Government Oversight

Sens. Barbara Boxer and Charles Grassley would limit the use of public money to fund the salaries of all government contractors.

Sen. Scott Brown's legislation would require members of Congress and federal workers to disclose any delinquent federal or state tax liabilities.

Attorney General Eric Holder on Thursday delayed a rule for 60 days that will require public access swimming pools around the country to install handicapped-accessible ramps or lifts — or face fines of up to $100,000.

The controversial rule has hotels and other community pools worried about the possible ramifications of non-compliance, and has prompted the Justice Department to conduct outreach to these groups as the March 15, 2012, implementation date approached. But on the compliance date, Holder signed an order that extended the date for 60 days, and also signed a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPR) seeking public comment on whether even more time is needed before the rule takes effect.

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and two other senators on Tuesday introduced a bill that would overturn a Supreme Court decision they say has weakened federal law preventing age discrimination.

Harkin, along with Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), said the bill is a response to the 2009 ruling in which the Supreme Court said an Iowa employee, Jack Gross, had the burden of showing that age discrimination was the decisive factor that led to his demotion. The senators said that weakened the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), which had required workers only to argue that age discrimination was a factor in an adverse employment decision, and put the burden on employers to show that there were other reasons for this decision.

The new Justice Department regulations take effect Thursday and require pools to have handicapped-accessible ramps, lifts.

Democrats including Rep. Elijah Cummings want to provide more flexibility for punishing federal workers who engage in partisan activities.

House Democrats on Thursday proposed a way to mitigate state-level voter ID laws by introducing a bill that would require states with these requirements to offer free photo IDs for residents.

The Voter ID Accessibility act, H.R. 4126, is a Democratic response to identification laws that they say make it harder for seniors, students, minorities and others to vote.

The House is expected to approve legislation this week to limit the ability of state and local governments to seize property.

A former Securities and Exchange Commission official said he has found no reason to believe that House Financial Services Committee Chairman Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.) violated any insider-trading laws.

“I haven’t seen anything that would indicate a law violation, in my view,” former SEC official Stanley Sporkin said in an interview with the Birmingham News.

Schumer invited Brewer to testify before his committee in April on Arizona's controversial immigration law.