ABCDE Mostly sunny 36/22 • Tomorrow: Mostly sunny 35/27 • details, B10 WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2010
PARTY REBELS AGAINST OBAMA
Lawmakers seethe over bargain on Bush cuts
BY SHAILAGH MURRAY AND LORI MONTGOMERY
President Obama on Tuesday
faced an uprising among angry Democratswho strongly opposed his deal with Republicans on tax cuts, opening a public rift that could prevent the White House fromending the yearwith a fresh dose of stimulus for the economy. The Obama-GOP compromise
PHOTOS BY NIKKI KAHN/THE WASHINGTON POST Project Empowerment students encourage Patrice Taylor, who was one of two in her class to be chosen to speak at the graduation ceremony. Working for a chance at a job Training program aims to empower the District’s hardest to employ The $11million-a-year project, BY THERESA VARGAS I
t’s a Monday morning and RodneyBrown’s 28 students shuffle into a lime-colored room at the Department of Employment Services on H
Street NE. Several arrive late. Many wear clothes made for lounging, not impressing. “I see some of you wearing
tennis shoes,” says Brown, his 6-foot frame tidy in gray slacks and a tie. “You come in here tomorrow with them, and I’m going to have to send you out.” He is just getting started.
Around him, shirts are untucked. Belts bear blinged-out buckles. Pants sit low—too low. “How you going to get on Air
Force One with your pants down to here?” Brown says, hitting the sides of his thighs. “If you know you don’t wear size 40, why you buy size 40?” “And sisters,” he says, “we
know you like to look sexy, but. . . .” This is Project Empowerment, the District’smost expensive job-
Antoine “Ali”Moore, another student of the program, squints against the squirt of hairspray after having his hair cut by Anthony “Big T” Carter near his home in the District.
training program, aimed at one of its most desperate popula- tions. The goal: Take participants from the only Washington they’ve known,where unemploy- ment is chronic, and showthema city they’ve watched from afar, where women wear practical
ELIZABETHA.EDWARDS,1949-2010 Lived her private pain on a public stage BY PATRICIA SULLIVAN ElizabethA.Edwards,who cap-
tured the nation’s sympathy and admiration for her forthright grace in coping with her struggle withbreast cancer andthe infidel- ity of her husband, presidential candidate John Edwards, died Dec. 7 at her home in ChapelHill, N.C., after a six-year battle with cancer. Adaybeforeherdeathat61,her
family announced that she had stopped treatment for her cancer because doctors had told her that further medical attention would beunproductive. Ms.Edwards had been a lawyer
and formidable force in the politi- cal rise of her husband,whowent
from being a one-term U.S. sena- tor from North Carolina to the Democratic vice presidential can- didate in 2004 to a presidential candidate in the 2008Democratic primaries. She separated fromhiminJanuary. Describing herself as
the “anti-Barbie” for her real-woman figure and her serious intellect, Ms. Edwards’s public stature was greatly defined by how she coped with can- cer. She talked about it, wrote about it and man- agedtheconversationinmuchthe same way she managed her hus- band’s political career. She first learned that she had
Edwards
running mate, Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), lost the presidential race to incumbent George W. Bush. “The same day our campaign ended at FaneuilHall,we saw Elizabeth head off to Mass General to confront this terrible disease,”Ker- ry said Tuesday. “America came to know her in a different and even more personal way, as she fought back with enor- mous grace and dignity. She became an inspira-
tionto somany.” The public rallied to her side,
flooding her with nearly 65,000 messagesof
support.Ms.Edwards
breast cancer just after Election Day 2004, when her husband’s
edwards continued onA13
heels and men match their belts to their wingtips. Ofmore than 800 participants
the program serves each year, nearly all are African American, 80 percent have criminal records and many have never held a full-time job.
begun in 2001 as a welfare-to- work endeavor, has become so popular ontheDistrict’s roughest streets that no advertising or recruiting is necessary. About 7,000 names linger on a waiting list. Those who receive the call will earn $6.69 an hour (after taxes) while they attend a three- week class. If they graduate, they will get a six-month subsidized stint at a workplace that has agreed to take a chance on them. And if that goes well, they might finally land a prize that too few people around them have won: steady employment. But first, they must pass a
soul-scraping test: a class like Rodney Brown’s on what it takes to make it in the other Washing- ton. Among the students that first
day are three people facing very differentbarriers to employment. In the back row sits Antoine “Ali” Moore, who went to prison as a teenager and came out an adult. Tucked in the middle row is
employment continued onA6
would extend all the tax cuts that are set to expire Dec. 31, includ- ing for the wealthiest house- holds; continue long-termunem- ployment benefits through the end of next year; give businesses a major tax break to encourage capital investment; and provide working couples as much as $4,200 in extra cash in 2011 through a one-year payroll tax holiday. The far-reaching package — which would add more than
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Tax deal opens Democratic rift
Obama responds
to liberal critics He dismisses them as “sanctimonious” and points to the need to compromise with congressional Republicans. A4
Editorial: Coming up with a defensible tax deal. A18
Opinions: Fred Hiatt, Ruth Marcus and Harold Meyerson on the tax deal and the president’s agenda. A19
$900 billion to the deficit over the next two years, economists said — contains numerous other provisions, including extensions of smaller individual and busi- ness tax breaks that had been widely expected to lapse. Demo- crats expressed astonishment at the plan’s scope and price tag, though they reluctantly conced- ed its potential to create jobs and boost consumer spending. But they were furious that
Obama capitulated to Republi- cans over the main provisions — an array of individual tax breaks signed by President George W. Bush nearly 10 years ago that have remained controversial.
