http://www.rttnews.comGlobal financial news, market analysis, economics and forex newsen-usSat, 21 Nov 2009 13:15:02 GMTThe Senate Ethics Committee sent a letter to Senator Roland Burris, D-Ill., on Friday, admonishing him for "actions and statements reflecting unfavorably upon the Senate." Burris was selected by former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich to replace Barack Obama in the U.S. Senate when Obama gave up the seat after being elected president.http://www.rttnews.com/ArticleView.aspx?Id=1136782Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:49:40 GMTIn advance of a crucial vote Saturday, leading Senate Democrats criticized their Republican opponents for seeking to stop health reform efforts without advancing an alternative. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., sought to take Republicans to task for one of their chief complaints about the measure, that it is too long and complicated. "Senate Republicans want to talk about the number of pages in this bill; we want to talk about the number of people who will get affordable care," Durbin said.http://www.rttnews.com/ArticleView.aspx?Id=1136770Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:30:06 GMTSenator Ben Nelson, D-Neb., announced Friday that he will vote for the motion to proceed to debate on health care reform on the Senate floor. "This weekend, I will vote for the motion to proceed to bring that debate onto the Senate floor," Nelson said in his statement. "Throughout my Senate career I have consistently rejected efforts to obstruct. That's what the vote on the motion to proceed is all about."http://www.rttnews.com/ArticleView.aspx?Id=1136764Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:24:45 GMTSenator Judd Gregg, R-N.H., released a statement Friday in which he called an amendment by Representative Ron Paul, R-Texas, to institute new Congressional oversight powers of the Federal Reserve "political pandering." Thursday night, the House Financial Services Committee added a provision to a financial system reform bill that could potentially give Congress the right to order the Government Accountability Office to audit all of the Federal Reserve's activities.http://www.rttnews.com/ArticleView.aspx?Id=1136747Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:44:34 GMTSenator Russ Feingold, D-Wis., released a statement Friday highly critical of the Federal Election Commission's decision to revise rules concerning campaign travel on non-commercial aircraft. On Thursday, the FEC said it was revising the rules to require presidential, vice-presidential, and Senate candidates and their authorized committees to pay charter rates for campaign travel on most non-commercial flights.http://www.rttnews.com/ArticleView.aspx?Id=1136731Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:19:23 GMTUtah Republican Senator Orrin Hatch, along with 11 Republican colleagues, voiced their concerns Friday over remarks Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano made last week concerning immigration. Last Friday, Napolitano called for an overhaul of the nation's immigration laws to stress enforcement while also providing a path to legalizing the millions of illegal immigrants already in the country.http://www.rttnews.com/ArticleView.aspx?Id=1136716Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:46:47 GMTSenator Carl Levin, D-Mich., introduced a Senate resolution Thursday night condemning Iran's human rights record, calling for an immediate release of those wrongly imprisoned, and urging the restoration of meaningful human rights for all of Iran's citizens.http://www.rttnews.com/ArticleView.aspx?Id=1136670Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:14:24 GMTThe House voted Thursday to approve a physician repayment bill to permanently fix the way doctors who cover Medicare patients are reimbursed. The Medicare Physician Payment Reform Act was passed by a 243-183 vote, with Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Texas, the only Republican joining Democrats in passing the measure. Eleven Democrats joined the rest of the Republicans in voting against it.http://www.rttnews.com/ArticleView.aspx?Id=1136643Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:17:42 GMTThe U.S. House Financial Services Committee added a provision to a financial system reform bill late Thursday night that could potentially give Congress the right to order the Government Accountability Office to audit all of the Federal Reserve's activities. The provision, which was proposed by Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, would give the Government Accountability Office the right to audit the Fed's monetary policy decisions.http://www.rttnews.com/ArticleView.aspx?Id=1136585Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:25:12 GMTEuropean leaders attending a summit in Brussels on Thursday named Belgian Prime Minister Herman van Rompuy as the first permanent president of the European Commission, a post created by the recently adopted Lisbon Treaty. Even before the eventual outcome, Rompuy was widely tipped to become the first European Commission President as he had the crucial French and German support. Van Rompuy,a poetry-writing economist, was not well-known