SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN WANTS OBAMA TO WALL-OFF 1 MILLION ACRES IN DESERT

U.S. Senator 

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)

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 asked President Barack Obama on Friday to bypass Congress and use the Antiquities Act of 1906 to create three new national monuments in the California desert.

The move  would extend federal protection over more than 1 million acres of mountain ranges, sandy expanses and forests running roughly between Palm Springs and the Nevada border.

Feinstein has argued that the area she wants designated as ‘Mojave Trails, Sand to Snow and Castle Mountains’ as a home to mountain lions, the California desert tortoise and bighorn sheep. But the real effort is to ban off-roaders, hunters and miners.

Section 3 required an “examination of ruins, the excavation of archaeological sites, or the gathering of objects of antiquity” on lands administered by the Departments of Interior, Agriculture, or War. The objects were then to be collected “for the benefit of reputable museums, universities, colleges, or other recognized scientific or educational institutions, with a view to increasing the knowledge of such objects.”

But over the next century, Presidents from both parties, beginning with Republican Theodore Roosevelt, took advantage of the law to restrict private economic opportunity and take overrule state control. Republicans from a number of states consider the law to be outdated and are pushing for bills that would curtail Presidential authority.

President Barack Obama in February of this year proclaimed Pullman Historic District of Chicago, Browns Canyon in Colorado, and a former Honouliuli Internment Camp site in Hawaii as national monuments under the Antiquities Act. Congressional Republicans from Colorado reacted harshly to the designation of Browns Canyon, with onerepresentative saying Obama was acting like “King Barack.”

Although the act specifically directs the President to limit the designation to the “smallest area compatible with proper care and management of the objects to be protected,” Yet, 16 Presidents have designated more than over 150 monuments. Beginning in 1906, Devils Tower in Wyoming became the first national monument. Other iconic monuments include the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, the Channel Islands and the Arches National Park.

President George W. Bush used the Antiquities Act five times and President Bill Clinton used it 19 times. But of the 285 million acres of land and marine areas designated as monuments, President Obama used his powers under the Antiquities Act to set aside 260 million acres of land and water.

Via: Breitbart

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States Using Obamacare Dollars to Fill Budget Holes Instead of to Fund Child Health Programs

In March 2010, while the details of Obamacare were still being hammered out, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Cali.) famously declared to a frustrated and bewildered American public, “But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it away from the fog of the controversy.”

Congress did pass Obamacare, and citizens and states have steadily been finding out what’s actually in the legislation ever since.

One of the recent “finds” includes a provision that will shift to the federal government a significant amount of the financial burden previously placed on states for the funding of the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

CHIP, formerly called the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, was created as part of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 to help states provide insurance for children in low-income households who are not eligible for Medicaid. According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, an estimated 8.1 million children were enrolled in CHIP in fiscal year 2014.

To help offset the expected growing costs of Obamacare to the states, legislators included a provision in Obamacare that shifts all or nearly all of the CHIP burden to the federal government, beginning this year.Sarah Ferris reports in The Hill that under Obamacare, states will not pay more than 12 percent of CHIP expenses, and 11 states plus Washington, D.C. will not contribute anything. In previous years, federal contributions to CHIP amounted to 65–83 percent.

Shifting the CHIP burden to the federal government could free up as much as $6 billion for states over two years. Special-interest groups and advocacy organizations say the increased federal funding should only be used to improve CHIP, but instead of expanding or shoring up CHIP programs, many states are choosing to use those dollars to help fill budget holes completely unrelated to health care.

