskill, who admitted in recent weeks to both using taxpayer money to fund political travel and failing to pay almost $300,000 in taxes on a private plane, said she'd leave it to Missouri voters to make up their minds on the matter.

"[T]he voters will have to decide whether this big, serious, sloppy mistake is enough for them to decide not to hire me again," McCaskill said Wednesday in a conference call with Missouri reporters. "And I will leave that in their good judgment."

"In the meantime, I'm going to try not to become distracted by a circus-like atmosphere over the next 18 months, to try and make everything a negative as it! relates to me, and keep on doing my job," she added.

McCaskill's drawn scrutiny from Republicans for the lapses, who have sought to use the admissions against her in the 2012 campaign.

McCaskill, a relative centrist, is expected to face a tough challenge in Missouri, a state that's tended toward Republicans in recent election cycles.

Members of the House and Senate love to play the game of one step forward, two steps back; Republicans’ favorite role being the latter.  This game has been a part of American politics since our nation was formed, but when political decisions affect the life and death of Americans there is no excuse for putting politics before progress.
 
The current battle over the EPA’s Clean Air Act updates is the perfect example of putting politics before common sense progress. The issue boils down to this: big polluters don’t want updated clean air standards because they’d have to comply with them by cutting the amounts of dangerous toxics they emit into our air. Their pals in Congress agree and are busy at work blocking any updates to the Clean Air Act even though EPA research shows that the Clean Air Act prevents 160,000 early deaths each year, including hundreds of babies. The polluters prefer dumping unlimited carbon pollution and tons of deadly pollutants l! ike arsenic, ammonia, formaldehyde, mercury, dioxin and other harmful chemicals into the air â€" pollutants that poison our air and our water and aggravate asthma, and cause other respiratory and heart diseases. The Republicans’ insistent disregard for science and logic threatens our lives by allowing these silent killers to continue to poison our air and water, unchecked.

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It is a story as old as the republic itself -- a debate that traces back to the very beginnings of representative government. And yet with periodic predictability, “public interest” groups find it newsworthy to sound the alarms about the supposed infiltration of our government by so-called “special interests.” To support these claims, the Center for Responsive Politics recently released a tally of at least 130 current congressional chiefs of staff and legislative directors who are former lobbyists. Meanwhile, a front-page Washington Post analysis placed the headcount of lobbyists-turned-senior staffers at 150. But the real story here, if there is one, is not that these numbers are too high; in fact, I would submit they’re relatively low.

For starters, let’s disabuse ourselves of the notion that there exists such a thing as an impartial “public interest” in the abstract. James Madison should have put to bed this myth more than 200 years ago. Ma! dison posited in Federalist No. 10 that the only ways to eliminate special interests were by “destroying the liberty which is essential to [their] existence,” or by “giving every citizen the same opinions, the same passions, and the same interests.” To the extent we would countenance neither of these options, we had best resign ourselves to the reality that the “public interest” is nothing more than an aggregate of “special interests.”

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The U.S. shouldn't arm Libyan rebels because there's no telling whose hands those weapons could eventually reach, the chairman of the House Select Intelligence Committee said.

“As we publicly debate next steps on Libya, I do not support arming the Libyan rebels at this time," Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) said in a statement Wednesday. "We need to understand more about the opposition before I would support passing out guns and advanced weapons to them. It’s safe to say what the rebels stand against, but we are a long way from an understanding of what they stand for."

Rogers said the weapons could eventually fall into "the hands of bad actors."

“We don’t have to look very far back in history to find examples of the unintended consequences of passing out advanced weapons to a group of fighters we didn’t know as well as we should have,” he said. “Even if you think you know them, you can’t guarantee that those weapons won’t late! r fall into the hands of bad actors.”

Obama administration officials have left open the possibility of arming the rebels, who are locked in a pitched battle against Col. Moammar Gadhafi.

"I'm not ruling it out. But I'm also not ruling it in," President Obama said in an interview on NBC News Tuesday night.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's favorable rating stands at 66 percent, only 1 point below its all-time high. 

According to a Gallup poll released Wednesday, the only time the public viewed Clinton with higher regard was in December 1998, when 67 percent saw her favorably. That was right after the House impeached her husband, former President Clinton, on charges of perjury regarding its investigation into his relationship with Monica Lewinsky.

The poll comes amid Clinton's work coordinating with U.S. allies as they conduct a military intervention again! st Libyan leader Col. Moammar Gadhafi. Clinton reportedly pushed for military action.

