Vice President Joe Biden is downplaying news the government Web site Recovery.gov reported hundreds of millions of stimulus dollars spent on projects in congressional districts that in fact do not actually exist.

Alexander Mooney
CNN Ticker Producer

Vice President Joe Biden is downplaying news the government Web site Recovery.gov reported hundreds of millions of stimulus dollars spent on projects in congressional districts that in fact do not actually exist.

The districts don't exist, but the projects do, Biden said Tuesday night.

And the administration isn't to blame – the fault lies with the nation's educational system.

In an appearance on The Daily Show, Biden said the errors – first reported by ABC News – do not indicate unaccounted-for spending but are rather the result of 70 people who are the product of "bad civics classes."

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Patrick Oppmann
CNN All Platform Journalist

More than 2,500 miles from Fort Hood, the US Army also honored fallen soldiers at a ceremony at Fort Lewis in Washington state today.

Seven soldiers from the 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, were remembered in a service that family, soldiers and Vice President Joe Biden attended.

All seven soldiers were killed by an improvised explosive device attack in Afghanistan last month. Fort Lewis officials said they believe the attack was the largest loss of life for the post since the wars began in Afghanistan and Iraq.

“As hollow as it sounds to say,” Biden said, ”we grieve with you. We don't have the sense of the profound grief you're experiencing today, but we grieve with you. And we owe you - we owe you more than you can ever be repaid.”

Speaking of his own experience as the father of a National Guard member who served in Iraq, Biden told the crowd, “In a sense, those of us who've had children, husbands and wives who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, I guess we all share a sense of relief and a sense of guilt that we're here, having our loved ones back.”

The seven soldiers were remembered by fellow soldiers, some of whom had returned to Fort Lewis, some of whom  were still serving in Afghanistan.

"I along with the rest of our platoon and company will miss these guys, said Spc. Chas Clark, his left eye bandaged from a September bombing in Afghanistan. "We will everything we can to honor their memory."

Speaking of his friend and fallen soldier, Spc. Jared Stanker, Clark said, "He was a skinny guy with a good sense of humor, any thing that was thrown his way, he would master it. Be it weaponry, driving a Stryker, video games, anything."

“Today we mourn, tomorrow we get right back into action,” the soldiers’ commander Lt. Col. Jonathan Neumann wrote, “Using their memory to harden our resolve to finish the task assigned us: to defeat the enemy of our nation in an area where others haven’t been able to.”

Another soldier read the commander’s words at the ceremony Tuesday. Neumann is still deployed in Afghanistan.

Ed Henry
CNN Senior White House Correspondent

Apparently you can take the vice president out of the Senate, but you just can't take the Senate out of the vice president, and that might be the secret to Joe Biden's influence in President Obama's inner circle.

As I waited Friday in the ornate rooms of the old Department of War near Biden's office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next to the White House, I kept wondering which Biden was going to show up for our exclusive interview.

Would it be the old Joe that I used to cover as the Senate correspondent for Roll Call newspaper many years ago, who would throw an arm around me in a Capitol hallway and be happy to give a - let's face it - fairly long answer about any subject I'd throw at him?

Biden had this habit of dropping flattery as well as a reporter's name into the answers for familiarity in his gosh-darn-it manner: "Look Ed, I'm literally not just blowing smoke, but you know as much about the Bush tax cuts as I do. ..."

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Program Note: Ariana Huffington will be on the show tonight on AC360° at 10 p.m. ET.

Arianna Huffington
The Huffington Post

Joe Biden met with CENTCOM chief Gen. David Petraeus this morning to talk about Afghanistan - an issue that has pushed the vice president into the spotlight, landing him on the cover of the latest Newsweek.

I have an idea for how he can capitalize on all the attention, and do what generations to come will always be grateful for: resign.

The centerpiece of Newsweek's story is how Biden has become the chief White House skeptic on escalating the war in Afghanistan, specifically arguing against Gen. McChrystal's request for 40,000 more troops to pursue a counterinsurgency strategy there.

The piece, by Holly Bailey and Evan Thomas, opens with details of a September 13th national security meeting at the White House. Biden speaks up:

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CNN

The flag-draped coffins of at least four U.S. soldiers killed during a weekend onslaught against a U.S. military outpost in Afghanistan were scheduled to arrive Tuesday at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, the military said.

