By Rand Paul
Obama acts as though we no longer have a Constitution
Independent voices from the TWT Communities
House Republicans voiced displeasure with their leaders in a closed-door meeting Wednesday after some conservatives were kicked off plum committees this week in retaliation for bucking party leadership on big votes — and were met with warnings that others still could be punished.
Washington is abuzz over whether House Speaker John A. Boehner is purging conservatives from positions of power within his caucus. In a closed-door meeting Monday, Republican leaders stripped plum committee assignments from four outspoken advocates of limited government.
The House Ethics Committee officially exonerated Rep. Maxine Waters, California Democrat, in a 3-year-old conflict-of-interest case involving her work on behalf of minority-owned banks despite her husband's financial stake in one of them.
The House Ethics committee has cleared Rep. Maxine Waters, a Democrat from California, of any wrongdoing in a 3-year-old, conflict-of-interest case involving her work on behalf of minority-owned banks during the height of the economic crisis even though her husband had a financial stake in one of them.
California Democratic congresswoman Maxine Waters will not be charged with ethics violations.
The former Countrywide Financial Corp., whose subprime loans helped start the nation's foreclosure crisis, made hundreds of discount loans to buy influence with members of Congress, congressional staff, top government officials and executives of troubled mortgage giant Fannie Mae, according to a House report.
America's $15.7 trillion national debt continues to grow at an alarming rate. Though most economists agree we're on an unsustainable path, the president and his allies in the Democratic Senate have done nothing about it. They hope to return to their old ways of borrowing trillions without making dollar-for-dollar cuts. Congressional Republicans are trying to impose a bit of discipline.
Congressional Republicans are greeting the one-year anniversary of President Obama's financial overhaul law by trying to weaken it, nibble by nibble.
The House Democratic Caucus on Thursday picked its leaders for five committees for the 112th Congress, which will convene in January with the party in the House minority for the first time in four years.
After being entirely shut out of New England in 2008, House Republicans are making the traditionally liberal region competitive this year — so much so that liberal icon Rep. Barney Frank is facing his strongest challenge in years and had to call former President Bill Clinton in to stump for him on the campaign trail.
Acting on a tip, a congressional ethics office wants lobbyists to turn over fundraising information on eight House members, six of them on the Financial Services Committee that worked to overhaul the nation's financial regulations.
House Democrats bring to the floor today a plan to stanch the home foreclosure crisis with measures that include government-backed mortgage refinancing and money for states to buy derelict homes, but Republicans say the $2.7 billion bill is nothing more than a "bailout scheme."
PRESIDENT BUSH
PRESIDENT BUSH
