The Washington Independent

Posts Tagged jon kyl

What women want … from the ‘super committee’

By | 11.15.11 | 5:25 pm

The subject of a recent episode of the NBC comedy series “The Office” was about a doomsday device created by devious employee Dwight K. Schrute (played by Rainn Wilson). If his fellow co-workers committed five errors in a single workday, the device was wired to send an email to More…

Native-friendly amendment voted down by mining-friendly New Mexico representatives

By | 11.03.11 | 9:20 am | More from The New Mexico Independent

Late last week, an amendment proposed by Rep. Ben Ray Luján (D), of New Mexico’s third district, attempting to alter a deal between the U.S. government and a major mining firm was voted down. Luján had been seeking to tweak the Southeast Arizona Land Exchange and Conservation Act of 2009, More…

Anti-gay groups plan increased spending, activity through 2012

By | 05.05.11 | 11:56 am

Image by Matt MahurinAnti-gay rights groups around the country will see a cash infusion over the next two years through a plan called “Ignite an Enduring Cultural Transformation.” And the groups are remaining mum about who is responsible.

The campaign, which largely targets states where Republicans won control of legislatures or governorships, has More…

NRSC chair Cornyn still not sure about Kyl’s ‘not intended to be factual’ Planned Parenthood stats

By | 04.18.11 | 6:10 pm

Last week, Twitter was host to a Stephen Colbert-encouraged pillorying of Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) following a spokesman’s claim that when Kyl said on the Senate floor that “well over 90 percent of what Planned Parenthood does” is abortion-related, it was “not intended to be a factual statement” More…

Is Sarah Palin running for U.S. Senate in Arizona?

By | 03.15.11 | 12:12 pm

Last week, Politico’s Ben Smith reported that sources within Sarah Palin’s camp had told him that, if she elects to vie for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, she’d base her campaign out of Scottsdale, Ariz., not far from Maricopa, where daughter Bristol just bought a house. Now, the More…

Will DeMint’s earmark moratorium pass?

By | 11.11.10 | 8:57 am

My story today highlights how Tea Party pressure is making it harder for Republican senators to sit on the sidelines in the lead-up to Tuesday’s Senate Republican Conference showdown over a moratorium on earmarks being pushed by Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) — and opposed by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell More…

Senate Races to Watch for Immigration Policy

By | 11.02.10 | 3:22 pm

Today’s elections will almost certainly make it harder for Congress to push through progressive agenda items such as comprehensive immigration reform. Although a lot of the changes will be broad — more Republicans will mean more arguments for border security and enforcement and less support for paths to legalization — More…

GOP Senators Accuse Obama Administration of Avoiding Immigration Enforcement (Again)

By | 10.21.10 | 3:37 pm

Senate Republicans have long criticized the Obama administration as lax on immigration enforcement, and their argument was bolstered by news this week that Immigration and Customs Enforcement is dismissing a record-high number of cases against immigrant detainees in Houston. In response, seven pro-enforcement Republican senators sent a letter More…

Border Enforcement Program Critics Say It’s Expensive, Ineffective and Unfair

By | 10.21.10 | 10:53 am

As Republicans push for increased border enforcement, many have sought to expand Operation Streamline, a “zero tolerance” immigration enforcement program that automatically slates all migrants caught crossing the border illegally for criminal prosecution. (Immigrant deportation is generally a civil, not a criminal, matter.) But critics of the program More…

Republicans Push Back Against Requests to Investigate Nonprofit Groups

By | 10.07.10 | 6:17 pm

After a spate of requests by Democrats and campaign finance groups for an IRS investigation of a number of section 501(c) organizations accused of abusing their status by engaging primarily in political advocacy, some Senate Republicans are pushing back:

Such a review threatens to “chill the legitimate exercise of

More…