New Polls: 55% Doubt IRS 'Honesty & Integrity | 53% Obama’s Explanation Untrue

by AF "Tony" Branco

Today in Washington, D.C. - June 5, 2013
President Obama made major personnel changes which again highlighted his actions and leadership or lack thereof related to the murder in Benghazi of U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens. Tom Donilon has resigned as national security adviser and the President is promoting current UN Ambassador Susan Rice to the position.  Rice, a close Obama confidante, previously came under criticism  as part of the investigations into the deadly attack on a U.S. compound in Benghazi, Libya where Ambassador Stevens and others were killed.  Rice in lieu of Hillary Clinton went on Sunday morning talk shows claiming the attacks in Libya in which U.S.Ambassador Chris Stevens was brutalized and then murdered were spontaneous responses to a video. This claim was proven false within days.   This incident resulted in her withdrawing herself  as the President's nominee for Secretary of State to replace former Sec. of State Hillary Clinton.  Rice appointment as White House National Security Advisor does not require Senate confirmation.

The president then  announced the nomination of his former aide Samantha Power as UN Ambassador. Power's nomination does require Senate confirmation.  Power's is the former special assistant to the president and senior director for multilateral affairs and human rights, 2009-2013; foreign policy adviser to Barack Obama, 2005-2006, 2008; previously a columnist and correspondent for various publications including Time magazine, U.S. News & World Report and The Economist; and a professor of U.S. foreign policy, human rights and extremism at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.  She is married to Cass Sunstein who was the former Administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.

Today, the Senate is not in session so senators may attend the funeral of the late Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ). Beginning at 2 PM, Sen. Lautenberg will lay in repose in the Senate chamber to allow senators, staff, and the public to pay their respects.

Tomorrow, the Senate will reconvene and resume consideration of S. 954, the farm bill. At 10 AM, the Senate will hold a series of three votes. First, the Senate will vote on cloture (to close off debate and limit amendments) on the farm bill. Then there will be two votes on cloture on the motion to proceed to (i.e. whether to take up) the Senate Democrats’ bill to play politics with student loans (S. 953) and the Republican student loan bill, which relies on market forces to set sensible rates for all student loans.

Today The House will consider HR 2217 — Fiscal 2014 Homeland Security Appropriations which will have numerous amendment presented.  Yesterday, the house passed:
H.R. 671 (Voice Vote) — "To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the disability compensation evaluation procedure of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs for veterans with mental health conditions related to military sexual trauma, and for other purposes."

H.R. 2216 (421-4) — "Making appropriations for military construction, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2014, and for other purposes."
There was hot debate on numerous amendments to the bill which offer insight into the feelings of the members of Congress on this major appropriations bill:
Rejected Amendments:

• Broun (R-GA) – Eliminates the NATO Security Investment Program ($199.7 million), and transfers the savings to the Spending Reduction Account. – Rejected by Voice Vote
• Broun (R-GA) – Eliminates $38.5 million in payments for a new NATO headquarters and transfers the same amount to the spending reduction account. – REJECTED 151 – 269
• Moran (D-VA) – Strikes Sec. 413 of the bill. Sec. 413 prohibits funds from being used to house any prisoner from Guantanamo Bay at a facility in the United States. – REJECTED 170 – 254
• King (R-IA) – Prohibits the use of funds to implement, administer, or enforce prevailing wage requirements under the Davis-Bacon Act. – REJECTED 192 – 231

Adopted By Voice Vote:

• Griffith (R-VA) – Amendment No. 1 - Lowers the price threshold at which point advance Congressional notification would be required for any maintenance/repair of flag officers’ housing from $35,000 to $15,000.
• Blumenauer (D-OR) – The intent of the amendment is to designate $35 million for post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury treatment.
• Gallego (D-TX) – The intent of the amendment is to designate $5 million for veterans' job training programs.
• Kingston (R-GA) – Imposes a 25% pay cut on senior Veterans Affairs officials if the number of backlogged cases is not reduced by 40% by July 1, 2014.
• Kuster (D-NH) – Prohibits funds from being used for any conference where the cost to the agency exceeds $500,000.
• Rothfus (R-PA) – Amendment No. 3 - Prohibits funds from being from being used to award performance awards for employees of the Senior Executive Services.
• Grayson (D-FL) No.1 – Prohibits funds from being used to award a contract to a company that has been convicted of, or is currently indicted/civilly charged for a range of crimes (listed in text of amendment), or has delinquent taxes of more than $3,000 within a three year period of the offered contract.
• Runyan (R-NJ) – Prohibits funds from being used to implement a new or additional Base Realignment and Closure round.
• Murphy (D-FL) – Prohibits funds from being used to award any contract in an amount greater than $1 million for which the Department of Defense did not receive at least two offers.
• Engel (D-NY) – Prohibits funds from being used to lease or purchase light duty vehicles not in compliance with the Presidential memorandum on alternative fuel vehicles.
• Tipton (R-CO) – Directs $10 million towards increased claims processing.
• Amodei (R-NV) – Redirects $44 million from Veterans Affairs overtime pay to the 15 offices with the highest level of case backlog.

