Andrew Taylor Posts

The House voted Wednesday in support of making it easier for banks to do business with legal pot shops and providers of medical marijuana.

The GOP-controlled House passed a $20 billion measure Wednesday that would slash budgets for enforcing tax laws and new financial regulations. The bill also slashes funding for pensions and staffing for the four living ex-presidents.

Illegal ivory trading is flourishing, and the U.S. wants to crack down on ivory sales as a way of combating elephant and rhinoceros poaching. But federal rules announced in February are making it difficult for owners of some musical instruments, antiques and guns made with ivory to trade such items. A GOP-controlled House subcommittee is working to block the Obama administration's rules as part of a measure funding the Fish and Wildlife Service.

A GOP-controlled House committee unveiled legislation Tuesday to block the Internal Revenue Service from issuing new rules intended to rein in the use of tax-exempt groups for political campaigning. The provision to stop the agency from placing restrictions on loosely regulated big-money political outfits such as GOP political guru Karl Rove's Crossroads GPS and the pro-Obama Priorities USA was added to a spending bill funding the IRS budget.

The Paul Ryan budget is a glimpse into the priorities of today's GOP. And for anyone in the bottom three quarters of the income scale, it is indeed a scary document.

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan unveiled an updated Republican budget plan Tuesday that would slash $5.1 trillion in federal spending over coming decade and promises to balance the government's books with wide-ranging cuts in programs like food stamps and government-paid health care for the poor and working class. Ryan's plan would also cut Pell Grants for low-income students and pensions for federal workers.

A massive $1.1 trillion spending bill to fund the government through October and finally put to rest the bitter budget battles of last year is getting generally positive reviews from House Republicans eager to avoid another shutdown crisis with elections looming in 10 months. Veteran Republicans said the generally positive response to the all-encompassing spending bill reflected the desire of the rank and file to avoid a repeat of the politically damaging budget standoffs with the White House that led to last year's 16-day partial government shutdown

Several conservative Senate Republicans have swung behind a bipartisan budget bill, apparently giving it enough momentum to win a pivotal test in the Senate over the passive resistance of top GOP leaders. Announcements Monday by Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah and Georgia Sens. Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss, as well as a strong hint by Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., that they would back that step appeared to seal enough GOP support to advance the measure.

House Republicans signaled support Wednesday for a budget deal worked out a day earlier, a plan narrowly drawn but promoted as a way to stabilize Congress' erratic fiscal efforts, avert another government shutdown and mute some of the partisan rancor that has damaged Americans' attitudes about their lawmakers.

Democrats controlling the Senate proposed Tuesday to avoid future showdowns over the so-called debt ceiling by giving the president authority to authorize additional federal borrowing unless Congress can muster veto-proof margins to block him.

Top Republicans unveiled a plan that would suspend a new tax on medical devices for two years and take away the federal government's contributions to lawmakers' health care and top administration officials in addition to funding the government through Jan. 15 and giving Treasury the ability to borrow normally through Feb. 7.

Republicans have agreed to pay back furloughed workers for the wages they lost - and continue to lose - during the government shutdown. Which is kind, considering the shutdown is the GOP's fault.

The political stare-down on Capitol Hill shows no signs of easing, leaving federal government functions - from informational websites, to national parks, to processing veterans' claims - in limbo from coast to coast. Lawmakers in both parties ominously suggested the partial shutdown might last for weeks.

Compromise elusive, Republicans and Democrats engaged in finger-pointing Monday just hours before the first government shutdown in 17 years, driven by an intractable budget dispute over President Barack Obama's signature health care law. "This law is not ready for prime time," said Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, who insisted that the Democratic-controlled Senate act quickly and accept a House measure that would avert a shutdown — but only by delaying further implementation of the health care law for a year.

Republicans controlling the House pressed ahead Tuesday with efforts to slash funding for the departments of Education, Interior and State that go deeper than those already implemented under a painful round of automatic austerity.

House Republicans unveiled their latest budget outline on Tuesday, sticking to their plans to try to repeal so-called Obamacare, cut domestic programs ranging from Medicaid to college grants and require future Medicare patients to bear more of the program's cost.

The House overwhelmingly passed a bill Wednesday to permit the government to borrow enough money to avoid a first avoid default for at least four months, defusing a crisis looming next month and setting the stage for a springtime debate over taxes, spending and the deficit.