Daily Political Wire

George Wenschhof

Obama to tour Jersey shore with Christie - Months after their post-Hurricane Sandy embrace became an endurinng image of bipartisanship, President Barack Obama and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) will survey the storm's damage once again.
 
On Tuesday, Obama and Christie will tour areas in New Jersey affected by the storm, the Washington Post reported.

Christie has enjoyed enormous popularity at home in the months following Sandy, with many crediting the Republican's show of bipartisanship after the storm. He is an overwhelming favorite to win re-election this year over his little-known Democratic challenger, state Sen. Barbara Buono.

Some Republicans expressed frustration toward Christie for praising Obama's handling of the storm with the election only days away, insisting that it helped secure a second term for the President. TPM.com has more here.

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Obama outlines new guidelines for use of Drones - Obama used the first major counterterrorism address of his second term to outline newly narrowed guidelines that call for deploying drones only against targets that pose a “continuing, imminent threat” to the United States and only in cases in which avoiding civilian casualties is a “near-certainty.”
 “As our fight enters a new phase, America’s legitimate claim of self-defense cannot be the end of the discussion,” Obama said. “To say a military tactic is legal, or even effective, is not to say it is wise or moral in every instance.”  The Washington Post has more here.

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Obama to give Naval Academy commencement speech today - President Barack Obama on Friday will travel to Annapolis, Md. where he will deliver the commencement address at the United States Naval Academy. Obama is scheduled to give the remarks at 10:00 a.m. ET.

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Justice Department to review guidelines for leak investigations - At a national security speech, the president said he was "troubled by the possibility that leak investigations may chill the investigative journalism that holds government accountable," and had expressed that concern to Holder.
 
The attorney general, in turn, agreed to review Justice Department guidelines governing leak investigations and meet with a group of media organizations. Obama said that the Justice Department would present him with a report on media targeting by July 12.

"Journalists should not be at legal risk for doing their jobs," Obama said. "Our focus must be on those who break the law."  TheHill.com has more here.

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IRS official Learner placed on leave - Lois Lerner, the IRS official who oversees the agency’s division in charge of tax-exempt organizations, has been placed on administrative leave, a source told NBC News on Thursday. The IRS has selected Ken Corbin as acting director during Lerner's absence.

Lerner, whose responsibility for the targeting of conservative groups at the IRS has become a point of scrutiny in the controversy, had come under bipartisan fire. Sens. Carl Levin, D-Mich., and John McCain, R-Ariz., wrote acting IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel earlier on Thursday seeking Lerner’s suspension.

Lerner had appeared before a House committee on Wednesday, but invoked her Fifth Amendment rights, and declined to testify. She offered a broad declaration denying any wrongdoing, however, which has prompted some Republicans to conclude she had effectively waived her Fifth Amendment rights. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., who heads the oversight panel before which Lerner appeared, suggested Thursday he’ll seek to recall her as a witness.  NBC News has more here.

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Kerry announces "productive talks" with Palestine, Israel - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Friday that his shuttle talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders on prospects for reviving direct negotiations had been "very productive".

Speaking to reporters in Tel Aviv after two days of talks in Israel and the Palestinian territories, Kerry urged both sides to refrain from provocative actions "that take us backwards" and said they should focus instead on progress towards peace talks.

"We are reaching the time (where) leaders need to make hard decisions," Kerry said following separate meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.  Reuters.com has more here.

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Russia says Syria will attend Geneva peace talks - The Syrian government has agreed to participate in an international peace conference coordinated by Russia and the United States, a spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Friday.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey V. Lavrov and Secretary of State John Kerry had agreed during a meeting in Moscow earlier this month to pull together the peace conference, with Russia responsible for bringing the government of Bashar al-Assad to the table and the Americans focused on securing the participation of the Syrian opposition. The NY Times has more here.

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Daily Political Wire

George Wenschhof

Obama to announce policy on use of Drones - President Barack Obama on Thursday will outline his administration's counterterrorism policy in a major speech to be given at National Defense University in Washington, D.C.
 
Obama will use the speech to announce new restrictions on unmanned drones, an announcement that comes on the heels of the U.S. government's admission that it has killed four American citizens with drone strikes.

According to the New York Times, the policy changes signed by Obama include a reduction of the "instances when unmanned aircraft can be used to attack in places that are not overt war zones, countries like Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia." The new rules will also establish "the same standard for strikes on foreign enemies now used only for American citizens deemed to be terrorists," the Times reported.

