The tents still occupy two parks in Washington, D.C., but there are fewer people living in them as protesters with the Occupy movement flee for warmer quarters. The desertion of the Occupy D.C. is fueling class divisions within the movement among “those who can’t go home again and those who chose not to,” according to the Washington Post. Homeless people flocked to the parks this fall and are now apparently among the few remaining. One of them is Blair Rush, a 41-year-old homeless woman interviewed by the Post. She told …
House investigators are alleging a White House double standard in its rhetoric toward executive compensation for large financial institutions. The allegations appear in a report released in advance of a hearing on government-back housing giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. President Obama ramped up the populist rhetoric in 2009 with respect to bonuses for executives at private financial companies, but has been silent on comparably large bonuses for officials at Fannie and Freddie, according to the report, released Wednesday by House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA). The …
Citing recent revelations in the investigation into a failed sting operation against Mexican drug cartels, the House’s lead investigator served Attorney General Eric Holder with a subpoena on Wednesday, requesting a range of documents related to the cross-border law enforcement effort. “Top Justice Department officials, including Attorney General Holder, know more about Operation Fast and Furious than they have publicly acknowledged,” Darrell Issa, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee said in a statement. Fast and Furious was an operation conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms …
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee meets Thursday to consider the most substantive postal reform plan under consideration in Congress. The debate in Washington triggered a spending spree from postal unions opposed to the reforms, including a national TV ad campaign launched last month. Now the Oversight Committee is striking back with its own video that explains the crisis and why the Postal Service needs to be fixed before taxpayers are left paying the bill. Mail volume has dropped by 46 billion pieces since its peak in 2006. As …
A conservative congressman today called on Attorney General Eric Holder to resign after new revelations surfaced about his knowledge of the botched Fast and Furious gun-running operation. Beginning in July 2010, Holder received at least five memos about the flawed operation, but told Congress this May he had just learned of Fast and Furious weeks earlier. “As our nation’s top enforcer of the principles of law and justice, Mr. Holder has lost all credibility and should step down immediately,” Rep. Raúl Labrador said in a statement this afternoon. Holder testified …
The U.S. Postal Service faces a bleak future without reform. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), a successful businessman before coming to Congress, has just the plan to save it from financial collapse. Issa, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, spoke at Heritage yesterday about the Postal Service’s problems and the changes he would make to keep it operating for future generations. He sat down for a short interview after his speech. Issa’s plan is the most comprehensive proposal put forward—and also more politically palatable than the plan offered …
House investigators have initiated a probe into allegations that the White House or one of its surrogates pressured the Ford Motor Co. to drop an advertisement critical of the administration’s automotive bailouts. A number of reports have alleged at least indirect pressure to take the spot off the air. “I am deeply concerned about undue political pressure exerted by the White House on public companies,” House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) stated in a letter to Ford on Thursday. Issa requested an explanation of Ford’s position on …
With the resignation this week of Dennis K. Burke, the Obama-appointed U.S. Attorney in Phoenix, we have the first high-level casualty in the burgeoning scandal known as Operation Fast and Furious. Assistant U.S. Attorney Emory Hurley is also being transferred from the criminal division to the civil division, although the Department of Justice (DOJ) claims that it was at Hurley’s own request. They join other key individuals—such as Kenneth E. Melson, who has been relieved as the Acting Director of the ATF and moved to the DOJ’s Office of Legal …
The official who presided over the botched Fast and Furious gunwalking operation has stepped down as acting head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (known as ATF). He will move to another post at ATF, in the bureau’s Office of Legal Policy. Kenneth Melson bucked his superiors at the Justice Department in July by revealing details about the operation to congressional investigators in a closed door meeting with Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA), who have been investigating the operation in their respective roles. …
On Friday, the New York Times appended this correction to its front page article on Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA): An article on Aug. 15 about Representative Darrell Issa’s business dealings, using erroneous information that Mr. Issa’s family foundation filed with the Internal Revenue Service, referred incorrectly to his sale of an AIM mutual fund in 2008. A spokesman for the California Republican now says that the I.R.S. filing is “an incorrect document.” The spokesman, Frederick R. Hill, said that based on Mr. Issa’s private brokerage account records, which he made …
