Rep. Ryan knocks Obama over Senate budget
(CBS News) In the Republican weekly address, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), author of the House Republican budget, criticized the Senate and President Obama for failing to produce a budget for the upcoming fiscal year.
"The president is hunkered down in campaign mode, and seems intent on dividing Americans for political gain instead of offering credible solutions to our most pressing fiscal and economic challenges. And his party leaders in the Senate? They're about to go another year without a budget," Ryan said.
Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND), who chairs the Senate Budget Committee, this week backtracked from his earlier announcement that his committee would craft and vote on a Senate budget.
"Last week, leaders in the United States Senate, which is controlled by the president's own party, announced they would not advance a budget for the third year in a row," Rep. Ryan, who chairs the House Budget Committee, said. "Tomorrow, in fact, will mark three years to the day since the Senate last fulfilled this basic governing responsibility."
Although the president offered a budget proposal in February, Rep. Ryan blames the Democratic-led Senate's inaction on Mr. Obama.
Continue »WH threatens veto on loan bill over health repeal
Updated at 12:21 p.m.
(CBS News) The Obama administration has issued a veto threat of the House version of a bill to extend low interest rates on student loans because the Republican version of the legislation would repeal part of President Obama's health care overhaul.
"This is a politically-motivated proposal and not the serious response that the problem facing America's college students deserves," the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) said in a statement. "If the President is presented with H.R. 4628, his senior advisors would recommend that he veto the bill."
The House is voting today on the legislation, which is primarily aimed at preventing a 3.4 percent increase in federal student loan interest rates. If Congress doesn't act by July 1, the interest rate on new subsidized Federal Direct Stafford Loans for undergraduate students will double from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent.
Continue »Despite veto threat, House passes CISPA
The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), which is designed to defend U.S. networks against cyber attack, passed the House 248-162.
The White House threatened to veto the legislation, saying the bill fails to protect privacy and gives a pass to companies that do not secure networks critical to the nation's security.
House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) dismissed the Administration's privacy concerns on Thursday.
"Listen, the White House believes the government ought to control the Internet, the government ought to set standards and the government ought to take care of everything that's needed for cybersecurity" Boehner said. "They're in a camp all by themselves because whether it's private industry, whether it's other parts of the government, understand that we can't have the government in charge of our Internet."
Continue »Boehner: Passing GOP DREAM Act "difficult at best"
(CBS News) House Speaker John Boehner on Thursday said "it would be difficult at best" to pass Republican Sen. Marco Rubio's version of the DREAM Act in Congress, lowering expectations for a policy proposal some have said could help the GOP make inroads with Latinos.
"There's always hope," Boehner told reporters, adding that he spoke with Rubio about the proposal and "found it of interest."
"But the problem with this issue is that we're operating in a very hostile political environment," the GOP leader said. "And to deal with a very difficult issue like this, I think it would be difficult at best."
Latino voters very reliably vote Democratic, but as the voting bloc grows in size and influence, some Republicans have expressed interest in doing more to reach out to Latinos. In a closed-door meeting with supporters recently, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said the GOP should support some version of Rubio's plan, though publicly, Romney hasn't taken a stand on the measure.
Continue »Senate passes bill to keep post offices open
Updated 6:30 p.m. ET
(CBS News) The U.S. Senate passed legislation Wednesday afternoon that would preserve post office services now set to be slashed due to the agency's financial problems.
The measure, which passed 62-37, eases the Postal Service's money woes by reimbursing the agency to the tune of $11 billion for overpaying into federal workers' retirement fund.
The Senate bill would slow or prevent the closing of many low-revenue post office locations that have been slated to close. It also prohibits the elimination of Saturday delivery for at least two years to allow cost-cutting measures to go into effect. In addition, the measure authorizes the Postal Service to offer buyouts and early retirement incentives to its employees.
Without legislative action before May 15, the Postal Service would be forced to close post offices and mail processing centers, cut Saturday delivery and possibly lay off workers to address more than $8 billion worth of losses.