The bodies will include Sgt. Joshua J. Kirk of South Portland, Maine; Spc. Michael P. Scusa of Villas, New Jersey; Spc. Christopher T. Griffin of Kincheloe, Michigan; and Pfc. Kevin C. Thomson of Reno, Nevada, according to the Air Force mortuary affairs office. The dignified transfer ceremony also might include other fallen service members.

Coverage of the troops' return is allowed with the permission of their families under a policy the Obama administration instituted this year.

Click here to keep reading and find out where some of the key players in the debate stand...

John Boehner is redoubling his attacks, accusing the vice president of lying about the economy.

Alex Isenstadt
Politico

Vice President Joe Biden is invading House Minority Leader John Boehner’s back yard tomorrow to tout the success of the stimulus package, but Boehner is redoubling his attacks, accusing the vice president of lying about the economy.

“I found it ... interesting over the last couple of days to hear Vice President Biden and the president mention the fact that they didn’t realize how difficult an economic circumstance we were in,” Boehner said. “Now this is the greatest fabrication I have seen since I’ve been in Congress.”

“I’ve sat in meetings in the White House
with the vice president and the president. There’s not one person that sat in those rooms that didn’t understand how serious our economic crisis was,” Boehner said.

Boehner also took a shot at the idea of a second stimulus – something Biden said he was open to last week.

“All of this talk of a second stimulus bill, I think, is an admission on the part of the administration that their stimulus plan is not working,” Boehner said.

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A Moscow merchant displays Russian nesting dolls painted with portraits of Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev.

Jill Dougherty
CNN Foreign Affairs Correspondent

It was a catchy phrase when U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden first used it in February: "Press the reset button." A month later U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton handed her counterpart, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, a red plastic "reset" button. The Russian translation printed on top turned out to be wrong, but by that time Russians were using the phrase, too.

The only problem was no one seemed to know precisely what "resetting" the U.S. relationship really meant. During the Cold War, if you talked about Russian and U.S. presidents pressing buttons, it usually meant potentially blowing up the world with nuclear weapons.

Now, at this two-day summit in Moscow between presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev which begins Monday, we'll get to see whether this "reset" button actually sets a new, cooperative relationship in motion or whether it's short-circuited.

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Hezbollah supporters at a Beirut rally holding a poster of leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Joe Von kanel
CNN Writer/Editor

You may have noticed that Vice President Joe Biden was in Lebanon last Friday. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton paid a visit last month. What's the sudden attraction of going to Lebanon? An upcoming election there could be very interesting!

Lebanon's Parliament is up for grabs and unlike any legislative body in the U.S., all 128 seats in the Lebanese Parliament are determined by religion: Christians and Muslims each get 64 seats – exactly half. Since Christians haven't been united for centuries, various Christian denominations are guaranteed a certain number of seats. The largest single bloc, 34 seats, goes to the Maronite Christians.

Of course, Muslims aren't united either. The two major sects - the Sunni and Shia– get 27 seats each. Lebanon's Shiite political party Hezbollah - yes, the same Hezbollah that the U.S. has labeled a "terrorist organization - has brokered a coalition of Shiite parties that has thrown-in with the Maronite Christians. The groups are running on a "reform" agenda, promising to clean-up corruption. Guess who could win? And guess who the U.S. really doesn't want to win? The U.S. is backing a Sunni-dominated counter-alliance.

The election is on June 7th. We'll be watching!

The president and vice president make an unscheduled stop for burgers in Washington.

Ruben Navarrette Jr.
Special to CNN

The Obama administration's stance on immigration reform is like a never-ending telenovela with multiple plot twists –sometimes more than one in the same news cycle.

One minute the administration is saying it's going to push for immigration reform this year; the next, the message is that it won't push that hard.

According to an article in Wednesday's New York Times, President Obama plans to begin addressing the country's immigration system this year, and those plans will include looking for a path for illegal immigrants to become legal.

The article quotes Cecilia Muñoz, deputy assistant to the president and director of intergovernmental affairs in the White House, as saying that Obama will frame the new push as "policy reform that controls immigration and makes it an orderly system."