A week-old Gallup poll showed that 47 percent of the public supports the military action in Libya opposed to 37 percent who disapprove.

Clinton's favorable ratings have remained high after she became the nation's top diplomat after they took a big dip during her 2008 presidential bid.

The public views Clinton more favorably than President Obama (54-43), Vice President Biden (46-41) and Defense Secretary Robert Gates (52-22), all of whom have played a major role in the Libya intervention. 

Despite her popularity, Clinton has ruled out returning to her post after 2012, should Obama win reelection. She also said she would not run for president, seek the vice presidential nomination, or become secretary of defense.

Actor Leonardo DiCaprio is filming in Washington and tweeting about a Senate amendment addressing greenhouse gas regulations.

The amendment is expected to come to the floor soon for a vote.

And DiCaprio tweeted Wednesday: We need #cleanair but the US #Senate may vote 2 allow for air pollution. Tell your Senators NO DIRTY AIR Call: 1-877-573-7693 #fb

DiCaprio urged his followers to call an activist hotline that connects callers with their senators and coaches them on how to urge lawmakers to vote no. The vote in question, which could happen as soon as Wednesday but might happen later in the week, is for an amendment introduced by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to the small-business bill that would essentially block the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse-ga! s emissions.

The Republican amendment to the small-business bill is part of a wider ongoing fight over EPA funding. This month, a group of Democrat senators, including key members of the leadership such as Majority Whip Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), protested that Republicans are drastically cutting funding to the EPA and threatening to “undermine the nation’s landmark environmental laws.”

DiCaprio, best known for his star-making role in the 1997 movie Titanic, is in Washington filming a movie based on the life of legendary FBI director J. Edgar Hoover. He is typically concerned with activist causes in his tweets and has been a longtime supporter of the environment.!

President Obama's policies are mostly what's motivating Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) to consider running for president, she said Wednesday.

"I think increasingly, watching the Obama policies has been what's galvanized my thinking," Bachmann said in an interview with Time magazine's Swampland blog.

The Tea Party favorite is mulling a decision to form an exploratory committee for the 2012 presidential race sometime this summer. In the interview today she reiterated her statement that if she decides to run, her announcement will be! before August, when the the Iowa GOP straw poll takes place.

Bachmann has said in past interviews that she thought it's important for any serious candidate in the presidential race to be included in the straw poll.

“The Iowa straw poll I think will be a key for us," Bachmann previously told the Des Moines Register. "That will be a focal point. And so we’ll have to make the decision so we can meaningfully participate in the Iowa straw poll.”

As a seventh grade student, I thought I knew how a bill became a law. Now, as a small business owner â€" I’ve learned that there’s always fine print. And that fine print usually means the powerful lobbyists and deep pocketed special interests fight entrepreneurs like me on policy issues.

Last year to much fanfare, the House of Representatives and the Senate passed the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill, which was signed into law by President Obama.

But despite what the U.S. Constitution says about how laws are made, this became just another hurdle for the deep-pocketed self interests of those on Wall Street. Ironically, many of the same people and businesses who caused the financial crisis were the targets of reform and are now the ones working to undue it.  

Right now the big banks and credit card companies, including many that were bailed out by taxpayers just two years ago, are spending millions of dollars to peddle their influence at the hi! ghest levels of government in a direct assault on small business owners. Along the way, the banks have enlisted some powerful Members of Congress to do their bidding, some of whom are actually married to bank executives.  And yesterday, their allies in Congress  filed a bill to “study and delay” the rules that would reform debit card swipe fees as an amendment to a small business measure (S. 493) currently on the Senate floor.

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President Obama took a dig at the "drill, baby, drill" slogan employed by Republicans and popularized by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin during a speech Wednesday on energy.

The president made an offhand reference to the slogan as an example of the empty rhetoric politicians have used in the past when it comes to energy policy.

"But here’s the thing â€" we’ve been down this road before. Remember, it was just three years ago that gas prices topped $4 a gallon. Working folks haven’t forgotten that," Obama said in a speech at Georgetown University, according to prepared remarks. "It hit a lot of people pretty hard. But it was also the height of political season, so you had a lot of slogans and gimmicks and outraged politicians waving three-point-plans for two-dollar gas â€" when none of it would really do anything to solve the problem."

