Lois Lerner before Congress

Updated: The Washington Times in a breaking release reports the House Oversight Committee voted Thursday to cite Lois G. Lerner for contempt of Congress, rejecting Democrats’ comparisons to McCarthy-style tactics in the 1950s and saying Congress has a right to get information about Ms. Lerner’s role in the IRS’s tea party targeting scandal.

After a tempestuous debate, the 21-12 vote sends the contempt referral to the full House, beginning what’s expected to be a long legal battle that could take years to resolve, leaving Ms. Lerner’s testimony in limbo and the cloud hanging over the IRS as all sides look ahead to November’s elections.
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Senator Tom Coburn

U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-OK) released the following statement today regarding the Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) fourth annual report detailing unnecessary duplication in the federal government.  This year’s report identified 26 areas of duplication that could save taxpayers $45 billion over five years.  See summary and report card for more information.
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IRS Commissioner John Koskinen

Updated with video: “The inspector general found inappropriate criteria were used to select organizations for further review — he did not refer to it as targeting.”

“Yes, inappropriate criteria were used. I don’t think I used the word target, but I do acknowledge that applications were delayed unnecessarily and for too long.”
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Senator Tom Coburn

 U.S. Senators and doctors Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-OK) and John Barrasso, M.D. (R-WY) Tuesday released a new report entitled, “Prognosis: Outlook Not So Good” chronicling the scope of Obamacare’s failures and challenges. The report details what senators and doctors got right and wrong about predictions they made in three previous oversight reports.

“For millions of Americans, Obamacare itself has become a pre-existing condition that has limited their access to quality, affordable health care.  As we warned in our previous reports, Obamacare is fundamentally flawed.  The law strengthens the hand of government and weakens the hand of doctors and patients.  Obamacare is cutting choices, not costs, and costs will likely continue to rise,” Dr. Coburn said.
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The Daily Caller is reporting that as part of its plan to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, the Obama administration is targeting the dairy industry to reduce methane emissions in their operations. This comes despite falling methane emission levels across the economy since 1990.

The White House has proposed cutting methane emissions from the dairy industry by 25 percent by 2020. Although U.S. agriculture only accounts for about 9 percent of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, it makes up a sizeable portion of methane emissions — which is a very potent greenhouse gas.
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