Day: September 16, 2013

Sun Sets on Summers’ Fed Nomination

Buck Banks

I have reluctantly concluded that any possible confirmation process for me would be acrimonious and would not serve the interest of the Federal Reserve, the Administration or, ultimately, the interests of the nation’s ongoing economic recovery.

— Former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers, pulling out of the contest to succeed Ben Bernanke as chairman of the Federal Reserve, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Majority Now Opposes Obamacare — Because They Don’t Understand It

Buck Banks

53%

Of Americans disapprove of President Obama’s health care law while 42% approve, a new USA Today/Pew Research survey finds. Key findings: “The 53% of the public who disapprove of the law are divided over what they would like elected officials who oppose the law to do now that the law has begun to take effect. About half of disapprovers (27% of the public overall) say these lawmakers ‘should do what they can to make the law work as well as possible,’ but nearly as many (23% of the public) say these officials ‘should do what they can to make the law fail.'”

Congressional Rank-and-File Resistance Bodes Ill for the Fall

Buck Banks

It’s almost as though it was the end of traditional power. I’ve been here for 20 years, and I’ve never seen so much of a repudiation of the conventional sources of power in the legislative or executive branch. It portends for a much more chaotic fall.

— Rep. James Moran (D-VA), quoted by the Washington Post, on the rank-and-file resistance to both President Obama and Speaker John Boehner on Capitol Hill.