Cloakroom: The House and Senate This Week

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The Foundry:

Cloakroom: The House and Senate This Week

 

Josh Robbins

July 23, 2012 at 12:33 pm

House Cloakroom: July 23 – July 27

Analysis: This week, the House is going to focus on untangling some of the massive amounts of red tape that exist in the federal bureaucracy. The Red Tape Reduction Act is an amalgamation of bills that includes a regulatory freeze during the current state of high unemployment and requires financial regulators to perform cost/benefit analyses on new regulations, among other reforms. In an energy-focused bill, the House will vote to replace the Obama Administration’s offshore drilling plan with one that will open up additional areas of the outer continental shelf to leasing. Additionally, the House will consider a bill that would initiate an audit of the Federal Reserve.

Senate Cloakroom: July 23 – July 27

Analysis: This week in the Senate is expected to be very fluid. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is preparing his massive tax increase bill that reflects President Obama’s plan for dealing with Taxmageddon at the end of this year. Heritage outlines the full impact of this fiscal cliff on you and your family here. The Senate could also consider the problematic Lieberman-Collins Cybersecurity bill read more

http://blog.heritage.org/2012/07/23/cloakroom-the-house-and-senate-this-week/

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Ahead of votes on extending Bush-era tax rates, parties jockey for advantage

 

By Bernie Becker - 07/24/12 05:00 AM ET

 

Democrats and Republicans in both chambers jockeyed for position Monday ahead of a series of votes expected over the next two weeks on extending George W. Bush-era tax rates.

The first battle is set for the Senate, where Democrats think they’ll be able to highlight their party’s support among the middle class by pushing for a vote to extend tax rates for one year on family income up to $250,000 annually.

 

The second fight will come in the House, where Republicans have scheduled a vote next week to extend all of the Bush-era tax rates for a year.

Both sides think they are primed for an election-year messaging victory.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) said read more

http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/domestic-taxes/239639-ahead-of-votes-on-tax-rates-parties-jockey-for-advantage

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WaPo Blogger: "Senate Dems Sneak Middle Class Tax Cuts Past GOP"

 

 

—DrewM.

 

 

Everything Greg Sargent wrote in that headline is 100% true with the minor exception of "sneak" and "cuts". Other than that, spot on.

 

The background: Yesterday Harry Reid strong armed his caucus into voting to maintain current tax rates for people making less than $250,000/year and raising them on the rest (none of which is the same as a "tax cut", no matter what liberals claim. Don't let them get away with it).

 

Stenographer to the liberal stars Sargent sees this as a tremendous victory. From his blog post last night.

 

The Senate voted just now by 51-48 to pass the Democratic plan to extend the Bush tax cuts on all income up to $250,000. That came just after the GOP plan to extend tax rates on all earners was defeated on a simple majority vote in the Senate.

 

To be clear: Republicans opposed the Dem plan on the grounds that it excluded only income above $250,000 earned by two percent of taxpayers.

 

This came after Mitch McConnell agreed this morning to majority votes on both plans, apparently because he didn’t think Harry Reid had enough votes to pass his. It’s a rare day that McConnell is outmaneuvered in the Senate. But this time, he was: Reid held on to even those vulnerable Dems in very tough races who held the line despite weeks of taunting from Republicans that supporting the Dem tax cut plan would allow GOPers to portray Dems as “tax hikers.”

 

 

The cocoon is strong with this one Read More

http://ace.mu.nu/archives/331324.php

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How Many Ways Can You Spell “Fraud”?

Gavriel Swerling

July 26, 2012 at 12:07 pm

 

 

The Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act of 2013, introduced in the Senate last month, would make it a felony to make false statements on affidavits in order to receive federal funding. Sounds like a good idea, doesn’t it?

Now there will finally be a law on the books that will enable federal prosecutors to go after liars who cost the public money. Oh wait—that law is already on the books.

Fraud has been a common law crime for hundreds of years, and it is already a felony in every state as well as on the federal level. There are federal statutes explicitly criminalizing mail fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit fraud, health care fraud, and so forth. (There is even a bill before Congress that would specifically criminalize the mislabeling of maple syrup.) The False Claims Act, which has been on the books since 1863, also criminalizes the act of presenting “a false claim for payment.” The new anti-fraud bill is completely unnecessary.

Perhaps the problem Read More http://blog.heritage...ou-spell-fraud/

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U.S. House to vote Tuesday, July 31 to curb policy of legal abortion until birth in the nation's capital!

 

Carol Tobias

National Right to Life President

 

Dear Pro-life Friends,

WASHINGTON (July 27, 2012). We are making progress -- but we have to fight every step of the way!

As I told you in an Action Alert eight days ago, the pro-abortion forces have been working furiously to block a major bill, originated by National Right to Life, from coming to the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. Since then, your voices have been heard! On Tuesday, July 31, the U.S. House of Representatives will vote on legislation that would end the current legal policy in our nation’s capital of allowing abortion, for any reason, until the moment of birth!

The legislation is the District of Columbia Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act (H.R. 3803).

The Council of the District of Columbia, employing authority delegated by Congress, repealed the entire D.C. abortion law. Thus, in the nation’s capital, abortion is currently legal for any reason through all nine months of pregnancy. An abortion facility not far from the White House now advertises dismemberment ("D&E") abortions on request, to 26 weeks of pregnancy -- the beginning of the 7th month! There is nothing to stop abortionists from performing abortions even closer to birth -- for

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Vulnerable House members face tough votes on competing tax bills

By Russell Berman and Bernie Becker - 07/28/12 02:30 PM ET

Vulnerable House lawmakers will face tough decisions next week when two competing tax bills come to the floor, and some Democrats are indicating they will back a Republican plan to extend all rates for another year.

Democratic leaders are expected to offer the proposal that passed the Senate on Wednesday, which extends the George W. Bush-era tax rates only for family income up to $250,000, as an alternative to the GOP measure.

Two House Democrats — Reps. Collin Peterson (Minn.) and Joe Donnelly (Ind.) — said they would vote with read more

http://thehill.com/homenews/house/240861-vulnerable-house-members-face-tough-votes-on-competing-tax-bills