Obama donor leading Justice probe of IRS targeting

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman, and Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, a member of the panel, said they discovered that Barbara Bosserman, a Justice Department trial lawyer spearheading the department’s investigation of the IRS targeting, has donated at least $6,750 to Obama’s election campaigns and the Democratic National Committee over the last several years.

Issa and Jordan wrote a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder pointing out the conflict of interest and urging him to remove her immediately from the IRS probe.

“By selecting a significant donor to President Obama to lead an investigation into the inappropriate targeting of conservative groups the department has created a startling conflict of interest,” they wrote.

A search of Federal Election Commission records on the nonprofit Center for Responsive Politics’ www.opensecrets.org found $4,250 in donations went to Obama or the DNC since 2008. Most — $3,600 — went to Obama’s presidential campaign with another $650 going to the DNC.

A Justice Department spokeswoman said federal law prohibits the consideration of political affiliation of career employees in making personnel decisions.

“Additionally, removing a career employee from an investigation or case due to political affiliation, as Chairmen Issa and Jordan have requested, could also violate the equal opportunity policy and the law,” said Justice Department spokeswoman Dena Iverson.

A Justice Department official said Bosserman was exercising her constitutional right to make a political contribution, which does not mean she was acting unprofessionally or that she has violated her oath of office and duties as a member of the bar.

Issa’s office refuted Justice’s claims that federal law prevents the department from considering political leanings and activities when choosing someone to lead an investigation into a politically charged matter.

Issa spokeswoman Becca Watkins said rule No. 1 in the department’s ethics handbook states that “employees should avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest.”

Issa’s committee has been investigating the IRS targeting of Tea Party and other conservative groups since early last summer. News broke last spring that the IRS had purposely delayed conservative groups’ applications for tax-exempt status for months and in some cases, years. In mid-May the Treasury inspector general for tax administration released a report that said the IRS asked inappropriate questions and targeted applications.

— Susan Crabtree, White House Correspondent

 

OBAMA ‘CLOSE TO THE END’ OF NSA REVIEW, WHITE HOUSE SAYS

President Obama met with key lawmakers to discuss the National Security Agency’s surveillance practices, with the White House saying he was “close” to a final decision on potential reforms.

Obama is weighing 46 recommendations from an outside panel he tasked with reviewing the NSA’s monitoring and collection of phone and internet metadata, and soon will announce what steps he will take to increase oversight and limits on the agency’s practices.

White House press secretary Jay Carney said Obama was “fairly far along” and “close to the end of this review.”

Carney provided no date on a decision, saying only that the president “will be giving remarks on his conclusions and the steps he wants to take over the next couple of weeks or before Jan. 28” — the date of his State of the Union address.

Carney said the meeting was an opportunity for Obama to hear from members about “the work they are doing” to review the NSA’s practices.

The issue places the president in a difficult spot, with both liberal Democrats and many conservative Republicans urging tougher restrictions on the NSA’s spying. While conceding that new rules may be necessary, Obama has praised the NSA, saying he was certain it was not engaged in unlawful “snooping” and claiming that its surveillance has thwarted terror attacks and saved lives.

The NSA came under scrutiny after leaks from former government contractor Edward Snowden revealed the extent of the agency’s surveillance programs.

— Meghashyam Mali, Assistant Managing Editor

 

OBAMA’S IMMIGRATION REFORMS WILL HURT WORKERS, HOUSE GOP GROUP CHARGES

A group of House Republicans warned President Obama that they would reject his efforts to enact comprehensive immigration reform because it would hurt American workers struggling with a shrinking job market and declining wages.

“So-called comprehensive immigration reform may be a good deal for big businesses that want to reduce labor costs, and it may be a good deal for progressive labor unions seeking new workers from abroad,” the 16 lawmakers wrote, “but it’s an awful deal for U.S. workers, including African-American and Hispanic communities enduring chronically high unemployment.”

The letter — signed by Reps. Mo Brooks of Alabama, Lou Parletta of Pennsylvania, and 14 others — rejects a Senate-passed reform bill that would impose sweeping changes on the nation’s immigration system, including the legalization of millions of illegal immigrants living in the U.S.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, told the chamber’s Republicans that he intends to take a more piecemeal approach to reform and soon would take up individual bills likely to include border security improvements as well as provisions to increase the influx of low- and high-skilled immigrant workers, according to GOP aides.