Via: The Blaze

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Obama Weekly Address, Saturday August 22, 2015

Weekly Address: It’s Time for Congress To Pass a Responsible Budget

WASHINGTON, DC — In this week's address, the President spoke to the economic progress that our country has made, from 13 million new jobs created over the past five and a half years, to 17 states raising the minimum wage. Congress needs to do its part to continue to help grow the economy, but instead left town last month with a great deal undone. Congress failed to reauthorize the Ex-Im Bank, which enjoys bipartisan support and is tasked solely with creating American jobs by growing exports. And most pressingly, the Republican Congress failed to uphold their most basic responsibility to fund the government, leaving them only a few weeks once they return to pass a budget, or shut down the government for the second time in two years. The President made clear that Congress needs to get to work on behalf of the American people and reach a budget agreement that relieves the harmful sequester cuts and keeps our economy growing

The Biggest Congressional Scandals in History

The sheer number of scandals in American politics is staggering. From the White House to local office, no branch of government is immune.

Congress in particular has one of the most colorful histories when it comes to political scandals. In fact, Congress has been dealing with scandals and corruption since its very inception.

With that in mind, InsideGov looked back at some of the largest congressional scandals in U.S. history. This list is by no means comprehensive, but it does give an overview of some of the biggest controversies to rock D.C.

Via: Inside Gov

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Poll: 23% of Americans View Boehner Favorably; 22% View McConnell Favorably

CNSNews.com) – A new Gallup poll on Congress and its leaders shows that only 23% of Americans view House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) favorably, and only 22% view his Senate counterpart, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) favorably.

Gallup further reports that Boehner’s ranking is similar to that of then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in October 2010, when only 26% of Americans viewed her favorably. Also, for then-Senate Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) in October 2014, he was viewed favorably by only 21% of Americans.

When looking specifically at Republicans, Gallup found that only 37% had a favorable view of Boehner, and only 34% had a favorable view of McConnell.

Boehner has been the Speaker of the House of Representatives since January 2011. McConnell became the Senate Majority Leader in January of this year.

Via: CNS News

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House Spending Review: Do Members Need Accounting Lessons?

If rules change after Schock, how will members get up to speed?  (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call File Photo

)When Rep. Scott Rigell came to Congress in 2011, he wore two phones on his hip. One was government-issued for official use; the other was a personal phone.

The official handbook for House members lists bills for telecommunications devices and services as one of 15 advance payments that can be cut from the more than $1 million each member is allotted to run Capitol Hill and district offices. But additional rules govern where, when and how those cellphones and tablets can be used, depending on the purpose and who pays.

The Virginia Republican’s election to the House was the former auto dealer’s first political position, other than a four-year stint on a state motor-vehicle dealer board. And he was determined to abide by the laws governing official resources — a set of rules and procedures under scrutiny in the wake of Illinois Republican Aaron Schock’s resignation.

A congressional colleague, spotting the two-phone arrangement, eventually told him, “Oh, Scott, I don’t do any of that,” Rigell said in a recent interview. “I just pay for the personal only, and I’m able to make my personal calls and my campaign calls and everything else,” the friend explained.

“We checked into that and found that was all right to do, so I actually go down that path,” Rigell said. “I just pay for it, actually personally, not even through the campaign.”

Members still need to be mindful of their telecom usage, though.

In August 2014, the House Ethics Committee offered some guidance, stating in a memo, “You may wish to designate a regular time outside of official time when you will not be in an official building to check campaign email and voice mail.”

And it’s not simply use of electronic devices members need to be cognizant of.

Circumstances surrounding Schock’s downfall led the House Administration Committee to launch a review of the rules and procedures governing how members seek reimbursement for official expenses incurred while representing their districts. The day-to-day responsibility for managing the account in accordance with those rules lies with the member. It often involves navigating the blurry lines between holding office and campaigning for one.

Reps. Rodney Davis, R-Ill., and Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., have met with key staff for House Chief Administrative Officer Ed Cassidy, including employees who work in the Office of Financial Counseling. They process, on average, more than 4,000 expenses each week.

The panel also interviewed chiefs of staff and financial administrators who prepare vouchers and receipts for purchases in each member’s office. According to a letter Lofgren sent to her colleagues, obtained by Roll Call, they are seeking feedback on the level of training employees have available from the House Ethics Committee staff and the support provided by administrative staff.

