A new CBS News/New York Times poll finds 62 percent of respondents believe the income tax they have to pay is fair, while only 30 percent called it unfair. “Majorities across all income groups, moreover, called their income tax fair.” Even a majority of those identifying themselves as Tea Party supporters said their taxes are fair.
Republicans in the New Mexico House of Representatives have asked Attorney General Gary King (D) to join a lawsuit suing the federal government over health care reform. King’s spokesman said that the attorney general hasn’t yet made a decision about the suit, “but the federal law is being studied to determine how it will affect New Mexicans.” All New Mexico House members are up for reelection in 2010.
Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) said this morning that he will be “stunned if we do not reach a bipartisan agreement” on financial regulatory reform. Corker, who sits on the Banking Committee, said, “Republicans do want to see a regulatory bill of this type come to fruition. We know that there are regulatory rules that need to be in place.”
Attorney General Eric Holder called Keep America Safe’s “al Qaeda 7″ ad “reprehensible” yesterday, adding that he would not allow the “reputations” of Justice Department lawyers who defended detainees “to be besmirched.” Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), whose inquiries inspired the ad, told reporters “it went overboard.”
In a new investigation of the supposed scandal known as “climate-gate,” a panel of academic experts said yesterday that “several prominent climate scientists did not engage in deliberate malpractice but did not use the best statistical tools available to produce their findings.” The panel “saw no evidence of any deliberate scientific malpractice” at the University of East Anglia’s Climactic Research Unit.
Lawmakers requested 1,000 fewer earmarks during the last fiscal year than in previous years, a $3 billion drop in pork projects, according to Citizens Against Government Waste. However, the group’s “Pig Book,” released yesterday, showed “there were still 9,129 earmarks worth $16.5 billion last fiscal year.”
“House Democrats are preparing to wade into a potentially divisive social debate over whether to ban employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity,” Roll Call reports. Democrats “are already surveying their ranks to determine support for the measure, with the aim of approving it by the end of May.”
The Obama administration signaled yesterday that the U.S. “would accept weakened United Nations sanctions against Iran as a way to quickly assemble a broad international coalition against Tehran’s nuclear program.” “What is important about the U.N. resolution is less the specific content of the resolution than the isolation of Iran by the rest of the world,” said Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
In an op-ed in The Hill, the Center for American Progress’ John Podesta and Reece Rushing express concern about the fact that the public sees government as wasteful and inefficient. They note that CAP is leading a project to “eliminate or reform misguided spending programs and tax expenditures and redirect savings to cost-effective investments.”
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