Continue »GOP unveils competing bill to protect women
WASHINGTON, DC - Rep. Kristi Noem (R-SD)
(Credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images)
VAWA was signed into law in 1994 in an effort to curb acts of stalking, rape and domestic violence against women. The law also ensured law enforcement personnel and treatment centers had resources to help victims.
Senate Democrats are considering a bill that would expand protections to Native Americans, gays, lesbians and undocumented immigrants as well.
House Republican women held a news conference today on Capitol Hill to show that Republicans have their own plan for extending the law.
The GOP bill would increase penalties for stalkers who target minors and the elderly by adding five years to a perpetrator's prison sentence. It would also provide funding to clear the backlog of untested rape kits that lawmakers say is as high as 400,000.
Continue »Court review of Arizona law leaves Romney in a bind
A women holds a sign that reads 'Unity & Justice for All' during a protest in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, on April 25, 2012 in Washington, DC. The high court will hear arguments on Arizona v. United States and will be tasked with deciding the conflicting roles of national and state governments in controlling the lives of noncitizens living illegally in the U.S.
(Credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images)(CBS News) The Supreme Court isn't making life any easier for Mitt Romney.
Today, the court hears arguments over the constitutionality of Arizona's controversial immigration law, known as S.B. 1070. Passed in 2010, the law makes it a crime to be in the state as an undocumented immigrant and compels local law officials to enforce the law. Because of the pending suits against the law, some of its central provisions haven't gone into effect.
The law inspired conservatives across the country to adopt more aggressive measures against undocumented immigrants. At the same time, it spurred huge rallies across the country in 2010, with its opponents charging the measure smacks of racism and is a disgrace to Arizona.
While the measure is unlikely to ignite the fierce debate it did in 2010, the Supreme Court case will once again put the spotlight on the Arizona law. The court will hand down its ruling on the law -- as well as its ruling on President Obama's health care overhaul -- sometime in June, right in the middle of the presidential campaign.
Continue »Obama pushes for lower student loan rates
Updated 9:15 a.m. ET
(CBS News) The president kicks off his next policy battle - student loans - by dedicating his weekly address to the issue.
"In America, higher education cannot be a luxury. It's an economic imperative that every family must be able to afford," the president said.
The president is set to visit universities in North Carolina, Colorado and Iowa next week, as well as appear on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon," to put pressure on Congress to extend a lower student loan interest rate before the rates are set to increase from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent on July 1.
"Nearly seven and half million students will end up owing more on their loan payments. That would be a tremendous blow. And it's completely preventable," the president said.
Mr. Obama argued that the cost of higher education keeps people from attending, and he said interest rates on student loans add to the deterrent.
Continue »GOP's Blunt: Dems focus on "the wrong things"
Updated 9:40 a.m. ET
(CBS News) Freshman Senator Roy Blunt, R-Mo., said the Senate's vote on the Buffett Rule is a symptom of misplaced priorities.
Blunt called the Buffett Rule "a gimmick that would do nothing to jump-start jobs or lower fuel prices for average Americans." The Buffett Rule, which failed to clear a Senate vote earlier this week, would impose at least a 30-percent tax rate on those making more than $1 million per year.
"Unfortunately, instead of working together to pass bipartisan solutions that would relieve pain at the pump and pressure on jobs, this administration is focused on the wrong things," Blunt said in the Republican weekly address.
Continue »Bachmann says Obama is "waving a tar baby"
(CBS News) Rep. Michele Bachmann charged the president with caring only about his re-election. She also called him "irresponsible" and "infantile" for failing to address the economy and energy prices.
"This is just about waving a tar baby in the air," Bachmann told a conservative Florida website The Shark Tank in a video interview. "The president is a complete and utter fraud and a hypocrite on this issue, with all due respect," she said, referring to the president's energy policy.
Bachmann has come under fire for using the term "tar baby," which is a phrase that denotes a sticky situation and refers to a children's story, the Brer Rabbit. However, the term is also considered derogatory toward African Americans.
Bachmann's spokesperson Becky Rogness says in a Thursday email that Bachmann made a point about Obama's understanding of oil prices that has "nothing to do with race." Instead, Rogness says Obama "has gotten himself into a sticky situation."
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