Photograph by Joe Raedle/Getty Images

American Airlines passengers wait in line for a flight at Miami International Airport on April 16, 2013 in Miami, Florida.

The Obama administration has warned that sequestration will lead to long delays for air travelers, but Congressional fliers still have one program that’s under the radar: Free airport parking.

“It’s about the only thing we got left,” said Sen. Saxby Chambliss, when he was asked about the congressional perk at Reagan National Airport on a recent Monday.

The free lot, with 92 spots, is nestled underneath the metro rails and is the closest lot to both the new and old terminals.

The fringe benefit dates back to when the federal government owned the region’s airports, including Reagan National and Dulles. It costs about $100,000 a year to man the security booth, said Rob Yingling, an airports authority spokesman. But those 92 spots could translate into $738,760 a year, at Reagan’s daily rate of $22.

“The operation of restricted parking spaces at Reagan National pre-dates the 1987 formation of the Airports Authority and is a courtesy extended to the diplomatic corps, members of Congress and Supreme Court justices, who are here conducting the nation’s business,” Yingling said.

“Any effects of federal sequestration on the operations of TSA (passenger and baggage screening), FAA (air traffic control), and CBP (international ports of entry) are completely separate from the Airports Authority’s operation of the airport facility,” he said.

Some lawmakers, like Chambliss and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, drive themselves. Others, like Sen. Robert Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey, sometimes have their aides pick them up.

“This is something that has been going on for many years really,” said Rep. John Lewis, a Democrat from Georgia, stepping into a late-model Mercedes sedan.

“My staff person comes up and picks me up,” he said, which makes traveling to his congressional district “a little easier.”

Original post is Free Airport Parking: Lawmakers Enjoy D.C. Perk by Political Capital.

Photograph by Charles Krupa/AP Photo

Medical workers aid injured people at the finish line of the Boston Marathon following an explosion in Boston, on April 15, 2013.

Updated at 6:20 pm EDT

President Barack Obama has directed federal officials to provide whatever assistance is needed by authorities in Boston as they respond to the deadly explosions near the finish line of the Boston Marathon.

“We still do not know who did this or why, and people should not jump to conclusions before we have all the facts,” Obama said in a statement from the press briefing room of the White House this evening. “We will get to the bottom of this. We will find out who did this and we will find out why they did this… Any responsible groups will feel the full weight of justice.”

Obama was notified of the incident today at about 3 p.m. and then was briefed by Homeland Security adviser Lisa Monaco in the Oval Office, according to a White House statement. He spoke with the directors of the FBI and Homeland Security. Obama also called Boston Mayor Tom Menino and Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, he said.

Vice President Joe Biden was in the middle of a conference call on gun violence when he learned of the incident.

“As I’m speaking here they just turned on the TV in my office,” Biden said. “I don’t know any of the details of what caused it, who did it, but our prayers are with the people in Boston who have suffered injury.”

Here is the inside picture, from White House photographer Pete Souza:

Photo of POTUS on phone w FBI Director Mueller: bit.ly/12gC5he

— petesouza (@petesouza) April 15, 2013

Original post is White House Watches Boston, Promises ‘Full Weight of Justice’ by Political Capital.

Photograph by Scott Eells/Bloomberg

Kamala Harris, attorney general of California, waves before speaking during day two of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Sept. 5, 2012.

President Barack Obama, in California for some party fundraising, caught his audience’s attention with his notice of the state attorney general:

Obama just riffed in how hot Cali AG Kamela Harris is. “By far, the best looking attorney general…(audience: “oh’s”)…C’mon, it’s true.”

— HansNichols (@HansNichols) April 4, 2013

Photo of California Atty Gen Kamala Harris from her official website: oag.ca.gov/about

— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) April 4, 2013

Vice President Joe Biden might have something to say about all this:

Beau Biden not happy. RT @ktumulty: Obama calls Kamala Harris ‘the best looking attorney general’ washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-pol…

— gwen ifill (@pbsgwen) April 4, 2013

As Andy Rooney liked to ask, `Ever wonder why?’

