In Today's Times:
Making job creation its primary motive for intervention in the financial markets, the Federal Reserve said Wednesday that it planned to keep interest rates low as long as unemployment hovers at above-average rates. Binyamin Appelbaum writes that the move by the central bank underscores the concerns of monetary policy makers about the economic recovery.
Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio is trying to contain the dissent within the Republican conference over negotiations with the White House for a deal to avoid tax increases and spending cuts that could send the country back into recession. Jonathan Weisman reports that Republican leaders have said that Mr. Boehner needs a unified party behind him i f he is to hold out for a conservative deficit deal, but his defectors are pushing him to either let taxes rise on incomes higher than $250,000 or take a ride into the fiscal unknown next month.
Having once derided the Bush-era tax cuts as irresponsible, Democrats now find themselves pushing to make most of the tax breaks permanent. Annie Lowrey explains that income stagnation over the past decade has put Democrats in an awkward position in the fiscal talks, forcing them to advocate for the tax breaks instead of letting them expire to provide more revenue for entitlement programs.
President Obama chided the Syrian military on Wednesday for firing powerful Scud missiles at rebels, but was not moved to intervene militarily, Michael R. Gordon and Eric Schmitt write. The Obama administration has declined to join Allied forces in supporting opposition fighters in Syria but could be compelled to act if President Bashar al-Assad uses chemical weapons.
“Zero Dark Thirty,†a not-yet-released film about the hunt for Osama bin Laden, is dividing critics and journalists on the subject of torture, which is also the subject of a 6,000-page report due Thursday from the Senate Intelligence Committee, Scott Shane writes.
Happening in Washington:
Economic data expected today include the producer price index for November, retail sales for last month and weekly jobless claims at 8:30 a.m., followed at 10 by business inventories for October and weekly mortg age rates.
At 7 p.m., The Times' Rachel Swarns will discuss her book, “American Tapestry,†about Michelle Obama's genealogy, at the National Archives.
At 7:40 p.m., President Obama will speak at the White House's Hanukkah reception.
At 8 p.m., Justice Elena Kagan will discuss law and justice at the Sixth & I Historic Synagogue.
