U.S. Edition
(CNN) - Former GOP presidential running mates Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan met Thursday morning in a Washington hotel, a Republican official told CNN.
The meeting ended around 11 a.m. ET, the official said. Following the meeting, Ryan issued a statement saying he was "grateful to Governor Romney for the honor of joining his ticket this fall, and I cherish our friendship." FULL POST
Washington (CNN) - After two years of endless debate and a national election, Democrats and Republicans on Thursday found themselves right where they started - blaming each other for stagnant negotiations on taxes and government spending.
House Speaker John Boehner declared himself disappointed that "no substantive progress" has occurred in two weeks of talks, saying Republicans were waiting for the White House to propose significant spending cuts.
(CNN) – Count Vice President Joe Biden among the Washingtonians eagerly awaiting the opening of the District's first Costco.
The second in command made a trip across town Thursday to shop the first Washington location of the wholesale giant on its opening day, walking in prepared with his Costco membership card, which he flashed to the minder at the front door. FULL POST
(CNN) – Former President George H.W. Bush remains in a Houston hospital Thursday after being treated for bronchitis, his spokesman said. His office said he was in stable condition.
Bush, 88, has been hospitalized at Houston's Methodist Hospital for six days and has a "lingering cough," spokesman Jim McGrath told CNN. FULL POST
(CNN) - Former GOP presidential running mates Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are met Thursday morning in a Washington hotel, a Republican official tells CNN.
The meeting ended around 11 a.m. ET, the official said.
New York (CNNMoney) – The number of people filing for unemployment benefits for the first time declined last week, a sign that the impact of Hurricane Sandy on jobs is starting to wane.
The Labor Department reported that 393,000 filed for initial jobless claims during the week, down from the 416,000 who sought help the previous weeks.
New York (CNNMoney) - The U.S. economy grew faster than previously reported in the third quarter, as businesses built up their inventories and international trade was stronger than expected.
Gross domestic product, the broadest measure of the nation's economic health, grew at an annual rate of 2.7% from July to September, the Commerce Department said Thursday, faster than the 1.3% rate in the second quarter, and better than originally reported.
(CNN) – House Speaker John Boehner and President Barack Obama spoke by phone Wednesday ahead of high-level fiscal cliff negotiations today on Capitol Hill, multiple sources told CNN.
Obama told Boehner that tax rates would go up on wealthy individuals in the new year and that there would be no deal regarding that aspect, a source familiar with the call said. FULL POST
(CNN) – Stuart Stevens, a top adviser to Mitt Romney's presidential campaign, denied Thursday that Romney's loss reflected a denunciation of his ideas for the country, naming instead the two campaigns' opposing political strategies as the reason for President Barack Obama's win.
"I certainly don't think it was the ideas," Stevens said on CBS. "I think the ideas carried the day for us. And the success that we had, though it obviously wasn't enough to win the race, was based on the candidate Mitt Romney and on his ideas." FULL POST
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CNN Security Clearance: With changes, U.S.-based prisons could handle Gitmo detainees, GAO finds Federal prisons and Defense Department correctional facilities in the U.S. would need myriad operational changes if detainees held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, were transferred into the country, according to a Congressional investigative report released Wednesday. However, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat who ordered the report in 2008, touted it as proof the U.S. prison system could handle the detainees, many of whom are accused of terrorist acts.
CNNMoney: Goldman's Blankfein: 'Country can't afford all this' Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein said Wednesday that a compromise in Washington was essential to avoid the fiscal cliff. Speaking later in the day with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, Blankfein said he'd be open to moving the top marginal tax rate for families making above $250,000 a year from 35% back to its Clinton-era level of 39.6%.
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