Posts Tagged Legislation

Tea party tax returns show activism on a budget

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, center, accompanied by, from left, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, left, Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., chair of the Tea Party Caucus, and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., right, speaks during a news conference with Tea Party leaders about the IRS targeting Tea Party groups, Thursday, May 16, 2013, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Dozens of tea party groups and other conservative organizations of the kind subjected to improper scrutiny by the Internal Revenue Service operated with small budgets and rarely displayed overt partisan activities, according to an Associated Press review of public tax filings by 93 such activist groups. A few groups built million-dollar operations and political ties that could have been legitimate grounds for IRS investigation, tax law experts said. (AP Photo/Molly Riley)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Dozens of tea party groups and other conservative organizations of the kind subjected to improper scrutiny by the Internal Revenue Service operated with small budgets and rarely displayed overt partisan activities, according to an Associated Press review of public tax filings by 93 such activist groups. A few groups built million-dollar operations and political ties that could have been legitimate grounds for IRS investigation, tax law experts said.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Thursday, May 16, 2013

House committee to grill ousted head of embattled IRS for targeting tea party groups

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

INFLUENCE GAME: Tech, labor spar on immigration

In this Jan. 15, 2013 file photo, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks at Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif. The expansion of H-1b visas is considered the first major victory for Zuckerberg’s new non-profit lobbying organization, FWD.us, which receives financial backing from such big tech names as Bill Gates of Microsoft, Reid Hoffman of LinkedIn and Napster pioneer Sean Parker. In announcing the group, pronounced “forward us,” Zuckerberg in April called for changes so that U.S. businesses could attract “the most talented and hardest-working people, no matter where they were born.” (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — To the U.S. technology industry, there’s a dramatic shortfall in the number of Americans skilled in computer programming and engineering that is hampering business. To unions and some Democrats, it’s more sinister: The push by Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg to expand the number of visas for high-tech foreign workers is an attempt to dilute a lucrative job market with cheap, indentured labor.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

House panel set to OK cut in food stamp program

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., center, flanked by the committee's ranking Democrat, Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn., left, and Rep. Michael Conaway, R-Texas, speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, May 15, 2013, prior to the start of the committee's hearing to consider proposals to the 2013 Farm Bill, including small cuts to the $80 billion-a-year food stamp program in an effort to appease conservatives who say the food aid has become too expensive. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House Agriculture Committee on Wednesday approved a sweeping farm bill that would trim the $80 billion-a-year food stamp program.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,