Obama will deliver the speech at 2:00 p.m. ET. TPM.com has more here.
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Obama to tour Oklahoma tornado damage Sunday - President Barack Obama will travel to Oklahoma on Sunday to visit families and inspect firsthand the damage left by devastating tornadoes that ravaged suburbs, wiped out neighborhoods and killed 24 people, press secretary Jay Carney announced Wednesday.

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The Washington Post argues for disclosure of campaign donations - Today we publish a commentary by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), arguing against legislation to require expanded campaign finance disclosure. The senator points to the current furor over how the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) mishandled applications from tea party and other conservative groups for tax-exempt status under Section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code. We certainly agree with him that the IRS failed to meet basic standards of fairness in selectively pressing the groups for more information and in delaying their applications.

Meanwhile, the political process is sliding backward toward the practices of the years before the Watergate reforms. More than $300 million in secret contributions were spent by outside groups in the 2012 presidential and congressional races. In the last cycle, a large share of the hidden cash was channeled through 501(c)(4) tax-exempt organizations. And here’s a key fact that often gets overlooked: Under the rules, these organizations have to disclose their donors to the IRS. Only the public remains in the dark.

Secrecy denies vital information to voters about who is contributing to which candidates. Very often, these contributions are made in search of influence on policy. We think openness here is a more valuable public good than is providing a cloak for every fat cat who wants to remain hidden.

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) reintroduced the Disclose Act in January, and a version is expected to be introduced in the Senate by Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.). This legislation also has valuable provisions, such as requiring corporations and unions to disclose their campaign-related spending to shareholders and members.

The road to passage for any legislation this year is going to be uphill, but the push for greater openness deserves support. In a political system saturated with cash, transparency is the last, best hope for accountability.  Read the entire editorial here.

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Senate Democrats consider using "nuclear option" on filibusters - With one of President Barack Obama’s key nominees on the verge of being confirmed by the Senate on Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid appeared to edge away Wednesday from an idea that some Democrats are calling for: enacting a change in Senate rules to stop filibusters which delay votes on Obama appointees.

McConnell noted Wednesday that Republicans had agreed to an up-or-down vote on Obama’s nomination of Sri Srinivasan to serve on the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, with that vote to occur the Tuesday after the Senate returns from its one-week Memorial Day recess.

Srinivasan is crucial because so far in the four and a half years of his presidency, Obama has gotten no one confirmed to that court, which handles most legal challenges to regulations issued by the Environmental Protection Agency and other regulatory bodies and serves as a major stepping stone to the Supreme Court.

In March, Republicans blocked a confirmation vote on another Obama nominee to that court, Caitlin Halligan.  FirstRead.com has more here.

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House votes to approve Keystone XL pipeline - The House passed a bill Wednesday that would approve the northern leg of the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline by an act of law, and take the decision out of the hands of President Obama.
 
Members voted 241-175 in favor of H.R. 3, the Northern Route Approval Act. Republican supporters were joined by 19 Democrats, much less than the level of Democratic support in the last Congress.

Earlier in the week, the White House said Obama would veto the bill, in large part because of the language eliminating the need for presidential approval of the pipeline. That veto, and Democratic opposition in the Senate, means the bill is unlikely to advance beyond the House.  TheHill.com has more here.

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DCCC hosts reception for top House candidates - The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee will host a reception Wednesday night for its best recruits, according to an invitation obtained by CQ Roll Call.

Launched earlier this month, the Jumpstart program “provides early financial, communications, operational and strategic support to help top-tier candidates get a head start in these highly-targeted races,” according to a memo sent to donors and supporters upon the program’s launch.

RollCall.com has a list of the invitees here.

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Markets jittery after Bernanke statement and weak China economic forecast - Share markets fell sharply on Thursday as investors piled back into safer assets, unnerved by the twin setbacks of unexpected weakness in China's economy and signals that the U.S. central bank may soon scale back its stimulus program.

The yen bounced sharply off recent lows and German Bunds rose, gaining support from a shift in sentiment that followed Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's comment that the bank may trim its bond purchases at one of its next policy meetings.  Reuters.com has more here.

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Daily Political Wire

George Wenschhof



McCain, Collins Slam GOP Colleagues On the Budget - In the latest expression of Republican frustration with conservative GOP colleagues, Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Susan Collins (R-ME) excoriated Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Rand Paul (R-KY) for persistently refusing to initiate House-Senate budget negotiations.
 
Their comments on the Senate floor Tuesday reflect a growing Republican schism over how to approach the tax and spending fights that have hamstrung Congress for years and dragged its approval ratings to historic lows.

