Obamas plan offers few concessions to environmentalists, who have been strident in their opposition to more oil platforms off the nations shores. Hinted at for months, the plan modifies a ban that for more than 20 years has limited drilling along coastal areas other than the Gulf of Mexico.
Obama was set to announce the new drilling policy Wednesday at Andrews air base in Maryland. White House officials pitched the changes as ways to reduce U.S. reliance on foreign oil and create jobs - both politically popular ideas - but the presidents decisions also could help secure support for a climate - - - - >

Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin told the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that a reworking of the financial system was sorely needed and that an attempted obstruction by the Chamber was misguided.
“It is so puzzling that despite the urgent and undeniable need for reform, the Chamber of Commerce has launched a $3 million advertising campaign against it,” Wolin told a business audience as it lunched beneath chandeliers at the organizations ornate headquarters a block from the White House.
Wolins remarks - and a White House meeting between President Barack Obama and leading administration and congressional authors of the regulatory overhaul - signaled - - - - >

The Senate-approved health measure lawmakers hope to send to Obama soon would steer $600 million over the next decade to Vermont in added federal payments for Medicaid and nearly as much to Massachusetts.
Connecticut would get $100 million to build a hospital. About 800,000 Florida seniors could keep certain Medicare benefits. Asbestos-disease victims in tiny Libby, Mont., and some coal miners with black lung disease or their widows would get help, and there are prizes for Louisiana, the Dakotas and more states.
“Were going to do what we have to do to get a bill out of the House and Senate,” said - - - - >

Morgan, a 57-year-old native of Liverpool, created the company in 1974 and said he was dismayed to see its houses and apartments “dumbed down” to appeal to lower income buyers after he left in 2000. The decision to return was prompted by an 18-month spell during which the shares plunged 85 percent, shrinking the value of his 6.5 percent stake.
“Its in my blood,” Morgan said in an interview in London. “It was still my baby, the business I started from scratch.”
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Obama says his proposal to overhaul the U.S. medical system would cover 31 million uninsured Americans; the chief Republican bill covers 3 million. Obama would require Americans to get insurance and penalize large employers who dont offer it. Republicans reject mandates. Obamas plan may cost $950 billion over 10 years; the Republican bill: $61 billion.
While House Minority Leader John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell will come armed with policy alternatives, only one Republican bill, pushed by Boehner, has been reviewed by the Congressional Budget - - - - >

In a letter written by Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, the lawmakers challenge the EPAs efforts to restrict greenhouse gases from stationary sources such as power plants, factories and mines.
Opposition to EPA regulations by Democrats could pose a serious blow to the Obama administrations effort to restrict heat-trapping greenhouse gases. While the administration is still pushing for Congress to pass a comprehensive climate bill this year, officials have not ruled out controlling greenhouse gases through regulation.
The letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson was signed by Democrats Mark Begich of Alaska, Robert Byrd of West Virginia, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, - - - - >

Obamas proposals to expand coverage to millions of uninsured Americans may qualify for a parliamentary maneuver that would allow Senate Democrats to circumvent Republican opposition and pass the measure with a simple majority, said lawmakers. Administration officials didnt reject the idea.
“The American people deserve an up-or-down vote on health reform, and this package is designed to provide us the flexibility to achieve that” should Republicans try to block the bill, Dan Pfeiffer, the White House communications director, told reporters during a conference call yesterday. - - - - >

Obama will offer “one proposal” that takes “some of the best ideas” from House and Senate bills “and put them into a framework moving forward,” Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said yesterday. A senior White House official said the plan will be posted by the morning of Feb. 22.
Obama invited Republican leaders to the Feb. 25 meeting and challenged them to present their own health-care plan.
Democrats in Congress are still - - - - >

But the publics response to President Barack Obamas recession-fighting policies has been increasingly dreary. And the reason is simple: six months of unemployment above 9.6 percent.
“It doesnt yet feel like much of a recovery,” Obama had to concede Wednesday, even as he sought to promote his year-old massive economic stimulus bill.
Unemployment trumps all else. It provides a lens through which the public reads an economic narrative of bank bailouts, executive bonuses, expensive health care remedies and exploding debt.
In that environment, gross domestic product growth is an abstraction. Obama gets little credit for an economic turnaround under his watch. And Republicans - - - - >

Obama has promised to “post online the text of a proposed health-insurance package” in advance of the televised meeting.
Democrats in Congress are still reconciling differences between versions of health legislation passed last year by the House and Senate. House Democrats, during a conference call with reporters yesterday, said that though the two chambers are close to an agreement, they may not have a united plan by next week.
“I dont know whether the - - - - >