Obama Going Back To Boehner's Backyard For Next Jobs Plan Pitch

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney announced Thursday that President Obama will once again travel to the Buckeye state to gin up support for his new $447 billion jobs plan.

The President, who visited Columbus earlier this week, will deliver a speech at the Brent Spence Bridge, which carries a pair of highways across the Ohio River, connecting Ohio and Kentucky.

The area is close to the 8th District, which is represented by House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio). Though Boehner and Obama share a good personal relationship, they have clashed with each other over spending since Boehner became Speaker of the Republican-controlled House back in January.

Kentucky, of course, happens to be the home state of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who has also served as an obstacle to Obama’s agenda in recent years.

The White House, however, is downplaying the apparent politics of the location.

“The Brent Spence Bridge is on one of the busiest trucking routes in North America, yet it is considered ‘functionally obsolete’ because it is in need of so many significant repairs,” Carney said in a statement. “If Congress passes the American Jobs Act, we can put more Americans back to work while getting repairs like this done.”

Boehner Rolls Out GOP Jobs Plan

In a speech he’ll deliver this afternoon at the Economic Club of Washington, D.C., House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) will signal his party’s intentions to take up tax reform this Fall.

Boehner will also say that the House will consider several proposals within President Obama’s $447 billion job creation package, but will not accept a plan that is paid for in part by raising taxes.

Earlier this week, Obama called for limiting itemized deductions for taxpayers making more than $200,000 per year. Doing so, he said, would generate nearly $400 billion over the next decade. He added that another $4 billion in savings would come from ending subsidies for the oil and gas industry.

Many Republicans will likely support the president’s idea to extend payroll tax cuts for employees and to provide tax credits to businesses that hire veterans or long-term unemployed Americans. But a lot of rank-and-file Republicans, including most of those who align with the conservative-leaning Tea Party movement, will pressure leaders to oppose tax hikes at all costs.

You can watch a live stream of Boehner’s speech by logging onto Facebook and “Liking” his official Speaker’s office page. The speech begins at 1:00 pm.

Cantor Receives Pushback Over Disaster Aid Stance

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney responded Tuesday to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s (R-Va.) desire to see future assistance to communities impacted by Hurricane Irene balanced with other spending cuts.

“I wish that commitment to looking for offsets had been held by the House Majority Leader and others, say, during the previous administration when they ran up unprecedented bills and never paid for them,” Carney said during a gaggle on board a flight to Minneapolis, where the president will deliver a speech this afternoon addressed to American troops currently serving at war.

During an appearance on the Fox News Channel yesterday, Cantor noted that his state had been hit hard by Irene, as well as a 5.9 earthquake that originated from an area near Cantor’s district one week ago.

“This is the appropriate time and instance where there is a federal government role,” he said. “We will find the money if there is a need for additional money. But those monies are not unlimited and we have said we have to offset that which has already been funded.”

King To Hold Hearing On Impacts Of Bin Laden Killing

Rep. Pete King (R-N.Y.) will hold a hearing next Wednesday to examine the national security implications of Osama bin Laden’s death.

Bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaeda, was killed by U.S. special forces during a raid on his compound in Abottabad, Pakistan on May 2.

King, who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee, released a statement today explaining his decision:

“Since the first of May, the national conversation has revolved around details emerging from the killing of Bin Laden by U.S. Special Operations Forces.  At this hearing, the Committee will examine the near-term and long-term consequences and benefits to the security of our homeland resulting from the successful killing of Al Qaeda’s founder and top leader.  While the removal of Bin Laden from the battlefield is certainly a victory in our war against Al Qaeda and its affiliates, it also means increased risk of retaliatory attacks against America by Bin Laden supporters, just as we have seen recently in Pakistan.”

So far, the witness list for the hearing includes author and CNN terrorism analyst Peter Bergen,  former George W. Bush counter-terrorism advisor Frances Townsend and former FBI terrorism consultant Evan Kohlmann.

New Congressional Report Details Causes Of Financial Collapse

An investigation spearheaded by Sens. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) has revealed that questionable practices and regulatory failures led directly to the worst U.S. financial crisis in decades.

The findings of the two-year long investigation were included in a lengthily report released by the two Senators on Wednesday. Specifically, it found that Wall Street firms themselves caused the 2008 financial collapse by engaging in “massive conflicts of interest.” The collapse forced the government to spend hundreds of billions on bailouts, and triggered a prolonged recession which the nation has only recently begun to climb out of.

In a statement, Coburn said that blame lies with not only the financial sector, but also with federal regulators who failed to crack down hard enough on the firms involved.

“The free market has helped make America great, but it only functions when people deal with each other honestly and transparently.  At the heart of the financial crisis were unresolved, and often undisclosed, conflicts of interest,” said Coburn. “Blame for this mess lies everywhere from federal regulators who cast a blind eye, Wall Street bankers who let greed run wild, and members of Congress who failed to provide oversight.”

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