The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today announced it would limit the trading of oil futures after a bipartisan group of senators called for such a measure earlier this month.
Democratic and Republican senators had alleged that futures speculation has helped to drive up the price of oil.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), one of the senators who led the call, lauded the decision today in a press release.
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) today asked the Defense Department to investigate what he says may be thousands of criminal cases involving fraudulent contracting in Iraq.
Waxman's committee received a report in May from Department of Defense (DoD) Inspector General for Audit Mary Ugone finding that the U.S. Army had not provided enough documentation for its disbursements in Iraq, Egypt, and Kuwait. The audit centered on concerns of waste, fraud, and abuse related to over $10.7 billion in Army payments.
More than 7,000 of the audited transactions may indicate criminal behavior, Waxman said today in a letter to DoD Inspector General Claude Kicklighter.
In the letter, Waxman officially requested an investigation and asked Kicklighter to make recommendations to DoD and Congress on how to identify, investigate, and prosecute criminal activity in Army contracting in Iraq.
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chariman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) says his committee will consider voting on whether or not to hold Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Stephen Johnson and White House official Susan Dudley in contempt for failing to turn over subpoenaed documents relating to the EPA's 2007 California emissions decision.
Last month Waxman released e-mails and testimony that, he said, proved White House involvement in the decision. Waxman subpoenaed the EPA in April, demanding documents related to the decision.
In 2007 the EPA denied California's 2005 request to enforce stricter regulations on greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles. California sued the EPA over the decision in January.
Waxman has battled with the EPA over documents repeatedly since fall, publicly blasting the agency as it has missed deadlines set by the chairman for their release.
Fox News host Bill O'Reilly and Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) are the latest odd couple. The conservative pundit and former anti-war presidential candidiate are blaming high gas prices partly on price gouging.
Kucinich appeared on O'Reilly's show Wednesday to talk about his call for the impeachment of President Bush and for an investigation into oil companies' price manipulation. While O'Reilly disagreed with Kucinich over an impeachment, the pundit said he backs the congressman's efforts to look into price gouging.
"Bill O'Reilly and Kucinich, together at last," Kucinich said.
Read part of the transcript and watch the must-see video below.
KUCINICH: Well, you know what [oil companies are] doing? They're actually standing back while all the speculation is going. It has nothing to do with supply and demand.
O'REILLY: Absolutely.
KUCINICH: Driving the price of oil.
O'REILLY: Get them. Look.
KUCINICH: And.
O'REILLY: ... Congressman..
KUCINICH: You know what?
O'REILLY: ... I'm your best friend on that issue.
KUCINICH: (inaudible) something.
O'REILLY: You ought to take all of your time, knock off the dopey partisan impeachment stuff.
Imprisoned lobbyist Jack Abramoff influenced some White House actions and offered expensive meals and tickets to White House officials, according to a proposed report released by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee today.
The report also states that Abramoff had personal contact with President Bush, and that high-level White House officials held Abramoff in high regard and sought recommendations from him on policy issues.
The committee, headed by Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), today announced the release of the proposed report, which the committee will mark up Thursday.
See the report and the committee's announcement here.
In a letter to members of Congress today, 112 organizations are calling for action on legislation to protect whistleblowers at federal agencies.
The effort was spearheaded by the Government Accountability Project, Public Citizen, the Project On Government Oversight, and the Union of Concerned Scientists. The group also includes the American Civil Liberties Union, Society of Professional Journalists, American Association of Small Business Owners, and Consumers Union.
Citing the recent allegations of former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) today called on the Department of Justice to release FBI interviews with President Bush and Vice President Cheney relating to the leak of CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson's identity.
McClellan, in his new tell-all book, has alleged that Bush and Cheney were involved in delivering false information to the public regarding the Plame leak.
In December, Waxman requested materials related to U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald's investigation of the leak. That investigation led to the conviction of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby for his involvement. Waxman received redacted interviews with Libby and former White House aide Karl Rove.
But Waxman today said that McClellan's allegations warrant the release of Bush and Cheney's interviews as well. See Waxman's letter to Attorney General Michael Mukasey below:
Read more...
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) said that the House Judiciary Committee would be willing to arrest Karl Rove if the former White House official doesn't testify about his role in the firing of nine U.S. attorneys in 2006.
Wasserman Schultz, in an interview on MSNBC Tuesday, echoed the demand of House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.) that Rove would not be allowed to invoke executive privilege to avoid testifying. Rove could not invoke the privilege since he said he did not have conversations with the president about the attorneys' firing, Wasserman Schultz said.
Asked by MSNBC host Dan Abrams if the committee would go far as having Rove arrested, Wasserman said it would.
"Well, if that's what it takes," she said. "I mean we really cannot allow the co-equal branch of government, the legislative branch, to be trampled upon by the executive branch. The founding fathers established three branches of government. We are a co-equal branch, and this is an administration that essentially has ignored and disrespected the role of the legislative branch for far too long."
Rove said Sunday that the Judiciary Committee has refused to take up offers by his lawyer and the Bush administration that would allow the committee to find the information it's seeking without Rove's testimony.
The Senate Banking Committee tomorrow will question Steven Preston, President Bush's nominee to replace Alphonso Jackson as chairman of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
Preston looks to face tough questions from the panel's chairman, Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), whose reaction to Preston's nomination in April was less than warm.
Read more...
A New York man who laundered bribes for former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-Calif.) was sentenced to more than eight years in a federal prison, the Associated Press reports.
Thomas Kontogiannis had pleaded guilty to one count of money laundering. Prosecutors said that he had helped Cunningham launder hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to Cunningham from defense contractors.
Cunningham, who pleaded guilty in 2005 to accepting about $2.4 million in bribes, is serving more than eight years in prison.
Two contractors also linked to Cunningham have been convicted on charges that they gave kickbacks to Cunningham for help in obtaining government contracts.
Most Viewed RSS Feed »
