Indiana governor plans to sign bill blocking Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood

On Thursday, Mr. Obama is expected to announce that Leon E. Panetta, the C.I.A. director, will become secretary of defense, replacing Robert M. Gates, and that Gen. David H. Petraeus will return from Afghanistan to take Mr. Panetta’s job at the C.I.A., a move that is likely to continue this trend.

President Obama will nominate CIA Director Leon Panetta this week as secretary of defense, replacing Robert M. Gates as part of a series of national security shifts that will also place Afghanistan war commander Gen. David H. Petraeus in the top CIA job, U.S. officials said.

Last year's oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico might have moved the public against offshore drilling, but a still-struggling economy combined with rising prices appears to have undone that sentiment. A CNN/Opinion Research poll released this week showed support for expanded offshore drilling has returned to pre-spill levels, with 69 percent in support. That was a 20-point jump in support from the same poll taken last year, as the oil spill was in progress.

Former Gov. Gary Johnson of New Mexico announced his candidacy for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination on Thursday morning in Concord, N.H.

Unlike the Gulf, where tens of thousands of oil wells and runoff have tainted the waters for decades, a spill in the Arctic risks tainting a pristine and sensitive landscape, one that has not been as well studied and where drilling in federal waters is limited. That makes it harder to determine what toll a spill would have on the endangered polar bears, migrating whales and other wildlife that make use of the oil-rich seas.

Ed Rendell

Former Governor of Pennsylvania

Robert Menendez (D-N.J.)

 U.S. Senator

Bill Richardson

Former Governor of New Mexico









http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/r/bill_richardson/index.html

Martinez has picked Harrison "Jack" Schmitt to head the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department, which oversees environmental issues.

Schmitt, a former U.S. Senator and Apollo 17 astronaut who walked on the Moon, has said he does not believe man-made global warming exists. In a July 2009 radio interview, he said some leaders--including President Obama's science adviser John Holdren--have turned the environmental movement into "what was previously considered the communist movement," reports the Environmental News Service. He must be confirmed by the Democratic-controlled state Senate.

Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., who chairs the Environment and Public Works Committee, said Upton's bill puts "the interests of politicians and big polluters ahead of the advice of medical experts and scientists who tell us EPA must act to make the air safer and cleaner for our children to breathe." She said in a statement that she would continue to fight "these reckless attacks on the Clean Air Act that jeopardize public health."

The League of Conservation Voters launched a series of radio advertisements Monday targeting four House lawmakers for voting in favor of a bill to permanently block Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) climate regulations.
The ads, which will run in the lawmakers’ home districts, say the members are protecting “corporate polluters” and stopping the EPA from being able to regulate harmful air pollutants. The bill to block EPA climate rules passed the House earlier this month, but it was rejected by the Senate when it was offered as an amendment to small-business legislation.

“The House Majority PAC is committed to building a long-term organization that can take on the Republican-outside groups in the battle for the House Majority,” said Alixandria Lapp, the executive director. “Our objective is to help the Democrats win back the House. We will hold Republican incumbents and candidates accountable for their policies that take our country in the wrong direction.”

But Baucus said Democrats will not accept caps on spending unless Republicans agree to a similar mechanism to raise taxes.

He said that Carol Browner, who recently left as White House coordinator for energy and climate change policy, did not have the authority or staff she needed to compel action by the executive branch. And the president’s attention to the issue was episodic because of constant crises and other priorities, he added.
-NYT

Obama’s decision to claim the mantle of deficit reduction comes after a White House debate on the political wisdom of doing so. White House aides have wanted to send the message to voters that Obama takes deficit reduction seriously and at the same time wants to protect programs supporting education and health care.

House Republicans upped the pressure on the president last week when they introduced a plan to slash government spending by $6 trillion more than the president’s plan over the next decade — largely by shrinking Medicare and Medicaid. The House may vote this week on a resolution supporting the budget  perhaps Wednesday, the day of the president’s speech.

Budget Stances Harden as Deadline Nears for Shutdown

President Obama on Tuesday flatly dismissed a short-term Republican plan to keep the federal government operating past Friday as Speaker John A. Boehner sought deeper spending cuts, putting Congress and the White House on a course toward a government shutdown.

Thad W. Allen

National Incident Commander of the BP Oil Spill