outside before he became the Prime Minister of Belgium inhttp://www.rttnews.com/ArticleView.aspx?Id=1135826Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:20:41 GMTHouse Republicans Thursday unveiled their congressional transparency initiative, which is intended to bring greater transparency to the legislative process. The legislation includes "read the bill" reform that requires all bills to be posted online at least 72 hours before coming to a vote. It also calls for a ban on "phantom amendments" being "secretly" added to a bill after it passes committee.http://www.rttnews.com/ArticleView.aspx?Id=1135707Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:06:57 GMTOne day after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's, D-Nev., $848 billion health care reform plan was made public, the war of words between Democrats and Republicans over the bill continued. The 2,074-page bill was released on http://democrats.senate.gov/ Wednesday night, marking the first time it has been openly available to be viewed by the public. According to Democratic aides, the bill will reduce deficits by $127 billion over a decade and would require most Americans to have health insurance.http://www.rttnews.com/ArticleView.aspx?Id=1135684Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:47:37 GMTThe Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Thursday launched an investigation into the recent massacre at Fort Hood. Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., the chairman of the committee, said the committee would seek to determine whether there had been a breakdown in communications that could otherwise have prevented an Army psychiatrist from going on a shooting rampage that left 13 dead and nearly 30 wounded.http://www.rttnews.com/ArticleView.aspx?Id=1135682Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:42:44 GMTA new Gallup poll released Thursday shows an increasing number of Americans believe the state of health care coverage in the U.S. is either excellent or good. The poll, which surveyed 1,008 adults November 5 - 8, showed that 38% of Americans feel health care in the U.S. is either good or excellent, up from 26% last year. This represents the highest number since Gallup began asking the question nine years ago.http://www.rttnews.com/ArticleView.aspx?Id=1135580Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:54:41 GMTA new Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday shows that while most Americans like President Barack Obama as a person, less than half approve of his policies. According to the poll, which surveyed 2,518 voters November 9 - 16, 74 percent of Americans like Obama as a person. However, only 47 percent like most of his policies, and 51 percent disapprove of the health care overhaul passed by the House, an overhaul that Obama approved of.http://www.rttnews.com/ArticleView.aspx?Id=1135453Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:39:36 GMTTreasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Thursday that the U.S. has a long way to go to ensure a full economic recovery and guarantee that last year's financial collapse will not happen again in the future. Speaking before the congressional Joint Economic Committee, Geithner said that the regulatory regime that is currently in place is the same regime that failed to prevent the financial crisis, filled with too many agencies and too many regulatory gaps.http://www.rttnews.com/ArticleView.aspx?Id=1135435Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:21:26 GMTThe Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions passed a bill Wednesday that improves the FDA's ability to detect and respond to food-borne illnesses. Specifically, the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act would improve the ability of the FDA to detect and respond to food-borne illnesses by evaluating safety threats at food facilities, increase scrutiny of imported foods, and explore ways to track fruits and vegetables in the case of an outbreak.http://www.rttnews.com/ArticleView.aspx?Id=1134209Wed, 18 Nov 2009 20:15:46 GMTSen. John Kerry, D-Mass., Wednesday called on the World Bank to do more to address global warming and climate change in the development projects it funds. Kerry, speaking at the Bank's Washington, D.C., headquarters, said that the bank's approaches on dealing with climate change and energy in the developing world were inextricably linked. "No citizen of the developing world should be held back by a lack of access to energy," Kerry said.http://www.rttnews.com/ArticleView.aspx?Id=1134168Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:56:26 GMTIn a letter sent to the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism on Wednesday, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., requested that the results from the internal investigation of the November 5th shooting at the Fort Hood Army Base be transmitted to the Judiciary Committee.http://www.rttnews.com/ArticleView.aspx?Id=1134126Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:39:02 GMTA federal health panel's recommendations to reduce the number of mammograms performed on women over 40 sparked controversy in Washington on Wednesday. