Some officials said action on the tax proposals could depend on whether A.I.G. made good on the refunds.
Thousands of conservationists and government officials are in Johannesburg for the 12-day Cities gathering, seeking to hammer out new international trade regulations to protect a vast array of different species, with several proposals on whether to tighten or ease controls on the ivory trade on the agenda.
We should be debating Obama's policy proposals on whether or not they have merit, not dancing around, pretending he doesn't have any!
Much will depend on whether the proposals are watered down over the coming months.
With most votes counted by 9 tonight, a ballot proposal today on whether to replace Hartford's current system of government with one led by a powerful mayor, who would have broad responsibility for day-to-day operations, may have failed to get enough votes to pass, city officials said.
But supporters of positive discrimination say it is touch and go whether the proposal on winnable seats will get through.
"It means the committee is stacked in the government's favour so they don't have to worry about the inconvenience of getting MPs to turn up and they don't actually have to vote on the substance of the proposals, just on whether the issue has been heard.
It is not clear whether Mr. Obama intends merely to exhort Congress or to put any new proposal on the table.
Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who sits on the Appropriations and Budget committees, weighs in on ABC's "This Week" on whether the current proposals — one from House Republicans, the other from Senate Democrats — go far enough to rein in federal spending and long-term budget deficits.
Until now, most of the criticism of the capital spending proposal had focused on whether the authority was thinking big enough about new construction projects like the Second Avenue subway.