“For four years, four years, we complained about the fact that the majority leader … would refuse to bring a budget to the floor of the United States Senate,” McCain said. “What [do] we on my side of the aisle keep doing? We don’t want a budget unless — unless — we put requirements on the conferees that are absolutely out of line and unprecedented.”  You can read more here.
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Senate Judiciary Committee Approves Immigration Bill - A sweeping bill to overhaul the nation's immigration system cleared its first major hurdle late Tuesday night, with the 18-member committee charged with completing a first round of legislative edits voting to advance the amended bill to the full Senate.
 
The vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee was 13-5.
 
Three Republicans - Sens. Jeff Flake of Arizona, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Orrin Hatch of Utah -- joined the panel's 10 Democrats to vote in favor of the bill. NBC News has more here.

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Obama announces members of new commission on elections - President Barack Obama on Tuesday announced 10 individuals who will serve upon his newly created Presidential Commission on Election Administration, as promised earlier this year.

“The right to vote is one of the most essential rights provided by the Constitution," Obama said in a statement.

As I said in my State of the Union Address, when any American, no matter where they live or what their party, is denied that right simply because too many obstacles stand in their way, we are betraying our ideals. We have an obligation to ensure that all eligible voters have the opportunity to cast their ballots without unwarranted obstructions or unnecessary delay."

According to the White House, the commission will work shorten lines at polling places, promote the efficient conduct of elections, and broaden access to the polls for all Americans. TPM.com has the list of appointees here.

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Weiner Announces New York City Mayoral Bid - Former Rep. Anthony Weinter (D-N.Y.), who resigned from Congress in disgrace two years ago after posting sending lewd tweets to young women, is running for mayor of New York City.

Weiner made his bid official late Tuesday in a campaign video on YouTube, appealing for a “second chance” to serve.

“Look, I made some big mistakes, and I know I let a lot of people down,” Weiner says in the video. “But I’ve also learned some tough lessons.”  TheHill.com has more here.

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Garcetti Elected Los Angeles Mayor - City Councilman Eric Garcetti won his bid to become the mayor of Los Angeles on Wednesday, bringing to a close a nearly two-year race that pitted him against another moderate Democrat with years of experience at City Hall.

As the results trickled in, Mr. Garcetti confidently told hundreds of supporters gathered at a Hollywood nightclub Tuesday night that the city had entrusted him with its leadership, and he would not let Los Angeles residents down.

“Los Angeles is ready to put the recession in the rearview mirror and become the city of opportunity that I grew up in once again,” he said. “It’s time for Los Angeles not just to be a big city, but a great city once again. Whether you’re down and out, or whether you’re at the top, we all believe one thing, that L.A. is worth fighting for.” The NY Times has more here.

 

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Daily Political Wire

George Wenschhof

Obama to deliver statement on Oklahoma disaster - President Barack Obama on Tuesday morning will deliver a statement on the disaster in Oklahoma after a deadly tornado swept through there, MSNBC and others reported. Obama is expected to make the statement at 10 a.m. ET.

Rescue crews were waiting for daylight early Tuesday to aid in the search for survivors and victims of a massive tornado that chewed through a suburb of Oklahoma City on Monday, grinding up entire neighborhoods and obliterating an elementary school where students who had huddled in a hallway with their teachers were buried in rubble.

The swath of devastation in Moore, Okla., was up to a mile wide and 20 miles long. The state medical examiner’s office told the Associated Press early Tuesday that at least 40 more bodies were expected, in addition to the 51 people already confirmed dead. Twenty of those 51 are children.  You can read more here.

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Apple using off-shore firms to avoid paying U.S. taxes - Apple Inc. employs a group of affiliate companies located outside the United States to avoid paying billions of dollars in U.S. income taxes, a Senate investigation has found.
 
The world’s most valuable company is holding overseas some $102 billion of its $145 billion in cash, and an Irish subsidiary that earned $22 billion in 2011 paid only $10 million in taxes, according to the report issued Monday by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.
The strategies Apple uses are legal, and many other multinational corporations use similar tax techniques to avoid paying U.S. income taxes on profits they reap overseas. But Apple uses a unique twist, the report found. The company’s tactics raise questions about loopholes in the U.S. tax code, lawmakers say.  TPM.com has more here.

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Obama approval rating at 51% - a new Washington Post/ABC News poll finds the president’s approval rating, at 51 percent positive and 44 percent negative, has remained steady in the face of fresh disclosures about the IRS, the Benghazi attack and the Justice Department’s secret collection of telephone records of Associated Press journalists as part of a leak investigation.  The Washington Post has more here.