But Rigell and Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I., see one glaring problem with that approach: The panel’s review does not appear to address the lack of annual ethics training for House members, effectively the CEOs of each office.

“If you had 535 executives of a company, a larger, privately held company, you wouldn’t expect to find as high of a percentage as we’ve experienced in Congress having real ethics difficulty,” Rigell said, pointing to members such as Schock and others who have had “bumpier rides,” but survived.

“If you look at the world’s best-run companies, for profits and nonprofits, they will have four hours of mandatory ethics training, maybe two hours, and they don’t make any apology about it,” he added.

Since last Congress, the bipartisan pair has been pushing for a measure that would mandate members of the House undergo the same hourlong annual ethics training that senators and Hill staffers must complete. It has 44 co-sponsors — 26 co-sponsors were added the day Schock announced his exit. But it appears to be a stretch for House leadership to push for mandatory training.

“This is one of many examples where changes in policies or changes in procedures would be an important occasion to provide ethics training to folks, to let them know about this change in procedures,” Cicilline said.

A change adopted in January required the 58 members of the 114th Congress’ freshman class to undergo the same one-hour ethics training that is required for new House staff. But they are only trained once — “de minimus,” Rigell said — not on an annual basis, as his bill would require.

The House embarked on an effort to overhaul its administrative operations in December 1994, under the direction of Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., and his transition team. Under that system, all 435 member offices, 20 standing committees and various leadership offices became a collection of independent business units with individual budgets and staff. In 1996, expense accounts were consolidated into one lump sum, known as the Members’ Representational Allowance.

Working for Georgia Republican John Linder at the time the new system took effect, Rep. Rob Woodall, R-Ga., agreed House staff took on more responsibility for proper accounting. Woodall, who rose to chief of staff before campaigning for Congress in 2010, praised the system for its clarity.

“I can’t think of a special burden it puts on members because, you know, if you’re the chief of staff or if you’re the office manager, there’s no reason to be worried about anything,” Woodall said. “If it looks gray to you, you call somebody [and] they’ll put it in black or white, and you just move on.”

It became harder to see how exactly members were spending that money after July 2009, when the House began posting its spending books online. For example, airline ticket purchases generally reported the name of the traveler and the destination. But after the change, the Office of the Chief Administrative Officer scrubbed the data to remove these details.

Davis, who helped manage office expenses for 16 years as an aide to Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill., said it may be better for the transparency of the entire financial process to go back to earlier procedures.

“The issue that came up in our initial meetings with fellow members and with chiefs of staff was inconsistent advice from the House Administration Committee not being in conjunction with the Ethics Committee advice,” Davis told CQ Roll Call, explaining that lawmakers who lead both panels were part of the review.

“Hopefully we’ll be able to get a process in place so that there’s a consistent message,” he said. Joint “pink sheets,” generally the term for guidance memos from the Ethics Committee, could be in the works. Davis was noncommittal when asked if mandatory ethics training is on the table.

Before Congress, Rigell built his businessman reputation as the owner of Freedom Automotive, operating Ford and Volvo dealerships in Virginia’s 2nd District. For new employee orientation and annual training at his company, Rigell would have his team imagine a visit from Ford’s manufacturer warranty audit team, or another oversight body.

“If they all coincidentally showed up in the showroom one day and started taking employees off to different corners and asking them how they run our business, I said, ‘I don’t want my heart rate to go up one beat per minute, because I know that to the best of our ability we are in full compliance.'”

Rigell says that is how he tries to run his congressional office.

“I think the track record of Congress speaks for itself,” he said. “I think it’s self-evident that we need annual training. That’s how I see it.”

Via: Roll Call

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Lerner Rages Against 'Evil and Dishonest' Republicans, Will Nets Report?

Lois Lerner’s utter contempt for Republicans was on full display in a newly uncovered email in which she railed: “They called me back to testify on the IRS ‘scandal,’ and I too[k] the 5th again because they had been so evil and dishonest in my lawyer’s dealings with them.”

