Radio America Online News Bureau

The U.S. is awash in red ink, and for the rest of Fiscal Year 2009, the government is spending money it doesn’t have.  Where does Debt Day 2009 stack up in history?  Where will it fall in the coming years?  Is President Obama to be believed when he says we need to spend a lot of money in areas like health care, energy reform and education in order to save money in the long run?  What ere the Republican alternatives on these major issues?  And is a focus on tax relief the best medicine for our economy – or just tired old ideas that led us into the current mess?  We ask Georgia Rep. Tom Price, chairman of the Republican Study Committee.

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We have Friday’s top news… What’s coming next in the CIA interrogation controversy?  What did Al Gore and Newt Gingrich have to say about the new cap and trade bill that many call a massive energy tax?  What are Democrats doing to assure passage of their version of health care reform?  What is President Obama proposing in order to make college more affordable?  What line of vehicles is General Motors about to end?  What is Chrysler saying about the possibility of bankruptcy?  And what happened on Wall Street Friday?  We have the answers as we bring you the biggest stories for Friday, April 24, 2009.

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President Obama has been in office less than 100 days, but that’s not stopping the Capitol Steps from looking back at the 2008 campaign and the impact of Sarah Palin.  Or are they looking ahead to 2012?  Listen here for the Steps song “Neiman Is A Girl’s Best Friend”.  Guest is Steps star and co-founder Elaina Newport.

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As the Maersk Alabama drama played out off the coast of Somalia earlier this month, President Obama, Secretary of State Clinton and others discussed the need to confront and eliminate the threat of piracy off the horn of Africa.  So why are shipping and insurance companies strongly opposed to this sort of confrontation?  Why are they skeptical that such an approach would be effective?  And why do they fear more for their crews if the situation does escalate?  We ask Mark Hosenball, investigative correspondent for Newsweek magazine.

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In recent days, Minnesota officials rejected former Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman’s arguments for why additional ballots ought to be counted and others discounted in the razor-close U.S. Senate race.  What were Coleman’s arguments?  How were they countered by lawyers for Democrat Al Franken, who stands as the top vote getter at this point?  When will the state supreme court take up this issue?  And how is all of this impacting how the people of Minnesota view Coleman and Franken?  We ask Kevin Duchschere, political reporter for the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

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We have Thursday’s top news… What does Nancy Pelosi claim the Bush administration did and did not tell Congress about how terrorist detainees were being interrogated? Which Bush administration figures OK’d the tactics? What are we learning about the Treasury Department’s interest in actually making sure the TARP money is being spent responsibly? What warning is President Obama sending to the credit card industry? What legislation is Congress preparing on the credit card front? What kind of cutbacks is GM making to make ends meet? What happened on Wall Street Thursday? We have the answers as we bring you the biggest stories for Thursday, April 23, 2009.

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Congressional Democrats are poised to move forward with their energy reform legislation carring the benign name “cap and trade”.  But what is actually in this massive bill?  What are the basics you need to know?  How will it impact businesses, industry and energy producers?  We get answers from Arizona Rep. John Shadegg, a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

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Taxpayers have watched more than $700 billion of their money get shipped off to struggling financial institutions.  But how well is is being spent?  Why doesn’t Treasury even seem to care how taxpayer dollars have been used?  Are there any outward signs the money is being used responsibly?  How is Congress trying to change this?  We ask Texas Rep. Kevin Brady, a member of the Joint Economic Committee of Congress.

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Will the Obama administration really prosecute Bush administration officials over interrogation tactics?  How significant were Obama’s warm greetings for Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez?  What is the impact of the EPA deciding to regulate carbon dioxide?  And should Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano lose her job for a series of questionable actions and statements?  We ask John Gizzi, political editor at Human Events.

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