NewsTrust - U.S. Congress - Most Recent Stories: Opinion (Independent)

The IRS and the Real Scandal

Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

nationofchange.org - By Robert Reich - May. 18 (Opinion) - Despite a growing number of billionaires and multi-millionaires using every tax dodge imaginable – laundering their money through phantom corporations and tax havens — the IRS’s budget has been cut by 17 percent since 2002, adjusted for inflation. To manage the $594.5 million in additional cuts required by the sequester, the agency will furlough each of its more than 89,000 employees for at least five days this year.

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Let's Do It, Let's Repeal The Sequester!

Sat, 04 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Jason Linkins - May. 04 (Opinion) - the happiest thing going on in the political discourse is how the whole fiscal discussion seems to be changing from hack-dominance to, potentially, something more sensible. The catalyzing event seems to have been the work of America's greatest graduate student, Thomas Herndon, who was afforded the opportunity to analyze the data set of economists Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff -- whose very famous study, which contends that there are debt/growth tipping points, had become the urtext of the global austerity movement -- and very quickly determined that it was riddled with errata and LOLs.

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'Do Nothing F@#ktards' Just Fix The Cuts That Affects Them (VIDEO)

Wed, 01 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Jon Stewart - May. 01 (Comedy News) - In a show that focused largely on the sequester cuts, Jon opened with a segment on legislators coming together to fix the one problem that affects them... more specifically, their vacations.

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Explaining the upper crust’s preference for austerity economics

Sat, 27 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

seattletimes.com - By Paul Krugman - Apr. 27 (Opinion) - At this point, the austerian position has imploded; not only have its predictions about the real world failed completely, but the academic research invoked to support that position has turned out to be riddled with errors, omissions and dubious statistics. Yet two big questions remain. First, how did austerity doctrine become so influential in the first place? Second, will policy change at all now that crucial austerian claims have become fodder for late-night comics?

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Immigration Reform March In Miami: Thousands Rally For Clear Path To Citizenship (VIDEO, PHOTOS)

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 13:18:00 -0700

Huffington Post - Apr. 07 - Activists March Through Miami Demanding Immigration Reform MIAMI, FL - APRIL 06: People participate in a protest march that organizers said was an attempt to get the U.S. Congress to say yes to immigration reform on April 6, 2013 in Miami, Florida. The m

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I-Squared Equals I'm Screwed

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Stan Sorscher - Mar. 13 (Opinion) - This January, Senators Hatch and Klobuchar introduced The Immigration Innovation Act, known as "I-Squared." It will triple the number of foreign temporary workers from about 800,000 to over 2.3 million. This will distort the labor market for jobs in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), which has only 4 million workers all told. I-Squared will seriously depress the domestic STEM labor market.

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How to Fix Washington in Five Easy Steps

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 00:00:00 -0800

nationofchange.org - By Thomas Magstadt - Feb. 14 (Opinion) - Step 1 – Abolish the filibuster Enough said. Nothing can or will change until the Senate rediscovers the principle of majority rule. Like it or not, it's the way a democratic republic is supposed to work. The fix: Get rid of the filibuster, put bills to a vote, and let the chips fall where they may. If we, the voters, then decide to throw the rascals out, so be it.

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Steve Stockman is the Nuttiest Freshman in Congress—Again

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 00:00:00 -0800

Mother Jones - By Tim Murphy - Jan. 23 (Opinion) - On Monday of last week, Rep. Steve Stockman (R-Texas) announced that if President Barack Obama attempted to enact new gun violence prevention measures through executive order, he would have no choice but to file articles of impeachment. By Tuesday, he was comparing Obama to Saddam Hussein for using children as props at a speech introducing a gun control package. By Wednesday, he had stepped back from the precipice, asserting that "impeachment is not something to be taken lightly." After all, where did anyone get that idea? This is the way it has always been with Steve Stockman: Light a fire; add some potassium nitrate; then stand back and gawk at the crater.

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If you want to pass climate legislation, fix U.S. politics

Thu, 17 Jan 2013 00:00:00 -0800

Grist - By David Roberts - Jan. 17 (Opinion) - When pondering the failure of a big legislative initiative like cap-and-trade — and oh, there’s been so much pondering! — there are two basic perspectives one can take. First, you can think about how a campaign could be improved so that next time the ini

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Mitch McConnell vs. The World

Wed, 16 Jan 2013 00:00:00 -0800

Mother Jones - By Andy Kroll - Jan. 16 (Opinion) - Senator Mitch McConnell is the most influential Republican in America, a position he solidified earlier this month when he brokered a tax-cut deal with Vice President Joe Biden to stop the nation from careening off the so-called "fiscal cliff." But he's hardly popular.