The Washington Free Beacon wrote yesterday, “Members of Congress investigating the Internal Revenue Service for targeting conservative political groups said a Tuesday hearing helped to put a human face on what they claim is a flagrant abuse of the agency’s power. The hearing, held by the House Ways and Means Committee, featured six individuals who were members of groups that claimed to have been improperly singled out for scrutiny by the IRS due to their conservative political leanings. ‘To hear their stories first hand and what it meant to them and the country was very powerful,’ Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R., Mich.) told reporters afterward. ‘It was important, I think, to hear personally from people who were affected and not just have a transcript of them, to actually hear what they had to say,” Camp said. “I thought their voices were strong.’ The hearing became emotional at times as witnesses expressed shock and outrage that the federal government would discriminate against them based on their opinions. ‘I am not interested in scoring political points,’ Becky Gerritson, president of the Wetumpka, Ala., Tea Party told the committee as she tried to hold back tears. ‘I want to protect and preserve the America that I grew up in, the America of the people who crossed oceans and risked their lives to become a part of, and I am terrified it is slipping away,’ Gerritson said.”

As those targeted by the IRS told their stories, new poll show Americans are seriously concerned about this scandal and are very skeptical of the Obama administration’s explanations for it. The Wall Street Journal reports, “Recent controversies surrounding the Internal Revenue Service and other government agencies have sown doubts about the honesty of the Obama administration . . . . A majority of poll respondents, some 55%, said IRS scrutiny of conservative groups raised some level of doubt about the administration's ‘overall honesty and integrity.’ Similar shares said the same about the Justice Department's subpoena of reporter phone records and about the administration's handling of the deadly terrorist attacks on a U.S. diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, Libya. Moreover, a plurality of 43% in the poll said IRS scrutiny of conservative groups was part of a widespread effort by those in government, compared with 29% who saw it as a case of a few officials acting on their own.”

According to Bloomberg News, “Almost half of Americans say President Barack Obama isn’t telling the truth when he says he didn’t know the Internal Revenue Service was giving extra scrutiny to the applications of small government groups seeking tax-exempt status. Forty-seven percent of Americans say they don’t believe Obama compared with 40 percent who say he is being truthful, according to a Bloomberg National Poll of 1,002 adults conducted May 31 through June 3. More than half of political independents -- 53 percent -- say Obama’s explanation that he learned it from media reports is untrue, while 34 percent say they believe him. . . . Obama’s job approval rating declined six percentage points since the last Bloomberg poll in February, to 49 percent from 55 percent, returning to its lowest level since last September. The poll results illustrate how quickly the re-election glow has faded from Obama’s presidency, slowing his political momentum . . . .”

Meanwhile, even more reports of an out-of-control IRS are emerging. The New York Times reports today, “The Internal Revenue Service spent $4.1 million on a single conference in Southern California in 2010, paying top dollar for hotel rooms, $27,500 for a keynote speaker and tens of thousands of dollars for gifts to the 2,600 people who attended, according to a newly released Treasury Department audit. . . . The agency spent $50,187 on videos, including a ‘Star Trek’ parody and an employee dance video featuring the Cupid Shuffle. Another $35,800 was spent on three planning trips, and $135,350 went to 15 outside speakers. . . . The I.R.S. paid $30,000 for 45 employees who lived near the event to stay at the hotels and claim daily expenses. That money came primarily from unused funds appropriated to hire more tax enforcement officers, a White House priority.”

Politico adds, “A watchdog report released Tuesday includes potentially embarrassing examples of spending at conferences, including $17,000 paid to a keynote speaker whose specialty was painting unique pictures. He produced images of Michael Jordan, Bono, Albert Einstein and Abraham Lincoln at the IRS event. Agency employees received hotel upgrades and a deputy commissioner spent five nights in a two-bedroom presidential suite at the Anaheim, Calif., Hilton. And, of course, the IRS spent about $50,000 producing parodies of ‘Star Trek.’ In total, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration found that the IRS spent about $49 million on conferences between 2010 and 2012.”

As Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said recently, “[W]e owe [i]t to our constituents – to have a detailed and deliberate investigation. That’s why both House and Senate committees have begun investigations into the matter. . . . I’m willing to bet there’s still a lot more we’ll discover: in terms of scope, in terms of timeline, in terms of who was involved – and why. But we certainly can’t go about fixing the problem – we can’t remove all those who need to be removed, we can’t put safeguards in place if they’re deemed necessary – until we find out those details. And here’s another thing we shouldn't be doing: handing over the administration of Obamacare to these folks. I mean, think about it. A deeply unpopular law being administered by an agency that’s so betrayed the public trust.”

---

Tags: President Obama, appointment, Susan Rice, National Security Advisor, nominee, Samantha Power, UN Ambassador, Polls, IRS, Whitehouse To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!