[VIDEO] IRS Mocks Lawmakers – Blows Off Congressional Request for Clinton Foundation Investigation

The IRS continued this week to prove it has become an armed extension of the Democratic Party.

The IRS sent an unsigned form letter to Congress in response to its request.

Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) said the disrespectful response was unacceptable.

Congressman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) today called into question the ability of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to appropriately respond to concerns being raised by the American people in regards to allegations surrounding the Clinton Foundation’s tax status.

Last month Blackburn was joined by 51 of her House colleagues in sending a letter to IRS Commissioner John Koskinen requesting a review of the Clinton Foundation’s tax-exempt status. Late Wednesday afternoon, Blackburn received an unsigned form letter addressed to “Sir or Madam” from the IRS in response to this request.

“The IRS response is not acceptable and lacking in the requisite tact that should accompany a Congressional inquiry. It is unbelievably disrespectful that Margaret Von Lienen couldn’t even take the few extra seconds needed to sign the letter. It begs the question – do they even take our request seriously? This is exactly why people don’t trust the IRS,”Blackburn said. “Members of Congress have an obligation to be responsive to the questions being raised by our constituents regarding these widely reported improprieties. 51 of my colleagues took the time to review this issue and joined me in sending the letter. We’d expect officials at the IRS, who also work for and are paid by the U.S. taxpayer, to take the same care and effort in crafting a response to our inquiry. The allegations swirling around the Clinton Foundation are very serious and raise issues of great public importance. They should be thoroughly vetted and we intend to continue our examination of the Foundation.”

Via Special Report:

Via: Gateway Pundit

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Rep. Marsha Blackburn: ‘I Will Take the Lead’ in Defunding Net Neutrality

(CNSNews.com) – Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) says she will “take the lead" in congressional efforts to defund the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC)  net neutrality order using the appropriations process.

Blackburn is the first member of Congress to publicly express her willingness to block implementation of the new FCC rule that reclassifies the Internet as a public utility.

“We know that President Obama’s plan to take over the Internet was written by liberal activists behind closed doors at the White House and will result in up to $11 billion in new fees and taxes for hard working Americans,” Blackburn said in a statement to CNSNews.com. “It will lead to regulatory uncertainty and be tied up in the court system for years, where the Administration is already 0-2 on this issue.

“The Internet has thrived with a light regulatory touch. Title II reclassification of the Internet is the regulatory nuclear option and will have disastrous consequences,” Blackburn concluded.

Blackburn, the vice chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, has been a vocal opponent of the Open Internet Order passed by the FCC in February that is set to go into effect June 12.  She also sits on the Energy and Commerce subcommittee tasked with devising an appropriations bill to fund the FCC.

This would not be the first time that the House has voted to defund net neutrality rules. The chamber voted to defund a previous incarnation of the rules in 2011, but ultimately had its efforts thwarted by Senate Democrats. However, that earlier version was later struck down by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in Verizon Communications Inc. v. FCC (2014).

The new version of the rules reclassify Internet providers as Title II utilities along the lines of telephone service providers and open Internet service up to new fees. Advocates say the rules will prevent Internet providers from blocking or throttling online traffic.

But FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai, who dissented from the agency’s 3-2 net neutrality decision, has repeatedly called on Congress to strip the FCC of funding for enforcement.

Pai said the rules could cause the FCC to become the “Department of the Internet,” giving it the power not only to impose new fees on Internet service but ultimately to regulate what consumers are allowed to view online.

Via: CNS News

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OBAMACARE TRANSPARENCY BILL SET FOR FRIDAY VOTE

Growing questions about President Barack Obama and Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius's mismanagement of the unpopularObamacare program have prompted a House vote this Friday on a pivotal bill that would provide greater transparency by requiring weekly HHS reports on the status of HealthCare.gov.

The Exchange Information Disclosure Act (H.R. 3362) would require Sebelius to regularly report the number of paying Obamacare enrollees, Healthcare.gov metrics, Medicaid enrollments, and basic demographic data to monitor Obamacare's problems and viability. Senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee Rep. Lee Terry(R-NE) authored the bill.

"This is about practicality, not politics," said Terry. "The American people have a right to know what's happening with their health care coverage."

Committee vice chairman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) agrees. "It's well past time the administration be transparent and upfront with the American people." 

Friday's vote on the measure comes as management experts, government watchdog groups, and members of Congress raise serious questions about Obamacare's calamitous implementation. Politico reported last week that several management experts blasted Obama and Sebelius for their lack of executive management and oversight during the three-and-a-half years leading up to Obamacare's disastrous unveiling. 

"No one asked you to write code or be a technical expert," Kellogg School of Management professor Daniel Diermeier told Politico, "but the expectation is you can set up a process. Companies do it every day." 

A Government Accountability Institute (GAI) report featured by Politico made headlines when it revealed that the official White House calendar and the Politico presidential calendar record a single one-on-one meeting between Obama and Sebelius in the over three-and-a-half years leading up to the Oct. 1 Obamacare launch.

Via: Breitbart

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MSNBC Anchor Asks GOP Congresswoman If She Hates Obamacare More Than She Loves America

MSNBC anchor Thomas Roberts and Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R., Tenn.) had a testy exchange Tuesday on MSNBC Live, starting with Roberts asking Blackburn a loaded question about whether she “hated Obamacare” more than she loved the country.

Roberts also continued to use Democratic talking point language, asking Blackburn if she thought it was inappropriate to take Americans “hostage” and push them over the cliff, similar to rhetoric used by President Obama and other Democratic leaders castigating Republicans over the shutdown.

Blackburn chastised him for his loaded questions.

“Listen to yourself,” she said. “Just listen to the way you’re sounding, my goodness. We didn’t want a government shutdown. We don’t want a government default. We in the House are continuing to work through this.”

THOMAS ROBERTS: Congressman, let me ask you, when it comes to Obamacare, do you hate Obamacare more than you love your country?

MARSHA BLACKBURN: I’ve got to tell you something. I think that comments like that that you are making are just incredibly inappropriate. What we have to realize –

ROBERTS: You don’t think it’s incredibly inappropriate to shut down our government and take all the hostages of Americans that you’ve taken? No, no, no, it’s not inappropriate because you’ve taken the government hostage through a shutdown and all the American people, you’re now walking them to a cliff, the economy, and you’re going to push them over one by one based on the fact that you don’t like the ACA. That’s all it is. You don’t like the Affordable Care Act.

BLACKBURN: Listen to yourself. Listen to yourself. We didn’t want a government shutdown. Just listen to the way you’re sounding, my goodness. We didn’t want a government shutdown. We don’t want a government default. We in the House are continuing to work through this.

Via: WFB

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