Why do pols say so many dumb things at fundraisers? Must be something about all those rich people in one room nym.ag/12mLVwn

— Jill Lawrence (@JillDLawrence) April 4, 2013

Original post is Obama: California’s AG ‘Best Looking’ — and Beau Biden? by Political Capital.

Photograph by Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images

President Barack Obama delivers remarks from the wharf near the PortMiami tunnel project in Miami, Florida on March 29, 2013.

With a quartet of California fundraisers, President Barack Obama will test his ability to replenish his party’s campaign accounts without the threat of his defeat to motivate Democratic donors.

Obama leaves Washington today for a Western trip that is four parts fundraising and one part presidential business. He will begin with an official event in Denver, Colorado to press Congress to pass a bill to address gun violence. Then he heads to the San Francisco area for the fundraisers.

The president will be pressing his contributors to help him win back Democratic control of the House of Representatives in 2014 and shore up the national party’s finances.

He may be met with some donor fatigue.

“Raising money is never easy,” said Bill Burton, a former White House spokesman who is co-founder of Priorities USA, a political action committee that supported Obama in the 2012 election. “But it’s particularly difficult following a general election cycle that started earlier and burned through more money than any other in history.”

The president’s fundraising starts tonight with a reception at Pacific Heights home of Thomas Steyer, the founder of Farallon Capital Management LLC, and his wife, Kat Taylor, at a cost of $5,000 per person, according to a copy of the invitation. That event, with proceeds going to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, will be followed by a dinner at the home of Ann and Gordon Getty at a cost $32,400 per seat.

The next day, Obama will raise money for the Democratic National Committee, which had $21.9 million in debt at the end of February, with a $32,400-per-person brunch at the Atherton home of Liz Simmons and Mark Heising, the founder and managing director of Medley Partners, according to a person familiar with the matter. His final event, also in Atherton, is at the home of Levi Strauss heir John Goldman. Tickets there range in price from $1,000 to $20,000.

Obama is expected to raise $1.8 million at the two DNC events, and has committed to total of six fundraising trips before June 30, said the person, who requested anonymity.

The president reactivated his campaign’s donor network last month to raise money for Organizing for Action, a nonprofit advocacy group founded this year by former campaign aides. The events today and tomorrow mark a return to traditional party-building.

“Democrats should be heartened by the fact that even though donors may be a little low on enthusiasm, the president is not,” said Burton.

Original post is Obama’s Post-Election Fundraising: Replenishing a Party by Political Capital.

Photograph by Jeff Siner/The Charlotte Observer/AP Photo

Charlotte mayor Anthony Foxx, right, and others chant for Mitch Stewart during the grand opening of President Obama’s regional campaign office on Jan. 5, 2012 in Charlotte.

President Barack Obama is considering Charlotte, North Carolina, Mayor Anthony Foxx for secretary of transportation, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Foxx, 41, has been a proponent of street car and light-rail projects as mayor of the city, where the Democratic National Convention was held last year. He was first elected in 2009 and re-elected in 2011.

Obama also is considering Deborah Hersman, the head of the National Transportation Safety Board, for the position, according to one of the people, both of whom asked for anonymity because the deliberations haven’t been made public. The president is considering candidates from within the transportation department as well.

The current transportation secretary, Ray LaHood, announced in January that he would leave the job once a successor is confirmed by the Senate. Amy Brundage, a White House spokeswoman, declined to comment, as did Alexander Killeffer, Foxx’s press secretary.

Original post is Charlotte’s Foxx Eyed for DOT by Political Capital.

Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

President Barack Obama waits for a heavy rain to pass before crossing West Executive Avenue from the Eisenhower Executive Office Building to the West Wing of the White House, March 12, 2013.

President Barack Obama’s approval rating has dropped below 50 percent in a new survey, as the public sours on Washington’s handling of the $85 billion in automatic spending cuts that went into effect at the beginning of the month.

The president’s approval rating has declined to 48 percent, down from a pre-inauguration high of 54 percent, according to a poll released today by Greenberg, Quinlan and Rosner Research. Forty-nine percent of respondents voiced disapproval of the president, according to the survey of 950 voters taken March 9-12.

