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Contributions from Joel Gehrke

  • Rand Paul proposes ban on drone surveillance of Americans

    By Joel Gehrke | 05/23/13 04:55 PM

    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...

  • Ted Cruz to John McCain: 'There may be more wacko birds in the Senate' than you think

    By Joel Gehrke | 05/23/13 02:40 PM

    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 John McCain, R-Ariz., that he no longer represents the majority of Senate Republicans on the issue of increasing the debt ceiling — and he offered a bet to prove it.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

    By Joel Gehrke | 05/23/13 02:25 PM

    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’

    By Joel Gehrke | 05/23/13 01:15 PM

    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

    By Joel Gehrke | 05/22/13 06:35 PM

    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

    By Joel Gehrke | 05/22/13 01:40 PM

    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’

    By Joel Gehrke | 05/22/13 01:20 PM

    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

    By Joel Gehrke | 05/21/13 07:50 PM

    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...

  • Senate Democrats pull pro-LGBT proposal from immigration bill

    By Joel Gehrke | 05/21/13 07:35 PM

    Senate Democrats withdrew a pro-LGBT amendment to the Gang of Eight’s immigration bill due to fears that the legislation would prove fatal to the larger immigration package. “It is with a heavy heart,” Senate Judiciary Chairman Pat Leahy, D-Vt., said, that “I will withhold the Leahy...

  • Court: CIA doesn’t have to release photos of dead bin Laden

    By Joel Gehrke | 05/21/13 04:25 PM

    CIA officials do not have to release images of Osama bin Laden taken after his death at the hands of Navy Seals, a federal court ruled today, citing the likelihood that the images would provoke a terrorist attack. “As one of the judges on this panel suggested that the Benghazi attack was...



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