Just last week, Rep. Michael Grimm (R-NY) refused to resign his seat in Congress after pleading guilty to tax fraud, telling reporters, “As I said before as long as I am able to serve I will serve.” Apparently, he was only “able to serve” for two more weeks. Following calls from his colleagues, including, reportedly,…
In April, United States Congressman Michael Grimm (R-NY) pleaded not guilty in response to an indictment on a number of federal charges, including tax fraud, vowing, “I’m going to fight tooth and nail … until I am fully exonerated.” What a difference a few months can make. Today, Grimm pleaded guilty to aiding and assisting…
What do Republicans and Democrats have in common? Neither party can seem to muster a bill to head off the sequester looming on Friday. Two proposals were raised in the Senate today to address the sequester. Both failed. The Republican proposal would have let the cuts stand and allowed the President to decide on the…
About all I can say for the United States Senate is that it opens with a prayer and closes with an investigation. – Will Rogers We’re about to find out how the United States House of Representatives reacts to prayer. Today, at 11:00 a.m, various members of the clergy will lead a “Family Pray-In” at…
I was wrong. Remember when I said that the House was going to push off the debt ceiling for three months? Turns out they didn’t mean it. They meant four months. The House voted today to delay a decision on the debt ceiling for four more months, through May 18. The measure passed by a…
House Republican leaders announced over the weekend that they will vote this week on a plan to extend the debt ceiling for three more months so that they don’t have to do anything just yet. And to make us feel better, they swear that if Congress can’t pass a budget by then, they won’t get…
The Treasury Department may be getting a new look … or two… or three. Just weeks after (now) former Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Commissioner Doug Shulman announced his plans to step down, Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner will also be departing. Since the IRS is a bureau under the Treasury, the Commissioner generally reports…
Lots going on in D.C. today so let me catch you up to speed. The Democratic Senate reached a compromise on the budget deal in the wee hours of the morning. The deal extended tax cuts for all except those at the very top – but didn’t touch spending. That, the Senate claims, they’ll tackle…
If you’ve been worried about what will happen to those poor folks in Congress once the tax increases hit, worry no more: they’re getting a raise! Yes, despite the fact that the current Congress is one of the most ineffectual in recent memory, President Obama signed an executive order boosting their pay after March 27….
President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) will meet today at 3:00 p.m. at the White House to discuss the (lack of a) budget. Call me cynical (I prefer…