Congressional Republicans earn even lower marks.

They have a 27 percent approval rate and a 66 percent disapproval rate in this survey.

Still, that shows an improvement from their 23 percent approval rate and 73 percent disapproval number in the last Greenberg survey, released Jan. 14.

“Be careful of making too much of any individual polls or even a series of polls,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said today. “When Washington is dysfunctional everyone in Washington looks bad.”

The president’s decline, evident in a pair of other public polls, comes as the economy is showing some signs of strength.

Sales by U.S. retailers climbed twice as much as forecast in February, showing improving job prospects are helping consumers nd the economy overcome higher taxes and gasoline prices, according to figures released by the Commerce Department today.

The unemployment rate last month dropped to 7.7 percent, the lowest since December 2008, according to the Labor Department.

Obama’s approval rating stood at 50 percent in an ABC News-Washington Poll released today, down five points from a 55 percent approval in January, before his inauguration. The president’s 18-point advantage on Republicans over handling the economy has shrunk to 4 points, according to the poll.

With approval of Congress at 16 percent in the survey, Carney questioned the new value of focusing on the president’s numbers.

“The news of that poll was that the president was at 50 percent, not that the Republican Party had a disapproval rate in he mid-70s,” he said.

A McClatchy-Marist poll released yesterday gave the president a 45 percent approval rating among registered voters and a 48 percent disapproval score, marking the first time his disapproval has been higher than his approval rating since November 2011.

The McClatchy survey also noted that 46 percent of those survey blamed Republicans and 37 percent for letting the $85 billion in automatic spending cuts known as sequestration take effect.

Original post is Obama Slips Below 50% — White House: ‘Everyone Looks Bad’ by Political Capital.

Photograph by Charles Dharapak/Pool via Bloomberg

President Barack Obama, center, arrives to deliver the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress on Feb. 12, 2013.

President Bill Clinton sang the praises of “arithmetic” in his 2012 convention speech. President Barack Obama relied on “math” in his debates with Mitt Romney to argue for his deficit reduction package.

But Obama has used some contradictory numbers himself. In last year’s State of the Union, he claimed $2 trillion in deficit reduction. In this year’s address, he put the number at “more than 2.5 trillion.”

Given that the only policy changes between the 2012 and 2013 speeches were year-end tax increases that the White House books as $630 billion, the two State of the Union numbers don’t add up.

In 2012, the White House was counting money that would have been spent on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, so-called Overseas Contingency Operations savings in budget-speak.

Obama’s accountants don’t count OCO savings in their new $2.5 trillion number. Here’s what they do:

Original post is Trillion-Dollar Math Quiz: Does Obama Pass? by Political Capital.

Photograph by Daniel Acker/Bloomberg

Penny Pritzker, chairman and chief executive officer of PSP Capital Partners LLC, in Chicago.

Written with John McCormick

President Barack Obama is close to choosing Chicago businesswoman Penny Pritzker, who led fundraising for his 2008 campaign, as his next commerce secretary, according to three people familiar with the matter.

Pritzker, whose family built the Hyatt Hotels Corp. chain, would replace acting commerce secretary Rebecca Blank, an economist who took over for John Bryson after he resigned last June for health reasons, as Bloomberg’s Hans Nichols and John McCormick reported today.

Selecting Pritzker, 53, would ensure that one of Obama’s original Chicago supporters would have a voice in shaping his second term, said two of the people, who requested anonymity to discuss personnel decisions. The president hasn’t made a final decision, said a third person, who also requested anonymity.

A White House spokesman, Eric Schultz, declined to comment on Pritzker’s potential nomination. Pritzker’s spokeswoman didn’t respond to an e-mail seeking comment.

After facing criticism for picking men to lead the State, Treasury and Defense Departments, Obama has announced the appointment of two women for key positions. Yesterday, he selected Sally Jewell, chief executive officer of Recreational Equipment Inc., to be secretary of the Interior Department. Last month, he named Mary Jo White, a former U.S. attorney for Manhattan, as his choice to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Obama is also considering Wal-Mart Foundation President Sylvia Mathews Burwell for budget director and Ruth Porat, chief financial officer at Morgan Stanley, for deputy Treasury secretary. Jeffrey Zients, the acting White House budget director, is a leading candidate for U.S. trade representative during Obama’s second term, according to one of the people.

