Senate Dems propose increasing IRS budget for targeting Conservatives and Tea Party Groups

Senate Democrats on Tuesday proposed increasing the budget of the Internal Revenue Service and other financial agencies next year. 

The IRS would get $12.07 billion in funding under the Financial Services subcommittee bill reported to the full Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday, an increase of $276.5 million.

House Republicans, in contrast, have suggested cutting the IRS's budget by 24 percent.

Senate Republicans are not happy with the funding level proposed by Democrats, and subcommittee ranking member Sen. Mike Johanns (R-Neb.) took the rare step of recording a “no” vote against the bill.

“Count the IRS among the winners in the bill despite the political targeting that appalled all of us and eroded the public’s trust,” Johanns said. 

The IRS has been embroiled in controversy since May, when the administration admitted the agency had improperly handled requests for tax-exempt status by conservative and Tea Party groups.

Subcommittee Chairman Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.), in his first markup in his new role, said the bill contains language to force the IRS to improve its management. He called the House cuts “counterproductive,” arguing they would lead to personnel cuts and result in lost tax revenue. 

In total, the Senate bill contains $23.2 billion in discretionary spending, an increase from the $21.4 billion enacted in 2013 before automatic spending cuts under the sequester went into effect.

The bill increases funding for the implementation of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) gets $110 million more and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) gets $353 million in additional funds.

The bill heads to full committee on Thursday.

Via: The Hill

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REPORT: WEINER WAS SEXTING WHILE PREPARING TO RUN FOR MAYOR

On Tuesday evening, Anthony Weiner, with his wife by his side, admitted to continuing to send lewd messages to women after he resigned from Congress. He assured the public however, that the behavior was "behind him now." According to Facebook messages from Weiner, publishedby RadarOnline, he was sexting with a woman in March of this year, while he was campaigning for Mayor. 

When exactly did the sexting get "behind him?" 

On March 16th, in an exchange with Weiner, a woman writes "Nice! Just what I'm looking for....I want to XXXX the future mayor of nyc!"

Weiner hadn't formally announced for Mayor at that time, but had conducted polling on the race and was reportedly considering making a run. On March 16th, the date of the message, FoxNews reported that Weiner was preparing for a mayoral race.  

RadarOnine has 23 pages of Facebook messages between Weiner and the woman. Some date back to 2010, indicating an on-line sexual relationship of at least three years.

Throughout his campaign for Mayor, Anthony Weiner has promised New Yorkers that he is a "very, very different man." He is in a way. He is much more lewd than we thought. 

Via: Breitbart

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Obama Rips GOP For "Endless Parade Of Distractions, Political Posturing And Phony Scandals"

Obama Decries ‘Phoney Scandals’ That ‘Distract’ From Economic Action: ‘This Needs To Stop’

During a major speech on the economy from Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois Wednesday,President Obama aimed some sharp criticism at Washington for “taking its eye off the ball” by succumbing to “an endless parade of distractions, political posturing and phony scandals.” He told the supportive audience in attendance: “I am here to say this needs to stop.”

The president lamented the “gridlock” in Congress in that has only “gotten worse” over the last six months. “If you ask some of these Republicans about their economic agenda, or how they’d strengthen the middle class, they’ll shift the topic to “out-of-control” government spending,” Obama said, “despite the fact that we have cut the deficit by nearly half as a share of the economy since I took office.” Or, even worse, they will bring up the “tried and true” boogeyman of Obamacare, “despite the fact that our businesses have created nearly twice as many jobs in this recovery as they had at the same point in the last recovery, when there was no Obamacare.”

“With an endless parade of distractions, political posturing and phony scandals,” Obama continued, alluding to the uproar from conservatives over the attack in Benghazi, the IRS targeting political groups and the DOJ subpoenaing reporters, “Washington has taken its eye off the ball. And I am here to say this needs to stop.” Instead, he said, “Our focus must be on the basic economic issues that the matter most to you – the people we represent.”

“Rebuilding our manufacturing base. Educating our workforce. Upgrading our transportation and information networks,” the president said to cheers from the crowd. “That’s what we need to be talking about. That’s what Washington needs to be focused on.”

Via: Mediaite

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High NPR Star Salaries Curb the Appeal of Small-Dollar Donations

The next time a public-radio station goes into pledge-drive mode and begs listeners to chip in $100 for those snazzy premiums like the Nina Totin'-Bag, it would be wonderful if, in the spirit of balance and fairness, they would read off some salary numbers for NPR stars. Do people on modest incomes really want to chip in $25 to make sure an anchor can take home $375,000?

Instead, pledge-drive announcers often plead that stations need donations to pay for program fees, not anchor salaries. Blogger and news-app developer Andy Boyle pored over a few IRS 990 forms and revealed some of the highest-paid public radio poobahs:

– Steve Inskeep, co-host of NPR’s “Morning Edition.” 2009-2010: $361, 093, base salary of $319,370. 2010-2011: $373,097, base salary of $334,560.

