Government regulations

GOP hopes IRS scandal will snag health care law

UPDATED 7:53 AM EDT, May 18, 2013 | RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Political scandals have strange ways of causing collateral damage, and Republicans are hoping the furor over federal tax enforcers singling out conservative groups will ensnare their biggest target: President Barack Obama's health care law.

But no one appears to have connected the factual dots yet, and it's unclear whether they will.

»MORE
UPDATED 22:50 PM EDT, May 16, 2013

Subpoena of AP records revives media shield bill

WASHINGTON (AP) — The controversy over the government's secret subpoena of Associated Press telephone records has revived legislation that protect journalists from having to reveal their sources to federal investigators — and the White House is endorsing the idea.

The proposal wouldn't provide blanket protection for a journalist from having to reveal who he or she spoke to confidentially. But the government would have to convince a federal judge that the confidential source had compromised national security in speaking to the journalist.

»MORE
UPDATED 6:37 AM EDT, May 16, 2013

Tech lobby, Big Labor fight over immigration

WASHINGTON (AP) — To the U.S. technology industry, there's a dramatic shortfall in the number of Americans skilled in computer programming and engineering that is hampering business. To unions and some Democrats, it's more sinister: The push by Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg to expand the number of visas for high-tech foreign workers is an attempt to dilute a lucrative job market with cheap, indentured labor.

»MORE
UPDATED 6:38 AM EDT, May 16, 2013

Obama tries to regain control amid controversies

WASHINGTON (AP) — Under mounting pressure, President Barack Obama on Wednesday released a trove of documents related to the Benghazi attack and forced out the top official at the Internal Revenue Service following revelations that the agency targeted conservative political groups. The moves were aimed at halting a perception spreading among both White House opponents and allies that the president has been passive and disengaged as controversies consume his second term.

»MORE
UPDATED 6:47 AM EDT, May 15, 2013

House panel set to OK cut in food stamps

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House Agriculture Committee is set to consider small cuts to the $80 billion-a-year food stamp program in an effort to appease conservatives who say the food aid has become too expensive.

The cuts are part of a massive five-year farm bill that costs almost $100 billion annually and would set policy for farm subsidies, rural programs and the food aid. The House panel will consider the bill Wednesday, one day after the Senate Agriculture Committee approved its version.

»MORE
UPDATED 6:42 AM EDT, May 14, 2013

Wind farms get pass on eagle deaths

CONVERSE COUNTY, Wyo. (AP) — It happens about once a month here, on the barren foothills of one of America's green-energy boomtowns: A soaring golden eagle slams into a wind farm's spinning turbine and falls, mangled and lifeless, to the ground.

Killing these iconic birds is not just an irreplaceable loss for a vulnerable species. It's also a federal crime, a charge that the Obama administration has used to prosecute oil companies when birds drown in their waste pits, and power companies when birds are electrocuted by their power lines.

»MORE
UPDATED 6:43 AM EDT, May 14, 2013

Farm bill: Still a little something for everyone

WASHINGTON (AP) — There's still a little something for everyone in massive farm bills that Congress is considering this week, even though the legislation would cut billions of dollars from federal farm and food subsidies.

»MORE
UPDATED 6:29 AM EDT, May 13, 2013

Natural gas export plans stir debate

WASHINGTON (AP) — A domestic natural gas boom already has lowered U.S. energy prices while stoking fears of environmental disaster. Now U.S. producers are poised to ship vast quantities of gas overseas as energy companies seek permits for proposed export projects that could set off a renewed frenzy of fracking.

»MORE
UPDATED 7:08 AM EDT, May 13, 2013

Fundraising from HHS secretary draws scrutiny

WASHINGTON (AP) — A fundraising push by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is drawing criticism from a key Senate Republican who questions whether she has a conflict of interest.

HHS spokesman Jason Young confirms that Sebelius in recent weeks has asked various charitable foundations, businesses executives, churches and doctors to donate money to nonprofit organizations, such as Enroll America, that are helping to implement President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.

»MORE
UPDATED 6:42 AM EDT, May 10, 2013

Oil industry: BLM prevents job creation in Calif.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Leading oil industry groups said Thursday federal land managers are blocking new energy development and job creation by postponing all oil and gas lease auctions on prime public lands in California until October.

Officials with the American Petroleum Institute, the largest lobbying group for the oil and gas industry, said the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's recent announcement that it will temporarily put off energy leasing in the state will prevent economic growth.

»MORE

Pages

Guardian Exclusives

The White House is in damage control mode - and stretching facts to defend itself
How an effort to integrate Afghan forces gave the Taliban the chance to unleash the newest lethal threat to U.S. troops
Facebook founder launches political group, focuses first on immigration policy debate
A bill designed to help farmers is riddled with millions of dollars in giveaways