Like Jewell, Pritzker would bring a business background to the administration, helping Obama fulfill what he has said is a goal to add private sector experience in his Cabinet.

The Chicago businesswoman has developed a skyscraper in her hometown, worked as president of a commercial real estate and luxury senior housing company, and served as chairwoman for a credit-reporting company. Priztker’s net worth as of September was estimated at $1.8 billion, according to Forbes magazine’s list of the 400 richest Americans.

See the full report on Pritzker at Bloomberg.com. 

Original post is Pritzker’s Prize: Commerce Candidate by Political Capital.

Photograph by Pete Souza/The White House via Getty Images

President Barack Obama speaks with Chief of Staff Jack Lew while waiting for Russian President Vladimir Putin to arrive for their bilateral meeting on June 18, 2012 in San Jose Del Cabo, Mexico.

President Barack Obama plans tomorrow to name White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew as his choice for Treasury secretary, replacing Timothy F. Geithner, a person familiar with the process said.

Lew, 57, who also has served as director of the Office of Management and Budget, has been offered the Treasury post by Obama, according to the person, who asked for anonymity to discuss personnel matters.

Geithner, 51, the only remaining member of Obama’s original economic team, has told White House officials he doesn’t’ want to serve in a second term and intends to leave the job by the end of the month.

Lew’s nomination as Treasury secretary is subject to confirmation by the Senate.

The next Treasury secretary will play a leading role in working with Congress to raise the government’s $16.4 trillion  debt ceiling. The U.S. reached the statutory limit on Dec. 31, and the Treasury Department began using extraordinary measures to finance the government. It will exhaust that avenue as early as mid-February, the Congressional Budget Office says.

As a former aide to the late House Speaker Tip O’Neill, a Massachusetts Democrat, and a two-time director of the Office of Management and Budget, Lew has experience on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue. He’s spent most of his career in government, with a brief detour to Wall Street, where he worked as a managing director for Citigroup from July 2006 until joining the administration when Obama first took office.

Among the leading candidates to replace Lew as Obama’s chief of staff are Denis McDonough, currently a deputy national security adviser, and Ron Klain, who had served as Vice President Joe Biden’s chief of staff, according to people familiar with the administration’s plans.

See the full  Lew story reported first at Bloomberg.com.

Original post is Lew to Treasury: Word Tomorrow by Political Capital.

Photographer: Mark Wilson/Getty Images

U.S. Speaker of the House Rep. John Boehner makes a statement to the media at the U.S. Capitol.

For anyone interested in how the fiscal cliff talks are going to unfold on a given day, here’s some free advice: Stake-out Speaker John Boehner’s Capitol Hill apartment right around dawn.

First, bring a coat, and introduce yourself to his security detail.

Then wait and watch.

If Boehner leaves in casual clothes for his breakfast departure, it’s a sign that serious budget negotiations aren’t taking place, according a financial services lobbyist.

If the Speaker is wearing a suit and tie (and self-iron shirt) it’s an indication that talks — either with President Barack Obama or members of Boehner’s leadership team — are at a more formal level, says the lobbyist, who asked to remain anonymous.

In that case, it’s time to notify clients up in New York: The principals are marching towards a deal. Markets will respond. Alert the trading desks.

Last week, we tested the lobbyist’s theory on three different mornings. Sure enough, when Boehner left his apartment in his trusty red baseball hat, negotiations with the president deteriorated. One can spot that hat from 60 yards, right outside a local gym that’s popular with lobbyist who got their start as congressional staffers.

Washington is a city of symbols. When the Marines are stationed outside the West Wing, it indicates that the president is in that building, not the residence. When the light is on atop the Capitol dome, one of the chambers is in session.

So we present the Boehner red hat omen. Sell on a red hat. Buy on a suit.

Original post is Boehner’s Wardrobe Predicts Fiscal Cliff Progress by Political Capital.