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White House chief of staff also knew of IRS investigation - The White House on Monday once again added to the list of people who knew about the IRS investigation into its targeting of conservative groups — saying White House chief of staff Denis McDonough had been informed about a month ago.

Press secretary Jay Carney said again that no one had told President Barack Obama ahead of the first news reports: not his top aide McDonough, nor his chief counsel Kathy Ruemmler, nor anyone from the Treasury Department.  Politico.com has more here.

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"Citizens United" ruling fueled IRS mess - The IRS controversy has laid bare a far more serious and far-reaching problem: the agency’s utter failure to keep pace with drastically changing campaign finance laws. For decades, the IRS has taken heat for its muddy rules governing politically active tax-exempt groups, a recent CQ Weekly story notes. Among other problems, the recent inspector general’s report found:

• IRS employees did not understand and bickered over the agency’s own rules, repeatedly changing course over how to screen groups seeking tax-exempt status.
• The IRS went so far as to reject the IG’s recommendation that the tax agency clear up guidelines for how to handle such groups. The IRS instead recommended more staff training, an alternative the IG in turn rejected.
• Though lawmakers and watchdogs urged the IRS to curb deep-pocketed nonprofits spending hundreds of millions of dollars on the 2012 campaign, the IRS ignored the top-spending players and instead went after shoestring groups.

The fallout has exposed an agency that lacks the tools, the will or even the rules to regulate increasingly wealthy and influential tax-exempt groups unfettered by the Supreme Court’s 2010 ruling to deregulate political spending.  RollCall.com has more here.

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Benghazi witness points finger at Clinton - The star witness in the Benghazi investigation said former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton personally ordered Ambassador Chris Stevens to set up a permanent post in the restive city and should have known about deteriorating security.

Gregory Hicks, who briefly took over as head of mission when Stevens and three other Americans were killed, testified on May 8 that Clinton personally ordered the ambassador to turn Benghazi into a full consular post, and that she planned to announce the upgrade during a visit in December.

Hicks’s attorney has been drawing attention to that section of his testimony, which was overshadowed by revelations that no one at the U.S. embassy in Libya believed the terrorist attack was preceded by a peaceful protest, and that the Pentagon told a special operations team to stand down.

“According to Stevens, Secretary Clinton wanted Benghazi converted into a permanent constituent post,” Hicks testified.  TheHill.com has more here.

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Israel-Syria exchange border fire - Israeli troops shot at a target across the Syrian frontier on Tuesday in response to gunfire that struck its forces in the Golan Heights, the Israeli military said.

A statement said a military vehicle was damaged by shots fired from Syria but that there were no injuries. It said that soldiers "returned precise fire".

Gunfire incidents across the frontier from Syria have recurred in past months during an escalating a civil war there in which rebels have sought to topple President Bashar al-Assad. Israel's Army Radio said Tuesday's was the third consecutive cross-border shooting this week.  Reuters.com has more here.

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Donations are appreciated - Click here to donate. Thank You!

Daily Political Wire

George Wenschhof



Watch Saturday Night Live weigh in on IRS scandal

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Republicans concede they lack evidence President Obama directed IRS abuses -President Barack Obama's team emerged on Sunday to defend his handling of revelations that the IRS had targeted conservative groups for scrutiny, as senior Republicans conceded they lacked evidence — so far — that the president directed the abuses. 

Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell said the IRS controversy amounted to evidence of a "culture of intimidation" by the administration. But he and Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich., admitted they lacked evidence that the targeting of conservatives was ordered by the White House.

"We don't have anything to say that the president knew about this," said Camp, who chairs the House committee looking into the IRS controversy, on NBC's "Meet the Press."

But the White House has begun to push back. A top White House adviser, Dan Pfeiffer, emerged on Sunday to assert that the administration had handled the IRS fiasco properly.

"There is no question that Republicans are trying to make political hay here," Pfeiffer said on "Meet the Press" of the IRS controversy.

Pfeiffer sought to undercut Republicans' criticism by asserting that Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., a top GOP critic of the administration who is in charge of White House oversight, was actually aware of an inspector general's investigation into the IRS abuses as early as last fall. To that end, Pfeiffer argued that even if the president were aware of the investigation of the IRS at an earlier point, it would have been inappropriate to become involved with or interfere with the inquiry.  NBC News has more here.

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Obama deleivers commencement address at Morehouse College - “It is one of the great honors of my life to be able to address this gathering here today,” President Obama told the graduates. He spoke about Morehouse’s history, and “ the unique sense of purpose that this place has always infused -- the conviction that this is a training ground not only for individual success, but for leadership that can change the world.”

