Republicans to back Obama's student loan plan House Republicans are willing to give President Barack Obama a rare win, the chairman of the Education and Workforce Committee said Thursday in outlining a deal that would let college students avoid a costly hike on their student loans. More
Obama to open middle-class jobs, opportunity tour Aiming to show he's still focused on creating jobs, President Barack Obama is beginning a series of quick trips around the country to resurrect ideas from his State of the Union address that became overshadowed by the intense debates over gun control, immigration and automatic spending cuts. More
GOP boycotts health care advisory board House and Senate Republican leaders told President Barack Obama Thursday that they will refuse to nominate candidates to serve on an advisory board that is to play a role in holding down Medicare costs under the new health care act. More
US suicide rate rose sharply among middle-aged Health officials say suicides among middle-aged Americans climbed at a startling rate over the past decade, a period that included the recession. Overall, the suicide rate for the age group jumped 28 percent from 1999 to 2010. And among whites, it shot up 40 percent.... More
“Vice President Kamala Harris has told close allies and family members she is disappointed in President Biden’s recent contention that he would have won the 2024 election, straining relations between the two during their final days in the White House,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Harris has been reluctant to distance herself from Biden or criticize him throughout her vice presidency.
New York Times: “Today, Panama holds special strategic significance for China because of the canal, but Beijing has been working to expand its influence in Latin America, and among developing countries more broadly. It has portrayed itself as an alternative to what it calls American hegemony and bullying, casting itself as a more sympathetic, fellow developing country.”
“And with significant investments in port construction worldwide, China is positioning itself to influence global commerce and monitor international activities.”
Peter Baker: “The long-sought, tortuously negotiated Gaza ceasefire deal announced on Wednesday came about in part through a remarkable collaboration between President Biden and President-elect Donald Trump, who temporarily put aside mutual animosity to achieve a mutual goal.”
“The two presidents directed their advisers to work together to push Israel and Hamas over the finish line for an agreement to halt the fighting that has ravaged Gaza and release hostages who have been held there for 15 months.
“Treasury and other law enforcement officials told lawmakers Wednesday that Chinese hackers gained access to more than 3,000 unclassified agency files as part of a cybersecurity breach last year,” Politico reports.
“The Trump transition is attempting to remove US attorneys immediately by replacing them with interim leaders who’d be aligned with the president-elect’s priorities,“ Bloomberg Law reports.
“Transition staffers have been working to identify existing career prosecutors in many of the nation’s 93 law enforcement districts who they’d feel confident would support the president-elect’s law enforcement priorities—including deportations—once elevated as acting US attorneys, said the attorneys.”