The question has to be asked, will Lerner’s use of such inflammatory language be enough to wake the Big Three (ABC, CBS, NBC) network evening and morning shows out of their IRS scandal coverage slumber? 

So far, they have yet to report on any of the recent IRS scandal revelations such as Lerner setting her sights on Bristol Palin, her glee when she found out instant messaging emails were not automatically archived, and the IRS’s targeting of donors to conservative organizations.

On Thursday, Politico’s Katy O’Donnell, in article headlined “Lerner Slammed ‘evil and dishonest’ GOP Inquisitors,” reported on a “Politico examination of thousands of pages of emails and other material recently released by the Senate Finance Committee” that uncovered  particularly spiteful emails Lerner had sent to a friend:

When she was under investigation by Congress, she offered a blistering critique of her inquisitors. In a March 6, 2014, email, Lerner told a friend: “They called me back to testify on the IRS ‘scandal,’ and I too[k] the 5th again because they had been so evil and dishonest in my lawyer’s dealings with them.”

In June 2014, Lerner told the same friend that an unflattering picture of her appearing before Congress kept surfacing because “it serves their purposes of hate mongering to continue to use those images. I was never a political person — this whole fiasco has only made me lose all respect [for] politics and politicians. I am merely a pawn in their game to take over the Senate.”

These emails come on the heels of new evidence that Lerner’s IRS was holding up approval of conservative groups. 

On August 11, Americans for Tax Reform’s Alexander Hendrie reported that Lerner’s IRS granted only one conservative group non-profit status in three years:

Lois Lerner’s political beliefs led to tea party and conservative groups receiving disparate and unfair treatment when applying for non-profit status, according to a detailed report compiled by the Senate Finance Committee.

Because of Lerner’s bias, only one conservative political advocacy organization was granted tax exempt status over a period of more than three years:

“Due to the circuitous process implemented by Lerner, only one conservative political advocacy organization was granted tax-exempt status between February 2009 and May 2012. Lerner’s bias against these applicants unquestionably led to these delays, and is particularly evident when compared to the IRS’s treatment of other applications, discussed immediately below.”

As the report notes, Lois Lerner became aware in April or May of 2010 that the IRS Exempt Organizations (EO) division had begun receiving a high number of applications from Tea Party organizations. But as the backlog of applicants increased, Lerner added “more layers of review and raised hurdles for applicants to clear.”

Via: Newsbusters

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Obama Admin Threatens Alabama and Louisiana After They De-Fund Planned Parenthood

According to the Medicaid provider contract between DHH and Planned Parenthood, along with relevant Louisiana law, either party can choose to cancel the contract at will after providing written notice.

The Obama administration is threatening two states after they made the decision to cut funding to the Planned Parenthood abortion business in the wake of a series of videos exposing how Planned Parenthood sells aborted babies and their body parts.

Alabama became the third state to de-fund the Planned Parenthood abortion business in the wake of five videos exposing how the abortion giant sells the body parts of aborted babies for research. The state followed Louisiana, which is revoking a contract with Planned Parenthood using state Medicaid dollars, and New Hampshire, which zapped $650,000 in state taxpayer funding.

In Alabama, Governor Robert Bentley sent a letter to the head of the Planned Parenthood abortion business in Alabama notifying it of his decision. In Louisiana, the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals informed Planned Parenthood it is exercising its right to terminate Planned Parenthood’s Medicaid provider agreement.

According to the Medicaid provider contract between DHH and Planned Parenthood, along with relevant Louisiana law, either party can choose to cancel the contract at will after providing written notice.

SIGN THE PETITION! Congress Must De-Fund Planned Parenthood Immediately

But the Obama administration wrote threatening letters to each state claiming their move to de-fund Planned Parenthood violates federal law. As The Hill reports:

But the White House points out that federal law says Medicaid beneficiaries may obtain services from any qualified provider and that cutting Planned Parenthood out of the program restricts that choice.

The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicare Services (CMS) has contacted Louisiana and Alabama about the issue.

