CONGRESS - The Salt Lake Tribune

L.A. Times: A new response for the war on terror

Sat, 25 May 2013 01:01:08 MDT

L.A. Times: A new response for the war on terror

By The Los Angeles Times

Updated May 25, 2013 01:01AM MDT

The following editorial appeared Friday in The Los Angeles Times: Better late than never, President Obama has moved to establish more rigorous standards for the targeted killings of Americans and foreigners alike away from a battlefield. The need for what he called “strong oversight of all lethal action” was one theme of the president’s address Thursday at National Defense University. Another, equally overdue, was his renewed determination to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay and expedite th...

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Make them citizens

Fri, 24 May 2013 01:01:04 MDT

Make them citizens

Updated May 24, 2013 01:01AM MDT

More than 11 million undocumented people work, pay taxes and go to school here, and many work in jobs that most people won’t do. Without them, the country could have difficulties. Congress should pass an immigration reform bill that gives legal status to the immigrants already here. Of course, the law should have rules, fines, limitations and steps for people to work their way up in stages to full citizenship. There are bright kids who can’t go past high school to college. If they are allowed ...

Copyright 2013 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Back to normal

Thu, 23 May 2013 17:38:02 MDT

Back to normal

Updated May 23, 2013 05:38PM MDT

It is time to declare victory in the war against al-Qaida and start the process of bringing the United States — its defense structure, its judicial system and its respect for its own values — to a post-war footing. This was the gist of a major national security speech delivered Thursday by President Obama at the National Defense University. In it, he called, again, for closure of the detention center at Guantanamo Bay and explained plans to put the use of deadly drone strikes against terrorist ...

Copyright 2013 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Obama defends drone strikes but says no cure-all

Thu, 23 May 2013 14:28:03 MDT

Obama defends drone strikes but says no cure-all

By JULIE PACE and LARA JAKES The Associated Press

Updated May 23, 2013 02:28PM MDT

WASHINGTON • President Barack Obama on Thursday defended America’s controversial drone attacks as legal, effective and a necessary linchpin in an evolving U.S. counterterrorism policy. But he acknowledged the targeted strikes are no “cure-all” and said he is haunted by the civilians unintentionally killed. The president also announced a renewed push to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba, including lifting a moratorium on prisoner transfers to Yemen. However, shutting the prison wi...

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

IRS official Lerner says ‘I did nothing wrong’ before taking fifth

Wed, 22 May 2013 16:11:19 MDT

IRS official Lerner says ‘I did nothing wrong’ before taking fifth

By ALAN FRAM and STEPHEN OHLEMACHER The Associated Press

Updated May 22, 2013 04:11PM MDT

WASHINGTON • The Internal Revenue Service official at the center of the storm over the agency’s targeting of conservative groups told Congress on Wednesday that she had done nothing wrong in the episode, and then invoked her constitutional right to refuse to answer lawmakers’ questions. In one of the most electric moments since the IRS controversy erupted nearly two weeks ago, Lois Lerner defended herself during a brief appearance before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. The c...

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Student-loan sanity

Wed, 22 May 2013 01:01:05 MDT

Student-loan sanity

By XXXXXX The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated May 22, 2013 01:01AM MDT

Congress has only begun working on student loans this year, and already it’s going better than last year’s debacle. Election-year politics drove Congress and the White House to endorse a bumper-sticker policy — keep loan rates from doubling! — instead of looking at the substance. Lawmakers rushed to extend a 3.4 percent rate on certain new loans instead of allowing the rate to revert back to 6.8 percent. That doesn’t sound bad to borrowers, but it reflects the weird fact that those loan rates a...

Copyright 2013 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Congress cashing in

Wed, 22 May 2013 01:01:04 MDT

Congress cashing in

Updated May 22, 2013 01:01AM MDT

Government’s latest side effect — depression, personal depression. Those we elected have caused slow employment growth and airport delays. Because of the sequester, Medicare cancer patients now get chemotherapy at hospitals instead of clinics, at greater cost. Congress’ success this spring was to vote to gut the STOCK Act, which bars them from insider trading. Our representatives put their own wallets before the people they represent. They cannot even pass gun legislation supported by almost a...

Copyright 2013 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

IRS lied by omission, Hatch said

Tue, 21 May 2013 21:49:34 MDT

IRS lied by omission, Hatch said

By Matt Canham The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated May 21, 2013 09:49PM MDT

Washington • Sen. Orrin Hatch slammed top Internal Revenue Service officials Tuesday for failing to tell Congress that the tax agency inappropriately targeted conservative groups when they were directly asked. IRS officials held their ground before the Senate Finance Committee, arguing the actions were a mistake but not politically motivated and while they may not have been forthcoming, they were truthful when responding to letters sent by Hatch, R-Utah, and other senators about accusations tha...

Obama is no Nixon, but misdeeds not trivial

Sun, 19 May 2013 23:09:57 MDT

Obama is no Nixon, but misdeeds not trivial

By XXXXXX The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated May 19, 2013 11:09PM MDT

Standing before reporters Thursday, President Obama declined an invitation to compare the recent scandals weighing down his administration with those that forced President Nixon to resign in 1974. So allow us to do the work for him: There is no comparison. Nixon, in a series of crimes that collectively came to be known as Watergate, directed from the White House and Justice Department a concerted campaign against those he perceived as political enemies, in the process subverting the FBI, the IRS...

An ominous milestone

Fri, 17 May 2013 01:01:05 MDT

An ominous milestone

By XXXXXX The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated May 17, 2013 01:01AM MDT

Milestones are usually to be cheered, but not the one the world reached at 8 p.m. on Thursday, May 9. For the first time in millions of years the level of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere reached above 400 parts per million. So what, you say? It’s just a bunch of scientific numbers. Not really. What these numbers tell us is that within 25 years, if we continue to produce CO2 at our present rate, we can expect significant alterations in our climate. Our seas will rise as the Earth heats ...

A rosier short-term

Tue, 14 May 2013 01:01:04 MDT

A rosier short-term

By XXXXXX The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated May 14, 2013 01:01AM MDT

Good news from the fiscal front: The federal deficit is shrinking faster than expected. During the first half of fiscal 2013, revenues have come in greater than forecast, and spending, less; Goldman Sachs expects the total deficit to equal 4.8 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), rather than 5.6 percent as the investment bank once believed. Also, Goldman says the deficit will decline to 2.7 percent of GDP by fiscal 2015, as opposed to 2.8 percent, as previously estimated. These numbers refl...