Obama Calls GOP ‘Pledge’ A Joke

Toward the end of a live interview this morning with ‘Today Show’ host Matt Lauer, President Barack Obama responded to a new plan put out last week by House Republicans.

“What I’m seeing out of the Republican leadership over the last several years has been a set of policies that are just irresponsible,” Obama said. “And we saw in their ‘Pledge to America’ a similar set of irresponsible policies.”

The ‘Pledge,’ an outline of policies Republicans would attempt to implement should their party win back Congress this fall, was met with a fair amount of skepticism last week, even by some Republicans, who called the document heavy on rhetoric but light on details.

Republicans, said Obama, “say they want to balance the budget…they propose $4 trillion worth of tax cuts and $16 billion in spending cuts, and then they say we’re going to somehow magically balance the budget. That’s not a serious approach.”

Biden Stumping For Dems In New Hampshire

Vice President Biden will be attending a fundraiser Monday for New Hampshire Democrats Rep. Carol Shea-Porter and Senate hopeful Paul Hodes.

 Biden’s fundraising appearance will follow an economic discussion held at a private residence with Shea-Porter, Hodes and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D).

Report: White House Wants OK To Wiretap The Internet

The White House intends to push legislation that would ease the federal government’s ability to intercept electronic communication, according to a report Monday in the New York Times.

The legislation, which will reportedly be sent to Congress next year, will require sites like Facebook and Gmail to comply with wiretap orders.

The New York Times article can be read here.

White House Aides Skipping Orszag Wedding

Top White House advisers will not be attending the wedding of recently-departed Office of Management and Budget Chief Peter Orszag, according to the New York Post’s Page Six.

Advisers Valerie Jarrett and David Axelrod as well as Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel will be skipping the ceremony, which takes place over the weekend in New York.

It is suspected that a column Orszag wrote in the New York Times that was at odds with the administration’s tax stance may have played a role in the apparent snub.

Orszag will be marrying Brianna Golodryga, a reporter from ABC. 

King Blasts Democrats For Inviting Colbert To Hearing

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), the conservative ranking Republican on a House Judiciary subcommitte on immigration, says that the presence of Comedy Central host Stephen Colbert at a hearing this morning weakened the credibility of Democrats who support giving citizenship to illegal immigrant farm workers.

“Amnesty supporters frequently claim that Americans won’t do hard work, a claim which is insulting,” said King in a statement. “Maybe amnesty supporters should spend less time watching Comedy Central and more time considering all the real jobs that are out there that require hard labor and don’t involve sitting behind a desk. If they did, they would realize that every day American workers perform the dirtiest, most difficult, most dangerous jobs that can be thrown at them.”