WASHINGTON (CNN) — Congressional Republicans tore into the Obama administration over its implementation of the economic stimulus plan Wednesday, arguing that the White House is mishandling the distribution of the money while dramatically overstating the ability of the package to create jobs.

Among other things, they criticized the White House for constantly referring to the number of "jobs created or saved" by the $787 billion package — a metric, they claimed, that is impossible to verify.

The White House Office of Management and Budget defended the plan, arguing that every federal dollar spent has, by definition, helped to ease the pain of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.

The Republican and Democratic leaders traded their arguments during a contentious hearing before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

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Join the conversation on Jack's blog.

Al Franken is headed to Washington. Nearly eight months after Election Day, the Minnesota Supreme Court unanimously declared Franken the state's next senator.

And once he is sworn in — presumably next week — the Democrats will finally have their so-called super majority; meaning they'll have 60 votes, which is enough to stop any Republican filibuster.

On paper it seems like a home run for Democrats and for President Obama’s ambitious agenda in the coming months. But in reality it might not be so easy.

For one thing, Democrats won’t always have the 60-vote majority because Senators Ted Kennedy and Robert Byrd are both ill and are only likely to return for the most crucial votes. Also, Former Majority leader Trent Lott once said governing the Senate is like herding cats; and Senate Democrats have already proven they won't fall into line when it comes to some of the president's top priorities.

To read more and contribute to the Cafferty File discussion, click here

WASHINGTON (CNN) – A new multi-million national television campaign launches this week that is designed to pressure Congress to enact healthcare reform, organizers tell CNN.

Families USA and The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) are paying to air three new 30-second ads in the coming weeks on CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC. Dave Lemmon, a spokesman for Families USA, described the ad buy as a “multi-million, multi-week” effort to convince lawmakers to listen to President Obama’s call to Congress to deliver a healthcare reform bill to his desk by October.

In the first six months of this year, more than $22 million has been spent on healthcare reform commercials, according to an analysis conducted by Campaign Media Analysis Group, CNN's consultant on political television advertising.

The commercials feature people discussing how the rising cost of healthcare has affected them personally. Public polling shows that healthcare reform is a major concern for Americans.

"More and more families are being priced out of the health care they used to take for granted,” said Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA. “This ad campaign, involving real people, shows that there will be a huge cost to America's families and businesses if we fail to achieve meaningful health care reform this year."

The CMAG analysis estimates that supporters of President Obama's approach to health care reform are outspending opponents on the air by a margin of greater than 2-to-1 in 2009. Families USA and PhRMA are considered supporters of Obama’s call for healthcare reform.

Opinion of Barack Obama as president continues at levels rarely seen in recent decades.

(CNN) – Across America and much of the world, opinion of Barack Obama as president continues at levels rarely seen in recent decades. Sure, there has been sniping from the right and a little slippage in the polls, but mainstream opinion – both in the polls and the press – has generally been lavish in praise.

That is why it has been jarring to read two of the most influential and mainstream newspapers in the world over the past few days, both of them harshly critical.

In editorials, columns and news stories on Saturday and again this morning, the Financial Times castigates the President for passive leadership. Among the headlines: “President Obama needs to lead”; “Obama is choosing to be weak”; “Cap-and-trade mess”; and “Punch-drunk Obama needs middle way on Tehran”. Meanwhile, the Economist spoke out in its new issue with a full-page column entitled, “The senator-in-chief: Barack Obama is too deferential to his former colleagues on Capitol Hill”.

The essence of their argument about his domestic leadership is that the President has assigned out to Congress primary responsibility for writing major legislative bills and then has stood by passively as the bills have been so watered down or become so flawed that they fall far short of what is needed.

Full post at AC360 Blog

(CNN) — South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford has issued a statement following his press conference Wednesday:

"I apologize to the people of South Carolina. There are many people out there right now who are hurt, angry and disappointed with me, and rightfully so. Over the time that I have left in office, I'm going to devote my energy to building back the trust the people of this state have placed in me."

