President Obama sought Wednesday to reassure Democrats nervous about the impact of his health care law and the prospects for immigration legislation, telling them “You’re on the right side of history.” In the first of two closed-door meetings on Capitol Hill, Obama focused on financial gains as the economy emerges from the worst downturn since the Depression. He was warned about nominating former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers as chairman of the Federal Reserve and faced questions about his health care law. Some lawmakers complained that three years after its passage, the law still baffles many Americans.
Tag Archives: Capitol Hill
Obama’s Secret Meeting To Screw Conservatives
Recently, IRS official William Wilkins has been implicated in the IRS scandal that targeted Obama’s political opponents. And Capitol Hill Daily has now learned he may have personally discussed his actions with President Obama – just days before Wilkins’ office released new procedures for how the IRS reviews conservative groups.
White House visitor logs confirm that a “William Wilkins” was at the White House on April 23, 2012, specifically to meet with Obama. Was it the same Wilkins? Unfortunately, everyone who can answer that question is hiding behind a lawyer.
Regardless, it’s now clear that directions were given to the IRS officials in Cincinnati from the highest levels of government to target perceived opponents of President Obama. This was no low-level operation. All of the testimony points up the chain of command.
This is a gross violation of the IRS rules intended to keep the agency above or outside of politics. The IRS should never be involved in promoting partisan politics.
If this was an isolated scandal, one might forgive the agency. But this is only one of multiple scandals that show the agency has become a nest of corruption.
A Laundry List of Scandals
Where to begin?
The IRS is giving incarcerated criminals who submit fraudulent returns tens of millions of dollars in refunds. These are dollars that felons aren’t eligible to receive. The fraud figure increases every year, and at last tally, the IRS dealt north of $35 million to crooks, according to a federal audit.
The IRS also gave one million noncitizens, most in the United States illegally, approximately $9 billion in tax credits – even though they didn’t provide valid Social Security numbers on their tax returns.
The IRS also handed out $33 million in bogus electric car credits.
Recently, two dozen IRS employees were charged with stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars in government welfare, including food stamps and housing vouchers. The scheme fleeced U.S. taxpayers out of at least a quarter of a million dollars, according to federal prosecutors on the case.
Another scary prospect is the empowerment of the IRS as part of Obamacare. The IRS will be the go-to agency for enforcing the fines on Americans who don’t buy the expensive, mandated health insurance plans.
As the abuses multiply, it’s time to seriously consider the only real fix.
A Clear Solution
The fix that will end this pattern of scandals is total abolition of the IRS.
And I’m happy to report a movement is building on Capitol Hill to actually abolish the IRS. You see, only abolition can protect us from an agency which has become bathed in scandal.
Abolishing the agency would be easier than most understand. All Congress would have to do is simplify the tax system. With a changed system, we could end the aggressive, highly discretionary and unfair targeting by the IRS. Either a flat tax or a national consumption tax would allow the agency to be eliminated while improving compliance and increase revenues.
Several members of Congress have taken up the battle and called …read more
My Houzz: Light and Airy 1920s Seattle Apartment (13 photos)
Betsy Greenman said goodbye to her must-have list the moment she laid eyes on a gorgeous Craftsman-style apartment in Seattle’s coveted Capitol Hill neighborhood. “I wanted a garage, a security building, an outside deck, in-unit laundry and something light and airy,” she says. “Everything except light…
Source: houzz
University Of Florida Students’ Lobbying Firm Helps Put Issues In Front Of Congress
By The Huffington Post News Editors
WASHINGTON — When students have wanted to make their voices heard on Capitol Hill, traditionally they’ve delivered petitions to Congress, organized a rally or started a grassroots advocacy campaign. But the University of Florida’s student government is trying to get lawmakers’ attention by means more often available only to big industries — by hiring a federal lobbyist.
The students at UF hired Cardenas Partners in 2012, and pay $1,500 a month to reach out to lawmakers about interest rates on student loans, Pell Grants, education benefits for veterans and STEM visas.
Christina Bonarrigo, student government president, said having a lobbyist to represent their interests has enhanced their influence in Washington, particularly on the issue of student aid.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Huffington Post
‘It’s Brutal’: Refugee crisis mounts as Obama administration weighs Syria options
More than a month after President Obama called for arming the Syrian opposition, a key committee has given a tentative green light to the effort. But the Capitol Hill victory surely will be tempered by the reality on the ground — not only is the Assad regime seen to be gaining, but the stream of refugees from the war-torn country is at crisis level.