– Renee Montagne, co-host of NPR’s “Morning Edition.” 2009-2010: $357,037, base salary of $328,117. 2010-2011: $369,552, base salary of  $321,919.

– Michele Norris, former co-host of “All Things Considered.” 2009-2010: $298,360, base salary of $264,9009. No 2010-2011 numbers listed.

–  Robert Siegel, cohost of “All Things Considered.” 2009-2010: $362,687, with a base salary of $309,479. 2010-2011: $375,652, with a base salary of $321,860.

– Terry Gross, host of WHYY’s “Fresh Air,” broadcast on hundreds of NPR affiliates. 2009-2010: $254,933, base salary of $233,483. 2010-2011: $256,611, base salary of $233,483.

He also had numbers for the popular public-radio show "This American Life," heard on many NPR stations:

-- Ira Glass, host and producer of “This American Life.” 2009-2010: $171,224, base salary of $127,871. 2010-2011: $170,190, base salary of $148,782.

– Alex Blumberg, producer of “This American Life,” cohost of the Planet Money podcast. 2009-2010: $154,801, base salary of $123,220. 2010-2011: $201,734, base salary of $134,400.

– Julie Snyder, senior producer of “This American Life.” 2009-2010: Not listed. 2010-2011: $156,153, base salary of $146,175.

Boyle added this point on the anchor of the public-radio show Marketplace: "Couldn’t find Kai Ryssdal’s salary in updated 990s for American Public Media."

Via: Newsbusters

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‘Big Sis’ Napolitano Bad Choice for UC

With its 10 campuses, nearly 200,000 staff and $20 billion annual budget, the University of California system is emblematic of the state government that pays a portion of UC’s bills: enormous, unruly, overly expensive, steeped in politics, dominated by unions and other special-interest groups and plagued with controversy.

California voters in 2010 turned the reins of government over to Jerry Brown, who has — despite his whimsical rhetoric — governed as the ultimate status-quo politician, protecting the state bureaucracy from reform.

Likewise, the UC regents have decided to choose a status-quo candidate as president, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. Regent Sherry Lansing said in a statement that some might find Napolitano to be an “unconventional choice,” but that’s incorrect. Napolitano is as conventional a choice as you could make to run a large bureaucracy, even if she has no serious academic experience.

Based on her tenure in the federal government, she will be an advocate for higher spending, expanded unionization and more of everything that has undermined the university system.

Just when the UC system needed someone who might implement competitive reforms and focus on cost-cutting, the regents turn to a Washington insider more apt to keep federal funds flowing and student aid primed than to stretch the large budget already in place.

The University of California has been embroiled in many scandals in recent years. In one case, administrators enriched themselves, their friends and lovers, even as they were hiking tuition rates for students.

Via: California Political Review

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When will Jeffrey Zients return from South Africa?

Former Obama official held White House meeting with IRS officials during targeting scandal of Tea Party

Amid new revelations about the IRS targeting scandal, the Obama administration’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) said Tuesday that former OMB head Jeffrey Zients’ extended absence from the United States is due to a family vacation.

OMB’s statement came after The Daily Caller reported that former leader Jeffrey Zients met at the White House with key figures at the Internal Revenue Service just before news broke that the IRS was targeting conservative nonprofit groups for abusive audits and delays.

Zients has still not returned from an overseas trip that began after his departure from the Obama administration in April, two weeks before the IRS scandal broke. A White House source told The Daily Caller that Zients’ absence from the country has been noticeable and concerning.

Via: Daily Caller

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SPECIAL FORCES VETERANS, MEMBERS OF CONGRESS DEMAND SPECIAL BENGHAZI INVESTIGATION

Several members of Congress joined representatives of the special forces military veterans and grassroots organizations on Tuesday to launch an effort to force the House to have a thorough, public investigation into the terrorist attack at Benghazi, Libya, on Sept. 11, 2012.

Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) has introduced legislation to create a special select committee to investigate both the terrorist attack and subsequent actions by President Barack Obama’s administration and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s State Department. Wolf's bill has 161 co-sponsors. House GOP Leadership has not scheduled a vote on the bill. 

Rep. Steve Stockman (R-TX) plans to harness the support for Wolf's bill into a "discharge petition" that would force a floor vote on the bill. The petition would need to be signed by 218 members of the House. 

“I’m going to describe what a discharge petition is because a lot of people have asked me questions exactly what it is,” Stockman said at the Tuesday press conference outside the U.S. Capitol building. “It’s to ask our leadership or actually demand from our leadership that we have a vote on Frank Wolf’s bill. [Wolf is] a congressman from Virginia who has a long history of being here and is articulate in demanding that we have an independent investigation.”

Stockman added, while gesturing to blown up photographs behind him of the four Americans murdered in Benghazi, “if Congress is silenced,” then “the blood of these folks behind us is on our hands.”

“We can’t be silent any more,” he said. “It’s been a year going by that we haven’t had justice. These folks demand justice. They cry out for justice. Silence is not an option any more. We’re going to challenge them. We’re going to have a discharge petition. I encourage you to contact your congressman to sign the discharge petition.” 

Via: Breitbart

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