Then the president made a departure from his prepared remarks: "You remember, 'drill baby drill.' "
The slogan was coined by Michael Steele, who would go on to lead the Republican National Committee (RNC), at the party's 2008 convention. At that time, oil prices and, in turn, gasoline prices had skyrocketed. House Republicans stayed in Washington for a "shadow session" in Congress, demanding increased drilling and energy exploration on U.S. soil.

Palin popularized the slogan during a debate against then-Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) during the 2008 vice presidential debate.

"The chant is 'drill, baby, drill,' " she said. "And that's what we hear all across this country in our rallies because people are so hungry for those domestic sources of energy to be tapped into."

Obama's sp! eech wasn't without other political barbs; he lashed out at Re! publican s in Congress who have accused him of having shut down oil exploration in the Gulf of Mexico following the BP oil spill last spring and summer.

"When it comes to drilling onshore, my administration approved more than two permits last year for every new well that the industry started to drill," he said. "So any claim that my administration is responsible for gas prices because we’ve 'shut down' oil production might make for a useful political sound bite â€" but it doesn’t track with reality."

Real estate mogul Donald Trump broke Republicans' famous "11th Commandment" on Wednesday and went on the attack against former President George W. Bush, accusing his administration of leading to President Obama's presidency.

Trump, the bombastic reality television star who's considering a run for the Republican nomination for president, said that the "mistakes" Bush made as president led directly to the election of Obama.

"I think the Bush era really hurt us," Trump said on conservative talker Laura Ingraham's radio show. "The Bush era gave us Obama."

Trump made the comments in context of the question of whether he thought dark-horse Republican figures like New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie or former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush would make good national candidates for the GOP.

Trump called Christie, a rock star among conservatives, a "really good friend of mine," and expressed some affection for Jeb Bush before noting the former preside! nt's unpopularity.

"In all fairness to Obama and Sarah Palin, you could not have won that election," Trump said. "At the moment, I just don't want to hear about Bush."

President Reagan, the Republican icon, had a famous "11th Commandment," ordering Republicans not to speak ill of other Republicans.

Bush still suffers from unfavorable ratings but has rebounded some since leaving office. A mid-March Pew Poll found that 42 percent of U.S. adults view the former Republican president favorably, while 54 percent view him unfavorably.

The public's approval of the conservative Tea Party has reached a new low, according to a poll released Wednesday.

A CNN/Opinion Research survey showed that only 32 percent have a favorable view of the Tea Party, while 47 percent view it unfavorably. Seven percent said they have not heard of the Tea Party, and 14 percent said they have no opinion.

{mosads}Those numbers are down from their high in April 2010, when favorability outstripped unfavorability 38-36 percent. The public also had a neutral view of the groups heading into the midterm elections â€" favorability and unfavorability were tied at 37 percent.

Despite the poll, Tea Party activists have been able to wield considerable influence over House GOP freshmen during the debate over spending, with many of the 87-member! bloc pushing leadership for greater cuts.

But political observers have questioned whether the Tea Party, a major figure in the 2010 elections, could translate that influence into 2012 and beyond.

Out of the demographic groups polled, non-whites, a group that broke heavily for President Obama in 2008, see the Tea Party in the worst light. Twenty-one percent said they view the group favorably compared to 57 percent who have an unfavorable view.

Democrats disapprove of the Tea Party at a greater rate than Republicans approve of it. Seventy-one percent of Democrats see it unfavorably, while 61 percent of Republicans view it favorably.

Independents' opinions (31-48 unfavorable) generally match those of the public at large.

The telephone poll of 1,023 U.S. adults was taken between March 11-13. The margin of error is three percentage points.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) on Tuesday ruled out the possibility of being on the GOP presidential ticket in 2012.

A day after he saying he won’t run for president, Rubio, a rising conservative star, told Fox News's Sean Hannity he wouldn't be the vice presidential nominee either.

"No, I'm not going to be the vice presidential nominee, and it's important that I have this attitude because otherwise I won't be able to do this job well," Rubio said, who is in his first term in the Senate.

Rubio repeated his previous statement that he is focused on being a Florida senator.

Rubio's comments come as the Republican presidential primary field is in the early stages of taking shape. Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty has announced plans to form an exploratory committee, and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann has said she will decide this summer whether to form one.

Other Republicans who have shown a strong interest in running include former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (Ga.) and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

President Obama gave his strong backing to Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Tim Kaine's likely run for Senate in Virginia.