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The 3 Worst Anti-Woman Bills Already Introduced by Congress This Year

Tue, 15 Jan 2013 00:00:00 -0800

care2.com - By Jessica Pieklo - Jan. 15 (Opinion) - The 113th Congress hasn’t even worked a month and already House Republicans have put forward a host of anti-woman bills designed to roll back access to health care and strip women of their rights. Some of these will look familiar, which I think pretty much sums up House Republicans’ obsessive focus on women’s reproductive health.

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Revealed: The Massive New Liberal Plan to Remake American Politics

Wed, 09 Jan 2013 00:00:00 -0800

Mother Jones - By Andy Kroll - Jan. 09 (Opinion) - It was the kind of meeting that conspiratorial conservative bloggers dream about. A month after President Barack Obama won reelection, top brass from three dozen of the most powerful groups in liberal politics met at the headquarters of the National Education Association , a few blocks north of the White House. Brought together by the Sierra Club , Greenpeace , Communication Workers of America , and the NAACP , the meeting was invite-only and off-the-record. Despite all the Democratic wins in November, a sense of outrage filled the room as labor officials, environmentalists, civil rights activists, immigration reformers, and a panoply of other progressive leaders discussed the challenges facing the left and what to do to beat back the deep-pocketed conservative movement. Continue Reading ...

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America's White Male Problem

Tue, 08 Jan 2013 00:00:00 -0800

AlterNet - By Frank Schaeffer - Jan. 08 (Opinion) - . I’m talking about the white far-right males who hijacked the 112th Congress and are set to destroy the 113th. They have metaphorically done to our country what the killer in Newtown literally did to 20 children, and for the same apparent reason: alienation from the mainstream and retreat to a paranoid delusional fantasy land of -- literal -- mental impairment.

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Congress Disgracefully Approves the FISA Warrantless Spying Bill for Five More Years, Rejects All Privacy Amendments

Sat, 29 Dec 2012 00:00:00 -0800

eff.org - Dec. 29 (Opinion) -

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How to Make Your Gun Shoot Like It's Fully Automatic—in One Easy Step

Fri, 21 Dec 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Mother Jones - By Dana Liebelson - Dec. 21 - In the 1920s and '30s, America faced a wave of violence as gangsters like Al Capone and "Baby Face" Nelson used machine guns to shoot nonstop at cops or rivals. In 1934, the same year Baby Face was killed in a FBI shootout, Congress passed the National Firearms Act , making it illegal for Americans to manufacture fully automatic weapons for personal use. In 1986, it became illegal for civilians to own newly made machine guns. But with just $299 , you can modify your semi-automatic AK-47 and probably fool your neighbors: Slide Fire is a company that sells gun stocks that you can use with an AK-47 or an AR-15. These attachments enable accurate "controlled rapid firing," according to the company's website , meaning "you can shoot one round, 2 rounds…15 rounds or a full magazine," as Jeremiah Cottle, the US Air Force vet who invented the product, told Guns America last year. Gun enthusiasts, who have posted videos on YouTube of the Slide Fire in use, seem to love the product. "It's just ...

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On Newtown and Gun Control: The Difficult Response

Sat, 15 Dec 2012 00:00:00 -0800

National Review - By Charles C. W. Cooke - Dec. 15 (Opinion) - After a man walked into a British elementary school in 1996 and killed 17 people, the British government summarily banned handguns. After yesterday’s massacre at Newtown, some in America would that Congress did the same here.

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White House: Obama "Unequivocal"—No Fiscal Cliff Deal Without Debt Ceiling Agreement

Thu, 06 Dec 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Mother Jones - By David Corn - Dec. 06 (Comment) - In the ongoing bout between President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner—call it, the fiscal bluff—the main focus, as far as the media coverage goes, has been the Bush II-era tax cuts for the wealthy. (As Bloomberg reported , Obama "will make no deal on the country"s fiscal future unless congressional leaders first accept tax-rate increases on top earners.") Obama has indeed insisted marginal tax rates for the rich go up to boost deficit-busting revenue, and he advocates a return to the levels of the booming Clinton years, with the tax cuts for the lower 98 percent extended. Boehner has countered with a vague offer to raise revenues but only by closing loopholes (which he will not identify) while lowering tax rates for the wealthy and non-wealthy. If the president stands fast on this position, as his aides assert he will, there will be no agreement unless Boehner yields. But there is another red line for Obama: the fiscal debt ceiling. White House aides maintain that the ...

