Politics

Bellflower man rescued from house fire - latimes.com p.content-nav { margin:-15px 0px 0px 0px; }#commentsArchive { display: none; visibility: hidden; }#archiveShow, #fbShow { cursor:pointer; } #ssorNavHeader {background-color:transparent !important; color:#000; height: 23px !important; zoom:1;}div#classBarNav #ssorNavSignIn span.link, div#classBarNav #ssorNavSignIn a, div#classBarNav #ssorNavSignIn span {color:#000;}#ssorMiniModal {background-color:#fff !important; border:1px solid #000; padding:3px 3px 3px 10px;}#ssorNavSignIn.loggedIn .userName {background:url("http://www.latimes.com/extras/ssor_down_arrow.png") no-repeat 0 2px;}#ssorNavSignIn.loggedIn #ssorNavHeader {padding-top:0px !important;} body {background-color:#ffffff !important;}ul#root li.navLink a {padding-top:17px; padding-right:4px; padding-bottom:16px; padding-left: 5px;}.crime-lanow-item{list-style-type:none !important; padding:5px !important; border-bottom: 1px dotted #CCC !important;} xd.configure({...

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Spencer Bachus (R-AL) House Financial Services Chairman Spencer Bachus (R-AL) — who said that, in his view, Washington’s role is “to serve the banks” — has put out a call to the financial industry to suggest “legislative alternatives” to the Volcker Rule, which is aimed at reining in banks’ risky trading: A top Republican lawmaker on Tuesday asked the financial industry to suggest alternatives to the hotly debated Volcker rule in advance of a planned fall hearing. Representative Spencer Bachus urged investors and market players to submit ideas to the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee before September 7, saying that the rule as currently proposed would have a “devastating” impact on the U.S. economy. “We must consider legislative alternatives that will not stifle economic growth and job creation,” Bachus, who is the committee chairman, said in a statement. Bachus is looking for input on the rule from “investors, industry ...

By Jessica Goad The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy and Power held a hearing this morning about the differences between drilling for oil and gas on private versus public lands. GOP members of the committee tried to use the hearing to claim the Administration is hampering oil and gas development. However, a number of witnesses testified to the contrary, saying that there is a substantial amount of drilling occurring on public lands.  The Center for American Progress Action Fund’s Christy Goldfuss was one of them: Regarding new lands offered for oil and gas development, the Bureau of Land Management held three of the top five largest sales in the agency’s history in calendar year 2011, and this year, it has approved controversial projects to drill in the Arctic Ocean and close to wilderness areas near Desolation Canyon, Utah. With this level of oil and gas activity on public lands, it is clear why a recent New York Times article about oil and gas production on public l...

Senate Republicans last week proposed a plan that would raise taxes on more than 20 million Americans, while maintaining the high-end Bush tax cuts. Letting those tax cuts on income in excess of $250,000 expire would affect just two million wealthy taxpayers, by comparison. Now, House Republicans have adopted the same plan, and the effect is the same: roughly 24 million middle- and lower-class Americans will see their taxes raised so that roughly two million of the richest taxpayers can maintain a tax cut, as this chart from the Center for American Progress’ Seth Hanlon and Sarah Ayres illustrate: Even worse, more than a third of families with children — a total of 18.6 million households, including 9.2 million single parents — would see a tax increase, according to Hanlon and Ayres’ analysis: According to the analysis, roughly 11 million American families would lose some or all of the American Opportunity Tax Credit, which provides a tax break on college tuition payments, at an avera...

Despite criticism from leading Republicans over their attacks on a notable senior aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, a group of House Republicans conducting a witch hunt on government officials supposedly linked to the Muslim Brotherhood are doubling down on their accusations. The group, led by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), has yet to provide actual evidence of the “infiltration” they say is occurring, and the attacks on Huma Abedin, a long-time and well-known Clinton aide, drew ridicule from across Washington and highlighted the shoddiness of the entire report. But the lawmakers aren’t giving up, The Hill reports: Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) told The Hill that the media’s focus on Abedin was a “deliberate effort to change the subject.” “The focus in the media has been on one sentence in one of those letters, and … they have the right to do that,” Franks said. “But it certainly doesn’t serve the American people when they overlook the central focus of the letters to try to tak...

House Republicans next week intend to vote on a plan that would both extend all of the Bush tax cuts — including those on income in excess of $250,000 — and fast-track “tax reform.” If the House GOP bill were adopted, tax reform legislation would “have special protections in the U.S. Senate, limiting the opportunities for lawmakers to use blocking tactics.” But the GOP bill only calls for a certain kind of tax reform — specifically that which would benefit the rich and corporations. Under the GOP’s fast-track approach, a tax reform bill would have to consist of: (1) a consolidation of the current 6 individual income tax brackets into not more than two brackets of 10 and not more than 25 percent ; (2) a reduction in the corporate tax rate to not greater than 25 percent; (3) a repeal of the Alternative Minimum Tax; (4) a broadening of the tax base to maintain revenue between 18 and 19 percent of the economy; and (5) a change from a ‘‘worldwide’’ to a ‘‘territorial’’ system of taxation ...