Obama, during fundraisers for the DNC on Tuesday evening in Manhattan, said that while he wasn't sure whether Kaine would run for Senate, his DNC chairman would make an excellent senator from Virginia.

"There has been some speculation about our DNC chair plunging back into the hurly-burly of electoral politics," Obama said, according to a transcript of the event. "I don’t know if these rumors are true, but what I do know is that I cannot imagine somebody who has been a better partner to me and a better friend to me than our DNC chair, Tim Kaine."

DNC officials have acknowledged that Kaine is "increasingly likely" to jump into the race. Kaine was a former, popular governor of Virginia and could face former Sen. George Allen (R-Va.), who's looking to reclaim his seat, in a top-tier matchup for the general election.

"Since he happened to be a really great governor for the commonwealth of Virginia, I suspect that, should he choose to do so, he would also be an outstanding senator from the commonwealth of Virginia," Obama said. "But whatever decisions he makes, I just want everybody here to know that he has done an outstanding job for me and an outstanding job for the country. And so I could not be prouder of him."

Of course, the president's words might not do Kaine any favors. Republicans' playbook against Kaine so far has been to paint him as Obama's biggest cheerleader.

Senate Democrats must act to pass its own bill to fund the government if it expects House Republicans to negotiate a final agreement on spending and budget cuts, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) will say in a Wednesday speech.

"House Republicans are not going to negotiate with ourselves," Boehner will say in a speech before the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, according to remarks.

Between now and April 8, the date when the government is slated to run out of money and faces a shutdown, the Senate must pass its own spending proposal if Democrats wish for negotiations to advance.

"The Senate must act," Boehner will say. "The Senate needs to do its job.”

House Republicans and Senate Democrats have engaged in a vaunted war of words over spending, and how to fund government the rest of this year. Both sides are locked in negotiations over the depth of the cuts between now and September.

Republicans in the House ! passed legislation to slash $61 billion from existing spending, $10 billion of which has already been achieved over short-term spending measures in the last month.

Democrats initially said they would agree to a spending freeze, but have since offered an additional $30 billion in cuts below that, a proposal they contend meets Republicans halfway.

But GOP leaders have long complained that, because the Senate didn't lay down a marker by way of passing its own spending proposal, it was impossible to gauge where votes in that chamber may lie.

Democrats did hold two test votes earlier this year on both the Republican proposal and the spending freeze, both of which failed. Democratic defections on the spending freeze vote has Republicans optimistic, though, that they can pick up support for a more conservative proposal than Democratic leaders might prefer.

"The House passed a bill that cuts $61 billion from current spending levels --! more than $100 billion compared to the levels in the presiden! t's last budget -- and funds the government through September," Boehner will say. "This was our Pledge to America.  The Senate, by contrast, has not passed any long-term bill.  And this has made talks on a final bill very difficult."

A top Democrat said Tuesday evening that some of the most controversial "riders" attached to a House spending bill would be a dealbreaker in the Senate.

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said that riders to defund Planned Parenthood and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) wouldn't fly in the upper chamber.

"The bottom line is that whether it's Planned Parenthood or EPA, we will not accept those riders," Schumer said on MSNBC. "And any thought to the contrary is wrong."

"We believe that they don't belong in a budget bill," he added. "There can be debate on these issues. We believe they would be defeated in the Senate."

House Republicans included a number of riders -- measures attached to spending legislation to pursue a broader policy goal, often having to do with social issues -- in their legislation funding the government the rest of this year.

The most controversial riders were those to cut off federal funding ! to Planned Parenthood for its providing of abortion services, and the EPA.

The provisions are seen as bargaining chips in the negotiation between the GOP House and Democratic Senate over a spending bill to fund government the rest of the fiscal year. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) signaled earlier Tuesday that while he wasn't thrilled with the riders, he'd be willing to consider them.

"We're happy to look at the policy riders," he said. "There aren't many of them that excite me, but we're willing to look at them."

But Schumer said that some of the issues were nonnegotiable.

"There was some talk today about some riders being accepted by Leader Reid," said the New York Democrat. "But let's be clear, those would be the kinds of noncontroversial riders we haven't heard about."

Democrats' refusal to accept the Planned Parenthood and EPA riders would go a long way toward Schumer's goal of driving a wedge betwee! n Republican leaders in the House and the more insurgent class! of Tea Party freshmen.