— Susan Ferrechio, Chief Congressional Correspondent

 

STUDY: $112 BILLION IN NEW REGULATIONS THIS YEAR

New federal regulations cost the economy $112 billion in 2013, according to a tally of government figures from the American Action Forum.

Led by the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Energy and health care agencies, the federal government added 157.9 million hours of paperwork for U.S. workers.

American Action Forum, a right-of-center Washington think tank, found in an analysis of Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs and Federal Register data that regulations will result in $494 billion in net costs from 2009 through 2013.

Two major proposed rules, relating to emissions standards and efficiency standards for motors, were the big drivers of regulatory costs in 2013. According to AAF, overall regulatory activity was down from previous years in President Obama’s tenure. The administration published 77 new major regulations, versus 100 in 2010. Any regulation that results in an annual effect on the economy greater than $100 million is considered major.

The largest new burden in terms of paperwork came from an “obscure” rule relating to affirmative action and nondiscrimination for contractors. It would add 9.9 million hours of paperwork.

The group also measured the cost of regulations on companies by examining their 10-K reports. Among the biggest losers were Bank of America, with $1.7 billion in annual compliance costs, Duke Energy with $5.7 billion and Pfizer with $1.6 billion.

— Joseph Lawler, Economics Writer

 

BARBARA BUSH TO HOST READING EVENT, DISPELLING HEALTH CONCERNS

Former first lady Barbara Bush, who recently came down with pneumonia, will lead a public reading event for students 10 days after being discharged from the hospital, dispelling concerns about her health.

The George Bush Presidential Library Center at Texas A&M University said she will read from the book Liberty and take questions from students on what it was like to live in the White House. The Jan. 14 event will be her seventh consecutive year headlining the annual Reading Discovery Distance Learning Program and Videoconference.

Bush, 88, was treated for six days at Houston Methodist Hospital. She was discharged in time for her and former President George H.W. Bush to celebrate their 69th wedding anniversary.

As first lady, the popular grandmother led efforts to boost literacy among children.

The school said the annual Reading Discovery program with Bush is the most popular education program offered, with more than 35,000 registered participants expected this year. The program is designed for students in grades 3 to 8. Since 2008 more than 180,000 books have been given to participants.

— Paul Bedard, Washington Secrets Columnist

 

ISSA CHALLENGES SEBELIUS ON ‘FALSE’ STATEMENTS TO CONGRESS

The House’s top watchdog accused Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius of making “false and misleading statements” to Congress about security risks related to the glitchy healthcare.gov website.

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., has requested documents and communications made for Sebelius’s congressional appearances after Oct. 1.

Issa hinted that Sebelius could face perjury charges if she doesn’t comply.

“Witnesses who purposely give false or misleading testimony during a congressional hearing may be subject to criminal liability,” he said in a letter to Sebelius. “With that in mind, I write to request that you correct the record and to implore you to be truthful with the American public about matters related to Obamacare going forward.”

At the center of Issa’s probe is Mitre Corp., a contractor working to assess security issues with the Obamacare website.

Issa says Sebelius wasn’t truthful when she suggested to lawmakers that Mitre was conducting ongoing security tests on healthcare.gov in the days immediately leading up to the website’s October launch, and that she wasn’t upfront when she said prior tests by the company didn’t show potential red flags with the website.

“Providing false or misleading testimony to Congress is a serious matter,” Issa wrote.

“Your failure during numerous congressional hearings to explicitly mention the serious problems with security testing in the month prior to launch [of the healthcare.gov site] creates the appearance that you carefully chose language that would mislead members of Congress and the American public.”

— Sean Lengell, Congressional Correspondent

 

MURKOWSKI WANTS TO END BAN ON CRUDE OIL EXPORTS

Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski called for ending the federal ban on crude oil exports, saying that current regulations were designed in an era of “scarcity” and that maintaining them would stifle domestic production.

“The current system is inefficient and may lead to supply disruptions that we can ill afford,” she said at the Brookings Institution. “Lifting the ban will send a strong signal to the energy markets that as a nation we’re serious, we are serious as a country, about our emerging role as a major hydrocarbon producer.”

The comments come as debate is heating up over the four-decade-old export ban, as repeal advocates argue the U.S. should ship some of its booming production abroad.

The oil industry has begun pushing to end the ban, noting that the International Energy Agency has predicted the U.S. will become the world’s top oil producer by next year. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said last month that the policy could use another look, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has jumped on board as well.

