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"Extend tax cuts for all income levels and do nothing else," said Sean Snaith, economics professor at the University of Central Florida. "More of the same piecemeal, patchwork policies put forth by this administration will undermine confidence and do little to change the path the economy is on." But economists surveyed were in broad agreement that the recovery is still too fragile to allow taxes to go up for the 97% of taxpayers not in the top brackets. "If those tax cuts expire for everybody, we go into a double-dip recession," said Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Analytics. Zandi...

Pelosi Fires Back at Gingrich By Nell Henderson House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi fired back at fellow former Speaker Newt Gingrich Sunday morning for his disavowal of a TV ad calling for action on climate change that the pair filmed together. Mr. Gingrich, chasing the Republican presidential nomination, has called the 2008 ad “probably the dumbest single thing I’ve done in recent years.” Ms. Pelosi, of California, asked about the comments on CNN’s State of the Union, had a tart riposte: “He has been fined $300,000 dollars by the ethics committee, you’d think he’d consider that a big mistake.” CNN...

NEW YORK, March 25 – With the economy on firmer footing the Federal Reserve Bank is unlikely to extend its bond-buying stimulus program beyond a planned $600 billion, several top Fed officials said on Friday. Members of the more hawkish wing of the Fed went further, with Philadelphia Fed Bank President Charles Plosser saying the U.S. central bank will have to reverse its easy money policy in the "not-too-distant future" to avoid sowing the seeds of inflation. The Fed has kept short-term rates near zero since December 2008 and has bought more than $2 trillion in long-term securities to push...

The Director of the Congressional Budget Office Doug Elmendorf recommends extending the Bush Tax Cuts before the Senate Budget Committee.

The big strategy for Democrats in the midterms is to run against George W. Bush, even though he hasn’t been President for almost two years. Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid hope to use a little misdirection away from their failed economic policies by claiming that Bush policies were so bad that Democrats couldn’t fix them. However, the centerpiece of Bush’s economic policies were the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts that will expire at the end of the year, and now Democrats want to extend at least some of them, and perhaps all of them, in order to keep from making...

Chairman of House tax-writing committee wants to move forward, but much remains uncertain on taxes. Ways and Means Committee Chairman Sandy Levin (D-Mich.) would like to extend at least some of the tax cuts enacted under President George W. Bush before lawmakers adjourn for the August recess. "I think it is preferable," he told reporters Thursday. The Bush tax cuts are largely set to expire at the end of the year, but Democrats want to extend the rates for the middle class. They don't intend to extend cuts to wealthier taxpayers who make at least $250,000 in annual income. "The...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Sneezing, congestion, and runny noses from hay fever may be lasting longer because climate change may be extending pollen seasons, doctors in Italy said on Monday. Pollen seasons as well as the amount of pollen in the air progressively increased during a six-year study in Italy, the doctors told a meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology in New Orleans. The team at Genoa University recorded pollen counts, how long pollen seasons lasted and sensitivity to five types of pollen in the Bordighera region of Italy from 1981 to 2007. "By studying a well-defined...

MEXICO CITY - Mexico's government said Thursday it would send troops and police to root out drug smugglers in several states, expanding an offensive that began this week in one violence-plagued state where soldiers clashed with traffickers trying to protect a marijuana field. Attorney General Eduardo Medina said raids could take place simultaneously in various states, apparently to prevent traffickers from fleeing between regions. He declined to name the states. "The operational design in each state will be different," he said. "The war against drug trafficking is very complicated, but it is a winnable war." He said the idea was...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 29, 2006 -- New Orleans police officials have requested Louisiana National Guardsmen remain on state active duty for another six months, a Guard spokesman said. Air Guard Lt. Col. Peter Schneider confirmed that New Orleans Police Superintendent Warren J. Riley has asked Gov. Katherine Blanco to extend the tours of 300 Guardsmen through June 2007. Guardsmen have been patrolling neighborhoods in the Hurricane Katrina-ravaged city since June, when five teenagers were killed over one weekend. If the governor does not extend the tours, the state deployment will end by the end of December. Over the Thanksgiving weekend,...