Schumer's talked a good game about GOP leaders' need to divorce themselves from the conservative members of their conference in budget negotiations. Refusing to accept those riders could turn up the heat on those House leaders since a number of conservative members have threatened to vote against a final spending package if it excludes, for instance, the measure defunding Planned Parenthood.

Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer's (N.Y.) instructions for his colleagues to label GOP lawmakers as "extreme" is not helpful to budget negotiations, the Senate's top Republican said Tuesday.

"That's really not helpful, if we're trying to reach an agreement here," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) told reporters at a press conference.

Earlier Tuesday, Schumer gave advice to a group of fellow Democrats before a conference call with reporters saying, "I always use the word extreme...That is what the caucus instructed me to use this week."

The remark was heard by reporters before the conference call officially began.

Lawmakers on both sides have ramped up the rhetoric against each other amid a stalemate over a proposal to fund the government through the rest of the fiscal year and avoid a government shutdown on April 8.

Democrats and Republicans have accused each other of negotiating in bad faith and assigning blame on one another should the government shut down.

Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer's (D-N.Y.) instructions for his colleagues to label GOP lawmakers as "extreme" is not helpful to budget negotiations, the Senate's top Republican said Tuesday.

"That's really not helpful, if we're trying to reach an agreement here," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) told reporters at a press conference.

Earlier Tuesday, Schumer gave advice to a group of fellow Democrats before a conference call with reporters saying, "I always use the word extreme...That is what the caucus instructed me to use this week."

The remark was heard by reporters before the conference call officially began.

Lawmakers on both sides have ramped up the rhetoric against each other amid a stalemate over a proposal to fund the government through the rest of the fiscal year and avoid a government shutdown on April 8.

Democrats and Republicans have accused each other of negotiating in bad faith and assigning blame on one another should the government shut down.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio (R) has made up his mind about running for president in 2012: he won't.

"I'm not running for president in 2012," Rubio said in an interview that will be broadcast Tuesday night on ABC's "Nightline." "Because I want to be a United States senator, I want to be the best United States senator that Florida's ever had."

Widely considered one of the GOP's rising conservative stars, Rubio's name has come up on presidential or, more often, vice presidential shortlists for 2012. While Rubio says he won't be running for president in 2012, he didn't strike down the possibility of accepting an offer on the 2012 ticket.

Rubio's comments come as the Republican field finally starts to take shape. Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) recently announced plans to form an exploratory committee and Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) is reportedly considering the formation of an exploratory committee this summer. Meanwhile other possible GOP co! ntenders like former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich  are strongly hinting at a presidential run. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is also expected to enter the race.

The Obama administration stopped short of threatening to veto legislation that would re-establish a private school voucher system in Washington, D.C.

An official statement of administration policy, issued Tuesday by the Office of Management and Budget, said that the White House strongly opposes vouchers, but made no mention of a possible veto of the legislation, should it pass through Congress.

"The Administration strongly opposes expanding the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program and opening it to new students," the OMB statement said. "While the President's FY 2012 Budget requests funding to improve D.C. public schools and expand high-quality public charter schools, the Administration opposes targeting resources to help a small number of individuals attend private schools rather than creating access to great public schools for every child."

The restoration of the D.C. public school vouchers is a pet project of House Speaker John Boehner! (R-Ohio); he's listed as the primary sponsor of the House legislation. 

The voucher system was first established in 2000 to aid children in Washington's traditionally poor public schools, but President Obama allowed the program to expire without reauthorization early in his administration.

The Obama administration stopped short of threatening to veto legislation that would re-establish a private school voucher system in Washington, D.C.

An official statement of administration policy, issued Tuesday by the Office of Management and Budget, said that the White House strongly opposes vouchers, but made no mention of a possible veto of the legislation, should it pass through Congress.

"The Administration strongly opposes expanding the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program and opening it to new students," the OMB statement said. "While the President's FY 2012 Budget requests funding to improve D.C. public schools and expand high-quality public charter schools, the Administration opposes targeting resources to help a small number of individuals attend private schools rather than creating access to great public schools for every child."

The restoration of the D.C. public school vouchers is a pet project of House Speaker John Boehner! (R-Ohio); he's listed as the primary sponsor of the legislation in the House.

The voucher system was first established in 2,000 to aid children in Washington's traditionally poor public schools, but President Obama allowed the program to expire without reauthorization early in his administration.

Sen. Charles Schumer's (D-N.Y.) spokesman said Tuesday he has no problem with the senator's overheard advice for his colleagues to call Republicans "extreme."