But supporters of the ban say it is helping end U.S. reliance on less-than-friendly nations for oil, and some analysts have raised concerns about the impact on domestic gas prices. Some refineries also might take a hit, as export of refined petroleum products, which is allowed, is thriving.

Murkowski, the top Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said she believes the Obama administration has the authority to lift the ban on crude oil and condensate — a byproduct from producing natural gas — though she left open an option for advancing legislation.

— Zack Colman, Energy & Environment Writer

 

EXPECT MORE EXTREME WEATHER, BIDEN SAYS

Vice President Joe Biden predicted that extreme weather events would continue to hit the U.S. despite skepticism from “global warming deniers.”

Biden spoke in Albany, N.Y., at an event touting state and federal investments in New York’s infrastructure following the devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy.

The vice president suggested that in addition to rebuilding damaged coastal regions, the government needs to think about more far-reaching policies to protect coastal communities.

“We have to rebuild in a way that you will not be victimized by a similar storm again, because we don’t — we’re just wasting money, and we’re essentially engaging in false advertising that what we’re doing is restoring you to your situation that existed before the storm,” Biden said.

“Now, I know there’s global warming deniers,” the vice president added. “I’m not going to get into that today, but the reality is, this is going to continue to happen.”

While climate scientists generally avoid linking individual events to climate change, they contend that some of its effects, including warmer waters and higher sea levels, contributed to Sandy’s intensity.

President Obama has vowed to make climate change a priority in his second term, bypassing Congress to enact tougher carbon emission standards on new and existing power power plants through the Environmental Protection Agency.

— Meghashyam Mali, Assistant Managing Editor

 

SENATE CONFIRMS YELLEN AS FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRWOMAN

The Senate confirmed Janet Yellen to be the next chair of the Federal Reserve, giving the U.S. central bank its first female leader and ending a nomination process that at times felt more like a high-profile political campaign.

The upper chamber voted 56-26 to confirm Yellen, with 17 senators unable to return from the winter break in time to vote. That is the lowest vote total for a Fed chairman, with only 11 Republicans crossing the aisle to support her candidacy.

Yellen will replace Ben Bernanke, the eight-year veteran who led the Fed throughout the financial crisis.

The 67-year old Yellen is slated to take over as chairwoman of the Board of Governors when Bernanke’s term expires on Jan. 31. Her first meeting of the panel that sets monetary policy is scheduled for March 13.

The vice chairwoman of the Fed since 2010, and the president of the San Francisco regional Fed before that, Yellen has been a close ally of Bernanke and has played a leading role in shaping the Fed’s stimulus policies in the wake of the recession.

As Fed chairwoman, Yellen’s course is not likely to depart markedly from the one Bernanke charted in tying the Fed’s bond-buying and zero-rate policies to specific labor market goals.

She defended the central bank’s quantitative easing program in a Time magazine interview on Jan. 9, saying the bond-buying program helps stimulate the economy, not just wealthy Americans, as some critics have charged.

“Our policy is aimed at holding down long-term interest rates, which supports the recovery by encouraging spending,” she said.

— Joseph Lawler, Economics Writer

 

EPA’S OFFICIAL RELEASE OF EMISSIONS RULES DRAWS CRITICISM

The Environmental Protection Agency formally proposed greenhouse gas emission rules for new power plants, generating criticism from the energy industry and Republicans.

The rule, with a forthcoming one on existing power plants, is the centerpiece of President Obama’s second-term climate agenda and is key for reaching an administration goal of cutting emissions 17 percent below 2005 levels by the end of the decade.

The EPA filed the rule in the Federal Register, triggering a 60-day comment period. It’s largely unchanged from a draft the agency released when it announced in September its intent to issue the rule.

That riled opponents, who say the rule is untenable because its basis for requiring carbon capture and sequestration at new plants relies partially on projects that have received federal funding and are not commercially viable.

“In typical EPA fashion, they’re putting the cart before the horse to advance their environmental policy agenda. They’re moving forward with a controversial rule to regulate carbon based on technology that isn’t commercially available. Not only is this wrongheaded, it’s beyond the scope of their legal authority,” said Sen. David Vitter, R-La., the top Republican on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

Carbon capture and sequestration is a process that traps carbon emissions and stores them underground. The EPA rule would effectively block building new coal-fired power plants without it, though few utilities have plans to build such plants as they have increasingly switched to cheap natural gas.