“CMS has notified states who have taken action to terminate their Medicaid provider agreements with Planned Parenthood that they may be in conflict with federal law,” Department of Health and Human Services spokesman Ben Wakana said in a statement.

“Longstanding Medicaid laws prohibit states from restricting individuals who have coverage through Medicaid from receiving care from a qualified provider,” he said. “By restricting which provider a woman could choose to receive care from, women could lose access to critical preventive care, such as cancer screenings.”

But Louisiana is not backing down.

When Louisiana cut Planned Parenthood fnuding Jindal’s office said, “Governor Jindal and DHH decided to give the required 30-day notice to terminate the Planned Parenthood Medicaid provider contract because Planned Parenthood does not represent the values of the State of Louisiana in regards to respecting human life. Pending the ongoing investigation, DHH reserves the right to amend the cancellation notice and terminate the provider agreement immediately should cause be determined.”

The governor said the state health department has “concerns that Planned Parenthood could be acting in violation of Louisiana law that states no person or group contracting with the state or receiving government assistance shall require or recommend that any woman have an abortion.  The state investigation into Planned Parenthood remains ongoing.”

SIGN THE PETITION! Congress Must Investigate Planned Parenthood for Selling Aborted Baby Parts

The Hill reports that, “Mike Reed, a spokesman for Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R), indicated the state and its Department of Health and Hospitals (DHH) are standing by its decision.”

He cited a provision in the state Medicaid contract allowing either party to cancel it at will, with 30 days notice.

“CMS reached out to DHH after we canceled the Medicaid provider contract with Planned Parenthood,” Reed said. “DHH explained to CMS why the state chose to exercise our right to cancel the contract without cause.”

The abortion giant praised the Obama administration saying it will “do everything in our power to protect women’s access to health care in all fifty states.”

Via: Life News

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150 Days: Treasury Says Debt Has Been Frozen at $18,112,975,000,000

                      The U.S. Treasury building in October 2013 (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

(CNSNews.com) - The portion of the federal debt that is subject to a legal limit set by Congress closed Monday, August 10, at $18,112,975,000,000, according to the latest Daily Treasury Statement, which was published at 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday.

That, according to the Treasury's statements, makes 150 straight days the debt subject to the limit has been frozen at $18,112,975,000,000.

$18,112,975,000,000 is about $25 million below the current legal debt limit of $18,113,000,080,959.35.

On July 30, Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew sent a letter to the leaders of Congress informing them that he was extending a “debt issuance suspension period” through October 30.

In practice, that means that unless Congress enacts new legislation to increase the limit on the federal debt before then, the Treasury will continue for at least the next eleven weeks to issue Daily Treasury Statements that show the federal debt subject to the limit beginning and ending each day frozen just below that limit.

The Daily Treasury Statement for March 13 was the first to show the debt subject to the limit closing the day at $18,112,975,000,000. Every Daily Treasury Statement since then has reported the same thing: the debt closing the day at $18,112,975,000,000.

Every Daily Treasury Statement since Monday, March 16, has also reported the debt beginning and ending each day at $18,112,975,000,000.

Table III-C of the Daily Treasury Statement for Aug. 10, 2015--shown here in a screen capture--says that the federal debt subject to a legal limit set by Congress began the month of August at 18,112,975,000,000 and that it began the day of Aug. 10 at 18,112,975,000,000 and that it closed the day of Aug. 10 at 18,112,975,000,000.

Table III-C on the Daily Treasury Statement for August 10 says the debt began the month of August at $18,112,975,000,000, began the day of August 10 at $18,112,975,000,000, and closed the day of August 10 at $18,112,975,000,000.

On March 13, Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew sent an initial letter to House Speaker John Boehner and other congressional leaders informing them that he was planning to declare a “debt issuance suspension period.”

“Beginning on Monday, March 16, the outstanding debt of the United States will be at the statutory limit,” Lew said in that letter. “In anticipation of reaching that date, Treasury has suspended until further notice the issue of State and Local Government Series securities, which count against the debt limit.”