Brian Fallon tweeted:

We have no problem with reporters overhearing Senator Schumer calling the House Republicans' budget extreme because that's what it is.

Reporters on a conference call heard the outspoken senator tell other lawmakers before it officially began, "I always use the word 'extreme' ... That is what the caucus instructed me to use this week."

! Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are currently deadlocked over a proposal to fund the government through the rest of the fiscal year and avert a government shutdown.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said the comments were "not helpful" to the negotiations.

With United Nations-authorized military action underway and the president finally speaking to the nation, the fighting in Libya continues. Coalition partners are debating the politics - and intended outcome - of intervention in London at this very moment. Halfway across the globe, Japan experienced a massive earthquake, a devastating tsunami, and the threat of nuclear fallout. Just over a week ago, Egypt held a constitutional referendum â€" the first of many steps in its post-Mubarak transition. Tunisia bumped along its path of political reform. Yemen saw escalated fighting between pro-government forces and protestors. And Saudi Arabia sent troops into Bahrain to help squash pro-reform demonstrations.

As the fires of upheaval spread around the globe, here at home the Tea Party campaign to isolate America from the rest of the world continues. Indeed, by proposing draconian cuts to our international affairs budget and supporting withdrawal from the U.N. â€" bare! ly a month before the Security Council authorized a military response to Libya â€" the Tea Party’s efforts to resurrect isolationism, as Walter Russell Mead aptly called it, have shown to be not just bad policy, but also bad business for our national interests.

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President Obama tweeted support for U.S military troops in Libya Tuesday, echoing Monday night’s address to the nation.

“Thanks to our men and women in uniform and our dedicated diplomats, a coalition has been forged and countless Libyan lives have been saved,” Obama tweeted.

Obama's tweet echoed the speech he delivered at the National Defense University Monday night in which he defended his decision for the U.S. to join in the enforcement of a United Nations Security Council no-fly zone resolution in Libya.

Since the U.S. has participated in the multinational no-fly zone effort, Obama has been criticized by lawmakers across the political spectrum for going into Libya without an exit strategy or clearly stated mission and for failing to first seek congressional approval for the mission.
In Monday's speech, Obama’s first in-depth address on the Libya situation, he pushed back on some of that criticism.

“Of course, there is no question that Libya â€" and the world â€" will be better off with [Moammar] Gadhafi out of power. But broadening our military mission to include regime change would be a mistake,” said Obama in Monday’s address.

This spring, thousands of high-school seniors will proudly count themselves among the graduating class of 2011. For many students, whether from big cities or small towns, like mine in Nebraska, the possibilities seem endless.

But they also face the very adult reality of affording a college education. As higher education costs skyrocket across the country, a generation of young Americans will cobble together family and personal savings, financial aid and decades of debt in order to prepare themselves for an increasingly competitive global economy.

My saving grace? The Miss America Scholarship Program. Yes, you read that correctly. Beyond the glitz and glitter of the stage, as it reads on its website: “The Miss America Organization is one of the nation's leading achievement programs and the world's largest provider of scholarship assistance for young women. Last year, the Miss America Organization and its state and local organizations made availabl! e more than $45 million in cash and scholarship assistance. This assistance is not just for the handful of young women who become Miss America, but is available to the over 12,000 young women who compete in the state and local competitions as well.”

In fact, every girl who competes walks away with a scholarship, making winners out of us all.

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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Tuesday that President Obama failed to address the potential outcomes of the U.S. military intervention in Libya during his address to the nation.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, McConnell said that Obama's speech was a "step in the right direction" but that he left key questions unanswered.

{mosads}"If our policy isn't regime change, what is our policy?" the GOP leader said.

Obama offered a vigorous defense of the U.S.'s involvement in the international military effort against Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi Monday night, arguing that the country has a duty to protect Libyan citizens from the government's forces.

The speech came after members of both parties accused Obama of fai! ling to adequately explain the mission to Congress and the public.

Obama explained during the speech that acting directly to remove Gadhafi from power is not a part of the U.N. mandate permitting the mission, but reaffirmed it remains an aspiration of his administration.

"The transition to a legitimate government that is responsive to the Libyan people will be a difficult task," Obama said. "And while the United States will do our part to help, it will be a task for the international community and â€" more importantly â€" a task for the Libyan people themselves."

A county judge in Wisconsin on Tuesday ruled there should be no further implementation of the state's controversial union law.

