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Gail Russell Chaddock

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Christian Science Monitor

Obama's student loan debt-relief plan: Too good to be true?

By Gail Russell Chaddock | 10/26/11
President Obama on Wednesday is launching a new plan to lower the cost of paying back student loans for millions of borrowers – the latest installment in his bid to move a jobs agenda that bypasses a gridlocked Congress. At nearly $1 trillion, f
Christian Science Monitor

Why Republicans want to save parts of the Obama jobs bill

By Gail Russell Chaddock | 10/19/11
In a bid to salvage elements of President Obama’s jobs bill, Senate Democrats propose starting with a $35 billion aid package to help teachers, police, firefighters. It’s popular with the public and teachers unions, but Republicans call the bill
Business Agenda

Why did Congress get this close to a government shutdown?

By Gail Russell Chaddock | 09/27/11
A revised FEMA spending forecast gave Congress "a way out." Said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Monday: “Let’s fight when there’s something to fight about. There’s nothing to fight about tonight.”
Christian Science Monitor

Senate to vote, again, on bill to fund government, disaster aid

By Gail Russell Chaddock | 09/27/11
The Senate returns Monday for a late-afternoon vote on a stop-gap spending measure to fund government operations, including a compromise proposal on federal disaster assistance. If the measure fails in either house, a government shutdown is poss
Christian Science Monitor

Senate rejects the House stop-gap spending bill. Is a government shutdown avoidable?

By Gail Russell Chaddock | 09/23/11
The Senate has voted to reject the temporary spending bill passed by the House late last night. With near permanent brinksmanship the new normal, Congress headed into votes Friday to try to avert a government shutdown that is slated to occur on
Christian Science Monitor

Targeting the rich, Obama takes Democrats back to their roots

By Gail Russell Chaddock | 09/21/11
President Obama’s $3 trillion debt plan, unveiled on Monday, refocused Congress’s debt debate on two of the most divisive questions in politics: Who is rich?
Christian Science Monitor

House battle looms over disaster relief. When did that become partisan?

By Gail Russell Chaddock | 09/16/11
Senate Republicans broke ranks this week, allowing Democrats to pass a nearly $7 billion bill to shore up federal disaster relief and setting up a battle with the House and even the prospect of a government shutdown. Between hurricanes, floods,
Christian Science Monitor

Did tea party lawmakers win the great debt debate? They don't think so.

By Gail Russell Chaddock | 08/08/11
By nearly all accounts, except their own, tea party lawmakers won Round 1 of the great debt debate. After all, the tea party blew into Congress after the 2010 elections and changed the conversation in Washington from spending to cutting. No lon
Christian Science Monitor

Deal in Senate restores FAA funding. Is bipartisanship taking off?

By Gail Russell Chaddock | 08/05/11
Senate leaders on Thursday announced a deal to end temporarily the partial shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration, reactivating some 74,000 jobs and halting the Treasury’s loss of $30 million a day in uncollected airline taxes. The FAA
Christian Science Monitor

Debt-ceiling bill clears House. Now, hopes that Round 2 will be better.

By Gail Russell Chaddock | 08/02/11
In a vote laced with surprises, the House passed a controversial plan to add more than $2 trillion to the nation’s debt limit, just a day before the nation was to lose its capacity to borrow. The bill now heads to the Senate, where it is expecte