On July 29, Lew sent another letter to the leaders of Congress informing them: “I expect to extend the debt issuance suspension period through October 30.”

Lew explained that he believed the Treasury would be able to continue using “extraordinary measures” to keep the debt from exceeding the limit through at least the end of October.

“The effective duration of the extraordinary measures is subject to considerable uncertainty due to a variety of factors, including the unpredictability of September tax receipts and the normal challenges of forecasting the payments and receipts of the U.S. government months into the future,” Lew told the congressional leaders.

“Given this unavoidable uncertainty, Treasury is not able to provide a specific estimate of how long the extraordinary measures will last,” Lew said. “Nonetheless, we believe that the measures will not be exhausted before late October, and it is likely that they will last for at least a brief additional period of time.”

The next day, July 30, Lew did in fact send a notice to the congressional leaders saying: “I have determined that a ‘debt issuance suspension,’ previously determined to last until July 30, 2015, will continue through October 30, 2015.”

In his March 13 letter, Lew explained some steps the Treasury would take during the debt issuance suspension period.

“Because Congress has not yet acted to raise the debt limit,” Lew said in that letter, “the Treasury Department will have to employ further extraordinary measures to continue to finance the government on a temporary basis. Therefore, beginning on March 16, I plan to declare a ‘debt issuance suspension period’ with respect to investment of the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund and also suspend the daily reinvestment of Treasury securities held by the Government Securities Investment Fund and the Federal Employees’ Retirement System Thrift Savings Plan.”

Lew informed Boehner that these same actions had been taken “during previous debt limit impasses.”

For example, as CNSNews.com reported, when Secretary Lew declared a debt issuance suspension period in 2013, the Treasury reported the debt subject to the limit was frozen at $16,699,396,000,000 for 150 days, running from mid-May to mid-October of that year.

The Treasury has also posted Frequently Asked Question sheets that explain the actions the Treasury takes during a “debt issuance suspension period” and their statutory basis. The Congressional Research Service has also explained it.

“Under current law, if the Secretary of the Treasury determines that the issuance of obligations of the United States may not be made without exceeding the debt limit, a ‘debt issuance suspension period’ may be determined,” the Congressional Research Service said in a report published on March 27. “This determination gives the Treasury the authority to suspend investments in the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Trust Fund, Postal Service Retiree Health Benefit Fund, and the Government Securities Investment Fund (G-Fund) of the Federal Thrift Savings Plan.

“In addition,” said CRS, “this gives Treasury the authority to prematurely redeem securities held by the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Trust Fund and Postal Service Retiree Health Benefit Fund.”

"The total federal debt consists of debt held by the public and intragovernmental debt," the CRS said inanother report published in 2011. "Debt owed to the public represents borrowing from entities other than the federal government, and includes borrowing from state and local governments, the Federal Reserve System, and foreign central banks, as well as private investors in the United States.

"Intragovernmental debt," said CRS, "consists in debt owed by one part of the federal government to another, which are mostly held in trust funds."

The net effect of the Treasury’s actions is that although the publicly held debt of the government continues to fluctuate--as the Treasury redeems maturing debt held by the public and issues new debt held by the public—the overall debt subject to the limit set by Congress closes each business day at $18,112,975,000,000.

Back on March 13, the debt held by the public was $13,083,880,000,000 and the intragovernmental debt was $5,068,578,000,000 according to the Daily Treasury Statement. By the close of business on August 10, also according to the Daily Treasury Statement, the debt held by the public had increased by $37,043,000,000 to $13,120,923,000,000, and the intragovernmental debt had decreased by $38,260,000,000 to $5,030,318,000,000.

But on every business day from March 13 through August 10 the Treasury reported that the federal debt subject to the legal limit set by Congress closed the day at $18,112,975,000,000.