Judge Maryann Summi said that her previous restraining order blocking the law was clear that the law should not be put into effect, according to The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

The decision came in response to a state agency's decision to publish the law last Friday, which would put the law into effect. The agency was not specifically included in her previous restraining order but Summi said, "that languag! e was either misunderstood or ignored."

Summi put the GOP-backed law on hold earlier this month after Democrats filed a lawsuit accusing Republicans of violating the law during its passage.

Tuesday's ruling delivers another blow to GOP Gov. Scott Walker, who earned a major victory over Democrats by passing the law but who has faced backlash among union leaders who say the law is an "assault" on the labor movement. 

Republicans again disagreed with the ruling.

The law will be on ice until at least Friday, when Summi will hear more arguments in the case. She could then allow the state to implement the law or delay it further.

Political supporters of a playoff in college football's championship series claimed victory Tuesday after the firing of the head of the Fiesta Bowl.

The bowl fired its top official after a year and a half-long investigation sparked in part by a complaint by Playoff PAC, the political action committee founded by supporters of a playoff.

"I think it definitely shows the disadvantages of a system run by a few and for a few," said Matt Sanderson, one of the founders of Playoff PAC. "I don't think we would get this kind of behavior in an open and accessible playoff system."

The Fiesta Bowl fired its CEO, John Junker, on Tuesday after releasing a 284-page report alleging misuse of company money and a scheme to improperly reimburse almost $50,000 in campaign contributions. The investigation was set off by a Playoff PAC complaint with the Arizona secretary of state.

The Fiesta Bowl is one of the premiere bowls in college football, and! is part of the "Bowl Championship Series" (BCS), the four matchups between conference winners and other top teams, along with the national title game.

"I think this begs the question: what's going on at the other BCS bowls?" Sanderson asked.

Sanderson said the firing should help college football move toward a playoff, and would hopefully force wholesale reform. The PAC hasn't been active in soliciting donations, he said, so much as donated time from a slew of attorneys and accountants who also support a playoff.

BCS officials said they were "deeply disappointed and troubled" by the findings of the report, but made no mention of playoffs.

"Unprofessional, unethical or improper behavior is unacceptable. There is no place for such activities in higher education or in collegiate sports," said Graham Spanier, Chair of the BCS Presidential Oversight Committee and Bill Hancock, Executive Director of the BCS, in a statement. "It is expecte! d that all parties contracted with the BCS will live up to the! highest standards. We do not wish to be associated with entities that believe otherwise."

They said the BCD had appointed a task force to evaluate the Fiesta Bowl's findings, and had asked the bowl to demonstrate why it should remain a part of the BCS.

Updated 4:55 p.m.

A government shutdown is not in the Republican Party's self-interest, a top GOP senator said Tuesday.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C.) suggested that the party should accept a compromise proposal on funding the government through the end of this fiscal year in order to avert a potentially dangerous shutdown.

{mosads}"I don't think a government shutdown is politically in the Republican Party's interest," Graham said during an interview on WVOC Radio in South Carolina.

The center-right senator's comments came after House Republicans raised the stakes in negotiations with Democrats by ruling out another stopgap spending measure.

That would force both sides to come together on a long-term proposal before April 8, when the current short-term funding bill is set to expire.

Graham indicated it would be wise for Republicans to accept "70 to 80 percent" of what they want this year, which would allow lawmakers to take up a 2012 budget.

"What is in our interest is to be the party that is making hard decisions like you do at home," the senator said. "If we stay on message there and ask for reasonable things to get this reducing government started in 2011, I think we will do well in 2012. If the Democrats come 70 to 80 percent our way, as Ronald Reagan said, that's a pretty good deal. We'll get the 20 to 30 percent later."

But House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said Tuesday the likelihood of a shutdown has increased due to the impasse of a long-term plan on Capitol Hill. And in preparation for a potential shutdown, both sides have assigned preemptive blame to one another should the government cease operations.

Some political observers have said that Republicans could take the brunt of the blame for a shutdown like they did the last time one occurred in the mid-1990s, when they controlled the House and Senate. But others say that voters could blame Democrats since they control the Senate and! White House.

Contrary to Graham, some conservative GOP lawmakers backed by Tea Party activists have suggested that a shutdown could be neccessary to drive home the party's message on spending.

Graham faces reelection in 2014 and some campaign observers predict he could face a conservative primary challenger.