By Jay Sekulow
The left's outrage over the IRS turns to a plea to 'move on'
Independent voices from the TWT Communities
With no Republican objections, President Obama's pick to lead U.S. trade efforts abroad passed a key Senate committee vote Tuesday and could be confirmed by the full upper chamber as soon as next week.
A day before President Obama's pick to be the nation's top trade negotiator faces a Senate committee vote, Cayman Islands officials defended their banking system and the kinds of offshore investments that have gotten the trade nominee into some hot water on the road to confirmation.
President Obama's pick to be his top trade adviser told lawmakers Thursday that he would push for Congress to restore the administration's "fast-track" authority to negotiate free-trade pacts, as the administration gears up for major market-opening talks with the European Union and with Asia-Pacific nations.
The Senate immigration bill could nearly double the number of guest workers allowed into the U.S., according to a new analysis the Center for Immigration Studies is releasing Wednesday that says the jump is four times the increase of the last immigration bill in 2007.
Senior Republican senators on Thursday asked the Health and Human Services' inspector general to investigate Secretary Kathleen Sebelius' fundraising drive to promote the new health care law — a practice ethics specialists have said is anything from a legal stretch to a shakedown for cash.
You know you are a serious societal pestilence when even politicians can kick you around. Which is why the Senate Finance Committee called Steven Miller, former acting IRS commissioner, to testify about the agency's scheme targeting conservatives for tax punishment.
Democratic lawmakers on the Senate Finance Committee said Tuesday the IRS, while engaging in "unacceptable" targeting of conservative groups, may have been set up for failure by campaign finance law ambiguities that allowed tax-exempt groups to engage in partisan politics without disclosing their donors.
The Senate immigration bill cleared the Judiciary Committee on a bipartisan vote Tuesday night, ducking — for now — big fights on guns, gay rights and how broadly the legalization is drawn, and leaving the 867-page overhaul mostly unscathed by conservative attacks.
As the IRS scandal gains traction and a bipartisan chorus on Capitol Hill demands more answers, the man who headed the agency at the time it was targeting conservative groups will be on the hot seat twice this week.
The IRS singled out tea party and other conservative groups for "burdensome" scrutiny because of their politically charged names and delayed approving some applications for so long that the groups simply gave up, according to an official government audit, released Tuesday, that has the agency reeling.
Demonstrators demanded an overhaul of immigration laws Wednesday in an annual, nationwide ritual that carried a special sense of urgency as Congress considers sweeping legislation that would bring many of the estimated 11 million people living in the U.S. illegally out of the shadows.
Opponents of President Obama's health care law are eagerly scouring the paperwork insurers file with states, looking for early evidence of "rate shock" — rising prices ahead of full implementation of the state "exchanges" that begin next year.
The Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday approved President Obama's pick to lead the federal agency that runs Medicare and Medicaid, giving her a bipartisan boost amid the fiery debate over health care and entitlement spending.
Montana Sen. Max Baucus said Tuesday he won't seek a seventh term next year, saying he wants to spend the next year and a half on Capitol Hill focused on serving his constituents and chairing the powerful Senate Finance Committee without the distraction of running for re-election.
Two top Obama administration officials told Congress on Thursday that the president made significant concessions to Republicans when drafting the budget proposal he released this week, hoping to set the groundwork for a grand bargain.
"Now, I don't raise these issues to suggest that Mr. Froman has done something wrong or that he has not complied with our tax laws," Mr. Hatch said. "I believe he has. Instead, I simply want to point out what appears to be hypocrisy on the part of President Obama and his administration."
Cayman Islands bankers defend rules ahead of trade nominee vote →
"We're counting on you to be very energetic," Mr. Hatch said at last week's hearing.