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24 Hours to Decide

Mon, 03 Dec 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - By Sen. John Kerry - Dec. 03 (Opinion) - Watching cable television you might not know it, but the Senate is on the eve of a major decision that - either way - will ripple around the globe. It's time for action in the Senate on the Disabilities Treaty, and it's time for grassroots action to help

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John Boehner’s Hostage Crisis

Mon, 03 Dec 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Mother Jones - By David Corn - Dec. 03 (Opinion) - In the past week or two, there's been crowing on the left about anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist's slipping influence, as a small—emphasis on small—number of congressional Republicans murmur that they might accept a tax/spending deal that includes a hike in rates for the wealthy. For years, Norquist has been the whip of the conservative movement, leaning on GOP candidates and legislators to commit to and stand by a no-tax pledge and acting as prosecutor, judge, and jury whenever any Republican considered any initiative that might possibly be characterized as a tax increase. But as President Barack Obama bargains (toughly) with House Speaker John Boehner as the fiscal cliff (or bump) nears, Norquist, his cachet waning or not, is not Boehner's problem. He is not the force that is preventing the speaker from striking a deal with an electorally energized Obama. The true obstacle is Boehner's own comrades: those scores of tea partiers in the House Republican caucus who detest ...

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Mr. President: 5 Ways to Salvage Your Environmental Legacy (and Our Future)

Wed, 07 Nov 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - By Kieran Suckling - Nov. 07 (Opinion) - Few things distract our nation like the selection of its leader. But while we were obsessing over polls, swing states and Paul Ryan's workout photos, the calculus that determines the future of life on Earth only got grimmer. The climate crisis is deepening, rare plants and animals are vanishing at an accelerating clip, and politicians -- well supported by the polluter class -- are freshly emboldened to chip away at laws that protect our water, air, environment and wildlife.

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What Would Romney Do to Civil Liberties?

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Mother Jones - By Adam Serwer - Nov. 05 (Opinion) - When it comes to civil liberties and national security, the two major party candidates for president on the ballot Tuesday don't offer much of a choice on civil liberties. "Regardless of who the next president is," says Hina Shamsi, director of the ACLU National Security Project, "it must be up for debate in the next administration whether a global war-based approach is worth the costs to lives, American values, and our standing in the world." It may not be. If Mitt Romney wins on Tuesday, a lot of things could change: Medicare could be turned into a voucher system; Medicaid could be substantially cut. Any Supreme Court vacancies would be filled with conservative jurists hostile to abortion rights, attempts to rectify racial inequality, or rein in the influence of money in politics. The Affordable Care Act, which will guarantee health insurance coverage for millions of Americans, could be toast. But the expansion of the American national security state will likely remain unimpeded by ...

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Bob Cesca: Republicans Filibuster Everything, Romney Blames Obama for Not Working With Congress

Fri, 26 Oct 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Bob Cesca - Oct. 26 (Opinion) - I don't know whether to be brutally outraged about the latest Romney ad or to congratulate the Republicans on an outstanding execution of political obstruction and subsequent projection. For now, let's go with brutally outraged.

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Romney Victory Could Mean 'Double-Dip Recession'

Wed, 24 Oct 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Paul Krugman, Bonnie Kavoussi - Oct. 24 (Interview) - "Tax cuts for the rich, who won't spend them, and slash spending for the poor and the middle class, who will be forced to cut back. And so we end up managing to have a simultaneous deficit explosion and double-dip recession."

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Mitt Romney Misleads on Wall Street Reform in Presidential Debate

Sat, 06 Oct 2012 00:00:00 -0700

readersupportednews.org - By Rep. Maxine Waters - Oct. 06 (Opinion) - If Mr. Romney is right that these banks are getting a blank check from America's taxpayers, shouldn't they all be clamoring to be designated a "systemically important financial institution," or a SIFI? Well, as someone with a front seat for this debate here in Congress, I can tell you that isn't happening. Instead, large financial institutions are fighting the SIFI designation with the full force of their lobbying operations, because they know what Governor Romney doesn't: being identified as a SIFI means being subject to regulation above and beyond current requirements, including "living wills" that will help regulators plan how to wind down the firms in an orderly fashion in the event they become insolvent.

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Why Don't Americans Care About Democracy at Home?

Tue, 02 Oct 2012 00:00:00 -0700

truth-out.org - By Henry A. Giroux - Oct. 02 (Opinion) - economic darwinism will...ensure the ...eventual elimination of those...willing to fight for public values, rights, spaces and institutions not wedded to the logic of privatization, commodification, deregulation.. we are seeing the breakdown of democracy...

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