Full statement after the jump

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RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (CNN) — President Barack Obama will speak "candidly" on a number of issues Thursday when he addresses a mostly Muslim audience in Cairo, Egypt, an administration speechwriter said.

Obama, who arrived in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday on the first leg of a visit to Middle Eastern and European nations, will take on some of the
misconceptions held by Americans and Muslims and acknowledge the need for both sides to know each other better, Ben Rhodes said.

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WASHINGTON (CNN) – The Justice Department is dropping charges against the New Black Panther Party for Self-Defense and two of its members who were allegedly involved in voter intimidation on Election Day at a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania polling station.

A Justice spokesman said the department decided to take this action after winning an injunction earlier this month against a third member, Samir Shabazz, that prevents him from ever brandishing a weapon outside a polling place again as he was charged with doing last November.

Shabazz was one of the three persons, along with the New Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, charged with voter intimidation last January in a lawsuit filed under the Voting Rights Act. Shabazz will not face any jail time or a fine.
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Springtime visitors make their way across the White House driveway Tuesday morning. (PHOTO CREDIT: JAY MCMICHAEL/CNN)

A hard drive containing Clinton administration records is missing from the National Archives in Washington.

WASHINGTON (CNN) –The National Archives — a repository of important government documents, including the U.S. Constitution — has lost a computer hard drive containing large volumes of Clinton administration records, include the names, phone numbers and Social Security numbers of White House staff members and visitors.

Officials at the Archives say they don't know how many confidential records are on the hard drive. But congressional aides briefed on the matter say it contains "more then 100,000″ Social Security numbers, including one belonging to a daughter of then-Vice President Al Gore. It also contains Secret Service and White House operating procedures, the staffers said they were told.

The hard drive was last seen in the National Archive's complex in College Park, Md., sometime between October of last year and the first week of February. It was discovered missing in late March, prompting a thorough search for the small, 2.5 pound device, the Archives said.When it could not be located, the inspector general's office opened a criminal investigation.

On Wednesday, the Archives announced a $50,000 reward for information leading to its return.

The Archives said that no national security information is on the hard drive, nor any original documents. But they said it does contain "personally identifiable information," and they take the loss "very seriously."

U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-California, whose staff was briefed on the matter, said the House will hold a hearing Thursday on the incident.
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Voters defeated Schwarzenegger's budget proposals .

(CNN) — California's governor said he would meet with state leaders Wednesday after voters panned a handful of ballot measures designed to pull the state out of a deepening budget crisis.

Californians voted down five of the six propositions in a special election Tuesday. More than 60 percent of voters shot down each measure, according to final tallies Wednesday.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger had said that, if the propositions failed, he would have to make drastic cuts to education and health care, and would probably free many inmates from the state prison system.

With all six measures defeated, the deficit would surge to $21.3 billion, Schwarzenegger's office said last week. Even if all the measures passed, the deficit would hit $15.4 billion at the start of the new fiscal year in July.

Schwarzenegger spoke about the apparent defeat late Tuesday.

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Obama raised cash for congressional candidates Sunday in Indiana.

(CNN) — Call him Fundraiser-in-chief.

Before heading home from Indiana yesterday, following his commencement address at The University of Notre Dame, the president stopped off in Indianapolis for two political fundraisers.

About 40 people attended a $15,000-per-couple event for the Democratic National Committee, which raised between $300,000 and $400,000 for the party. Some 650 people packed a second fundraiser, for four Indiana Democratic congressmen. Tickets for that even ranged from $250 to $5,000 per person.

Indiana native John Mellencamp performed at the larger fundraiser. For Mellencamp, it was a return to politics. The rock legend took to the stage at Obama campaign events last year during the Indiana primary.

Last November, Obama became the first Democratic presidential candidate to win Indiana since 1964.

