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Susan Crabtree

scrabtree@washingtontimes.com

Susan Crabtree was a reporter for The Washington Times.

Articles by Susan Crabtree

House Speaker John A. Boehner says the looming sequesters and resulting budget cuts would be like "taking a meat ax to our government." Eager to buy time and avoid economic pain, President Obama urged Congress to pass targeted measures. (Associated Press)

Panic rises as sequesters grow near

Deadline legislating is once again the talk of Washington, with all sides now demanding an end to the automatic spending sequesters — even though just a few weeks ago many of them seemed to be bracing, or in some cases even welcoming, the $85 billion in cuts divided between defense and domestic needs.

February 6, 2013
** FILE ** In this March 31, 2011, file photo House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa, Caliornia Republican, right, accompanied by the committee's ranking Democrat Rep. Elijah Cummings, Maryland Democrat, presides over the committee's hearing on the Freedom of Information Act on Capitol Hill. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

Obama pressed on information requests

Watchdog groups have repeatedly taken President Obama to task for not living up to his pledge to run the "most open and transparent administration in history." Now, the bipartisan leaders of a congressional oversight panel are piling on with fresh criticism of the administration's performance.

February 6, 2013
President Obama watches as his Interior Secretary nominee Sally Jewell, a former CEO of REI Inc., gets a kiss from outgoing Secretary Kenneth L. Salazar on Wednesday. The announcement was made in the White House State Dining Room. (Associated Press)

Obama picks REI executive for Interior post

President Obama's pick of Sally Jewell as his new interior secretary immediately drew praise from the environmental community and even some in the oil and gas sector.

February 6, 2013
** FILE ** President Obama meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington on Monday, March 5, 2012. (Associated Press)

Obama plans first trip as president to Israel

After taking heat from Republicans for failing to make the trip during his first term in office, President Obama will make his first visit to Israel as president in the coming months, the White House confirmed Tuesday.

February 5, 2013
**FILE** The U.S. Navy's Blue Angels fly over the graduation ceremony for the U.S. Navy Academy's class of 2012 at the Navy-Marine Corps Stadium, Annapolis, Md., on May 29, 2012. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)

Navy to clip Blue Angels’ wings if sequester hits

With military concern about budget cuts set to hit the Pentagon and federal government March 1 reaching a crescendo, the Navy is prepared to ground the famous squadron for the second half of the 2013, according to an internal Navy memo.

February 5, 2013
President Obama speaks in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House on Feb. 5, 2013. The president asked Congress to come up with tens of billions of dollars in short-term spending cuts and tax revenue to put off the automatic across the board cuts that are scheduled to kick in March 1. (Associated Press)

Obama ramps up pressure to resolve sequester

Warning of serious repercussions for the economy and the military if Congress fails to halt the next round of $85 billion in budget cuts next month, President Obama on Tuesday called for replacing the automatic spending "sequesters" with a vague mix of smaller cuts and more tax increases.

February 5, 2013
**FILE** Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta speaks Jan. 19, 2013, during a news conference in London. (Associated Press)

Panetta leaves big bill as he flies away

As Leon E. Panetta ends a decades-long Washington career capped by his service as defense secretary, he has said repeatedly that he is ready to get back to his family's bucolic walnut ranch off the central coast of California. But while serving as CIA director and defense secretary for the past four years, he has been commuting back to Monterey, Calif., nearly every weekend on the taxpayers' dime.

February 5, 2013
The Democratic National Convention that renominated President Obama was helped out by a North Carolina energy firm. Watchdog groups say the $10 million loan presents conflict-of-interest issues. (Associated Press)

Democratic convention helped by energy firm

Five months after President Obama's made-for-media convention in Charlotte, N.C., the host committee for the three-day Democratic bash still has not paid off an unprecedented $10 million loan secured by Duke Energy, and there is no way of knowing whether it will ever be paid back.

January 30, 2013
**FILE** President Obama (Associated Press)

Obama to begin immigration push Tuesday

President Obama will begin a major push to overhaul the nation's immigration laws next week, starting with an address during a trip to Las Vegas Tuesday.

January 25, 2013
**FILE** This photo from March 6, 2011, shows then-Deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough speaking in Sterling, Va. He is now the White House Chief of Staff. (Associated Press)

Obama taps McDonough as chief of staff

President Obama will announce Denis McDonough, a longtime senior adviser, as his new chief of staff at a ceremony in the East Room in the White House early this afternoon, according to a White House official.

January 25, 2013
President Obama announces in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington on Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013, that he will nominate Mary Joe White (right) to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and will renominate Richard Cordray (left) to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a position he has held for the past year under a recess appointment. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Obama picks ex-prosecutor to head SEC

Bracing for tougher enforcement of rules governing Wall Street in President Obama's second term, several business groups warily welcomed the president's nomination Thursday of Mary Jo White, a former U.S. attorney for Manhattan who made her name prosecuting terrorists, to head the Securities and Exchange Commission.

January 24, 2013
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) headquarters in Washington. (AP Photo/File)

Obama to nominate White to SEC chair

President Obama will nominate Mary Jo White, a former U.S. attorney, to head the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to a White House spokesman.

January 24, 2013
White House press secretary Jay Carney refused Wednesday to say whether President Obama would expend political capital to back climate-change legislation, despite Mr. Obama's remarks on the topic in his inaugural speech. (Associated Press)

Obama won’t propose carbon tax

Despite President Obama's renewed attention to climate change, as expressed in his inaugural address, the White House is ruling out any plans to propose a tax on carbon emissions favored by many environmentalist groups.

January 23, 2013
**FILE** Marine Gen. John R. Allen speaks at the Pentagon on May 23, 2012. (Associated Press)

White House pushes forward with Gen. Allen’s nomination

The White House is moving forward with Gen. John Allen's nomination to become commander of NATO forces in Europe after the Pentagon cleared him of any wrongdoing in exchanging emails with a Florida woman linked to the sex scandal that brought down David Petraeus and forced him to resign as CIA director.

January 23, 2013
associated press

Kirk leaving Obama trade post

U.S. Trade Representative Ronald Kirk will step down and leave the Obama administration by the end of February, the White House confirmed Tuesday.

January 23, 2013
President Obama mentioned climate change eight times during his inaugural address, and the White House has hinted that he may use executive power to pursue a form of clean-energy investments. (Associated Press)

Climate blowing in the wind for Obama

After devoting scant attention to climate change during his re-election campaign, President Obama pivoted sharply on the issue during his inauguration speech and promised to make addressing the threat of global warming a major priority in his second term.

January 22, 2013
President Obama (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Obama would sign short debt ceiling extension

The White House praised House Republicans for deciding to forgo a fight over raising the nation's borrowing limit and said President Obama would likely sign a three-month extension of the debt ceiling even though he would prefer a longer-term deal.

January 22, 2013