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Chris Chafe
Executive Director, Change to Win
and
Van Jones
Founder and President, Green For All

This Friday, Vice President Joe Biden will hold the first meeting of his new White House Task Force for Middle Class Working Families. The theme? "Green jobs as a pathway to a strong middle class."

This is a huge step forward for the country, for the green jobs movement, and for working families. The U.S. economy once abounded with opportunities for careers that would support a family, provide health care, put kids through college, even allow people to take a hard-earned vacation with their loved ones. Those opportunities, and the American Dream that propelled generations to new progress, remain too far out of reach for too many Americans. The best place to recreate them is in the growing green jobs sector.

Green jobs are America's best investment opportunity for the public and private sector. By investing wisely and creating the right policies, we can create new wealth while fighting poverty and pollution at the same time. We are already seeing this happening across the country. Newark, NJ is pioneering a public-private partnership to create union jobs making homes more energy-efficient — and making sure residents who most need the work have access to those jobs. Community colleges and training institutions — like the East Los Angeles Skills Center — are teaching the next generation of green technicians. State subsidies have convinced Gamesa to locate its new factory for constructing wind turbine blades in Pennsylvania; the wind-energy giant expects to create up to 1,000 new, good, green jobs in the Keystone State.

The potential of the emerging green economy is enormous. What we need is smart, supportive federal investment to help that potential become a reality for all Americans. And President Obama's administration gets it. That's the biggest signal we should take from the fact that Vice President Biden is focusing the first meeting of his Middle Class Task Force on green jobs.

But there's another signal we should absolutely NOT take from the meeting. We should not take it as a signal that we have arrived, that our message has gotten through, that the hard part is over. No, this meeting is a sign that we are finally beginning.

The administration sees the promise of green jobs because a vibrant, beautiful movement has been singing about that promise at the top of its voice. That movement includes labor, students, business leaders, social justice activists, environmentalists, intellectuals and more. It wants an inclusive green economy, strong enough to solve the ecological crisis and lift millions of people out of poverty.

Creating a pathway to a green American Dream requires a new practice of partnership between government, entrepreneurs, investors, environmentalists, junior colleges and community organizations, and unions. These emerging green sectors offer our first chance in more than a generation to build a new economic model founded on sustainable development and equity for all. Smart policies can drive public and private investment into sectors like weatherization and take those new markets to scale. Community and neighborhood residents can be recruited by local organizations and welcomed into union and community college training programs, so that when they emerge they have a real job market to enter, creating value in their own homes and communities while being paid a living wage in the private or public sector. That is how we’ll save our planet and rebuild our middle class.

We need that partnership and that movement now more than ever. Working families need it. The planet needs it. And President Obama needs it. A strong, popular, independent movement for quality green jobs is the only thing that will shine a light for the administration and show it the path it is looking for — and the pitfalls it must avoid. We’ve traveled that path to end slavery and segregation, to create voting rights for all, to build a middle class from the industrial sweatshop, and we’re still walking together to build the right to unionize and create equal pay for all.

President Obama and the country need us to show the way to a green future. We must not let them down.

Joe Klein
Time.com

Jerusalem

I've just arrived here in Israel for the Tuesday elections after a foggy and slightly mind-bending weekend at the Munich Security Conference–an event which, in recent years, has been marked by tense confrontations between the U.S. and Russia. Two years ago, Vladimir Putin used the opportunity to slam U.S. policy in Iraq; for its part, the U.S. presence has been led and largely defined by Senators John McCain and Joe Lieberman–neither of whom was present this year, due to the stimulus votes in Congress. Their absence helped reinforce an abrupt shift in tone: the U.S. delegation, led by Joe Biden, was all reason and light...and nuance. This seemed to both please and confuse our NATO allies, and boggle the rest of the world. Indeed, the U.S. responded not at all to the anachronistic rantings of the Iranian Ali Larijani, said to be a "responsible" conservative and known to be very close to the Supreme Leader. It was Britain's Foreign Minister David Miliband who chastised Larijani–in the driest, most elegant way imaginable: "It's not going to get better than this," he said, referring to Biden's offer of an open hand. In other words, you'd better stop your public ranting and take advantage of the moment.

