Radio America Online News Bureau

After years of chiding the Bush administration, how do Democrats explain the $3.5 trillion budget blueprint unveiled by President Obama this week?  How about the $1.75 trillion deficit for the coming fiscal year?  Why do they believe greater government control of health care will actually bring spending on health care down in the long run?  And who besides the very rich will be asked to pay for all this?  We ask Larry Haas, former spokesman for the Clinton White House Office of Management and Budget.

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Earlier this week, Attorney General Eric Holder said he would like to see the return of the assault weapons ban which expired in 2004.  What did the original ban actually accomplish?  What would it mean for gun owners if the policy is imposed again?  Why are Congressional Democrats not excited about taking up this issue right now?  How are gun laws even more repressive here in Washington today than when there was a total ban on handguns?  How is current legislation looking to change that?  We ask all these questions to Larry Pratt, executive director at Gun Owners of America.

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We have Thursday’s top news… Just how much does President Obama want to spend in Fiscal Year 2010?  How immense will our deficit be?  How are Republicans reacting?  Is the White House sympathetic to those concerns?  How did the Senate vote on giving DC a vote in Congress?  Why was the vote a big step in the fight against the Fairness Doctrine?  And what happened on Wall Street today?  We have all the answers as we bring you the biggest stories for Thursday, February 26, 2009.

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How are Republicans reacting to the Obama budget blueprint?  What do they see as the true impact of all this spending?  Who really ends up paying?  What principles will guide the Republican alternative?  And are Democrats spending all this money because they think it will be good for the economy – or just because they can?  We ask Michigan Rep. Dave Camp, the top Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee.

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On Thursday, President Obama released his budget blueprint for Fiscal Year 2010 at a price tag of anywhere from $3.5 trillion to $4 trillion. What kind of shock will this kind of debt have on our economy? How does the projected deficit compare to previous record deficits? Why does the price tag fluctuate? Is the increasing tax burden just on the rich or will all of us end up paying? How much could our energy bills rise? And what about more than $630 billion for government control of health care? We dig through the details with Bill Beach, director of the Center for Data Analysis at the Heritage Foundation.

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How did President Obama do on style and substance in his address to Congress and the nation Tuesday night?  How did Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal fare in the Republican response?  How are conservatives planning to fight off the Obama agenda and an overwhelming Democratic majority over the next two years?  What kind of government will eventually be formed in Israel?  We ask John Gizzi, political editor at Human Events.

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On Tuesday night, President Obama named energy independence as one of the nation’s most urgent priorities.  Yet on Wednesday, Obama’s Interior Secretary Ken Salazar decided against opening up what could be one of the world’s largest oil supplies right here in the U.S.  What did Salazar do?  How much oil will now just go ignored in the name of moving towards wind, solar and other alternative energies?  And how does the Obama budget blueprint make life miserable for oil and natural gas producers?  Will this just target the Exxons of the world or will many small businesses be hurt as well?  We ask Kevin Kennedy of the Institute for Energy Research.

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We have Wednesday’s top news… What were the main arguments made by President Obama for his version of economic recovery?  What was the thrust of the GOP rebuttal from Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal?  What is Obama saying about plans to impose new regulations for the financial sector?  Who is the president’s third and latest choice for Commerce Secretary?  And what happened on Wall Street Wednesday?  We have all the answers as we bring you the biggest stories for Wednesday, February 25, 2009.

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Were there really no earmarks in the $787 billion economic stimulus bill?  What was in the $410 billion spending bill approved Wednesday in the House?  What impact will raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans really have on our economy?  Should we have confident in the oversight effort tracking the stimulus dollars?  Is more regulation part of the prescription for Wall Street?  We ask Texas Rep. Mike Conaway, who represents his state’s 11th Congressional district.

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How worried should taxpayers be at the amount of government spending proposed by President Obama?  What are the proven methods for growing the economy over the past few decades?  How much tougher will it be for the economy to grow because of the big government approach?  Will government intrusion into the economy stop once we’re in recovery or will it be entrenched even deeper?  We ask Diana Furchtgott-Roth, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and former chief economist for the U.S. Department of Labor.

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