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recently released a report recommending that women between 40 and 49 cease receiving routine mammogram screenings in the absence of other risk factors. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius issued a statement seeking to clarify the panel's findings.http://www.rttnews.com/ArticleView.aspx?Id=1134113Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:19:51 GMTDLA Piper announced Wednesday that former Senator Tom Daschle has joined the lobbying firm as a Senior Policy Advisor. In his new position, Daschle will counsel clients on a wide range of regulatory and government affairs issues. Daschle is also expected to play a significant role in management and client development globally.http://www.rttnews.com/ArticleView.aspx?Id=1134105Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:13:17 GMTRep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Penn., Wednesday unveiled an amendment to financial regulation reform legislation before the House Financial Services Committee aimed at ending the problem of firms that have become "too big to fail." Kanjorski said the plan would give federal regulators new authorities to rein in and dismantle large, interconnected firms whose unregulated failure could threaten the stability of the entire financial system.http://www.rttnews.com/ArticleView.aspx?Id=1134088Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:46:39 GMTAttorney General Eric Holder testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday, defending his decision to allow five September 11th terrorist suspects, including alleged mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, to be tried in civilian court in New York City. "We are at war, and we will use every instrument of national power - civilian, military, law enforcement, intelligence, diplomatic and others - to win," Holder said in his prepared testimony.http://www.rttnews.com/ArticleView.aspx?Id=1134021Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:15:44 GMTOn Wednesday, Senator Robert Byrd, D-W.V., became the longest-serving member of Congress in history. Wednesday marked Byrd's 20,774th day as a member of Congress, surpassing Carl Hayden, who had served in Congress for 20,773 days. Byrd, who turns 92 on Friday, was elected to the House in 1952. He served six years as a Representative for West Virginia before being elected to the Senate in 1958. He has served in the Senate ever since.http://www.rttnews.com/ArticleView.aspx?Id=1134018Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:09:16 GMTA new Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday shows that President Barack Obama's approval rating has slipped below 50% for the first time. The poll, which surveyed 2,518 voters November 9 - 16, showed Obama with a 48% approval rating. It also showed support for the war in Afghanistan at 48%, down from the 52% it was at in the previous poll.http://www.rttnews.com/ArticleView.aspx?Id=1133951Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:15:50 GMTThe Senate Tuesday unanimously approved a $133.9 billion measure providing for military construction and veterans' benefits. The bill includes $76.7 billion in discretionary funding, $1.4 billion in overseas contingency operations, and $55.8 billion in mandatory funding. "We have done our best to address both the needs of the military and our veterans in this legislation," said Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D.http://www.rttnews.com/ArticleView.aspx?Id=1132830Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:28:37 GMTSenators Patty Murray, D-WA, Ben Cardin D-MD, Amy Klobuchar, D-MN, Kay Hagan, D-NC, Ted Kaufman, D-DE, and Paul Kirk, D-MA, gathered together Tuesday to discuss the need for action on healthcare reform.http://www.rttnews.com/ArticleView.aspx?Id=1132803Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:17:15 GMTIn order to strengthen efforts to combat financial crime, the Obama administration announced Tuesday that is has established an interagency Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force. The new task force will be headed by the Justice Department, while the Treasury Department, the Housing and Urban Development Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission will serve on the steering committee.http://www.rttnews.com/ArticleView.aspx?Id=1132747Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:38:20 GMTDespite U.S. efforts to convince Israel to stop building new settlements in the West Bank as a sign of good faith in negotiations with the Palestinians, Israel announced Tuesday that it has approved the construction of 900 new homes on West Bank land. The approval will add 900 homes to Gilo, where 40,000 Israelis already live.http://www.rttnews.com/ArticleView.aspx?Id=1132736Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:17:58 GMTVice President Joe Biden will make an appearance on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" Tuesday night. The appearance will mark Biden's sixth appearance on the show and his first since being elected as vice president. It will also mark the first time a sitting vice president has appeared on the show.http://www.rttnews.com/ArticleView.aspx?Id=1132666Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:43:20 GMT