Read more...

Anne Kim
Third Way

If you’re a respiratory therapist, a recreational bicyclist, a victim of Lyme disease, or concerned about animal cruelty or Third World farming practices, Washington has a champion for you. On Capitol Hill, lobbyists for business, trade associations and interest groups outnumber members of Congress by a ratio of 64 to 1.

But if you’re someone with kids earning $70,000 a year, someone’s who’s saving for college, saving for retirement and hoping your parents stay well—if you’re living the life of a typical middle-class American family—well, the last eight years in Washington have been a black hole for the middle class.

Middle-class Americans–people earning between $40,000 to $100,000–are too “rich” for most current government programs like college Pell grants, Medicaid, or the Earned Income Tax Credit for low-wage workers. And they don’t benefit from increases in the minimum wage—as popular as that policy is. On the other hand, they’re not rich enough to benefit from the conservative trickle-down policies of the Bush years, such as cuts to the capital gains tax. Instead, they’ve simply been forgotten.

Today, the middle class finally got a voice when President Obama and Vice President Biden announced the launch of a new task force on the middle class. Its goal is to pull the middle class out of the financial hole they’ve fallen into over the last eight years. We did a report that shows that since 2000, the typical middle-class family lost out on a total of more than $90,000 in wealth when home values, 401(k)s and salaries are taken into account.

But more than just getting the middle class back on its feet, this taskforce is also focused on helping middle-class people get ahead—helping families send their kids to college, save for a comfortable retirement, balance work and family, start a business or care for aging parents. This is the kind of change we believe in because no government effort has ever tackled these priorities in a concerted way.

We should never turn our back on the plight of those who are struggling to enter the middle class or whose grip on the middle class is tenuous—and Vice President Biden made that clear in his remarks at the launch of this task force. But it’s time for Washington to pay more attention to a forgotten group that works hard, pays taxes and feels it’s on its own—and that’s the American middle class. Bravo.

Editor's Note: Anne Kim is the Director of the Economic Program at Third Way, a progressive Washington, DC-based think tank.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton greets staff members during her first day of work last week at the State Department.

Jill Dougherty
CNN State Department Correspondent

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters at the State Department Tuesday that there has been a “great exhalation of breath around the world” with the new approach to diplomacy introduced by the Obama administration.

The short, informal and off-camera visit to the working media area of the State Department came after Secretary Clinton had breakfast with Vice President Joe Biden. Asked whether the president’s team of strong personalities responsible for foreign policy and national security issues could create dissension, the Secretary said that the Vice President, Defense Secretary, national security adviser and she have already worked out a “collegial, effective working relationship.”

Calling Biden an “old and dear friend,” Clinton said “I don’t think you can really conclude anything other than this is a united effort.” She added “There is a lot of damage to repair” (from the previous administration.) She qualified that criticism, however, saying “this is not a repudiation or indictment of the last eight years.”

On Iran, Secretary Clinton said that President Obama retains “the right to engage in whatever way he deems best and whatever time he chooses” to further U.S. interests. Asked how the administration can judge when Iran is ready, as the president said, to “unclench its fist,” she said this is a “clear opportunity for the Iranians to demonstrate their willingness to engage meaningfully with the international community.” Whether or not their fist in unclenched, she said, “is up to them.”

On the Mideast, Secretary Clinton said special envoy George Mitchell has been given the opportunity to “listen and bring back his impressions.” The president chose him, she said, because of his knowledge but also because of his “political ear.” Asked about the possibility of moving on negotiating track with Syria, she said the focus right now is only on the Israeli/Palestinian track.”

Asked to comment on statements by the new Treasury Secretary, Tim Geithner, that China is manipulating its currency, she said “We need a comprehensive dialogue with China.” The “strategic dialogue” of the Bush administration turned into exclusively an economic dialogue but that, she said, is not the only focus. “We want a more comprehensive approach” with China which is a “regional player” with which there are “many opportunities to cooperate.”

Editor's Note: Tune in tonight to watch Candy Crowley's report tonight on AC360° at 10pm ET.

Candy Crowley | BIO
CNN Senior Political Correspondent

Bloggees: You are my New Year’s Resolution.

