Daily news coverage of politics, policy, and issues shaping the nation.
Lois Lerner’s missing emails are likely gone forever because the Internal Revenue Service destroyed the hard drive she used at the time tea party groups were targeted, according to sources on Capitol Hill. “We’ve been informed that the hard drive has been thrown away,” Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, told Politico. Two other sources confirmed Hatch’s…
“We want out of Common Core.” With that pronouncement, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal yesterday delivered a clear message to state residents. On the heels of similar moves by Indiana, Oklahoma, and South Carolina, Jindal acted to make the Bayou State the fourth state to exit the national education standards known as Common Core. Bypassing the…
Vote counts show California’s Kevin McCarthy has all but secured election today as majority leader of the House of Representatives, but Idaho’s Raúl Labrador looks to have made a good impression with heartfelt pleas for support. During a candidate forum Wednesday morning, Labrador delivered an impassioned speech to the Republican conference. “I want every member,…
Why did it take nearly two years to track down the alleged leader of the 2012 Benghazi attacks when multiple journalists had contact with him prior to his capture? CNN’s Senior International Reporter Arwa Damon met Ahmed Abu Khattala nearly a year ago in a public hotel coffee shop to talk about the Benghazi attacks….
Many Americans celebrated the capture of Ahmed Abu Khatallah, the alleged leader of the Benghazi attacks. But Patricia Smith, the mother of Sean Smith, one of the four men killed there that night, was not among them. Smith told CNN in a heated interview that she still lacks information about the night of Sept. 11,…
HONOLULU—Hawaii tea party leaders are outraged the Internal Revenue Service lost emails of Lois Lerner, former director of IRS’ Exempt Organizations Unit, during a critical time when the agency admitted to targeting conservative groups for additional scrutiny. The agency informed Congress of the missing emails in a letter last week. The IRS said Lerner’s emails…
What have top officials within the Environmental Protection Agency been telling various environmental groups in their phone, email and text messages? That’s a question Chris Horner, an attorney and senior fellow with the Competitive Enterprise Institute, can’t answer yet because the EPA claims it does not store this kind of data—in violation of the law….
In the wake of a difficult Senate confirmation, regional protest and international consternation, George Tsunis remains on track to become the next U.S. ambassador to Norway. A regional hotel mogul, Tsunis drew attention for his political fundraising skill. During the 2012 presidential election, Tsunis helped raise nearly a million dollars for President Obama’s re-election campaign,…
Better be extra cautious when passing a school bus. Redflex Traffic Systems is partnering with 19 Virginia school districts to install cameras on buses to catch drivers who ignore their stop signs. The cameras would be installed about six feet behind the bus’ stop-arm to monitor traffic in both directions. The system activates when the…
Obama administration officials insisted that Obamacare’s risk-management programs are temporary and budget neutral, but others at a hearing of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform today argued the programs will be a boondoggle for taxpayers. “All of you ought to be very concerned about the way the risk corridors program is being implemented”…
Two major events centered on traditional values converge tomorrow in Washington: the Road to Majority conference and the March for Marriage. Let’s start with the March for Marriage: The rally brings together thousands of grassroots activists on Capitol Hill. They come to stand for marriage as it has traditionally and historically been defined — between a…
Hillary Clinton yesterday took a firm stand on how the U.S. should handle a wave of unaccompanied children from Central America who are migrating across the Mexico border, to be held in detention facilities if not temporarily allowed to join family living here. During a CNN “town hall” event to promote her new book, the…
Conservatives are putting the finishing touches on legislation to end government spending on portraits of cabinet secretaries and members of Congress—artwork that regularly costs taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars per sitting. Today, portraits are commissioned when committee chairmen retire or are displaced by their party losing control of their house of Congress. The portraits…
As the vicious Islamist group ISIS upended the status quo in Iraq, another terrorist network — Ansar al-Sharia — broke into the headlines. Although relatively few Americans recognize it by name, the organization played a key role in an event that shook the nation: the Sept. 11, 2012 attacks on U.S. facilities in Benghazi, Libya….
A conservative challenges two “establishment” Republicans in the race for the House’s No. 3 leadership post. While the contest for House majority leader has come down to upstart challenger Raúl Labrador of Idaho against apparent favorite Kevin McCarthy of California, three lawmakers are contending for the slot just below it — and two of them will go on to a final match….
House Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp, R-Mich., today accused the Internal Revenue Service of “lying” to the American people and attempting to hide the disappearance of two years of emails from Lois Lerner, former head of the agency’s tax exempt division. “It looks like the American people were lied to and the IRS tried…
In response to the ongoing turmoil in Iraq as the Islamist insurgents known as ISIS advance on Baghdad, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel ordered the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush to the Persian Gulf. The USS George H.W. Bush, whose home is Naval Station Norfolk in Norfolk, Va., left port in February. The carrier has…
It’s been nearly two years since the terrorist attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, and we still have not come close to the truth. And if we ever are to find out how Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed that night, it’s going to take more work from the House select…
Kevin McCarthy’s main responsibility as House majority whip is counting votes. And although he hasn’t always delivered for Republican leadership, Washington pundits appear so confident in his vote-counting operation that many have already anointed him the next majority leader, even though Republicans don’t vote until Thursday. Just don’t tell Rep. Raúl Labrador, the outspoken sophomore…
New evidence has surfaced linking the influx of underage migrants to the Obama administration’s immigration policies. Republicans have argued that the situation, fast becoming a humanitarian crisis on our border, traces back to the administration’s programs and lax enforcement of immigration laws. At the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing last week, for example, Sen. Ted Cruz,…