“Your generation is uniquely poised for success unlike any generation of African Americans that came before it,” President Obama said.  The White House has more here.
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Democrats aim to defeat Bachmann in 2014 - Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) leads her 2014 Democratic challenger Jim Graves by two percentage points, according to a new poll conducted for Graves' campaign.

Bachmann takes 47 percent support and Graves takes 45 percent, according to an early survey of the race conducted by Democratic firm Public Policy Polling for Graves.

The two-percentage-point lead is within the poll's plus or minus 4-point margin of error, indicating the race is statistically tied.

Perhaps more troublesome for Bachmann are her favorables: She's seen unfavorably by 51 percent of respondents, while 46 percent view her positively. Graves is seen favorably by 39 percent and unfavorably by 33 percent of respondents, but a full 28 percent are still unsure of how they feel about him.
Graves also posts stronger crossover appeal, taking 17 percent of Republicans, while Bachmann takes only eight percent of Democrats.  TheHill.com has more here.

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N. Korea fires sixth missile in 3 days - North Korea fired two short-range missiles on Monday, making six launches in three days, and it condemned South Korea for criticizing what it said were its legitimate military drills.

"We are conducting intense military exercises to strengthen our defense capacity," North Korea's KCNA news agency quoted the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea, the body that handles inter-Korean issues, as saying on Monday.

"Our military is conducting these exercises in order to cope with the mounting war measures from the U.S. and South Korea, which is the legitimate right of any sovereign country."  Reuters.com has more here.

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Donations are appreciated - Click here to donate. Thank You!

Daily Political Wire

George Wenschhof

Obama to give speech on counterterrorism measures this week - President Obama will deliver a speech Thursday at the National Defense University in which he will address how he intends to bring his counterterrorism policies, including the drone program and the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in line with the legal framework he promised after taking office.
 
A White House official, speaking Saturday on the condition of anonymity to describe the speech in advance, said Obama will “discuss our broad counterterrorism policy, including our military, diplomatic, intelligence and legal efforts.”  The Washington Post has more here.

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N. Korea fires short range missiles -  North Korea fired three short-range missiles off its east coast Saturday, following through on months of threats to conduct a missile launch.

The South Korean Defense Ministry reported that it detected two launches in the morning and another in the afternoon. Its initial assessment was that the missiles were short-range surface-to-ship or surface-to-surface missiles capable of traveling up to 72 miles, rather than the new medium-range Musudan missile that analysts fear could threaten U.S. troops in Guam or Okinawa, Japan.

"All missiles launched fell into the sea," a South Korean Defense Ministry official was quoted as telling the country's official Yonhap news service. He also speculated that the launches, directed over water northeast of North Korea, were part of a military exercise.  The LA Times has more here.

Reuters is reporting North Korea fired a short-range missile from its east coast on Sunday, a day after launching three of these missiles, a South Korean news agency said, ignoring calls for restraint from Western powers.  Reuters.com has more here.

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U.S. reaches debt limit today - Congress agreed to suspend the nation’s $16.4 trillion borrowing limit the last time they approached it, at the beginning of the year. But that suspension expired May 19, and the limit was automatically boosted to cover the borrowing the Treasury incurred during that break that was subject to the limit.

The latest numbers from the Treasury Department indicate that limit will automatically jump about $300 billion to roughly $16.7 trillion.

With the government once again operating under a borrowing cap, the Treasury is back to employing special measures to free up space under the limit.

In a nod to how common debt-limit battles have become in recent years, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew told Congress Friday he was prepared to deploy the “standard set of extraordinary measures.”  TheHill.com has more here.

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Funding for Food Stamps next Congressional battle - Legislation making its way through Congress would eliminate billions of dollars in funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, better known as food stamps. Last week, a Senate committee approved striking $4.1 billion from the program over 10 years and a House committee backed cuts five times as large.

Those actions set the stage for a congressional showdown not only over how much to slash the program, but also over the role of government in fighting hunger and poverty.  NBC News has more here.

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Obama Weekly Address

George Wenschhof



President Obama talks about his belief that a rising, thriving middle class is the true engine of economic growth, and that to reignite that engine and continue to build on the progress we’ve made over the last four years, we need to invest in three areas: jobs, skills and opportunity.

Obama discussed his Friday visits to a dredging-equipment manufacturer and an elementary school in Baltimore. Those visits, he said, underscored his goals to create a “rising, thriving middle class.”

“Too often, our politics aren’t focused on the same things you are. Working hard. Supporting your family and your community. Making sure your kids have every chance in life,” Obama said.

The president said he planned to visit other cities in the coming weeks to promote his economic plan.

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