Tied to tax debate, unemployment benefits likely to lapse

Democrats in Washington are catching on to the idea that they can’t capitulate to an extension of Bush-era tax rates for the rich without at least demanding something in return, and an extension of federal unemployment benefits, set to expire…

Senate warily eyes post-earmark era

In the lead-up to Tuesday’s vote by Senate Republicans to self-impose a two-year moratorium on earmark requests, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) released a statement indicating his avowed, albeit somewhat conflicted, support for the idea.

DISCLOSE Act campaign reform likely dead in lame duck

Despite widespread public opposition to the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision and multiple exhortations by the president for Congress to act, Senate Democrats were unable to overcome a Republican filibuster to pass the DISCLOSE Act, a bill requiring…

New Order: McConnell faces off with DeMint on earmarks

From the perspective of many conservatives, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is doing himself and Republicans a lot of harm by fighting Sen. Jim DeMint’s (R-S.C.) proposal to ban requests for earmarks among Republicans in next year’s Senate. The first reason,…

Request for IRS probe of 501(c)4 group has donors nervous

Tuesday, when the Campaign Legal Center filed a complaint with the IRS against the 501(c)(4) group Crossroads GPS, alleging that it was abusing its tax-exempt status because its “primary purpose” was election related, GPS spokesman Jonathan Collegio dismissed…

American Crossroads so far funded almost entirely by billionaires

The latest FEC filings from Karl Rove’s American Crossroads group tell a familiar story: the nonprofit conservative political spending group is funded almost entirely by billionaires. Salon did the math yesterday and calculated that in August the group…

National Organization for Marriage sues again to shield donors

The National Organization for Marriage is at it again, this time suing Rhode Island’s Board of Elections for the right to run TV ads in the state’s gubernatorial race without complying with the disclosure requirements or spending limits that…

Colbert tells Congress how he tried and failed to take an immigrant’s job

Now that Senate Democrats have indicated that they will not vote on whether to extend the Bush tax cuts before midterm elections, the biggest news in Washington today might be that Stephen Colbert, of Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report,”…

Catholic groups have spent millions to fund anti-gay marriage Initiatives nationally

The Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal society founded in New Haven in 1881, does a lot of good work detailed in a lengthy report on its charitable giving in 2009. Add to that list a donation of a whopping $1.4 million in 2009 to the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), a nonprofit group dedicated to fighting same-sex marriage.

Climate change fight absent in DC but on in Calif. over Prop 23

In the absence of meaningful legislation to curb greenhouse gas emissions in Washington, the fight surrounding California’s ballot measure, Proposition 23, is rapidly becoming the biggest — and most highly funded — energy issue in the current campaign season.

Prop…