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May 25, 2013 | 02:41 AM
joel gehrke
Washington D.C. weather
  • Obama celebrates falling deficits, attacks spending cuts

    Joel Gehrke

    Published: Fri, May 24, 2013

    President Obama called for Congress to end the “foolish” budget cuts required under sequestration, arguing that lawmakers should feel empowered because “deficits are falling at the fastest rate in decades.” “I’ll keep fighting to end those foolish across-the-board budget cuts known...

  • IRS official’s underlings have history of investigating prayers

    Joel Gehrke

    Published: Thu, May 23, 2013

    IRS employees working under Lois Lerner allegedly asked a pro-life group about the “content of the members of your organization’s prayers” while considering their application for tax-exempt status — a charge that is less surprising in light of Lerner’s work as the chief enforcement...

  • Rand Paul proposes ban on drone surveillance of Americans

    Joel Gehrke

    Published: Thu, May 23, 2013

    Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., unveiled two bills designed to limit government surveillance of Americans, including one that would effectively ban the use of drone technology in the United States. “The use of drone surveillance may work on the battlefields overseas, but it isn’t well-suited for...

  • Cruz to McCain: ‘There may be more wacko birds in the Senate’ than you think

    Joel Gehrke

    Updated: Thu, May 23, 2013

    Freshman Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, suggested to Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., that he no longer represents the majority of Senate Republicans on the issue of increasing the debt ceiling — and he offered a bet to prove it. “There may be more ‘wacko birds’ in the Senate than is...

  • Obama: We’re facing pre-Sept. 11 style terror threats

    Joel Gehrke

    Published: Thu, May 23, 2013

    President Obama explained today that the terrorist threats currently faced by the United States bear a closer resemblance to the attacks sustained at the end of the twentieth century than the September 11, 2001, attacks. The president cited the Boston bombing and the Fort Hood shooting among...

  • Treasury secretary: ‘We are overachieving on deficit reduction’

    Joel Gehrke

    Updated: Thu, May 23, 2013

    Treasury Secretary Jack Lew told Congress that President Obama’s administration is “overachieving on deficit reduction,” as he defended the president for submitting a budget that never balances. “If anything, we are overachieving on deficit reduction right now, given where we are in...

  • DOD ignores judge, cuts physical therapy for soldiers’ disabled children

    Joel Gehrke

    Published: Wed, May 22, 2013

    Defense Department (DOD) officials decided to stop covering a certain form of physical therapy for the disable children of military members, despite an administrative judge’s ruling that the treatment is covered under the law. “For my daughter, this therapy means life, death or some...

  • Former IRS boss: Congress needs to increase funding to agency

    Joel Gehrke

    Updated: Wed, May 22, 2013

    Douglas Shulman, who served as IRS commissioner when the agency targeted conservative groups for inappropriate questioning, faulted Congress for not giving the agency more funding over the last two years.

  • Senate Dem tells Tea Partier that he’s acting like a ‘dictator’

    Joel Gehrke

    Updated: Wed, May 22, 2013

    Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., scolded Tea Party Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, for acting like a “dictator” by demanding that Senate Democrats promise not to raise the debt limit during conference meetings with House Republicans. “We don’t have kings anymore,” Landrieu said in response to Lee...

  • Top Republican: IRS shouldn’t implement Obamacare until scandal is resolved

    Joel Gehrke

    Updated: Tue, May 21, 2013

    Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., asked two members of President Obama’s cabinet to suspend IRS implementation of Obamacare, citing the fact that the head of the health reform section of the agency used to lead the IRS section that improperly targeted conservatives. Thune wrote Attorney General Eric...