Gershwin_Prize for Popular Song.
February 26th/Thursday: The President’s $3.6 trillon 2010 budget was sent to Capital Hill. It included the costs of both the war in Iraq and in Afganistan. The budget also end subsidies to Agribusiness, and ends the payments to banks to distribute student loans by issuing such loans directly from the government. The budget allocates $634 billion to expand healthcare coverage to be paid by taxing the wealthy and trimming payments to insurance companys, hospitals and doctors and ending the tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas. The budget also calls for the establishment of a National Infrastructure Bank. Transcript of the President's Budget Speech
The Obama Administration brought forward criminal charges of conspiracy and supporting terrorism against suspected Al Qaeda sleeper agent Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri.
The Chicago Bulls visited the President in the White House.
The Treasury Department began administering stress tests to prominent banks: how much money do they have, how much do they owe and what impact the worst economic hits could impact on their viability.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates ended the ban on press coverage of the return to the United States of war dead, leaving the decision to the families on whether to permit such media coverage.
February 27th/Friday: President Obama went to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina to announce that 90,000 combat troops will be withdrawn from Iraq over the next 18 months. After eighteen months, thirty-five thousand to fifty thousand troops will remain as a transitional force. All American troops will be withdrawn by the end of 2011. Transcript
Vice-President Joe Biden held the first meeting of the Task Force For Middle Class Working Families in Philadelphia
The Obama Administration lifted the ban on the firing of healthcare workers who refuse to participate in medical procedures for religious reasons.
The United States Treasury raised its stake in Citigroup from 8 percent to 36 percent, shifting $25 billion of the taxpayer’s investment from preferred stock to common stock.
February 28th/Saturday: The President gave his weekly radio address. Transcript and Video
March 1st/Sunday: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt in her first engagement in Middle East diplomacy, promoting aid for Gaza
March 2nd/Monday: Secretary pf State Hillary Clinton, in Egypt, pledged up to $900 million to help Gaza rebuild. She declared that the time for peace is now.
Another $30 billion was granted to AIG, giving the federal government 80 percent ownership of the insurance giant.
The President nominated Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius for Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. The President also announced Nancy Ann DeParle his appointment for the Director of the White House Office of Health Reform. Transcript of the President's remarks
The United States Justice Department released nine memorandums from the previous Administration’s Justice Department that included:
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
