IRS chief ousted
Former Internal Revenue Service commissioner Steven Miller is telling Congress that the agency made errors in targeting conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status. Miller states however, that the results were not due to partisan views.
Miller was prepared to tell the House Ways and Means Committee on Friday that the screening system set up by the agency was only used to handle cases of groups wanting tax-exempt status. No political or partisan viewpoint was taken into consideration.
The IRS has since then [...]
Obama campaigns for gun proposals in Minnesota
President Barack Obama is looking to rally support from the public and law enforcement community in order to ban assault weapons and install universal background checks for gun buyers.
Obama will pitch his proposals in Minnesota on Monday, where officials have been studying ways to reduce gun-related attacks for years. This will be the first time Obama has proposed his controversial gun campaign outside of Washington.
Obama revealed his gun proposal last month in response to the shooting in Newton [...]
GOP continues to question Benghazi attack
Congressional Republicans are continuing to question the Obama administration about last year’s deadly attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya. Although review boards have blamed inadequate security measures and failed leadership at the State Department, some lawmakers have begun to wonder if the administration is trying to cover up serious deficiencies or negligence during and after the attack.
On Tuesday, president Obama was asked about allegations concerning his administration preventing whistle-blowers from testifying before congress about the incident. [...]
Obama to pitch immigration reform
President Obama will be traveling to Mexico on Thursday to sell his new immigration overhaul. The president will meet with Mexico’s president, Enrique Pena Nieto in order to discuss Mexico’s economic success. Obama stated that he hopes his presence in Mexico and later in Costa Rica will help promote the priority to create middle class jobs.
Obama also plans to gear his visit toward audiences back in the U.S. According to deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes, if the president is [...]
EPA pushes for tighter fuel and emission regulations
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has drawn sharp criticism from conservative members of Congress with its proposal for tighter restrictions on sulfur in gasoline and pollution from cars and trucks. Opponents say such measures would increase gas prices and put a financial burden on refineries. The EPA responded by claiming the restrictions would add less than a penny to the price of each gallon of gas. It also insisted the reduction in pollution would prevent as many as 2,400 deaths a year [...]
Obama reminds Congress of Sandy Hook
Today President Obama attempted to increase the pressure on Congress to reach an agreement aimed at reducing gun violence in the US. He appealed to the memory of the Sandy Hook elementary school massacre when 20 children, most of which were only 6 years old, and 6 adults were gunned down by 154 rounds of ammunition in less than 5 minutes.
“We need everybody to remember how we felt 100 days ago and make sure that what we said at [...]
Michele Bachmann under investigation for unethical campaign spending
Republican Minnesota Representative Michele Bachmann has come under suspicion from the Office of Congressional Ethics of unethical campaign spending. Federal investigators are currently interviewing her former campaign staff from her brief presidential campaign in 2012. One of her former staff members, Peter Waldron, filed a complaint accusing the congresswoman’s former campaign staff and super PAC of engaging in “improper transfer of funds and under-the-table payments actions by Bachmann’s presidential campaign, specifically in relation to the campaign’s national political director, Guy Short, and Bachmann’s onetime Iowa [...]
Senate gun control bill will not include assault weapons ban
A bill designed to address gun violence in the United States that is expected to go before the Senate after Easter will not be including a ban on assault weapons. Hardly anybody is surprised at this development. From the beginning very few were optimistic that the measure, sponsored by Senator Dianne Feinstein, would even make is as far as the Senate floor.
“Right now, her amendment, using the most optimistic numbers, has less than 40 votes. That’s not 60,” Senate [...]
New York state will raise its minimum wage to $9 per hour
New York governor Andrew Cuomo and state legislative leaders have reached an agreement to increase the New York state minimum wage to $9 per hour over the next three years.
“If this stays on track to get to $9, then workers all over the state are going to get a real raise, and that’s a good thing,” Michael Kink, the executive director of the Strong Economy for All Coalition said.
Republican members of the legislature were apprehensive, claiming a rise [...]
President Obama proposes using oil revenue to fund clean energy research
Speaking at Argonne National Laboratory, President Obama proposed an “Energy Security Trust Fund.” This fund would be meant to funnel $2 billion in new revenue from offshore oil drilling into funding for research into clean energy technology such as electrical car batteries, hydrogen fuel cells and cleaner biofuels. The idea was initially proposed by a group called Securing America’s Future Energy or SAFE.
“The reason so many different people – from the private sector, the public sector, our military – [...]
Senate Judiciary Committee votes to reinstate assault weapons ban
The Senate judiciary committee, by a vote of 10-8, has approved renewal of a national ban on assault weapons in the US. More specifically, the legislation would ban 157 kinds of semi-automatic weapons, guns that automatically reload, and large-capacity ammunition magazines carrying more than 10 rounds. It would not apply to guns that are already lawfully owned. The bill will now go to the Senate to be debated. If the narrow vote by which it was approved in the Senate judiciary committee [...]
Colorado proposes increased gun control
The Colorado State Senate has passed, by a slim margin, four out of five new pieces of legislation expanding gun control laws in the state. They include provisions such as mandatory universal background checks, requirements for gun buyers to pay for their own background checks, ban on gun ownership for those convicted of domestic-violence crimes, and requirements for applicants for concealed-carry permits to complete their training in person, instead of online.
A fifth bill banning sales of magazines with more than [...]