8/15/2006 - HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah (AFPN) -- At first glance the A-10 Thunderbolt II cockpit looks like a Category 5 tornado just touched down in the middle of it. The chaotic scene, with hundreds of loose wires and instrumentation ripped from consoles, is really the beginning of modifications that will extend the service life of A-10s while increasing their capabilities. Known as the precision engagement, or PE, program, the plan is designed to facilitate the use of smart munitions and update the cockpit so it is more in line with that of the F-16 Fighting Falcon. The 508th...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 4, 2006 – The concept of embedding coalition advisers in Iraqi army units has proven so successful that it will soon be implemented in the Iraqi police units as well, President Bush said following a meeting at the Pentagon today. Flanked by Vice President Dick Cheney and speaking to reporters following a meeting with his national defense team and three top commanders in Iraq, the president praised progress being made in boosting Iraq's security forces in both numbers and capability. He cited the key role these forces played in maintaining security during the Dec. 15 elections. That effort...

CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq, Sept. 16, 2005 — After more than two-and-a-half consecutive years of being mobilized on active duty, a reservist with II Marine Expeditionary Force, Headquarters Group, II Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward), is serving his second combat deployment and his first in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, here. Lance Cpl. Mark Beaton, 20, administration clerk with command element G-1, is responsible for personnel accountability as well as preparing the morning briefing for the commanding general. Military service has been a tradition in Beaton’s family for many years. As a member of the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps during high...

SAN FRANCISCO – A federal judge blocked plans to extend leases for oil and gas drilling off the Central California coast Friday, ruling that the Bush administration didn't adequately consider possible damage to the ocean and marine life. U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken ruled that the U.S. Interior Department failed to analyze the environmental impact of future oil exploration and production that would be possible under the 37 offshore leases, according to Drew Caputo, an attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council, one of several groups that sued to block the leases. The ruling from the bench in Oakland's federal...

WASHINGTON - The House voted Thursday to extend the USA Patriot Act, the nation's main anti-terrorism tool, just hours after televisions in the Capitol beamed images of a new attack in London. As similar legislation worked its way through the Senate, House Republicans generally cast the law as a valuable asset in the war on terror. Most Democrats echoed that support but said they were concerned the law could allow citizens' civil liberties to be infringed. After more than nine hours of debate, the House approved the measure 257-171. Forty-three Democrats joined 214 Republicans in voting to renew key provisions...

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WASHINGTON - Republican leaders, eager to deliver a pre-election victory to President Bush (news - web sites), moved closer to agreement Monday night on legislation needed to extend three popular middle-class tax cuts that are set to expire this year. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley announced that a joint House-Senate conference committee, which will work out differences between the two chambers, will meet on the tax legislation for the first time Tuesday. Officials reported agreement was close on the major provisions of the legislation. Under one optimistic scenario, the conference committee will be able to reach agreement on a...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Gun control activists, health care advocates and law enforcement groups geared up on Tuesday for a last-ditch effort to prevent a 1994 ban on assault weapons from expiring next week, but even its most ardent backers acknowledge the drive is all but futile. But the influential National Rifle Association gun lobby, meanwhile, said it would "not take anything for granted" as it works to send the ban into oblivion. Ban advocates called on President Bush (news - web sites) to intervene and get Congress to act. But Bush, who in his 2000 campaign promised to sign legislation,...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - With a new U.N. envoy expected in Baghdad shortly, Security Council members reached agreement Wednesday on the text of a resolution that will extend the U.N. mission in Iraq for a year. The brief draft resolution reaffirms "that the United Nations should play a leading role in assisting the Iraqi people and government in the formation of institutions for representative government." But Secretary-General Kofi Annan made clear to the council in a report Friday that the United Nations will remain "a high-value" target for attacks in Iraq for the foreseeable future, which will severely limit the...

<p>The state is poised next month to extend a telecommunications contract - valued at $1 billion - that some say could saddle agencies with obsolete technology and force taxpayers to needlessly spend more than $100 million for services, according to internal state documents obtained by The Orange County Register.</p>

Senate Republicans are planning a second consecutive night of floor debate over judicial nominees, GOP leaders said during the wee hours of last night’s marathon debate. “It may well go through to the next night,” said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.). “The 30 hours was something for planning purposes,” he said, referring to the original intended length of the debate, which began at 6 p.m. Wednesday. A number of freshman senators have volunteered to push debate beyond the original cut-off time of midnight Thursday. Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) have expressed an interest, said Senate Republican...