June 20, 2013

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  • Breakthrough in Senate immigration talks; announcement set for Thursday

    By Byron York | 06/20/13 12:35 AM

    Senators seeking a solution to a deadlock over border security have reached a tentative agreement they believe could win the votes of a significant number of Republican lawmakers for the Gang of Eight comprehensive immigration reform bill. Republican Sens. John Hoeven and Bob Corker have been...

  • Drug testing for food stamp applicants added to House Farm bill

    By Susan Ferrechio | 06/19/13 09:15 PM

    The House Wednesday added an amendment to a $1 trillion Farm Bill that would give states the right to screen food stamp applicants for drug use.

  • IRS says it must pay $70 million in employee bonuses

    By Susan Ferrechio | 06/19/13 10:15 PM

    The embattled Internal Revenue Service said it is legally obligated to pay $70 million in bonuses to its unionized employees, despite the new budget constraints and the objections of lawmakers. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, sent a letter to acting IRS Director Daniel Werfel stating he does...

  • We're all potential suspects and should be treated as such, apparently

    By Ashe Schow | 06/19/13 06:35 PM

    Americans are already wary of the federal government having collected their phone records, but now we have Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., setting up a slippery slope of more and more data collection. Earlier today, a Washington Examiner editorial warned that "if phone records are useful now in...

  • Tea Party rally draws modest crowd on Capitol Hill

    By Gabriella Morrongiello | 06/19/13 06:15 PM

    A modest crowd of Tea Party enthusiasts descended on Washington in this afternoon’s “Audit the IRS” rally on Capitol Hill. “There’s some people who want to write the obituary for the Tea party,” Mike Needham, CEO of the Heritage Foundation’s Heritage Action for America group,...

  • FBI is using drones in America, director tells Congress

    By Susan Ferrechio | 06/19/13 05:55 PM

    The Federal Bureau of Investigations employs the use of drones for surveillance on U.S. soil, the agency’s director told lawmakers on Wednesday. At an oversight hearing conducted by the Senate Judiciary Committee, FBI Director Robert Mueller admitted the agency is making use of unmanned...

  • Senate GOP says repeal of 'death tax' must be part of tax reform

    By Steve Contorno | 06/19/13 05:50 PM

    Senate Republicans on Wednesday said that a repeal of the federal estate tax must be a key component of any tax reform proposal, setting up a showdown with President Obama, who hopes to raise the levy to help reduce the deficit. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Vice President...

  • Rand Paul cheered, Marco Rubio jeered by Tea Party protestors at Capitol

    By Steve Contorno | 06/19/13 05:40 PM

    It was just a few months ago that Republican Sens. Rand Paul and Marco Rubio brought the Conservative Political Action Conference crowd to its feet with back-to-back speeches that left many in the audience waxing poetic about the two freshman firebrands and their prospects in 2016. But while...

  • Ben Bernanke recommits to the Federal Reserve’s stimulus plans

    By Joseph Lawler | 06/19/13 05:35 PM

    Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke used his quarterly press conference Wednesday afternoon to try to convince the markets that the central bank is serious about pulling back from its bond-buying program if the economy continues to improve. Bernanke’s hour-long question-and-answer session...

  • Negotiations with Taliban likely to succeed only when they are defeated

    By Michael Barone | 06/19/13 05:05 PM

    The United States is now engaged in negotiations with the Taliban, as the Examiner reports. How successful are these likely to be? Useful guidance comes from the 2009 book by John Bew, Martyn Frampton and Inigo Gurruchaga, Talking to Terrorists: Making Peace in Northern Ireland and the...



From the Weekly Standard

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    Today, speaking at the Brandenburg Gate, President Obama paid appropriate tribute to the brave East Germans who rebelled 60 years ago against Communist dictatorship:

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  • Problems of the Second Generation

    The Boston Marathon bombings highlighted, once again, the challenges of assimilating Muslim youth. And while the onus of accountability ought not rest exclusively on Muslim Americans, it...

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  • Release Osama Bin Laden’s Files on Taliban

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