Friday, March 27, 2009
TGIF! Hello everybody and welcome to the Shuster "Daily Briefing" for March 27, 2009. Corbb O'Connor, one of our favorite D.C. interns, was out sick yesterday, but he's back – I'm glad you're feeling better, Corbb! Now, take it away!
Glad to be back, Shuster. President Obama made remarks this morning outlining the deployment of 4,000 additional troops to Afghanistan and a significant increase in funding for Pakistan and Afghanistan. He then spoke at The George Washington University's Lisner Auditorium during a ceremonial swearing-in for Attorney General Eric Holder, who officially became the country's top lawyer on Feb. 3. At a closed-door event later in the day, Obama met with CEOs from several of the largest banks in the State Dining Room to discuss the state of the economy, the Administration's new toxic assets plan, and the G-20 Summit next week. The President and his family leave for a weekend at Camp David this evening.
Our Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel joins us at the start of tonight's show from Kabul. So often, U.S. civilians don't understand what an additional set of troops or funds mean for the situation on the ground, so we'll ask Richard to explain that to us. We'll also get reaction from Capitol Hill with Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.), a member of the House Armed Services Committee and the highest ranking former member of military in Congress after serving in Afghanistan We'd love to hear your questions for Richard so please post them on Twitter. Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), who serves on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, will join us to discuss the looming reforms for the financial industry. We're looking at three financial issues for tonight. One idea we're is based on this morning's New York Times report we not have seen the last of AIG-style bonuses from bailed out financial institutions. Contracts at these 19 firms will require that executives be paid bonuses just for staying in their jobs. A second possibility this evening concerns The Wall Street Journal's report that said, "Many of the high-level AIG executives who approved the insurer's risk-taking before the company's near collapse still are at their posts," including a group whose task is to monitor the institution's risk-taking practices! And finally, we're reading about some executives in the London office of AIG Financial Products, who say that they don't want to give up their bonuses, according to a story in the British paper Daily Mail. As I look across the newsroom, I see that Shuster is researching for tonight's "Hypocrisy Watch." He's looking into several members of Congress who criticized financial institutions for needing to be bailed out by the government, yet simultaneously accepted campaign contributions from them in February! That's hypocrisy, and it's wrong. We'll have the details for you tonight.
Jim Riches, retired Chief of the New York Fire Department, joins us tonight to discuss the memorial under construction at the site of the World Trade Center in New York. The New York and New Jersey Port Authority decided to strip the name "Freedom Tower," and instead name the site after the original building, "One World Trade Center." Changing the name does little to change the public's and victims' families dislike of the memorial. Earlier this year, we conducted an online poll, where almost 90 percent of the 1,447 respondents prefer rebuilding the towers instead of the current memorial.
We'll ask our panel about how President Obama is doing with so much on his plate tonight. Guy Lawson of Rolling Stone and radio host Chris Plante will join us. They'll stay with us for a conversation about the legalization of marijuana as a potential solution to the drug-related violence on the Mexican border. We hope you'll join us for "1600 Pennsylvania Avenue" tonight, which airs at 6 p.m. in Washington, DC; 5 p.m. in Chicago; 4 p.m. in Boulder; and 3 p.m. in Sacramento. Corbb |
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