Clinton calls for stricter Antarctic tourism limits

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called for tighter controls over tourism and other forms of pollution in Antarctica Monday, arguing for greater global cooperation to help preserve the continent’s environmental and scientific research value. Addressing a joint session of the Arctic Council and the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting in Baltimore, Maryland, Clinton said the Obama administration is concerned about the growing popularity of tourism in the southern polar region.

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Does Obama Have a Double Standard on Earmarks?

On Tuesday evening, when President Barack Obama declared before a joint session of Congress that “we passed the recovery plan free of earmarks,” House Democrats led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi popped like jackrabbits out of their seats for a standing ovation.

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Sources: Weapons, subsidies, loopholes among budget cuts

After promising the American people his team has already found $2 trillion in budget savings by scouring the federal budget, President Obama is planning to lay out some of the potential spending cuts in great detail when he unveils his first blueprint on Thursday, according to senior administration officials familiar with the budget plans. “My administration has also begun to go line by line through the federal budget in order to eliminate wasteful and ineffective programs,” Obama said Tuesday in a speech to a joint session of Congress.

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Obama puts forth ambitious agenda in speech

In his first speech to a joint session of Congress, President Obama outlined an ambitious agenda to revive the economy, saying it’s time to act boldly "to build a new foundation for lasting prosperity." Obama focused on the three priorities of the budget he will present to Congress later this week: energy, health care and education. The president said he sees his budget as a “vision for America — as a blueprint for our future,” but not something that will solve every problem or address every issue. Obama said his administration already has identified $2 trillion in government spending cuts that can be made over the next decade

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Obama speech: ‘We will recover’

President Obama opened his first speech to a joint session of Congress by telling the nation "we will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before." Obama urged Americans to “confront boldly the challenges we face,” saying that the answers to the country’s problems “don’t lie beyond our reach.” “They exist in our laboratories and our universities; in our fields and our factories; in the imaginations of our entrepreneurs and the pride of the hardest-working people on Earth,” he said. Obama described the nation’s financial woes as a “reckoning” for poor decisions made by both government and individuals

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Obama insight: Being realistic on economy maintains credibility

When the waiter reached for the plate, President Obama shook his head and smiled as he asked for a few more minutes. He had been talking to his guests, and had barely taken a bite of his lunch. The new president was keeping with a longstanding tradition on days when the commander in chief delivers an address to a joint session of Congress: Around the table Tuesday sat television anchors and the Sunday morning interview program hosts and two senior aides

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Japan’s Aso becomes Obama’s first guest

Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso met with President Barack Obama on Tuesday making him the first head of state to be hosted by the new administration. It was a long trip — 6,800 miles (11,000 km) — for a short meeting — one hour — and happened as Obama was preparing his first address to a joint session of Congress. Sitting next to Aso in the White House, Obama said: “The friendship between the United States and Japan is extraordinarily important.

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Obama to lay out ‘game plan’ on fixing economy

In his first speech to a joint session of Congress, President Obama is planning to strike a more optimistic tone than he has in recent days by laying out a "game plan" to beat the financial crisis, according to a senior White House official.

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