Dems, Gop Worlds Apart In Washington

The change in policy has important implications for the drone program in Pakistan, where future negotiations could center on whether Pakistan tries to gain joint control of the program or seeks to end it outright.

The IRS unit under fire for its reviews of conservative organizations has a long history of targeting particular groups for extra scrutiny, including foreclosure-assistance charities and credit-counseling services.

SANTA ANA – Orange County's budget director unveiled a revised spending plan for the next fiscal year that patches together funding to minimize possible layoffs and help fill a $76 million deficit. Frank Kim, who in addition to being budget

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Maybe just to ensure that no bankster will ever face the slimmest possibility of being convicted and sent to prison, they're now writing the laws that would govern them, with the blessing of Republicans, of course. One bill that sailed through the House Financial Services Committee this month—over the objections of the Treasury Department—was essentially Citigroup’s, according to e-mails reviewed by The New York Times. The bill would exempt broad swathes of trades from new regulation. In a sign of Wall Street’s resurgent influence in Washington, Citigroup’s recommendations were reflected in more than 70 lines of the House committee’s 85-line bill. Two crucial paragraphs, prepared by Citigroup in conjunction with other Wall Street banks, were copied nearly word for word. (Lawmakers changed two words to make them plural.) They are also paying quite well for the privilege of doing Congress's work for it, or themselves, anyway. According to the Times, the financial services industry has doubled its campaign contributions, and the "lawmakers who this month supported the bills championed by Wall Street received twice as much in contributions from financial institutions compared with those who opposed them." This isn't just a Republican thing, though it was probably easier for Wall Street to insert itself so completely in the process with Republicans. Plenty of Democrats are playing along, too, including most of them on the committee that passed Citigroup's bill. The freshmen among them were rewarded with a field trip to Wall Street in "a tour organized by Representative Joe Crowley," where they got to hobnob with Lloyd C. Blankfein and Jamie Dimon. It's a good thing we've got the backstop in the Senate of Elizabeth Warren on the Banking Committee. Otherwise Congress would be likely to just sell the whole place off to Wall Street.