You, and the downstairs of my home, filled with this heart-hurting timeline of little boys who grew up on me.

Wooden building blocks, games from “CandyLand” to “Risk”
Rubber spiders, snakes, a scorpion paperweight, a whoopee cushion.
A trumpet, a saxophone, drums sticks... Star Wars figures, musclemen
Backgammon sets, cards, poker chips... George Brett and Emmitt Smith posters
Baseballs, footballs, rugby kneepads (I think)
Letter jackets, high school yearbooks, framed pictures of old girlfriends
Diplomas and graduation hats
A Venetian glass chess set from the post-college trip to Europe
And oh Lord, the collections—golf balls, hats, stamps, baseball cards

Including my FAVORITE, the empty beer bottle collection of first born, now married, son. I was thinking of sending the 80-100 bottle collection to the new Mrs. Crowley but, confidentially, I don’t think she totally understands my humor yet.

I want it all, but I am re-doing the downstairs for (if life is good) visits from grown-up boys and (if life is good) their families. So, I need to let it go. I don’t know what to keep.

It got me thinking about how beginning something means ending something else and that part is hard.

Joe Biden said goodbye today on the Senate floor, the chamber he has served in since he was 29 years old, a legislative baby. He was to be sworn in that year on the day his wife and baby daughter were killed in an automobile accident. “As I healed,” he said, “this place became my second family.” I wonder now what it is he can’t bear to throw away, what he will take to link his ending to his beginning.

Hillary Clinton said goodbye today, too, after 8 years in the Senate. It is the place that launched a public career that belonged only to her. It is why she is Secretary of State now. When she walks around her Senate office, what means something? Which of the dozens of pictures and plaques mean enough to put on the wall at her new office? Maybe it’s a picture Chelsea drew.

George Bush is talking to the American people tonight, his last Oval Office speech. Regardless of the country’s overwhelmingly negative views, he too must feel the tugs and pushes of time. In an interview I did with him a couple of weeks ago, he seemed melancholy. This is not how he envisioned his era would end. Is there something from the drawer of his desk that kept him going? Will it take him to Dallas?

The Obamas are moving to Blair House today, just across the street from their new digs as of next Tuesday. I wonder what Sasha and Malia left behind and what they brought with them so they could hold on to Chicago.

Later today, I’ll report on the fight over the stimulus plan and the emergency bail out and how Barack Obama is trying to buy himself some time to fix things.

But this morning, I’m thinking about an unchangeable fundamental of life.

Everybody moves on. But it’s hard to let go of the empty beer bottles.

Vice President Dick Cheney.

Program Note: Tune in to AC360° at 10p ET tonight for the latest on the war of words between Cheney and Biden.

Dugald McConnell
CNN Producer

Vice President Dick Cheney will soon be handing the Vice Presidency over to Joe Biden, but not before first questioning whether the newcomer is up to the job of filling his shoes.

This Sunday, Cheney, who has had unprecedented influence on policy, was asked about reports that his successor sees the scope of the office differently from the way Cheney does.

"If he wants to diminish the office of vice president, that's obviously his call," Cheney answered. "I think that President-elect Obama will decide what he wants in a vice president. And apparently, from the way they're talking about it, he does not expect him to have as consequential a role as I've had during my time."

Biden spokeswoman Elizabeth Alexander fired back:

"Only Vice President Cheney would think that putting the Vice Presidency in its proper constitutional role "diminishes" the office. What the American people want from a Vice President is not boasting about how much power they have, but rather, a promise to use that power for the right purposes.

But Biden told CNN's Larry King Monday that he does still expect to have the president's ear.

"My role as vice president is unlike some of the others. I've asked for no specific portfolio – that is, I take care of the environment or one particular area – and that I be essentially his counselor-in-chief."

The shape of any vice presidency is driven more by the president's wishes than the vice president's, says Prof. Stephen Wayne of Georgetown. "In his first year, the president said Dick Cheney has a lot of power. That's what I want: I'm delegating a lot to him. I don't think Barack Obama is going to delegate that much to Joe Biden."

Biden also criticized how Cheney used his influence, particularly in shaping the fight against terrorism.

"The advice that he has given to President Bush," Biden told ABC's George Stephanopoulos, "has been not healthy for our foreign policy, not healthy for our national security. And it has not been consistent with our Constitution, in my view."