US Plan to Arm Syria Rebels Gets a Boost
By Matt Cantor
Last month, the White House said it planned to arm Syrian rebels —but members of Congress haven’t been thrilled with the idea. Now, however, Capitol Hill seems to be coming around, Reuters reports. Despite “strong reservations … We got a consensus that we could move forward with what the administration’s plans,… …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Newser – Home
Rubio Didn’t Know His Own Bill Allows Someone To Forge 2 Passports Before It’s A Crime
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.)–a Republican member of the bipartisan “Gang of Eight” who co-sponsored the Senate immigration bill and was one of 14 Republicans who ultimately voted for it–was unaware that his own bill allows a person to forge up to two passports without penalty.
“Under the Senate immigration bill, how many passports can someone forge before it becomes a crime?” CNSNews.com asked Rubio Thursday on Capitol Hill.
“How many–you can’t forge any passports,” Rubio replied. ”That’s a federal crime now.”
CNSNews.com: “It’s actually a part of the bill that it’s up, that you can do two, and three and on it’s a crime. Why would that be a part of it?”
Rubio: “Well, first of all, I think what you’re talking about is the way the law is described vis-a-vis, umm, waivers that people can get. And as I said, I mean, there are elements of that bill that continue to be, need to be improved, and I myself have disagreements about the way the waiver structure was put in the bill, and my hope is that it can be improved through the House process when they do their own bill.”
Read More at CNS News . By Alissa Tabirian.
‘He Started Chasing Us With The Gun’
By The Huffington Post News Editors
In March, The Huffington Post began talking to teens and adults throughout the U.S. about their experiences with gun violence. This is one person’s story. You can read others here.
This past spring, HuffPost met with a group of teens and young adults at Washington’s Potomac Gardens housing project on Capitol Hill. In one-on-one interviews, they discussed their own encounters with violence and the culture of guns. The threat was always there — in school, at the basketball court, at the subway stop. Here are two voices from those individual sessions.
Erica, 15, tells the story of seeing a gun for the first time and the impact that crime had on her.
Read More…
More on Guns In America
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Huffington Post
China’s Central Bank Holding Americans Hostage
By Floyd Brown
I travel around the world to uncover stories that impact Capitol Hill. Often, the most important stories need an outsider’s perspective to understand them. This week, I spoke at conference called FreedomFest 2013. This conference included some of the greatest strategic thinkers in the world, and several had chilling comments about China.
Jim Rogers, Steve Forbes, Alex Green, Mark Skousen, Joseph Farah, and Bert Dohmen are just a few of the thinkers who shared their insights about investments and governance in a world of increasing risk. I deeply value the opinions of the unique minds attending FreedomFest. And this year, an important trend has emerged. This trend is influencing events that will impact your life and your investments…
The collected voices share a great fear about what lies directly ahead for China. China’s central bank responded aggressively to the financial crisis of 2008. It responded with liquidity and easy money. And this flood of easy money has helped produce an incredible array of malinvestment. (Austrian School economists developed the concept of malinvestment to explain the consequences of a central bank providing too much monetary stimulus.)
As applied to China, the story goes something like this…
Big Trouble in… Big China
Governments and firms were required to keep the economy growing at all costs, which led them to poorly allocate the excess funds. This flood of artificially cheap money paid for projects that require huge debt service payments, but provide little economic value.
For example, highways and bridges to nowhere were built. High rise apartment buildings remain vacant, and entire cities are ghost towns waiting for businesses and inhabitants to show up. One of the most colorful descriptions I heard was of the Guangzhou South Train Station. This colossus of a station is eerily vacant. Imagine going into Grand Central Station, and not a soul is in sight…
What’s more, China’s Vice Finance Minister, Zhu Guangyao, admitted this month that local government debt levels are unknown. Official figures haven’t been released since 2010 and are likely much greater than the forecast 10.7 trillion yuan ($1.7 trillion).
Estimates of China’s local government debts range from Standard Chartered Bank’s 15% of GDP at the end of 2012, to Credit Suisse Bank’s 36%. The debt rating agency Fitch forecasts that the figure is 25% of GDP, so it downgraded China’s sovereign debt rating in April.
