Congress News Headlines - Yahoo! News

Senate panel OKs changes sought by tech firms in immigration bill

Tue, 21 May 2013 17:45:01 -0400

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Senate panel voted on Tuesday to make it easier for U.S. companies to hire foreign workers as part of a broad immigration bill being debated in Congress. The Senate Judiciary Committee voted for the amendment, which would loosen requirements that employers recruit Americans ahead of foreigners for high-tech jobs. The compromise was brokered by Democratic Senator Charles Schumer to win over Senator Orrin Hatch, a Republican whose support is seen as important to bring other conservatives on board with broader immigration reform. ...

IRS official Lerner refuses to testify before Congress

Tue, 21 May 2013 17:03:26 -0400

Internal Revenue Service official Lois Lerner, who leads the exempt organizations division under scrutiny for targeting conservative groups that applied for tax-exempt status, is refusing to testify before Congress, the Los Angeles Times reports. Lerner was supposed to appear before the House Oversight Committee Wednesday. The Times reports that Lerner's attorney, William W. Taylor III, [...]

IRS officials deny misleading Congress on targeting

Tue, 21 May 2013 14:30:30 -0400

By John Whitesides and Kim Dixon WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Top Internal Revenue Service officials told Congress on Tuesday they were unaware of the agency's targeting of conservative groups for extra tax scrutiny until recently and did not deliberately mislead lawmakers last year when they did not reveal the practice. Exasperated senators questioned the truthfulness of former IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman, who led the agency from 2008 to 2012, and outgoing acting IRS chief Steven Miller. Republican Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah accused Miller of a "lie by omission. ...

Former IRS chief: Can't say how targeting happened

Tue, 21 May 2013 14:21:24 -0400

WASHINGTON (AP) — The man who led the Internal Revenue Service when it was giving extra scrutiny to tea party and other conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status told Congress on Tuesday that he knew little about what was happening while he was still commissioner.

Michele Bachmann Has Inspired a Sexy Romance Novel

Tue, 21 May 2013 14:19:29 -0400

Michele Bachmann was the muse for a new romance novel called Fires of Siberia, to be published June 1, about a fiery presidential candidate who tries to bone up on her foreign policy credentials only to get stuck in the wilderness with a sexy stranger. "Inspired by the life of Tea Party leader and Republican Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, Fires of Siberia is an old-fashioned bodice ripper romance that brings the heat for the 2013 summer beach reading season," touts publisher Badlands Unlimited.

Why Oklahoma's Two Republican Senators Are Leery of Unfunded Tornado Relief

Tue, 21 May 2013 14:13:24 -0400

Oklahoma's two Republican senators, Tom Coburn and Jim Inhofe, are among the most fiscally conservative in all of Congress. In the wake of the deadly tornadoes that hit their home state Monday, they're living up to their reputations.

Republican Overreach on IRS

Tue, 21 May 2013 14:12:23 -0400

While there has been plenty to find fault with in the revelation that the IRS targeted some tea party groups seeking tax exempt status, some of the Republican rhetoric has been an overreach. Rep. Michele Bachmann falsely claimed that Americans “most personal, sensitive, intimate, private healthcare information is in the … More

Top IRS Official to Invoke Fifth, Issa Subpoenas

Tue, 21 May 2013 13:19:55 -0400

Lois Lerner, the IRS official who headed the tax-exempt division when the targeting of tea-party groups took place, plans to invoke her Fifth Amendment right to refuse to answer questions before Congress on Wednesday.

Hey, Congress: It's comprehensive immigration reform or nothing

Tue, 21 May 2013 11:45:43 -0400

Some members of Congress argue that the comprehensive immigration reform bill before the Senate is too long and that it needs to be broken up and considered piecemeal. But a piecemeal approach flies in the face of the long history of failed stand-alone immigration bills. This Congress needs comprehensive reform to save itself from itself.

Which came first: The chicken, the egg or the 10th Amendment?

Tue, 21 May 2013 10:00:28 -0400

A current brawl in Washington features a fight over who can sell eggs in California and whether Congress is violating the intent the its 10th Amendment in a way that could scramble consumer prices.

Congress: The Next Generation

Tue, 21 May 2013 09:56:35 -0400

Former lawmakers are helping their children in so many races this year that we might as well dub next Election Day “Take Your Kid to Congress Day.”

Kerry visits Oman for arms deal, talks on Syria, Mideast

Tue, 21 May 2013 09:46:51 -0400

By Arshad Mohammed MUSCAT (Reuters) - Secretary of State John Kerry flew to Oman on Tuesday for Raytheon Co's signing of an estimated $2.1 billion arms deal and to consult on Syria and Iran, U.S. officials said. Oman is expected to sign a letter of intent to purchase a ground-based air defence system that would help protect against cruise missile, drone or fighter aircraft attacks, a senior U.S. State Department official told reporters aboard Kerry's plane. Part of the sale has been previously disclosed. In October 2011, the U.S. Defense Department notified Congress of a proposed $1. ...

