Washington, DC–(ENEWSPF)–December 12, 2014. Index for Today’s Briefing SECRETARY KERRY’S TRAVEL MIDDLE EAST PEACE AFGHANISTAN PAKISTAN HAITI PERU CUBA ISIL/INDIA/SYRIA/RUSSIA/YEMEN/SAUDI ARABIA UKRAINE RUSSIA/INDIA TRANSCRIPT: 2:06 p.m. EST MS. PSAKI: Hi, everyone. Okay. I just have two quick items for all of you at the top. The Secretary is on travel[Read More…]

Washington, DC—(ENEWSPF)—December 12, 2014. Today the Department of Justice, in coordination with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and other elements of the Intelligence Community, is releasing six Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (“FISC”) documents related to surveillance activities originally authorized by President George W. Bush shortly after the[Read More…]

Washington, DC–(ENEWSPF)–December 12, 2014 – 1:58 P.M. EST THE PRESIDENT:  Let me start by saying a few words about the bill that was passed last night to keep the government open and make sure that our agencies are funded until the fall of next year. This, by definition, was a[Read More…]

Washington, DC–(ENEWSPF)–December 12, 2014.   On Thursday, December 11, Rep. Peter DeFazio (OR-04) released the following statement after voting no on H.R. 83, the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015, legislation to fund the government through the end of fiscal year 2015. “Only six years after reckless Wall Street[Read More…]

WASHINGTON –(ENEWSPF)–December 12, 2014.  Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) issued the following statement on a massive $1.01 trillion spending bill that the Senate plans to take up later today: “At a time when the middle class continues to disappear, and the gap between the very rich and everyone else grows wider,[Read More…]

Washington, DC—(ENEWSPF)—December 12, 2014. Last December, when a political conflict erupted into violence in South Sudan, the hope and optimism the world felt with the founding of the new nation in 2011 was overtaken by images of bloodshed and grief.  Instead of seeing the promise of their struggle for self-determination[Read More…]

Washington, DC–(ENEWSPF)–December 11, 2014 – 12:54 P.M. EST MR. EARNEST:  Good afternoon, everybody.  It must be so quiet in here because there’s nothing happening anywhere really. It’s a very quiet day at the White House.  In the spirit of that quiet day, I don’t have any opening remarks, so, Nedra,[Read More…]

WASHINGTON, DC –(ENEWSPF)–December 11, 2014.  After the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) took a major step toward making affordable renting housing more available to American families, U.S. Senators Jack Reed (D-RI), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) today applauded FHFA’s decision to end the temporary suspension[Read More…]

Washington, DC–(ENEWSPF)–December 11, 2014. Index for Today’s Briefing SECRETARY KERRY’S TRAVEL DEPARTMENT/SENATE REPORT MIDDLE EAST PEACE RUSSIA/INDIA SAUDI ARABIA HONG KONG NORTH KOREA SYRIA CUBA SYRIA SOUTH SUDAN IRAQ ARMENIA/RUSSIA/REGION SOUTH KOREA INDIA PAKISTAN/AFGHANISTAN YEMEN/DEPARTMENT DEPARTMENT TRANSCRIPT:   12:58 p.m. EST MS. PSAKI: Hello, everyone. QUESTION: Hello. QUESTION: Hello MS.[Read More…]

Washington, DC–(ENEWSPF)–December 11, 2014.  The Department of State has issued this Travel Warning to inform U.S. citizens about the security situation in Venezuela. Tens of thousands of U.S. citizens safely visit Venezuela each year for study, tourism, business, and volunteer work. Violent crime in Venezuela is pervasive, however, both in the[Read More…]