Collapse on the Horizon
Now that the stimulus of 2008 has worn off, the economy is in worse shape than before. China is currently dealing with an overhang of excess debt, along with too much factory inventory and housing capacity. These excess supplies have become dead weight. Therefore, China is again scrambling to stir up growth, and officials will be forced to order more stimulus. The big concern now is that the excess debt will cause a full-scale economic collapse.
The clearest sign of distress in China can be seen via the inverted yield curve. An inverted yield curve happens when short-term interest rates become higher than long-term interest rates. This means that there’s a structural problem …read more
House Of Cards Parody At White House Correspondents’ Dinner Has Kevin Spacey, Michael Bloomberg
By The Huffington Post News Editors
This year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner opened with one of D.C.’s most notorious politicians — Rep. Frank Underwood (D-S.C.).
If you don’t know Underwood, it’s because he’s only on Capitol Hill in the Netflix series “House of Cards.” A parody video of the show — including Kevin Spacey, who plays Underwood — kicked off the 2013 correspondents’ dinner.
The parody featured Spacey along with such politicians and media figures as New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, BuzzFeed’s Ben Smith and Fox News’ Ed Henry.
Read More…
More on Barack Obama
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Huffington Post
Senators say bombings should spark immigration reform, not halt process
The Boston bombings and the foreign-born suspects have become part of the Capitol Hill debates on legislation to overall immigration law — with critics of the proposal saying Sunday the terror attacks expose gaps in the country’ system and supporters saying the tragedy could be a turning point in fixing a broken system.
From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/politics/~3/IS-d9QqUgXw/
Bid For FBI Building Sets Off Regional Competition
By The Huffington Post News Editors
WASHINGTON — The FBI’s announcement that it needs a new home has touched off a virtual real estate beauty contest, with communities around the region jockeying for the opportunity to attract the law enforcement agency – and attendant economic benefits – to their neighborhoods.
The pursuit has turned congressmen from neighboring states into competing pitchmen, spurred newspaper op-eds and even required a public apology from an economic development official who disparaged another community bidding for the headquarters. Public debate on Capitol Hill and in the real estate development community has focused on whether an agency whose identity is linked to the nation’s capital could find a more suitable home in the Washington suburbs.
From: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/20/fbi-building_n_3124304.html
Who Really Calls The Shots In Our Government?
By Floyd Brown
Congress has proven once again that it’s a special interest world – the rest of us are just living in it.
Earlier this week, the Senate voted against tighter restrictions on guns and gun owners, effectively ending the push that began in the wake of the Newtown, CT school shooting.
But the real story here isn’t the vote – it’s the NRA. You see, the NRA spends millions of dollars lobbying and giving contributions to members of the U.S. Senate. The Senate vote on gun control just proves how effective the NRA’s strategy really is.
And I want to talk about this strategy because it provides an excellent view into how Capitol Hill really works. Folks are always telling me they don’t understand why this or that happened on Capitol Hill. Well, it’s time to shed some light on it.
Now, as a matter of disclosure, I want to let you know that I’m a lifelong member of the NRA. I agree with the NRA’s position against restricting the ownership of firearms by law-abiding citizens.
But that’s not what I’m here to talk about.
I want to talk about process…
The White House is in Shock
Right now, the U.S. Senate is controlled by the Democrats. Yet since the Democrats “defected” to the NRA, the Senate just totally jammed their exalted leader.
Barack Obama’s scheme to add additional rules, restrictions, regulations, and limitations to gun ownership lost big. In a progression of votes on amendments, the truth became clear: No one, Democrats included, wants to mess with the Second Amendment.
Even Sen. Harry Reid, Obama’s supposed point man in the Senate, didn’t seem like he wanted to deliver.
Thus, the central proposal to expand background checks was voted down 54-46. Remember – in the Senate, such bills don’t just need a majority. They require 60 votes to get past a virtually guaranteed filibuster.
The White House had even set in motion an intensive, coast-to-coast lobbying campaign that featured gut-wrenching pleas from families of the Newtown school shooting victims.
But it didn’t help. And Obama administration officials were visibly angry after his agenda got shellacked. The anger level was so high that even Obama spoke out. “All in all, this was a pretty shameful day for Washington,” he said of the vote, adding that the effort “is not over.”
But in reality, it’s likely all over.
The Power of the NRA
In a democracy, a president always gets his chance.
But one third of the Senate and the entire House have to face the voters in 18 months, and these members know that the NRA can sway elections. No amount of tears from the Newtown families is likely to trump electoral politics in Washington.