But Cheney defended his record.

"I think the fact that we were able to protect the nation against further attacks from Al Qaeda for 7.5 years is a remarkable achievement. To do that, we had to adopt some unpopular policies that have been widely criticized by our critics."

He also made no apologies for once telling Senator Leahy (D – VT,) "go (expletive) yourself."

"I thought he merited it at the time, and we've since, I think, patched over that wound and we're civil to one another now."

In November, the Cheneys hosted the Bidens for a visit at the official residence, and gave them a tour – even though during the campaign, Biden called Cheney "the most dangerous vice president we've had probably in American history."

But asked on Sunday whether he had any advice for his successor, Cheney replied, "Well, he hasn't asked me."

Vice President-elect Joe Biden will chair a meeting of the transition team's top economic advisers on Tuesday.

Program Note: Tune in to AC360 tonight at 10p ET for more on the Obama Administration’s plans for the economy and VP-elect Biden’s role.

Ed Henry
CNN Senior White House Correspondent

CNN has learned that Vice President-elect Joe Biden will chair a meeting of the transition team's top economic advisers on Tuesday, as the incoming administration ramps up its efforts to piece together an urgent economic recovery package and try to sell the expected $775 billion plan to Congress.

Two Democratic officials told CNN the meeting at the Washington transition headquarters will include Lawrence Summers, President-elect Barack Obama's pick to chair the National Economic Council, a key policymaking arm within the White House that will be charged with formulating the new administration's response to the financial crisis.

The fact that Biden is leading the meeting suggests the incoming Vice President will play a key role in helping to pass the stimulus package. That's significant because Biden's low profile in recent days has sparked speculation that he will be sidelined in the new administration, especially since his strongest asset - foreign policy - is going to be largely handled by Secretary of State-designate Hillary Clinton.

But Biden himself said during the campaign that he was not seeking any specific task, and would not cut as wide a swatch as Vice President Cheney. Instead Biden said during the vice presidential debate that he would focus more broadly on using his four decades of experience in the U.S. Senate helping Obama govern by move legislation through Congress.

"I have a history of getting things done in the United States Senate," Biden said during his one debate with Republican Gov. Sarah Palin. "John McCain would acknowledge that. My record shows that, on controversial issues. I would be the point person for the legislative initiatives in the United States Congress for our administration."

After being conspicuously quiet in the early weeks of the transition, Biden is suddenly raising his profile to selling an expensive economic plan to lawmakers suffering from sticker shock after one government bailout after another. He appeared on his first Sunday talk show as Vice President-elect this wekeend by going on ABC's "This Week" to declare that bolder action is needed now to prevent the economoy from "absolutely tanking" at this point.

A CNN poll determines that more Americans think the Bidens should've chosen a shelter dog.

Vice President-elect Joe Biden and his son, Beau.

Ted Barrett and Kate Bolduan
CNN Capitol Hill Unit

The appointment of Ted Kaufman to temporarily fill the Senate seat of Vice President-elect Joe Biden fits into a much speculated scenario that has Biden and other key players in Delaware paving the way for Biden’s son Beau to one day win his father’s seat.

Kaufman, a long time close aide to the older Biden, announced immediately after being appointed by Gov. Ruth Ann Minner, D, that he would not run to complete the 6 year term when a special election is held in two years. That clears the way for Beau Biden, who is Delaware’s attorney general, to run without the difficulty of having to challenge an incumbent Democrat.

Beau Biden might have been appointed to the seat now except that he is deployed with his National Guard unit for the next several months in Iraq.

Joe Biden is “keeping the track open for his son to take the seat,” said an aide to Delaware Lt. Gov. John Carney, a contender for the appointment who was passed over.

The senior Biden issued a statement Monday saying “it is no secret” he thinks Beau would be a great senator and praised his son for announcing last week that he would decline a possible appointment in order to fulfill his military obligation.

VP-elect Biden said anyone who runs in the special election will do so from a “level playing field.”

And while that may be true, the decision by Gov. Ruth Ann Minner, D, to select a place-holder does hold open an opportunity for Beau Biden that probably would not have existed if his father wasn’t the sitting senator.