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WHO NEEDS CONGRESS? Obama Considering Executive-Branch Action on ‘Internet Security’

President Barack Obama is considering executive-branch action on U.S. cybersecurity after Congress failed to pass legislation to protect national security assets, a White House aide said.

“If the Congress is not going to act on something like this, then the president wants to make sure that we’re doing everything possible,” John Brennan, Obama’s counterterrorism adviser, said today at an event at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington.

Senate Republicans last week blocked a bill backed by [...]

NYT: About 13 mil families would see their tax refunds reduced, and some would see their taxes increase.

WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans will press this week to extend tax cuts for affluent families scheduled to expire Jan. 1, but the same Republican tax plan would allow a series of tax cuts for the working poor and the middle class to end next year.

Republicans say the tax breaks for lower-income families — passed with little notice in the extensive 2009 economic stimulus law — were always supposed to be [...]

Dems Propose Plan to Raise, Then Cut, Taxes

WASHINGTON _ Senate Democrats — holding firm against extending tax cuts for the rich — are proposing a novel way to circumvent the Republican pledge not to vote for any tax increase: Allow all the tax cuts to expire Jan. 1, then vote on a tax cut for the middle class shortly thereafter.

The proposal illustrates the lengths lawmakers are going to in an effort to include new federal revenues in [...]

4 of 5 members of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission have written to the White House denouncing the commission’s chairman, accusing him of intimidation and bullying of senior career staff, withholding information and threatening the agency’s safety mission.

By Matthew Daly

Associated Press

Posted: 12/10/2011 09:00:17 PM PST
Updated: 12/10/2011 09:30:59 PM PST

WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid defended Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko on Saturday, calling criticism by four other NRC commissioners “a politically motivated witch hunt.”

Reid’s defense of Jaczko, a former Reid aide, went far beyond statements of praise and included a sharp critique of the four NRC commissioners — including two Democrats.

“It is sad to see those who [...]

SENATE DEMS REWRITE OBAMA JOBS BILL

From WSJ:

WASHINGTON—Senate Democrats proposed a 5% surtax on people earning more than $1 million a year to pay for the $447 billion cost of President Barack Obama’s job-creation bill, in a move designed to shore up their party’s support for the measure.

The proposal would replace the range of tax deductions for wealthy people, oil companies and other businesses that the president had proposed to end [...]

Asking seniors to pay at least $6500 more a year for Medicare? On the table. Asking the richest to pay a cent more in taxes? NOT on the table

WASHINGTON — Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said on Sunday that the Medicare reform plan authored by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan would be “on the table” with respect to negotiations over raising the debt ceiling.

“We are going to discuss what ought to be done,” McConnell said during an appearance on Meet The Press. “I can assure you that to get my vote [...]

Rand Paul’s only real problem with the Patriot Act – it records gun ownership

WASHINGTON — Senate Democratic leadership seems poised to acquiesce to Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-Ky.) demand that the chamber vote on an amendment that would restrict national security officials from examining gun dealer records in their efforts to track potential terrorists.

The Kentucky Republican had been insisting that such language at least receive a vote as an addition to the extension of the USA Patriot Act. As [...]

SENATE DEMS AGREE TO 2-WEEK SPENDING BUDGET, AVERT RISK OF SHUTDOWN

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican-controlled House is on course to pass legislation cutting federal spending by $4 billion and averting a government shutdown for two weeks. And Senate Democrats say they will go along.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told reporters he expects the bill to go to President Barack Obama for his signature in the next 48 hours.

The House is acting first, with a vote [...]

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