CBO Projects 2010 Budget Deficit at $1.35 Trillion

WASHINGTON — A senior congressional aide says the latest estimates put this year’s federal budget deficit at $1.35 trillion.

The Congressional Budget Office figures confirm the massive problem facing President Obama and his Democratic allies just days before his Feb. 1 budget submission. The White House says Obama will propose freezing domestic agency budgets, though the savings would barely make a dent.

The deficit would slide to $480 billion by 2015, CBO says, but only if tax cuts on income, investments and large estates are allowed to expire at the end of this year. Most budget experts see deficits as far higher once tax cuts and other policies are factored in.

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[1] http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/01/26/cbo-budget-deficit-projected-trillion/

McCain says he’ll support Obama budget-cutting

But in his appearance on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” the Arizona Republican said that Obama “has got to veto bills that are laden with pork-barrel spending, earmarks.” He also said he’s determined to vote against another term for Fed chairman Ben Bernanke, “because I believe he was the captain of the ship when it hit the iceberg. He was there at the casino when all the gambling went on and he didn’t do anything about it.”

[2]  http://www.realclearpolitics.com/news/ap/politics/2010/Jan/26/mccain_says_he_ll_support_obama_budget_cutting.html

U.S. Opens Probe into AIG’s Payout to Partners

A U.S. government investigator is opening a probe into disclosures made as part of the government’s rescue of American International Group Inc. when the company’s trading partners were paid billions in November 2008.

Neil Barofsky, the special inspector general for the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, plans to tell a U.S. House panel Wednesday that he is investigating whether there was any “misconduct relating to the disclosure or lack thereof” surrounding the deals, in which banks who had traded with the giant insurer got paid in full on $62 billion in bets on soured mortgage securities.

[3]  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704762904575025973825013234.html

Marco Rubio beating Charlie Crist in latest poll

For the first time, a new poll shows that Gov. Charlie Crist is losing to former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio in Florida’s nationally watched Republican U.S. Senate race.

Rubio leads by just 3 percentage points — 47-44 — and is well within the error margin of the Quinnipiac University poll. Yet the trend of Rubio’s rise and Crist’s fall is stark. In October, Crist led 50 – 35 percent. In August, Crist’s lead was even bigger (55 – 26) and in June the race looked like Crist would blow out Rubio by 54 – 23 percent.

[4] http://blogs.tampabay.com/buzz/2010/01/marco-rubio-beating-charlie-crist-in-latest-poll.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+tampabaycom%2Fblogs%2Fbuzz+%28The+Buzz+|+tampabay.com%29

Gloves off in Kirsten Gillibrand vs. Harold Ford fight

Several Democratic sources told POLITICO that Gillibrand and her team get it — and are now seeking to augment her communications team with a consultant who will more aggressively target Ford, who spent Monday blasting away at the senator and her patron Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on New York Post columnist Fred Dicker’s radio show.

“One could argue that, to date, she had not been sufficiently aggressive in the New York media market, and that has backfired,” said Hank Scheinkopf, a veteran Democratic operative who has worked for many of the state’s elected officials.
Read more: [5] http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0110/31993.html#ixzz0djNScEbY