Oklahoma Tornado Fallout: Disaster Assistance, Weather Detection Spending Cut in Sequestration

Tue, 21 May 2013 09:35:47 -0400

As disaster personnel and volunteers comb through the havoc left by the tornadoes that tore through Oklahoma on Sunday and Monday, they are going to rely on critical federal funding that was severely reduced by the massive cuts known as sequestration and which raises the possibility that Congress will have to cough up more money on future disasters.

Judge tosses ex-BP executive's obstruction charge

Mon, 20 May 2013 20:36:26 -0400

A federal judge has dismissed a charge that is the backbone of the case against a former BP executive accused of concealing information from Congress about the amount of oil spewing in 2010 from the company's ...

Apple, Congress spar over taxes ahead of Tuesday hearing

Mon, 20 May 2013 19:05:54 -0400

By Patrick Temple-West and Poornima Gupta WASHINGTON/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Using an unusual global tax structure, Apple Inc has kept billions of dollars in profits in Irish subsidiaries to pay little or no taxes to any government, a Senate report on the company's offshore tax structure said on Monday. ...

Trade group SIFMA names ex-Senator Gregg as CEO

Mon, 20 May 2013 18:33:58 -0400

By Jed Horowitz NEW YORK (Reuters) - SIFMA, the securities industry's largest trade group, named former Senator Judd Gregg as chief executive officer, in a move that may signal a desire to mend fences with ordinary Americans and Congress. The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association had been expected to give the post to interim chief executive and president Kenneth Bentsen, a veteran lobbyist, said a person close to the group. ...

Mexican opposition dispute goes public, threatening reforms

Mon, 20 May 2013 13:09:15 -0400

By Dave Graham and Miguel Gutierrez MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Divisions within Mexico's main conservative opposition party have erupted into a bitter public dispute that threatens to undermine the reform agenda of President Enrique Pena Nieto. Short of a majority in Congress, Pena Nieto's Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) is likely to need support from the conservative National Action Party, or PAN, to see through plans to overhaul state oil giant Pemex and broaden the tax base. ...

Kerry challenges Congress on diplomats' security

Mon, 20 May 2013 12:11:08 -0400

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State John Kerry challenged Congress on Monday to go beyond its investigations of embassy security and help ensure that U.S. embassies and consulates abroad have the resources they need for appropriate security. His comments come as the Republicans continue to press for answers about the Obama administration's handling of last year's deadly attack on the U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya.

Former GOP Senator Judd Gregg named CEO of lobbying group SIFMA

Mon, 20 May 2013 09:02:52 -0400

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association named former Republican Senator Judd Gregg as its chief executive officer, the lobbying group said Monday. The appointment of the veteran politician, who also was governor of New Hampshire and a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, continues a growing trend of legislators, financial regulators, bank executives and lobbyists moving back and forth among the channels. ...

Money tangle: The IRS and its tea party tempest

Sun, 19 May 2013 08:57:25 -0400

The Internal Revenue Service is feeling the sort of heat that targeted taxpayers feel from the tax agency. It's the sense that a powerful someone is breathing down your neck. Republicans in Congress are ...

India's weakened Congress wondering if early elections will help

Sun, 19 May 2013 05:52:58 -0400

By Satarupa Bhattacharjya and Ross Colvin NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's Congress party is debating holding a general election in November, six months ahead of schedule, senior party leaders said, reflecting an internal discussion over whether to pull the plug on the shaky ruling coalition or have it serve a full term. Officially, the Congress party says the government - which has been battered by a series of corruption scandals and now governs as a minority after two allies withdrew from the ruling coalition - will limp on until elections are due in May 2014. ...

Obama agenda marches on despite controversies

Sat, 18 May 2013 15:48:18 -0400

WASHINGTON (AP) — Despite Democratic fears, predictions of the demise of President Barack Obama's agenda appear exaggerated after a week of cascading controversies, political triage by the administration and party leaders in Congress and lack of evidence to date of wrongdoing close to the Oval Office.

Despite controversies, Obama agenda marches on

Sat, 18 May 2013 12:10:05 -0400

France gets Pentagon backing to buy U.S.-made drones: paper

Sat, 18 May 2013 11:22:27 -0400

PARIS (Reuters) - France has received approval from the U.S. Pentagon to buy two Reaper drones for intelligence gathering, and now only needs backing from Congress, Le Monde newspaper said on Saturday. With its current hardware increasingly outdated, France is urgently trying to build up a modern fleet of drones for surveillance operations in countries such as Mali. Le Monde said France intended to eventually buy a total of five or seven Reapers, built by privately held General Atomics, for 300 million euros ($385 million). ...

Obama agenda seems to be weathering controversies

Sat, 18 May 2013 03:28:57 -0400