But critics say the technology is too expensive to operate at commercial scale, and the few demonstration projects underway worldwide have received federal subsidies.

Public health advocates say the rule would save billions of dollars in health-care costs. Environmental groups say it would mitigate the effects of climate change, helping blunt costly damage from extreme weather that is linked to a warming planet.

Republicans and industry groups say the rules would raise the cost of energy and stifle economic activity.

— Zack Colman, Energy & Environment Writer

 

FEDERAL REPORT: SMALL GROWTH IN MEDICAL SPENDING CAUSED BY RECESSION, NOT OBAMACARE

Health care spending in the United States grew 3.7 percent in 2012, according to a new government study, representing the fourth straight year of relatively low medical inflation.

But the report from actuaries at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services stipulated that the weak economy from 2009 to 2012 is the most likely reason for the slowdown in the growth of health spending, not President Obama’s health care law.

In 2012, the U.S. spent $2.8 trillion on health care, or $8,915 per person, according to the report, which was published in the January edition of Health Affairs. Of that spending, 56 percent came from private sources and 44 percent came from government.

Health care spending has been slowing since 2003, when it peaked at a 9.7 percent growth rate. It has grown between 3.6 percent and 3.8 percent annually since 2009.

Some supporters of Obama’s March 2010 national health care law have argued that it deserves at least some of the credit for the slowdown in medical inflation.

But CMS actuaries wrote that the law “had a minimal impact on overall national health spending growth through 2012.”

Instead, the actuaries wrote, the slowdown in medical inflation “primarily reflects the lagged impacts of the recent severe economic recession.”

In addition, 2012 was a year in which generic versions of a number of blockbuster drugs (such as cholesterol drug Lipitor) became available, so spending on prescription drugs increased just 0.4 percent.

CMS has projected that health care spending would spike by 6.1 percent in 2014 as more people gained insurance through the health care law.

— Philip Klein, Senior Writer

 

CANTOR PUSHES NATIONWIDE SCHOOL CHOICE

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor says he wants to give all parents the power to choose which schools their children attend, even if that means moving students out of the public school system over the next decade.

The Virginia Republican highlighted his school choice agenda at the Brookings Institution.

Cantor said he believes the ability of parents to send children to affordable schools outside of the public system “is under attack” in places as diverse as New York City and Louisiana, where state and federal lawmakers have stymied charter schools and school voucher programs.

Cantor cited Attorney General Eric Holder’s decision to take Louisiana to court over state school vouchers that help children pay for private schools, saying the vouchers could help minority students trapped in poorly performing public schools. That lawsuit was dropped, but the Justice Department is still seeking a federal review of the state-administered program.

“This kind of attack on an effective program that helps everyone, providing opportunity scholarships to kids of every background, is political payback to those who oppose school choice,” Cantor said. “They see school choice as a threat.”

Cantor also referred to New York City, where newly sworn-in Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio is considering charging rent for public facilities used by publicly funded but privately operated charter schools.

He touted House efforts to increase student choice outside of the public system by passing the Student Success Act, which would steer money and control of schools, including teacher evaluations, back to state and local governments.

Education reform is a top priority for Cantor, who regularly visits charter and private schools across the country.

— Susan Ferrechio, Chief Congressional Correspondent

 

USAID SPENDS MILLIONS ON ARMENIAN ‘CIVIC ENGAGEMENT’

U.S. taxpayers are now part of a million-dollar effort to improve media in Armenia.

Officials at the U.S. Agency for International Development recently awarded more than $3 million for a program at its mission in Armenia, according to watchdog Judicial Watch.

With the money, USAID officials hope to improve the quality of media in the western Asian country with a population of slightly less than three million.

Under the five-year “Media for Informed Civic Engagement” program, the money will be used to emphasize “reforms in decentralization, transparency and accountability, and social sector policy.”

The goal is to “increase citizen access to independent and reliable sources of information about the [government of Armenia]’s policies and planned reforms.”

It will cost U.S. taxpayers about $3.35 million.

USAID is often called out by Judicial Watch for spending money on dubious programs in other countries that cost taxpayers millions.

For example, Judicial Watch reported that in August 2012, USAID spent $10 million to train Filipinos to work in Asian call centers.

In September 2013, almost $240 million from USAID went to the fraud-infested Afghan Ministry of Public Health, despite warnings from the Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction of the lack of oversight.

— Kelly Cohen, Staff Writer