The Note: What We Won’t Learn From Lois Lerner
By MICHAEL FALCONE (@michaelpfalcone) NOTABLES IN THE HOT SEAT: Lois Lerner, the top IRS official who is at the center of the controversy for the targeting of tea party and other conservative groups, will refuse to answer questions at a congressional hearing today and invoke… Read More »
EmailThe Note’s Must-Reads for Wednesday May 22, 2013
The Note’s Must-Reads are a round-up of today’s political headlines and stories from ABC News and the top U.S. newspapers. Posted Monday through Friday right here at www.abcnews.com Compiled by ABC News’ Carrie Halperin, Jayce Henderson and Amanda VanAllen IRS SCANDAL The Hill’s Peter Schroeder and… Read More »
Rep. Tom Cole: Okla. Needs Help, Not a Funding Battle
Republican Rep. Tom Cole, whose district took a direct hit from a powerful tornado on Monday, said the residents of the tornado ravaged towns in Oklahoma need help, not a political battle over funding in Washington. “Once a disaster starts, to me that’s the end… Read More »
Gay Marriage Amendment Withdrawn From Immigration Bill Debate
The Senate “Gang of Eight” immigration reform bill survived perhaps its toughest challenge late in the day, as the Senate Judiciary Committee refused to approve an amendment that would have allowed gays and lesbians to sponsor their partners for immigration in the same way married… Read More »
Treasury Secretary Jack Lew Defends Handling of IRS Scandal
WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Jack Lew called the unfair scrutiny the Internal Revenue Service gave some tea party groups “outrageous methods,” adding that while the “conduct was not politically motivated it was unacceptable and inexcusable.” “Administering the tax code without any hint of bias is… Read More »
IRS Official Lois Lerner to Take the Fifth
Lois Lerner, the top IRS official who is at the center of the controversy for the targeting of tea party and other conservative groups, will refuse to answer questions at a congressional hearing Wednesday and invoke her Fifth Amendment rights, ABC News has learned. She… Read More »
IRS ‘Blemish’ Prompts Scorn From Unappeased Senators
Douglas Shulman, the former commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, said today he was “dismayed and saddened” that his agency had improperly targeting conservative groups, but declined to offer a direct apology and dismissed suggestions that he mislead Congress. The testimony from Shulman, who was… Read More »
First Conservative Groups File Suit Against IRS
The first groups that claim they were unfairly scrutinized by the Internal Revenue Service have filed suit against the agency in federal courts, seeking damages and the granting of their long-delayed tax-exempt status application. True the Vote, a Houston-based voter watchdog group, filed a complaint in… Read More »
The Note: Obama Floats Above The Fray — For Now
By MICHAEL FALCONE (@michaelpfalcone) NOTABLES STEADY AS HE GOES: Americans, in a new ABC News-Washington Post poll out today, sharply reject special scrutiny of conservative groups by the Internal Revenue Service, suspect an administration cover-up of the Benghazi incident and express substantial distrust of the federal… Read More »
Rand Paul Makes Another Early State Stop, Calls IRS Scandal Un-American
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul made another stop in an early voting state Monday evening, continuing to feed the speculation that he will possibly run for president in 2016. Just 10 days after stopping in the first caucus state of Iowa, he visited the first primary state of… Read More »