Via: CNS News

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Tax issue dogs Democrat Melissa Gilbert in new bid for Congress - owes IRS $360,000

Howell — Actress Melissa Gilbert, the "Little House on the Prairie" star whose move to Howell two years ago brought a dash of Hollywood glamour to Livingston County, is more than a half pint short on her federal taxes.

The Internal Revenue Service recently accused her of failing to pay more than $360,000 in federal income taxes, a debt that is emerging one week after Gilbert announced she and her family are moving out of their rented home near downtown Howell.

Gilbert, 51, blamed the tax debt on a stalled acting career, the economy and divorce.

"Like so many people across the nation, the recession hit me hard," Gilbert said in a statement to The Detroit News. "That, plus a divorce and a dearth of acting opportunities the last few years, created a perfect storm of financial difficulty for me."

Gilbert, along with husband and fellow actor Timothy Busfield and two younger boys, are moving into a log house in an unspecified part of Livingston County, or as she wrote in a tweet last week "our own Little House in the Big Woods."

Her husband said the move from Howell is unrelated to the tax debt.

"(The debt) has more to do with the housing crash and divorce in the past," Busfield told The News. "It's a product of what happened with the economy. It's unfortunate and it's been happening a lot. It's not a big deal."

Gilbert said she has negotiated a payment plan with the IRS.

"I've set up an installment plan to fully pay off my debt and will continue to work as hard as I can to erase this debt and dig myself out of this hole," she said. "I am absolutely positive that I can do it."

Gilbert and East Lansing native Busfield — known for television roles in "thirtysomething" and "West Wing" and in the films "Revenge of the Nerds" and "Field of Dreams" — moved to Michigan about three months after they were married in April 2013.

Gilbert has a history of tax problems that followed her from California to Michigan. The state of California has filed $112,527 worth of tax liens against her since 2013.

A tax lien gives the government a legal claim to all of Gilbert's property, everything from vehicles to homes and income.

The IRS filed a $360,551 tax lien against Gilbert on Feb. 3. She owes federal income taxes from 2011, 2012 and 2013, according to the lien, which is filed with the Livingston County Register of Deeds.

According to the IRS, Gilbert owes $219,989 in income taxes from 2011. She owes $99,405 from 2012 — the year she appeared on "Dancing With the Stars" — and $41,157 in taxes from 2013, according to the tax lien.

Gilbert went through a period of change during the three years covered by the tax lien. She filed for divorce from Bruce Boxleitner in 2011 and competed on "Dancing With the Stars" the next year.

Since she and Busfield arrived in Michigan, they have rented a three-bedroom, 2,000-square-foot Victorian home built in 1890 and located two blocks from downtown Howell.

"Oh, my God, they're great," landlord and property owner Brenda Korth said. "It's been fine. It's been fun."

Korth rented the home to Gilbert, thinking the Hollywood couple would stay for one year.

"It turned into two years and that was fine but I'm really ready to move home," the General Motors environmental engineer told The News.

"If they've been having financial problems, that's not known to me," she added. "The rent's always been paid on time. They've been great tenants."

Gilbert and her husband are kind, she said, and have been welcomed by people in Howell.

"I'm so glad they're in town; everybody has been excited about it," Korth said.

Gilbert did not explain what prompted the pending move out of Howell.

"We are moving but we are not leaving," Gilbert tweeted Friday in response to a well-wisher. "We will be around. We love Howell. We love Livingston Co."

While in Michigan, Gilbert has written a cookbook called "My Prairie Cookbook," inspired by the voracious but picky eating habits of her sons. She has done at least one book signing in Livingston County.

The couple also has continued to pursue acting and directing careers. The couple guest starred on a late April episode of the NBC series "The Night Shift" that Busfield also directed.

In January, Gilbert participated in a charity fundraiser in Howell for Yatooma's Foundation For the Kids, a charity that raises money for children who have lost a parent.

"We're thrilled she's here," Bloomfield Hills lawyer Norman Yatooma said. "She's every bit the class act in person that her fans have come to love from the comfort of their couches."

rsnell@detroitnews.com

Via: The Detroit News

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