Reflecting on that victory, the president told the crowd that, "I know that I'm here tonight because of you, and folks like you across this country who made the phone calls, and knocked on the doors, and registered voters, and dug deep and gave whatever you could, because you were hungry for new ideas and new leadership and a new kind of politics."

Sunday night's events were the first fundraisers Obama has attended outside Washington since becoming president in January. Obama is scheduled to team up with Sen. Harry Reid for a fundraiser for the Senate Majority Leader next week in Las Vegas. Reid is up for re-election next year.

According to local reports, some 100 people protesting Obama's economic policies demonstrated outside the downtown Indianapolis hotel where the two fundraisers were held.

President Obama is flanked by Afghan President Hamid Karzai (left) and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — President Barack Obama said Wednesday that the leaders of Afghanistan, Pakistan and the United States are meeting "as three sovereign nations joined by a common goal: to disrupt, dismantle and defeat" al Qaeda and the Taliban.

To do so, Obama said, the three nations have to deny extremists space to operate and bring a better life to the people of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Obama, in remarks delivered with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari at the White House, said the security of Afghanistan, of Pakistan and of the United States are linked.

Full story

WASHINGTON (CNN) – The Department of Homeland Security told its immigration enforcement agents Thursday to target employers who hire illegal workers, but also to continue to arrest the illegal immigrants it encounters.

Some Republicans said they see little change in the move.

The call by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to focus enforcement efforts on employers comes after more than a decade of raids against companies that employ large numbers of illegal workers.

"These guidelines reflect a new department-wide focus to target, through criminal prosecution, abusive employers who cultivate illegal workplaces by breaking our country's laws and knowingly hiring illegal workers," said department spokesman Matt Chandler. "At the same time, ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) will continue to arrest and process for removal any illegal workers who are found in the course of these worksite enforcement actions," Chandler said. Read the rest of this entry »

What grade does the Senate deserve?

What grade does the Senate deserve for its performance over the president's first 100 days?

Let us know here, and tell us why in the comments.

Voting has ended. You gave the Senate a C+.

I say Hillary Clinton gets an incomplete for her time so far as Secretary of State.

It's unclear how much she's done, and how much progress has been the work of the individual special envoys who have been appointed.

It's also unclear where the decisions are being made in this administration. So it's too early to grade her.

(CNN) – I give President Obama an 'incomplete' on his handling of the economy. We haven't seen any of the effects of his stimulus plan yet, and whatever positive upticks we have seen can probably be attributed more to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – President Barack Obama said Wednesday that a recent uptick in violence in Iraq won't impact his plan for a phased military withdrawal.

"Civilian deaths, incidents of bombings … remain very low relative to what was going on last year," Obama said during a prime-time news conference on his 100th day in office. "You having seen the kinds of spikes that you were seeing for a time. The political system is holding and functioning in Iraq."

Obama said more details need to be nailed down before U.S. troops leave Iraq — including how oil revenues will be divided, what the powers of provincial governments there will be and the political relationships between minority Kurds, Sunnis and Shiias — including the armed Sons of Iraq groups.

How many promises has President Obama kept — and how many has he broken?

Obama is enjoying high approval ratings, but history suggests they may not last.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – A average of the most recent national polls indicates that nearly two out of three Americans approve of the job Barack Obama's doing as president.

According to a CNN Poll of Polls compiled Thursday, 64 percent say they approve of how Obama's handling his duties as president. Twenty-eight percent disapprove.
The President's approval rating also stood at 64 percent in a CNN Poll of Polls compiled in January, just after inauguration.

"Most polls have shown Obama getting fairly high marks on most of the issues he has handled so far," says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. "One exception has been the way he has handled government assistance to failing banks and automakers. His numbers on the federal deficit are also low in comparison to his approval ratings on the economy and foreign policy."

So how does Obama compare to his predecessors in the White House around the first 100 days mark?

How's the president doing? CNN Radio breaks down the numbers

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