Obama Nominates Bryson for Commerce Secretary

By JACKIE CALMES

2:43 p.m. | Updated President Obama named a California utility and energy executive, John E. Bryson, as his second secretary of commerce at the White House on Tuesday afternoon, ending a search for an executive to add a business outlook to his economic team.

Stephen Crowley/The New York TimesIn his introduction of John Bryson on Tuesday, President Obama noted Mr. Bryson?s advocacy for clean energy technologies.

Mr. Bryson was chairman and chief executive of Edison International, parent company of Southern California Edison and Edison Mission Group, for nearly two decades until 2008. If confirmed by the Senate, which could be held up for unrelated reasons, he would replace Gary Locke, a former governor of Washington who is Mr. Obama?s choice to be ambassador to China now that Jon M. Huntsman Jr. has left to weigh a Republican presidential candidacy.

?John is going to be an important part of my economic team, promoting American business and American products across the globe,? Mr. Obama said in a short appearance in the White House dining room. ?By working with companies here at home, and representing America?s interests abroad, I?m confident that he?s going to help us meet the goal that I set of doubling our nation?s exports.?

Senate confirmation of Mr. Bryson could hinge, however, on Mr. Obama and Senate Republicans ending a standoff over pending trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea. Senate Republicans in March wrote Mr. Obama that they would block any nominee for Commerce secretary unless he submitted all three trade agreements to the Senate for ratification. While the administration had indicated it was prepared to submit the agreements, having negotiated changes from the agreements concluded in the Bush administration, it subsequently joined with Congressional Democrats to demand that Capitol Hill also pass legislation extending a trade-adjustment assistance program benefiting workers who lose jobs when companies move operations overseas. Republicans oppose the legislation.

Asked about the hurdle on Tuesday, Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, reiterated the administration?s demand for maintaining the aid to displaced workers, and added, ?It would be folly to hold up a nomination so important as the commerce secretary for any reason, and we look forward to Senate confirmation.?

According to his biography released by the White House, Mr. Bryson is also a director of several major corporations, including Boeing, Walt Disney and Coda Automotive, and is a senior adviser to Kohlberg Kravis Roberts. He is chairman of the board of BrightSource Energy, the Public Policy Institute of California and the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California Board of Overseers. He also serves as co-chairman of the Pacific Council on International Policy.

Mr. Obama, with Mr. Locke and Mr. Bryson standing at his side on Tuesday, noted Mr. Bryson ?has been a fierce proponent of alternative energy.?

?In the years ahead, a key to achieving our export goal will be promoting clean energy in America. It?s how we?ll reduce our dependence on foreign oil,? Mr. Obama said . ?And that?s how we?ll encourage new businesses and jobs to take root on our shores. John understands this better than virtually anybody.?

Mr. Bryson is a trustee of the California Institute of Technology, a director of the California Endowment and the W. M. Keck Foundation, and serves on the advisory board of Deutsche Bank Americas. Previously Mr. Bryson served on educational, energy and environmental boards, including as a trustee of Stanford University, a member of a United Nations advisory group on energy and climate change, and head of California?s Public Utilities Commission and its State Water Resources Control Board. Early in his career, Mr. Bryson was a founder of the national environmental group the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Among those Mr. Obama was said to be interested in for the commerce job was Eric Schmidt, chairman of Google.

Palin Ditches Press and Tours Battlefield

Sarah Palin continued her bus tour of historic sites with a visit to a Gettysburg battlefield. She also continued her manipulation of the news media.

Palin Dismisses the Media, but They Come Back for More

The possible presidential candidate has apparently decided that she can treat the media any way she wants ? and they will be there anyway.

Palin Dismisses the Media, but They Come Back for More

The possible presidential candidate has apparently decided that she can treat the media any way she wants ? and they will be there anyway.

In Showdown Over Debt Ceiling, Neither Party Is Blinking

By JACKIE CALMES

With House Republicans set to vote against raising the debt ceiling Tuesday, there is concern that Congress is engaging in unusually risky brinkmanship.

Obama Wraps Up Reshaping of National Security Team

By HELENE COOPER and THOM SHANKER

The president named Gen. Martin E. Dempsey to be chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff just as the administration is heading into a new debate over bringing troops home from Afghanistan.

Palin Family Hits Road, if Not 2012 Trail

By MICHAEL D. SHEAR

Sarah Palin says her ?One Nation? bus tour, which she?s presenting as a typical family vacation, might ?at some point? go to Iowa, where the 2012 voting begins.

Medicare Plan for Payments Irks Hospitals

By ROBERT PEAR

The government plans to reward hospitals that hold down costs and penalize those whose patients prove most expensive.

Source: http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/31/obama-to-name-bryson-commerce-secretary/

verizon wirewless verizon wirreles 2010 чемпионат мира アイポットnano