tax cuts continued onA5 WikiLeaks founder
faces legal wrangle Sweden, U.S. both want Assange extradited after his arrest in Britain
BY ANTHONY FAIOLA AND JERRY MARKON
london — The detention Tues- day of JulianAssange, the elusive mastermind behind the Wiki- Leaks Web site, has pulled him from behind his laptop and into the international justice system. But his potential extradition
to face sexual assault allegations in Sweden could significantly complicate any U.S. attempt to quickly try him for releasing thousands of classified docu- ments on the Internet. Assange, who has been taunt-
ing world leaders by revealing sometimes embarrassing U.S. se-
crets, is now the center of an international tug ofwar,with his opponents calling him a danger- ous agent against state secrecy and his supporters calling him a champion of the public’s right to know. British authorities were hold-
ing Assange without bail after the 39-year-old Australian sur- rendered at a London police station early Tuesday following weeks of living under the radar. He now faces a legal proceeding next Tuesday to fight extradition to Sweden for questioning in connection with the alleged sex- ual assaults, which he denies. But to bring Assange to trial
on American soil could be in-
creasinglymessy.Not onlywould the United States need to come up with creative charges that may be difficult to prove, it
wikileaks continued onA10 Haynesworth era ends for Redskins
Team suspends lineman for rest of season without pay
BY RICK MAESE AND SALLY JENKINS Albert Haynesworth came to
Washington with a promise. “You’re not going to remember
AlbertHaynesworthas a bust,”he said on Feb. 27, 2009, the day the Washington Redskins made him the highest-paid professional football player at that time. “You’re going to rememberme as a great player.” Haynesworth certainly will be
remembered in Washington for years to come, but mostly for the turmoil that seemed to surround
INSIDE ECONOMY&BUSINESS
Bank of America to pay $137 million settlement
The company was accused of defrauding schools, hospitals and other government entities in its municipal bond dealings. A14
THEWORLD Gates’s firsthand look
The defense secretary visits Afghanistan as the administration prepares to review war strategy. A9
BUSINESS NEWS..............A14 CLASSIFIEDS......................F1 COMICS..........................C8-9
EDITORIALS/LETTERS.A18-19 FED PAGE.........................A17 GOING OUT GUIDE.............C5
FOOD Cookies, cookies, cookies
This year’s holiday baking issue offers 27 ways to savor the season, plus a preview of our cookie app for the iPad. E1
POLITICS&THENATION Court weighs retaliation
You can’t be fired for reporting bias, but can your spouse? The justices must decide. A3
LOTTERIES.........................B4 MOVIES..............................C6 OBITUARIES....................B7-9
KIDSPOST........................C10 TELEVISION.......................C4 WORLD NEWS....................A9
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METRO Pr. George’s council bars Leslie Johnson from panels
The new member, arrested last month with her husband, then-County Executive Jack B. Johnson, cannot sit on committees. B1 SPORTS
“ Everything is going well here. I want to continue
DAILY CODE Details, B2
8 0 1 4
winning, to stay here. I want to win the Cup here. It’s a good team, with good coaches and training staff. I’m not thinking much further ahead now. Once there’s an offer, I will, but I’m comfortable with this team.” —Alexander Semin, 26-year-old Russian sharpshooter, on his future with the Washington Capitals. D1
The Washington Post Year 134, No. 3
CONTENT © 2010
him at all times, and not for his performance on the field. The Redskins suspended the
disgruntled defensive lineman Tuesday without pay for the re- mainder of the regular season, citing conduct detrimental to the
team.Thatmove likely brings to a close the calamitous Haynes- worth chapter in the Redskins annals. Unable to coexist with Red-
skins Coach Mike Shanahan, Haynesworth was informed of thedecisioninameetingTuesday morning with General Manager Bruce Allen at Redskins Park. “Let’s be honest,” Shanahan
said in a telephone interview Tuesday evening. “This is an easy decision. This isn’t even hard. When I get rid of a guy, I do it
redskins continued onA8 JOHN MCDONNELL/THE WASHINGTON POST Haynesworth numbers
35 6.5
million Dollar amount the Redskins have paid
Haynesworth for playing20gameswith the team
Sacks thatHaynesworth recordedwith theRedskins
7-13
Redskins’ record in the games he played
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