So how does the NRA have such massive influence on national politics? They’ve only got about five million members, compared to a country of over 300 million.
First, it’s important to note that the NRA political machine is truly bipartisan. The NRA will support anyone – liberal, conservative, whatever – as long as that congressman is good on one thing: guns.
It’s this laser focus that gives
From: http://www.westernjournalism.com/who-really-calls-the-shots-in-our-government/
FBI investigating possible overseas travel by Boston suspects, source says
As law enforcement blanket the Boston suburbs in search of the surviving suspect in the Boston bombing, a senior source on Capitol Hill tells Fox News that the FBI is looking into any travel the suspects may have taken since arriving in the country — while the intelligence community crosses its fingers that the suspect will be taken alive.
From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/politics/~3/fY3YihW7INY/
Evidence Of Criminal Activity Inside Of Congress
By Floyd Brown
Last year, Congress passed the STOCK Act with great fanfare. I’ve written about it before because it had the potential to enhance government transparency. The law had the power to stop insider trading by congressmen.
Now, raise your hand if you actually thought that law would last…
No one? I figured.
In one of the least shocking moves in recent memory, Congress decided to gut the STOCK Act in an under-the-radar vote that crushed any hope for policy-making transparency.
You see, rather than build trust, our representatives would rather cover up criminal activity.
In modifying the STOCK Act, Congress killed the provision requiring congressional members and White House staff to post their stock transactions online.
The same day the bill was introduced, the Senate voted on the changes (with no public debate) in a nighttime voice vote. The House followed suit with a similar voice vote – and no debate – the very next day.
The whole process happened so quickly that Harry Reid introduced the bill on April 11, and it was signed by President Obama on April 15.
House Republican leaders even violated their much trumpeted promise to give the public three days to study any bill before holding a vote.
Never Listen to What They Say. Just Watch How They Vote.
When the original STOCK Act was passed on April 4, 2012, the media ate it up. President Obama said it was the first step to “help fight the destructive influence of money in politics and rebuild the trust between Washington and the American people.”
But media coverage of the latest changes was virtually nonexistent compared to the triumphant proclamations of a year ago. And the president is dubiously silent this time around.
There’s a silver lining, though! Starting in 2014, the president, vice president, and members of Congress will once again have to disclose their trades.
The problem is, the disclosures won’t be placed online where the public or journalists can easily review them. Instead, the disclosures will be extremely difficult to access. Why? National security.
That’s right. Whenever Washington passes an unpopular bill, they often justify it on the grounds of “national security”.
Tom Lee of the Sunlight Foundation explains the tactic this way: “This approach is known as ‘security through obscurity.’ Essentially, the idea is that rather than fixing a system’s flaws, you can just make the system opaque or unusable or unpopular enough that those flaws never surface.”
The reactions from government watchdogs were swift and furious.
Lisa Rosenberg, also of the Sunlight Foundation, writes:
Not only does the change undermine the intent of the original bill to ensure government insiders are not profiting from non-public information (if anyone thinks high-level congressional staffers don’t have as much or more insider information than their bosses, they should spend some time on Capitol Hill) but it sets an extraordinarily dangerous precedent suggesting that any risks stem not from information being public but from public information being online.
Are we going to return to the days when public can use the internet to research everything except what their government is doing? Will Congress, in its
From: http://www.westernjournalism.com/evidence-of-criminal-activity-inside-of-congress/
The Dirty Little Trick Washington Loves To Use On You
By Floyd Brown
Last week, we decoded Obama’s budget proposal for you. This week, we’re taking it a step further – we’re going to explain the language politicians on Capitol Hill use everyday.
Seriously, are you ever confused by what you hear from Washington? It’s no surprise if you are. Everyone is.
And it’s not our fault. America is a country full of plain-spoken people. Good-hearted people who mean what they say and say what they mean.
But Capitol Hill lives in an alternate reality. Members, staff, and even the media up here don’t often say what they mean. Instead, they say what they think you want to hear.
Misuse of language is a truly bi-partisan affliction in our government. Even a cursory review of congressional speeches reveals a pattern of language manipulation.
And it creates great animosity toward our leaders. Words are used by members of Congress to mislead – call it a blueprint for illusion, obfuscation, and distraction.
Indeed, the congressional dictionary has words with unusual meanings. So today, I’m going to help you decipher the words found in the secret Capitol Hill dictionary.
Investment
This is the congressman’s code word for government spending. When he or she says “we require more investment,” they really mean: “we must increase spending on some pet project.”
The word “investment” seems reassuring. Typically, it connotes a venture that will generate a profit.
On Capitol Hill, nothing could be further from the truth. The returns envisioned are political or personal. A supporter or the member themselves is benefiting by receiving greater influence or aid… but a profit? No way.
Pay a Fair Share
This phrase is used by congressmen seeking the redistribution of wealth.
But what it actually means is that entrepreneurs and other productive business owners are not paying adequate taxes, and more of their income ought to be “contributed” to the authorities for redistribution to deserving constituencies.
Congress never offers a criterion as to what is a “fair share”. Naturally, a congressman’s boosters are contributing their “fair share”, regardless of how much they actually pay. Normal Americans, on the other hand…
Revenues
A representative may frequently talk of the necessity of increasing revenues. Many times, they use this word in conjunction with the phrase “millionaires and billionaires.”
Be aware: this almost always means taxes are headed higher.
Millionaires and billionaires, from the vantage point of Capitol Hill, include most middle class families. Sometimes it means any family making more than $250,000. But as in the case of the fiscal cliff deal sealed this January, millionaires and billionaires meant everyone.
Trust me, math skills are absolutely not a requirement to be in Congress. In fact, it’s best if you don’t understand the huge numeric difference between 250,000 and one billion. Understanding math would just introduce far too much logic into the equation.
Spending Reductions
This word has the most bizarre meaning of all.
In the Tax Code, spending reductions have nothing to do with spending at all. Spending reductions just means higher taxes.
So why the confusing language? Well, every congressman likes to assume the mantle of deficit hawk. So they call a tax increase a spending reduction.
Here is
From: http://www.westernjournalism.com/the-dirty-little-trick-washington-loves-to-use-on-you/
Nuclear Energy Radiating on Capitol Hill
By Ken Silverstein, Contributor
Nuclear energy is back in the hot seat. U.S. lawmakers want to know more about the emergency response plans in place if a nuclear accident were to occur as well as what the game plan is to find radioactive nuclear fuel a permanent home.
From: http://www.forbes.com/sites/kensilverstein/2013/04/17/nuclear-energy-radiating-on-capitol-hill/
Democrats Link Boston Bombing To Sequestration
This is what it looks like when an entire political party becomes absolutely psychotic. The Democrats now respond to virtually every news event by trying to work it into their grand sequestration passion play – an overwrought dramatic production in which a tiny reduction in the rate of government growth becomes magically responsible for everything wrong with the world. They still can’t accept their failure to sell this garbage to the American people, and they sense this failure damaged Barack Obama, so they’ll never stop trying to push it on us. Ancient dinosaurs who have squatted in safe House and Senate seats for decades are thus reduced to squalling children, hoping that if they keep screaming long and loud enough, an exasperated public will finally give in and admit there’s no way to cut $45 billion out of $3.7 trillion in government spending without jeopardizing life as we know it.
House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) let the effort to link the Democrats’ “Sequester Terror” narrative to… the Boston Marathon bombings. From Politico:
With the Boston Marathon bombings less than 24 hours old, some on Capitol Hill are beginning to say the attack shows why Congress should’ve stopped automatic spending cuts from taking hold in March.
House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), speaking to reporters Tuesday morning, said the bombings are “clearly another place where it demonstrates why having the ability to address security concerns is important.”
Hoyer added: “I think there are multiple reasons for ensuring that we invest in our security both domestic and international security. That we invest in the education of our children, that we invest in growing jobs in America and don’t pursue any irrational policy of cutting the highest priorities and the lowest priorities by essentially the same percentage.”
Read more at humanevents.com . By John Hayward.
Photo Credit: Donkey Hotey Creative Commons
From: http://www.westernjournalism.com/democrats-link-boston-bombing-to-sequestration/
Nuclear Energy Fueling Constructive Conservations on Capitol Hill
By Ken Silverstein, Contributor
Nuclear energy is back in the hot seat. Two issues are causing U.S. lawmakers to ask more questions and to insist on better answers before more nuclear programs would advance: What to do in case of a nuclear accident and where to store that radioactive spent fuel that needs a permanent home?
Envelope containing ricin sent to Sen. Wicker, lawmakers say
An envelope containing ricin or other poison was sent to the Capitol Hill office of Sen. Roger Wicker, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Tuesday.
From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/politics/~3/N7N4oBTyMgw/